Cherry Blossoms because this past week was Cherry Blossom Festival time in DC. Dead Branches because I couldn't think of a better opposite (non-functioning brain)

Anyways, this is for my Wednesday lesson (Starlight)

Not much in the way of Cherry Blossoms... I did manage to do a couple really good Tango cross-back chasses in my lesson with coach #2.

Dead Branches: Well... where should I start? Today has been downhill from the start. First the cat got sick into his food bowl, then the dog mussed in the house, then I tripped and fell on the ice soon after I got on (yes, one can trip on dance blade toepicks), then I fell in my lesson with coach #2 on my backside and the fall reverberated up my spine. Now the muscles in lower back are trying to tighten up (deep tissue massage time I think). Then I nearly fell off the back of my left blade doing the Starlight with coach #1.

I guess it can only go uphill from here....


PS... safe travels and good luck to everyone at AN!!!

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Cherry blossoms: I learned the inside slide chasse pattern from Adult Silver moves yesterday and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'll need to work on those three-turns, but they're improving.

Dead branches: Forward power pulls will be the death of me. I'm going out today to buy knee pads -- after months of falling backward on this move, yesterday I had a breakthrough ... and started falling on my knees instead. Great!

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Here's a good trick: Get a job as a judge at the Olympics. Then, if some guy sets a world record, pretend that you didn't see it and go, "Okay, is everybody ready to start now?".
- Jack Handey

Poor Jen! Definitely a day to forget. Hope your back feels better soon.

The equivalent of Prescription-strength ibuprofen is a start... and a couple glasses of wine tonight when I get home.

I'm trying to look at things positively. Cleaning out the cat bowl was a lot easier than cleaning the carpet or any of several other places upon which the cat could have done his deed.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

AW, man!!! Jen!!! Totally bad luck!!! I hope you feel better. And yes, the cat doing its deed on its food plate is much better than the carpet or other places. One of our neighborhood cats did its deed on our driveway, which, ironically is not as bad as doing it on the soil where there used to be green grass but it's now our gravel pit. Needless to say, neither hubby or I were happy about it. Hubby b/c of the smell and me b/c *I* have to clean it.

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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!!!

I had to post here just because of the thread title!

Cherry Blossoms: I'm at AN!!! My axel has been consistant all week. Yay.

Okay, now the funny part...I went serching for dead branches today and found one that will replace my prior interp prop! Just need to hit with a little sand paper and it will work fine.

Dead Branches: Only one I can think of is that my shoes are covered in mud from my dead branch search!

Dead Branches--
Couldn't skate last weekend (I assumed freestyles on Saturday were cancelled due to a competition when in fact they had EXTRA ice, and the rink I go to on Sunday had a broken zam.)

Cherry Blossoms--
Fixed a friend's skating dress and got to see her compete her program--it was FABULOUS and she got many cheers from the home-rink crowd.

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Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Cherry Blossoms:
Not much! Friday and Monday seem to be my best days. By Wednesday, I'm tired, and also have to teach the tots for an hour before my lesson. By the time I've warmed up my toes, tightened my laces and tried to warm up, my lesson is upon me. Absolutely nothing cooperated today. I did the Prelim spiral pattern, muffing just about everything that could be muffed, including the strokes around the end on which I usually gain good speed. The power threes, that were feeling pretty good on Monday also fell apart, and I really do not even want to think about the FO alt threes.

Oops! I seem to have put all my Dead Branches in the Cherry Blossoms paragraph. May as well, since there are no Cherry Blossoms to report today .

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Oh no, Jen! I hope you feel better soon! Sending out hugs to you!!! Believe me, I feel your pain. (I looked up back pain on the Internet the other night - I think it was the WebMD site - and there was some sort of exercise they recommended for when you hurt your lower back - kind of like sit-ups but with your lower ab area.)

My back is feeling a bit better today. I can turn my neck and raise my arms above my head. Oh well, I guess I have to start somewhere, right? I'm not looking forward to sitting for 2 1/2 hours (except for a 10-min break) in class tonight.

Hi erdehoff, it's been a while! I hope all is going well with your skating. I admire your persistence on the forward power pulls. The only way I've ever been able to do them is by doing the 2-foot thing first.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Hi, Debbie! Work was crazy in the last year and it's really only been in the past two months that I've been skating consistently again. The two-foot thing is helping me get the feel of power pulls, but when I pick up a foot I'm back at Square 1. Either I'll get them eventually or I'll break several bones and be maimed for life trying. Are you doing Cherry Blossom this month?

