This is for this week:

Jingle Bells: Spins are coming back. I'm still a little off on the forward acratch, but the backscratch and sit have made up for it. Toeloop is making it's way back too.

Santa Smells:
Our rink does not believe in heat- even in the lobby. Any ideas on how to get management to turn the heat on!?
Since we have no heat and our rinks are like meatlockers, it's hard to do basic things like bend knees. So moves were tough this week.
Secondary coach was sick all week, but came to the rink to teach yesterday. I tried to convince her to scrap my lesson and go home and rest, as she has a long drive to her parent's house tomorrow. She did start my lesson, but cut it 10 minutes short and told me to take the time off on the next week's bill.
She cancelled the lessons following mine.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Jingle Bells: OUR RINK IN TOWN OPENS IN JANUARY! I've been driving for forever for 1 - 3 hours for over 6 years to get lessons and ice time! YEAH!!!!!!


Santa Smells: Still struggling with my Klingbeils; talked to the Klingbeil owner this week and have to send back boots and blades included for him to evaluate! Bad news: my back up skates have NO blades! Need to get 9 3/4" pair of MK pros FAST!

Santa Smells: Well, I'd better either learn to skate fast (meaning quick feet, quick turns), or my coach is going to beat it into me! Today we started out working on the Kilian, but everytime I hit the cross stroke/slide chasse into the choctaw, I break at the waist & therefore lose my balance. Coach says it's because I don't know how to balance when skating with quick tempo.

So we spent the rest of the time on exercises doing very scary turns with NO time allowed in between to catch my balance. Better suck it up & do the turn, ready or not. Worst was back inside edges to a quick 3/bracket, which I can just barely do slowly. I was really scared & when I get scared I get mad, so poor coach got glared at a lot & told to shut up when he laughed once after I gave out a half-scream when I caught a blade & almost fell. Then later I really did fall, pretty hard. "Bend your knees more. Upper body must stay still. Free leg must stay still. Again please."

Jingle Bells: Even though I cursed my way around the rink I actually did it, and then, even more horror, had to add a second 3/bracket after the first: RBI, LBI, RBI, 3/bracket/3/bracket, LBI, RBI, etc..... And I did it. I was scared out of my mind, but I did it. And I'm going to go in tomorrow on my own & do it again.

(does anyone else have the need to apologize to their coach after every lesson?)

Finally, FINALLY had my lesson with my coach at Chelsea Piers!

• We went thru Power Pulls (which was actually better after he fixed some minor things - check jingle bells
• We went thru crossovers, not great but not too bad. Neutral...
• Scratch spin: Did two. Did a minor change and it was great again. He says it could always be better but it's good enough as is "for now." Check Jingle bells.
• Loops... ummmm... that's a Santa smell! (Coach hint my foot lightly with his gloves going "Bad foot! Bad foot!!!) He thinks I should have my loop. (Yeah, so do I... ) He thinks I'm just don't trust that I would land it. (Yeah, I know. Boc boc boc boc....)
• FI mohawks - could be better. Better put it on a Santa smell for now...
• (Almost) empty rink - Jingle bells.
• Finally getting to work with this coach after looking forward to it pretty much since I've been planning to go back to NYC again this year... JINGLE JINGLE JINGLE!!! (I'll be calling/emailing him for a second lesson next week! I had such a wonderful time with him that I want another round before I go home!

Tomorrow will be the lesson with the Moves Guru! Wish me luck surviving this guy!!! FrankR: I'll assume by the time you read this and respond that you survived him? Seriously, I'm kidding (sorta.) I think he's wonderful and am really looking forward to working with him the next couple of weeks!!!

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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!!!

Santa Smells: Have absolutely no voice & probably shouldn't have been skating, but am I bothered? Anyway, couldn't do anything fast, or I'd have coughed, but did have about 30-45 minutes actually on the ice.

Jingle Bells: Worked on various moves with the Husband, including our spin, a "highlight" for our free dance, and various turns and stuff. Didn't practice our lift, though (last time we did it, he was like "Hey, where's your weight gone?" which rather reminded me of his comment to Coskater64 on a famous occasion......).

Oh, and I passed my driving test yesterday.... yes, I managed to survive 52 years on this earth without having a driving licence, but that's changed now!

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

Congratulations Annabel. It's much harder to pass your driving test when your older. I think you are more aware of all the potential problems whereas the teenagers all think they are invincible.

Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

I have an old pair of MK pros that are 9 3/4". They're still useable, and have a few sharpenings left, but for me I felt they had gotten too flat. If you're interested, I'll sell them to you cheap. PM me if you are.

And Mrs. Redboots --congrats on getting your driver's licence! I can't imagine doing that as an adult! Much easier when you are younger, I think!

Pat

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August 22, back on the ice!

CONGRATULATIONS Mrs. Redboots on passing your driving test!!

Santa Smells- My rink is going to be closed for a period of time (unknown yet) after the new year. It has been having problems for a while, one of which is the ice being uneven and causing a slight hill! Means I will have to travel quite a distance which is not good as I am in my final year at uni and have lots of exams this year!!

