Random Confessions

I was about to get sleepy, but then I saw a tweet about the GP substitute situation and now I'm all worked up again. My poor girls, you got punished for being talented coming from a fed with no power...

But this isn't what I'm here to confess. My confession is that I much prefer GS than Korean fan communities, with Korean forums/twitter/etc you face people either dismissing (and worse, belittling) Korean skaters or being overprotective and reacting badly to constructive criticism and/or individual views that are not pure positivity (and sometimes depreciating other skaters in the process). Of course, GS has its fair share of people like that (just with skaters representing other countries), and there's always something to bicker/argue/rage war against, but most of you are tolerant people who can accept different viewpoints (and the mentally damaging stuff can be avoided if you know what to avoid). I'm so glad that I decided to make an account and stop lurking

So, I've gotten myself very busy lately. Which is not good because there is skating to watch. And I can't get this friday off because I used sick leave for CoC already, should've saved it for NHK It's time like these that I regret getting a job for my year off and not just leeching off my parents' backs watching figure skating, oh the road not taken.

On another note, I just made an ISU account to vote for the Skater Popularity Contest, I mean ISU Skating Awards , and I was impressed that all countries' names were written in their official languages (if more than three the one with the most speakers). And the fact that the two Koreas were listed as 북조선 and 한국 (basically the equivalents of North Korea and South Korea). Most sites have 조선민주주의인민공화국/'Democratic People's Republic of Korea' and 대한민국/'Republic of Korea', hence my amuesement. Wonder if ISU people from each were asked to write down the countries they are from and they just submitted the casual form

I am an idiot.

I went into the Young Russians thread for the first time in a year or so as I wanted to ask if the posters knew anything about a young Russian skater who is representing another country. And after writing 3 words, I noticed the "Restore Auto-Saved Content" button was there. Now, it was so long since I had been in that thread that I couldn't remember what I would have been writing before, so I clicked on it. And this big smile appeared on my face.

It was a joke comment I had written one time. It read something along the lines of "I reckon this bunch of kids will go a long way".

And it was accompanied by a link to a photo on Instagram showing about a dozen of the now well established Russian skaters sitting in the stands back when they were kids. Amongst them were Tuktamysheva, Lipnitskaya, Ovcharova, Shelepin, Lazukin, etc.

And when I opened the photo, I got another pleasant surprise.

You remember how I said that I am not on Instagram, so there are only a handful of Instagram accounts that I ever visit because they were the only ones whose addreses I can remember. And that 2 of them had changed their addresses in the past year, and I cannot find their accounts now. Well, one of those two skaters had been tagged in this photo, so I was able to just click through to her account!

That was OK. I then changed my mind about posting my question and left the page. Then I realised that I should have bookmarked the photo as it would be a handy way of getting to all the skaters' pages. So I went back into the thread, went to the reply box and pressed the "Restore Auto-Saved Content" button again. And I got the 3 words that I had typed 10 minutes earlier!!!

So, I went back to the index page, clicked on the number of replies in the thread and found my username. And when I clicked through to my posts, I discovered that I hadn't actually posted that comment with the photo at the time. The thought came into my head that maybe I had decided to post the photo somewhere else on the forum, but I can't find it anywhere.

I haven't a clue where to find the photo again. For a start, I don't know who posted it. And because of the changes a few weeks ago whereby they only let non-members scroll down so far, I wouldn't be able to go back far enough to get to the photo even if I did know who posted it.

If only I had thought of bookmarking that photo sooner. In fact, if only I had posted that comment with the photo in the first place.

As I said, I'm an idiot!

CaroLiza_fan

I've been sitting here reading the twitter reports on NHK practice - ankles are okay, that's what we all wanted to hear - and repairing a couple of work shirts (I retire ealy, at the end of next March, and have NO intention of buying new for work when I can save the money for fun things) and it occurred to me that the shirt I was actually sewing up, which I actually bought secondhand many years ago... is considerably older than Yuzu. Hell, could be older than Sergei.

Dedicated follower of skating fashion I may be, but dedicated wearer of any..?

Some highlights from my mom watching Yuzuru's EX and encore and the NHK Trophy gala ending with me:

-much fangirling over Yuzu, calling Haru Yo Koi "poetry in motion"
-I have crap internet AND was using a proxy server, yet she still managed to point to the blurry blob that I could barely make out was Sergei Voronov and ask, "Is he Russian? He looks Russian."
-later asking, "Are all the ones in black Russian?" and me flopping onto my back and laughing
-saying, "What's that face? Yuzu has a face. He looks like he's plotting something."
-pointing to Stepanova and asking, "Is she one of the Russians?" and doing the same to Kostornaya about 5 times (You'd think someone so good at spotting Russians would be able to remember their faces for more than a second! To her credit, a few times, she said, "Is that the Russian one again?")
-hearing the announcer say something about Osaka and asking, "What's Oosaka (super-super good proper Japanese pronunciation!!)? Is that Osaka?" It never ceases to amaze me how she can pick out Japanese words and pronounce them so well but can't retain the meaning of "kuyashii" despite my best efforts...

And bonus round! I can't remember why, but I was annoyed yet again about some old comments here about Anna Shcherbakova's allegedly unhealthy weight. As I've mentioned, I very much have that Eteri girl body type and tend to get personally offended by comments that they're too skinny. So, I figured why not have some fun with the resemblance instead? I took screenshots of my legs and Anna's standing on the ice in similar positions and stuck them side-by-side on MS Paint. I then asked my mom, "Which is me, which is Anna, or is it a trick question and they're either both Anna or both me?" She guessed both Anna. Nope, left was me.

