FO8, Waltz-8, 3s To Center

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler coffee club.  I had not skated patch for a week and a day!  Ulp.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- Lynne came up on me as I was still warming up :-) so we went through a couple layouts of FO8.  The first was pretty bad.  The second was better.  I keep thinking that these will get more automatic, but I'm not there yet.  The main observation for today was that I really, really, really need to fell that pinch in the free shoulder when I keep the free hand back as I start the edge.  If I do that my chances of a good edge are much, much higher -- if not my free side almost always comes around on me.
• Waltz-8 -- this hasn't gotten too much worse from a bit of neglect.  The weak points are still the step forward on the L side and the 3s could definitely be better.  I also reminded myself to stop helicoptering my arms on the BO edge on the L side and that helped a lot.
• 3s to center -- the R side is really improving here!  L side.. not so much, although it is getting better slowly, it's still mostly 3-turn-and-put-my-foot-down.  Gaaah.  Practice, practice, practice.

I discussed the Preliminary test with Lynne briefly afterward.  Of the elements on the test (offhand I think it's all 4 edges, FO8, FI8, and waltz-8) the weakest is definitely the waltz-8, followed by the FO8.  I would like to test sometime in the foreseeable future (lol!) so I really need to work on this stuff.