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.