I chose the title because of what happened today.

Pleasently Surprised:

I'm now officially enrolled for Summer Skating School and have ice 4 days a week for 4 weeks. I've about 5 adult skater friends skating on the ice with me, all of different levels.

Mad At My Skates:
Even after taking off the week from skating last week (not even ticket ice anywhere other than Summer Skating School which was too expensive for the additional week... so I waited for the half way point.) it was apparent that my skates were a mess. No matter how far over I pushed my body to make the lobes and turns on outside edges, I was still making two tracks on the ice and falling onto my inside edge both forwards and backwards. The kicker was when I went to do my RFO spiral. I was doing the lobe but I was skidding all the way slowing down as I went. Landing jumps and me fall onto the inside edge as soon as I was off of my landing toe pick to ride the so called edge. I had a lot of double edges for my landings. No wonder my coach says my boots are warped.

Loop - two footed, just couldn't get a proper outside edge before taking off no matter what method I tried.

Flip - two footed, was falling too much on inside edge on left foot and so I made my pick too wide

Salchow - landed them but not much height because the take off edge was too curvy.

Toe Loop - landed but not all that strong.

Waltz Jump - landed but not much height because I didn't get to get down into my knee before taking off.


Pleasently Surprised:

I was practicing my Fiesta Tango and was getting so relaxed and down into my knees that I lean must a but too far back after doing the Mohawk on the end pattern that I caught a rut with the back of my blade. I fell onto my butt, legs and hands and got nothing but ice burn on my legs. I must have instinctedly bent further down and leaned forward enough to not rock back and hit my head. I sat there for about 30 seconds before getting up thinking "what I am I doing here?" and skating on. Must be starting to learn again because I'm letting myself fall.

Lutz - did several of them and surprised myself with one clean one. Full rotation, brought my arms in with elbows close to my body, landing on one foot with a ride out. It was surreal. I haven' t had a clean Lutz for years (2005 - preinjury.)

Coach took my skates home tonight to work on them and fixed them like he fixed my old Graf Edmonton Specials in which I had up to a 2 Salchow before being injured at work. I hope it works for me and things come back and more.

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Hi

Pleasantly surprised:

I went ice skating yesterday. Yesterday was public holiday in Singapore coz Sunday was national day. I went after 4 p.m. The rink was packed with people, mostly kids, but then the middle area was empty, and so I could practise my jumps and spins there.

Did some dance steps for ISI level 2, and also some double 3 turns, mohawks, ballet jumps etc.

Mad:

Could not practise program as just too many kids, or else I have to stop the sequence of the program.

An 8 year old boy kept on coming into the middle area, been told off by the ice marshal twice. I think that the boy sweared at the ice marshall when being told off, and so even he fell a million times later, the ice marhsall did not help him get up.

Trying to practise on sit spins. 2 times, did not know why I fell though.

Fell 4 times on the sit spin. The ice was very wet, and so my track pants was very wet too. It seemed that somebody turned the ice rink into a swimming pool yesterday.

Plesantly Surprised My sister is here with her 3 kids for skate camp this week. After the camp, we skated a freestyle session together. It was like when we were kids - too much fun.

Had my lesson tonight. We worked on the beginning of the 3 turn pattern that had me spooked and figured out intro steps in the right combo so I quit messing up the beginning. The left mohawk on the 5 Step pattern is getting better. Coach pronounced my sit spin lower and is very close to being low enough. I have quite a few revs and it's centered.

Mad Worked on the flip tonight. Two footed every one, but still felt like I was making some improvements. I had a meeting to go to so could only skate 45 minutes of my 1 hour session.

Pleasantly Surprised: My flip and lutz jumps are coming along beautifully! I can do brackets with ease and some other footwork combination that I look forward to incorporating into my program! I have selected my music for it:

End Music during the credits from the movie Little Children and "Together We Will Live Forever" from the movie The Fountain Very VERY excited!

