sweets or lump of coal? 12/22 - 12/29

[flo]

What's in your stocking?

Sweets: had a nice practice tonight with partner. The throws were like flying, and the death spirals are going well.

coal: no skating till next week.

[Stormy]

This is for yesterday.

Sweet: Almost landed about 10 double toes!! One was really close and then I fell. I haven't been able to do them in weeks so I was happy with the attempts. Double sals are still an epic fail, all I do is two foot them. I did a couple of good axels. There's still practically no distance on them, but the takeoff and landing is clean now, at least.

Lump of coal: There a few spots in my new chorography I just can't get down. Hopefully she'll be open to tweaking them tonight!

[Mel On Ice]

sweets: I executed all of the freestyle elements for my part in the Christmas show number, along with my girls, one of which is flying~camel, who posts here too.

coal: that's it for me and freestyle elements until the baby is born. I'm at 17 1/2 weeks and while I still have plenty of oomph in my jumps, they are now becoming less about sureness of edge and position and more about cat-like reflexes to reach the ground in vertical position.

But the overwhelming deciding factor was my body's reaction to spins - I was showing off last week to a couple of the teen girls we skate with. They thought I looked so cute with my little bump and wondered how it affected my skating. I said outside of losing the lutz and camel, everything else was good, and thought I'd show off a sit spin. Bad move - my heart rate shot straight up and I was lightheaded and wobbly coming out. In the show, I did a scratch spin and pulled out pretty quickly as the same thing happened.

It's MIF for a month and a half until I kick myself off the ice. My mom, the anxious grandma to be, is pleased that I made this decision so early, and that I did it on my terms instead of being nagged off the ice.

[dbny]

CONGRATULATIONS

to Renatele on passing her Juvenile MIF!!!

[mikawendy]

Congrats, Renatale!

[Kim to the Max]

Congratulations Renatele!!!!

[FallDownGoBoom]

Sweets: After many months away from the forum, I'm so pleased to be back. My skating was sporadic after April or so, and I had nothing to contribute to the conversation.* Now, however, my edges, jumps, spins -- everything -- are so much more solid and confident, and it all came back (and then some) in just six weeks or so of steady work. Also, I've totally relearned how to stroke.

Coal: My year-old skates still look new. If you ain't fallin', you ain't tryin'. So here's to plenty of leather scrapes and cuts in the new year.


*Plus you wouldn't believe what we've been through with the lovely greyhound we adopted in June. Compound fracture + surgery + $5,000 and counting = UGH!

[jazzpants]

YAAAAAAY, renatele!!! No more cross strokes!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

(unlike ME, who is STILL trying to figure out the back cross strokes, even thought they are only SLIGHTLY better than back in October. Speaking of which...)

Sweets:
Okay, I really shouldn't complain too much about those back cross strokes. Sure there's still not that much power going into it, but at least NOW I'm moving down the length of the rink and not slowing down to a grinding halt!!! :twisted:

Lump of coals:
Forward cross strokes need practice!!! BADLY!!! Same with the CW forward crossovers too. And same with that footwork that I'm doing on my artistic program, though it's not as bad as it used to be now. There are glimpses of glory though where my bad side is almost as good as my good side on those on the stroking part. I'll conquer this! :twisted:

Sweets:
I got back all of my jumps!!! Of course, the half axel thing doesn't count since I haven't GOTTEN it in the first place!!! :lol:

I had more glimpses of glory on those camel spins.

Lump of coals:
My sit spin! On the pressures of my last lesson with my NYC coach, I felt I had to get down my sit spin low enough that he will see that there is progress and he knows that I'm practicing what he assigned me. Well, I got down, but I can't seem to STAY down w/o going on my butt. I know. It's progress since last year I wouldn't even go down on my BUTT on this one. But there were some moments of glory here as well as I do get down to about 1 or 2 rev. on the "shoot the duck" position that I'm trying for.

All this happened on a much emptier morning public session. The mid-afternoon public session was a MOB SCENE!!! 8O I did managed to get on though and skate.

Sweets:
Now why, oh why would I want to knowingly go into a mob scene of a public session, especially since I just skated on a quieter public session just a few hours before? Well... this (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1071910&l=d61b2&id=641673933) should tell 'ya why!!! :halo: (If you're not on Facebook and you can't see this, lemme know and I'll put up a link on flickr or something...)

