KatjaThera

Back to the body fat talk, I found the program in which they mentioned Yuzu and Mao's (it's pre-Boston and the same one where he says if he did a little bit more, he'd throw up... The body weight part starts around 2:07). But I'm sure Yuzu mentioned it himself once, too...

Yay, we made it! But that's what frustrates us. The judges didn't load him up with extra points everywhere in Helsinki. To me, and I think many, Helsinki was Yuzu breaking a record despite being underscored (of course, minimally so, but still). He deserved more than he got in Helsinki, IMO. But he's so good that even when they don't give him all he deserves he can break records. ETA: just to be clear, I don't think it's all bad either and because he never complains, I try not to either. But Helsinki is, to me, the perfect example that judges can't really be trusted to score him as he deserves, not even when he is perfect. I'm pretty sure I remember him saying it's 3-4% during competitions, 5-7% during ice shows, but hoping someone can back that up with links. I only remember a TV show, where both Yuzu and Mao were way bellow average. I think Yuzu was 3% and Mao 7% or 10%, but I could be wrong

I thought there was something weird there (PS: zunda cookies from Sendai are so yummy... I wish the walk to Ice Rink Sendai hadn't tired me so much I didn't try to taste actual zunda in Sendai... Oh well, next time...)

lol don't be, I will fail spectacularly. I haven't studied at all until this week and even this week, I spend more times looking at the walls than studying. I'm somewhat confident speaking Japanese - except with my teacher, For some reason my vocabulary goes AWOL when I talk to her... - but JLPT is grammar and kanji and exceptions and vocabulary and reading comprehension. Ugh... I want to be more like Yuzu and work harder, though... I don't want to take credit for that theory, I read it myself a previous time this was discussed, but it makes sense to me that someone with 3% body fat would have a hard time floating... (though actually I just remembered a musician I like, who also has very low body fat and likely had it all his life, has said he's a very good swimmer... so maybe actually low body fat + heavy muscle mass might be an issue? Yuzu definitely has definitely more muscle mass...)

(Seriously, your timing with this, when I'm struggling with how to approach the exam on Sunday... ) I have no idea, actually... now, I imagine it's low body fat, but as a kid... maybe asthma actually excused him from stuff like that? I imagine weak lungs and swimming don't go so well together. But I actually can't swim either, so I'm not the best person to comment lol

I think the actual problem is he doesn't have enough body fat to float? He could probably make up for it, normally, through sheer physical exercise, working harder to tread water etc. but add to it his asthma and I think it might just not be worth the struggle...

I really hope he did, they are beyond adorable and don't take up much space... it can cling to his jumps notebook or so! (I really hope he got the letters and presents from NHK... if he gets them in a few months, it might be a bit late ^_^; ) And yes, the calendar is gorgeous... I don't care that there's still over a month to go until January. That thing is there to stay until March 1st. And exactly. As a fan, I get really annoyed, too, but he's more the type to say: "Oh, yeah? You won't give me 3GOE for my 3A? Fine. I'll add even more difficult entries and exits and make it even more perfect until your jaw drops and you have no choice but to give it to me!" The others don't get the same kind of incentive, when they get the points anyway, why bother? To me, that is another reason why he's the best. (I am happy, though, that sometimes skaters do realize they've been overscored. Like Shoma in France. My impression was Nathan in Russia had a similar reaction. And Javi's comments in yesterday's interview, where he talked about his own silly comments in China. I like that sort of thing.) Also, in a way, getting into a judged sports, you have to know scores may never be completely fair, because there will always be a degree of subjectivity. So I think by now he's sort of come to terms with it...

OT, back to yesterday's random hot chocolate posts, I tried my own twist today: Ghana hot chocolate with marshmallows and dried yuzu (and yes, showing off my way too early Yuzu Phiten wallpaper and one of the koalas from @SparkleSalad that will, from now on, continuously hug my laptop screen I'm thinking of naming it Zuzu...) It tastes good... As for the consistency talk, I think it's obvious Yuzuru is held at much higher standards than others, by media and judges alike. For a personal experience, it reminds me of my high school maths teacher. She was very exigent and so our marks were always much smaller than those in other classes. But when it came to the graduation exams, we were top of the top, precisely because her being very exigent meant we had to study more and harder, so we were far better prepared. If it turns out similarly for Yuzu, then I won't mind. Not as great scores for the less important competitions, as long as he gets fairly scored at the Olympics. Sadly, I doubt judges have such a long term plan. But in some ways, judges never throwing candies at him have played a part in how good he has become. And we know that even when they underscore him, he can still manage amazing scores. It's frustrating, as fans, and I'm pretty sure it can be frustrating to him, too, at times, but I think it also drives him further. It's part of why he wants to win decisively over everyone else being perfect.