Spiral sequences are coming along nicely with a back catch as well as my Y spiral. my flexibility is really coming along in my back and I am still trying to get to the splits. I need to test Bronze soon.

Mad at My Skates: Not so much at my skates but...our rinks lost power in the storms that came through on Sunday night. Rinks = swimming pools. So this week ice skating is out. AND on top of that, another week without lessons.

On the bright side, I can continue my trend of slalom skiing through the course on the lake and work on those MAD skills.

Flip jump has taken its sweet time for me. I am FINALLY understanding where my body is supposed to be after the 3 turn and timing. Also the reaching back, keeping the back straight and pulling into the jump. The more I practice it, the better it gets. Now I want more height! LOL! Strangely enough, the lutz has been easier for me to learn.

Mad At My Skates - today's lesson was the "all back edges" show. I know I will skate better after I master what my coach is teaching here, but oooof, thighs are sore. He wants 4 great big perfect identical lobes. That means a lot of power has to come from that first push, and my technique has not been, shall we say, efficient.

Pleasantly Surprised - not really a surprise, after all that work, but I really did get better. Two or three sessions of practicing this hard should get it ingrained pretty well. I do love how it looks when an elite skater gives one elegant push and then glides in a perfect curve like they are on rails.

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It's all about the dress!

Mad: Didn't get to go skating last Sunday because I was up in my former hometown helping my partner clean up his house. When he moved away, he started renting it (housing market too bad to sell it). Unfortunately he rented it to college kids. The most recent batch trashed it. No holes in the walls or anything short of the usual nail holes and such, but they didn't let anyone know there was a leak in the basement (either that or his slacker property manager never returned their calls, or some mix of both), so it got moldy, which all had to be torn out...floors and such filthy (and wood floor scratched from dragging furniture around)...doors taken off their hinges....some of their stuff left (we took out four or five couches from the house and garage, random clothing, a mess in the garage, even their shampoo out of the shower)...they'd been putting cigarette ashes down one of the vents...I dunno if they ever vacuumed considering the dust on the stairs...etc. No fun. Would rather have been skating!

Surprised: Having fun, yay!

Mad: Backward skating still sucks like whoa. Still absolutely unable to do backward crossovers, though I got a few pointers at class yesterday. And I think I will improve more once I can get back to my nearly-empty after-school skating sessions, where I can go all over and do whatever I want rather than having to worry about running into someone (I'm still not all that great at watching behind me when skating backward--if I do more than glance with peripheral vision I get unbalanced for some reason--and some people at the public sessions are hard enough to avoid when going forward and seeing them head-on...

Surprised: Our regular instructor was out yesterday, so we had a sub (I think he teaches on one of the other nights). I feel like he worked me harder and gave me more pointers than our regular instructor. But:

Mad: I also feel like he worked me too fast. I'm the sort that would like to work on one or two things until I'm proficient (or feel like I've improved or gotten in some good practice) and *then* move on, not spend five minutes each on ten things and not feel like I'm actually getting anywhere.

Surprised: Still working on 3-turns, which is fun; started work on FI turns yesterday.

It does seem like there is a lot to remember on that jump - I'm working on the reach back and pull.


Mad I looked at the schedule 10+ times and still missed my group class. The time was rescheduled due to hockey conflicts. Ugh! Got to the rink 20 mins too late.

Surprised My sister is here this week - coaching a skate camp. She brought me a new pair of skates that are brand new. She bought them 3 years ago and they are too big for her. Old school Riedell Gold Stars. Asst. skate director let me try them out during the LTS session tonight. They were sooooooo dull and so stiff it was hard to skate. They feel okay - taking into consideration they aren't broken in. Coach inspected them and declared them good.

Pleasantly surprised: took a look at my rink's website and saw the schedule for this month has been posted! It opens this month and they FINALLY posted! Yay! I can plan on some skating now!

And, the freestyle prices are $13/50 minutes. Not too bad!

