memae

So this was posted on Reddit and someone mentioned that Keegan is a Canadian Olympian and all these people were like duh, he's on the podium at the Olympics so obviously he's an Olympian and the Canadian flag is behind him. Lol. I mean, I got a giggle out of it. Sorry mate, but Autumn Classic (was that even the event?)is not quite the Olympics.

They use the same reasoning too. Like the 4A base points are lower than you'd predict looking at the points in the progression of all the other jumps and so too are the points for the elements Simone Biles is pulling off that others are not and apparently they're trying to push it as justified because they don't want to encourage athletes to attempt dangerous moves by creating an incentive with a big step up in points.

Oh boy it sure is nice to be freshly watered. I am loving my Instagram feed today. So much content. So much Yuzu in the Masquerade costume. It's the middle of winter but I still think I might need a fan to cool myself off.

My rink has been playing Blinding Lights a lot lately

Oh my heart. He just looked so sad when the other two went off to skate around the rink.

I just rewatched GPF2012 (the whole men's event) and then Yuzu's GPF2013 programs and all I could think was that this noodly little boy was pretty much the best in the world at the time (among others like Takahashi and Ten and Chan). At the time it was hard to imagine that skating could be any better but now I'm so used to his maturity and strength and even just his build (I think that filling out has helped him have a much more like... confident, majestic kind of physical presence on the ice) that watching him skate back then is kind of jarring. He looks so skinny in those old videos. I notice it mostly in his legs when I watch old programs and when I watch stuff from the last two years I notice how much he has filled out across his shoulders. It's weird because he still looks the same but there's also a noticeable difference in maturity just from looking at his face. It's like he somehow looks like a man now without looking like he's actually aged.

He sure doesn't mince words anymore

I think we also need to remember that when asked a question on the spot, most people don't really go into heaps of detail or even touch on all the things they've thought about or that they know about the topic. I know that personally, I often find myself thinking hours or days later of things I could have added to a conversation or essay but that weren't at the surface of my mind at the time. Border control is so completely out of his hands that he might have stopped thinking about it months ago. There's probably someone monitoring that situation for him who'll let him know if things change or look like they're going to - until then, he'd just be wasting energy worrying about it so why think about it at all? I don't think he meant anything by not discussing border control.

This might be my favourite Yuzu as Assorted Things yet

This cute little chapel, St-Mary's-by-the-Sea in Port Douglas is Hope and Legacy then. That's a window, not a photo or painting. Outside is beautiful and green and then you get the bright blue of the sky on a nice day and the deep blue of the ocean. At a certain time of day blue light filters through the stained-glass windows on the sides too. It's a bit hard to see the water in the chapel picture, but this is the coastline outside: This is why I always say that H & L reminds me of water - the green and blue together reminds me of the ocean at home and there's something about the music that makes me think of the sea as well, especially when it swells in the second half. I know the shades of blue and green aren't quite right in the photos - but sometimes they are spot on in person!

That's uncalled for. That is absolutely not what they were saying.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Japan is using the event as a way to check the processes and safeguards they want to implement for the Olympics. If they can't pull off WTT how will they manage the Olympics?

I think the Javi rivalry was the best in terms of sportsmanship and excitement. Knowing they trained together made it even better - like there was no possible way of showing up and surprising each other because they were both completely aware of each other's capabilities. With Patrick, Yuzu was still coming into his potential. I don't think Patrick considered Yuzu a rival until the short at Sochi. I know he'd beaten him before and had just won GPF, but I think Patrick didn't quite see that it wasn't a fluke and that he himself still had a good buffer if he skated to his usual standard. Shoma is interesting because you can see that chasing Yuzu has pushed him and when things come together for Shoma we get these moments of brilliance but it's also clear that Shoma is just supremely talented. I think Javi is the only true rival Yuzu has ever really had, except perhaps now with Nathan. The difference with Javi was the friendship that underpinned that rivalry and brought out the absolute best in it.

I think she also lost a lot of weight recently, which might make her look younger (just from her frame). She's such a bright spark in the sport. I just really want the best for her. Seeing her cry is gut-wrenching

Ohh... maybe? I thought it was just that she wasn't wearing makeup. I hope it's old then.

