C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 195
January 21, 2010
US Nationals: dance
We went to the first couple of sessions yesterday, but laid out of the novice ladies finals, and went in again for the junior dance short program: we slept most of the afternoon, which was a good thing. Better to miss a competition and end up with enough stamina to enjoy the next day. Jane's got an extensive report up. Dance is her particular delight. Men's singles is my favorite—and Jane's other most favorite. OSG, I think, is more fond of the ladies singles. We did stay to watch Sasha...
January 19, 2010
US Nationals: the dance section starts.
Jane and I are lazing today during the compulsory novice bits: the mandatory repetition of the same dance for every couple. A very good exposure of strengths and weaknesses of the couples, but not for the faint-hearted…or people getting sore knees from sitting for hour with knees unable to flex. Jane's having knee trouble; I'm starting to; and we have to lay out today and let the joints recover. Nationals-watching should be named an Olympic event. Can you tolerate sitting in a cramped seat...
January 18, 2010
The Men's Finals…Figure Skating Nationals…
Yesterday, the men's finals…quite a battle. When you have 5 serious contenders it's a battle; and both Jane and I favor the men's events because the athletics are spectacular, and, well, the scenery is always good. The standing ovation of the night went to Ryan Bradley, whose dandified comedy routine brought down the house. Ryan had trouble in his short program the day before; if he'd nailed that, he'd have been going to Vancouver as a contender: as was, he's an alternate, watching from...
January 17, 2010
Figure Skating Nationals—page 2
They've got an innovation on this year's Nationals, which is a sound track I wish they'd put as an alternate to the commentary on every network: they handed out 4000 little radios with a low, near monotone 'call' of the moves, level, and points…including 'count' on the sustained elements like spins and rotations—for instance, you have to sustain a spiral (lifted leg) 6 seconds for it to count: if the leg drops below your hip before that 6th second, no good. The lifts have grades of...
January 16, 2010
Figure Skating Nationals…and you'll note our missing pages are back!
…we watched the pairs short and the men's short. We are strongly suspicious on the pairs judging…that the judges were going through mathematical gymnastics to keep one pair in the running. At one point there was an audience mutiny, on which I wish I had heard the commentary. Some interesting up and comers in the men's ranks—one of whom might yet get a place. I'm not going to spoil things for those of you watching belated broadcast. But say that there was a mishap: not an accident, and nobody ...
January 15, 2010
Feeling better today…the ankle's on the mend.
Yesterday was very hard. I've had too many funerals this last year. But today I'm up early, got the recyclables to the curb, got the tax reports done, and we're ready to go to Nationals. We're taking our notepads to do design work during the resurfacings, and we're hoping to get some patches put together. There'll be the usual offerings of really neat skating outfits for persons who don't stand taller than 5′2″, skates (I've got great ones, and don't need any); and really bad food laden with ...
January 14, 2010
Went to our friend's memorial service today…
remarkable: there were over a thousand people there.
Tomorrow Nationals start. Posting will keep up, but may be a shade sporadic.
January 13, 2010
Lynn affirms we will be able to recover the missing pages.
Yay!
I've had a day: frantic running about, escorting a friend of OSG's, trying to mail about 300 lbs worth of packages, mostly books going to Selina Rosen; and I thought I'd lost my glasses at the post office the night before Nationals starts…but I'd laid them down in a usual place when I'd gotten home. So I'm racing about in the dark and the rain trying to find the glasses…exhausted. But feeling better. The overworked ankle is doing much better: I'll be able to walk tomorrow. That's good.
Feeling good today: got some sleep.
We've got ton 'o things to do today. Yesterday's real good skate produced of all things, a very sore shin. Unused muscles, not an impact: you kind of lean into your boot-front, and I leaned . Now I have Salonpas patches from my knee to my ankle in a nice row, and an elastic bandage. And a dinged-up hand. Jane ordered a bunch of small things from Collections, meaning flat-pack little stands for setting things on, like computers, etc, to avoid having Efanor the Neutron Cat landing on the...
January 12, 2010
A warm day in the Pacific NW…and we saw koi.
We're going to be rainy for the next few days: the ice sheet over the pond has melted about halfway, and we were able to see the koi for the first time in a couple of months. I can report that Maddy (the silver) and either Ari or Kenpachi were quietly finning along, moving slightly. We don't want them to wake up all the way: it's still cold; but we were glad to see our little friends.
I finally got my feet under me today on the rink: we had to dodge tv cameras as the local station sought film ...