There is also an adult freestyle session on a Monday night at 9:20 pm! Wow! But I wish they had put one on Sundays....there is only one public session (which I don't do on the weekends).

Mad: they moved the classes to Saturday. Why on earth???? The other ladies and I are seeing if we can have our class on Friday night as before. Some of us work weekends.

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

Mad:
We also got our new schedule. It reduces morning hours, and has hours that will prevent me from going to the roller rink once per week (like last year). Evening hours are earlier and into my workday. Sigh.

They increased the freestyle cost to $7/45 minutes too, but that's still a bargain compared to most rinks. That's one of the advantages of living in an impoverished area.

Still Mad:
The roller rink closed down for August so the owners can take a vacation...

but...

Pleasantly Surprised:
Some of the regular roller skaters are going on a trip to another roller rink tonight (I think). I've been in Santa Fe for work for a week, so I need to confirm that. If so, I'll be back on the PICs tonight!

Still CAN'T WAIT for ice starting in mid-September though!

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Bill Schneider

Mad:
Just when i'm starting to get my feet under me, after not skating for 5 years, the session ends for the summer...i was just getting on a roll!

Surprized: i learned the rocker for the first time last night. the rocker isn't as hard as i thought it was gonna be - with a year of practice, i might actually do one.

Mad: Failed Fiesta Tango yesterday. Oy. I think we just muscled through it, unfortunately--judge said the end pattern was too flat, rhythm was rushed, and first two FO edges were not really on the right edges.

Pleasantly surprised: Passed Swing yesterday. Yay!

Also, last week I nearly landed a full flip. Closer with that than with the loop.

Mad: Spins still suck and may even have regressed.

Also, new schedule is out. I'm good until the 21st, but after that I might not have much of a chance to skate. The FS schedule switches to be convenient for school-age kids (3-5pm on most days) and NOT convenient for mothers of school-age kids, and so far it doesn't look like the rink will restore any midweek public sessions. I e-mailed them last week but haven't heard back. So I have to bargain with dh for afternoon skating time (which is also pricey--about $10 for a 45-minute session), and attempt to practice on crowded weekend public sessions (cheaper at $5 a pop for 2-3 hours).

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Mad AND Surprised: trying to figure out what I want to do as far as classes in the fall.

At my current rink, I can take a Monday at 5:45 (which would likely mean I'd have to negotiate with my boss to leave work early so I could get there on time), Saturday around 9 a.m. or around noon. I prefer weekdays so I don't have to miss a class if I'm away on the weekend (they offer make-up slips but missing class is no fun), but that time would make it difficult and it also looks like it might be a shorter class because their evening ice availability doesn't go until very late. And while I'd prefer not to get up early on a Saturday for a class, if I took the later Saturday class I'd probably get stuck, in that if I want to do something on Saturday, half my day is taken up by the time the class would be. The classes here only require three people to be run.

Meanwhile, a skater I know says her coach would like to get an adult class together, at a rink closer to us. However, I hate the rink because it's very cold (it sucks because I'll get warm from the inside out and roll up my sleeves, and see my arms getting red from the cold but I can't feel it. And sometimes coming out of the cold and warming up--esp. if it's a hot day and warm in the lobby--makes me feel physically unwell because of the weird temp change). And, our choice would be Friday evenings or Sunday mornings. Sunday mornings are a no--either in case I'm gone for the weekend, or if I have to be at church for something. Friday evenings are sort of do-able. This class, though, would require five people to run so there'd be a bit less personal attention (though still not bad). But I still hate the coldness of that rink. Unless she could get them to turn the heat up for us for the class, but I doubt it.

*sigh* What to do, what to do...

Suprised: FINALLY had a good scratch spin day. I managed some nicely centered fast spins. I also did a rare combo spin (camel/sit/back sit). Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. My axels flew and I did a nice double loop an hour and a half into the session (which is the time I'm usually dead on my feet).

Mad at My Skates: Suprisingly I don't have much to complain about. I had a really good session. I'm sure I'll be grumpy about something after my skate tomorrow morning.