Jingle Bells- My skating this week has been better than last few, about a month ago I fell and hit my head badly on a double loop (jump I have always been scared off) so I hadn't been jumping much but this week I faced my fears and managed to do ok. Oooo and I also found a good position for my layback!!

Also a non skating Jingle Bells- went to see my 3 1/2 year old niece in her playgroup nativity this morning! She had been given the part of the angel! She was really good and sang all the songs, remembering most of the words!! I was very impressed with all the kids, they managed to do the whole thing without much bother, except the wise men throwing the presents at the crib and then fighting over them! And it was all finished off with a visit from Santa and also a raffle in which I managed to win a bottle of perfum!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

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Keep Smiling!

LOL! I did indeed survive. As a matter of fact we had several really good exchanges that I'm going to have to share. To stay on topic I guess I'd have to throw these in the Jingle Bells category.

Exchange 1:
Coach: You're hammering your toe in when you do your lutz and flip jumps!
Me: Do you want to take a look at them and help me out with those?
Coach: No! We've talked about them already.
Me: But I still need help!
Coach: You should fix them yourself. I've already said all I have to say. At this point I don't think you'll ever fix it.
Me: I'm going to prove you wrong!
Coach: Good! Then when you do it I want you to come up to me and say "In you face, Mr. Edward!"
Me: Nope. I'll just do it and look at you serenely and gloat on the inside!

Exchange 2:
Coach: I am happy with the way the beginning of the program has come together.
Me: You had said that I wasn't really hitting my positions clearly and that the choreography was sort of muddled because of that last week. Is that better now?
Coach: Didn't I say I was happy with it? Why can't you just take a compliment from me?
Me: Well that's because they're so rare! I mean, think about it this way. 99% of the time when a person wins the lottery the first words out of their mouth is "I can't believe it!" That's kind of what's going on in my head right now.

Exchange 3:
Coach: Have a happy holiday! (Gives me a hug)
Me: You too! (Returns said hug)
Coach: I guess I won't be seeing you tomorrow.
Me: What do you mean?
Coach: Aren't you coming to skate tomorrow?
Me: I thought the rink was closed tomorrow for the holiday.
Coach: No! It's a normal schedule.
Me: Oh! Well I might come in then.
Coach: Good! Well if you're coming tomorrow then I want my hug back!
Me:

And that folks is just a sample of the comedic stylings of coach and pupil that I like to call my weekly lessons with my moves coach/choreographer.

Have a great holiday!

Frank

Jingle Bells: Jumps are finally starting to get where they were 10 weeks ago. Got flip double toe to go again, confidence is coming back slowly. Spins are good and double loop is just annoying w/ the 1/4 cheat.

Moves are good with the exception of the choctaw. New clockwise circular footwork is starting to flow well almost looks CCw. (yeah right)

Happy holidays to all.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Jingle Bells--
Had a great lesson last night--worked hard on Bronze moves. Slowly, ever so slowly, the BI-BI push in the power perimeter backward crossovers and in the power threes is getting better. We also worked on the pattern placement of the 5 step, especially the entire "left" lobe (the LFI-RBI side) as it was totally smushed before.

Scratch and sit spins were centered (for once).

Santa Smells--
My salchow bites! A lot!

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

Well, I had my moment this afternoon with FrankR's moves coach/choreographer.

Jingle Bells:
First thing: I knew the lesson was at 3:45pm. The problem was I didn't know which rink. I saw the schedule of the rinks and thought it was in Rink 3, when it really was in Rink 1. (Note: Ice House has FOUR RINKS in the building!!! The place is HUGE!!!)

Second thing: I found myself in a rather crowd and very intimidating group of skaters who really knew what they were doing. Lots of kids doing triples. I thought I was in the wrong FS session...

Then I spotted Edward at Rink 1 calling my cell from the ice. I said "I'm here waiting for you outside" and wave to him from the window. He spotted me and said "Well, why aren't you coming down here warming up then???" Of course, I know better than to challenge him on that. Quickly warmed up for my lesson. (Had only like a few minutes of it. The rink was very cold and very crowded!!!

I showed my perimeter forward crossovers and he said "Well, it's not too bad. At least, I don't have to go over the entire pattern with you at least." I took it as a compliment and proceed to do his magic on me. Moves Guru does things, as he describes it, "in a militaristic fashion. Nothing blends together. Every thing is very separate." (He forgot to add "very deliberate" too!) Of course, he also comes off a bit...ummmm intimidating... and this is only my first lesson too!!! I could see why he's jokingly called the "Moves Nazi!"

He stopped me right after I started the perimeter back crossovers and said "No no no STOP!!! I want you to do THIS!!!" And he explained what he wanted me to do and I tried it out. He then said "You do this and life would be a lot easier. Do you your old way and you're gonna get yourself KILLED out there!"

