DallasSkater: I hope you are feeling better soon! Hang in there with the Ballet. It is not a discipline for anyone who has issues with instant gratification that's for sure.

Doubletoe: Ditto on the Ballet. I found Ballet rather drudging in its repetative nature but as you mentioned, movements eventually become second nature. My legs usually feel like bricks when I am done. Plus it is so good for strength, stretching and flexibility.

Casey: Sorry about the bad karma you've been having lately, but I am Glad you are still with us. The world is a pretty cool place with you still in it

Shut Down:
Sit Spins and Scratch Spins

Open for Business:
Attitude Spin 3 -4 revs (not centered yet, but it is progress)
Camel Spin 3 revs
Bronze MIF Primary Coach thinks I could test in October. ... and pass
Worked with Secondary Coach today on my jump plateau and a little reframing thus providing some hope and light at the end of the tunnel.
Spirals on all edges, forward and backward are feeling secure solid and stretched.
Toe Loops: the cure--- Toe Walleys.

Geez! We're getting A LOT of crazy drivers!!! We have a lot of those like that too. I almost had a near death experience after I changed lanes and carefully making sure that there was no one within at least a few car length in the next lane. Some idiot driver decide to zip along and almost rear ended me... Everyone was going like 66 mph and he was going like 85??? I swear I was looking b/c I SAW him zipping along and came up REALLY FAST!!!

KEWL that you didn't hit your finger again... now you just have to not run into the boards again. KEWL that you taught someone how to do a t-stop!!!

__________________
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!!!

Open for business

At long last I'm getting some small success with alternating FI twizzles. They're starting to come both ways. Mind you, I have to really think about it, and I don't get much in the way of travel, and the feet aren't pretty, but given that 2 months ago the LFI wasn't even getting anything like 360 degrees without a touchdown, and the RFI went round on the toepick if it went round at all, I'm delighted.

Open for business overtime and great sales on

Inelegant and graceless as mine are, it seems that back twizzles are so much easier!! Our synchro coach wants us to do these weird 2-footed 360-degree travelling back turns (ie: from backwards to backwards). I was whinging ( ) to the team captain, and she said "Try this", and showed me how she did it on one foot. To my great astonishment, it worked, and she replied "See? You can do BI twizzles!" Both ways!! Alternating!! Who'd'a'thunk?

Shut down

Some spectacular falls. Nothing hurt except for my dignity, but then, I'm in the habit of checking that at the locker room when I enter the rink. The Dutch Waltz produced a doozy of a bellyflop, whereupon I slid (stomach down, chin and arms up) straight into learn-to-skate. Coach comes over, looks down and says something to the effect of "Beached penguin". (I suppose I should be grateful it wasn't "beached whale" ).

Then yesterday, coach says to try something different to get the exit from a teapot faster. I just looked at him, and he replied to the look, "It's OK, I won't drop you." Famous last words. Another flop, and another slide - into coffee club this time. At least he went down too! Someone wanted to know where the Funniest Home Video camera was set up...

It was bad again this morning; par for the course, this time of year, I'm afraid.

For the first part of our practice, it felt like little bits of dance were being chewed up and spat out all over the ice, with five couples (including us) all working on weak spots in their respective dances!

We did get one good runthrough to the music. The first time we made a horlicks of the beginning, but fortunately, as it turned out, someone accidentally turned our music off. So they put it back on again from the beginning for us, and this time we did it properly!

I'm still worried about some of the steps - we do seem to repeat them, identically. Husand says the judges won't notice, but I bet they do. See what the Coach thinks on Tuesday.

Last year, at this time, I was longing for the day to come; this year I'm thankful we still have a fortnight to get ready, and even then, will we be? It's not as if it's the first time we've competed the dance, though.... oh dear....

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

Shut Down: Yup, shut down fersure. I thought it felt like I had picked up a "bug" yesterday - weak and alternating sweats and chills (though the ladies were all suggesting their personal remedies for "hot flashes - LOL!). Woke up this morning feeling like I had been run over by a steam roller - a "bug" fersure Probably the same one my coach had earlier in the week. Already called in sick - can't let work get in the way of skating! Going to curl up in a warm blanket and veg out in front of the television - gotta get healthy for skating tomorrow - too much to learn and refine for my program - no time to be sick!

Open For Business: A good excuse to open that bottle of wine in the cupboard and nibble on that extra chocolate bar?

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

(((((((Dianne)))))))

Hope you are feeling better soon....

__________________
If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

Jazzpants - Here in NYC, a lot of us no longer signal when changing lanes, because it has become an invitation to every idiot on the road to speed up so you can't do what you need to! I nearly got killed that way a few weeks ago.

Shut Down:
Last week, my lack of practice caught up with me, and I got on the ice and did not feel so good. On top of that, there was pressure on the outside of my R ankle. My boots have never, ever, hurt me there, so this was extremely unusual. I had to give a lesson the next day, and discovered that my ankle was bruised and painful, and I had to get off as soon as the lesson was over. I went to Klingbeil this morning before skating, to get the boot taken care of. I figured some of the padding had slipped, but they removed some padding, and it felt OK. Got to the rink, and it was OK, just barely, but after about an hour, I realized my L ankle was now hurting also ! I can't figure out what's going on. I don't see any difference in my ankles, and my boots look fine. This just happened so suddenly. On top of that, I felt like I had never been on the ice before. Everything was difficult and klutzy. Not one good thing to report, except that I didn't get hurt in spite of feeling like I was going to the whole time I was on the ice.

