I should have gone swimming

What name did you sign? I once went to a baseball game with one of DH's prankster friends. There were about 20 of us in scattered seats in the section. He had us keep coming up to him and asking for an autograph. After the third time, people sitting near him started asking for an autograph. They figured he was some celebrity that they didn't recognize. Little did they know that "Andy Y" was just playing with their heads. lol

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Lump! The ice was unusually crowded this morning - 8 skaters is "crowded" on our 7 a.m. session - apparently we have the ONLY ice in the area over the Christmas week.

Lumpy: Worked WAY too hard over the Christmas break, it wasn't my best skate - I was STIFF as can be!

Pretty: Worked on upright spins - some were actually GOOD and looked like a real skater did them!

Lump: Sit spins stink! just wasn't getting them centred today

Pretty: Waltz/Toe combinations - some really popped up nice, just have to get them away from the boards!

Also decided to switch to a dress for practice (if it isn't bitterly cold) - more freedom of movement than slacks.

Pretty: Actually didn't freeze any vital parts this morning - a few expendable parts but nothing vital.

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Pretty Gifts:

• I finally got on the ice!
• I had my first lesson with my NYC coach!!!
• NYC coach noticed that my (CCW anyway) crossovers have improved! (To the point where he says "You know how to do this! You're just being lazy!!! I'm gonna tell your coaches on you! ")
• HelenC was also on the ice w/ me....and she also says my crossovers have improved too. (Thank goodness! My secondary coach and I have worked on this for ages and she would kill me if I didn't make any improvements on those.)
• I showed NYC coach my loop and my brackets. Not great, but both were there. (Thank goodness!!! )

Lump Of Coal:

• Of course, on the loop and the backspin, there is still work to do. Have to go and close the legs in.
• My lower back on my landing side is sore. That's why my loop wasn't that great today. But at least he sees that I'm landing those loops clean now... and NYC coach gave me one more thing to help me improve on them. (He wants me to close my legs in. We did back power 3's to practice the position to close my free leg in.)
• Have to put on hip pads on the next lesson -- he's gonna put me on the evil harness! . (I'm sure secondary coach is gonna love seeing this. )

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Pretty Gifts:

Actually got to go skating today!! I was a little stiff getting after not skating since last week Friday So it took me a little while to get going...but, it was really nice to be on the ice now, let's see if the weather cooperates for me to be able to go Saturday or Sunday...or maybe even Monday before I leave to go back to Syracuse, NY.

I saw a coach I haven't seen since 1999...it was cool to see her reaction to seeing me on the ice...and the fact that she says that I still look the same and I don't look like I've gotten any older

I also saw someone I used to skate with...didn't get a chance to talk with her, but it was still good to see some familiar faces among the new kids...although, many of the coaches were still the same!

Jumps and spins were decent...skating here in Milwaukee, where there are a lot of dedicated skaters (landing up to double axel and working on triples), reminds me of how much I still have to learn...and how much harder I can work...

Lump of coal:
Moves were a little slow today and I was not doing too hot with the CW power-3s and the power circles...I keep getting messed up with the power circles because coach wants the forward to exit opposite directions (same with the backward ones)...I really need to get these consistent! And that needs to happen before January 21st! grrrr....

this is for last night (I was tooo tired to write earlier, i have come down with a cold):

Pretty gifts: after arriving a seeing a virtually empty parking lot-I thought there was no ice....WRONG! there just wasn't anyone (hardly) there! 5 people. Yay!

I tried my new "loop" exercise...on the line, LFI to right inside mohawk, set, LOOP! and managed to CROSS MY FREE FOOT AND LAND ON ONE FOOT!!!! This is the 2nd time in my skating history this has happened....not a fluke then! Of course, I could not replicate, and after a few more tries they got really sloppy....so I moved on.

