First Lesson

Well, after I 4 month break, I'm getting back on the ice. I have to. I had my first lesson today with a new coach. Right now we're just working on Moves which means I still need to try to get in a freeskate lesson with my sister.
This morning we worked on those preliminary moves that I failed. She explained what was wrong with my patterns on the backwards crossovers to outside edges. Hopefully I can fix that. They definitely felt better once I realized what I was supposed to be doing. Then we worked on my alternating threes. She's having me change the way I check out of my three turn. Finally we worked on power-3's. Fixed the pattern a little bit there. Overall she said my biggest problem is my stiff knees (obviously) and my upper-body.

avoidance

I haven't skated since Houston. Not once. Right after Houston I needed a break because of school just starting and I've been working very hard. Since then, though, I've pretty much just been avoiding skating all together. I miss it terribly, but I was so frustrated with everything I just need to make some decisions. I've had all these goals and I don't feel like I'm anywhere near reaching them. Or even getting closer. My sister hasn't been able to commit to a time for a lesson for me. Her afternoon sessions are completely booked and she's not doing morning sessions. Even the session that I could count on for her last year she has booked another student on. So I'm not sure what to do. I'm kind of leaving it up to her. If she wants to fit me in, then she will. I've been feeling for a long time like I haven't been improving like I feel I should/could and I feel like that's because I don't have consistent lessons. It is indescribably frustrating to watch all these kids working on their axels when I was able to do my singles consistently way before they could. I finally got one lesson on the harness this summer, but that was only after I broke down crying on a freestyle. Also, me failing that test was related to a lack of coaching. I did one of my patterns wrong and I had no idea. I felt good about it until I skated over to my sister and she told me I did it wrong. She had told me two days before the test that I was doing it wrong. I had been doing it that exact way for at least 6 months before that.
So I've got some decisions to make. I feel like the right decision has to be get a new coach, but I've got a few issues with that. One is money. Danny and I are buying a new house, so I just don't feel like I should spend alot of money on coaching right now. The second is my sister. I've really liked having this time we could hang out, and I don't really want to give that up (of course I guess I already have with my not-skating). Everytime I think about this whole situation I cry. So instead...I've just not been thinking about it. :( I don't know what to do, so until I do...I'm not sure I'll be doing any skating.

Houston: The good and the bad

First...the bad. My artistic. I skated pretty well, so that was good, but I placed 4th out of 4 which was very disappointing. I know I wasn't as comfortable with the boa as I should have been, but I still don't understand last place. Now I'm thinking I'm gonna ditch the boa. Or maybe I just need a different artistic.
Second...the good. My freeskate. I skated possibly the best I've skated it in a competition. I didn't hit my camel in the beginning, so that sucked. The only other mistake I made is that I two-footed my loop on my flip-loop. Everything else was fantastic. I rocked my lutz toe-loop which was very exciting since I just added that the other day, and I haven't done much working on lutz combos. My sister said my sit spin was the best she'd ever seen me do.
Overall I felt good about this competition. I skated well, and I had tough competition. I look forward to the Star of Texas adult open in January.

Houston

Well...I'm getting ready to leave for Houston. I skated exactly once this week. On a public session. On the small ice. After having a margarita. :) So yeah...I'm not as comfortable with my routines as I would like to be, but when I hit them they're good. My artistic is this afternoon. I feel okay about it because all I really need to do there is sell it. Which is my strong point. Then I have a practice ice this afternoon and one tomorrow morning, and I skate my freeskate tomorrow afternoon. So I think I'll be okay. I just really want to skate well. Alright. I have to go pack so I can get on the road.

No Practice

I haven't skated at all since my test on sunday. I have the Houston Invitational this weekend. I'm going to skate public tomorrow night and then freestyle on friday morning, but that's it. Looks like I'll just be winging it this weekend. I have skated both the programs before, so we'll see.
The start of school has been totally crazy. I've spent no less than 12 hours at school everyday since monday. I'm hoping that things will calm down some, but I'm not so optimistic. :-/

Failure

Well, I failed my preliminary moves test today. I didn't skate as well as I am capable, so that was really frustrating. That also meant I couldn't take my pre-bronze freeskate. So, that was $70 down the drain. Oh well. After Houston I'm just going to work on preliminary moves for the next month (until I'm allowed to retest), and then have one of the judges test me on a freestyle.
I'm also debating doing the Adult moves. I don't want to, but I'm afraid those 3-turn patterns on the pre-juv moves are going to kill me, and that means I won't be able to test bronze until then. *sigh* I don't know. I'll have to think about it.
School starts tomorrow. I'm partly excited, partly nervous. I hope it all goes well.