Has anyone else seen the clip of Zhenya training with Eteri that TSL had in one of their insta stories today? It looks like it's from a documentary or something. Poor girl is jumping and falling and rewatching it on a laptop at the boards before going at it again and jumping, falling, reviewing, again and again and again while Eteri asks her things like "What would you give yourself positive [GOE] for?" and saying things like "only your standing position in that spin could be called beautiful". And then Zhenya is at her jumps again, crying while trying combinations but falling on the second jump. Just heartbreaking. Imagine how that must feel after her time with Tracy and Brian. I bet their hearts would break seeing this footage.

At 17 he's in a better position than most of the rest of the seniors to work on problematic technique. Sadly with the way things are going with the need to amp up tech content, I think good techniques will become less important than simply being able to get it done. A 4Lz with 0 GOE is still better than a perfect triple. And we're also very aware that the impression landing a bunch of quads has on the judges influences PCS too. When it comes to beating Nathan, every point is going to count. We know how meticulous Yuzuru is with numbers - I don't doubt that Yuma and his team are figuring out where he can boost his own numbers.

Brian talking about his dad in the first couple of minutes makes me think of how Jason talks about his dad. No wonder Brian is such a kind and supportive coach. He really has good hands for his athletes to be in.

Also... Yuma has another year. He's 17. He's going to grow as a skater more than any of them just because he's young and he's only just stepped up into senior. Apparently he's training 4Lo and 4Lz. I don't doubt that after a year of serious training he'd have the stamina (since he's a spring chicken by comparison) to do a 5-quad layout like Nathan was capable of at that age - the difference is that Yuma's performance qualities and skating skills are already better than Nathan's were at that age. People seem to forget how far Yuzuru came in the year before Sochi.

He loves a 3A though, so I don't know that he'd leave it out rather than putting both in

There's also the option of memorising things about other skaters or events. Like, I have very strong opinions about Denis Ten not winning Worlds against Patrick Chan, and goodness knows how long I can talk about how great Sasha Cohen's spirals were and what a shame it was that she didn't land that quad in competition, and I will always bring up trivia about Aljona S going to her first Olympics before Alina Zagitova was even born even though they both got their golds at the same Olympics. The other one is if you can figure out how ice dance is scored, no one can say you're not a fan because that is a mark of serious dedication.

Oh guys.... that H&L Yuzu magic just never dies. With a few exceptions, programs just don't seem as full these days. I think H&L was a bit of a sleeper program. It's so delicate and compared to the likes of Seimei and Origin it's not super stand-out except in this one instance when it all came together and was just magical. It just builds on you and then when he gets that 3A-eu-3S it crosses the line into something that feels unreal because it's so good. With Seimei and Origin and Chopin you know right from the start with the music and his movement (or lack thereof) that it's going to be something incredible but H&L just slowly draws you in and it's very beautiful in being different that way. It always makes me think of cool running water - I think because of the costume. So serene. I feel refreshed now. Of course, I am going to watch it again in about 10 seconds. I hope he gets a perfect performance like this again to his current FP.

And after the week that was, it's time for my favourite palette cleanser - H&L at Worlds 2017

Went for a skate at a public session recently and this old man who said he competed internationally back in the day watched me skate for a bit and basically coached me for the session and tried teaching me some old-school figures. It was very lucky and I think I did about a year's worth of improvement in like 90 minutes (exaggerating but also not really lol).

At the time our restrictions were very strict. They still are but we have been hosting sporting events like the tennis and cricket. I think 4CC perhaps could have gone ahead if it hadn't been cancelled so early but it would have been held to very strict standards, just like the tennis. I don't know that it would have been worth it for the athletes - I don't think I consider 4CC comparable to the Aus Open. Could we host worlds? Sure, especially without audiences. It would be safer than Sweden but also there'd be a bunch of backlash over an event that no one in the country cares about having border restrictions relaxed while citizens who have been stranded abroad for a year are still struggling to get home. The tennis was a bit different because it's a big event for Australia and we make a lot of money from it - but there was still plenty of unhappy people and a lot of the athletes weren't happy about the restrictions either.