Long Time No Post

In case you're wondering why I haven't been posting as much, I got a new job! One that doesn't require me to stare mindlessly at the computer for 8 hours a day as I pretent to look busy lest someone walk by and see me sleeping at my desk while being paid to work. I'm now working at a grocery store bakery as a cake decorator, and so far I love it!

Anyways, on to skating...

I passed my Juvenile Freeskate test on Sunday. I was a disaster all week leading up to the test. I couldn't do my axel, my lutz, or my layback. I actually managed to fall on a layback and get my left foot stuck in the tights on my right leg. That shouldn't be physically possible seeing that I was spinning on the left foot with the right leg behind me! I really found a new level of suckage during the week. Then, I was supposed to practice on Saturday morning, and I set my alarm wrong. I turned off the volume instead of turning the alarm on, so I missed my last practice. The morning of the test, the skating club offered a 1/2 hr practice ice which I used for a long warm-up and a run through of the program with music. I scraped through it which was way better than what I had hoped for. Then, for the actual test, I skated ok. It certainly wasn't my best effort, but I didn't really botch anything either. I passed all three judges, even with a timing deduction. Turns out my music was 5 seconds too short :( Now I know why my program seemed so much shorter than everyone else's. Next time, I'll have to remember to time the program and not blindly trust the person cutting the music.

Now that the test is over, my axel has returned and was feeling especially big and beautiful today. My lutz is no longer retarded, and my layback is fast again. Even though my layback was slow for the test, one judge did comment that I had nice free leg position :)

Today, Coach K and I worked on spins since we haven't played that game in awhile. She taught me how to do a flying sit the right way (jumping up), and it sure better than what I was trying to do (throwing the leg around). She also wants me to work on sit-layback combinations. I loathe them! But, you can't argue with Coach K. I also found that I can now do an outside edge camel, then go back to a regular camel, catch my foot and do a nice catch foot camel. I can also tack a back sit into a Y spin (the one where you pull your left leg up next to your ear with your left hand although mine isn't that high yet) on the end of the catch foot camel. I felt like Sasha Cohen doing that spin. I'm the only one at my rink who does an outside edge camel and the Y spin. Oh, and Coach K has this crazy idea that I can do an outside edge forward sit. Freakin' nuts. I'm not even close, but it'll give me something to play with. At least she's not making me do outside edge laybacks like she's having one of the senior level girls work on. Now that's really nuts.