Spirit:
Wow, lots of achievements this week! Congrats to all of you.

Ghost:
I'm suffering from skating deprivation Haven't had any time to get to the rink since Sunday's lesson, and I'm off on holiday again soon. I miss the ice!

I did, in fact, see the very first spin you did and it was quite nice. I am jealous... I don't know WHEN my dang spin is going to work... grrr!

Olympic Spirit Milo's lesson went well. He's starting to get much faster marching and really likes chasing me around. And his backwards wiggles are now going backwards, though he (like his mama) doesn't really LIKE skating backwards. He's starting to get a two-foot glide, too.

Olympic GhostMy skating was kinda putrid last night. I have determined that my crossovers don't work unless I've done a quick circle or two before I start doing any move that has a forward crossover involved -- like forward perimeter power stroking. Nice, long secure inside edges followed by halting, not-quite-crossed crossovers. Great way to start a lesson with a new instructor. Back crossovers were marginally better, but once we started focusing on upper body extension, my feet went all dumb on me.

Then we worked on spins and the fifth coach this year has now told me, "Well, there's nothing really WRONG with your spin, you just need to DO it." Yep, I know. Got that! Now why can I DO it?

We did a footwork sequence and, lo and behold, I wasn't doing it that badly. Apparently, though I don't have any BI threes, if I wide-step into it, I can do a LBI double three. Color me surprised...

DH managed to watch a minute or two and commented that this particular coach makes everything look effortless. Yeah, well.... yeah....

Yeah, he really does. Sometimes I think I'd just rather watch him skate (even if it's just crossovers) than do the lesson myself.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Glad your surgery went well, but I must have missed the cause for it while away on vacation the past three weeks. What happened?

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Olympic Spirt: I have to say my most improved element would be my backspin. Its really well centered and Im not falling over when attempting it as much. I also give a nod in approval to my lutz. My coach watched me do it and she said she had nothing to correct me on. She said it was textbook. I was like YES! Programme went well too, Im getting more comfortable with the pacing. Though due to the lack of time and amount of people on the ice, I was not able to run it with music. Plus the Cd I brought with me wasn't cut the way I wanted it, so I would have spent a few seconds just sitting there until my dramatic ending. Also had nice power three sequences...I wasn't doing all my moves, I was just doing them for warmup purposes and they went very nice.

Olympic Ghost: I arrived around ten thirty all excited only to find out the rink didn't open until eleven thirty. I felt like a complete dork. That taught me a valuable lesson kids...READ the shedual. My flip is pretty much crap. That jump is treating me awful and Im not sure why. After the three my weight gets all thrown off, Im leaning every direction, force my toe pick in and double foot it. GRR I hate that jump.

Ghostly Spirit 'somewhere in between': My lesson went very well. But my coach taught all these knew entrances to my jumps so it seems like Im starting from stratch even though my jumps as a whole are alot higher and flowier. Basicly I can't move my arms...I need to pin my right arm back and keep it there. I had no idea. But it works. I've always been over rotating on my loop..I guess my arms have to do with it. Also I really need to sharpen my blades sometime very soon. They are not cooperating.

Olympic Ghost: Just about everything yesterday. Wasn't feeling well (combo of a cold plus being up way too late all week watching the darn Olympics, plus it was REALLY humid in my rink and when it gets like that my asthma flips out and I have a hard time breathing). Plus I was a little out of it after not skating for a whole week. So:

Did a few run-thrus of my program (test version and competition version), the one test run-thru was ok other than people being in my way so I was literally jumping around them. Not a lot of people do music on this session, everyone knows what music is mine by now. Regardless, the person doing their program has a freakin bright orange sash on. How hard is it to stay out of that person's way? Thus, the competition version was lousy, other than my lutz at the beginning (for once, people weren't hanging out in the corner).

Sit-change-sit had gotten good but was all sorts of bad yesterday.

Axels are getting up and around with much more speed and confidence, but I am still landing on two feet. I'm getting up with good height but have been so focused on takeoff position that I'm not getting my legs crossed once I'm in the air (I am pulling in tighter thouh so that's a step in the right direction), that really seems to be my only remaining issue. Hopefully I can get with my coach soon since normal ice times are starting in a few weeks because I haven't had a lesson in over a month. I'd really like one in my program by Buckeye. I wanted to throw one in for the heck of it (even if I two-footed it) for Wyandotte but I was the only silver who signed up and since I haven't tested my pre-juv free yet, I was able to get bumped back into bronze so at least I have an event to compete in. Which works becauase the last 20 sec of my program was just a big ol mess right now anyway and I can cut that off and do the bronze version I did at ANs last year (and hopefully not have a crappy skate like I did at ANs).

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

I don't know how much I've posted about it, other than whining.

Due to the umpteen times I've sprained my ankles, I finally had to have surgery to remove bone chips and stabilize the tendons in the right one. Of the three surgeries the orthopedist recommended, this was the least severe and promises the shortest recovery. I'm hoping to be back on the ice in October.