Mad Evening freestyle session was totally full tonight with 4 people on the waiting list. Seemed like there was no room to do anything. So had to switch up and do freestyle first instead of moves like normal. My backspin has seemed to go MIA. Wah! Could not do the backwards moves patterns at all - always someone in the way.

Surprised I think I've finally mastered my fear on the intro to the 3 turn pattern. The first 3 is small, but I didn't flub the beginning at all tonight. Yea! The rest of the 3's are coming along nicely. I have more power and flow. The 5 step mohawk pattern is improving, too. I am really aiming to take the moves test at the end of September and now have more confidence that I may actually acheive that goal. I did a nice camel with 3 revs(that's good for me).

Surprised
-I am LOVING the combo spin I came up with for my program (change of position combo, not change of foot and position). I'm doing camel, broken leg for 8 revs, layback, then outside edge upright to end. It has 5 features, so maybe I'll at least get a level 3 call The reason I love it so much is that I can gain a TREMENDOUS amount of speed lowering into the broken leg. I could feel how fast I was going, but the comments from my coach/other skaters confirmed it.
-I am really starting to find my timing for 2axel, down to the breathing. Not only am I popping them less often, but I'm getting closer and closer to that elusive clean, 1 foot landing. I can either do it clean (in terms of rotation) or on one foot, but not both...yet.
-Very excited for my new program. The music is the same music I planned to use for my Int test/Novice short (and actually, I think I'll keep the music for those levels next year) just minus 8 seconds or so, and I think it suits me perfectly.

Mad
-Very nearly murdered small children today. My coach runs a camp during the summer, and when we're working on jumps or spins we have to wait a little bit for our turn. These kids don't pay attention to what my coach is saying even when it can apply to them (correcting a double or 3 sal applies to their singles, for example), but what really, REALLY drives me insane is how oblivious they are to their surroundings. Waiting in line, they bump into me. When we're doing edge work, they bump into me. If they're not doing what they're SUPPOSED to be doing, they should at least not skate along the long axis with their heads in their clouds. I'm doing my best to be patient, but it's been a long summer.
-Platelet issues continue. They've dropped again, and the next step may end up being chemo. It won't be aggressive chemo, but I'm still a little scared. I'll find out for sure what the next course of action is on the 27th, but that's most likely the direction we're heading in, as getting my spleen removed is an even less appealing option (high risks for infection for the rest of your life, and now they're finding the spleenectomies are less and less effective)

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Youtube Videos

MAD !

was supposed to have a private session this morning with another adult student. Drive all the way there to find that the ice hadn't been done. Scraped, but not surfaced

I refuse to pay for private ice on something that's seen at least 4 sessions without surfacing.

Very disappointing, I was looking forward to practising this morning.

Surprised
So I went home and worked on a costume for a girl's artistic program. Boot covers that look like high top sneakers. They've turned out pretty well, so at least I achieved something today.

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

mad at my skates - spins were utter crud today, jumps pretty sad too

pleasantly surprised - work on edges is taking effect, they are improved

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It's all about the dress!

Good news about the double axel, and WOW, love the CoSp4! I can't believe you can hold a broken leg sit for 8, then come up into a layback!
Keeping fingers crossed about your platelet condition. . .

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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

Pleasantly Surprised: I had four girls testing at this past Wednesday's test session, all four of which passed!

Two of them tested their Cha Cha (one of them passed .2 over for presentation), another tested her Hickory Hoedown, and my last skater tested her Novice MIF (for the third time testing since May) and finally passed by all three judges .1 over (by one judge) and .2 over (by the other two judges).

While I am proud of all my skaters, I am particularly proud of my Novice MIF tester. She wiped out on the first move (second side) during the end pattern, but recovered nicely and skated strong for the rest of her test, so she got a reskate. She received nice comments on her bracket-three-bracket and the outside counters in particular and overall very few negative comments.

