You know you've been skating too much when.....

[Mrs Redboots]

When you are watching the [i:bff5f32ace][b:bff5f32ace]Party at the Palace[/b:bff5f32ace][/i:bff5f32ace] (which was either elderly songs or elderly rockers, or both, but from my point of view, none the worse for that) and delicious Tom Jones comes on and sings [i:bff5f32ace]"Sex Bomb"[/i:bff5f32ace] and your husband says, thoughtfully, "Hmm, wasn't that the one Plushenko did for his gala last year?"

:roll:

[Mel On Ice]

or when you go shopping for bathing suits and think "if I just put a skirt on that one-piece, I could skate in it!"

Any snippet of music is skateable and you wonder how you can mix Mozart with Devo to create a new program.

You start planning vacations and trips around adult workshops and invitationals.

You don't think it's the least bit odd that an adult would have a Skater Barbie sitting on your computer monitor.

[TashaKat]

- One of the senior consultants see's you walking down the corridor at work in your glitzy, glitterfest test outfit complete with illusion fabric, DOESN'T bat an eyelid but yells down the corridor at you "hi Lynne"
- You can't afford to buy a new outfit for your bosses leaving do on Friday but you CAN manage to save £650 for a new pair of boots!
- You live in either lycra or tracksuits
- You can no longer walk in heels
- You own more tan tights than any other colour
- You happily wear tan tights
- You have enough leotards to last for the next decade
- You buy an overlocker JUST to make chiffon skirts even though you're TOTALLY useless with a sewing maching
- You wear your new boots at work to start breaking them in and no-one says a word
- You are well known in the lingerie shop near to your workplace because you come to work straight from skating and invariably forget to pack your underwear (sad but true! my local shop assistants know my size, brand and colour preference!)
- You look at men NOT with an eye to marriage (even though you're single and the biological clock is ticking) but wonder if they would be willing to learn to skate .....

L x

[Chico]

Your car knows the way to the rink by itself. (I'm NOT joking. :wink: )

The janitor knows which skating bag is yours. Doesn't lock "your" locker-room for you.

Your rink personally emails you with rink updates and news.

You skated the 6:00 a.m. sessions last summer and plan on doing it AGAIN.

Skating pals worry about you if you miss a day or two of skating.

You don't buy new clothes, ONLY skating gear. (The dance shop knows you.)

You skate when sick, hurt, or have things that NEED to be done.

Chico

Could go on forever here.

[icenut84]

The Zamboni guy clocks you taking your skates off at 4pm and yells (from the Zamboni in the middle of the ice!) "You STILL here?!" Well, he [i:548badbc34]had[/i:548badbc34] seen me arive at 9am that morning...

You see the word "STOP" printed on the road and the two letters that jump out at you first are the S and the P. S&P. Geddit?

You are fully aware that S&P does not stand for Salt and Pepper and that camels can fly.

When you see the name Elvis, the last person your mind jumps to is the singer.

Even if you are ill, you can't stand the thought of missing skating.

You willingly travel an hour and a half each way to get fitted for and buy new skates (me today!) :mrgreen:

[Artistic Skaters]

You can still wear clean skatewear to all your practices even though it's been over 3 weeks since your last load of laundry. Just goes to show you how many years you've been collecting that wardrobe - at least it fits through several sizes ...

[Michigansk8er]

1. You practice jumps in the computer room at 6:00am (Hey, it's cold and reminds me of an ice rink!)

2. You go to bed at 9:00 so you can either be on the ice at 6:00am or in the cold computer room at 6:00am so you can get off work early enough for the 3:30 session.

3. To get familiar with your music you can sit at your desk with your program CD in your CD drive, and listen to the same cut of music over and over again all day long......then you get in your car and listen all of the way home.......and not get bored with it.

4. While other people have favorite outfits, you have favorite tights.

5. You take your skates on every vacation, because you never know when you might find a rink............and rentals are out of the question.

[Anita18]

I do three-turns on the floor when normal people just turn their heads, LOL...

I do off-ice jumps when I'm bored too...

Hmmmm..I'm sure I'll think of more later..

Anita

[Mel On Ice]

oh...! the abbreviation game! in my county, there are lots of cars with plates that read 000 FPM. Of course, the FPM could ONLY be Fusar-Poli and Margalio.

[Sk8Kate]

These are great... keep 'em coming!

When most of your friends/colleagues look at voluptuous 20-somethings in magazines and say "I wish I looked like that", you look at the twelve-year-olds on your freestyle session and wish you looked like THAT. (maybe that's just me!)

You justify your shopping sprees by saying "it's to wear to practice!"

To further the one re: living in either Lycra or track pants... I just changed out of my lycra and into my outfit for the day... yes, track pants.

