Love the title.

Not been seriously skating for a while so I was quite pleased.

Purr
Did jumps up to and including flip.
Didn't attempt lutz cos I'm a wimp.
Axels no longer exist in my memory.
Field moves are definitely rusty but happy enough with them.

Hairball
Fieldmoves - back outside 3s with mohawks the opposite way (CCW) are yakkety yak. No-go.

Toe loop sucks. This is so easy for everyone else. I would rather lutz than toe loop. Mwhahaha. It just feels awkward.

Layback - oh deary deary me.

Backspin - oh Lordy.
Even back camel had a better chance.

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MEL
Absolute Skating

Hey Melanie - welcome back! So pleased you are back on the ice, hope it will be permanent. Well, you know what I mean - regular might be a better word!

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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!

Thanks Annabel. I'm trying to go once a week. I want that backspin.

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MEL
Absolute Skating

Purr: EVERYTHING!!!

I finally persuaded my mum to go skating with me, she actually tried it and was fairly good at it. Then she watched the patch session. My lesson was magnificent. Everything went well! I had my first real attempt at my loop jump. It went quite well. I can't do it with speed and grace yet but to say I'd never jumped it before I'd say I did damn good!!! Also my instructor liked all my jumps. I did my best salchow ever, a lovely controlled three jump, a nice cherry flip, and a loop. We also worked on spins for a few minutes, and I centered a spin!!! That's when we started working on backspins. They are tres tres funky, but also difficult. I need a 3 revolution backspin to begin with, and then we'll work on it, so far I can only get two!!! But, as I say, I've never backspun before, so 2 revolutions on my first attempt isn't shabby!

Later on in the session, my and by instructor were going backwards, only slowly.

THUD!

It was Mel who was on her ###, wasn't it?
And who might have she collided with?
Oh yes.
Mr. Instructor.

I thought it was funny, and thankfully so did he. I was just sat on the ice waiting to be picked up, and blamed it all on him. He insisted it was half his fault and half my fault. What a nice way to leave each other for... 3 weeks.

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http://www.yourphotoalbums.co.uk

Purr: Worked on our free dance, which is improving - I now have to focus on being "tidier". I know what he means, but oh boy, is he picky! Even on where I keep my foot in our spin (which has made it go bad again!). Plus he finally agreed that my occasional problems with our RFO3 are mostly Husband, not me! Not to say it isn't sometimes me - but not always. He agrees our Swing Dance is much better, too.

After our lesson I went through the Festival Cha-cha on my own. This is a very easy dance until the very end, when you have to let go of your partner, do a 3-turn, step to forwards and find your partner again - I usually bottle the 3-turn and end up just doing two edges, insisting that this is a variation often danced at my rink (so it is - usually by me!). So I made myself do the 3-turn, and later grabbed my husband and made him walk through it with me and managed it, to my delight! Also walked through the Willow Waltz solo and managed it.

Hairball: We walked through the Hickory Hoedown, too, but I still can't manage that wretched 3-turn! Grrrr..... and I still sometimes stick my bum out when doing my RFO3 in both the Willow Waltz and our free dance. Usually when Husband forgets to step out of my way, mind, but.... If I remember to harden my middle, of course, it works better!

Also my back cross-rolls - they are really good if someone is holding my hands, we'll be able to put them back into our free dance when we rechoregraph it again for competition, but still hopeless solo. And I've just remembered I forgot to practice my cross-cuts. Bother!

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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!

Had to withdraw from a competition today for the first time ever. My husband woke up at 3:30 a.m. in horrible pain and I took him to the emergency room; turns out he has a kidney stone.

If I'd been skating later in the day I might have been able to pull it off, but I was going to skate practice ice at 8:15 and my event was scheduled for 9:40. Since we didn't get home until almost 7, I decided not to do it.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

You poor thing Looploop I hope your husband is much better, tell him the next time he decides to get a kidney stone to do so at a more convenient time (only joking). Not to worry there will be other times but only one husband... I hope.

Mel: Well done you, also congrats in getting your mum out there, watch out she may end up liking it more than you!!

OMG!!! Hope everything is OK?! I was wondering where you were. I had a feeling something was up when I got to the competition and didn't see your car. (And another weird thing, as I was telling Terri C and Debbie this morning, I awoke at exactly 3:30am with a sense of dread. That's very bizarre )

We'll chat later .... give my regards and well wishes to Eric.

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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.

Hi Loops, hope hubby is better soon!

He's doing better now, but it was not a fun morning. And now I feel bad because I didn't call the competition to withdraw; I left you a message at 7 a.m. asking you to tell them for me, and since you didn't get it... oh well, I just emailed them with an apology and the reason.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

The one time I forget my cell phone ...

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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.

Awe, poor Loops Sorry you weren't able to compete and I hope your husband's feeling better now.

Nova, how was your skate? Did you go for the flying camel?

