river

I had an ad for Diet Coke earlier today that said “your aura is thirsty.” And I’m just like... no, I’m pretty sure that’s scheduled for later this week.

1. List the top 3 in each discipline. Men: Ladies: Dance: Bonus Questions 2. Will Yuzu skate a new program? 3. Will Yuzu land either a 4 axel, 4 lutz, or 4 flip? (eta: this is a yes or no question. If he lands any of these but you guess the wrong jump, you still get the 2 points) 4. Will a lady land a quad (as called by Tech panel - i.e. for purposes of the game, Liu’s lutz would be counted as a yes)? 5. Who will get the highest raw pcs score across all disciplines?

Just the usual late off-season insanity, that's all. We've all gone slightly mad. Would I'm Going Slightly Mad be any better? Queen is fine, right? I mean, some of the first verse's lyrics ("to be honest, you haven't got a clue") are perfect for the judging panel...

Quints? Also, a friend of a friend's daughter did a summer training camp at TCC. She got to skate with Yuzu and took a selfie with him. I don't know that I've ever been this jealous of a kid before!

That’s crazy that he can’t get ice time at Brown, so he’s commuting to Boston to train. It’s all taken up by hockey. You’d think he’d have a little more pull. Figure skating doesn’t get much respect as a sport in the US, sure, but it’s still surprising that the reigning Worlds bronze medalist can’t get ice time where he lives.

This American doctor also uses "but how will I pay for tickets to see Yuzu" as motivation to push through the burnout. (Although being on OB call during every single one of Yuzu's comps last season was.... not ideal, to say the least.) The Hanyu fan in me is just glad he's better after his surgery. The surgeon in me, though, is vaguely horrified at the idea of having a patient take out their own stitches and do strenuous exercise before they're cleared. I'm feeling second-hand anxiety for his doctors just reading about it. Honestly, Yuzu, you know good and well you use your abs to jump quads.

I can only think of one bad skin day (relatively speaking, this is Yuzu after all) he’s ever had, though... NHK 2017 practice. So maybe it’s actually true for him?

Shoma and Sasha SBS cantilevers

I just impulse bought SC tickets after seeing Yuzu's going there. It was insane how fast the seats were selling, I tried three times to pick a seat and each time it was already sold by the time I hit the button. I finally ended up telling the system to give me something and now have crappy seats - now I have to see if I can actually get time off work to go.

“Skaters/Couples who have placed 1 – 6 in each of the 4 disciplines (Men, Ladies, Pair Skating, Ice Dance) at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019 will be considered to be Seeded Skaters/Couples and will be assigned, by draw, to skate in two events.” Am I reading this right? Did they change how they assign GP events to the top 6? Instead of 1-3 not meeting and 4-6 not meeting, skaters choosing, and feds playing politics, it looks like they’re just drawing two events for each of the top 6. Of course, who knows what happens behind closed doors at the ISU.

Voronov just keeps getting left off of things - how seriously are these categories taken? He qualified for the GPF last season but is still only on the reserve team?

Haru yo koi or Semei Otanal or origin Hope and Legacy or requiem of heaven and earth crystal memories or Masquerade Phantom of the Opera/Otonal HyK/Origin Notte Stellata/Requiem Masquerade/LGC Chopin/R&J (either versions) CM/Change Seimei/H&l PW/Etude

Who was surveyed for this? We need to make them watch Masquerade on a loop until they put the Overlord in his rightful place. I mean, really, giving Yuzu bronze? How could they? Also, good work to the designer of that poster. He looks amazing.

And here I was, a week ago, thinking this off season didn't have much in the way of drama.

My jaw dropped open at work in a most unflattering fashion. Eteri? Seriously?

That's a shame. I think Mishin would be one of his better options.

Someone on Reddit brought up the idea of Mishin - he's a good technical coach and he's certainly had success coaching men (although not quite as much under IJS). There's a huge language barrier to be overcome, but it's an intriguing idea... I think Brian would be a good fit coaching-wise (and can you imagine Shoma if Ghislain got to work on his jumps?), but honestly, I don't think his group has room for another elite skater. And for all they appear to get along well, I don't think Yuzu would love the idea of training side-by-side with one of his top rivals. He's just too competitive. It wouldn't be like when Yuzu came to TCC and he and Javi were both rising stars. Yuzu and Shoma are the cream of the crop in men's skating today. Raf could certainly be an option, but again, I can't see Nathan agreeing to one of the few skaters capable of beating him training with his coach. I think it's pretty much a certainty that he and Shoma are both going for Beijing and... I just don't see it working. Eteri... just doesn't train men as well. Or adults. Please don't send someone who needs to work on jump technique to Stephane. He makes lovely, expressive skaters that all have major jump issues. I think Tom Z is more likely than I'd prefer. For all that Vincent's jumps still have issues, they aren't getting called, so... competitively, that's what matters. Who has he gone to for jump training in the US over the summer in the past? That might be a group to watch. I'll be curious to see where he lands for sure. I'm honestly still in shock that he's leaving both Mihoko and Japan. He doesn't have a lot of time to figure it out, Challengers start in 3 months.

Shoma’s leaving his coach? Honestly, that’s pretty shocking. (Just... please don’t let him be the one switching to Eteri...)

Double post. Oops.

The map of the 2020 Olympic torch relay was released. The torch will land in Miyagi prefecture in March and pass through Sendai on March 21 (during Worlds) for a special display as the "Flame of Recovery", then it will come through again on June 22 during the relay itself. Let's hope they recruit some Olympians from Sendai to carry the torch for part of the relay... https://tokyo2020.org/en/special/torch/olympic/schedule/ https://tokyo2020.org/en/special/torch/olympic/map/detail/40_miyagi.html (Sorry, I know this is tangentially Yuzu-related at best, I just don't know where else to put it!)

Huh. Yuzu watered the cacti and I got more thirsty.

I told my coworkers about my plans to go to ACI this year and one of them asked me if "purple boy" was going to be there. I might have had a few too many adult beverages on a recent ladies' night out and then googled pictures of the PPOS to show the group...

Well, Nathan and Jason have both gotten away with it... I still think one of the (non-Yuzu) highlights of ACI was Jason making Ted Barton say "Love is a Bitch" announcing his SP music...

I'm torn between thinking the Twilight SP will be fun and also thinking that it probably isn't the best vehicle to put Kostornaia in the best package possible for her senior debut. To be fair, she's my favorite Russian female skater, so I'm more nervous about how her season goes next year than I am anyone else on the ladies side...

Agree to disagree, especially on the top two pictures with the darker brown... Also, totally not surprised about the love for Origin's costume.