Perseverance, And Blood

I skated the adult session and part of the public session today, since I was off of work. I picked up my newly sharpened skates and then was off to the rink.

About 20 minutes into the session, one of the older skaters (Jan), who also just got her blades sharpened, had a nasty fall. She was entering a spin, caught an edge and fell and whacked her head. She didn't lose consciousness but was a little disoriented for a bit, and she had some bleeding from the back of her head. She was able to get up and off the ice with some help. I think she'll be fine. I was very sad to see her have such a nasty fall, not only because she's a very nice person and I hate to see anyone fall, but especially because she's one of my personal heroes. She's 72 and has been skating since she was 30, so I really admire her. She's a good skater but this sort of thing can happen to anyone.

I spent most of my time at the adult session working 3s and crossovers. I did spend some quality time on the CW crossovers. They are still much scarier than CCW. Still, they are slightly improved.

After the adult skate, I had lunch at the rink and then skated another hour and 15 minutes (total of about 2.5 hours of skating today). The public session was rather crowded so I spent a lot of time on 3s and spins. I also spent some time on the spin entrance and it's improving quite a bit; I think I'm getting the hang of it except that I'm pretty much stepping forward onto a flat, not an LFO. I need some feedback from Anna to fix this, I think, though.

Next week I need to get back to practicing the waltz jump, or at least its precursors. I've tried to take it easy after my surgery but I think I can go back to working on the jumps next week without it being a problem, since it will have been 4 weeks.

Morning Zoo

Since I was off of work this morning, I attended the morning public session (the rink has morning sessions during the Christmas break). It was fairly crowded (there was a group of kids) but I managed to get some quality time with the LFI3 again, plus a fair amount of time on spins and the spin entrance. I'm not happy with my spins right now, they seem to be a bit sloppy and I really need to clean them up. On the positive side I'm somewhat happier with my crossovers and stroking, I am being more consistent about positioning, getting a better push, and somewhat better extension.

I took my skates in to be sharpened, they were quite dull. They are also getting quite beat up -- I have a nice slice on my right boot that looks like I sliced it with my left blade. Eeep! I'll get them back tomorrow and since I'm off I'll probably spend most of the day skating. YAY! :-)

Bonus Time

I skated the evening public session today. I don't usually skate twice in one day, but I had time and really, really wanted to spend more time on this stuff, so I did! It was moderately crowded and there were lots of kids I knew there, so that was fun.

I spent most of my time again on 3s. Wow. It looks like I will have to spend "quality time" with the LFI3 every time I skate, for some time. I guess if that's what it takes then that's what it takes, there's no time like the present. I also worked a bit on my crossovers again. Some time on spins -- especially, I spent 5 minutes just working on the backspin. Not much to report on that; no real improvement, but I didn't expect any -- I just wanted to have more time getting used to how trippy it feels. Finally, I spent some time on the spin entrance and had some better luck. I think in the past I haven't really committed to the windup on the RBI edge so much, but I was watching Heaven (age 7) doing hers and realized I need to stick with the RBI edge longer. This seemed to help; when you stay in the wound-up RBI edge it seems to make your edge curve in more, which makes it more... obvious? when to step forward. At least, I think so. I guess I'll find out when Anna gets back.

Perseverance

I attended the adult skate again today (3rd day in a row!). Once again I spent most of my time on basics. Once again I spent probably 15-20 minutes on the LFI3. It took me that long to get it back to where I had it yesterday (and Monday). Sheesh! First I was still overchecking, and then I couldn't get that "certain feeling in the foot" back (don't know how else to describe it). Still, I did get it back. I guess I will have to continue spending large amounts of time on it until it comes back more readily.

I spent some time on crossovers. Of course, I can't really see or tell (unfortunately) if I am toepushing, but I think I am seeing some improvement in them. They are smoother and it feels like I am getting a bit of underpush -- again, that "pushing the heel" feeling. It was a bit too crowded to try doing the Move as such though. I spent some time on the CW crossovers, but not nearly as much as I should have.

Basics

I attended the adult skate today, and it was a good session -- only 4 people! I've decided I'm going to spend the whole week working just on basics, so I spent today's session on 3s, Mohawks, stroking and crossovers. Okay, I did do a couple of spins and a lunge, but it was just as a break :-).

