I'm still here

This weekend I competed at the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational in Wyandotte, Michigan, and I tied for second. I was mostly pleased with how I skated. I two-footed my first salchow because I was concentrating on getting a deeper entrance edge -- we worked on that in my lesson on Thursday. The rest of the program went well, and I didn't shake at all afterward. I haven't watched the DVD yet.

I stayed with Dan and Melissa, and we had a lot of fun hanging out and catching up. Saturday night we made cookies and watched Kathy Griffin, and I left for home this morning after the freezing rain melted into rain.

In other news, Steph and I visited the Smart dealership this week. They had a black and yellow car inside, and we both really like the color in person. I test-drove a silver Passion Coupe (the trim level I'll be getting), and I liked it a lot except for its clunky shifting. The reason they won't offer a traditional 5-speed manual escapes me. My car should arrive in about two months. In the meantime, my Honda will probably turn over 200,000 miles in the next two and a half weeks or so, and I have the camera ready to document the big event. It is not allowed to break down at 199,999.9 miles like Marshall's Fiero did on How I Met Your Mother.

Apparently it can be bribed.

So yesterday on the way to the competition, I told my loop that if it showed up, I'd buy it a shirt.

I forgot that it likes clothes.

My freestyle program went well, although I didn't land the loop. The ice was hard, but I coped with it pretty well. After my second spin, I looked up and saw my friends Patti and Kurt from synchro standing by the boards watching me -- I didn't expect them to be there, but they had a lesson nearby in the morning and decided to stop in and see some of the competition. I skated clean except for the loop. I placed second out of three, which I'm happy with.

My showcase program went well, too. I attempted the loop in the warmup, but it wasn't happening, so I moved on. I had to get off a minute early because I was the first skater in my group, but I was ready. My old synchro coach, Susan, was standing by the boards cheering for me and holding the Wicked monkey I'd brought as my mascot. (I considered skating with the monkey, but I thought it might throw me off because I hadn't done that before, so I let her hold it.) I skated the program much better than I did in Wyandotte. It was faster, and I felt more comfortable with the changes we'd made. I landed my loop and was so surprised that I wasn't sure how to get into my next element -- I'm used to landing (incorrectly) on my left foot. I placed second after Rhonda's very cool program as Daphne from Scooby Doo.

I had to buy the competition shirt for my loop -- I was afraid that if I didn't, it would never show up at a competition again!

Three loops

Tonight at practice I managed to land three loops. They weren't pretty, but they were on my right foot. It's been several weeks since I landed one -- lately they've been few and far between.

I'm competing at Skate Cincinnati on Saturday, and I had two good program run-throughs tonight. My loop even showed up in one of them. I probably shouldn't even suggest this, but if my loop wanted to accompany me to Cincinnati and show itself off in front of a bunch of people, I wouldn't argue.

Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational 2007

This past weekend, I competed at the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational in Wyandotte, MI. It was my seventh year competing there, and I had a good time as usual. The arena was remodeled this year, and the new locker rooms and registration (warming) room are great! The bleachers are much easier to climb, too, especially in skates.

I placed third in freestyle and fourth in interp, so I got two medals. I skated both programs reasonably well, especially considering that I hadn't skated since the previous Sunday because of the weather. It was fun to skate in the same event as one of the skaters I practice with on Thursday nights -- I'd never seen her interp program before, and it was great.

My friends Dan and Melissa let me stay with them, and it was so nice to see them again and catch up with them. They recently moved back to Michigan from Texas, and they're settling in well to a nice new home and town. They always make me feel so comfortable in their home, and they put up with me dragging them around half the state to watch me skate, too. I got the chance to take them to Ikea for the first time on Sunday, and I think they'll go back. I got the curtains we wanted for the living room that were out of stock when we went this summer (you can hardly see the light tan vine pattern on them in the picture; notice, too, that they aren't available in mail order) as well as another Dave, which may be the best thing Ikea ever made. I exercised an extreme amount of self-control and spent less than $100 in all.