And yes, it was well worth!! I got to pass on my message from my NYC coach to him... and apparently he will be in NYC again on the 28th while I'm still visiting there. (I don't know if he's skating at CP again, NoVa... :twisted: )

[renatele]

Thank you, all!

YAAAAAAY, renatele!!! No more cross strokes!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:


But... I rather LIKE cross-strokes, at least the backward ones!
LOL :)

[jazzpants]

But... I rather LIKE cross-strokes, at least the backward ones!
LOL :)But I HATE THEM!!! :twisted: (Yeah, yeah!!! I should have known better than to say that since you SHOWED me your back cross strokes and I thought there were definitely passable then. :P I see from your blog that it was the 3's that you were most nervous about. That said, you did JUST FINE with those!!! :twisted:

YAAAAAY!!! CONGRATS CONGRATS CONGRATS!!! Definitely earned some rest now!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

[Stormy]

Lump of coal first: There was traffic everywhere so I missed 10 minutes of my 45 minute chorography lesson last night. I also managed to catch my pick and take one of those awful sprawling falls and I hit my left elbow, hip and knee. That one hurt. My knee is all scraped and bruised. And those falls are just emparrasing too.

Sweet: Finished my footwork sequence and she agreed to make some of easier since the spiral sequence is first anyways and that will be a higher level than the footwork. It's still tough footwork for me, though. :giveup: Worked on the spiral sequence a bit to make sure it's changing edge in the exact right spot.

She also gave me a little skate ornament as a Christmas gift which I love. I wasn't sure whether or not to get her anything since we'd only been working together a few weeks so I didn't have anything for her. She said her birthday is in a couple weeks so I'll get her something for that.

[RachelSk8er]

Lump of coal first: There was traffic everywhere so I missed 10 minutes of my 45 minute chorography lesson last night. I also managed to catch my pick and take one of those awful sprawling falls and I hit my left elbow, hip and knee. That one hurt. My knee is all scraped and bruised. And those falls are just emparrasing too.

Sweet: Finished my footwork sequence and she agreed to make some of easier since the spiral sequence is first anyways and that will be a higher level than the footwork. It's still tough footwork for me, though. :giveup: Worked on the spiral sequence a bit to make sure it's changing edge in the exact right spot.

She also gave me a little skate ornament as a Christmas gift which I love. I wasn't sure whether or not to get her anything since we'd only been working together a few weeks so I didn't have anything for her. She said her birthday is in a couple weeks so I'll get her something for that.

Ouch. Those falls are the worst :(

And I totally left your gift, which was going to go out in the mail today, at home on the kitchen table along with my coach's gift and my lunch when I ran out the door this morning. Grrgh.

Lump of coal:

Freakin stupid !@($#* axel. That's all we worked on today. Drill after drill after drill at 6am. Take off drills. Landing drills. Same awful, frustrating lesson we've had before. I know what I need to do, my body just does not do it and it's so incredibly frustrating. I hate his drills, I'm more scared doing it from a standstill or slow LFO lobe than "my way" of just going for it when he's not around (but obviously my way hasn't been working), and it feels like a stupid jump I almost had a few weeks ago has taken a huge step back. My coach is a saint for putting up with my frustration, I feel bad because it seems like he keeps having to tell me the same thing over and over and over again...at one point I looked at him (trying not to cry) and said "Chris, this is the point where I need you to remind me that a year ago I couldn't even do a back scratch spin or whatever other words of encouragement it takes to try to make me feel better." And he of course reminded me that now I do flying camels.

If only axels (and skating in general) were more like my "intellectual" pursuits. Law school? Piece of cake. Work? A breeze. A stupid jump that in reality is only 1.08x around in the air? Heck, I might as well be trying to climb Mount Everest, that would probably be easier for me.

[Skate@Delaware]

Sweets: No skating today, but I got a reply from my coach about my music and I have competition music!!!! This actually happened backwards, as we usually pick music first then the dress.....but I saw the dress on ebay and I had to grab it quick!

So, it is Shakira's "Eyes Like Yours" in the instrumental version. Of course, it will be cut down to 1:30-1:40...... :roll:

[Rusty Blades]

Lump of Coal: We shut down last week until January.

