when situations get just a little too awkward, conor always comes up with the appropriate saying to provide an exit strategy.

the windy city rollers have trading cards for the 2012 season (designed by yours truly). packs will be available for sale at all games at the UIC Pavilion. collect them all! but for now, have a taste.

who better to quote than your own friends. this one is from our friend boom. our favorite piece of clothing that he owns is a bright yellow safety hoodie. once we were lost in a corn maze, but we always knew where to find him.

my extremely talented and good friend sam alcarez drew a portrait of me with my dream dog. some day, i'll have a corgi and we'll have many great adventures. sigh.

i act sometimes. get your tickets for the january 28th pre-season charity bout at windycityrollers.com.

treat yo'self 2012. click the image above to download the desktop version.

it's a new year, and that means the rollers are ready. here is the new poster we developed for the season and we are pretty proud of it. take a look.

pillow wig by Joo Youn Paek

i love reading the labels when getting a new helmet. i am reminded that no matter how safe i think i can be by wearing it, it doesn't guarantee that tripping on my own skate and falling backwards will prevent a concussion.

a concussion, as much as i have been wanting to deny it, is a traumatic brain injury. recovering from it isn't something i can just throw a bag of ice on and deal with later. it's been a while now. i am slowing getting back into the swing of things. while recovering, i've learned new disciplines like sitting silently in dark rooms and forcing myself to think about nothing. i wondered how monks meditate for hours on end and have become fascinated by how people live in the middle of nowhere and enjoy having nothing to do.

then i turned on myself, and started asking larger questions that are easy to ignore when so busy.

now that you can't do anything, what can you really do?

i've started a list. no more new year's resolutions. no more 5-year plans. this list is very much about things i need to now or never. when the skies finally clear inside my head and i can see straight to the sun, i'll strap on my new helmet and start again.