I’m about to switch hosts, but I’m not sure how long it will take. So if my blog is down for a few days or something, that’s why. But at least it will fucking finally be fixed!

I’m turning comments off of this post so I can backup my database or whatever. However, you should still be able to Contact Me, but if not, bloggocentrics can always reach me by e-mail, since you should have it.

Thanks for your patience! I’m sure you have more than I do!

Bounce
(click to enlarge)
(click here to see this week’s game photos)

As I mentioned in the post, Week 1: Pink vs. Royal Blue, I played back-to-back games last Friday. I was scheduled to play with the Pink team, but our advanced goalie for the Turtles was unable to make it. The super-advanced, elite women’s team netminder who subbed for Royal Blue was willing to sub for the Turtles, but since I’m a Turtle, I decided to step up. We played against the Powder Blue (PB) team, and I faced a goalie whose skills match mine more closely. At the time, I hadn’t yet learned the lessons I mentioned in the last game post (see above), that is, it isn’t the other goalie’s skills but rather her teammates’ abilities I should consider; and second, I no longer plan to play back-to-back games with only 15 minutes in between, thank you very much.

The Turtles’ advanced goalie, for whom I was subbing, assured me that I could do it, and I did. I did as she suggested and took it easy during warm-ups. In the first period I was actually giddy, but by the third, I was running out of steam: my lower back was absolutely killing me and my shoulders were totally stiffening up.

We lost 4 – 3 and obviously it wasn’t my best game (not my worst, though, either), but it was really close. First Period: I let it one goal on my stick side. Second Period: PB scored on a rebound that I originally saved but unfortunately didn’t freeze. There were another PBer parked in front of the net who made that goal. Third Period: The first goal PB scored in the third rebounded off one of our defense player’s skate, and the second one hit the blade of my stick, bounced off of it, and rolled into the net (see photo above). When there was just over 30 seconds left, my team pulled me so we could have six skaters on the ice to try to even the score. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, but at least PB didn’t score another goal!

KEY
GP: (# of) games played
GA: goals against (shots I let in)
GAA: goals against average (GA divided by GP)
S: shots against (how many shots I faced)
Sv %: (S minus GA divided by S)
W: wins
L: losses
T: ties
W %: win percentage (W divided by GP)
SO: shutouts

So now, not only is my WP fucked up, we didn’t have Internet for like, two days! How nice of Comcast to let their customers know that we need to swap out our old modems for a new one. Did that yesterday only to find out that our CD drive is broken!

Had ECT Monday, that went fine, I suppose. Was supposed to have the butt test yesterday, but there was some misunderstanding and all I got was a regular old butt exam. Now we have to reschedule an entire battery of butt tests that’ll be done in the hospital. Oh, joy.

Still working on last week’s Turtles game post. All of the pictures are on our desktop hard drive of course (oh yeah, I couldn’t stand this shit anymore, so I went out and got a laptop), so we have to download those onto one of the new-fangled stick-type disk thingies, and then re-upload them to this hard drive so I can upload them to Flickr. Argh.

Pinkeye on the Puck!
(click to enlarge)
(click here to see the game pics)

The Spring Mixer is made up of eight teams, and as Brian mentioned in last week’s game post, each team has two goalies (a beginner/intermediate and an advanced), and each goalie plays on two different teams: I’m on the Pink and Kelly Green (now known as the Turtles) teams. This is to ensure that for each game, both teams have evenly matched goalies. However, when a goaltender plays against her other team, she face a less experienced goalie — or a more experienced one, as was the case in the game for which I was scheduled last Friday: Pink vs. Royal Blue (RB).

It was the first time I met my Pink teammates, most of whom had already played together in the pre-season game, so I was anxious. Ironically, I was supposed to face my Pink goalie teammate who’s our more experienced goalie, which made me even more anxious; but she played in a tournament this past weekend and the woman subbing for her, though a goalie sub for the Mixer but not on any teams, is someone who plays for a super-advanced, elite women’s team. This increased my anxiety even more.

Although we lost 4 – 2, Brian, who keeps track of my stats, says I played well. First Period: The other goalie and I each let in a goal, with that first one going through my five-hole (right between the legs), which is totally embarrassing. Second Period: RB scored two goals in the second, while we scored one. The first goal I gave up was a pass from an RBer in one of the corners to another RBer planted in front of the net for a one timer. The second goal was from a loose puck shortly after a face-off in our zone. The puck was just out of my reach and an RBer shot it in. Third Period: At this point, we were down by one and were always behind by one point throughout the game. Unfortunately, we didn’t score this period, but RB did and again, it was from a pass made to someone parked in front of the net.

My teammates congratulated me for making some really great saves, even though I gave up four goals. I would have liked to discuss the game with them afterwards, but I had a second game to play. And once again, my anxiety flourished, surprise, surprise. The final score was close and I learned one of two valuable lessons: first, it isn’t the other goalie’s skill level I need to worry about — rather, it’s her teammates’ skills I should be concerned with! Second, though I’d consider playing back-to-back games in the future, I won’t if there’s only 15 minutes between games! However, the Turtles game or rather, goalie summary probably won’t be posted until Wednesday or Thursday.

A WORD ABOUT STATS
From now on, Brian is keeping track only of my stats, and not the other goalies’. It’s hard having to juggle this with taking the super pictures that he does. I’m also going to include my overall stats for each team, as well as for both teams.

KEY
GP: (# of) games played
GA: goals against (shots I let in)
GAA: goals against average (GA divided by GP)
S: shots against (how many shots I faced)
Sv %: (S minus GA divided by S)
W: wins
L: losses
T: ties
W %: win percentage (W divided by GP)
SO: shutouts

For the past few nights I’ve exhibited disturbing BPD symptoms. These happen late at night: throwing things, picking fights with Brian, making him sleep on the couch, threatening to OD (not commit suicide, of course — just typical BPD attention-seeking behavior). It’s like I’m cracking up. It bothers me because I rarely behave this way anymore. The majority of the time, I don’t even present with enough symptoms to be considered BPD.

I’m thinking there’s a lot to this. For one, I’m due for my next ECT, which I’m having tomorrow, thank God. Brian says I’m like a cell phone now: my bars have obviously been low for the past couple of weeks, so I need to be recharged. :d Then all my other health problems.

And finally, God-damn, motherfucking WP 2.1.x. I’ve grown to dread blogging because any images I include never look the way they’re supposed to, and after hitting “Save and Continue Editing,” my anxiety mounts as I scroll down to look at the preview screen. Yeah, in this version, the preview text link is missing so you have to scroll.

The last straw was when I played two games Friday night, in which both my teams lost. Despite the fact that I had only 15 minutes between games, apparently played well according to my teammates and Brian (especially in my first game), I couldn’t see it. Didn’t believe it. All I could think about was how, in the two total seasons I’ve played, each one five years apart, I’ve won only one game. One! (Not counting the two scrimmages Tigers Orange played against a start-up team during the regular season this past year). I felt like a complete and utter loser — that I should quit playing hockey altogether.

Anyway, you’ll just have to wait for the game post (that I know you just can’t wait for , which Brian is going to help me write. I’m hoping to post it tomorrow.