Sweets: Got an email from the head coach this morning saying we nowo have ice next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday WAHOO!

(Guess I should email my coach and tell her she can't go to Jamaica next week 'cause I want a lesson LOL!)

[Mrs Redboots]

Lump of coal: Thrown jumps! It's not the jump so much as the 3-turn in Kilian hold first. Which I am finding impossible (where does the man go?)... so we have to practice that, not that we have any practice time before next lesson, as there is no skating this week.

Sweets: Pairs spin working better than ever. Most of the time....

[doubletoe]

Now that work is winding down and the freestyle sessions are emptier, I'm not only getting into the holiday spirit but I'm actually enjoying skating this week more than I have in awhile. . . :D

SWEETS
We got a 2-hour adult freestyle session on Sunday instead of just one hour, so I didn't feel rushed and uptight like I normally do (trying to practice everything and get a decent program run-through in in one hour is stressful for me). It has been awhile since I've had a chance to just play on the ice and I finally did, which was SOOOO nice! The best part was that I actually made some good headway on that LBO I-spiral I've only had the guts to try on the floor up to now! Other than chickening out of one axel takeoff (I get spooked on axel takeoffs whenever I see someone out of the corner of my eye), I also skated a clean program.
On this morning's 6:30am freestyle there were only 5 of us on the ice, which was lovely! I had my MIF lesson and also gave out my Christmas cards and gifts to my coaches, which put me in the holiday spirit. :)
Novice MIF quick rocker chocktaw end pattern was just fine CW and finally starting to get better CCW.

LUMPS OF COAL
The Novice MIF back rocker-chocktaw sequence down the length of the rink makes me feel like an idiot and I still sometimes exit wrong on the bracket-3-bracket pattern. :frus: I'm also working on the lutz from a bracket-3-bracket setup but it's hard to get outflow on the landing from that entry. I'll keep at it. . .

[stacyf419]

Lumpy coal: Is it possible or probable that I pulled an abdominal muscle while working on the loop yesterday? It's on my right side - same side as my takeoff/landing leg. It hurts to breathe, laugh, sit up, or lie down. Yay. :(

Sweets: I'm 99% sure that I'm going to Adult Easterns! A real yay now! :)

[celticprincess]

Good to be back after a couple weeks hiatus! Overall not a bad session, but I didn't have my goals or to do list written out to follow, so basicly I improvised.


Sweets:
-All single jumps!:D
-My 'It's possible spin'...flying broken leg into sit into a back sit.8-)
-My F!#@%in double salchow is getting better..and closer
-My scratch spins were surprisingly cooperating today!
-Didn't really fall today..had perhaps one when I was spinning, but nothing major.
-My back twizzly things were also behaving today
-Not to many people were on the ice..so thats always good.


Coal:
-My stupid axel..it just wasn't working today:twisted:
-My camel could have been better..yet it wasn't horrific and I wasn't jumping out of it.:roll:
-I was having issues with my skates at the begining of the session and thus messed up my bracket pattern.
-Tried a double toe and ended up doing one of those things where you'd try to jump, but your feet dont really want to leave the ice.
-Not landing my F!@#%in double salchow even though I tried it like ten times..yet I realize what I do wrong...I dont really jump. Its more of a small leap which doesnt provide the air I need to get up and spin...though I have th rotation and idea of that jump...one of these days.:frus:
-Im down to my two last skating days until I have to give it up to go to Massage Therapy school...well I must make the best of it then.


I suppose thats it, maybe I Sat I'll have a written down list of 'To dos' so Im not going around and improvising. I mean it was fun, but I dont feel like I worked as hard as I normally do..despite the fact that I am sore.

[niupartyangel]

sweets - spirals are getting better, keeping my skating knee straight (i have to consciously think about "straighten the knee, straighten the knee!) when i get into the position :P...even on the left leg, which is my weaker side. Toe loop and one foot spin are also improving and coach is pleased. she said the spin is okay, we are just on the fine tuning part now which is waaaaay past where i was a year and a half ago (yes it took me that long for the 1 foot spin!).

lump of coal - salchow wasn't cooperating last saturday...i am not getting the knee through and my free leg was kinda flailing around instead of keeping it straight and low to the ice during the three turn. change foot spin--well let's just say when it comes to the first change foot part, i just kinda sway around and nothing happens!