Artistic

I went skating at the little rink last night and worked solely on my artistic routine. I finally got it to where I want it to be. I added a boa to it, and I think it should be really great. My sister had thought it looked too much like a freeskate routine, so we worked some and then I had been working on my own to change and add things. I'm going to be doing that at an exhibition on saturday, so hopefully I'll have it a tad more polished by then.
I still need to work on my freeskate and my test. We still haven't gone over what we're doing for my pre-bronze test. I can't remember the last time I did my freeskate with music. :-/ I wanted to add some jump combos, but we never got that done. I did have a salchow-toe loop at the beginning that we took out because I was cheating my toe loop. Maybe we can put that back in. I don't think I'm cheating it as much anymore.
Okay...I'm off to school. Hopefully I'll be able to get in my classroom today!

I skated again today for like the second time this week. Whoopie. I did my artistic once with music. It sucked. I'm planning on adding a boa to the routine. I guess I need to get one and get that practiced since I only have 2 more weeks. :) I haven't done my freeskate program in over a week. :-/ I need to get on that too.
I have my Preliminary moves and pre-bronze freeskate tests next weekend (finally!). I ran through my moves this morning. They've been better, but they still should be passable. I need to get my skates sharpened and that should help. I haven't done anything to practice my pre-bronze freeskate. In fact...I don't even have a clue as to what's on it. I guess I should practice that once or twice this week. :)
I'm still trying to figure out these backwards three turns. The pre-juvenile moves should be a breeze for me to pass except for the three turns in the field pattern. The outside three turns I can do...right are great, left are existent. My inside ones, however, suck! I can do them on my right foot...sort of, but my left foot...in my dreams! I need my coach to work with me on those a boatload.
I think that's it. One week till my test, one week till school starts, two weeks till Houston Invitational.

harness practice

I've skated a bunch this week, but there hasn't been much new to report. Just working on all the basics. Yesterday, though, I finally got in the harness for the first time to work on my axel. It went significantly worse than I had expected it to. After about 15 tries, I finally got one that was one revolution. Woop-di-freaking-do. So yeah, for now I'm just going to keep working it off ice, and hopefully I can get on the harness once a week or so. And hopefully by January I can have some sort of resemblance of an axel. That's my goal.
Other than that I ran through my programs. My freeskate is starting to feel much more comfortable and smooth. I'd really like to beef it up a little before Houston. Just add some connecting footwork and maybe one more combination. We changed some of my artistic and decided that I need some sort of boa. I think I'm just going to take a scarf or something to the rink to see what I can do with that. I think it will really add to the routine. My compulsories are coming along. I hate what we have to do in them, but my sister did a great job on them. I have backwards three turns into a loop jump. I really like that. I looked at her like she had lost her freaking mind when she put those in, but now that I'm getting the hang of it, I think I love it.
I'm testing preliminary moves and pre bronze freeskate at the end of August. I'm not nervous about that at all. I'm over preliminary moves and ready to work on pre-juvenile so I can finally take the bronze test. I'm pretty scared of pre-juv, though. My backward inside threes are non-existant which is going to make those 3-turns in the field (which are on the silver moves), pretty darn difficult. There's also power pulls in pre-juv , which aren't that difficult, but getting them with speed is.
After Houston I have about 4 months until my next competition in January. My goals are to get new boots, test pre-juv moves, and bronze freeskate (I have to do bronze freeskate even if it means I need to take bronze moves). Learn my silver program for the next year. And finally, get some sort of axel. Lofty goals for 4 months I suppose.

Tuesday skate, long lesson

I skated for about an hour and a half today, and most of that time was spent working with my sister. We worked alot on spins. My backspin improved significantly once she convinced me to tightly cross my left foot. I'm looking forward to working on that more. My new sit spin position is a hit and going very well. It is much more consistent than it was before. Now I need to start working on sit-back sit spins. We worked on trying to get my camel faster. That's still not going great. She also had me work on waltz jump backspins. Those are just wierd to me. You have forward momentum coming out of the waltz jump, and I just don't get how you're supposed to stop that for a backspin. I sort of got a few, but they weren't that great. I'll have to work on that. We didn't do much toher than that. We decided to just have me test my preliminary moves and pre-bronze freeskate at the test session on August. This due to the fact that I won't be ready with pre-juv moves by then anyway. I would like to test those this fall, however. I've got my music and my dress all picked out for my silver program, so I'm ready to get that learned. I plan on Houston Invitational being the last competition that I skate bronze.

Monday morning and ISI Worlds

Well...I drug myself out of bed and went skating this morning. It went pretty well. I'm really working on thinking about bending my knees on all my movements. I worked for a while on spins. I'm trying to get my camel spin to rotate faster, but that wasn't going very well. I worked a little on laybacks. They feel very good, but I need my sister to confirm that they look good as well. I worked on my sitspin some. I've changed up my position. My sister has had me have my right leg straight out with me leaning forward reaching out for it. I haven't ever felt like this looks that great on me, especially since I'm not very low. So, I'm trying more of a position where I slightly bend my right leg and sit up a little straighter. I've seen several other skaters with not so low sit spins do this position and it looks lovely on them, so hopefully that will work, and my sister will approve. I'm still really struggling with my backspin. It's really frustrating. I just need to really commit to working on it every time I skate.
Nothing to report on jumping. I'm still not working on my axel or doubles because I'm waiting (and waiting and waiting) for some coaching from my sister. I really want to get some practice on the harness. I am working the axel of-ice, and they're consistently 1/4 rotation short.
Other than that I just putted around, and working on various things. My spiral, and my artistic routine mostly.