__________________

Yup! We got that problem too!!! And I almost missed an exit and hit someone while trying to change lanes too! IDIOT freeway drivers!!!

__________________
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!!!

Open for Business:
The freestyle session at the beginning was light, so I took full advantage and worked on moves. Moves are getting better and I will PASS this test in December!!
Loop is finally starting to stick around.
I've remembered how to do backsit- now to get low enough for it to be called a backsit.


Shut Down:
If I'm given a option on jump work this upcoming week, I will ask to work on the salchow in order to rid myself of the whipping free leg. Flip is possibly another option.

__________________
Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Open for Business:
Sit spins were pretty good today. I did some shoot-the-ducks and saw my reflection in the plastic on the boards and I could see that I'm getting lower. Now, if only I could match that with my other leg for a back sit - any year now....

Loop was OK, but I'm still not happy with the height, but at least my salchow was working today.


Shut down:
The rink I skate at during the week, still! It's been closed since the end of June for maintenance and was supposed to open Sept 5. Now, there's no FS until the first week of October, sending me out to the far rink during weekday rush hour for another 2 weeks - grrr. At least gas is cheaper than it has been, but still....

As for skating shut-downs, my 3-year fight with the camel continues.....

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

Open for Business--
Was visiting the antique show DH is exhibiting at in Northern Va, so skated @ Ashburn this morning and there were only 3 other skaters on each session I was at. Got loads of things done...

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

Shut down: Early session (8:30) and I was still a bit stiff and weak from the recent “bug” but pushed hard to get my backward working again and to build up my weak left leg.

Open for Business: The snap reflex seemed to be back (mostly) so I spent the first hour on backward glides and pushing 3-Turns (two-footed darn it!) and back Mohawks. At least my back right Mohawk was working again.

My coach came for the second hour and we did forward edges, backward edges (so-so), 3-Turns and forward Mohawks (well sort of, as close as I can get right now!) Toward the end of the session, with good coaching, the right setup and entry I was finally getting close to having the forward 3-Turns on one foot and actually completed one or two without putting my free foot down! After skating, my coach and I went out for a late extended breakfast

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

Yes, that was very frustrating staying across the street from YB and not being able to skate (the frequent trips to Beard Papa for cream puffs and eclairs helped to assuage my angst).
Luckily, I made my way to Oakland then later in the week skated in Santa Rosa at "Snoopy's Home Ice!"

__________________
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: Fiesta Tango went okay. So did the end of our free dance.

Shut Down: Trying to rechoreograph a bit of the Free Dance, and then got distracted and stopped before we worked it at speed! Duh!

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

Dude! Why didn't ping me when you were going to Oakland or Santa Rosa??? I could have come! I was at Oakland Thursday night for a lesson.

And "cream puffs and eclairs to assuage your angst???" You sure you're not having "that time of the month???"

Well, angst is over soon. It's supposedly open today and I will be "back to regular scheduled lessons." (minus Monday night sessions...see the website outgoing message now... ) Rink manager tells me that it's getting done and things are "progressing" as of Thursday... two days later, I heard it's opened for business as of today!

How did you like the Snoopy rink?

__________________
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!!!

Shut Down: Went to the rink today for an off-ice dance class, only to find out it was rescheduled due to lack of notice....it starts next Sunday. So, back home I go to finish unpacking/cleaning from my weekend camping trip with my son (scouting trip-where it rained most of it and we had a blast!).

Open for Business: Although no skating today (I'm too pooped!!) I did hear that there is a 99% chance of my rink having a test session this year...as soon as they hear back from some judges it will be on!!!! So, it looks good for testing pre-bronze at my home rink! Their timeframe is sometime February or March.

It looks as though we are moving right along....ice shows, basic skills comps (which I don't believe I'm doing this year since I'm not enrolled), testing, moves classes, artificial ice classes, etc. Hopefully, we will have a studio rink for the summer and won't have to drive forever for ice (Sorry Pat, I'll still visit once in a while!)

And, on the notice about the off/on-ice dance class-it is also a moves-in-the-field class!!! Her main focus will be edges! I'm stoked because this is the one thing I like to work on that I miss from dance (it's an ice dance instructor so it will be good).

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

Open for Business:

Finally, after 5 years of failures and frustrations, I passed my Novice Moves in the Field! And not just passed. . .I owned that test! The passing average was 24.5 and the lowest score I got was a 25.3.

All I have to say is that junior moves better not take another 5 years!


Shut Down:

Naturally after you pass a test, you want to get back out there and start learning new stuff. At least that's what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, I've been sick since I passed my test on Thursday! My ears were plugged during the test, but now we're thinking I might have strep throat and I ended up needing eye drops for a case of pink eye. I guess it was good timing that it didn't happen before the test, but yuck anyway!