It took me a few tries to get the LFI3 back to where it was yesterday. I spent some time on it but not as much as yesterday. I spent more time working on holding the exit edge from the 3s. I can actually do it out of the RFI3 (and do a nice BO Mohawk out of it) but I'm still having problems with the FO3s. I drop the free side too much and curve sharply in. It's driving me bonkers!

Tomorrow I am hoping to spend some time working on the perimeter stroking and forward/back crossovers Moves.

Addendum: I forgot to mention a couple things about my spins when I posted this. First, I noticed that I've been getting a bit lazy about my hand/arm positions in my spins lately -- I've not been really pulling in tightly. So I reminded myself to do so and woo! I think I know why I was lazy -- speed! Wow! Second, I seem to have improved my exit/landing position sufficiently so that I'm not checking quite so hard as before, and I was able to go from the exit to a step forward. It felt very cool!

Santa Comes Through!

On Friday I wrote that I hoped that Santa would bring me a nice LFI3. Well, with a little help, he's brought me an LFI3! Not a "nice" one, but a real one nonetheless. I'm pretty stoked. I attended the adult skate today and spent a good 20 minutes or more at the end of the session just on the LFI3, and I managed to do a number of them. Not "good" -- they're very skid-y and scratchy; but they are there. The keys seem to be several things all at once -- 1) better kneebend before the turn, 2) a certain feeling in the foot/ankle that I can't describe, and 3) keeping the right (trailing) hand/arm extended before/during/after the turn -- sort of the "embracing the circle" thing. I did them over and over and over again to try to get them in my muscle memory, and then when the session was over I managed a really good one and decided to quit on that note.

Besides the LFI3 I worked on all my 3s a bit, and also forward crossovers. I seem to be making progress in skating in the crossed position; I managed it several times and it felt very natural, so I was quite pleased.

One of the joys (and distractions) of today's session was the presence of one of Tucson's better skaters, Jenna. Jenna lives and trains in LA (I think she's going to school there) but is home in Tucson occasionally. She's an amazing skater to watch -- I'd never seen a double axel up-close and personal, but it's an amazing thing. She has so much grace, power, and flow. Like I said, it's distracting -- it's tempting to just watch her skate, but of course I have my own stuff to work on. Still it was fun.

Coffee Club 3s

I attended the adult skate today, and got about an hour's worth of practice. I spent about 45 minutes of it (!) working on 3s, and, for once, not the LFO3 (well, just a little). Spent a good chunk on the RFO3 and lots and lots of time on the RFI3 and a bit on the LFI3 as well. I think I figured a couple of things out about the FI3s. A couple of times I noticed I was overchecking the RFI3, something I'd not had a problem with before -- and it felt just like the LFI3 does. I think there are a couple of things I can do to help this -- first, I've noticed that my trailing/soon to be leading hand (the left hand on the RFI3) is not straight behind me just before the turn, but out to the side. This makes sense since I'm approaching these like doing an FI edge. However, I think the fact it's not behind me makes it difficult to keep tension in the arms and so I flail a bit. Also, in working the RFI3 I notice that after the turn I tend to extend the free leg very naturally. If I could do that on the LFI3 I might be able to complete the turn without putting my foot down.

There's always so much to work on! I was hoping Santa would bring me a nice LFI3. I guess I'll find out...

In Sync

When I was at the rink on Thursday, I picked up a copy of the "JFK" soundtrack that Anna had left for me. I finally have had a chance to listen to it... I really like it! I really can see myself skating to it. I'm not sure what's better, the music itself or the fact that before we'd even really discussed it, Anna was tuned in to me so much that she could find something that resonates with me. I'm really stoked about this!

Hayride

TFSC had organized a hayride in Winterhaven, a local neighborhood that's famous for its amazing Christmas decorations. We had a good crowd of us that went on the hayride, and it was a lot of fun. We sang a few songs but mostly went "ooh" and "aah" at the lights. We did determine that young Dimitri should stick with his skating career, as his singing isn't doing it for him (or us!) :-) :-). (And D, "1985" is most definitely NOT a Christmas song!)

Thursday Zoo

Since I was off today I was able to attend the last half of the afternoon public session. However, the ice was horrible -- as far as I can tell, no resurfacing at all that afternoon. Still, I spent some quality time with my 3s and Mohawks. I also spent some time specifically getting re-familiar with the RBI Mohawk since I had been having problems with that lately. I also worked a little on crossovers and spins.

