Ick--I hate most cheeses. When in Napa, I happened into a cheese shop (after the chocolate shop ) and had to leave because of the off-putting aromas.

I saw that episode a few times. She is too funny!

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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.

Open for business:

I had my first lesson with my new freestyle coach on Sunday and it was the best lesson I've had in a long time!

She retooled a couple of things in my flip and it was HUGE! Then, she fixed my lutz to the point where I kept falling on it because my body wasn't used to the height and speed coming out of it!

Shut down:

I was really clumsy on the Sunday session and kept having those upper thigh smacking falls that left me with two red & sore legs.

There's a thread for this week's progress reports over here:

http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=21629

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

They don't ever go away by themselves, but sometimes they go away when you buy new blades! That's what happened with those pesky toepick scratches on my back power circles (crossovers) when I got new blades mounted over the weekend. The more rocker you have left, the farther away that bottom pick is from the ice, heh heh.

Thanks for all the congratulations, guys! I still can't believe I passed (and would feel better if I had the test forms in my hands, but they haven't been sent to me quite yet!). There's got to be a place in my brain that has a permanent memory dent because of these moves. I can't believe I'm finally done with moves that circle around the ends of the rink (the first two patterns on novice have them, and one on intermediate did, too), because I hate them! I always run into the boards, heh.

Now onwards to Novice Free, assuming I ever get better from this illness. My doctor thinks it might be mono again (can you get mono more than once? If so, this is definitely bad luck!). I haven't skated since the test, but at least I can say I got the job done before getting sick this time. Last time I had to cut myself from the test schedule a week before I took the test due to mono. Ick.

Anyway, it's 7p.m., and it's off to bed. I actually have to drag myself in to work tomorrow (it's my last day) to clear up my desk and go through an exit interview. Then I have a few more days to rest up before my new job starts next Monday. Who knew adult life would be so busy? I certainly didn't when I finished school last year.

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"Without Vision the People Perish"
שלום לעולם תמיד

Whispersung, when are you planning to take the Novice Freestyle test, and what elements on that test do you expect to be a challenge for you? What are your competition goals for the upcoming season? And finally, how old are you and how long have you been skating?

Doubletoe

Heh heh heh... can't use that excuse for me! When I got my purple boots, I was still "scratchy edge."

Maybe I should upgrade from my MK Pros to Gold Stars or something? LOL!!!

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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!!!

Hi doubletoe!

I don't actually know when I can take my Novice Free. I start a new job on Monday, and it's 8-5p.m. and I have a 90 day probationary period, so I can't take a day off to take a morning test. There are a few evening tests in my area, so maybe one of those?

Basically, I have the program together but I need to start working on my actual performance aspects (because I tend to keep my eyes and head down to the ice and just go through the motions. . .not very artistic!). I think the double-double combination will be a bit of a challenge for me. I tend to be better with double toe-double toe, but we're going to try a double salchow-double toe since it goes with the music and choreography better. Other than that, the camel-back camel spin is always a challenge (I can do the back one fine, but getting into the first one is always a pain for me), and then finally, just getting through a 3 minute program without passing out is a good enough challenge! I have asthma!

My competition goals? Hmm. . .well, ideally, I'd love to qualify through Adult Mids to skate in the Championship Masters group at Adult Nationals. If not, I just want to skate a strong, clean program at Adult Nationals and have just as much fun meeting people as I did the first time around last year in Dallas (and I wouldn't mind getting that stupid double lutz of mine more consistent, either!).

As for age and how long I've been skating, I'm 22, and I started skating at age 7 in a learn to skate class. I sort of did that on and off until I was 14 which is when I started testing. I got through Intermediate Moves and Free when I was 17 but sort of hit a wall on Novice moves for the next 5 years. I tested sort of sporadically throughout college but never passed the thing. Then I took a 2 year hiatus from testing to really make sure I was doing everything correctly, tested last week, and finally passed the sucker!

Honestly, I like adult skating a lot more than standard track. People seem so much friendlier, and I love going to the events and just cheering anyone who does something that's difficult for them. To me, that's what skating was about to begin with: meeting people and challenging yourself to overcome some fear (like performing in front of people!).

Okay. . .sorry for the long response. I'm finally feeling better from my illness and now I'm chatty!

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"Without Vision the People Perish"
שלום לעולם תמיד

Ahhh, to be 22 again. . . Sigh.
Then again, somewhere out there is a 60-year old saying, "Ahhh, to be 41 again. . ."

I went to AN for the first time in 2005 but skipped this year (I was too exhausted from testing up to Gold in such a hurry and knew I wouldn't qualify for Champ. Gold anyway). But I'll be looking forward to seeing you in Chicago! My goal is to qualify for Championship Gold this time, so I have LOTS of work to do before then!

Good luck with your new job and your test! (Hopefully, you can get an evening test session and have a "doctor's appointment" right before it so you can leave work early and warm up first!).

Thanks, doubletoe!

If I don't qualify for the Championship Masters at AN, that's fine. I'm still planning to go in an open event like I did last year. I really get nervous being in front of people, so I'm just glad when I can muster up the courage to get out there and do something!

Did you pass a bunch of tests all at once? Congrats at Gold! That's a great accomplishment, too

I used to compare my testing progress to those of others at my rink (younger people still in school). I don't do that anymore, and I'm trying to take more of a relaxed stance. I'll pass 'em when I pass 'em. I put so much pressure on myself to pass my Novice moves OR ELSE that I tended to freak out on test day and shut down. Never again (hopefully!).

Nice to meet you and hope to see you in Chicago!

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"Without Vision the People Perish"
שלום לעולם תמיד

Well, I surprised myself by winning Silver II at Nationals (there were 40 of us, so I had just been hoping to make it to FR), which meant--to me anyway--that I needed to compete the following season at Gold. I didn't even know what moves were on the Gold MIF test at the time, so it was a real challenge getting from that point to passing both the Gold MIF and FS tests by early November, which is our club's last test session of the year (the January test session wouldn't have been in time for the Sectionals/AN deadline). Miraculously, I managed to pull it off and pass both tests in one try, but I was just kind of burned out after that! I'm planning to take the Intermediate MIF test in November this year, but there's no pressure on that one because I don't need to pass it in order to compete. I love that!!

Wow! Gold at AN is great. Congratulations! I competed in Masters Novice I & II and got third, but I was just happy to be there. That was the first time I had competed in 3-4 years and it was a lot more fun, let me tell you!

That's sort of how I feel about Novice Moves. When I was a teen, I was putting too much pressure on myself to pass those moves so I could compete and inevitably I would mess it up at every test session. Now that I can compete in Masters with the tests I've already passed, the pressure's off, and I can just test for "fun". Anything else I pass is just extra icing on the cake.

Good luck in November on those Intermediate Moves! I'm just glad to be done with moves that go cw and ccw around the entire rink with end patterns (like the back outside 3-turns on intermediate the rockers and the forward inside to back inside 3's on Novice. . .always felt like I was going to run into the boards!).

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"Without Vision the People Perish"
שלום לעולם תמיד