You're right. It was him, not Brezina. Wonder why I remembered it the other way around... And I hadn't heard that... I guess it'd pay off to be a Toyota employee, whether or not you support Shoma... *feels strangely happy her family car is a Mitsubishi, not a Toyota* Who knows... I think until now most of his performances were live, so not much chance to do it again. But this year it was obviously recorded, especially since Yuzu was already back in Toronto when it aired, I think, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. He was virtually perfect at the Yokohama event, too, wasn't he? And he just oozes confidence... (ok, that's also different from a competition, but still). So it wouldn't surprise me if it was just one take.

Shoma is sponsored by Toyota? It's a bit funny how everyone has highschools, universities, clubs, and then Shoma is Toyota, Yuzu is ANA and a couple more by other non-school related stuff. Of course, ANA particularly stands out lol (SMBC, too) And yes, hoping for a full recovery... Actually, I was re-watching 24H TV last night and it kind of dawned on me that that was the perfect, ready for Olympics shape Brian was talking about. He was effortlessly impeccable. OK, it was a TV program, they might have done several takes, but still. I don't want that shape for Nationals, though. That has to come at the Olympics. If it does...

I admit I haven't noticed it before, though I'm probably paying more attention now. The funny thing is sugoku actually sounds more natural to me (while other grammatically correct things don't) than sugoi in those cases. I'll pay more attention from now on lol Oh and just for the record, the Javi interview only has a brief mention of Yuzu in connection to number of quads and there's plenty of talk of retirement, for those who would rather skip that...

In this: While the milk and chocolate are in the microwave, he says, unless I misheard: 「料理番組を見るの凄い好きなんですよ。ちいちゃいころから。飽きずに見てられるくらいですね。」Translated: I really love watching cooking shows. Ever since I was little. To the point I don't get tired of them. (not 100% sure about the last, because miterareru makes my head spin, but I think that's the idea of it. I'm also a little intrigued... he sometimes seems to use adjective form instead of adverb form even before verbs or adjectives like here, sugoi suki instead of sugoku suki. I noticed it in something else yesterday, too, I think also with sugoi. Made me wonder if there's a reason for it, or it just happens in speaking lol Blame my trying to study for JLPT for these curiosities...) Oh, it's great to finally have footage of this! Too bad they cut off so quickly... it wasn't just Nobu, all the guys pounced on him. I think Michal Brezina and Javi at least were also there. (Someone posted pictures of the scene, once, but there was no video...)

OT, but it seems there'll be a Javi interview published today on the ISU home page. Hoping for some Yuzu bits of info... (at least over their training arrangement, if not his recovery, especially since it's likely the interview took place in France) Though on the other hand, Javi might be sick of being asked about Yuzu in every single interview ^_^; ETA: I also hadn't realized before there was a Yuzu interview there (or well, Yuzu, Keiji, Rika and Satoko interview). In some ways it's a bit... Everyone's talking about icecream and movies and cooking and Yuzu's into Human Bioethics... (ok, they specifically asked about his studies, but still lol)

I only learned to cook in my 20s, since my mother stayed at home and I never had to before. But then I was on my own for several months at a time, so I had to learn some basic stuff (although now I never want to touch shrimp spaghetti again... ) and now it's like... if I want to eat it, I have to cook it lol But if I can cook, anyone can, so I firmly believe Yuzu can, too. If only he gets the proper guidance...

I don't think he'd be that bad, if someone guided him... He'd be super adorable, but I think he'd manage. Might take him a few hours more than it should, but it always takes me a lot longer to cook than recipes say it should, so... (then again, I hate cooking... if I ever marry, I want a husband who is a master chef) And that must be the same show, but I don't remember the peeling... then again I'm not sure I ever watched the whole thing. They should know better than let Yoshiki, the man who can't crack open an egg, handle sharp objects...

