Five more months until I'm back in Siem Reap

Get me out of here.

He awoke each morning with the desire to do right.

To be a good and meaningful person, to be, as simple as it sounded and as impossible as it actually was, happy. And during the course of each day his heart would descend from his chest into his stomach. By early afternoon he was overcome by the feeling that nothing was right, or nothing was right for him, and by the desire to be alone. By evening he was fulfilled: alone in the magnitude of his grief, alone in his aimless guilt, alone even in his loneliness. I am not sad, he would repeat to himself over and over, I am not sad. As if he might one day convince himself. Or fool himself. Or convince others--the only thing worse than being sad is for others to know that you are sad. I am not sad. I am not sad. Because his life had unlimited potential for happiness, insofar as it was an empty white room. He would fall asleep with his heart at the foot of his bed, like some domesticated animal that was no part of him at all. And each morning he would wake with it again in the cupboard of his rib cage, having become a little heavier, a little weaker, but still pumping. And by the midafternoon he was again overcome with the desire to be somewhere else, someone else, someone else somewhere else. I am not sad."

— Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel)

Future Cambodia Fund Northern Adventure

After participating in the inaugural Temples to Street Retreat Charity Bike Ride for the Future Cambodia Fund from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville in February 2008, I am now preparing for the ride of a lifetime in March 2009!

This time we're heading on the Northern Adventure, a bike trip through Southern Laos, taking in the Bolaven Plateau and 4000 Islands before crossing into Cambodia and following the Mighty Mekong down to Phnom Penh, visiting community development projects along the way.

All riders are required a minimum fundraising amount in order to participate which goes towards supporting the Future Cambodia Fund's community development projects in Cambodia.

A non-profit, non-government organisation, Future Cambodia Fund was formed in Cambodia in 2004, by Leigh Mathews (voted the 2008 Victoria Young Australian of the Year). Future Cambodia Fund was established in response to the lack of support, services and educational opportunities for children and young people in Cambodia. Future Cambodia Fund was formed out of the belief that every child has the right to a childhood, to education, and the right to be protected and nurtured.

Future Cambodia Fund has four main objectives which guide our work:

Community Capacity Building: To encourage community participation and ownership through capacity building and advocacy.

Education and Training: To identify and provide appropriate education and training options and to support young people and their families to pursue these opportunities.

Networking and Support: To strengthen the overall response to Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) through integrated networking and support.

Awareness: To educate and inform young Australians about current issues in the developing world and encourage them to engage in activities resulting in positive change locally and globally.

Future Cambodia Fund supports a range of grassroots development projects in Cambodia:

Happy Garden Centre

Future Cambodia Fund is working at Andong ‘relocation’ site, a community of over 5,000 individuals who were violently evicted from their homes and forcibly ‘relocated’ to a site 22km from Phnom Penh. Residents have little or no access to fresh water, adequate food, medical care, employment, or education, and many people are seriously ill from preventable and treatable diseases.

The Happy Garden Centre is a community space, named by the children of Andong. Happy Garden provides therapeutic support to children and youth aged between 1 – 25 years in the form of remedial education, a back to school program, sports and recreational therapy, play/art/music/dance therapy, individual and family counselling, medical, and dental care.

Andong Water, Sanitation and Health Program

Future Cambodia Fund also runs a community-based water, sanitation & health program at Andong ‘relocation’ site. The project works with women in the community and aims to provide more families with access to potable water, while providing education on health, hygiene and safe water collection, filtration and storage.

M’lop Tapang Education Program

Future Cambodia Fund supports a daily education program for street children with disabilities and learning difficulties. The children participate in a range of activities, including art therapy, music, dance, and basic literacy. This program is delivered by our partner organisation, M’lop Tapang.

Emergency Assistance Program

Future Cambodia Fund provides ongoing grants for emergency situations, including emergency accommodation, counselling, and support for child victims of abuse and violence.

For further information about the Future Cambodia Fund, please visit www.futurecambodiafund.org

All and any donations would be greatly appreciated. Should you wish to make a contribution, please visit my fundraising page or contact me at judetsai73@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading this!

So I've joined a gym...

Actually, I joined the gym in July.

I have joined a gym before. This was many moons ago when I lived in Sydney. I ended up going twice and never returning.

This time, I have picked a gym that I have to walk past to and from work. Not only that, when I walk past, the receptionist and trainers can see me walking past and have previously made comment on what time I come in to work, when they don't see me, etc.

So far this has worked well as, apart from the initial month, my attendance has averaged 4-5 times per week.

The gym has quickly turned into the Happiest Place in the World for me. I like that it's not work, derby or home and there are no attachments to work, derby or home there. All the staff are weird, which is possibly why I fit in well. i do think that I completely outweird them all but I don't like to talk myself up too much.

Most importantly, when I go in on and am especially cranky or stressed, the trainers offer to let me punch them.

Now that's service.