I should have had it done earlier in the summer as soon as I got back from Europe, but I had to put it off due to a couple of competitions I had to do accounting for and my god-daughter's wedding. Then the surgeon was on vacation for a week. So I had to wait and for the first time in maybe 15 years, I won't be at the rink when the season officially starts.

Olympic Spirit: I added today as an extra pratice. I'm testing next Monday! I can't believe I'm actually doing it. I can do everything, just not super consistantly...

Olypmic Ghost: I don't remember landed any 2sals completely clean. But I did almost land many clean and I think that'll be good enough... hopefully.

Olympic Spirit: I fixed my camel-sit. Yay! I think it was just a timing issue on the entrance.

Olympic Ghost: My transition to backsit from a front sit sucked. It completely screwed up my sit-sit-sit.

Olympic Spirit: I did a great footwork. My edges are much deeper and its moving down the ice really well. I have issues with tapping down my free foot when I'm tired during my program, but I think I'll be able to tough it out.

Olympics Spirit: Primary coach is happy so far with the one foot spin, the backspin and the forward sit spin.

Olympics Ghost: Camel spins were NAUGHTY today!!! I barely can get them. (Then again, I *WAS* on VERY SLUSHY ice!!! I know! I know! No excuses!!! )

Olympics Spirit: Managed to eek out ONE camel-sit (2-2!!!) Don't ask me to repeat it!!!

Loop jump - check! Loop-loop - check! Flip - Check! Flip-loop - Check!

Olympics Ghost: Waltz-half loop-salchow!!! (Half loop was WIMPY!!!) And oh, the expectation NOW is that I'm supposed to go thru a normal set SOOOOO.... I'm supposed to skate a half length forward towards the walls, forward FI mohawk, glide outside on LBO edge so I'm turned back around facing away from the walls, then step forward for waltz and salchow. The set up for standalone toe loop is the same as my flip in my technical program.

Olympics Spirit:
Choreography is coming along better. Choreographer is quite pleased with the progress, though he did have to make some more changes to get even MORE flow out of me, particularly with the setup to the loop!

MAJOR OLYMPIC HAUNTING!!!
Also... tried on a unitard at the local dancewear shop. Ummm... there's NO WAY IN HELL I'm gonna wear a unitard!!! Too much PAUNCH!!! Not enough boobs!!! I'm going to skate in my classic dress with short to barely dance length and dropped waist. It will definitely be Watercolours though. To save some $, I will stone the dress myself!!!

And worse comes to worst, I have a backup artistic dress!!! It's for another old number!!!

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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!!!

Congrats to all! Blue - I hope you recover soon.

Olympic spirit: I've been watching the Olympics and need sleep! Ive been using the kinesio tape that many of the volleyball players are sporting. I've always had the tan, and didn't know it came in colors. I ordered pink!

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

How do you like that stuff? I've been looking for something for my knees to add a little support/stability, and every brace or wrap I've tried is too bulky or slides around. Does it really stay on for several days even with bathing, etc?

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

The pink also gives you some heat therapy (the blue gives cold).

I used the tape on my knees for a while and also for my ankle/shins. Except for my knee, I had it professionally applied by my physical therapist. It never lasted days for me, but I was playing soccer in 100+ degree weather, sliding and diving everywhere.

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Youtube Videos

Olympic Spirit: Did a really good run-through of our free dance today, for the first time since we altered it slightly. Now it needs to be lightened up - it's a fun piece of music and we are far too serious when we skate to it.

Olympic Ghost: Not a great deal, really.

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

Hi,
Mine does last for days. I've been using it for my knee, and it has worked out well for me.
This is the application I use:
http://kinesiotaping.com/legs.php

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Ghost: Underestimated the post-testing demotivation. I made the drive out to the rink today and didn't really want to do much of anything! Stupid. Also underestimated my need for protein & food; low blood sugar slump meant I went home after 1 session instead of staying for off-ice jump session.

Spirit: 1-foot spin still there; played with trying to enter it on a curve, in the hope of eventually actually being able to do a true LBO to RFO-I entrance. Went through prelim dances, did some of the bronze moves we'd touched on in lessons; all seem fine but are sure to be picked apart by my coach!

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

Olympic Spirit: I took the day off work to volunteer at Test Day, the last day of summer skating school and spent most of the day as Ice Captain - hours and hours standing in a COLD rink with brief breaks to go stand in the sun in 30C heat to try to thaw out!

Olympic Ghost: The real DOWN side of being Ice Captain .... telling a young girl she wont be skating the next test because she didn't pass Bummer!

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

Olympic Ghost
Me, haven't been at the rink for the past 2 weeks, first DD was unwell, then me. 1st day back today and the ice was a mess. Equipment problems, and it was awful. They did their best to make it skatable though.

Olympic Spirit
Skating again after a 2 week break felt so good. The 2 weeks off also gave my injured knee a chance to recover, so I did my first loops and flips today. Not good jumps, but at least I was jumping again.

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Katz

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

Mistakenly thought that daughter had a skate lesson today at 7.30 am so got to rink to find no-one there. They were just cutting the ice and fresh ice with no-one around was too good to miss so although I wasnt' really dressed for skating (hadn't intended to go on at all) I put my boots on and joined her. Luckily trousers were quite loose so could still do some stuff but took it easy anyway as I did a skate camp last week that was exhausting and I still ache in places.

