Let The River Run

Got a new job in Manhattan. I'm going home!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays!!!

Ice Monitoring

I don't recall exactly when I began ice monitoring. I've checked my older blog entries and I'm still not sure. I remember why I started; it was lack of funds and a desire to still skate. Now I'm not quite sure why I keep doing it. Am I having fun?

Most of the parents I deal with are polite and do as they are asked. A hand of parents are idiots, but you can find idiots anywhere. There are simple rules when skating a club session, any club session. Rule #1: PAY FIRST. It's that simple, cash, check - no credit cards please, whatever. But pay first. Rule #2: Check in. No one wants to look at a sign-in sheet, see 7 names and walk out to the ice and see 22 skaters. You then spend up to 10 minutes trying to figure out who is on the ice. Is that Brenda? Or Melissa? Or Bethany? Those ponytail girls all look the same when they're moving. Rule #3: Don't abuse the ice monitor. Unless that person works for the rink, the ice monitor on a club session is a volunteer. And from experience, I can state that 99% of skating parents are not willing to show up every single week and put up with the nonsense that is ice monitoring. Rule #4: Remember, it's not the ice monitor's fault if: 1) the music box doesn't work; 2) the Zamboni didn't do a good job; 3) the Zamboni is late; 4) the price of the session increases; 5) you, your student or your child is pulled off the ice for not adhering to rules 1 & 2.

Well, I'm off my soapbox. Hope this has given you a thought or two about the ice monitor at your session. If he or she is a skater, you can bet they have less ice time than you do. If he or she is a parent, they probably have enough crap to deal with without you adding to it. So, next time you see your local ice monitor, stop, pay, check in, don't complain and smile and say, "Thank you." Enjoy your week.

Pre-Bronze Free Dance

At the suggestion of my coach and in an attempt to get me to compete at Easterns, I now have a Pre-Bronze free dance program. What can I say? I have a pretty hard time remembering footwork and a dance is ALL footwork. It does take me out of my comfort zone because it's all footwork with changes in diirection and I must keep in time with the music. Since I picked the music myself, I can't complain about it. Sexy Silk. If you saw the movie Easy A, it plays in the background. As you have probably guessed, I have to be sexy. I find it almost impossible to feel or be sexy at the weight I'm currently at. I also have a hard time dealing with people watching me practice the program when it plays over the loudspeaker at the rink. What have I gotten myself into? I'm still trying to find out if I have to actually take the Pre-Bronze dances first (I only know the Dutch Waltz and Matt, the coach who was teaching them to me this past summer always had to tell me what the next step was. He also had to tell me to relax my face because it was in a constant panic.) Having to take the dances first might toss a spanner into the works since I don't see Matt any longer and Amy can't take me through the dances.

What to do? What to do? I've haven't really had a lot of ice time, except the Sunday session that I ice monitor on. Skating once a week does not a passsed take make. And let's not forget that I really, really, really want to take my Silver MIF. I'd also like to pass my Silver MIF and freestyle. We've been working on this bronze free dance so much (the footwork sequence was cheographed BEFORE I picked the music, so we just had to make it work) that I haven't had a lesson where I jumped in quite a while. As a result, I've just been working on jumps, spins and the Silver MIF on my own. I wish I could say that they are improving, but I'm not quite sure. My right forward inside three turns are so hit and miss, really mostly miss, that I'm at a loss as to how to fix it. Maybe now that the freedance is finished, during my next lesson after running it a few times, we can work on my jumps, spins and those MIF elements that still give me grief. I'd like to know who thought up the outside mohawk. Those of us who are not naturally turned out have some difficulty hitting that outside mohawk. Add to the problem, my right outside mohawk is pretty bad and you can see my problem. I'm hoping the judges won't notice that the edges aren't absolutely perfect when I take that test. However, that's not something I have to focus on at this particular second. Right now, it's the Bronze (or Pre-Bronze, I forget) free dance to Sexy Silk. And the need to drop enough weight that I don't feel like the hippos in Fantasia. Look it up; it's worth watching.

UPDATE: I have reached out to the USFSA and it seems that I would have to take AND PASS my Preliminary AND Bronze dances. Soooo..... guess who ISN'T going to Easterns.