[coskater64]

Sweets:
Have managed to learn 3 gold dances, V, arge, and quick. Will I remember them? Who knows!!

Skating is progressing slowly but surely, jumps are still missing and lacking height but they will show up eventually.

Manged back camel-front camel-back camel, just need a little more snap going to the front camel. This is not the step and recenter back to forward camel it is the stay in the same spot series of camels.

Continue working on choctaws and getting the to be deeper and trying to get them quicker. This could take a while. Sigh....:halo:

[ibreakhearts66]

Sweets
-Was jumping fairly well today through double flip.
-Moves are going well. I'm feeling ready for my test January 10th

Lump of Coal
-Skates were making my ankle bleed and I forgot my bunga pad. I got blood in my new boots :( But someone had a bunga pad that I was able to wear for the second half to the session.
-2lutzes weren't as solid as they usually are today.
-2axels are still stuck at about 1/4-1/3 of a turn short :frus::frus::frus:

[Thin-Ice]

(SNIP) *Plus you wouldn't believe what we've been through with the lovely greyhound we adopted in June. Compound fracture + surgery + $5,000 and counting = UGH!

Oh you WONDERFUL people... it's great when people go to rescue organizations to help animals who would otherwise not have homes. There's a special place in heaven or whatever you believe may comes after this life for people who do what you're doing. I hope you and your "baby" have a long and happy life together!:):D

[Thin-Ice]

I rather LIKE cross-strokes, at least the backward ones!

In that case, please send some of your magic to the Bay Area.... because I'm with Jazzpants on this one... I hate back cross strokes.. I can maintain flow (for Adult Silver MIF) but now I need to gain power for the Juvenile test version. I promise to share them with Jazzpants!!! (all in the holiday spirit)

Oh and CONGRATULATIONS!!! on YOUR Juvenile Moves test!!! Feeling ready to take that test (not even necessarily passing it) is my goal for 2009!

[renatele]

In that case, please send some of your magic to the Bay Area.... because I'm with Jazzpants on this one... I hate back cross strokes.. I can maintain flow (for Adult Silver MIF) but now I need to gain power for the Juvenile test version. I promise to share them with Jazzpants!!! (all in the holiday spirit)

Oh and CONGRATULATIONS!!! on YOUR Juvenile Moves test!!! Feeling ready to take that test (not even necessarily passing it) is my goal for 2009!

Thanks!

Little confession: I used to absolutely hate the backward ones, they used to be dreadful... going nowhere, slowing down. What has changed it for me: lean. Lots of lean. Also, I don't know how you do them, but I've been taught to almost do a back power-pull at the end of BO edge before setting the free foot down.

[Isk8NYC]

Congratulations, Renatele!

[Terri C]

Sweets: I'm 99% sure that I'm going to Adult Easterns! A real yay now! :)


It's a 100% sure for me..... I registered online for that today!!
Not much to write about skating wise this week.I've been in a slump of sorts the last week or so with the jumps.
Hope to get out of the funk next week since I registered for Adult Easterns today and will register for AN tomorrow!

[Thin-Ice]

Thanks!

Little confession: I used to absolutely hate the backward ones, they used to be dreadful... going nowhere, slowing down. What has changed it for me: lean. Lots of lean. Also, I don't know how you do them, but I've been taught to almost do a back power-pull at the end of BO edge before setting the free foot down.

COOL! I'll have to try that. Thanks for the advice! And I still promise to share with Jazzpants.

[kander]

Lump of Coal: I've got literal lumps...as in all over my body :cry: I had a really nasty fall about a week ago (It still hurts). My spins have gone completely awol. I'm breaking in a new pair of boots and it's killing my feet. I think my Bridgpointe curse has moved to Yerba Buena (Jazz'll get that one)

Sweets: I've managed to land at least one axel in each session over the last couple weeks. Ironically the jump that was non-existent not very long ago is now one of my more reliable ones.

[Skate@Delaware]

Sweets: went skating today! Altho it was public session, it wasn't too bad at the first half so I got my jumps out of the way and most of the kids stayed out of the center so I could work on spins and such.

