A Spanner In The Works

For those who don't know, a "spanner" is a British term for wrench. And spanners, we have in spades. Where do I begin??? I had a long talk with my coach about dance, and how I hate it. However, it has assisted in my flow, so I told her I would continue, but I would not spend an entire lesson on dance. Not now, not ever. She agreed, somewhat reluctantly. Being 5'6" and having long legs makes a very good line in dance; but it helps if you enjoy it. I'm working on it. So I re-cut my new music. This music holds a special place in my heart; it was the last piece my mother recommended. And yes, it's slow; it's very bluesy. Think film noir. It's been choreographed using those elements I have right now. I've already thought of some things I'd like to add as time goes on. I had ordered a dress from China, in early February. They said it would take ten days to arrive. Twenty days later and I was started to be concerned because I didn't have any shipping information. So, I went to a dance clothing website and ordered two black dresses. They were lovely. One arrived, almost choked me while I was putting it on, so I requested that they exchange it for the largest size. They agreed. I have that dress and while I can lift my arms in it, it's still a dance dress size XL, which translates to a large. I'm not a large right now; I'm an XL. Sectionals (Easterns since I'm on the east coast) came around and I was not participating. However, they did have a second-hand shop. Two friends saw a beautiful black dress (one had heard my music) and thought it was perfect, and purchased it for me. And it is beautiful. A little small, but beautiful. It fits my music perfectly. The dress I ordered from China sent me notification that it would arrive on April 6th, eight days AFTER my competition. No worries because the second dress I ordered from the dance store also arrived. If you also add the black I already owned and was initially going to wear, I am the proud owner of five black dresses for what will end up being three programs. That's when the spanner was tossed in: the Coronavirus. Slowly, everything screeched to a halt. First, I was told I could work from home if I was sick (I had caught a cold on Tuesday night, by Saturday morning, I was fine). Then my main rink closed. Adult Nationals was canceled. My other two rinks closed and finally my competition was canceled. On top of that, my vacation which was only a trip to Lake Placid was canceled because everything is closed. The rink, Whiteface Mountain, everything. Another stay-cation. I have been reading other skaters' thoughts on the cancellation of AN, Worlds, World Syncho and my competition. I'm trying to be as optimistic as possible, considering I've wanted to do this competition for about six years. It's okay. I will even more prepared for the next competition, which may be in October. I'll be thinner. My jumps will be bigger and stronger, my spins faster and yes, even my dances will be better. (On a side note, I put in two mohawks in my footwork for my program. This way, I'm forced to do them.) So yes, quite disappointing, but such is life. Regarding the virus: STOP WEARING MASKS!!!! If you buy up all the masks, then healthcare workers won't have them when they are taking care of people who HAVE the virus and then it never goes away. You know what you need to do? WASH YOUR HANDS! COVER YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU COUGH AND SNEEZE EVERY SINGLE TIME EVEN IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE! And STOP SPITTING. Okay the spitting thing probably doesn't matter; it's just disgusting. Anybody need a black skating dress?