Backspins are happening more than not, even if it's only one revolution! Waltz jumps and salchows are coming along nicely; I can salchow from a mohawk and from back crossovers (only-no 3-turn). Worked on PUSHING up on the waltz jump, got some distance even tho I did not go fast.

Lump of coal: scratch spins.....maybe it's my cold. Maybe it's my right hip that I lift (I can feel it now). Both neither etc. Not happening.

Toe-loops-back to waltzing on those. I'm tentative and not trusting my left leg...it gave out on me a few times; I can't feel if my toe is DOWN or sideways. this part sucks. Oh well, i always hated that jump!!!!! (altho the 3-turn is nice and flatter, strong on the check now).

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I told him I was a nobody and that he didn't really want my autograph. He probably thinks I was somebody famous blowing him off.

Lump of Coal: Had one of the worst lesson/sessions ever today. Couldn't do anything. At the end of the lesson I apologized to my coach for sucking so bad.

Pretty Gifts: Despite sucking so bad, I managed to at least two foot all my doubles and I didn't hurt myself.

I don't know why, but the last couple months I've started two footing everything. I've skated for 15 years and I've never had that problem before. I wonder if it's a getting old kind of thing.

I didn't realize coach was doing a full session today but she had other skaters in for some ice time before competition. Oh oh! Had to work this morning - LOL!

Lumpy: Jumps kind of fell apart this morning - the Waltz/Toe that was gong so well yesterday turned into a Waltz/Mohawk I can really kick up into the Waltz jump and spring into the Toe Loop if my confidence is with me ..... apparently it was somewhere else today

Pretty: Upright spins were still happening (most of the time) so coach said "Ok, those are easy for you now so lets ..."

Lumpy: WHOA, hold on there! "Easy"??? I have only had a decent upright spin 50% of the time for the last few days! "Easy"????

Pretty: Sit spins were getting closer and coach gave me a few pointers that actually helped a great deal - I think a couple of them ended up being recognizable as an-attempt-at-a-sit-spin! (Next thing I know she will be saying THOSE are "easy"!)

Stalking Stuffer: The Shoot-The-Duck into a forward Spiral was half-baked - it wasn't very low but I did hold the edge all the way through.

Could be either: In a last minute surge of bravado (continued insanity? ) I asked coach to sign my competition entry for the Manitoba Open (in February) and committed to entering my Free Skate program (skating-up to Bronze). Now all I have to do is get my cowardly jumps out away from the security of the boards and THROW myself into them.....

Six weeks to the Manitoba Open, 11 weeks until I leave for Nationals ..... but who's counting?

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Pretty Gifts:
-camel is still on
-I did jumps!! (a few days earlier than I was supposed to, but who's counting? ) They weren't much to look at, but they were all there, even the lutz (barely).
-I worked really really really hard on 3-turns last night, especially the left foot (injured) ones. I think I made some progress. A lot of it is just re-building the strength in the ankle.
-I braved a few forward outside brackets, and did not die, maim, or otherwise injure myself, which is good.
-Other Moves were okay, except 8-step Mohawks...

Lump of Coal:
-8-step Mohawks=argh! I really don't like this move at all. I hop the mohawks, and I stiffen up on the 8th step and sometimes wide-step it. And there's no rhythm to it at all. Yuck. Maybe I just need a lesson, and it will get better.
-Backspins were bad. I'm choosing to blame it on my dull blades
-Sit spin isn't terrible, but I can't get the ankle bending necessary to get down. I just need to be patient with my ankle...but it's difficult.

Hmmm my ankle's hurting again after today's practice and I've not a clue why. Actually it started hurting during the practice.

I'm very close to fixing a number of mistakes on my spins, but I'm not quite there yet.


According to the coach, the sit spin was looking better. At least I'm holding the entry edge now.


Got a great layback spin exercise from the ballet teacher today too.

Lump of Dark, Snowy coal -

My daughter's dance coach has moved and now we are driving to Omaha every once in a while so she can try and test through her gold dances. It should be a less than 3 hour drive, but with crappy roads and rush hour through Des Moines - it was closer to 4 hours.