Lump of coal: didn't get a chance to work on my toe-loop, 1/2 lutz, or loop jumps; didn't get to work on my backspin or back-3's either because of the crowd.

Sweets: It was still fun and I skated for 1.5 hours! Then I went home and....

Lump of coal: worked out because I haven't done so in about 2 weeks (my bad). I will feel it tomorrow (actually feel it now, I'm dead tired).

[jazzpants]

Sweets:
Seeing my NYC coach again after a LOOOONG year.

Lump of coal:
Sadly the only day that I will see him this year. Our schedule does not mesh after today. :cry:

Sweets:
Me doing twizzles turning CW...

Lump of coal:
Me trying to do twizzles turning CCW... keep slipping off the edge unless I really concentrate and do smaller circles...

My "lazy free foot." Yup! Got the gloves out and swat it/them into submission!!! :lol:

Sweets:
He liked my jumps up to flip (inclusive!!!) We worked mainly on presentation! He especially LOVED that I'm trying hard to undo my toe-waltz and do a toe LOOP instead.

He gave me the biggest compliment of the year... that he said out of all the years that he's worked with me, THIS year is where he sees the most progress out of me!!! He's QUITE happy with the changes this year!

What he got for Christmas from me... he got a box of one of my favorite chocolate (http://www.cocoabella.com/)!!! :yum: He better share them with his gf... :twisted:

HIM, of course!!! What a sweetie he is!!! http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/liebe/n010.gif

[Kim to the Max]

[Sweets]
Got to skate twice while I was visiting my mom...and got to catch up with one of the coaches I was close with here in Milwaukee and am going to get the e-mail address of a former coach who now lives in Hawaii.

Axels are feeling better, still not landed, but I can feel that I am crossing my legs now! I had a couple today that were pretty much fully rotated, but I am doing some funky land on one foot, put the other foot down thing...

Really worked on double sals today. They weren't as good as a few weeks ago, but I was really working on doing my single sal/loop and jumping through with my toe and not my heel. And also when trying the double, making sure I am not taking off too soon off of the back inside edge.

Spins are feeling really good.

Moves are actually feeling good. It is time to start getting them ready to test. Coach has talked about testing them in February...

[Lump of Coal]
I was really hoping that I would start landing my axel clean before the new year and with very limited ice next week, I don't see that happening :( They are soooo close though!!

I had forgotten how busy the ice at the Pettit Center can get. There were probably 25 skaters on the ice, with about half of them working on double axels....I think I am spoiled with my sparse sessions in Syracuse! But...in Syracuse we have A LOT of little skaters who do not know how to move, which I think was the difference with the session I was on today...everyone knew to watch and move.

The second pattern of the Novice Moves (Quick Rocker/Choctaw) is still giving me fits. Now I can do the steps relatively well, but I am pulling it out too far and hitting the wall. Even on the rink I was on today which is longer and wider! Ugh!!

There isn't much ice in Syracuse next week...the campus rink is closed for the week between Christmas and New Years, there is only morning ice at my usual rink (I'll go Monday and Friday...not Wednesday as we still have Synchro practice from 10-11:30pm), so I may end up going to the city rink a couple of times just to get a few hours in. Maybe work on those moves a little more...maybe a few axels :)

[*JennaD*]

sweets: During my last skate before the holidays, I did about 4 fully rotated double loops! Except I fell on 2 of them and 2 footed the other two of them...but I'm still overjoyed :D

lump of coal: no skating until the first week of January :??

[jazzpants]

Sweets:


The people at the Christmas NYC meetup!!! :bow:
Skating at Rink A at Aviator. Rink B is the hard hockey ice! Rink A is MUUUUUCH better ice for figure skating!!! :mrgreen:
All jumps up to and including the lutz. Okay, at least 3 of the lutzes were landed cleanly. I can't say that they are good lutzes though... :halo:
One side of the forward cross strokes were growling... The skating director at Aviator definitely noticed b/c I had this weird feeling that I was being "watched"...
Alt. Forward Crossovers - Incorporated some of the stuff that I went over with my NYC coach. One of the other coaches there had a younger student going and blasted this weird rap music in order to get her to move faster on hers. Well, it got me to go faster... :P And I did hear some more growls too!!!
I heard growling too on the forward power pulls!!! Not consistently but I'm getting some growls on the edges. More "sweet music" -- especially to my choreographer's ears!!! (He's the KING of grrrrroooowling edge!!! He's always hitting me up for growling edges!!!)
dbny claims I definitely have a REAL sit spin now. :bow:


Lump of Coal: :giveup:


The other side is still a pain but at least I'm lessening the toe pick sounds more... I have a feeling I got to do my CW forward "cross behind" stroking exercise again...
Back 3's at slowly speed on the blue line, good! Back 3's with speed on the Silver Moves 3's pattern....NOT so good...
Too bad I still do backspins on the inside edge!!! But I'm still trying to fix that... (Primary coach would be okay with it... IF I had 3 good back sits before that and THEN changing it to an inside edge!!! :twisted: )

[AgnesNitt]

lump of coal Today I had a terrible case of 'coach eyes'. For those of you who have not experienced this, this is when your coach looks at your from across the rink--even if you don't know it--and you fall, catch a toepick, or flub a move. Conversely, during a lesson, 'coach eyes' is when your coach glances away and you do the move perfectly!
Also, skated on dead ice--the zamboni was out of action and there wasn't any cut after skate school. How do those little kid dig up so much snow and tear up so much ice? Also the nets STILL coming up in the middle.
Sweets Mohawks are smoother.

[looplover]

Sweets: Made it to my annual skate at Wollman this year! Decent weather and found parking because I got there so early. Had one goal for that session, to memorize new footwork sequence, which I did. It wasn't great, but I can show up to my lesson next week...:halo:

Wollman is so pretty.

Lump of coal: Wollman is so pretty but I always skate poorly there for some reason. I think because I'm never sure where to place anything during freestyles since the rink is a triangle, ha. I am too concerned with staying out of the way of lessons/programs. I didn't jump all that much and most of my sit spins were junky. OOH and had the click of death while trying to do new footwork and look at my notes at the same time. Not too bad of a fall though, whew! Also coal because I couldn't make it to the meetup! Next time!

[RachelSk8er]

[Sweets]
Got to skate twice while I was visiting my mom...and got to catch up with one of the coaches I was close with here in Milwaukee and am going to get the e-mail address of a former coach who now lives in Hawaii.

Axels are feeling better, still not landed, but I can feel that I am crossing my legs now! I had a couple today that were pretty much fully rotated, but I am doing some funky land on one foot, put the other foot down thing...

Really worked on double sals today. They weren't as good as a few weeks ago, but I was really working on doing my single sal/loop and jumping through with my toe and not my heel. And also when trying the double, making sure I am not taking off too soon off of the back inside edge.

Spins are feeling really good.

Moves are actually feeling good. It is time to start getting them ready to test. Coach has talked about testing them in February...

[Lump of Coal]
I was really hoping that I would start landing my axel clean before the new year and with very limited ice next week, I don't see that happening :( They are soooo close though!!

I had forgotten how busy the ice at the Pettit Center can get. There were probably 25 skaters on the ice, with about half of them working on double axels....I think I am spoiled with my sparse sessions in Syracuse! But...in Syracuse we have A LOT of little skaters who do not know how to move, which I think was the difference with the session I was on today...everyone knew to watch and move.

The second pattern of the Novice Moves (Quick Rocker/Choctaw) is still giving me fits. Now I can do the steps relatively well, but I am pulling it out too far and hitting the wall. Even on the rink I was on today which is longer and wider! Ugh!!

There isn't much ice in Syracuse next week...the campus rink is closed for the week between Christmas and New Years, there is only morning ice at my usual rink (I'll go Monday and Friday...not Wednesday as we still have Synchro practice from 10-11:30pm), so I may end up going to the city rink a couple of times just to get a few hours in. Maybe work on those moves a little more...maybe a few axels :)

I competed at Pettit once (synchro mids were there wayyyyyyyy back in 1994), it was so cool having to get off the competition ice but then skate halfway around on the speed skating oval to get to the locker rooms. And they did our award ceremony on the speed skating oval.

How long have you been skating @ Tennity? I was there from Fall 03-May 05, I wonder if I ever met you? I was on the SU synchro team, didn't do freestyle back then, but I'd go to the rink to skate around and procrastinate when I should have been studying. Since it's pretty much closed to anyone not affiliated w/the university, there was only one other adult skater who was around fairly regularly, can't remember her name but she was REALLY fit with short hair. And there was a tall dark haired guy in his 20s who I've seen at the past few ANs.