This was the first time ever in over 8 years of skating that we have been first to the ice in the morning! It's not likely to happen again in a hurry!

Olympic spirit - did some nice spins

Olympic ghost - sit spin still needs to be lower but have decided my free leg just doesn't lift and twist the way I need it to to get right down.

Blue111Moon, get well soon! I think this is a case of one step back, two steps forward. You will be better than ever next season!!

Wow, if anyone had told you a year ago that you would be landing flip-loops, would you even have believed it?! Congratulations!

I loved the Watercolours dress I wore in 2005, but I was very lucky I had ordered it way ahead of time because they ended up having to re-make it for me (which they did for free; Rivers Edge Dancewear gave great customer service!). It turns out the Bal-Togs leotard size chart was wrong and the leotards actually run a size smaller than shown on the chart. So if you haven't ordered yet, make sure you actually call up Rivers Edge (or whoever you order through) and talk to an actual person about sizing when you order. Have fun stoning your dress! I ended up gluing 950 stones onto mine. Maybe I just liked sniffing glue, LOL!

OLYMPIC HAUNTING
Two days ago I had a weird fall and tweaked my back. I got painful spasms and my back bothered me enough that I actually left work early that afternoon to come home and lie down. The worst part was that it happened before I'd done my program run-through, so I wasn't able to do one. Of course I also had to skip my two Friday freestyle sessions.

OLYMPIC SPIRIT
I tried skating today and did not have to be carried out on a stretcher! I didn't try any pick jumps, but I did flying camels, camel-sits and reverse sits, and in the last few seconds of the session I even did an axel. The only thing that hurt my back was the pancake spin, so even though I may have to skip that, it looks like I will be able to skate a program run-through tomorrow. I've got a competition the week after next so I am relieved.

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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

Ghost! I signed up to test my intermediate moves next Sat., mostly to work out the nerves for my Killian test the next day. However, I do think there's a chance my moves will pass, they're pretty comfortable. The session was scheduled to start at 7:00 am, & I figured I'd be toward the beginning. Before I signed up, I checked to see if there'd be rink ice starting at 6:00 so I could skate beforehand to warm up thoroughly. There was, so I went ahead w/ the registration ($60!!).

Tonight, I got an email from the test chair telling me my warmup is at 6:00!! WTF???? I normally wouldn't do this, but I sent her an email pleading for a later time slot, if the session has indeed been moved to start at 6:00. I'd have never signed up for it if I'd known that would happen--I do NOT skate well in the morning, and it takes longer than a 4 minute warmup to get ready to pull off those back power 3's!!

Spirit: I am so inspired by these Olympians, most especially the older ones that are closer to my age!! Dana Torres, 41; A German gymnast, 33; winner of the marathon, 38. WOW!!!! Makes me feel like I can do this, and I'm not getting too old, which is how I've been feeling lately. And my practices have been going very very well, and I feel ready for my tests next week. (provided I'm not expected to test at 6:00 am!!! )

Oh, screw the 6:00am test! If they were paying YOU to take the test, that would be one thing, but sheesh. . . And yeah, GO, Dara Torres!! (She's 2 years younger than I am, but still an inspiration, LOL!)

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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

Olympic Spirit: Had awesome jumps today! My waltz jumps were higher than ever, and I landed a few loops, including one on video. They are small, but that's how all jumps start out. Getting more height on toe loops too.

Olympic Ghost: Spins were all over the place (but did a couple of centered ones). Blades are getting dull.

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My Blog - FINALLY updated!
Living out my childhood dream

Olympic Spirit
Better ice today, thank goodness, and not too crowded for a public session.
Able to do some jumps today, though not too many, but loops still working okay.

Actually did some decent backspins and change foot upright spins. Change foot attitude spin still going well. And a couple of reasonable camels too. Yay!

Olympic Ghost
right knee a little sore from jumping yesterday, so obviously isn't fully recovered and I will need to be verrry careful still. Flip jump didn't return today, and being scared of hurting my knee didn't help me commit to them.

God I love skating.

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Katz

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

Olympic Spirit: Which is what I'm full of today - four golds already and it's not lunchtime yet; what a weekend for Team GB!

Free dance now officially being worked over for interpretation, which means the technical is more-or-less okay.

Olympic Ghost: You try moving your head in a certain direction on a certain beat in the music..... if we could get it wrong, we did! Well, I did. And got such giggles I could barely skate....

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

Ghost/Spirit:
Skated last night because Liz_on_Ice was going and it got me off my butt. Liz showed off her proud new BO threes - both L and R! I showed off my ability to stay upright . In showing Liz the B power three pattern, I was forced to actually do a few of them myself, but I'm still too chicken from having been off the ice for vacation. Thanks, Liz, for making me do those!!!

Went in today to give a few lessons, and it helped just to be on the ice a few hours. If there were any decent ice time next week, which there isn't , I think I might be almost back up to speed.

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