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Here's a good trick: Get a job as a judge at the Olympics. Then, if some guy sets a world record, pretend that you didn't see it and go, "Okay, is everybody ready to start now?".
- Jack Handey

No, after New Year's in February, I decided to hold off on comps until the summer. I thought I might be ready to test Bronze MIF in May, but after a series of setbacks (injury, bronchitis, boot problems, take your pick) that's not going to be possible. Depending on how much schoolwork I have to do that weekend, I may try to make it down there to watch the Adult comps.

Are you competing there? Good luck!

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Cherry Blossoms:
Am at AN and am meeting lots of folks, young and old, in singles, pairs, and dance!
Received a few compliments on some pair elements and on my flexibility.
Also, I can't wait to see skateryum, er, skaternum tomorrow.
Loops and I had a little treat at the frozen custard place next to our hotel.

Dead Branches:
Injured my arm this evening in a practice session (that turned out to be a dance session?!)--basically, I have no feeling in my left arm from the shoulder down to the forearm. Ibuprofen is my friend. And I compete tomorrow in pairs.
I'm also still a nervous wreck, though less so than yesterday. Whenever I step onto the ice, the whole enormity of this competition overwhelms me, and I get this horribly anxious feeling; I hate it. I keep telling myself that this is only a hobby and that this is supposed to be fun. My brain's not buying it yet.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the gold pairs event tomorrow, as well as some of the interp events, and the master ladies. Anything to distract my frantic head!

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

YIKES, NoVA!!! Hope you're better tomorrow!!! EEEEK!!!

Frozen custard....

As for what to do to calm you do -- ask yourself what you normally do in the other competitions you've been in before? In the end, this competition is really no different from all the other ones except that you're competing against other people. You have no qualifers... and either way, you and Loops WILL bring home a medal in this event!!! No losers in this event!!! Soooo... SKATE YOUR HEARTS OUT, both of 'yas!!!

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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!!!

Cherry Blossoms: I have been having a sucky week and was not in the best of moods, so my coach decided we should do some different things, which turned out to be a good idea. Worked on all different spirals, forward and backward, and then he had the bright idea to try a LBO spiral directly into a RFO spiral. He held my hand, but boy, the first time I tried, I straightened up from the LBO spiral and was completely freaked by how fast I was going and afraid to step forward. (You're probably wondering how this can be Cherry Blossoms, right?) He said, "Step forward!" I said, "I can't!" Repeated that sequence of Step-forward-I-can't maybe 4 times, then I turned and stepped forward into the RFO spiral like it was nothing, and then we both burst out laughing and had to stop. The whole thing was a lot of fun.

Good luck to everyone competing, and remember to breathe!

Pat

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August 22, back on the ice!

Cherry Blossoms: I have skating tonight!

Dead Branches: It is a test day so they take some of my skating time of...

Cherry Blossoms:
Primary coach told me today that I should be ready to take my Bronze moves by June! She really wants to work on this test. She asked me how I felt about the free and I told her that with any hope the sitspin will be on autopilot by the time we get the moves down pat.So we decided that the moves test will go out this summer with the free sometime after.

Dead Branches:
Turns out my club wants to hold the next test session in May- I will not be ready by then!

Hey NoVa, tonight, just think of the competition as any other adult event you've been to, except that I'm missing! I will be thinking of you and Loops tonight!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Wash. Fig. has a MIF/FS test session the first weekend in June.

__________________
American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Cherry Blossoms:
Ran through my programme for the first time in ages (due to hols etc I haven't had many lessons recently). It wasn't great but it did generate a spontaneous round of applause from some recreational skaters who had been watching (it was during a morning public session) - which I hope was because they enjoyed it!
Landed some decent toe-loops and salchows in my programme with good speed. Coach was pleased I have stopped slowing down considerably to do the jumps (except for the Loop -see below)


Dead Branches:
could not land my loop today despite having landed a couple (rotated, on one foot but no flow out) yesterday. It's so annoying when you think you finally have something and then it goes again.

Sit spin - I can either get low enough or I can bring my free leg in close but not both it seems

__________________
'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Cherry Blossoms: Husband and I are at AN and having a lovely time. Before that, it was our Opens. Did I post about our lessons on Tuesday afternoon? I don't think I did. I had my lesson while Husband and Other Woman were having one from Husband's normal coach, who said afterwards that "she quite understood what I meant about his edges!" My own lesson went well, but I can't remember much about it now.