But you know something, he fits the profile of the type of coach that I was shopping for. He's a bit rough and quite intimidating, but he knows his stuff and is very methotical about things. I came off the ice telling hubby "He scares me to death, but GOD I LOVE HIM!!! I want to take him home with me back to San Francisco!!!" (And hubby can tell I'm telling the truth, b/c he said that while he was filming me, Edward just couldn't get that BIG GRIN off my face even though he was rough with me!!!)

I have a lot of notes that I need to write down and memorize. After the lesson, he came out and met hubby. Hubby asked about my lesson and he said "It was a very good lesson! Very productive!" And it was. There were a lot of notes that I'm trying to keep track of... and he did admit a lot of it is like "patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time." (Ummm... I can do that. Keeping track of all the notes he gave me to do... THAT is a LOT harder!!! )

Santa (and drunk guy) MAJOR STENCH :
The commute to Hackensack from Long Island (and w/o a car) was, ummm interesting.... Getting to Hackensack was long b/c 1) hubby insisted we take the train rather than the bus straight from Port Authority b/c "it would have taken too long!!!" Problem #1: I had plan on going thru Port Authority on the 165 bus straight thru and not thru the train!

Problem #2: From the North Hackensack train station, we decided to make it easier and tried to take a cab, b/c hubby didn't want to do the 1/4 mile walk! ANOTHER BAD IDEA!!! The cab never came! And we took the next bus that was available... I almost didn't make it to the lesson!!!

Problem #3: Coming back was also an adventure. We missed the last train leaving from Hackensack to Seacaucus station to New York Penn Station. We had to hitch a ride with a cabby who took me, hubby and this REALLY obnoxiously drunk guy that the cabbie had to drop off quickly. Thankfully, the drunk's trip was only 5 minutes!!! (And yes, it was 5 minutes too long too! ) We took a rather expen$ive cab ride back to the Seacaucus Junction to catch a train back to New York Penn Station.

Meanwhile, hubby and I had a major row in the taxi after the drunk guy came out. He wanted nothing more than just to stay at his parents' home and sleep. I wanted to go out and do a lot everything and anything!!! I was pissed. (What's the point of travelling all the way to New York if all you want to do is just sleep the two weeks away???")

Jingle Bells (Foodie Alert):
Part of the blame for not catching the train was that I didn't know what time the last train leaves from North Hackensack back to Seacaucus. And instead of leaving back for the train right away, I ended up at this FANTASTIC hamburger place where I got these really juicy, fattening and cheap hamburgers for dinner!!! We heard about this place thru a teenage boy at the rink who overheard us planning for dinner and raved about White Manor on River St. (a short walk from the Ice House!) Anyone looking for something to break your diets on... this one's worth it, folks!!! Make time for it if you ever make it to the Ice House!!! It is WORTHY of this Bay Area Foodie!!!

Final words:

I told Edward after my lesson: "You know... I had a REALLY crappy commute coming here! You just made it worthwhile for me to make it there." (And trust me I had a REALLY BAD commute, so Edward made up for it thru his lesson BIG time for me!!! I would have been royally pissed if he was anything less than what he was with me today.)

__________________
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!!!

Congrats Jazzpants! Glad you had a good time and I enjoyed your account of your lesson. Just out of curiosity, what were you doing that was going to get you killed on the back perimeter crossover stroking?

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August 22, back on the ice!

Ummmm... not looking behind me? The only consolation is that he says there are a lot of adults who do the same thing, so as far as he's concerned, I'm his average everyday beginning adult moves student.

"Can I take him home with me to San Francisco? Can I keep him, huh? Can I? Can I?"

__________________
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!!!

Santa Smells: Starting with this smelly note: my boots! yuk! I gave away almost all of my "spray" and now I'm out of lavender oil. I also tried out my "new" used skates from ebay and they sure felt weird! I really pitched onto my toepick. Don't know exactly why unless the blade (which is a different one) had been messed up somehow. No big deal, since I'm swapping blades. I also felt lower in the boots. Weird. I haven't measured my blades to see of there is a height difference I wonder if anyone else has experienced this?

Jingle Bells: Making progress in the loop! I actually have a curved entrance to this darned jump! Able to get 3/4 of the way around most of the time and did manage a full rotation, even though they are two-footed (yeah, so what?) Did several backspins & scratch spins! Getting better at lifting my free leg up. No toe-loops though. Today's session wasn't too crowded and there were only 3 boys acting up, but I knew the dad so he made them settle down a bit. Hubby actually did his scratch spins in the center ice!!! If only he would bend his knees more. Oh well, at least he conquered those mohawks! he was ready to quit.

We also talked about pair elements-he was a bit confused about what they were. I want to add a pair spiral in our routine, but he's not confident enough to spiral, let alone a pair spiral. Darn! It would be sooooo cool! I don't want our routine to be stupid! It might end up with him standing on the ice and me skating around him (at least that's what it seems like we've got right now). I'm going to cut our music down to 1:30 max instead of the full piece-we just won't have enough interesting elements. There's always next year!

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

Oh, yes, that certainly can get you killed! There are plenty of kids who do that, too, and it is one of my pet peeves! Anyway, glad you had a good lesson!

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August 22, back on the ice!