Gordon's Sk8er Boi Blog

My adventures as an adult male figure skater in Tucson, Arizona Portland, Oregon Chandler, Arizona.

Monday, July 27, 2026

FO8, BO8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, 8 skaters.  I was running a little late so I didn't scribe any circles, but I did manage to warm up all my edges.  They didn't stink.

Today's lesson:

  • FO8 -- we laid these out at a random spot, which we'd not done in a while.  The posture was a bit better re: standing up, but we spent some time getting me to hold that free shoulder back.  Also some good work on getting my circle size and shape to be a bit better.  Not bad, all things considered.
  • BO8 -- Posture, posture, posture.  Actually in many respects these weren't bad, though I am not making it around the circle.  I remember when I could! How frustrating.

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Monday, July 20, 2026

Edges & F8s

 My figures lesson today on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, but a bit crowded (11 skaters). I had some time to warmup (forward edges) and scribe circles.

Today's lesson:

  • FO edges -- I had had some wonkiness on these in my warmup, so we spent a little time on them, mostly fixing upper body position and posture.
  • B edges -- BI was pretty nice, BO actually was good for once after some initial issues with the first push.
  • FI8 -- These were really pretty good!  Not quite making it around the LFI but I did on the RFI.
  • FO8 -- a lot of time on these.  Posture issues similar to on edges, but not too bad. Still not making it around though.

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Monday, July 13, 2026

Edges & Step Forward

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Ice was a little rough, and a bit crowded (9 skaters).  Since it's a 60 minute session and I had first lesson, no warmup.

Today's lesson:

  • F edges -- FO were a bit rough (no warmup) and way too much breaking at the waist, so we spent some time on them.  FI were mostly okay.
  • B edges -- BO also a little rough; we worked the initial push a couple of times to improve the posture and push.  BI were actually pretty nice.
  • waltz-8/step forward -- so we did a right foot waltz-8 and then decided to spend some quality time (almost all on the R side) on the step forward.  Still struggling with this, in general I tend to be forward which means that I'm leaning outside the circle when I'm trying to step forward, which is why I can't stay on the circle.

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Wednesday, July 08, 2026

Edges

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate, coming back after Danette's trip.  Ice was nice, but really crowded -- 15 skaters!  I was running late so a very brief warmup.

Today's lesson:

  • FO edges -- no warmup so posture and flow not good.  They did improve.
  • FI edges -- okay.
  • BO edges -- more or less okay.  Lobe sizes not even, though.  Ugh.
  • BI edges -- I managed to push my feet out from under me on the first push and do the slo-mo fall, lol.  It was pretty funny, really.  That's what I get for widestepping.  These were better after that.
  • 3s -- just a couple minutes of these on the wall.

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Monday, June 22, 2026

Edges

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice but a bit crowded -- 10 skaters.  I was running late and had first lesson, so we just dived in when I got there (5 min late).

Today's lesson:

  • FO edges -- lack of warmup + usual posture issues = more time on these.  Posture is still a problem and I had a lot of flats to start with.  This did improve though.
  • FI edges -- as usual, rather better.  Still need to stand up straighter though.
  • BO edges -- once again a bit problematic.  More time on these.
  • BI edges -- not bad.  Posture a bit of an issue but I have an easier time fixing it on these than the BO.
A bit frustrating, as usual.  I need to get my act together and skate more, or I will keep facing these issues.  No lesson the next couple of weeks.

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Monday, June 15, 2026

3s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  First lesson so no warmup, and no scribed circles.

Today's lesson:

  • Edges -- just a run-through of all of these.  The usual posture and lack of warmup issues.
  • 3s -- some time just working on 3s on the wall and on the crease, a follow-up from last week. Some small progess.

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Friday, June 12, 2026

3s To Center

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, a bit crowded (9 skaters).  We had postponed from Monday as I had a lot of stuff at work to catch up on.

I thought I was going at 11:30 (first lesson, the session was 11:30 - 12:30) but it was actually 12, so I had a lot of time to warm up all my edges.  I hadn't brought my scribe.

Today's lesson:

  • 3s to center -- we had not worked on these in a lonnng time. We worked them on  hockey circle, then spent some time just on the 3s at  the wall, then back to the circle.  After a bit more work we spent a fair amount of time just working the back choctaw as it was giving me problems -- basically the same issues as the step forward on the waltz-8, but worse.  I'm not standing up straight, not keeping the free leg close.  We worked this for a while and it did improve, so yay!

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