We have been watching the dancers here (and loads of others, including Novask8er & LoopLoop, who were AWESOME!) & Michigansk8er, who was great and made everyone laugh, and loads of others.

Dead Branches: ALL the pre-bronze dancers are infinitely better than us, especially JenLyon's friends from Washington DC (I so have to dance with the man of that couple if they are here for the social dance on Saturday). Most disheartening of them.... wish we were better....

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

Annabelle, you have nowhere to go but up! Have fun.

Cherry Blossoms: Last night we finished the choreography for my Interp program (about time, huh?) and i can know concentrate on fleshing out the character. That's the fun part for me. There's nothing technically difficult in the program - unless you count the change-edge spiral and spins in both directions - so I can really focus on the presentation.

Dead branches: Figure loops sucked. I haven't seen any improvement in them in weeks and I'm getting totally discouraged because I can't even figure out what I'm doing anymore. I feel as if I'm doing - or overdoing - everything Coach says but nothing changes. Plus I need to get my blades sharpened. It's a good thing I had free skating after that lesson to cheer me up or I'd have chucked the skates into the trashcan on my way out the door.

Oh, one more blossom: for the first time ever my rink will be open this summer. I won't have to travel and the times are close to what I skate now so I don't have to juggle my schedule much.

cherry blossoms: I finally got on the ice after the longest time off it. It felt wonderful. Everything just felt so good. It all felt right being on the ice. I cant even describe it.

Dead Branches: I wasn['t able to do any jumps because I didn't want to risk injuring myself, seeing as how I have to take the MCAT tomorrow morning.

If the nerves get really bad, I'l probably go to the public session at 8:30 just to calm down and be able to actually sleep tonight.

Cherry Blossoms
I ran through my programme twice in my lesson today, and both times clean.

Dead Branches
Feeling somewhat depressed about life and skating in particular. Firstly my coach is leaving at the end of the month. She's been my one and only coach for 12 years now and is so much more than just a coach, so I'm really going to miss her. On top of that I'm still getting my head round my poor competition experience from Tuesday. I'm unsure whether to bother competing again as I don't need to pay over that amount of money just to find out I'm no good.

Nicki

Let me just say that I love the title...the cherry blossoms are beautiful right now.

Cherry Blossoms - did the best forward scratch of my life and my coach and others just happened to be watching.

Dead branches - I went to lesson this morning running on 3 hours of sleep and it shows. Also, I have put on far too many pounds (read: I've gotten fat) and am breaking down my skates too quickly because of it.

That has to be tough! Have you got a new coach lined up yet? I love my coach also. I've been planning a move for the past several years, and think that I might still come back for a lesson once in a while and maybe even to test.

If you enjoyed the overall experience of competing, or if it was beneficial to you in terms of motivation (I'm talking about before the competition), then it might be worth the expense. Also, just because you didn't place as well as hoped does not mean that you are "no good!" It just means that others were either better prepared, or better performers on that occasion. I would love to compete, but don't jump. Someday, I hope to be able to have dance lessons with my husband, and then we can compete in dance. I want the nice dresses

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Cherry Blossoms:
I went to my usual Friday public session practice, and had a pretty good work out. Discovered that when I can't do the FO alt threes, I need to make the lobes smaller! My theory is that I should do whatever works, and improve it from there. When I try to make the lobes big enough to do four across, I often cannot do the turns at all, especially the L. I was also able to do the power threes, which was nice since I they were pathetic on Wed in my lesson. One of four FI threes was done properly in the FI alt three pattern. Just the fact that I could do the pattern, once again, was a positive. Spiral pattern is getting better, and I'm starting to put in some of the spirals on each side.

Dead Branches:
I need to do the BXO at the top of the lobe on the Prelim power threes, but when I do, my free leg gets stuck and I can't do the BI Choctaw without that little toe touch down first! I know that I somehow need to bring the free foot out and open my hip, but it seems to be a big stumbling block for me.
Spins - what spins? I'm going to start doing balancing exercises on my L foot every day, as the big problem is that I'm scared.

QUESTION
On the Pre-Juv power pulls, does anyone know if the transition from one foot to the other has to be from O to O edge? That's what the diagram in the rulebook shows, but it doesn't say anything about it. I've always done I to I, which is much easier.

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