Okay I'm going to give the Tranquility Ice Plex in Omaha a bad review YOU HAVE CRAPPY ICE AND YOU CHARGE 9.50 AN HOUR AND YOU NEVER EVER ZAMBONI Shame on you. What is with that? 10 am it's bad enough but I'm told they do not Zamboni ALL DAY. So what are we paying for? Not the zamboni driver salary, that's for sure.

DD had a 45 minute lesson and then 15 minutes with me with DD listening in since she is taking on some of the stranded lower level dance students at our club.

We reviewed my stroking and I was not bending before I pushed so I have to work on that. She was happy with my forward swing rolls and chasses. Backward chasses - I'm picking my feet up more like she told me last time. But I've a bad habit of a two foot transition so we had to go back to reviewing back edges.

Old dance coach never did that and I have visions of her little students not being happy when DD tries to get them to work on basic edges

So my now I need to focus on NO TWO FOOT TRANSISTIONS.

j

Coal:
Well, no lesson this week.

Gifts:
I'm going skating on the outdoor rink in Hyde Park on Sunday

Skated at the one and only outdoor rink in North Carolina! It's only open for a few more days, so we made a last-minute trip before the much-needed rains reached the area. (Everybody do a rain ice-dance for us: the drought's still a major threat!) Good news was that it was muddy from earlier rains and the rink is covered by a tent.

Pretty Gifts:
Even with choppy ice, most of my spins were excellent and centered.
Didn't know if they were resurfacing by hand, so I didn't do any toe jumps.
Waltz and waltz-half-loops were good, as was my Falling Leaf jump. (strange)
Fooled around with the kids, doing spreadeagles in a figure-eight pattern. lol

Lump of Coal:
Laybacks were lousy and traveling - always dangerous in a small rink filled with fascinated rookies.
Didn't do any MITF since the surface was waaaaay too small.

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Pretty Gifts: Had a very odd cramp in my side yesterday evening which was still very sore this morning, and although it impacted my skating slightly, skating seems to have cleared it as it's fine now.

Worked on basics in our lesson - runs round the circle in a variety of holds. Pretty dire! Did a good Swing Dance together to music, also Rhythm Blues, although I think the hold needs attention on the 2nd swing roll. We did a lap of inside swing rolls to see, and am still of the same mind.

Lump of coal: Just for fun, and to work on our 3-turns, we decided to play with the European waltz. Enough said, I think.

One of the slebs who's doing Dancing on Ice this year was practising - nice man, but his spin is already better than mine and he's only been skating six months! Mind you, he is at least 25 years younger than I am, and was a professional athlete until recently.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Pretty Gift

Skating director of the outdoor rink in Des Moines asked DD and I to come down to skate and be interviewed - the local TV station was at the rink for a couple hours - and they thought a mother and daughter skating were cool enough to showcase.

Windchill factor? 5 degrees. It was COLD. Don't know why I bothered to curl my hair because between my head band and jacket collar around my neck, I could have been bald.

The reporter talked to my daughter about what she would do and while I was in the warming room, she comes in and I asked her "What did she decided to do?" "Um, she' did a ..." and she twirled her finger around "Oh a spin? " Well, she jumped AND she spun in the air!" She sounded amazed that she could do both those things.

DD ended up doing a loop-loop (small rink, crappy ice, no doubles thank you) and I did a lunge.

Coal - I didn't really realize it was live so I didn't set my timer on the VCR or call anyone so I'll probably never see the interview and our "performance"

Oh but while we were just skating, I did work on back chasses without the two foot transistion and DD said I did good, except now I have to work on touching my feet in between. It's always something!

j

jskater....call the tv station. They can get you a DVD of the interview.

j - that's terrific, I hope someone taped it for you or you can get a copy from the Station!

