Clean Edge: I skated at Culver City Rink in CA

Skid: I went swimming and my left ear has been plugged, so now I cant skate until its all cleared up.

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Tim David's Website

Clean Edge: Skated at the Oldsmar rink this morning and yesterday, will continue to skate there until my rink reopens. The ice is fantastic! Most of my elements felt wonderful, and coach was pleased.

Skid: My pre-bronze program this morning was extremely forgettable, 2 footed the salchow, and the second toe loop did not work - and I rarely miss the toe loops, they are my best jump! Oh well, due to ice issues at my home rink, I have not skated the program for over 2 weeks, so I think I will just chalk it up to whatever.........

skid - i'm leaving for school today & i probably won't get to skate for a week or maybe even 2! My family & i are going to DC for a few days, then to school... Hopefully I can still sign up for lessons that start next week...

Clean Edge: I passed my Pre-Bronze MITF and Freestyle!!!!!! Yay!!!! I cut my own music for my free skate and it sounds great!!! I guess my music production background is paying off in more than one way!!!

Skid: Nothing "Skid-like" to report yet. But the week is still young. That will change.


BlackManSkating

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Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

Congratulations to Rob Dean, looplover, and BlackManSkating on passing your tests. Way to go!!!!!!

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

Clean Edge:

• Landed a few loops and flips at slower speeds towards the middle of the session. Also landed ONE loop clean with setup of the FS program.
• Back sit is getting lower, though obviously not anywhere low enough for IJS... (Not that my forward sit spin is anywhere low enough for IJS either but it's much closer than the back sit... )

Skid:

• Couldn't get the flip to work at speed. Most of the tries for the loop at speed went bust!
• Couldn't practice camel b/c middle of rink is too crowded. Actually the rink today was pretty crowded in and of itself. (I did most of my loops with the program setup during the 10 minutes of the public session where they "reversed direction" so I could do my jumps at the general area where my program has my loop jump at.)

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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!!!

This is for yesterday -

Clean Edge: Back to working on freestyle! Jumps, spins! Oh how I've missed you, jumps and spins.

Skid: Yeah so none of them were up to par. I've got to get used to jumping in the morning again - maybe I can get up even earlier and go jogging or something so I'm actually warmed up and it feels later when I get to the lesson? Eek. Loop was tiny. Hey but I landed them. Salchow ok, waltz toe was tiny, even waltz was kinda small. Sit spin was good...after my coach had left and I was just practicing (sneaky, that sit spin...)

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Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

Congrats to everyone that tested and passed!!!! Way to go!!!

Skid-just counting the days until my rink opens for the season...which is good. My left knee has been aching (um, arthritis starting since it's a generalized ache not a huge pain or anything). So, I wrap it when I workout. Ice when I'm done. It's worse in the a.m. Rink opens 4 Sep!!!!! I skate for the daytime session AND have an evening New Instructor orientation (and my son is going to be a "student" for us).

Yay and hurry up already!!!!

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

Clean Edge:
- Began learning the Blues today. Surprisingly, it's harder than the Starlight, which many people say is the hardest of the Pre-Golds. Yeah, right! The Starlight's a breeze compared to the Blues, but coach said that I'd have a great Blues since I've got good knees and deep edges. Yay!
- Awesome axels. They felt totally effortless and had lots of ice coverage and height.
- Thursday I'll be back to working with my freestyle coach who finally came back after a few weeks off this summer. I can't wait to get back into preparing and rechoreographing my Intermediate FS thanks to the new test requirements.

Skid:
- Didn't land a single double salchow today. What is with me? I mean, just last week I hti three clean ones in a row in my program and today I'm popping every single one. I know what the problem is though - my body wasn't lined up on the second half of my three-turn (shoulders, back, knee), so of course I couldn't rotate properly. Oh well, better luck Thursday!

Clean Edge

- Last night landed every double.
- Worked on Gold Artistic and it is really coming along (Hopefully can take it in November)
- Finshed B in my Gold Skill (Hopefully can take it in November)
- Killian and Starlight are looking amazing, as my coach said (Hopefully can take it in November)

Skid

- Just felt like I wanted to fall down so I could sleep (Had a birthday party this past weekend)
- Kept forgetting what I was doing

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2014 and 2018 Olympics here I come!

Skating, skating all day long, skating, skating all night long! May seem tiring to some people but not me, it's my life!!

Goals: Triple Loop, Novice Competitive, Sr.Silver Dances, Gold Artistic, and top 3 at Sectionals

Clean edge: Were able to run through everything for Bristol to the music, which was good. Step sequence almost filled the ice, which is a good sign.

