Big Oil

Okay, so I am REALLY tired of people bitching about oil prices. This has been a long time coming. Sure we can argue that the oil companies are corrupt and are fixing the price, but whatever. This is just the beginning. Oil prices are going to do nothing but continue to rise (especially as our supplies start to dwindle). We've made our bed, and now it's time to lie in it. All this time, we should have been passing resolutions increasing the fuel efficiency for vehicles rather than letting the oil companies get their way. (many) Democrats have been pushing for increased CAFE standards for years only to be outvoted by republicans. Now Bush is pretending to sweep in with this novel idea...how about we increase fuel efficiency! Bullshit. Okay, that's my rant, this pisses me off too much to write much more. Basically, I'm tired of hearing people who voted for Bush and drive SUV's bitching about oil prices. I only have one thing to say: get used to it.

Discouraged

Okay...so I am completely and totally discouraged with my skating. I keep trying to remind myself that I haven't been able to skate that much, so I can't expect much, but I just feel like I'm at this plateau, and I'm not going anywhere.
So after that day of actually doing at least 50 loop jumps, I haven't been able to do one again. *sigh* And not only have I not been able to do one, they've gotten completely terrible.

So, my sister is going to start coaching me on the wednesday night freestyle session and maybe the saturday morning freestyle. My goal this summer is to get at least 6 hours/week of skating in. Hopefully once I'm able to skate more often I'll start to see some improvement again.
My goal is to take the pre-bronze test this summer and to skate in a competition sometime this summer as well. We'll see, though.

I did it!

So I went skating today to try to get rid of some of the frustration of this week, and I got my loop! Now...don't get me wrong, these loops are small and ugly, but they're a start. I'm so very excited. :) Okay, not much time to write now.

Life update...whining within

Okay, so I've had a crappy couple of days. Yesterday my backpack was stolen from the student union on campus. In it was my wallet and my (barely 2 month old) cell phone. Aside from losing my stuff, I've had a difficult time emotionally with this and I'm not sure exactly why. On top of all of this, I've just been feeling really lonely lately. Literally my only friend in Austin is my husband, and as much as I love him, and I love being married to him, I've just always been the person who needs more than that. To top that off, all of my grad school friends are skattered around the country, and my undergrad friends are in either Houston or Dallas having a great time hanging out with eachother. And I'm terrible at calling people and chattig on the phone, and it's practically impossible without my cell phone.
Okay, I'm going to stop whining and feeling sorry for myself. I'm going ice skating tomorrow to try to relax. Hopefully my leg holds up and it all goes well. I think I'm just going to work on spins and MIF. It turns out (literally) that on my scratch spin I'm turning out my right leg as I bring it in and down (thanks to years of dance, there's really no other way) so I need to retrain myself to turn it in.

MRI

Well, yesterday I had an MRI on my leg, and let me tell you, for the bargain price of $1000 (so generously paid for by my insurance company, thank you) I got to have THE BEST time of my life. No seriously. Why don't they tell you before you go that you can't wear anything metal? Or that you're going to have to lay there for AN HOUR and you're not allowed to do anything, including move? Okay, so I get there and they tell me to take off all metal including my skirt and my bra. Hmmm...so they give me some shorts to wear but tell me my shirt is "just fine". JUST FINE?!?! Excuse me, but it is quite form-fitting, and in case you didn't know, you just told me to take off my bra. Now, I don't walk around without a bra on in my own house, much less the doctor's office. Okay, enough of that, though. So I lay there for an hour (I'm quite sure I moved my leg at least once) and it's finally over. Now I have to wait for the radiologist to review it (you know, the one that only works 1 day a week and makes 1,000,000,000,000,000 dollars?), and then I'll know what the deal is. I'm really hoping for that stress fracture.

Things you have to believe to be a Republican today.....

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart

Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

Leg ouch...

Not much time for me to update, but I went to the doctor yesterday. He thinks that it's either a stress fracture or something to do with my nerve, I'm not sure. So it looks like I'll be getting an MRI to see if it's a stress fracture. Guess I probably won't be doing much skating for a while. My last lesson is tomorrow. I'm hoping that we'll work on spins, but I'm sure it'll be jumps.