3rd Skativersary

Today is the third anniversary of my first setting foot on ice; my 3rd Skativersary. As I looked back on my 2nd Skativersary post and my 1st Skativersary post I couln't help be struck by what a long, strange trip it's been.

This has been a long, tough year. Some "lowlights" of the year were the continuing saga of ice problems at Polar Ice in Tucson, with ice being closed down and poor quality ice, etc., culminating in the rink's closure in September for 6 or 7 weeks.

Then, of course, there was my move to Portland and the skating "desert" that I went through for several months. Finally, there's where I am today, with a new coach, soon-to-be-new blades, and, (hopefully) a new (or re-newed) commitment to skating.

Skills-wise, I'm not sure that I've really learned anything at all new since last year, except that I have the beginnings of a Salchow. There are many frustrating aspects of my skating right now, things I should be able to do but can't, or can't do well:

• I STILL can't !*#&!%@! SPIN. That is, I still can't do a forward spin from crossovers, despite the fact that I've been working on it seriously for, what, almost 2 years? Gaaaah! I have GOT to get this this year even (I'll regret saying this, I know) if it kills me. Sheesh.
• I still can't reliably do an LFI3, and my RFI3 is pretty weak.
• My BXOs are still not "real", i.e. I still don't have a full cross of the feet, after all this time.
  
• I still can't do a Salchow.

Last year I decided not to set any goals for the coming year, but I fully expected to have passed the APB Moves test by now; and I might have if I had maintained the kind of momentum I had a year ago where I was skating 4+ times a week, had two lessons a week, etc. Well, that's all melted ice now. Instead of focusing on testing or competing, I'm going to set my goals for this year at fixing all the stuff I listed above. If I can do all that stuff by next May I'll be pretty happy, and if I can do other stuff (toe loop?) so much the better.

So that's the year in review. Thanks for reading, and for all your kind comments.