Skid: Our Willow isn't what it should be, and won't be by Sunday, alas. I do love that dance, and wish I were better at it. Right now it's too slow, which is largely my fault, but not completely (if Husband were in the right place for my RFO3, I wouldn't slow down going into it, which is what neither he nor my coach can understand!).

No more couples' lessons for a couple of weeks as the coaches are going on holiday.

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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!

Skid: I was off the ice for 11 days - the gap between summer school and fall ice. My mood, after being off the ice for 11 days, made PMS look like "all sweetness and light"! (If I was still married, I am sure my husband would have been out trying to find me ice last week ) The rink was scattered with condensation bumps with no hope of a flood before the 7 a.m. session so, since the ice was empty, I went on early - never did see the Zamboni so I skated around the bumps.

Clean Edge:Things weren't as bad as I feared they might be after 10 days off. I took my spins and Waltz jump away from my security blanket (the boards) and out into centre ice. Coach said the upright spin is coming nicely and she praised the height of one of the Waltz jumps

Skid: Then we talked about program music. She laughed and said that I am as bad as she is - we both absolutely LOVE music and trying to pick a program piece is like bargain day at the department store with only $5 in your pocket!

Gee my mood has improved SO MUCH after skating!

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

Congratulations Blackmanskating, that's awesome!

Clean Edge: My pre-bronze program was MUCH better this morning and coach was very pleased.

Skid: The traffic between my temporary rink and work was horrendous! Oh well, I'm not going to stop skating in the morning.

Clean Edge:
Getting more comfortable with doing the forward/ backward crosstroke pattern and the power pulls on Silver moves to where I do both patterns on the long axis.
Also getting into a comfort zone with the camel and the sit is getting lower!
Coach started me on flip today- I will get this!!


Skid:
Was not feeling well today, so no power circles.
Just got word that the ice time this fall will have very little, if any ice on Monday afternoons and we may be losing our cushy 3 hour sessions that we had on Saturdays this past year. Guess that Monday will be gym day for me, and I'll now be back to working every other weekend, so maybe it may not be that big of a deal.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Clean Edge Group lessons started today and the freestyle class has a fantastic new coach. I'm very excited about it as he is great. I got some good tips on my scratch spin (starting with "cross your leg" which I laughed at as I've been working for months to do that) and managed to turn them into 1 very centered lots of revolutions, almost crossed leg spin. A few of my spins traveled so far though that he took the tail of his blade and traced it out so I could see- yes, yes, I noticed that tracing thanks . But, I felt like I made some good progress and was happy with it. Also got some good tips about powering into waltz jumps, and then worked a bit on salchows.

Skid The freestyle class is 4 skaters- which is great, but two are just out of Basic 8 and the other two of us are in Freestyle 4- which makes a HUGE difference. I think the coach appears to be able to differentiate instruction, so hopefully it will be okay. I had planned to take group class saturday- but apparently the class is huge, so the skate director thought I would be much better here.

Also- no lesson tonight. I'm not sure if I said something to confuse my coach, or just didn't understand what he was saying- but we moved my lesson to (stupid, expensive) club ice so I don't have group class and private lesson on one day (it's kind of a waste since they follow each other by minutes)- so I guess that starts tomorrow, but I thought I'd have a lesson tonight.


My group classes are good. I'm helping with one and co-teaching another, Basic 1 and Snowplow 1- so today was lots of helping kids stand up, and calming ones down who were crying because the other kids (who have skated before) could skate, and they couldn't (because this was day 1 on the ice)

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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)

clean edge
-landed some really good clean, solid double loops
- got complimented on my butterfly by at least 5 people, including my coach, who is not quick to pass out compliments

skid (get ready, this is a long list)
-kicked myself with my blade coming out of a really powerful double sal. i have a 6 inch laceration (no stitches or anything), on top of a massive 6 inch long, 2 inch wide bruise (and i expect the bruise will grow...). did this really early into the skating too
-2toe stayed on summer vacation while i went back to school
-looks like i broke my back. seems that i have stress fractures at least, and i have osteopenia, so they could turn into full compression fractures quickly. i'm staying home from school tomorrow (mostly because i cant SIT) and hoping to get in to the dr
-the rest of my non-skating day was terrible. i'll elaborate below if you care to read

spent 4.5 hours in classes that i'm not going to be taking. first was 1.5 hours of AP calc, which i'm dropping. then 1.5 hours on the history of photography, when i'm dropping photography. then here was the worst. so as a senior, i can take 6 classes so i get out at 1.15 every day. i was really excited because that meant i could go skating. well, they didn't get my schedule change done, so i had to go to my 4th period (we're on block, so thats the class from 1.30-3.00). its religion class. totally unnecessary to go to that class because i'll have it TOMORROW (today was a "blue" day, but my shedule is getting switched so i'll have that class on "gold" days. so it was an extra hour and a half class that i'm going to be having AGAIN in the EXACT SAME FORMAT tomorrow.

