river

Figure skating is horrific in its management, or lack thereof, of head and neck trauma. Yuzuru probably didn't need C-spine immobilization (if he was actually at a normal level of consciousness the entire time) after his 2014 accident under current US guidelines. And as the doctor that saw him was American, I'll use our guidelines to think about his case. But those were updated in 2019. If I remember correctly, we used to be far more broad in who needed imaging to clear the C-spine after blunt trauma back in 2014. But I'm not an ER doc or trauma surgeon, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. The last time I was at a non-pregnant trauma case was almost ten years ago and I was just a student then. Ashley Cain-Gribble, on the other hand, 100% needed to be immobilized and imaged after her accident at Golden Spin. Altered level of consciousness and a fall directly on her head from a height of more than a meter? Yeah... no matter which set of criteria you look at, not immobilizing and imaging her, and allowing her and Tim to complete their program was a terrible idea. And her accident was four years after Yuzu's. It is utterly inexcusable that the ISU had not come up with better protocols by then.

Intention? My one functioning brain cell couldn't help but scream. I had no choice in the matter. I'm normally a fairly reserved, level-headed person, I swear.

Oh, SCI PW was amazing. Funny story about the screaming: I actually ended up sitting near a skater's family at SCI 2019 and we ended up getting along pretty well. After Yuzu skated at the gala (and obviously I was screaming right along with the rest of the crowd), I said something to the skater's grandmother along the lines of "Uh, that program's pretty popular with the ladies..." and she replied "I noticed, dear." The fact that there is a small but possible chance that this story may actually have made it back to Yuzu is simultaneously one of the funniest and most embarrassing moments of my life as a skating fan.

Not to be that person, but 4 comps in 8 weeks, yikes. At least this time GPF and JNats are in the same time zone. I'm having some 2019 flashbacks right now...

Well, might as well cancel my planned vacation for SCI. I'm definitely not travelling that far for Chen. (Tempting to go for Jason, but... no.)

It's not. I spent way too long looking at the hand that isn't wearing a glove to make sure it wasn't. FYI, the squeaky thing is an Otamatone.

I downloaded the app on my phone to try to make Squeakade during some downtime at work. Unfortunately, it's been ten years since I played the piano and now I'm pecking at a virtual keyboard with headphones on. Yuzu would be horrified. Nothing cute about the number of mistakes I'm making over here. Also it's kind of hard to explain what I'm doing to my coworkers. (Although it's not as hard to explain as Squeakade at the Olympics would be.)

Nobody show him the squeaky toy thing version of SEIMEI. The man's an audiophile, I'm sure he'd just think "I did not have 32 different versions of my music cut for this." ...also yes, the cacti are clearly withering.

Some of these choices are impossible... 1. Ten to Chi to or SEIMEI? 2. Let Me Entertain You or Let's Go Crazy? 3. Masquerade or Phantom of the Opera? (Glove throwing. I rest my case.) 4. Pieces of a dream (from FaOI2018) or Blinding Light (from SOI2021)? 5. Origin 1.0 costume or Origin 2.0 costume? (This is actually my favorite thing that anyone has ever worn, in any setting. The jacket came off and screaming ensued. Pictures don't do it justice.) 6. Otonal 1.0 costume or Otonal 2.0 costume? 7. SEIMEI 2017-2018 costume or SEIMEI 2020 costume? 8. SEIMEI at PyeongChang or SEIMEI at MOI2019? (Technically not perfect, but the ChSq always puts a smile on my face.) 9. Ballade No.1 at 4CC2020 or Ballade No.1 at PyeongChang? (PC Ballade took me from a four-year fan to a hardcore fan in three minutes. That's impressive.) 10. Parisienne Walkways at SCI2019 or Hope & Legacy at 4CC2020? (I was there. The side lunge was right in front of me and I'm surprised I lived.) 11. Again, 4Lo or 4Lz? 12. 4A (ultimate goal) or 3A (the best friend forever)? (Oh, fine, I'll pick one. I guess I'll pick the one that everyone pretty much agrees he has the best one of any skater ever. Of course, if he can land it, he'll also have the best 4A ever by default...) 13. Huscap or Zunda? 14. Koala or Ringo-maru? 15. 4T+1Eu+3F or 4T+3Aseq? 16. 3F right after 3A in SEIMEI2020 or 3Lo right after 3A+2T in Ten to Chi to? 17. Otonal Stsq or Ten to Chi to Stsq? 18. Citizen China or Gum for the Game? (If only for the BTS footage of him doing the Origin StSq lightning fast where you can hear the wind whipping past the camera. SO GOOD.) 19. Hakama or Slick back hair? (Ooh, this is a hard choice...) 20. Never-give-up imagery training or soothing cool down in a flattering white jacket? (Practices are my favorite part of watching Yuzu live. I'm pretty sure his cooldown exercises are soothing for both him and his fans.) 21. Haru yo koi Ina Bauer or Haru yo koi Hydroblading? 22. Ride a bicycle in manga or share your love for cats on a beauty blog? (Cats are the best. Yuzu has taste.)

