Stopping by woods on a summer evening
Yes, Frost's poem does call for a snowy evening, but it's 90 degrees here, so... Anyway, while I'm turning over some new leaves, I thought I'd also turn over a leaf in the journal.
The winds of change are here...my younger sister is moving to New Jersey (for the second time) and taking my two youngest nephews away (again). I am deeply attached to the six-year-old, Aidan, whom I wrote about in the first letter. I think I may be going through some of the stages of grief. Thankfully, my two youngest nieces are still in town to satisfy my maternal attacks! I also just left a long-term contract at HP and took a full-time position with a geophysical company. The job is really challenging, but it's lovely to have real benefits again, and in about a month, we'll be moving (literallly) across the street from a mall with a skating rink. Ice Skate USA is in west Houston and is one of the city's nicer ice facilities, and I'll be able to skate every day at lunchtime again, which I loved. For now, I'm skating at Willowbrook, my "old" home rink in north Houston, on Tuesday and Friday nights and on weekend afternoons.
I won't be severing ties completely with Willowbrook...I still update the FSC website for them (although I didn't design it), and I will of course continue to work with my coach, Cathy. We now meet at a Friday night freestyle, which is working well. We'll have two lessons both this week and next, because we're trying to put together a program crazy fast for a benefit-competition on August 4 (coincidentally, at Ice Skate USA). It's a memorial and MADD fundraiser for a coach who was lost in an accident. We really don't have quite enough time to prepare, but my coach loved the honoree and *really* wants to bring some students to the event. She couldn't get any of her young girls, but my friend Lisa (her other adult student) and I agreed. Oh well, at least basic skills programs are only one minute long, and I can wear my beautiful new dusty-blue-and-gold competition dress, the first I've ever had custom-made! Must...find...earrings...
Speaking of competitions, Lisa and I just did another one a few weeks ago. Willowbrook hosted a basic skills competition, and it's always nice to be on home ice. I entered only the compulsories this time. (This is why we're in such a rush to create a musical program now!) It was my first time in Basic 6, which was a stretch for me. I'm comfortable with lunges, t-stops and spirals ... but inside 3s are so tricky, and I developed a bunny hop complex last year, after a dreadful fall. But they suddenly came together at the last minute, thank God. Lisa worked with me one evening on bringing my front foot all the way through -- I had been doing more of a "bunny skip,", and that's why I tended to catch my toepick and trip. Once we dealt with that, I actually started getting some decent height.
Ever the unwitting drama queen, I curiously decided to oversleep, miss my practice ice, AND force an urgent trip to the office (where I conveniently left my good tights). Suffice it to say that I DID eventually get to the rink...10 minutes before my event! (To prevent this phenomenon at the next competition, I've invited Lisa to sleep over at my house the night before!) Everyone was looking for me! I skipped registration and went straight to put my skates on -- which is usually a 15-minute act in itself, but I miraculously laced my right skate correctly the FIRST time (my heel tends to float around) for the first time in several months. The compulsories went well, and everyone clapped on my spiral! * blush * They were probably just being kind, but it was nice all the same ... I have enjoyed such wonderful support at competitions. Oh, and speaking of support, I had the pleasure of meeting two glorious fellow adult-skater-bloggers in May, Gordon and Terri, when I went to another nephew's graduation in Oregon. Check out our "group picture" on Gordon's blog!
In the overall scheme of skating things, I'm working on a wide range of elements, from Basic 7 to Freestyle 2. My backward XOs on both sides have really improved in flow and speed. My moving outside 3s are fairly stable, and the moving inside 3s are catching up. The mohawks are starting to show some faint signs of hope. I have my spiral on both the inside and outside edges now. I have a (very) slight affinity for spinning, so we've skipped ahead a bit and started work on the scratch -- beginning with the entrance, the backward XOs-hold-step-to-the-inside thing. My forward consecutive edges (inside and outside) are a lot stronger, and I can finally hold my backward inside/outside edges halfway around a circle, so now we're attacking the consecutive back outsides (augh).
Our big goal is the Pre-Bronze MIF test -- aiming for December -- so I don't think I'll do any more competitions this year. I need to focus on moves. The forward perimeter crossover stroking is going well, and I can't BELIEVE how much it's helped my clockwise forward XOs, which have been my Scarlet Letter since day one. I recently started working on the backward perimeter crossover stroking. And of course, all the work on the backward edges and moving 3-turns is in preparation for the Waltz 8. We're also still working on the waltz jump, which continues to have good mechanics and rotation but very low height! A good omen, though...I had a dream last week where I started doing beautiful jumps. I found it really funny. Hopefully the dream will come true someday... We're also learning a few of the first ice dance moves, chasses and swing rolls. And my new trick of the month is a "reverse T-stop," where you "drag" your foot in front, instead of behind. Your front skate looks kind of like the shovel on a bulldozer, pushing ice shavings in front!
Finally, I'm looking forward to my training next month for Special Olympics Texas! I completed the prerequisites months ago, and I've been waiting forever! I'm going to be an assistant figure skating coach, and I'm really excited. Our athletes have a challenging and thorough Badge Program specially designed by USFSA -- check it out here. Kewl.