Good Morning

For the first time since maybe the dinosaurs roamed the earth, I woke up and skated BEFORE work. Surprisingly, it was a really good session, especially since my coach finally agreed that I would not be prepared for Sectional. Thank goodness! It wasn't so bad. I had gone to bed early, slept poorly and took all sorts of public transportation to get to the rink. There are advantages to working in Manhattan! And my skating went well. Everything was peachy! Until 11:00. That's when I crashed. Trying to work past the sleepiness, I had the idiotic idea of going for a walk during lunch. Sadly that made things worse. I actually felt as though I was walking in my sleep; maybe I was. The main point of this post is: I skated before work and survived. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. Good morning and good night.

Sectionals

This morning, I received surprising and somewhat upsetting news: I am eligible to compete in Sectionals as a Silver, even though I haven't passed the test yet. What makes this so surprising is that I simply assumed that I was not eligible and therefore never put the idea in my mind. What is so upsetting is that I could have been working on this ALL SUMMER LONG!!!! As I struggle to find a new coach, or at least a supplemental coach, I am stunned into silence regarding this new piece of information. If I can scrape together a dramatic program, which I was told that jumps aren't necessary, so I'd only be concentrating on a Salchow, a waltz jump and maybe a toe loop, I can compete. However, at what price? Do I really want to literally throw a program together just to say I competed in Sectionals? And show-up as unprepared as it sounds? Or do I want to be prepared, well-trained and confident about my program? I am choosing the latter. While I would LOVE to compete at Sectionals and Nationals, I have spent too much money and participated in too many competitions where my training and preparation was, well, half-assed. I'm tired of that. I'm also tired of coming in last; I know someone has to do it, it just doesn't have to be me. When this idea was presented to me, I initially said, "No." However, my coach would like me to do it. I said I would think about it, however the deadline is really soon. Heck, the competition is really soon. I am not in shape and cannot currently get through a program without coughing up a lung. So, rather than make a fool of myself, I am conveniently going to miss the deadline. So as they say in one of my favorite children's shows.... "Problem solved Problem solved. We solved the problem So everything is awesome! Problem solved!" Peg Plus Cat

Door Slam

If you've been reading this blog, then you are familiar with my desire to change coaches and obstacles placed in my way. Now that I have a new job (YAY!!!) that I will be starting shortly, I figured, okay, let's get this road on the show. Maybe you recall my mentioning a jump coach I wanted to work with (no, not the guy from Long Island who NEVER showed up for my first and only lesson). I had texted him in August/September about working with me and another adult skater. I had watched his coaching and he worked people HARD, which is why my co-skater Abby and I were going to split a half hour lesson. He had an ice show he had signed on to do, but would start working with us in January. Fast forward to January. He moved to the west coast.

World Ice Arena has finally added an evening session on Tuesdays. Abby and I figured, we'll both skate there and work with a coach there: Zack. The sessions are zoos and we both found out that Zack is totally booked.

We had one more choice, but neither of us are quite sure he was the right choice. If everything works out, I'll have more to say. For right now, I feel as though there are so many things blocking my progress. We'll see...

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.