Friday OIC: OFC, someone has to get arrested on my bus
I woke up at 8:30 even though I had physics lab starting at 8. FML. Nice GSI informs me that I could take the make-up lab in the 10-12 class, which threw off my plans of skating both discount sessions at OIC.
I was on track to make the 1:15 session but of course, given that it's Oakland, some punk kids had to start something and get arrested on the bus that I'm on. SERIOUSLY. I waited a full 30 minutes in that bus for police and AC transit officials to come before I got on my merry way to the rink. Even though there were a ton of police milling about because of the Oscar Grant trial (I suppose they expected some mass riot to erupt any minute?) they still took forever to get there. The troublemakers were just like "w/e, I don't care if I get suspended, it'll be just like vacation for me". Sigh.
Of course, I had 45 minutes in the session left by the time I got there. Incidentally, Chris left with his Michael Bolton just as I got in (and Sarah had to suffer through that alone, lol :P). I wasn't too productive; I mainly did some forwards stroking and a wee bit of backwards while watching Sarah do her three turns. I decided to stay for a bit of the 3:00-5:00 but since I didn't have time to eat beforehand, I desperately sprang for a hot dog and a brownie from concessions during the zamboni break. So much for that "figure skater diet", haha. Sarah and I milled around in the teensy pro shop for a bit; I was looking for pig-themed soakers for a certain someone but OIC didn't stock it :(
I practiced some backwards stroking and got some help from an adult skater who was there; she's always helping random public session get started on swizzles so she took pity on me and the pathetic state of my backwards stroking. Basically, I just have to put more of my butt into it during the push-off. I was never one for too much forza. All of the srs bsns skater children arrived at a little before 4; I oozed with jealousy and resentment and left not too long after a whole pack of them arrived for private lessons. Everything suddenly just felt so futile, so frustrating. Its highly unlikely that any of those kids would even make it past regionals but it was still a possibility for them, however theoretical. I am at least a decade too late, born in the wrong country, and at least a couple of tax income brackets too poor to have made it work even if I started skating the minute I arrived in America, land of year-round ice rinks aplenty.
There was, however, this intriguing boy of about 10 or 11, a skinny, gangly child who threw himself into impressively high jumps and blurred his scratch spins yet could barely manage crossovers with appropriate form (he still hunches over them like I do!). He was a rough-around-the-edges, frozen cornfield kind of kid--kind of like a young, urban version of Johnny sans the balletic grace. It's likely he learned to skate on his own (thus the awkward technique) and some coach probably spotted him and urged him to take lessons. Really, I don't know. When I first saw this kid, I thought wow, he must be serious business, especially since he even had a Uni of Delaware shirt on, but every time I see him with a coach they seem to be working on baby things like crossovers and elementary MITF. If there's anyone from that pool of kids that I think would make it to Nationals, it would be him. The other children might have more precise edgework and moves now, but this boy definitely has talent hidden in there!
Thus is the constant dilemma of the true adult skater (as opposed to a skater who became an adult). You aren't going anywhere; any future you could've had is already over even before you had the chance to step on ice. However, I think a great majority of adults skate only recreationally with no intention of testing or competing; hell, I definitely started out in that category, and will likely remain there. I think I'm just getting too caught up with my feelings now that the Grand Prix season has started. Me, competing, seriously? I've never even played a sport in my life!
I will write about Saturday lesson tomorrow. It's time to take advantage of Daylight Savings time and sleep an extra hour!
I was on track to make the 1:15 session but of course, given that it's Oakland, some punk kids had to start something and get arrested on the bus that I'm on. SERIOUSLY. I waited a full 30 minutes in that bus for police and AC transit officials to come before I got on my merry way to the rink. Even though there were a ton of police milling about because of the Oscar Grant trial (I suppose they expected some mass riot to erupt any minute?) they still took forever to get there. The troublemakers were just like "w/e, I don't care if I get suspended, it'll be just like vacation for me". Sigh.
Of course, I had 45 minutes in the session left by the time I got there. Incidentally, Chris left with his Michael Bolton just as I got in (and Sarah had to suffer through that alone, lol :P). I wasn't too productive; I mainly did some forwards stroking and a wee bit of backwards while watching Sarah do her three turns. I decided to stay for a bit of the 3:00-5:00 but since I didn't have time to eat beforehand, I desperately sprang for a hot dog and a brownie from concessions during the zamboni break. So much for that "figure skater diet", haha. Sarah and I milled around in the teensy pro shop for a bit; I was looking for pig-themed soakers for a certain someone but OIC didn't stock it :(
I practiced some backwards stroking and got some help from an adult skater who was there; she's always helping random public session get started on swizzles so she took pity on me and the pathetic state of my backwards stroking. Basically, I just have to put more of my butt into it during the push-off. I was never one for too much forza. All of the srs bsns skater children arrived at a little before 4; I oozed with jealousy and resentment and left not too long after a whole pack of them arrived for private lessons. Everything suddenly just felt so futile, so frustrating. Its highly unlikely that any of those kids would even make it past regionals but it was still a possibility for them, however theoretical. I am at least a decade too late, born in the wrong country, and at least a couple of tax income brackets too poor to have made it work even if I started skating the minute I arrived in America, land of year-round ice rinks aplenty.
There was, however, this intriguing boy of about 10 or 11, a skinny, gangly child who threw himself into impressively high jumps and blurred his scratch spins yet could barely manage crossovers with appropriate form (he still hunches over them like I do!). He was a rough-around-the-edges, frozen cornfield kind of kid--kind of like a young, urban version of Johnny sans the balletic grace. It's likely he learned to skate on his own (thus the awkward technique) and some coach probably spotted him and urged him to take lessons. Really, I don't know. When I first saw this kid, I thought wow, he must be serious business, especially since he even had a Uni of Delaware shirt on, but every time I see him with a coach they seem to be working on baby things like crossovers and elementary MITF. If there's anyone from that pool of kids that I think would make it to Nationals, it would be him. The other children might have more precise edgework and moves now, but this boy definitely has talent hidden in there!
Thus is the constant dilemma of the true adult skater (as opposed to a skater who became an adult). You aren't going anywhere; any future you could've had is already over even before you had the chance to step on ice. However, I think a great majority of adults skate only recreationally with no intention of testing or competing; hell, I definitely started out in that category, and will likely remain there. I think I'm just getting too caught up with my feelings now that the Grand Prix season has started. Me, competing, seriously? I've never even played a sport in my life!
I will write about Saturday lesson tomorrow. It's time to take advantage of Daylight Savings time and sleep an extra hour!