Don't It Always Seem to Go That You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone...

Don't you hate it when your skills go and visit other people and don't want to come back? For reasons I cannot comprehend (AGAIN), I seem to have lost the ability to skate. Not just jumps and spins, but stroking and turns. I usually blame it on a lack of practice, but I've been practicing more these days and yet, my skills are still AWOL. I find it more and more aggravating because as I get older; it becomes more frustrating. Perhaps in my subconscious mind, I am still hearing the stinging remarks of my coach regarding my technical skills. Or maybe it's because my fellow adult skater (we skate the same session, have the same coach) is working on harder jumps even though she doesn't land the easier ones any more or better than I do. I don't know what it is, but it is bugging the heck out of me. I'm a very competitive person by nature. I've been thinking, mostly because two of my rinks are closed temporarily due to compressor issues. I've come to the conclusion that I really CAN skate... And nobody in all of Oz No wizard that there is or was Is ever going to bring me down!! ** With that in mind, I checked my finances, and well, let's just say they are stretched a bit thin. I'll skate the next two weeks, even if it's only twice. I need to practice and workout. Speaking of working out, who here LOVES spin class the way I do. I love it!! And it works wonders for me. Unfortunately, a gym membership isn't in the cards right now, but perhaps in the near future. Right now, I'm working out at home and at work, alone. Please don't tell my sister/roommate, but I hate working out with the former dancer. She's more flexible, in much better shape, and doesn't have as many pain issues to deal with. But don't tell her, she seems to think I enjoy it; but I don't. Plus, she's pushy. So enough about that. I'll be on the ice one day this week and report back to you all. Keep your fingers crossed that my skills will return. I think it has everything to do with core strength. On a totally different note, I have just been informed that the place where I park my car, 8 1/2 blocks from my home, is being torn down to put up a house. The lyric is "pave paradise, put up a parking lot" not bulldoze a parking lot, put up a house. Isn't that backwards? I'm all for progress and more people living in house, but who ever heard of parking lot to home? And I should mention, it's not a big parking lot either; it holds maybe 18 cars. Odd. **Defying Gravity from Wicked by Stephen Schwartz