Onto worlds. Overall, they weren't very exciting. They were actually much smaller than I anticipated, seeming about the same size as the Houston Invitational competition I like to attend. I didn't do any individual events, but I did fill in for a friend on jumps and spins, and we got first. Although, we weren't competing against anyone else. Our team also was only skating against the book. We skated very well, and I think we could have beaten most of the skating (we're formation) teams that were there.

Plano Skate

I skated today at the Dr. Pepper StarCenter in Plano. I just want to note that they have a gazillion freestyle sessions. I'm very jealous. It was just a basic practice day. I ran through Preliminary moves as a warm up. Then I worked alot on spins. I'm trying to get my camel spin going faster. I'm getting pretty consistent at getting more than 3 revolutions, they're just very slow. I worked a little on laybacks. Those are surprisingly not terrible since I haven't really done them much. I had a revelation on my backspin. I'm trying to spin too far back on my blade. Now that I've realized that I hope to see some improvement. I basically just ran through all my jumps and combos. Nothing to really report there. I really need to start working on my axel. I also worked on remembering my artistic program since I'll be doing that in Houston. Overall it was a good skate. I skated well and it was a good day.
I do need to get on the ice more. Since summer started I can count the number of times I've skated on two hands. I really want to be competitive in Houston, and the only way that is going to happen is if I start skating more than 3 times a week. I just need to suck it up and do it.

Cannon Texas Open

Well, the Cannon Texas Open is over. Overall it went okay. My competitor had to drop out which was dissapointing. I skated alright. On my freeskate I two-footed my lutz, and I sort-of did a half loop instead of a real loop. My camel spin was a little wobbly, but my sit spin was good. I as pleased with how I skated.
My compulsories went well except my sit spin wasn't great. It wasn't low and it was wobbly. I got 2 2nd place ordinals on that, and I'm not sure exactly why. So that's a little frustrating.
I didn't feel like this competition was very well run, and there weren't that many adults, so I probably won't come back. I am looking forward to the Houston Invitational, however.

Mini Rant

I'm pissed off that I'm getting to Chicago 2 days before I have to for this stupid synchro competition. I don't have anyone to go with me. I'm sad. My routine for this weekend is only okay. My skates are giving me blisters and I think I'm going to have to shell out $500 for new boots. Things just aren't going my way. :(

Bad Program

I only got to do my program once with music this morning. Let's just say it wasn't very good. I two-footed my loop, and put my hand down on my salchow. My camel spin was barely 3 revolutions, and my sit spin wasn't that great either. I really need to get my skates sharpened, but there's no way to get them done before this weekend. Also, my boots have started giving me some serious blisters, and even with my moleskin, my feet hurt.
I'm sending off my paperwork for the Houston Invitational. I'm going to do freeskate, artistic, and compulsories. All Bronze. Hopefully I'll be scheduled to skate at times that won't interfere with school.

Two days in a row!

I skated the super-crowded, full of ISI kids that don't really skate, just hang out, session last night. I ran my program twice with music. Overall it went better. It's still a little choppy and I'm having trouble hitting my flip-loop. However, my compulsories went pretty well.
I'm having major boot problems, however. I've had these Reidell Silver Stars for about a year now, and I've loved them until the past couple months. Just this week, though, my heel has started slipping and I'm getting the first blisters I've ever gotten. I'm not sure what I'm going to do to fix this, I'm afraid I'm just going to have to get new boots.
On a bitchy note...the cannon open is in one week and they STILL haven't gotten out even a tentative schedule. I'm not sure I'll ever do a competition hosted by Stars FSC ever again. They said they would put out more practice ice once they put out a tentative schedule, but surprise surprise, no schedule. I think there is NO excuse to not have at least a list of events out AT LEAST two weeks prior to a competition. Applications were due over a month ago. That is plenty of time to get a list together.