THEN

i get on the bus. ok. the driver gives me a transfer like i ask for. i go to switch buses, only to find out this bus wouldn't ACCEPT the transfer (one was a metro municipal, the other a metro local, and i guess the discriminate). so, i say fine, and bend over to pick up coins at which point to bus driver informs me that i had my a$$ all up in the guy behind me's face. luckily i got a seat, but the bus soon filled up to like total capacity, which made the 95 degree heat even MORE unbearable. finally did manage to get to the rink tho, but then i promptly kicked myself (as i mentioned earlier)

BAH

Clean edge: Our step sequence filled the rink!!!! Yay, finally. Coach2 said she betted we'd overflow at Bristol - hope so! We know what to do if it does.

Skids: Which is basically what we spent my solo lesson correction, or rather, my tendency to flatten off my LFO edge when swinging forward either in a swing roll or when changing edge. Turns out I drop my left hip (I don't drop my right hip, but can't feel the difference!). This is correctable, but it feels weird. Ah well....

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

Congratulations! That's a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.. to know you need to contain your skating to stay in the rink!

clean edge - backspin progressed enough that I thought I'd give the change-foot a go, and it worked! I got 3 revs on the forward spin, switched feet and got maybe 1 1/2 on the backspin. Not exactly pretty, but I'll take it!!

had a nice moves day Monday, coach is happy with my dance step sequence and so am I. Felt clean and edgy.

skid - it hasn't been a jumpy week, except for the waltz jumps I'm all flailing arms and legs.

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It's all about the dress!

Clean Edges: Worked myself hard in practice - pushed everything: deeper, faster back edges (coming well), back stroking (scary speed!), upright spins (not 'cooking' today), Waltz jump (getting better), Toe loop (ok, "pretend toe loop"), played with footwork (3-turn/Mohawk sequence has potential), Waltz/Toe seems like a combination that will work for me. By the time coach arrived 45 minutes later, I had already given myself one hell of a workout!!

Coach and I went over choices for music for Free and Interpretive. I have a fast Celtic piece that we think will be good Free but it is going to challenge me to keep up to it - needs to be re-cut with a slower middle section. Decided to go with a rock & roll theme for the Interpretive.

After my self-induced solo workout and the playing with the Celtic music, I was BEAT!

Skid: Boy am I going to be stiff tomorrow!!!!

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

Clean edge: I got my skates sharpened and even thoug hI could not stop for like 30 mins (they were sharpened much more then usual ), I DID ahve really nice edges!! I felt like I could hold them forever and they were really deep

I also landed a few axels and double salchows which I am amazed by since I haven't skated in a few weeks!!!

Skid: I wont be skating again until Sept. 8

Clean Edge:
Secondary coach wanted to see my artistic program (that I BARELY worked on already with primary coach. I think SHE wants to do the program herself if you ask me. )

Skid:
I forgot my music CD (I had burned the CD's and was in the car, but forgot to take out out of the car into the skate bag! ) Needless to say, we did a little bit of embellishment with what I have so far. (Which really is NOTHING... primary coach only worked on a SMALL portion of it. He wanted more to clean up my FS program and make sure it's solid before going on to the artistic program.) But secondary coach really really wants me to do a show stop and be ummmm... more flashy!!!

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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!!!

WOW, you are one banged up skater! Is there anything that can be done for your stress fractures?? And oh yeah, aren't those bruises and cuts so much fun. . .

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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

Congrats to all folks who have recently passed tests! That ROCKS!!!

Clean edge: My second coach is finally back after a summer doing workshops elsewhere, so we got in a lesson last night, mostly working on the Willow and the Ten-Fox. Ah! She makes the difficult seem easy, which is a very fine thing in a coach.

Skid: Having passed the pre-bronze moves last week, and knowing that the bronze moves don't include any adult-peculiar patterns I got my son to start showing me how things worked, with the power-3s. (He didn't have enough to do, so was hovering around me while I was warming up.) I can see this is going to take a lot of effort...

Rob