I thought this might be fun to start, feel free to add on

-you have missed class/work due to an important skating practice or competition
-you refuse to tell those close to you just how much those skates actually were and usually knock off a couple hundred dollars
-your ankle has not stopped hurting in about a year
-you have a permanent scar from that place where your skate rubs against your shin
-you can't sit down anymore because you refuse to stop practicing even after you've taken some nasty falls thereby leading to some rather unsightly bruises
-you pass up on plans with your friends so you could skate
-everyone at school/work somehow know you skate and ask you how you're feeling after the latest knee sprain/concussion/wrist sprain/etc. even if you've never talked to them before in your life
-they probably know you skate because you take your skates with you to class/work after skating beforehand in order to let them air out and not let them get rot sitting in an unventilated car
-you get up 3 hours earlier than you'd have to in order to skate

that's all i've got for now, any others?

I love the "you refuse to tell those close to you just how much those skates actually were and usually knock off a couple hundred dollars."

Oh boy do I know how that works! My husband would kill me if he knew what I really pay for skating stuff.

I guess I could add this....... You feel like crap and can hardly walk from a fall(s) and/or hard practice one day; spouse tends to your wounds and helps out a little more than usual that night and then the very next day you go and practice again (not without lots of Ibuprofin) but don't tell anyone you went skating because they'll think you're a big faker or a worse, a nut-job.

You don't even notice the odd looks you get when you stop at the store on the way home from the rink...in your short dress.

I have a coworker in my new job that doesn't even know my name yet, but she knows that I skate on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

And, in my last job, it was always "What did you do on your day off, other than skate? "

You're holding a major prayer vigil that you can get the time off from work to go to that all important competition.

You eagerly await the next work schedule, because your coach schedules your lessons on your days off (at least mine does).

You spend almost the entire day in your skating clothes.

Since I usually skate right after work, I usually wear my club warm up jacket to work.

I dress more like a skating coach than business casual.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

That list is awesome!!!!

The one about not being able to sit right is SO true, I used to bring an extra jacket/sweater to class so that I could sit on it to make it through class!!

how about... you rate a piece of music based on it's "skatability"!!

How about: you go to the movies, you spend your time there scrutinizing the soundtrack for skatable music and then go buy the CD at Borders on the way home!

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

Oh boy:

-You have your supervisor change the weekly staff meeting because your morning skate "forces" you to always miss some or all of it.

-You pray for the cold weather season so you can stock up on gloves at Target or Wal-Mart.

-You purchase a home based on how close it is to your rink (or in my case, 2 rinks!)

-When family, friends, and coworkers ask how much you skate, you invariably lie so that they don't think you're too crazy.

-You dread going to the pool since your feet are not so picture perfect.

-You buy mass quantities of ibuprofen.

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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.

You watch ads for skating shows on TV and you can rattle off the jump they did.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

This reminds me of something else.
When you're at a skating celebrity meet and greet at your rink (this happened to me recently) and the parents, as well as some of the skaters that you skate with do not know who some of the celebrity skaters are and have to ask you who is who!

You change schools so that the times fit your skating scheduel and allows u to skate more.

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x marks the spot

i unfortunatly had the unpleasant experience today about having to drive back to campus after going home for the weekend. it's about an hour drive. a very painful hour.

and i do the "skatability" thing, i end up kinda choreographing a routine in my head, forgetting that i can't do most of the things i would like to for the song.

- You'll get up at 5:00am to skate, even though you've never seen fit to get up at 5:00am for anything in your life. . . in 30-40 years!

- You hate the holidays because the family get-together and the company holiday party interfere with your practice schedule!

• Your wardrobe contains a LOT of lycra based garments
• You spend more on skating clothes than you do on work or 'life' clothes
• You'll happily spend a fortune on ice skates but recoil in horror at the price of normal shoes
• Tan tights don't seem quite so tacky anymore
• You do mohawks at the bus stop
• You will miss a night out to skate
• You will leave a night out early because you have to be up in the morning
• You look at potential dates with a view to whether or not they would make a good pairs/dance partner
• You drive to work and end up in the ice rink car park (that's a MelanieUK one!)
• You wear glitter
• Somebody jokingly asks you how you do a triple axel and then glazes over as you wax lyrical about the different entries to jumps
• You get up before sun rise to stumble around on an oversized ice cube with little more than kitchen knives attached to your feet
• People know not to ask you out on certain evenings as they know that there's no way that you'll cancel your skating lesson

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The best whisper is a click

A doctor has tried to give you/your mother a lecture on spousal/child abuse because of all your skating bruises. (actually happened to me)

• All your holidays are to do with skating - either training camps or competitions or (Mountain Cup) both!
• You do Mohawks in Church while waiting for Communion (I did, once, not thinking what I was doing - but after that I knew how a Mohawk "worked").
• You refer to turning the car round as "Doing a 3-turn" (husband - I wasn't sure if he meant a U-turn or a 3-point turn).
• You think of your father as Zamboni-ing the lawn (I wish - he was on a ride-on mowing-machine at the time!).
• You know exactly who does what in which television advertisements (the only sort of skating we get here, mostly ), and if you don't know, you find out!