Skating...again...sortof

I skated yesterday for maybe the 4th time this summer. For some reason I just haven't wanted to drive all the way to the rink. But, I have the Cannon Texas Open in two weeks...so it's time for me to buckle down. I ran my program twice with music yesterday and my sister tweaked it. We changed my salchow-loop to just a salchow and my flip-toe loop to a flip-loop. My sister says that big singles are better than cheated combos. My camel spins were good yesterday morning, but not last night. We also changed my change of edge spiral to change feet in the middle. I think I can do the change of edge, but I need my skates sharpened. Overall my program is a little rough. I really need to run it a million times with music, and I think I'll be fine.
I have to register for the Houston Invitational by next friday. We were hoping to have me skate silver, but getting me tested for Bronze is a whole other story which I'll tell in a second. I've been so unmotivated I hesitate to skate in Houston, but I love skating in Houston because they have so many competitive adults. So, I think I'm going to suck it up and go. We'll have to make some changes to my program if I'm going to do that. I got 5th last year, and there is this one Bronze skater I've never beaten, so I really want to do well. I also want to do my artistic, which I'm not sure I remember, so that will take some work.
Onto testing...I still need to take my Preliminary MITF and Pre-Bronze freeskate. I'm ready to test, it's just a matter of getting it done. My sister was considering having me test Bronze MITF (I'm taking the standard MITF, but to get my Bronze freeskate out of the way I may take Bronze MITF because they're easier than Pre-Juv...and then I'll still take Pre-Juv later) and freeskate before the Houston Invitational paperwork was due. I am certainly ready for the Bronze freeskate, but I don't know 3 of the MITF patterns. So...we're going to work tonight and see if we can get those down by next week. I'm guessing not, but I guess we need to get at least the Pre-Bronze stuff out of the way.

In other news, my husband and I have decided to get ourselves a Wii for our anniversary instead of getting eachother gifts. However, we're having some difficulty acquiring one. Gamestop gets their shipments on Mondays, so hopefully we can get one this coming monday. I still need to figure out what to get him for his birthday which is friday, though.

Back on the ice

Well...today I got back on the ice for the first time in two weeks. It went pretty well. I worked on my moves in the field, which, since I had to miss my test, I plan on getting judged on a freestyle session. I also worked on spins alot. Those are coming along nicely. I have talked to my sister and have decided to work with another coach on my moves in the field. So, all I have to do is talk to that coach and see if she has some time available to work with me. I'm pretty nervous about learning the pre-juvenile moves, and am starting to question if I made the correct decision in doing the standard moves. We'll see I guess. Worst case scenario I switch to the adult track so I can get my freestyle tests done.
Okay...I brought my niece home, so it's time to go entertain her.

no test, no bluebonnet

My father in law passed away last night so my husband and I made a last minute trip to Dallas. Needless to say I'm not going to be back in time for my test. I guess I will have to take it some other time.
Also, my bluebonnet paperwork is still missing, so I'm definately not skating. I guess that's a blessing, though because I'm probably not going to want to seriously practice much next week.

Maybe no bluebonnet :(

Well...somewhere there was a mixup and either my paperwork didn't get turned in, or my paperwork got lost. But either way, I'm not on the schedule for bluebonnet open and I am quite dissapointed because it looks like a pretty good lineup. My coach is working on it, though. So we'll see.

Testing

Well...it's official, I'm taking my Preliminary MITF and my pre-bronze freeskate in two weeks. The freeskate I'm not worried about because I could pass through the silver freeskate in my sleep. It's the MITF. I think I'm borderline right now, and I've still got two weeks which means I should be able to get it up to par by then, but I've been in a rut lately and haven't skated much in the past week. So I've got to get moving and start working. Especially because I've got a competition the week after my test and dumb me signed up to skate silver (even though technically I'm not allowed to I guess...but I figured they'd tell me no if it is a problem...that's probably a dumb assumption, though). So I'm probably going to get last...especially since my program is a bronze program. Oh well...Okay...I'm off to call my mom.

Videos!

Well, I've posted videos on youtube of my Skate Dallas freeskate, my synchro team performance from last weekend, and yes, even my artistic which I felt horrible about, but actually doesn't look that bad on video.
So head on over to youtube and check it out. My username is jal0203. I've added a link to the right side of the page.

Worst. Skate. Ever.

Well...I did that ISI competition yesterday, and it was by far, the worst skate ever for me. :) I couldn't focus on my routine, and I kept forgetting it and not improvising very well. And then...to top it all off, I fell on my loop! I have never fallen on my loop. :( So...needless to say, I got second out of 2, and I am quite embarrassed. I have skated this bad before, in my first competition when I freaked out on my compulsories. But never since.
Needless to say, I will not be posting a video as I'd like to forget this performance as soon as possible. I have my synchro competition today. I may post a video of that, but we'll see how it goes.

Testing

Well...it looks like I'll be testing Preliminary Moves and (if I pass that), pre-bronze freeskate on may 27th. Yikes! I'm not really ready for the moves (the freeskate is no biggie), but the good news is my sister said they don't look too bad. So if I commit to skating about everyday for the next two weeks...I think I should be okay.
In other news, I'm skating in the Region something ISI district championships tomorrow. I don't do ISI, so I'm just doing an artistic program (which I just finished and I love, by the way), but I also have my synchro team this weekend too, which is why I'm going at all. I'm not sure how we're going to do, I just hope no one falls. *Sigh*

Goals

I've been thinking alot about my progress and what I hope to acomplish with skating. So here's a list of my goals for this summer:
1. Pass pre-juvenile moves in the field
2. Land an axel (this one may be difficult considering I haven't even really started working on it).
3. be competitive at the silver level (even with my short program).

I hope to go to adult nationals next year as a silver skater. I really feel like I need an axel to be at all competitive for that. I would also like to test through at least juvenile moves before then. We'll see. I have alot of work cut out for me. I just need to figure out what I should do about my coaching situation.