It was a great skate, and I came in first! This comp was special because I usually get so nervous and throw my moves away; not here. Everything felt good. And I actually had fun and was able to concentrate more on my arm movements and stroking and speed.

The flying camel was a success. (That D-I-Saster at New Year's was more than made up for here.) Thanx for your advice yesterday. I just got settled and didn't rush it. I was quite surprised when I didn't fling myself after the landing. My biggest goal for this competition was to nail that flying camel; it had been causing so much trouble lately.

Another great moment was the back hydroblade move. I don't think I had ever gotten that low before. I was actually looking up at the ceiling during that move.
Of course, that caused a little disorientation: I came up from the hydroblade, then realized I wasn't where I was *supposed* to be on the ice ... so I went back down into the hydroblade! It was a fun moment. Afterwards, a few judges noted how much they liked that move, so I'm glad to have something that looks good and entertains on the ice.

Much thanx to Debbie S, Terri C, and MusicSkateFan for your support and kind words.

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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.

YAY!! and CONGRATS you big ham!!!

Thanx, T!

What also made today special is that my Blue Devils won the ACC Tournament!

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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.

Me? A big ham? I don't understand. ...

__________________
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.

Since Easter is coming up soon, it must be your time of the year to shine.

And thanks to everyone for your concern about my husband; he's feeling better but it might be another rough night for him.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

Yeah, you should have seen all the Judges smiling at NoVa Sk8r during the warm up. I told him after that I thought he won....I was right.

BTW NoVa Sk8r, I tried out my newly sharpened skates this afternoon at a public session, they felt pretty good. Maybe I have found a new sharpener! No too far way either. Thanks for the help getting the recomendation.

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

Purr: Doing my program that I just got pretty perfect except for 3 jumps. Get to skate 5 times next this week! WORLDS on CBC! 7 days of coverage!

Hairball: Double Toe, Double Sow and Axel. Having 7 jumps in my program. If you separate the combos jumps it is 10 jumps in my program. Having stroking right after my program(I usually say I need to get my puffers when we are doing something I hate and then i get to get them and then I take my time taking them and usually miss half of stroking!) My coach.

Purr: Tested Tango today and coach and I were very pleased with how I skated it. In fact, he thought the 2nd pattern was better than the first.

Hairball: Only 1 judge agreed with my coach. So back to more cross-back chasses and what-not. (Need neater feet with better cross-behinds)...)

A bit more Purring: The 1 pass was better than the first time I tested the EW. And my new competition/test dress was looser than when I had it made 2 months ago. So now I'm re-motivated to make it looser by the next time I test in it....

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Ironically, I hate ham.
I need an excuse or holiday to ham it up ... And too bad you're usually the unhappy recipient of my outbursts, dramatizations, and emoting. Sorry!

__________________
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.

I shouldn't have doubted you.
(I had only saw bits and pieces of the other guys' programs.)

I was gonna get my blades sharpened as well, but Chuck (he's awesome, isn't he?) said my blades and rockers were fine. I'm going on 3 months here and I skate 8-10 hour/week. I love 'dem Pattern 99s!

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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.

I'm now home after my loooong afternoon in the computer lab at the business school with a class project group (none of us had a clear idea of how to do the assignment, so we decided to just wing it and give it our best shot).

I was glad to be able to watch Terri C and NoVa at CRC this morning. NoVa was awesome - hydroblading, jump combos, flying camel, and all. Terri also did a great job, not her best performance, but her *skating* was definitely Bronze-like. Not to mention the loop jump - I want one of those! Their performances are all the more remarkable given how freezing the rink was - brrr! I guess we got spoiled by Ashburn.

The top 2 Bronze ladies were very strong - well everyone was. I'm definitely going to have to work hard to ever be competitive at that level. It was nice to see everyone skating well with AN coming up. Hopefully, it'll carry over to Kansas City.

Loops, I'm sorry to hear about your husband. But at least he's going to be OK. Hopefully, you and he won't have to go through that ever again.

MusicSkateFan, was that you who was talking to NoVa and Terri and me in the lobby later in the morning? I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself.

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

On the way home yesterday afternoon, I got a wake up call that there is more to life than backscratch and sit spins.
While driving home on I-295 outside Richmond, I got a call on my cell from my brother. My mom had been rushed to the hospital with abdominal pain and was getting a boatload of tests done.
Needless to say I hauled a#$$ on the freeway and no one else on the road could drive fast enough for me. I got to the hospital at 6pm and didn't leave until Mom was settled in her room after midnight.
While she is at the hospital I work in, I'm not working today, given the exhaustion and nervousness. She's also on a different floor than the one I work on and I could see mysely running up and downstairs to check on her and talk to doctors, if need be.
So, with all that- I'm off to the hospital to see how her night was!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Hi Terri,

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother's illness. I hope she's doing okay.

Frank