At one point some hockey boys (12ish I'd say) were zippnig around, throwing a wallet between them. I asked them to stop, and they gave me that look that boys that age will do. A little while later they were doing it again near me, and they overshot and dropped it near my foot. So I picked it up. They came over and demanded it back. I told them I'd found a wallet and I was going to take it to lost and found :-), and anyway they shouldn't be throwing things on the ice. They said they'd been told it was okay by the ice monitor. I asked them to identify him, and we all skated over to him and he said he'd told them it was okay "so long as they didn't hurt anybody." Dumbfounded, I went off to the office and turned it in to lost and found. As I expected, 2 minutes later they were on the ice again and throwing it back and forth. Once I had a moment I went back to the office and complained to the management about the ice monitor. They said he was new and they'd talk to him, and sure enough a few minutes later I saw one of the managers talking to him. Hopefully it won't be an issue any more. Telling kids it's okay to do that kind of junk "so long as nobody gets hurt" is, IMHO, akin to telling teenage boys it's okay to weave through traffic at 60 mph so long as nobody gets hurt. Nice in theory, but in practice somebody's going to get hurt. I ought to know!

Perseverance

I attended the adult skate today. I decided to just work on a few elements and to spend "quality time" on them. The elements I looked at:

• forward crossovers -- I think I actually made some progress on these. I worked on skating in the crossed position and made some headway on the CCW ones, not so much on CW. They also felt a little more comfortable. I think I often tend to rush these too much.
  
• 3-turns -- I worked a bit on two aspects -- one, just improving the RFI3 (didn't try any LFI3s today) and two, trying to improve the exit edge and get a step forward out of the LFO3. My main weapon is doing the edge lobe on the opposite foot followed by the turn lobe on the target foot. Some small progress. My main problem (still!) is dropping the free hip too much once I get on the LBI after the LFO3.
  
• spin entrance -- I worked on the two different parts of this, the crossovers to RBI to step forward, and also just on the LFO edge. Not much to report.
  
• stroking -- I mostly did general stroking, but also spent a little time trying to get more solid on the right foot. I need to spend more time on that, since my right foot is still noticeably weaker than the left.
  

All in all it was a productive skate.

Rink Celebration

The rink's skate school had a special celebration tonight, which included exhibition skates by some of the skate school skaters and free skating. I knew most of the kids who skated, but I'd not seen some of them skate before (outside of practice). Some of the kids skated programs they'd done for the holiday show. It was a lot of fun to watch.

The free session was fairly crowded. I did some work on my FI3s, still, and also spins and the spin entrance. Tracy (another of Anna's students) noted that I'm still pushing onto a flat from the RBI, and encouraged me to be a bit braver about it (in response to my comment that maybe I *should* say "I'll get this if it kills me!"). Thanks T!

Sunday Morning Freestyle

I managed to get my butt out of bed to skate the 10 a.m. freestyle today. I'm really glad I did. There were only about 4 or 5 people skating (a couple having lessons) and it was a good environment.

I spent most of my time on 3-turns and crossovers, with a bit of time also on stroking and edges and a couple of spins and lunges. I spent real "quality time" on the RFI3 and the LFI3. The RFI3 is looking better and better, although the entrance is still a bit skidded. The LFI3... ah, the LFI3. I did them over, and Over, and OVER again. I actually got a couple that were "okay". That means not that they were any good (in particular there was almost no exit edge), but that I managed to do it and not have the weirdness on it that I usually do, overchecking or whatever. I think I got 4 good ones out of 20 or 30, and not in any consistent pattern. I think the issues for this are probably to really keep looking at my hand and keep the stretch so I don't overcheck; also to get a nicer kneebend and down-up-down (especially down again, which is really lacking). Still, it's some slight, slight progress. Obviously I need a lot more time on this.

I spent a little time on the spin entrance as well. It's coming along; I find myself doing the LFO3 just after the step forward a lot. I think that is a good sign since it seems to me that the point I'm doing the 3 is really the point at which I should spin. Progress.

Saturday Zoo

I attended the public session today, skating for a total of about 2 hours. As usual it was quite crowded and the ice was horrible. However, many of my favorite people were there so it was fun to hang out and socialize a bit.