Bad skate, bad day

I was supposed to skate with my sister this morning to finish my artistic routine that I have to perform this weekend. She didn't show up. I already feel like I'm not a big priority with her, so when something like this happens, it makes that even worse. I ended up getting off the ice at least 10 minutes early because I was having trouble keeping myself together. I did make up a little bit that I like, though. So hopefully when we get to work together, she'll like it too.
Then to top the morning off, I forgot my underwear. So I'm stuck wearing my tights underneath my pants all day (unless I can make a trip to the store during lunch). Now this is not only uncomfortable but hot as well. So hopefully the day will improve from here. I have to work until 8 (although I do get free dinner and overtime). And now I'm probably going to have to skate tomorrow morning as well. Oye. I'm also considering hiring another coach again. I feel like I need more coaching time to improve the way I want to, and other skaters have multiple coaches, so I'm thinking it might be time for me to as well.
Okay...time to start doing some actual work.

Skate Dallas

Skate Dallas went well. I will post a video soon. I only did the Bronze freeskate, and I got first. It was the person I competed against, their first competition. My sister and I have decided that it's time for me to move up to silver. Problem is, we just did this program, so I'll probably just stick with it through Skate Houston. We'll have to tweak some things, but it's 20 seconds shorter than a silver program can be, so I'm a little worried about that. I think I'll still be able to do okay. I watched the silver skaters yesterday, one of them was no doubt better than me. I think the other one was comparable. So that made me feel better. Although, I would rather get last skating silver against real competition, than first skating bronze where there is no question. The silver should challenge me some more.
As for the bluebonnet open, I'm still trying to make some decisions. I REALLY need to work on getting tested, and I want to go to the river that weekend. But at the same time, this is my home competition, and I don't really want to miss it. So, I think I'm going to go ahead and do it. I've already got a program, so that won't need as much work as it needed before this competition.
Okay, I've already decided on my next music, so I'm going to work on cutting it.

Dance

I've decided that I'm going to take at least one dance class this summer. The question is, which one(s). Part of me wants to take some ballet, but it's been so long. I know that would be good for my skating, though. I will definately take a jazz class. Part of me also wants to take hip hop, mostly because the drill team I'm working with is really into hip hop, so I think I would be able to coreograph better for them if I was better at hip hop. :) Decisions decisions.

As for the skating...my program went better yesterday evening. My sister worked me really hard on it, so that was nice. I still don't feel like it's great, but what matters is that it's good by next weekend, great by skate austin. My sister is going to have my neice work with the coreographer a couple mornings next week, so that will be a perfect opportunity for her to work with me. Maybe we can go ahead and learn my artistic routine so the next week I can do nothing but that. All these competitions are just coming up on me. Skating alot more has really been good for me, though.

Skate Dallas

Skate Dallas is next weekend and I must say that I'm pretty nervous. I ran my program twice with music this morning. The first time it was a little rough. The second time went better, but I messed up my footwork at the end and I'm not comfortable enough with it to be able to pick it back up. So we'll see. I do have a couple of more practices, so hopefully I can get my sister to work with me and I won't look dumb. :)
I also have an ISI competition in Dallas the weekend after that. I'm just doing my artistic routine, but the problem is that I haven't learned my artistic routine yet. :) So that should be a whole lot of fun.

Sick and stuff

I started getting sick on wednesday, but I sucked it up and skated some anyway. My sister and I started working on my new freeskate routine. I think it should be good. I'm starting to think I hate the music, though. Oh well, I'll get over it. In my new artistic she wants me to do a waltz jump, half loop, salchow combination. Fat chance. The waltz jump half loop is okay. Hooking a salchow onto the end is crazy. So we'll just have to see about that. She also put all this crazy footwork in there. She says that's what I get for making her choreograph the day after watching worlds. *sigh*
So that was wednesday, I haven't skated since then because I've been sick. Not sure what I've got, bronchitis or something, but it has sucked. I still don't feel 100%, or even really 80%. Oh well. I'm hoping to get back on the ice tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes considering I'm having a hard time breathing. (who needs to breathe anyway :-p)
I almost forgot. She also told me she wants me to test the standard track freeskate. So...it looks like I'm going to be taking Preliminary MITF and Pre-Pre freeskate at the end of may. Awesome. :(

Slept in

I missed my powerskating class and both freestyle sessions this morning because I couldn't get out of bed. :( I am very sad because this means no skating until monday unless I do public tomorrow...but public sucks, so we'll see. I skated so well last night too so I was looking forward to this morning. My camel spin is finally consistent and according to my sister, looks pretty good. My sitspin is also improving. So right now I'm working on a camel-sit-scratch-change foot. I also started working on a layback yesterday. So I finally have lots to do, and I missed the session because I'm stupid and decided to sleep instead. Oh well..I had a rough week and I was exhausted, so I guess I earned it. *sigh* I'm off to do some more housework now.