Dusit Thani Lagoon Resort, Phuket, Thailand - 12-15 June 2008

Queen's Birthday Weekend in Sydney

The Sandpebbles - Wild Season

You may have seen our viral ads but have you seen our music video clip?

Special thanks to The Sandpebbles who chose us for their video clip and performed at our Love Hurts after party!

http://www.movideo.com/playartists/23467/

WTF is my login/password???

I have too many online accounts. As a result, I have not been blogging here much not only because of work and roller derby commitments but because after several failed log-ins, I don't want to lose my blog like J1 did.

But I think I've got it etched in my memory now and I will be back.

In the meantime, here's a brief update on what's been going on in the past 6 months:

Berzerker (pictured below with Denim Destructor), formerly of the Speed Regime, Charm City Rollergirls (Baltimore), moved back to Australia and has since joined our league as a formidable blocking force, Bloody Mary aficionado and coach. She made her debut with the Victorian Roller Derby League on February 24th at the Skate of Origin in Adelaide (VRDL defeated Adelaide, 83 to 80):

'Slam Jam Thank Ya Ma'am' has been and gone. Dead Ringer Rosies defeated the Toxic Avengers, 80 to 77 in first ever overtime action.

'I Dream of Derby' (poster below) has also been and gone with the Dead Ringer Rosies again defeating the Toxic Avengers, 87 to 84.

Violet Rage, formerly of the Cosmonaughties (Boston Derby Dames) is currently gracing our shores and made her official debut at 'I Dream of Derby'. She's pictured here with the one and only, Felicity Scragwell, whose photo I stole.

Our next bout, 'Rink of Fire' which happens to be our final bout for this season is coming up:

I'm off to Sydney next weekend to spend some time with my family and hopefully the Sydney Roller Derby League and the following weekend I'm off to Phuket for 5 days. The fun never stops! Maybe I'll draft up a blog old school style whilst in transit!

Slam Jam Thank Ya Ma'am

Here I am!

I'm back. It's been a while because things have been pretty hectic of late. I've had the double whammy of my business and personal lives exploding with activity and I've somewhat migrated to Facebook whilst upkeeping Myspace. But enough excuses... where the heck have I been?

I won't go too much into work detail as that will stress me out. It's better to stay within this false sense of comfort leading up the fortnight before Christmas meltdown.

Tomorrow night, the Victorian Roller Derby League (VRDL) is holding our first public demonstration. We've invited the folks who have helped us along the along as well as friends and family who've been wondering where we've been for the past 9 months. And to think, all of this started with a casual skate outside Melbourne Museum with a woman I met on Myspace.

October is a blur but whilst November is still pretty fresh in my mind, I'll blog about that.

On the weekend of November 10-11, the VRDL hosted the inaugural National Roller Derby Boot Camp. We had 70+ skaters and support from Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales converge on Rawson Village Retreat for two days of full-on training, both on and off skates. We had the absolute pleasure of welcoming Smarty Pants from the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls, the original revivalists of modern day roller derby.

After camp, Smarty came back to Melbourne and coached our ladies for the next 3 weeks. If you had said to me a year ago that I'd have skated with anyone from TXRD, much less Smarty Pants, I would have told you to get lost (or worse). It was nice to receive some validation from Smarty that after all the months of self-taught DIY roller derby, we were definitely on the right path.

On a side note, I know I'm not supposed to be skating because of my knees but after national derby camp and spending time with Smarty, I've been inspired to buy new skates and put myself out there in 2008. I'm not fully committing to getting back on skates right now as I'm going to Cambodia in February to take part in a charity bike ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville and can't really afford to injure myself.

This might seem like an aimless rambling blog but I'm also trying to watch 'Survivor: China' at the same time.

Anyway, here are some photos from November:

This is my Mama T. bearing ring, made for my by Otto from the Steel City Roller Derby League. Behind it are my new skates. Yes, I'm using the macro function on my camera.


This are my new Riedell Wicked 265s. In the background is my bike, which I love, but will be leaving behind in Cambodia.

Smarty Pants, three-time League Champion, national and international roller derby coach and her publicity manager.


Why there are no balls in roller derby or how not to catch a Nerf football.


Participants of the 2007 National Roller Derby Boot Camp (aka the blurriest photo in the world).

Oh, and I went on my very first Critical Mass Bike Ride last week... YAY!

So you think you can blog?

I know I've been relatively absent from Blogger for quite some time now. I've been super busy with work and roller derby and not much else...

But I will be back shortly.

I have some lovely photos of ladies on skates to post!

I can't remember what font I use on this thing! How annoying and inconsistent!

Hot tip.

Green is the next big thing.

Why?

Because of its association with being environmentally friendly.

Even if it's just a colour on the wall.

How annoying...

It's just taken me 12 attempts to log into Blogger and now I have nothing to blog.

At least I didn't delete my entire page.

*jabs J1*