Just An Update

For those of you who read the post right before this one, I have an update: I emailed the president of the Great Neck Figure Skating Club, inquiring whether or not they allowed guests at their club sessions. I received a response the next day, informing me that guests were more than welcomed. I then emailed her again and told her about the woman at the rink. The club president apologized profusely, insisting that the woman I spoke to did not represent the club and that I would be more than welcomed when I came. As far as other skating is concerned, I am trudging along with my Pre-Bronze (or is it Preliminary; I have no idea) free dance. My heart really isn't in it, as I wanted to fix a few of my jumps and the entrance of my spins which has gone completely off the rails for reasons I cannot comprehend. Spinning has always come easily to me, until it didn't... This may be my coach's way of trying to motivate me. News flash: I don't work that way. Don't most adults need more encouragement, rather than negative feedback? Does that work for anyone?

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Rink

Actually when I got to the rink. And no, it wasn't funny. Since I still work in Long Island and I'm fairly close to Great Neck, I decided, why skate there? There are two evening sessions that I recently discovered, and since Great Neck isn't THAT far, I thought, why not? I put the address into my phone GPS and off I go; 7 miles down dark, twisting roads without adequate street signs. Speed limits changing from one block to the other and that odd realization that Long Island doesn't have a heck of a lot of sidewalks. I make a wrong turn, ask someone for assistance, and find my way to the rink. Several years ago, I skated at the Great Neck rink. It was on Sunday mornings and I am much better with directions when it's still light outside. However, as soon as I walked in, I remembered this rink. It was colder than any rink I'd ever skated in and it still is, in more ways than one. Seeing a woman who worked at the rink, I asked who I had to pay for the Great Neck Figure Skating Club session. First, she looked me up and down, twice. Then she pointed to the man driving the Zamboni. I nodded and said thank you, and went into the lounge area. As I was trying to navigate around the small children from the public session (which included a small boy who apparently just discovered turning around really, really fast can make you dizzy and he liked it), find a seat and warm-up my feet, that same woman came looking for me. This isn't a freestyle session, she informed me. I mentioned that it was on the schedule. Oh, well it's a freestyle session for club members only. So, you can't guest on this session, like at every other skating club? No. It's for club members only. There's a public session at 8:00. No thank you; not sticking around for that. Not giving you my money. And I left. Great Neck doesn't need my money; they are rich and generally obnoxious. Was I turned away because I'm an adult? Or because I'm over-weight? Or because I'm black? I've skated at a lot of different rinks, at a lot of different club sessions and I have NEVER heard of a club session for club members only. Even the Cantiague club sessions that were basically closed to anyone not in the club, allowed guests if there was room. That was a few years ago; now they welcome guests. Money is money. However, Great Neck Figure Skating Club, you won't be seeing mine. You may be the closest rink to my job, but after today, I only have two words for you.... BYE FELICIA!

Bucket List

I recently had a health scare when I presented to the Emergency Room with severe pain. After a series of incredibly uncomfortable tests that I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy, I was told that I might have cancer. I don't. But what a thing to say to someone when you're not sure! It took another week and more tests to prove that I did not have anything (or at least anything they could identify.) As a result of this health scare, I made a bucket list. There are things on this list that I probably will never have the opportunity to do, such as kiss that actor who played Smith on Sex and the City (his name is Jason Lewis and he's on another TV show now). However, there are plenty of things that I can do. Hopefully. I once again am getting serious about my skating and finishing the ASL Interpreting program I started. Since none of us are getting any younger, it's best to take the bull by the horns and jump in. Currently, I'm taking an online interpreter course on English to ASL and another one that is ASL to English. If you think ASL is easy, I dare you to try to learn it. NOT coded signed English (which is ASL signs in English word order), but true ASL. After you finish one course, come back and tell me how it went for you. Although I had wanted to switch coaches, the powers-that-be decided to cancel ALL evening sessions in NYC, including Long Island. I will have to stay with my current coach, but something has changed and she no longer thinks that I can't do anything. BTW, if you tell someone that they can't or aren't able to do something, eventually, they start to believe it. With that in mind, I've been working hard on my Silver Moves, Silver Freestyle and the Preliminary Dances. The MIF are moving along and I am hopeful for February. It has taken me longer than I hoped to restore my jumps, but they are slowly coming back. My spins are making a come back too. I know the issue is, once again, my weight, which has creeped back up again, much to my chagrin. However, that too is part of taking the bull by the horn. Since I don't know when my company is closing, I won't purchase the season at the closest rink to my office. The last thing I need is to sign up for 50 sessions and then find out that my office is closing in ten days (it won't). The one advantage is that the State has to tell us when we can close; that is the beauty of working in healthcare insurance. More information will be coming. For now, I'm working on learning my free dance for Easterns. My coach has decided that I'll be doing that, this way, I still get to go to Easterns whether I pass my Silver tests or not. Going to Australia is on my bucket list too. I'm hoping there's a guy waiting for me there who looks like Simon Baker and Hugh Jackman, combined. Nice, eh?