New Programs!

Yay! I'm finally getting new programs. I'm getting a new bronze program to some music from madagascar, and I'm also getting a new artistic to music from dick tracy. So I'm pretty excited. I had done my other program into the ground. I'm also getting new dresses. I ordered one from Sharene, and the one from my artistic I got off ebay. I'll post more once I start learning.

Showskate video

I got a video camera for my birthday, and I have been very excited about using it. So here's the video of my showskate routine. My husbands cinematic talents leave something to be desired, so when I get a better video I'll post it.

Showskate!

Austin showskate was last night. I did a duet with my niece Ally, and then I did my solo to a Chorus Line. Both routines went pretty well. I was nervous about my solo because I was the lowest skater in the group of 4. Ally and I did okay. We got 4th out of 5 which was a little dissappointing, but I didn't really expect much. I got 2nd on my solo which I was very excited about because this is probably the toughest competition I've had so far. So I was very pleased with my performances. I'm planning on posting my videos once I get my camera back from my sister and get them downloaded.

New Blades!

Well, I got new blades today. I was planning on just going up to the rink and scheduling to get them mounted next monday because I have the Austin Showskate competition this weekend. However, Charles said that he thought I would adjust fine to the new blades and he had them in stock, so he went ahead and mounted them. I decided to stick with the proffessional mostly because of cost, and they've worked for me so far, so why not? I'm excited, I can't wait to skate on them, so I just might have to go to the 7 am session tomorrow. I just hope they're aligned properly.

Pre-Pre MITF

Well, I passed my pre-preliminary moves in the field test today. I am very happy, especially because I've been having skate issues for the past week or so. Turns out that the blades I have (I bought them used), the rocker was completely sharpened off by whoever had them previously, so, this was good news and bad news for me. The good news is that this probably has alot to do with my inability to spin, but the bad news is that now I have to get new blades. I've decided to stick with the Proffessional for now. I really like the blade overall, and I think they will be fine for me learning my doubles. I may have to upgrade next time. We'll see.
So now I'm going to start working on my Preliminary MITF so that I can hopefully test those in April. I would like to take my silver test by the end of year so I can go to adult nationals competing silver.
In other news I went to my first power skating class on saturday. Basically, it was awesome. It was a little rough, because it's go-go-go and I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing most of the time, but hopefully the next couple of times I'll get better. I think it's really going to help my skating, especially with those crossovers I have to do for preliminary.

Selling Skates

So...I needed to write in a seperate post about my desire to start making some extra money for ice skating. I'm thinking I might want to start selling ice skates. There's no one in the Austin area that sells them anymore, as the woman I bought mine from stopped selling them. So I'm wanting to start. I need to find out what all I need to do.

Synchro bitchfest

$70 is the amount I pay per month to be on my rink's synchro team. We pay $70 regardless if we practice 4 times a month, or if we only practice 2.
$90 is the amount I paid for a synchro jacket and t-shirt.
$190 is the amount I am paying for my synchro dress that we will wear exactly twice. $190 is approximately $140 more than any other ice skating dress I currently own.
$750 is the amount I've estimated I will spend on Air fare and hotel for our trip to ISI (yes...ISI...*barf*) Worlds.
$100 is the amount I estimate I will spend on entry fees for ISI Worlds.

Am I leaving anything out? If not, that brings my grand total spent on Synchro this year to around $2000. That is approximately 5% of my gross annual salary. Is this worth it? Somedays I'm not so sure. *sigh*

A DOUBLE?!?!

Holy moly. I think it's time I invest in some crash pads. Today at the rink my sister suggested I try a double toe-loop. After I got done looking at her like she had lost her mind and I realized that she was serious, I decided to go for it. On my first attempt she said I made it about 1.5 rotations before I popped out and promptly fell in a slightly painful split sort of position. After that we decided to do some toe-loop-loop combos, and then I tried it once more, but I was too freaked out and only made it one revolution. So yeah...she said she wants me to start playing around with that. Pretty darn exciting...and scary at the same time!

Ow

I am VERY sore today. My sister made me do about 50 lutzes last night, and today I can barely walk, and my right knee hurts a little. *sigh* We were trying to get me on a good outside edge. I've been either switching to an inside edge right as I take off or right before. So I really need to break that habit. My skating this morning wasn't very productive. I worked on my Chorus Line program some, and I worked on MITF (and I found out I might not get to test until april :( boo). Things are progressing nicely. My sister said she thinks I'm about ready to start competing silver. I about fell over when she told me this because not two months ago had she said she thought it would be a while. So either I've improved dramaticaly in recent months, or she's changed her mind. :) Either way I'd like to at least be working on an axel before I start competing silver. I started trying them off-ice today. I used to be able to do them off ice, but today they were terrible. I'm not sure what that was about.
Tomorrow Ally and I are going to start learning our showskate routine. I'm pretty excited about it. I think it's going to be very cute. Alright...I'm off to bed. Early saturdays suck.