You know how to apply false eyelashes and do a french braid(all those years of ice shows...)

You know that "salchow" isn't spelled "sowcow", and it drives you nuts when people spell or pronounce it incorectly.

You can never find pants that fit over bulky skating muscles!

[Mel On Ice]

ah, for precision skaters... you not only KNOW that fake buns do exist, but know where to purchase them within a 30 mile radius of your rink.

You don't blink an eye when purchasing 12 identical tubes of lipstick.

It doesn't phase you to say you had to be sewn into your dress to prevent bra strap exposure.

When someone says "light toast" you think of tights, not breakfast.

You know a mohawk is a turn, not a hairstyle, but wouldn't that look interesting while interpreting that new wave intrumental piece you found in the bargain bin?

[garyc254]

.... when the back seat of your van contains a skate bag, a water bottle, three sweatshirts (for variety), one sweater, two turtlenecks (variety again), and a jacket because you never know how cold the rink will be.

.... your glove compartment actually has an extra pair of skating gloves in it, along with extra boot laces.

.... you carry more medical supplies in your boot bag than you have in your medicine cabinet.

.... (for us guys) the only dress slacks you own are for weddings and funerals or for skating (or both).

Tip of the day: Carry a can of scented Lysol spray to ward off the "hockey" smell in rink locker rooms.

[emyh]

...when you scream with joy because you have *just* ordered a pair of brand new skates and you don't care how much it costs and how much you have to work to pay it off (and it costs a lot...)!

[Mel On Ice]

[quote:124048519f="garyc254"]Tip of the day: Carry a can of scented Lysol spray to ward off the "hockey" smell in rink locker rooms.[/quote:124048519f]

What was that scent Donna brought? Peach melba?

[garyc254]

[quote:afa3f5f548="Mel On Ice"][quote:afa3f5f548="garyc254"]Tip of the day: Carry a can of scented Lysol spray to ward off the "hockey" smell in rink locker rooms.[/quote:afa3f5f548]

What was that scent Donna brought? Peach melba?[/quote:afa3f5f548]

I'm not sure. :) I prefer "Fresh Linen".

[Chico]

That stupid little centered circles on the ice can send you into happy hysterics.

Crossing your free leg in the back scratch makes you scream with excitement. Skating pals scream too at the silly accomplishment for you, and they GET why they are screaming.

Chico

[Nikki Lee]

You skate in your mind's eye to every piece of music that you hear.
You dread leaving the rink for more than a day or two because it takes so long to get comfortable on the ice again.
You keep working on the ice even when it feels awful and you think that you will never be able to skate.
Skating comes first in the day; after that, you can work.

[Kelli]

You take a "day off" from organic chemistry and biology for a moves in the field test (hey, I did better on the moves test than in orgo, though I did pass both).

You won't stay out too late on Saturday nights (past, oh, 2 or 3 am) so that you can make it to your 10:45 session the next morning (I'm a college student, I'm used to not getting sleep).

Your friends know that Sunday morning brunch comes after you get back from the rink, and plan their wake-up schedules accordingly (again, the college thing, waking up at 12 is normal!).

[lrng to skt]

Oh GAWD!! I have soooo far to go 8O ...g

[NickiT]

When your 4 year old son becomes obsessed with zambonis. Honestly you can forget cars, trains or aeroplanes in our house, our little boy is forever pretending to drive the zamboni, paints pictures of zambonis and spends every second staring at the thing when he's at the rink but not on the ice!!!

Nicki

[Mrs Redboots]

[quote:0a6b40f6b4="NickiT"]When your 4 year old son becomes obsessed with zambonis. Honestly you can forget cars, trains or aeroplanes in our house, our little boy is forever pretending to drive the zamboni, paints pictures of zambonis and spends every second staring at the thing when he's at the rink but not on the ice!!!

Nicki[/quote:0a6b40f6b4]

If you go to http://www.zamboni.com you can order a T-shirt with "When I grow up, I want to drive the Zamboni" and various model Zambonis including a stuffed one! I ordered them for my coach's small son, equally obsessed, although the shipping to the UK cost more than the articles did, so I had to get them sent to a friend's house, and she very kindly brought them to the Mountain Cup for me.

[melanieuk]

[color=blue:46341e0c1a]

[list:46341e0c1a]I drive to the rink instead of my work.
I buy only skating clothes.
I do all possible moves on my wooden floor.
I do axels in the garden and think it's normal.
My feet don't resemble feet.
I suffer pain, rather than not skate.
All xmas & birthday gifts need to be skating related.
I spend more on boots and blades than I do on ordinary footwear in 10 years.
I cry when my skating upsets me, yet not at life's cruel events like deaths, marital disharmonies, family disagreements etc [/list:u:46341e0c1a]
[/color:46341e0c1a]

[TashaKat]

Can I add a couple of comments?

