Winnie_20

Never gonna stop being bitter about the Rotterdam folks being total you-know-whats and passing up on the best shot ever at getting Worlds (see? It did go to Europe, duh!). But, c'est la vie. I'll travel to Stockholm, watch the skaters, drool over the costumes, probably sleep through some of the men's competitions because jumps-only bore me silly, and go haunt every store I can find for greeting cards (a family member collects greetings cards featuring a certain kind of dog, and they were *everywhere* in Helsinki, including in the Swedish language, so I expect to find a lot of them there, too. )

Looks like the proposal for raising the age limit for seniors won’t be discussed, either. Well, there goes my bucket with popcorn.

Takahiko Kozuka was my first figure skating crush. I loved his programs (and his skating was just, so pretty...). *hearts* Cannot wait to see Wakaba’s new programs!

Exactly. There is absolutely nothing political about it. I feel safe enough to half- sleep through a metro ride in London or Milan, but in the heart of Paris I felt like I had to watch my surroundings and pockets like a hawk every single second. Why? Because I saw bad things happening right in front of me, (and not even just in the metro) more than once, so I'd say my "feelings" aren't exactly unfounded... and I have no illusions that 14 months later (yes, it was that shortly ago) things will feel any different to me. And they had absolutely nothing to do with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. If people want to go to Paris, have a great time, so many awesome things to see. But me, nope, sorry, not unless there's really really really a good reason for me to go again. Anyway, I don't see the GP returning there anytime soon, so that's one problem solved.

Like I said, I’ve visited Paris plenty of times. I always felt safe and comfortable... until the last time, and I will give returning there very serious consideration before doing so again. Should I be okay with it being ‘normal’ that every single metro ride I make, there are beggars and “musicians” and people who are being dragged off metros screaming by police, or who try to get in a metro but who are being thrown to the ground by four policemen just before the doors close (they’d clearly been keeping an eye on him already! And probably for very good reason). It doesn’t make me happy. I go on holiday, I like to feel at ease and travel in peace without continuous disturbances. Pick pockets etc make me nervous. *shrug* Fortunately, considering the fact the GP has moved away from Paris, I probably won’t have any reason to want to go there anytime soon again (unless there’s another really cool concert!).

Eh... it’s not the police that made me feel uncomfortable in Paris. ;-)

*chuckles* Or someone is trying hard to become a famous name in the FS world....

Once again a big proposal coming from a country that barely has any skaters good enough to qualify for Euros... and often not even that. I feel very conflicted. If they feel big enough to propose these things, maybe they should start taking away 10% of the focus and money going to speed skating and use it for figure skating development. Nothing against Mr. Prins, mind, he’s always come across as nice and very knowledgeable. (This is the ISU judge/ tech controller and he also does Eurosport commentaries.)

oOOOo! I knew there was something funny about those dates!

Let's just say there wasn't a single metro ride (and I used the metro a *lot*) where there wasn't at least someone walking through the carriage wanting something from the passengers. And more than once the police stepped in to get someone off... or prevent someone from getting in. It was not a good experience. I'd been to Paris various times before, but this was not something I remembered from those times. Pretty strange, too, as there was also a lot more police around (but mostly on the streets) due to the threat of terrorism. I feel much more at ease in, say, the London Underground, or the metro in Milan just this past week.

Please not Paris. I was soooo uneasy there last year every single second I spent in the metro...

Oh My youknowwhat. rolling over the floor laughing! Yes that’s me. That is the pooh we threw on the ice for Andrej Hotarek yesterday!!!!

I appreciate the fact that repeating two programs has probably been a very good thing for him this season, given the off-ice time. However, I have never been a fan of repeating programs, and I never will. If he repeats anything again next season.... face palm.

Thank you. You’re a dear 💜

Hhhmmm.... what were the changes the Dutch ISU judge said he (?) or general they had suggested? Something about only max three (?) jumps in the second half getting a bonus. But then, I think he also talked about wanting two championships, one for jumps and one for artistry? Ugh... something like that. Thank goodness it doesn’t sound like they are going that way!

I wouldn’t get fat either if I were doing sports 24/7 the way he does. ;-)

Oh hey, that's not so bad. Exchange rate to euros is really quite good. That's only about 220 euros. The problem, I guess, with that is that the shipping costs + taxes + whatnotcosts are probably also another 200 euros. Pffffft. ;-)

*blinks* A scheduled and apparently announced "surprise", eh? My definition of 'surprise' is different, I think. But, hurah for yet more media appearances. lolz.

As the diest of die-hard Final Fantasy fans on this earth, this just made my day/week/year.

OT but Wearing a tea cosy on your head is a Dutch thing for speed skating? Is it now... I've never seen anyone ever wear a tea cosy on their head, and doubt I'll ever see that again. I think it's far more likely it's something only she does. Probably some inside joke she picked up in the Netherlands (where she trained for some years). I'm glad Hanyu was never photographed with it, anyway.

My local newspaper got Yuzu's name right! And "Yuzuru Hanyu versus the rest".

I’ll take SEIMEI music over H&L any day. Mainly because H&L feels badly edited to me, a strange mix of two different music pieces that I have been intimately familiar with for many years... both of which are gorgeous in their own right, but are just too mixed together to make sense to me because their own “identity” sort of disappears this way. I understand the “new” piece H&L should be seen as such, but it just never quite drew me in the way the original songs do. That said, I do like H&L. It is still Hisaishi, after all.

Yes, bit strange it doesn't mention any men going to CC, even though the original announcement by the organization says the JSF would be sending 17 Japanese skaters (although this also includes junior and possibly even novice levels). Guess we'll have to wait until after the deadline of skaters' names, i.e. January 20th, IIRC. dit mind you, those 17 could just have been a typo, or they change their mind and reduce the number...

Really thrilled with this news. Unfortunately, CC is uber crappily timed, during the Olympics (!). I may have to hop over there and watch some events live, though, in spite of that. It’s so close by, I cannot really NOT go.

Who was it here who said the other day that it must be nice to be a Zhenya fan? (Cuz she always skated clean and won etc). and I replied with a very casual “Oh, I dunno, did you see the tape on her lower leg?” (Paraphrased) This doesn’t really come as a surprise, alas. Still wish I’d kept my mouth shut, though.