Which reminds me, does any British skater know who that girl who does that Salchow in the Brita water filter ads is? Nobody here seems to know, but it is thought that the rink is Murrayfields.

• You aren't looking forward to Christmas this year, so much as Boxing Day when they are showing Strictly Come Dancing on Ice. You will probably know who the pros are better than the Z-list celebrities....

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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!

Ok, so is it bad if I do basically all of these?

Here's one- your new skates come to $850, and your mother's reaction is "Wow, that's not bad at all. I was expecting more than that." (Since my previous pair had been customs with custom orthotics and had come to $1500 total, I guess she had a point).

I'm LOL that other people won't say how much their skates cost. I hate it when learn-to-skate parents ask me what I pay for my skates because I'm trying not to scare them out of the sport, but I think that might very well happen if they new how much I plunk down for skates every year or two! In high school I decided to keep it a secret from my boyfriend that my skates had cost more than his (piece of cr*p) car- he would have freaked out!

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

i'm one of those people who dont say how much they cost. my dad is very happy thinking i'm still skating in a pair of skates that cost $30 from modells. my mom on the other hand doesn't really care too much if i decide to use a couple of my slighter higher than minimum wage paychecks for my skates. Than again, all of my skating costs come from my paychecks. the problem is, they don't pay students very much.

although oddly enough, my mom has become much more supportive of my skating since i got a job and a car.

This is awesome. My additions:

• When watching skating on TV with your friends, you get up to demonstrate moves & jumps (including stuff you can't do on ice)
• Even in a tight job market you won't relocate to any town that doesn't have a rink
• You write things about skating whenever you need example sentences/paragraphs for your English class
• You evangelize about crappy rental skates when friends insist they "tried skating once and hated it"
• Now that the whole Grand Prix series is on ESPN, you consider browbeating your husband into getting cable

Also, count me in on

• Thinking of a 3-point turn in the car as a 3-turn
• Practicing mohawks in odd places (most recently, while awaiting the verdict on my Ph.D. orals--I passed, but my mohawks still stink)
• Wearing glitter (much to my husband's disdain)
• Hiding the cost of my skates

I am!!! Apparently Daniel Whiston, Leigh Mack and Oula Jaaskelainen from hot ice are the professionals! How cool?! Does anyone has Sky sports extra, because there's some figure skating with Kristi Yamaguchi (sp?) and others on sometime...I saw it in the tv guide while looking for strictly come dancing on ice.

Here are the ones I could think of off the top of my head...

• You calculate how much stuff costs relative to how much you pay for skating lessons. (i.e. a good pair of Nikes is a freestyle punch card, an iPod is 9-10 skating lessons... you get the idea...)
• Your boss knows your practice and lesson schedule and will adjusts meeting day and times to accomodate that.
• Your coworkers comments when you wear regular pants (and not your lycra jazz pants) to work. ("Oh, my!!! Joanna's wearing REAL pants with zippers and buttons...")
• (For those of you in the general NYC area) Your in-laws know in advanced that you will be skating a LOT at all the different rinks in and around NYC and Long Island.
• You look forward to Halloween b/c that's when Skate SF is!!! (My shameless plug for everyone here to start saving up for this competition. It's BIG!!! And if you are a volunteer at this competition, you will be fed well too!)
• The muscle guys at the gym goes when they see you doing close to 200lbs on the leg press... THEN really goes when they sees you do your stretches -- consists of working towards a Martini (or Y) spin (Almost there!) or a higher spiral (mine REALLY sucks.) There's also one for forcing me to turn my torso for my back crossovers too...
• You go thru an annual depression around mid-April b/c you haven't pass Bronze moves and FS yet -- you're stuck staying home instead of partying at wherever Adults Nationals are that year! (If you guys want to cheer me up around that time this year, keep me in the loop about what's going on at AN... It's the best thing to actually being there.)

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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!!!

hehe, i do that, i live in ny, and i have been to so many rinks in the nyc/long island area, i know the pros and cons of each one, what sessions to go to, which ice is better. my roomate thinks i'm crazy because i know more ice rinks than movie theaters.

btw, if you skate in long island, have you ever been to newbridge arena? they have sessions on tuesday mornings from 8-10, and fridays from 10-12 i think and 1:30-3:30. the ice is essentially deserted at those times, so you can skate all you want there, without anyone bothering you. although i think on fridays, they have a tots skating school, but they're only at one end of the rink so it's not bad at all.

you practice spread eagles in the cafeteria at school (tk)

you go to the arena more than twice a day

you get bored at vacations because you can't go and skate for a weekend.

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x marks the spot

I don't but MelanieUK will probably know as she skates there.

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The best whisper is a click

-Your anual skating epenses cost way more than your brothers college tuition.

-You spend more time at the rink than you do at home or at school.

-You start calling your coaches Mom or Dad.

-You know all the janitors and workers personally.

-Your friends hate it when you talk about skating because you talk about it constantly!

-You go on skating dicusion boards such as this one to gossip or talk about skating with people like you who can't talk to anyone else about skating because those people get annoyed! LMAO!