I think that is pretty safe to say, yes... Especially since for the actual recipe, the quantities were prepared in advance for him, he just mixed them up and chose the toppings. So I think they made sure it wouldn't be deadly. I mean, they couldn't afford to kill the living national treasure, right?

I have to confess I've never made hot chocolate like this before... always used those instant things. But actually, I always added more sweetner to those, too... come to think of it, I think this was about as sweet at those... But as for sweetness, I think Milka chocolate, for example, is sweeter. (Then again, I'm also one of those few people who aren't really crazy about chocolate lol) Currently, I'm actually more intrigued by him saying he's always watched cooking shows, ever since he was a kid. Someone needs to get him on a cooking show! (He can't be worse than Yoshiki who had the most awkward throwing a slice of bread in a pan ever :P)

Well, it depends lol When he first made just the hot chocolate, he definitely looked like it was too sweet. Which is why I'm thinking he might have used the whole bar or at least more than I did lol For the actual recipe, he had it already broken and so it might have been the right amount (maybe half a bar? I still think it seemed more than I used). The marshmallows are about the same and those are great, but he also added white chocolate and ginger, which I don't really have and the ginger at least I'm sure really added something, so in the end, I don't know the final taste... but I think it could be good... depending on how sweet a tooth he has lol

Second failure... what I thought was candied, honeyed ginger was actually ginger and honey hard candy... (but it's individually wrapped, so it tricked me...) Also, I'm thinking he really did use the whole chocolate bar, because I only used 6 or so squares and it's not really sweet at all... The marshmallows are a great touch, though... too bad I can't get the full effect (unless I try to make honeyed ginger myself...) (Also he should have mentioned the microwave power. I had to do a full short program on mine, as opposed to just a second half :P) Actually, I'm surprised when people say Ghana Milk Chocolate is very sweet, because it doesn't really seem like it to me. It's sweet, but I've definitely had sweeter...

So, I was just getting ready to try the Yuzuru Hanyu Hot Chocolate Super Killer Recipe and I realized I forgot an ingredient... The white chocolate shavings... my body might thank me, though Here we go...

Sorry, it seems either my browser was stupid or the forum was stuttering for me, the video that showed as attached to that post was one from GPF... Now upon reload it shows properly...

Uhm... unless the date is wrong or you're talking about something else, that's from last year's GPF which was in France? (However, I think the Yuzu fever got a lot worse after Worlds this year, so there might not be as many fancams as there would have been, had it been this year...)

Sorry to interrupt... well, not sure what I'm interrupting But wanted to bring an update to my claims yesterday. Aside from the first question in class today being "Did you see Hanyu?" and several others, I did give my Japanese teacher a swan - she picked one of those that reminded me of Hana ni Nare - and an omamori from Seimei Jinja and she was very happy with both. She did ask why swans and she also asked me if people cried there... I told her about Yuzuruha Jinja as well as she didn't know about it, and she said she wanted to go to Seimei last Summer when she was in Japan, but in the end didn't, but she is going back now for the end of the year, and is planning to go Bottom line: another swan has found a loving home (I plan to give three more to friends, too) And back on topic, that EDEA text is so awesome...

Actually, I've just been doing some research on that and it sounds so interesting... I wish we knew more, like what classes he takes, what he reads for them etc. I kind of wish they'd had something like that at my University... I studied Computer Science and kind of hated it (although I actually enjoy programming). Human Informatics sounds really interesting, though... (I probably wouldn't have had the courage to go for it anyway, though, since I always thought I sucked at Humanities subjects lol) I wish someone would let him ramble about the stuff he learned through his studies for 10 pages or so next time he does long interviews I find it super interesting, especially since, with him, it all eventually leads back to skating, anyway.

I vote Plushy for ISU president. Or at least president of whatever their FS branch is. I think he'd be a really fair one... He obviously likes Yuzu, but he doesn't strike me as someone who gives empty praise and I doubt anyone would accuse him of favoritism - especially when he always gives great arguments to support his opinion...