__________________

"Without Vision the People Perish"
שלום לעולם תמיד

Congratulations!!!

I hope you feel better soon! I had strep throat twice last year (fall/winter) and it better not happen again this year!

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

Congratulations!!!

Novice moves is HUGE!!!! Congratulations!!

Whispersung....CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!!!

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

I went to the *early* sessions (because I was, in fact, on a biz trip and had to attend to that ).

I was pretty bad. After buying some chai latte and pastry at the s l o w e s t ever coffee shop (Peet's near the Moscone center), I couldn't resist the allure of Beard Papa's (and why is there no store in Virginia?!). And when I arrived at the conference, a coworker offered me a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts! I declined--partly because I had to save room for all the Jelly Belly beans I knew I would soon be eating for my trip to Fairfield. (I also went to a few olive oil tastings near Napa/Sonoma, as well as some wine tastings. It's gonna be a tough time at the gym this week as I attempt to atone for my splurges.)
.
The rink was empty for a mid-afternoon freestlye, but I got there early so I had a snack in the Warm Puppy Cafe. The ice was OK--it was chewed up from a pick-up hockey game. The Schulz Museum next to the rink was neat, and thye are now featuring the "Summer of Woodstock" complete with MANY Woodstock statues with different themes. Pretty nifty.

__________________
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.

Congratulations Whispersung!!!

Yaaay! another future member of the peanut gallery!!! I am so thrilled

Shut down:
Crowded sunday session with little skater devils not watching where they were going. Tripped over a 6 year old speed bump not watching where she was going, later, did an impromptu ice dance with a little hockey player not watching where he was going either. Grrrrr.

Open for Business:
Tried a couple of loops today w/o too much frustration.
Camel Spin is sweet. It is my favorite spin I can do.
Did a perfectly centered *almost*scratch spin.
lovely spirals today.

Open For Business:
Had my first lesson with a coach this past Thursday. Boy was I rusty. I really found out how off I was because my new coach is in his late 70's or early 80's really picked apart my waltz jump and other jumps for me. I was complaining that I wasn't comfortable with my take offs and landings. There was a whole host of things I was doing wrong, like twisting at the waist and letting my left arm proceed me, not stretching out my left leg on the backward right edge proceeding stepping onto the take off edge and most telling was the fact that I was rushing my take offs. It's now, back edge, stretch left leg behind, then step, count one, two, three, swing arms and right leg together to take off and land with left arm up in front to the center of my chest and right arm behind. Same with my toe loop and salchow. Next step is to land with free leg crossed infront of skating leg. (need this for Axel and doubles).

My spin speed is way up since, I've gotten my boots properly alligned and my blades fixed. Where I use to get an easy 5 revs, it's now an easy 8 to 10. And when I really try to spin, I haven't got an idea how many times I'm going around. Now my problem is to remember to slow down before existing. I keep forgetting to get my arms out well in advance to slow down before checking out which makes me dizzy. If I remember to slow down first, I'm OK. Oh, I'm not exactly centered yet. Got to have one of my coaches pick that apart soon. Keep in mind these are all forward spins, sits and uprights.

Then I have to get back to work on the loop, flip, lutz, backspin and camel.
After that, I have to work on doing change edge spins in all three positions; upright, sit and camel. After that, I'll start putting in variations of the positions eg. sit/broken sit/change to back sit/pancake 8 revs total or more. Once that's done, I'll sign up to test the Prelim FS. After I pass if it's before January, I'll start working on the combo spins, flying spins and Axel to get ready to test Junior Bronze.

As of now I'm at the point that I'm going to compete at Adult Bronze at Adult Canadians, but if I pass both the Prelim and Junior Bronze tests, I'll compete at Adult Silver this year. I've re-thought things and I think testing two levels this year will be enough unless things magically click for me. I'm thinking I'd rather be a strong skater than a wobbly Adult Gold skater. There's always next year or spring to move up to Adult Gold.

I've got two male coaches now. Who says there aren't that many men in skating? Yeah, I know. We're really talking about those males who still do programs and compete themselves. I've shown both of my coaches my plans and goals for this year.

__________________
"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

doubletoe: Awesome that you retained your ballet training from younger. I bet it did come in handy learning as an adult to skate!

Rusty: Sorry about the bug! I didn't even breathe on you! Hope you are already feeling better.

Sk8pdx: Thanks for the well wishes. I am already significantly better.

Whispersung: Wow! You Raaawwwwkkkk!

Skate@Delaware: Your class sounds really good! I did not know there was such a thing as an off ice moves in the field class!

Shut Down: This rink was soooo busy this weekend. Really hard to practice anything during public sessions and freestyle was canceled for Saturday and none available on Sunday.

Open for Business: Did well with spins and continue to notice improvements. Friday night classes went well. I am delighted to have another adult taking it with me. He and I have been able to practice some together this weekend which was nice. We are getting more and more adults! Hopefully more of them will move into the freestyle classes as many stop at advance.

Got to watch a bit of the people competing in the regional event in their dress practice. Awesome talent from such young people! Could really notice who had ballet in their background. giggle. Will remember that in case I develop "tude" during my ballet class this week!