
I only have two words to describe my sentiment about Worlds right now - "Mercy Me!" In ordinary circumstances, I would take all of this in stride, but yesterday was the straw that broke this poor old skating camel's back (not literally, BTW).
The day started with an hour-long 8:00 am dress rehearsal. My beautiful black-and-white dress for my dramatic program has a design flaw. The sleeves are too short, which means the finger loops pull the shoulders down. Coach suggested that I get someone to add an extension to solve this problem. This is one more tasks I cannot attend to at this late date. My solution: Cut off the finger loops and wear the dress as is. Alright, so it won't be perfect, but no one is going to be looking at my sleeves anyway.
Dear Husband attended the entire hour, poor patient man. He got to see - up close and personal - what it's like to skate on a FS session before a major competition.
There was a mother-daughter team doing this snake charmer routine, with the daughter being inside what looked to be a brown garbage can (it's actually supposed to be the basket in which the snake is). Now this posed a number of problems for me. First of all, as Indiana Jones said, 'I HATE SNAKES,' so the very concept of this was abhorrent to me. What possesses a coach to think this is cute? Enough judgment on my part - sorry! In addition, they were right in the path of my program run through, so I had to make a beeline around them because, after all, a four-foot garbage can cannot move easily, let alone see anything. For the daughter's sake (she is the snake), I do hope there are eye holes cut in the basket so she can see out.
This was the first challenge to the first run through of my Passion program. It rather went downhill from there, but Dear Husband gave me a hand-sign (a personal joke of ours) that I skated the program nicely. Little did he know it was riddled with problems, so Coach and I spent 20 minutes working on some of the issues, like this is going to help at this point? As I cannot get down low enough on the ice to do a decent hyroblade, Coach suggested another way to execute the move that is much better. Now if I can just remember this at performance time. Also worked on the lunge exit into the catch-blade arabesque. I was able to do what she suggested and it does help the exit from the lunge look more graceful.
On the positive side, replacing the salchow with a half-flip was a brilliant idea. Coach told me yesterday that my half-flip is higher and bigger than "average" and all I need to do is hold the landing longer to make it even better. Yay! At long last, a jump I can do with some degree of prowess! Amazing. It's hard to believe that we are making changes 5 days before the competition, but so it goes in skating.
Then, on to my technical program run through. In a short, crude phrase, "It sucked." First time, I completely fouled up the opening. Not a good start. The spin was wretched (wouldn't even pass the requirement), and I did something I have never done before: totally missed the dance sequence footwork. Could this be because Dear Husband was there? Who knows? I was nervous, no doubt about it, but this error was unnerving. Coach was very disappointed, I could tell. Maybe it was the garbage-can snake that was the problem! Second run through was better, but certainly not my best. I know I can do much better than this.
I left the rink and went to get some breakfast, only to return two hours later for ensemble practice. By the time we had run through the program 6 times, I was at my maximum saturation point. Most members have an opinion, including me. Mine is "Can't we just be done with this, P-L-E-E-Z-E?" Having noted this, it is a lovely program with beautiful costumes and music, so maybe these things will distract from any errors we make. One can only hope.
When I got home, I was absolutely exhausted beyond words. All I could think of was "Why did I ever do this?" But, it is always darkest before the dawn, so this morning, I feel somewhat renewed and ready for my last dance practice with Coach Chris tomorrow morning. What a joy it will be! I have absolutely no expectations of placing anywhere but last, so there is no pressure on me at all.
I am treating myself to a pedicure today and then a day spent in quilting activities. Dear Husband, thank you a million times for putting up with all of this nonsense. You have truly been a saint about this. And, I loved your comment, "What's up with the garbage can snake?"
Limping onward to San Jose!
You are too kind, my friend, about my programs, but having now had acupuncture, including an ear tack that is designed to promote calmness and purchasing a bottle of lavender aromatherapy, I am hoping to completely zone out everything but my programs when I am in San Jose.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you missed Ken. It would have been nice for the two of you to watch my programs together. You could be his off-ice commentator!
Hope to see you tomorrow. Coach Chris and I are dancing at 9:30.