I laughed a bit too hard when I saw the top reply was Blinding Lights. Send her something like HYK, people!

Oh man. The implications here just set in... "I was so happy for Meagan but quickly realized I was going to need to come up with a Plan B because our professional partnership was no longer sustainable." Maybe I'm just extra touchy about this one as both a woman in her thirties and an obstetrician, but... yikes. Meagan gets pregnant and her partner's reaction is to start hunting for a new partner without even having the decency to discuss things with her first? To see if she has any interest in skating professionally after the baby's born? Which, clearly, she did, since they were planning to skate in shows together this year, right? Meanwhile, Aljona Savchenko is still out there skating in shows. Katia Gordeeva even won Olympic gold two years after her first daughter was born! In short... Eric, your excuse is bad, and you should feel bad.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN8jqa5hRRa/?igshid=1vdazexclhw62 Eric’s statement is on the last two slides. Looks like even from his side of the story, he didn’t tell Meagan about partnering with Vanessa until after it was a done deal. That’s low. Between how Eric treated Meagan and how Vanessa skated with Cipres even after the abuse allegations broke... yeah, I’m not gonna be able to support these two at all, even though I love their skating.

Oh, if you listen closely at Worlds, you can hear someone cheering it on from the stands.

How dare you all have a conversation about Yuzu’s ass shaking without me? Alas, I think it’s basically impossible for him to shake it any more without changing the choreography. He’s on a straight line and two feet, any more shaking than he already does is going to end in either a slalom or a fall. I agree with whoever it was that said that the clear answer is to be at a standstill, although a twerk and a shake are completely different. From an artistic (sure, let’s call it that) perspective, I think a good shake at standstill would fit the music perfectly. As someone who was in the room for SCI ‘19 PW... I think I can safely say that if Yuzu actually does learn how to shake his ass, we’re all dead.

Sorry to double back to this point in the conversation - but in the US you can get an undergraduate degree in whatever you want before medical school. Mine is in mathematics, for example, and I had a classmate who had a degree in art history. Nathan might be doing a statistics degree before he applies to med school. Hopefully everyone is doing well in Miyagi, and safe travels to all of the competitors.

I passed my pre-bronze and bronze moves tests! They went fine except for a bad case of nerves at the beginning of the pre-bronze tests leading to some seriously sketchy back inside edges. But hey, they’re done!

True. My mom has an actual phobia of putting her head underwater, but twenty-something years ago she could pretty much organize a swim meet in her sleep.

Oh, Americans looooove the 6.0 system. And the overwhelming public perception of figure skating here is still that of the ice princess. I'm always bemused by articles in the US press bemoaning our lack of success at the top levels of figure skating, even though the reigning World champion in men's singles is American, and we have one of the deepest dance fields in the world. Nope, if we don't have a skater on the ladies' podium, then the US isn't competitive in skating. Yes, we need far more diversity, not just on the ice, but on judging panels and in the ranks of the governing bodies. Not sure how to accomplish that - I know Diversify Ice and Figure Skating in Harlem are actively recruiting (and sponsoring, at least for Diversify Ice). And skaters do eventually become coaches and officials.

It’s an old picture according to the caption - but I’ve never seen it before.

Double post, sorry!

Shoitirou Tuzuki is Kunrei-shiki romanization, with the exception of how the long vowels are handled. It's not wrong, it's just a different system than most English speakers are used to seeing. Also, no worries everyone - ゆづる actually is still written Yuzuru in Kunrei-shiki, the づ doesn't make it Yuduru. Although an older form of romanization that Kunrei-shiki is based on, Nihon-shiki, actually would have you spell it that way...

The algorithm actually got him right in LMEY and guessed older on one of the H&E photos? Has that ever happened before? (Also, this same app usually thinks I'm a man in his 40s, so... )

Hey, sometimes pancakes turn out like this... ...and sometimes they turn out like this. Yuzu just made a stack of near-perfect "first pancakes" this season.

Yuzu, you can't make me cry at my desk at work like that! (Seriously. We haven't been hit all that hard yet here, but... from the bottom of my health care worker heart, thank you.)

Was it Continues with Wings where Yuzu accidentally used “ore” in the middle of an audience talk, caught himself, and changed to “boku”? I think I remember something like that happening once. I won’t pretend to understand the system of which pronouns to choose for yourself in Japanese and when, but I did find that particular moment interesting from a linguistic perspective. (Also interesting: that selfie is very different from the one Yuzu took with Camden at SCI 2019.)