Pretty Gifts:
Skated on a public session today. I was lucky enough to arrive just before they cut the ice, so I had good ice!
Did figures for the first 10 minutes - for some reason, it kept the crowd away from the middle. Quite a few people watched, but I only did circle-8's and serpentines. I was afraid to turn my back on the crowd.
Lots of spins, all pretty good. I'm traveling before I hook my forward scratch spin for some reason.
Excellent sit-chg-sits today.
Good spreadeagles.


Lump of Coal:
Didn't try many jumps -- fear of collisions with fools. Waltz and half loops were fine, falling leaf jumps were much better and controlled. Toe loops were better, did a few in combination.

One parent rented skates at least a size too big for his kid, then sent him out on the ice with them barely tied. I offered to retie them, but the Dad came over and tried to fix it. The kid must have liked me because he kept scrambling to the middle in order to fall at my feet! lol


It was pretty crowded and there were no guards to keep control. I had to ask a trio of teens to please vacate the center ice spot so I would have room to skate in the middle. They couldn't hear me because they were all wearing headphones and listening to their iPods. Why they felt the need to huddle together like penguins in the center of the ice, I shall never know. lol
I left early because it was getting rowdy.

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Pretty Gifts
- In my program run-through yesterday, my opening spin was the best combination spin I've ever done! And best of all, I know exactly why, so I'm very optimistic about replicating it.
- I've figured out a technique that seems to be consistently fixing my problem on the CW back power 3-turns (my nemesis on the Intermediate MIF). Keeping fingers crossed!
- Backspin is considerably better. Note to self: Bend your knee! DUH.
- Coach helped me improve my flying camel. Not sure if the improvement will be replicated next time I skate, but we'll see.

Lumps of Coal
- Axels were messing with my head again once I was back on my home rink ice. Our ice is so hard that I think it makes me feel insecure on the takeoff edge.
- And now I've caught a cold so I am taking tomorrow off from skating. . .

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Lump of Coal!
Well, best laid plans & all that--I'm supposed to test my Killian in exactly 12 days. I'd been off a week over Christmas, then planned to come back & hit it hard, & should have been fine. When I'm consistently practicing, ie, into my knees & strong, the dance is pretty presentable.

So, yesterday morning I wake up feeling like death! I fear it's a sinus infection, which always means at least a week of total bedrest, & usually ends up w/ a terrible cough for a good month. I don't know if I can get a refund, or have it transferred to next month's test session instead. BOO!!!!

Phoenix - Bad luck! I saw an article online about sinus infections that said antibiotics don't help, but that saline flushes may. Here's the link.

Lump of Coal:
Not only have I not had any time to practice this week, but I've had to give up most of my private lessons to help handle the holiday crowds. Of course, I've come down with a nasty cold, which makes being on the ice for hours on end no fun at all.

Pretty Gifts:
At the NYC skatingforums meet-up yesterday, I discovered that I still had FI threes, which had wonderously appeared the week before.

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Lump of coal: I AM TIRED OF NO SKATING. My rink cancelled open figure skate this week, and the club ice is far too early for me to make. So I haven't skated in a week. I am so. bored. What do normal people do with their time when they don't have skating to suck up three hours a day? And I can't even go back until Thursday because there's no ice Monday and Tuesday, and I have a doctor's appointment smack in the middle of the ice time Wednesday. #$*@!)(#*$!)*

How would WE know ??!!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

You're lucky you can skate 3 hours a day!! Us regular 9-5 folk have to skate on the weekends and after work. Why can't someone just pay me to skate so I don't have to work?

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

Doesn't work just get in the way? And where I am at, many of the freestyle sessions start right after that 5pm time, which means that I either need to leave work early (which, luckily, my job allows for, especially because the rink I skate at is about 20minutes-1/2 hour away) or go late, or miss all together!

Oh, man, I'd KILL for a 5P session. As it is, our ice ends at 4:10P and I have to skate the 6A sessions before work.