[quote:e6c54d8166="melanieuk"]

[list:e6c54d8166]I drive to the rink instead of my work - [color=blue:e6c54d8166]yeah, but it's nicer at the rink![/color:e6c54d8166]
I buy only skating clothes - [color=blue:e6c54d8166]and spend twice as much on them as you would 'normal' clothes AND think nothing about it![/color:e6c54d8166]
I do all possible moves on my wooden floor - [color=blue:e6c54d8166]including spins - what else were wooden floors made for?[/color:e6c54d8166]
I do axels in the garden and think it's normal - [color=blue:e6c54d8166]you do axels in your garden and your NEIGHBOURS think it's normal ;)[/color:e6c54d8166]
My feet don't resemble feet - [color=blue:e6c54d8166]and fake tan dyes your ankles a lovely orange colour no matter HOW much you exfoliate and moisturise! Not forgetting the pain of breaking in new boots but you persevere, shoes that rub a little are consigned to the back of the cupboard[/color:e6c54d8166]
I suffer pain, rather than not skate.
All xmas & birthday gifts need to be skating related.
I spend more on boots and blades than I do on ordinary footwear in 10 years - [color=blue:e6c54d8166]don't! I would love to buy some Jimmy Choo's or Blahniks but dismiss them as too expensive![/color:e6c54d8166]
I cry when my skating upsets me, yet not at life's cruel events like deaths, marital disharmonies, family disagreements etc [/list:u:e6c54d8166][/quote:e6c54d8166]

[icenut84]

[quote:a1619d0652="melanieuk"][color=blue:a1619d0652]My feet don't resemble feet.[/color:a1619d0652][/quote:a1619d0652]

Lol!

[icenut84]

I thought of another. I was in rehersals for a play earlier this year with friends from my theatre class. We were sort of in between stuff and suddenly someone said "Um, Rachel, what are you doing?" I looked up and they were staring at me and laughing - I had been practicing an outside mohawk sequence on the floor. :mrgreen: Probably looked a bit strange! lol. I've been known to scare people (in said rehearsals) by practicing waltz jumps on the stage too, trying to get them as big as possible. I would SO have loved to launch into a double axel or something! lol

[Yazmeen]

Shoes are bought more for comfort level than for looks (3 inch heels? Who are you kidding???--not unless there will be a blade attached)...
After a session at the rink, you go to the bank, the store, etc. wearing not only your skating dress and tights, but with your crash pads still in place...and the strange looks you get from people never bother you--in fact, you don't notice anymore.
Your skating jewelry is now amongst your most precious pieces, like your engagement ring and wedding pearls.
You bore your brother to death with e-mails about skating--sufficient payback for all those breathless missives about his motorcycle collection (all of them named--I still don't know which one is Banshee, which one is L'il One, which one is Kennedy etc. Geez, I guess I should have named my boots and blades??)
You go to your lesson despite a late night working, and have a perfectly smashing good lesson.
You rope you best friend into helping out with costume repair at a competition a couple of years ago, and she's now an ISI competitive skater currently at Beta level.
It doesn't occur to you that there are going to be limitations to what you can do at age 44--you want to learn everything you can, even if it takes forever.
Friends/co-workers no longer ask if you are "still" skating...instead they ask how your skating is going.

Beth

[batikat]

You answer the phone at 9am on a Saturday and the guy on the other end apologises in case he's got you out of bed. You tell him you are just back from the skating rink. He tells you he is Canadian and skated as a child - you spend 10 mins talking about skating and then discover he's in a call centre and actually rang to ask you to switch Energy companies (Lots of this about in the UK). You agree to think about it since he is a skater even though you'd normally put the phone down on cold callers!

You visit 'Claires Accessories' - a shop aimed at 8-18yr old girls and you buy the most outrageous spangly hair things and they are NOT for your 10yr old daughter.

You don't do housework because it wastes time that you could be skating.
Your house is a total mess but you don't care because you are at the rink!

[wannask8]

The phone numbers for the rink and your husband’s office have the first few numbers in common and you frequently dial the rink by mistake when you meant to call your husband (don’t tell him I do this!!).

-- wannask8

[Anita18]

[quote:f41892777e="Chico"]That stupid little centered circles on the ice can send you into happy hysterics.

Crossing your free leg in the back scratch makes you scream with excitement. Skating pals scream too at the silly accomplishment for you, and they GET why they are screaming.

Chico[/quote:f41892777e]

GASP! I do this all the time! Nothing gets me happier than a good spin day! :D :D :D :D Hehe, and people think I'm weird too! :D