But this is the more amusing part. I tried again with mid-loop-jump screencaps. She guessed both Anna. She is clearly a casual fan, as it would have been immediately obvious to anyone experienced with proper skating skills that the one on the right with the horrendous lack of knee bend was definitely not Anna.

And it is now bedtime for me. And tomorrow...... lots and lots and lots of squats to improve my knee bend.

EDIT: And bonus round that has nothing to do with skating, but I must post anyway: She just completely out of the blue asked me how to spell "lollapalooza."

I'm trying to create a FD in my head to "Welcome to the Black Parade" even though I don't really know many steps and I have zero skill on the ice.

I wish I had the guts to jam in public like Yuzuru does before competitions. I'm alone in the computer lab at work, but I hear people down the hall, and I don't have the whole "I'm double Olympic champion, and I rock out where I please" thing goin' for me if anyone walks by.

Folks, I've come from the future to Bella Italia, Airporta di Roma has good WiFi :yay:

I saw a bald eagle on the way to work today! They are certainly not modest birds. It was perched in a tree looking like it was thinking, "I am the symbol of this country, and I am proud."

I have the worst headache but am not supposed to take advil for it because I'm having minor surgery next week and it might affect the anesthesia or something.

Ducky said:

I have the worst headache but am not supposed to take advil for it because I'm having minor surgery next week and it might affect the anesthesia or something.

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Advil causes bleeding; that's why you shouldn't take it. You can, however, take acetominophen.

Here's just one example of "the conventional wisdom" from google:

Please stop taking all herbal remedies, aspirin, and anti-inflammatory medications (Advil, Aleve, Ibuprofen, Motrin, Naproxen, etc.) seven days prior to surgery unless otherwise instructed. However, it is okay to take Tylenol (acetaminophen) if something is needed for pain.

I showed my mom some of Veronika Zhilina's programs on Ice Age Kids, and she was very impressed. She also said Ilya Averbukh is cute.

So I'm at the Colosseum right now, and I swear I saw a doppleganger of Sofia Samodurova among a group of Russian tourists. There was also a woman that looked like Liza T's cousin once removed too. All I need now is a grumpy Mishin lookalike

Edit: I don't want to double post, but I need a place to get this out of my system, so I beg your pardon. Gaah, I so need to travel on my own, my parents and I annoy each other out. And a tour is so not my thing. I went along with it because, well, I didn't have to pay for it, but this is so frustrating

Also, I speak just enough Italian to make Italians confused when I try to say something, and they speak just enough English to get confused when I just start using English throughout. And I am mortified every single time it happens. I'm not going to La Ville Lumière without perfecting my French ugh

I am not athletic, but I like to watch sports (as if I am going through phases... first baseball, then NBA basketball, etc. I haven't watched any baseball for a while though. Now I watch figure skating). This is the first time I've actually joined a sports forum.

clovertree71 said:

I am not athletic, but I like to watch sports (as if I am going through phases... first baseball, then NBA basketball, etc. I haven't watched any baseball for a while though. Now I watch figure skating). This is the first time I've actually joined a sports forum.

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Welcome to Golden skate. Post often.

Minor surgical procedure was a success (at least I think it was a minor surgical procedure). It was also my first time being put under general anesthesia, which was weird because I remember them putting in an IV -- mostly because they had to try both hands -- and an oxygen mask being put in but then... I woke up in the recovery room?

So, um, yay?

On the otherhand, today's NYTimes Spelling Bee is annoying the f out of me because I am 5 points away from genius and am at a loss.

I've just come back to Korea, and the moment I got off the plane I had to deal with a ton of work My former tutor student's mother had asked me to help her with her younger son (am going to see him tomorrow to check whether or not we'll be compatible), there were appointments to be rescheduled (still waiting for a reply on one ), and of course all the stuff I had to do at the English academy were waiting. A month ago the only thing on my to-do list was JGPF/GPF, how on earth did I get myself into all this :dance2:

Boyfriend: "Does it ever say anywhere in the rulebook that both members of pairs or dance teams must be human?" (after showing him photos of Tina Trusova)

The man who played Big Bird has passed away. I find myself uncommonly saddened by this. Big Bird always was the nicest character (with Snuffy) on Sesame Street with his kindness and peaceful nature as an example to young children on how to deal with problems.

ancientpeas said:

The man who played Big Bird has passed away. I find myself uncommonly saddened by this. Big Bird always was the nicest character (with Snuffy) on Sesame Street with his kindness and peaceful nature as an example to young children on how to deal with problems.

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Wow. :shocked:

It doesn't seem that long since he retired. So, he must have kept working right up until he was no longer well enough to continue.

In tribute, I think it would be appropriate to repeat what I posted in the music thread when his retirement was announced:

CaroLiza_fan said:

In honour of Caroll Spinney, who has announced his retirement at the age of 84:

Caroll Spinney (as Oscar The Grouch) - "The Grouch Anthem"

Waylon Jennings and Carroll Spinney (as Big Bird) - "Ain't No Road Too Long"

And here is the tribute that was posted on the Sesame Street YouTube Channel:

Sesame Street: A Tribute to Caroll Spinney

Sesame Street won't be the same without him. But, after nearly 50 years on the show, I think he has earned a rest. His back must be broke from wearing the Big Bird costume for so long!

I wish him a happy retirement.

CaroLiza_fan

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On a personal note, it is sad to see another part of my childhood go. Although I never knew they were played by the same person until he retired, Big Bird and Oscar The Grouch were my favourite characters in Sesame Street.

My thoughts go out to his family, friends and all his fans.

CaroLiza_fan