Another Awesome Skate

So I had another great skate tonight. I skated on both of the freestyles, and my sister worked with me almost the entire time! We worked on my camel spins. Those are coming along. I can at least feel what I should be doing. My sit spins are also getting better. We also worked alot on the flutz...really trying to get me on that outside edge. My niece and I started learning our routine for showskate. I'm excited about that.
I'm not feeling very chatty tonight, maybe I'll post more later.

Awesome skate

So I decided to hang around and skate the over-crowded wednesday night freestyle. My sister stayed and worked with me for a good half-hour which made me very happy. We worked on spins the whole time. We worked on getting me into more of a sit position on my sit spin, rather than leaning over, sticking my butt out. I had one at the very end that felt pretty good. I really wish I could see myself. *sigh* We also worked alot on camels. Those didn't go terrible. I was surprised that she told me I should keep my right side sort-of open as opposed to a spiral position. I've been trying to do it just like a spiral...so that made a difference. I can't wait to practice those more.
After she left I worked on jumping. My flutz is coming along nicely. I'm pretty consistent and even getting big jumps with the mohawk entrance. I tried to do a few with the back crossovers enterance since that is probably going to give me better technique. I did land a few, but I also fell on a few. I also did some loop-loops (which hurt my stress-injury...boooo), and I tried some toe-split jumps. Those feel pretty good. They feel like they might not be ugly. I just need to get my sister to look at them and tell me. If they're not ugly, maybe I can put one in my chorus line routine.
Synchro got cancelled tonight which I was a little bummed about, but that means I can go to bed early...I'm tired. Oh...and nationals start tomorrow!!! I'm beyond excited. The girl who won the novice ladies was at the houtson invitational in our locker room. Her coach was a real bitch, but I guess she fired her. Seems like that was probably a good decision.

Monday monday

Skating today went well. I love skating on monday afternoons because it's usually jsut me and 4 or 5 little kids. It's like having the ice all to myself. I ran through all of my pre-pre MIF. Overall they went okay. My back edges are getting better. I am forcing myself to just do them the whole length of the ice. Perfect or not. I'm trying to remind myself that at one time I couldn't do forward edges either and it didn't take very long to get those decent. My waltz 8s are feeling good, stroking and spirals as well. I'm still a little nervous about having the edges ready for the test on feb 18th, but I really need to get this test out of the way, because I still need to test Preliminary MIF before I can take my pre-bronze freeskate. I really wish I had started on all this a long time ago.
Other than MIF I worked on my usual list. Change foot spins are getting better. My backspin is getting much better since I started working on these. My sitspins were pretty on today. They felt much lower than usual (which doesn't say much). I tried a couple camels and they went okay.
I worked more on my flutzes, they went well. I'm still landing them consistently, now I just need to get off that pesky inside edge! I didn't work any on loop combos because my right leg has been bothering me.
Overall it was a good skate, I think I'm going to go ahead and turn in the paperwork for my test. It is just pass/retry, so I think they are a little more linient than other tests. Here's hoping at least. :)

30 minutes/week

30 minutes, that's all I would like with a coach. Any coach. My current coach, my sister, doesn't really have time for me, and as a result, I am largely self-taught. Which, as a result, means my technique isn't the best. So anyway...I'm considering asking another coach for a 30 minute lesson/week to just work on spins, jumps, and MIF. We'll see. Overall I've just been very frustrated with the progress I've made. I feel like I should be moving faster than I am, and I think more coaching would definately help that.
Other than the coaching stuff I've had a roller coaster of skating yesterday and today. Let's start with last night. I went to the freestyle, and the ice was still very soft which made it difficult to skate. I ended up falling 3 times on my flip (I can't remember the last time I actually fell on that jump). My sister did work with my some on my edges which was good. We talked about me leaning into them too much, and I'm not coming to the line straight...which is probably because my hoops are too shallow. So I've got to work on all of those things. I can't decide if I should go ahead and sign up for the test and cross my fingers I'll be ready. I only have one more week to decide.
This morning I went to the freestyle and I actuall landed some lutzes! I changed my entrance...I had been doing it from back crossovers, but I switched to doing a mohawk and two steps. This new entrance is letting me get into it without thinking so much, so it's letting me get the feeling for it. I'm still cheating a little bit in that I think I'm going onto an inside edge right as I pick, but I think that will come as I get more comfortable and maybe go back to the other entrance. I also worked on change foot spins, and those went remarkably well. I just need to get more comfortable on my backspin.
So for this week, I need to work on MIF...alot, change foot spins, sit spins, and my lutz. The first three are my priority. I'm going to Chicago this summer for ISI worlds with my synchro team, and I'm going to compete individually. I've been told that I should probably do freeskate 4, so I need to get the change foot and sit spin for that.
Okay...time for me to work on cutting music for showskate and for my ISI program.

No skating...again

The rink is closed again today. This time it's because the water supply line froze somehow making the ice too soft for skating (I don't really know...I don't know how rinks work). So anyway...we're finally above freezing, I'm back at work, and I can't even go skating today. :( BOO.