So, beginning next week, I'll start her on her Junior MIF. This is pretty exciting for me as a coach as I've taught this skater since she was in my Pre-Alpha LTS class. It's really neat to see the progress made in the past nine years. I know there's not many coaches who can say that they've coached a skater for such a long time through so many levels and tests with the way kids change sports/coaches, so that in itself makes me feel good.

Thanks! Broken leg is a pretty easy spin for me, and it's especially easy for me to go from camel to broken leg--I can gain more speed than I do for camel-sit.

Wow! Congratulations to your skaters at to you! That's an incredible accomplishment for both of you.

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Youtube Videos

Pleasantly Surprised: I'm testing preliminary moves next Friday. All the moves seem to be working surprisingly well, even the $%*@ alternating 3 turns. The last time I tested it was the insides that made me hate this move, but apparently taking 4 months off they just seem to come naturally now. The outsides are still a slightly different story. I can do them most of the time...

At the end of the lesson today, we ran through top to bottom the entire test. (I knew stamina might be a bit of an issue) If I remember to breath, things will go much smoother.

Mad: If this is the only thing I can be mad at, I think I have it pretty good. Thursday is not my normal lesson day. Monday is my normal day and there have been times where I have the rink to myself. Today was not one of those days. Skaters everywhere, most of them my coaches' students. Though a handful were working with other coaches. Made it real fun trying to do the crossover pattern, one end a coach is working on the hockey circles with a hockey player and at the other end a coach is working on crossovers. It was good practice for me though, because the rink I skate at during the school year is always busy---never even a possibility of an empty rink, probably minimum 3 skaters plus a couple coaches.

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~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06

Pleasantly Surprised: Actually eked out 2 revs on a backspin today. (After the lesson was over, alas, but at least it happened!) Was able to correct a wonky forward spin. Gives me confidence to know I can compensate for goofs sometimes. Back 3s coming better; spent a LOT of time on them today. I'm also getting a better idea, with help from coach, of how much I need to just keep my upper body STILL (fer cryin' out loud).

Mad: Ripped my pants on a backspin Oh well. And lots and lots of failed attempts, both forward & backspins. 8-step mohawk has gone to pot, but considering I haven't really practiced it in about 3 weeks because of testing, that's not really surprising.

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Pleasantly surprised:

During my lesson yesterday, my coach said that my forward and backward crossover has improved.

During my practice, could get up to 5 revolutions in my backspin.

During my practice, remembered my program routine.

Getting somewhere with my right leg mohawk.

Mad:

As a group of 30 students from some secondary school booked up the rink for group lessons, the rink was absolutely packed. A bit mad. So coach said that would not go through routine with me yesterday.

In the first 20 minutes of my practice (I practised for 45 mins before my lesson), I seemed to have lost the forward scratch spin on my change foot spin, with regards to the number of rotations. Luckily, they got better during my lesson and during the 2nd half of my practice, after my lesson.

Can do the toe loop, but not without stopping before the 3 turn.

(off topic): my husband spoke to his dad last night, he said that his dad was chasing him to get me pregnant soon.

Welcome to the world of backspins!!! LOL!!

Mad at my skates: guess I shouldn't be, I tried calling Mike but there was NO ANSWER.....so I will try again tomorrow to see if my new skates are in. I know I'm pushing it as it's only been 4 weeks, but a girl can hope can't she?

Pleasantly Surprised: I've been asked to help the rink out-representing the rink AND the Club at the town's Heritage Day. I know a lot of people will be there AND I know most of everyone in the town. Should be good, if I can get the materials in time!

Mad: Still trying to get back into shape for skating. Still fighting with the muscular imbalance thing. It's better but still.....sheesh! My lower back gives me fits and although I'm so much stronger all over I don't know what else to do about it. I can barely achieve a sit spin position off-ice. On a good day. I'm flustered. My back hurts, my quads cramp up. and today I lost my balance when WALKING ACROSS MY LIVING ROOM.

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