blair-block

[blair-block]

Leave out all the rest...

Leave out all the rest…

Yesterday it was a simple text message that broke the news to me, I quickly typed ‘Chester Bennington’ into my google search, thinking ‘no way, this can’t be real.’  – and there it was, it was definitely real. I’ve never been so gutted by the death of a celebrity before, this voice that I had listened to in good times and in bad, the voice I would scream along to – was gone. It was the year 2000,…

[blair-block]

DERP takes on the Questival!

What happens when you take a group of lifelong friends, add in some adventures and llamas? You get DERP! The lancer girl aka Blair Block and for this weekend: Sailor Pluto, reporting to you from the front lines! Follow our adventures here: http://questivalteams.cotopaxi.com/teampage?id=5DYZlFB1dN Looking forward to sharing more adventures with you, more fun soon 🙂  

[blair-block]

Chef's plate - Chicken Adobo

Chef’s plate – Chicken Adobo

It’s time for meal #2 of the Chef’s Plate experiment – Filipino Chicken Adobo. Of course, being Filipino I had to try it out – I live away from my family and there’s a shortage of really good Filipino restaurants in the Okanagan, so it’s really hard to get a taste of home when I’m all alone here – I may as well take the opportunity. What is chicken adobo you ask? According to wikipedia it is a…

[blair-block]

Ear Candy: Porter Robinson & Madeon - Shelter

Ear Candy: Porter Robinson & Madeon – Shelter

      I’ve been watching a bit more anime as of late, and when this video preview came across my YouTube recommended videos, I figured why not.. let’s check it out. Porter Robinson and Madeon are fantastic EDM artists and the fusion of both of their styles together create a wonderful song that’s been on repeat since I found the…

[blair-block]

Blog Update - New Layout and New Categories

Blog Update – New Layout and New Categories

As you can see, I’ve gone over the blog with a purple crayon and refreshed it with a new look for 2017! I figured it was finally time to update the blog with something new and fun, so here we are, embracing the chaos of my multitude of interests, activities and identities. I’ve also added a new category called “Training Block”  – a home for my own personal pet project, fitness and training. I’ve…

[blair-block]

Green Means Go! (Puke Means Stop!)

Green Means Go! (Puke Means Stop!)

The OKRD is ramping up to a busy season, and while we’re ramping up we’ve been working on our off-skates fitness to give us a bit of an edge. As a fitness enthusiast, I’ve been working with our skaters to push them to their limits, and I figured you – my readers, can workout alongside us. This is the first workout post I’ve done, and this workout was great. It definitely works your cardio and…

[blair-block]

The great Chef's Plate experiment

The great Chef’s Plate experiment

You’ve seen the ads on facebook, they proclaim fresh groceries and a meal kit delivered to your door once a week with delicious recipes to try. For ~$50/ week, you can feed 2 people twice a week. I tossed the idea of Chef’s plate back and forth in my head to try out, or not. at $50/week it’s a little pricey – but with the bonus of trying new recipes, it may work out to be an education in cooking…

[blair-block]

Dear 2016...

Dear 2016…

Well, here we are.. the end of yet another year – another spin around the sun. I suppose I can safely say that I walk out of 2016 with almost nothing that I walked into 2016 with. New job, new place, new relationship, new car. Well… there are a few things I leave 2016 with – the support of fantastic friends that have helped me through the hard times this year. I could wax endlessly about how 2016…

[blair-block]

The Ballad of Betty the Lancer

The End of an Era - The Lancer Girl

Nearly 9 years ago she came into my life, a labrador black pearl of awesome. My 2006 Ralliart, Betty I sat behind the wheel with 5 kms on the odometer, little did I know what kind of adventures Betty and I would take on in the following ~190,000 kms she had. To some people, a car is just an appliance.. it got you from point A to point B. To me, my car… Betty, was a force… a spirit, a liberator……

[blair-block]

Find the silver lining...

Find the silver lining…

I’ve had about 9 hours of sleep total in the past 2 days. 9 hours of torture. I’ll be honest, not making it as far as I had wanted to in the tryout really really hit me hard, not just because I didn’t make it far… but it got into my head. The disappointment seeped into my brain, making me question every single aspect of who I am. Every. Single. Aspect. From how I trained, to what I looked like,…

[blair-block]

2 years.

This weekend, I get to see what 2 years of the grind looks like. I get to see what numerous derby games, countless bootcamps, and much sacrifice gets me. I get to go to my hometown and I get to leave it all on the track.. Derby ate my life, my soul and my relationship… and I don’t look back in regret. Sure, I probably should’ve…

[blair-block]

Moving like the speed of sound...

Moving like the speed of sound…

… feet can’t keep on the ground. Can’t stay in one place. Keep moving like a bullet train… … like a bullet train. Life moves quickly, summer moved so quickly. 46 days until Team Canada tryouts, and my life has been all but focused on that end point as of late. My life has gone through quite a bit of change this year, new derby team, new job.. new everything. I made the difficult decision to end a…

[blair-block]

A Decade of Destruction

A Decade of Destruction

I’ve kind of hummed and hawed over what I wanted to write here… turning 30 seems like this weird foreign thing that I haven’t quite wrapped my head around… but at the same time, age is only a number. If I could go back and have a conversation with myself on that 20th Birthday, I would tell myself a few things: Your real friends are the ones who stick around no matter what. No matter if you come…

[blair-block]

My Way Out

There’s this song that has expressed my relationship with skating since I first put skates on my feet over 10 years ago. My Way Out – David Usher Roller derby was by far not the first obsession I had with skates. First it was short-track, and this man: I could block this, or be blocked by this all day long.   I’ve written endlessly…

[blair-block]

Back at it again

Back at it again

Yep, it’s definitely been a while since I’ve blogged. You know those New Years resolutions that people tend to forget about weeks later, yeah.. that was one of them. Life just took over, scheduling all the roller derby, training for a triathlon, work, personal life… it’s been quite the busy year! I’ve been doing lots with roller derby, project life, training and cards and I hope that I can keep…

[blair-block]

Ear Candy: See You Again - Wiz Khalifa Feat. Charlie Puth

Ear Candy: See You Again – Wiz Khalifa Feat. Charlie Puth

Last Friday was the opening night of the long awaited latest chapter of the Fast & The Furious franchise. I, like many others, was curious to see how they would handle the passing of Paul Walker, aka Brian O’Conner. I wrote about Mr. Walker after his passing in 2013 (https://thelancergirl.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/the-fast-and-the-fu…

[blair-block]

Ear Candy: Bad Moon Rising - Mourning Ritual

Ear Candy: Bad Moon Rising – Mourning Ritual

I’ve been singing my praises over Google Play Music for nearly a year now. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to find so much amazing music as I’ve found over the year. The other day, while studying for an exam (and doing some creative writing at the same time), I decided to use Google Play Music’s radio feature on “All Along the…