Having to go from "Syracuse ice" to "normal sessions" when I graduated and moved really took some getting used to. I'm lucky that early morning ice at my rink is equally empty, but our Saturday sessions are a zoo.

[blue111moon]

My cousin and his family are visiting from VA this week and they wanted to go skating. We trekked to Boston (another request) and went skating at the outdoor rink at the Frog Pond on Boston Common. It wasn't as crowded as I expected it would be but since it was in the low 60s this afternoon, the ice was very very wet.

Still:

Sweets: I spent 45 minutes on the ice, the longest I've been on skates since last June. I can't say it was wonderful or pain-free but I did it! So I'm happy.

And my cousin's two kids ages 14 and 17 had a blast, even on the crappy rental skates they got. I wish I could get the older one (a boy!) into lessons; he's got nice soft knees and he was picking up skills just watching people. His sister is a little more timid but she was doing pretty well by the time her ankles gave out from the lousy skates. Even their parents got out there so it was a fun family day.

Lumps: Well, no one fell so we had no actually lumps or bumps or bruises. And while my ankle did better than I'd expected it to, it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, and now it's still sore. I don't think my Physical Therapist is going to be too hapy with me tomorrow morning.

And I could not step onto the right outside edge at all. I think I'm going to have to get that boot punched out over the ankle in a major way - or get new boots.

[singerskates]

Lump Of Coal: No figure skating ice available to me until January 5th, 2008.

Canadian Public Skating means no figure skating moves allowed and that was all that was available to me since December 17, 2008.

Only have made it to 2 Public Skating sessions during Christmas holidays because of family gatherings.

Sweets: Was able to sneak 4 figure skating moves on public skating session today.

3 upright spins (2 corkscrews and 1 basic) although there wasn't any room to exit the spins properly nor could I risk spinning at my usual speed so that I could see the traffic of the other 200 skaters on what is a rink half the size of an NHL size rink. I also didn't risk spinning longer than 5 revs in case some hockey type racer skater decided to skate through the middle or a little kid got too curious.

While existing the ice at the end of the session, I did a nice high toe loop which had good speed going in and out but that was all I had time to sneak.

How many more days until January 5th, 2008? Skating withdrawals are getting to me. I want to get back to perfecting my Loop, Flip and Lutz and working on regaining my Camel and Backspin! I miss really spinning and jumping on ice bad!

[Stormy]

Total lump of coal here! Yesterday my coach asked me if I minded her taking another girl during my lesson time because she hadn't finished her exhibition program (for Thursday's show). Normally, I probably wouldn't care, but she's leaving for Hawaii for two weeks on Wednesday, and not getting a lesson for three weeks REALLY irks the crap out of me. And the fact she added on "because you're getting lessons from that other girl" was even more annoying. My choreography lessons have nothing to do with my jumping and spinning lessons. I said it was fine since what else was I supposed to say to that, but she could tell from the look on my face I wasn't thrilled. :x

[Rusty Blades]

Okay, who the hxll ate my post! Fess up! 8O I posted this morning and now it's gone!

LUMP LUMP LUMP!!!! I INTENDED to skate today since this week's ice was an unexpected bonus (we were supposed to be shut down until January 5! )

I was at the rink by 6:15 (as usual), warmed up and stretched in the lobby (since I couldn't find the key to the ref's room), put the music on, and booted up while maintenance gave us a lovely flood. I took to the ice and quickly realized something wasn't right. Sure wasn't! I was skidding on my right outside edge. Strange; must have something stuck on my blade. Wiped it off - same thing. Took my right skate off and had a good look at the blade. @$#%$# uneven edges!!!

I do precision skate sharpening for a select few competitive skaters and senior coaches and I would NEVER let that happen - I check everything six-ways-come-Sunday when I do skates for someone else but, on my own skates, I guess I got sloppy. That wont happen again!

So anyway I packed it in after only 15 minutes this morning. Sure as heck, if I continued to skate, I would forget I had no right outside edge and end up on my backside!

Anyway, that's my story and I am sticking to it!