I did spend a good chunk of time on the spin entrance; it's getting better. This is the RBI edge to the step forward LFO. It's improving. I did a number of spins, a couple of which were much better (much more balanced on the sweet spot and not scratchy). Finally, I spent a good amount of time on crossovers and 3-turns.

All in all a fun session but not the most productive.

Perseverance

After yesterday's lesson, I felt like I'd had a wakeup call to really focus on the basics, to improve my stroking, crossovers, edges and turns. At coffee club today I spent my time on these elements.

I'm wondering if I must subconsciously think there are monsters behind my back when I skate -- it's the only explanation I can come up with to try to understand why I have so much difficulty turning my head on my back edges! I did make some progress on them though. On my 3-turns I worked on skating these from a lobe-pattern as I'd worked on a while ago with Anna -- instead of just doing them on the crease, I skate, say, an LFO lobe and then do an RFO3. I've noticed that doing 3s on the crease tends to be not enough like what the test is like. Interestingly enough I do better at placing the 3 at the top of the lobe this way than when I do them on the crease! I'm not sure why that is. I tried especially to work the RFO3 and the RFI3, and tried a couple of LFI3s as well (which are still a problem).

On the forward crossovers I am mostly focusing on getting more kneebend and trying to skate in the crossed-over position, something that is extremely difficult for me. Forget about underpush, I'd just be happy to be able to hold that FO edge of the crossed-under foot while the FI edge is there as well.

I did do a couple of spins as well, and noticed that I'm not bringing my feet together very well anymore. This is probably part and parcel with doing the one-foot spin; I'm so used to doing the one-foot spin that I pick up that free foot before I've brought it in to the skating foot, so my feet are not together. I can get away with this now, which is probably why it's happening. Before I couldn't have done the spin in that position so I couldn't be lazy like that.

Skating 101

I was back on the ice today for the first time since the holiday show (12/5). I gave myself plenty of warmup time before my lesson, about an hour and 15 minutes. It was enough.

For today's lesson, Anna decided we should work on basics:

• FO edges -- for the beginning of the lesson, I did the best FO edges I've ever done! It was astonishing, actually. I had done some just 20 or 30 minutes earlier that weren't anywhere this good. In particular, they progressed nicely up the line, I had good speed and control, and I actually looked up the whole time! Wow. I finished the line and turned to Anna and said, "I hope you would say those are passable! Those are the best I've ever done," and she just looked at me and said, "I was just going to say that!"
  
• FI edges -- these are improved, but I'm still inconsistent with keeping the free hip up. Also my lobe size seems to be a bit inconsistent, they got bigger as I went down the line. Anna says I need to have my weight on my heel a bit more.
  
• BO edges -- I thought these were pretty stinky, but Anna didn't think they were that bad. I'm still having to work on turning my head better and getting in position coming back to the line. Also, either on these or the BI edges (or maybe both) Anna suggested that I need to keep my free foot pointed down and that would help.
  
• BI edges -- not too bad. Still lacking control, but getting there. Still need to work on keeping the hips open coming back to the line. Also Anna reminded me that I need to work harder on bringing the free foot in and in front at the beginning of the lobe. Which led us to...
  
• Back stroking -- Emphasis on keeping that free hip up and making the stroke and picking up the free foot one smooth unified motion. My left foot (not surprisingly) is not too bad, right foot not good. Anna suggested thinking about drawing the heel in to the skating foot before picking up the free foot.
  
• Perimeter stroking -- just a couple of laps. Anna mostly wanted to work on getting better extension, really pushing onto the skating foot with weight firmly placed on the blade, and pushing from the heel with the free toe coming off last -- I suggested this is like thinking of some ankle motion at the tail-end of the stroke. There was some improvement, but I'm frightfully inconsistent about this.
  
• Forward crossovers -- still working on eliminating the toe-pushing here. At one point Anna had me do them (the CW ones, even) with my arms at my sides. Eeep! That's monstrously weird and difficult.
  
• Back crossovers -- Anna mostly wants to see me getting a real cross here. She had me just start them several times, working to get a real cross. The weird thing is that I thought I had been doing the exact same thing (or at least, it felt like the exact same thing!) a while back and then Anna had me change some things. More likely I fixed some other things and now have to go back and get this back to where it was, but with those other things (mostly placing weight on the back foot better) still fixed.
  