Snow day skate

The rink finally opened today and I got to go skating. My sister/coach didn't come, though because my niece didn't want to (something must be wrong with her). The ice was awesome because there were only about 6 people skating. I worked alot on Pre-pre MIF. Everything is feeling pretty okay. My forward stroking is good, of course CCW is much better than CW. My edges are all passable, except my back inside. They are downright aweful. I need some serious coach time on that. My spirals are good, except I'm having a hard time staying off my outside edge on my left one. Finally, my waltz 8's are much improved, and I am hitting that center mark pretty consistently.
Other than that I worked on loop-loops which I have never done before. They were surprisingly good, and I like them alot more than waltz-loops. I also worked on lutzes (sp?). Sheesh...I'm not sure why I'm having such a difficult time with these. If anybody has any tips, I would love to hear them.
I also worked alot on spins. After my competition this weekend, I realized I need to pick it up in the spin department. So I worked on camels, laybacks, and I started to attempt a scratch-back scratch, although that one didn't go so well.
Overall it was a good and productive skate.

I've also decided that I should post some of my goals for 2007:
1. Pass through Juvenile MIF (I'm hoping to test Pre-pre on feb 18, we'll see what my coach has to say)
2. Pass adult silver free skate
3. Of course, land an axel consistently, and maybe some doubles

Beyond that, I hope to compete in the 2008 adult nationals at the silver level, and I really would like to compete championship gold by 2009. I've got alot of hard work ahead of me before that can happen, though.

Stupid weather

So because it's snowing outside, the ice skating rink has been closed since yesterday. :( All I've wanted to do is skate, but I can't. I did at least go work out last night, so that was good. I did 43 minutes on the bike. Hopefully the gym is open today so we can go this afternoon.

Pictures!

Pictures from the competition are up here. My events were: saturday, event 2 and 8, and sunday, event 20.

New Layout

I was tired of the old one, so I finally sucked it up and redid my blog. As for the rest of my day off? I hope to go skating to work on my MIF, and I really need to go work out. I'll probably end up just watching Grey's Anatomy all day, though.

Star of Texas Recap

Well, I had a pretty good weekend in Houston. It made me want to go to Adult Nationals really bad, though. And I have neither the time nor the money to go this year. I WILL go next year, though. Hopefully competing as a silver.
Yesterday I skated my compulsories and freeskate. I was originally signed up for Pre-Bronze compulsories, but this week they told me my competitor dropped out, so on wednesday I decided to skate bronze, and had to learn a new program, full of things I'm bad at like waltz-toe loop and a sit spin. I actually skated pretty well, though. I was pleased, and I placed 1st out of 2.
My freeskate wasn't what I was hoping for. My first jump is a loop and it was fabulous, then on my waltz-loop I put my foot down, but I was happy with this because I had been struggling all week with it. Then I almost put my hand down on my flip jump. This exact same thing has happened every time I have done it in competition. Finally, I feel on my salchow-toe loop!!! Seriously, something must be wrong with me. Everything else in the program was fin, though, but I really was not pleased with my performance and I expected to get last. Turns out the judges disagreed, though, and I got 2nd/4. And, one judge put me first. I'm guessing that my artistic score is what made me do so well, because technically I was way behind the person who got first. I didn't really watch the other two though because they were before and after me.
Today I had my artistic. I was relatively nervous because I didn't do much practicing on this one. But it went great. I did the same thing I always do on my flip, but everything else was good. It was my competitor's first competition and she was very nervous. She did well, though. I think she was annoyed that I was in the no-test group, but I just don't have the jumps or spins to compete bronze yet, and this is where my coach thought I should be.
Overall everyone was very nice. I left saturday feeling great. I left today feeling pretty good, although I felt attacked by this girl. It was a good competition, though, and I look forward to going back next year. I need a new freeskate program, though. I am totally over this days of thunder one.

Next up I have Austin Showskate. I am going to be doing my same chorus line number (although we may improve it a bit), and I'm also going to be doing something with my niece. I'm looking forward to this one. I think we're going to do a song from the princess diaries 2.
I'm going to try to post more regularly as now I'll be working on my pre-preliminary moves in the field.

Star of Texas

Wow. It has been a long time since I last posted. Not too much has happened. My loop has become pretty consistent, my flip has become really good, and I've been working hard on my waltz-loop. The past week I have been helping my sister coach the basic 1 and 2 classes. That has been a fun opportunity for me to learn some about coaching. Today I'm heading to Houston with her for a competition my niece is in. Next weekend I'm heading back to houston (solo) for a competition I am competitng in. I'm feeling pretty good about that competition, and I'm really looking forward to it. My last competition in Houston was my first competition ever and I was pretty dissappointed with my performance. I think I've improved tremendously since then, and I think I should do well. I feel good about the levels I'm competing in, and I think it should be fun. The only bad thing is my sister (my coach) can't come, so it's going to be my first competition alone.
My sister is here to pick me up. Time to go.