• Spins -- just a couple of quick ones to finish the lesson. The first one was pretty nice (I did a really nice one just before my lesson, too) but the subsequent ones were not, just a variety of things wrong.
  

For my homework while she's gone Anna wants me to work on getting a real cross on the back crossovers, and getting a better push & cross on the forward crossovers. I detected a note of .... not frustration, but emphasis that we really need to get some of these basic things in better shape. She's right, of course. I was a little frustrated that some of these things are not better, but that is my fault of course. I need to be more disciplined in my practice time than I have been lately, and crossovers, being my least favorite things, often have gotten the short end of the stick. I like working on back edges (BI in particular) so they have improved fairly quickly; but the forward crossovers... I've given them short shrift. So... that's my homework for the next month or so. Anna leaves on Monday, and I won't have another lesson until Tuesday 1/11.

In all of these basics, I really know what needs to be done for the most part. Most of the corrections I get from Anna are ones I already know (from previous comments etc.). But clearly I have not systematically worked them enough to be able to do them reliably. Fortunately I should have a reasonable amount of time over the next few weeks to hopefully get some good practice in and make some definite improvements that Anna can see when she gets back. I sure hope so.

Off Ice

I had my procedure yesterday, and it went very well. I'll be off the ice until probably next Wednesday or Thursday (12/15 or 12/16).

Holiday Show

Well, the holiday show (Winterfest 2004) has come and gone. It was a whirlwind... a lot of fun, and now I'm totally exhausted.

I took some time to skate Saturday afternoon at the public session, and it was a good thing since we got NO warmup time before the show Saturday evening. The show itself went well. Our number went okay although I wasn't satisfied with my lunge/turn (STILL caught the edge) AND I just left out the bunnyhop entirely. I wasn't too nervous though. After the show there was public skating for a while and most of the cast (including me) stayed after to skate for a while since we were all pretty hyper!

Based on Saturday, I made time to go to the 9 a.m. freestyle session this morning so that I would have gotten some ice time today. It was a GREAT session, just me by myself for the first half, then just one other person for the second half. Got to the rink at 1 p.m. for pictures etc., and we did get a brief warmup just before the show started, so that was good. Our number was better in some ways, but I just did a straight lunge instead of the lunge/turn -- as I was turning to do the lunge I had some weirdness with my balance on my left skate and felt off-balance, so decided to just do the lunge and not try the turn since I didn't think I would get my weight forward enough to pull it off without going splat. Unfortunately, of course, they didn't videotape (as far as I know) last night's performance, only today's. Oh well. After the show I skated for about an hour.

There were so many wonderful performances today -- the soloists were awesome! And of course I felt really happy to be part of it since I know almost everybody involved, and to see them out their doing their stuff (and doing it well) -- it was just terrific. I'm really pleased and glad I did the show, it was a wonderful experience.

Update: I missed it when it first came out, but the Arizona Daily Star did a nice article on the show.

Holiday Show Dress Rehearsal

Tonight was the dress rehearsal for the holiday show. The first hour was the first act, followed by choreographing the finale (and a group picture), then finally the 2nd act (which included our group). The finale is pretty simple and not a problem. Our runthrough was fine, except that the ice was quite rough so I didn't get a good turn out of it. Oh well; I'm sure it will be better tomorrow. After the rehearsal there was a pizza party that was a lot of fun, and then I stayed and skated the public session for a few minutes. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!

Waltz Jump!

Today's lesson:

• perimeter stroking -- we started off with this, CCW only, the complete moves format including the end. This was almost the first time I'd skated it on the "pepperoni dots" as Anna asked me to a while back. I actually practiced this on Tuesday. The problem is getting all 3 crossovers in the shorter space now. I wasn't pleased. Anna said while there were some good spots I still need to be more consistent about getting both extension and correct placement.
• forward crossovers -- again, the moves format. We did this a couple of times. Anna said the CCW ones were okay but the CW were definitely not okay -- in particular the trailing arm is way too low and I'm not over the circle sufficiently. An important correction was that I was crossing between circles on the wrong foot. Instead of crossing on the FO edge, I need to cross on the other foot (FI edge) so that I can then push into the first of the crossovers.
• spins -- just a few points on this. Anna's generally pleased with how these are looking, but reminded me to keep the free side lifted and not drop the free shoulder back. She put it in terms of "framing" the skating foot. The exit is looking a little better; I'm doing a better job of spreading the arms on the exit and getting a better RBO.
• backspin -- we spent a good 5 minutes or more on this. Anna's really pleased with it and said one of them today was almost a full rev. They are feeling slightly less weird.
• bunnyhop -- we did several of these. Anna's main correction was to be more collected and to not let the arms flail around -- as I put it, I need to think of them as a definite, important part of the jump, not just let them do as they will. This helped a lot.
• waltz jump -- the highlight of the lesson (and the day). We started by working on the toe stepover, first out in the open and then at the boards. We then went back to the double bunnyhop. Anna reminded me to really have a focus point for my eyes. That, combined with being more careful with the arms as we'd just worked on with the bunnyhops, made a huge difference. Anna said it made my upper body more "calm." Finally, we were definitely running out of time (actually we were probably over) and Anna asked me if I was ready to give it a try. I said "sure!" in that way I have when I'm not sure but I'm going to do it anyway. So I tried it a couple of times, not quite there but close. Finally on the 4th or 5th try I actually got an honest-to-God waltz jump! So of course Anna had me do it again... in the end I think I did 3 or so and then Anna decided we could leave it at that.

Toward the end of the lesson I was trying hard not to put pressure on myself, even though we were running late (Anna gave me 10 or 12 extra minutes) and I really wanted to land this jump. Part of it was that I will be off the ice for a bit starting Monday due to a surgical procedure, and I only have one lesson left in December (12/16) which will probably be pretty low-key depending on how I am feeling. Anyway, I was really grateful to Anna for being so patient, encouraging and generous with her time. That's just the kind of person she is.

All in all it was a terrific lesson. I'm so happy I could just spit. After the lesson I gave Anna the CD with the accompanying notes on each track that I'd written up. She was pleased and amused, and said no one had ever gone to such lengths before. It's my type-A personality showing again. Unfortunately Anna forgot to bring the JFK soundtrack for me to listen to, but I'm sure we'll get it later.

Looking At Music

On Tuesday when Anna was working on Nicole's program, we got into a discussion about music and choices for program music. She mentioned that there was a piece from the "JFK" soundtrack that she'd been thinking about for me, and said she'd bring it to me to listen to. She asked me if I'd thought about music for future programs and I responded with "lots!" of course. So today I made up a CD to give her tomorrow with some stuff that I'd like to skate to eventually. Here it is, in no particular order:

• Man of La Mancha overture
• Gymnopedie #3 -- Erik Satie. This is an arrangement with classical guitarist John Williams, it's a little different.
• Walking the Dog, Gershwin.
• Three John Williams pieces, Celebrate Discovery, Summon the Heroes, and the 5th movement of his American Journey. "Summon the Heroes" is waaay too ambitious for me but I thought I'd include it just for kicks.
• Fanfare for the Common Man -- more brass!
• Rodeo, "Hoe Down" -- more Aaron Copland. Another ambitious piece.
• Mr. Holland's Opus, "An American Symphony" -- I love this piece! Again, waaay too ambitious for now but neat to think about.
• Theme from "A Summer Place" -- I couldn't resist. It's totally cheesy, but fun.

I think of these the most likely candidates are Man of La Mancha, the Gymnopedie, and either Celebrate Discovery or the American Journey movement. What fun!

No Skating Today :-(

I didn't get to skate today, due to a work conflict and rehearsal this evening :-(. It's amazing how a lapse in my skating "fix" can put me off...

There's been a lot of discussion on RSSIR about the proposed changes to USFSA's adult testing track (see my earlier posting). One of the participants posted a handy comparison chart of the current adult vs. standard track (both moves and freestyle). Check it out! In my earlier post I apparently failed to notice that the proposal is actually to delete the alternating 3s from adult pre-bronze, but add both the waltz-8 from pre-pre and a new pattern that includes FI3s.

Finally, I called about my Stars On Ice tickets today because I ordered them 6 weeks ago but hadn't received them, even though my credit card had been charged. Turns out the order form should have said to include a self-addressed stamped envelope, but it didn't, so I didn't. Anyway, my tickets are safely available for pickup. I'm psyched, because they are good tickets (on ice!). The show comes to Tucson January 11th.