jaina

Ladies and gentlemen...

( spoilers for US Figure Skating Nationals, ladies' long )

Evan Lysacek takes the ice, arms raised.

Rogue: "People of Vancouver! KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"

****

Loved the men's short tonight, y'all. Too bad I had class and couldn't watch/chat live. Some serious highs and serious lows. Still hate Plushenko.

It has been all-Olympics, pretty-much-all-the-time here for the last few days! I adore the Winter Olympics and I basically just put it on all day. I just wish we weren't on a tape-delay...blech.

- I loved the Opening Ceremonies. I cried a *lot.* My favorite part was definitely the fiddling/tap dancing section-- only two of my favorite things in the entire universe at the same time! The ballet-in-the-trees was great too. And the whales!!!

- Figure skating is off to a great start! I think the pairs podium turned out perfectly. I had a blast chatting live about it tonight with my CJ girls. (Thank you again for the streaming link, Liz!) Also, our local news is having John Baldwin talk about the pairs competitions which is hilaaaaariously awkward.

- How do the moguls athletes still have knees? I've skied down a fair few mogul runs in my life, and man, I'm just in awe of them. Great results in both of those competitions, too.

- I CANNOT WAIT for skicross. Snowboardcross is amazing already, and skicross better not disappoint!

- Watching the cross-country skiers makes me exhausted.

Other random stuff from the weekend:

- On Saturday I ran my fastest average yet (8:30/mile for 3 miles). This may or may not have had something to do with the Girl Scouts selling cookies that I passed as I ran. (I caught up to them after I finished and bought Tagalongs and Thin Mints, mmmmmm.)

- I was seized with the urge to make candy-- so on Saturday I made both chocolate chip cookie dough truffles and Oreo truffles, then popped over to the Star Trek card tournament and foisted them off on the boys. Verdict: very tasty, but I need serious work on my dipping skills. Maybe next time they won't be so ugly and I'll take pictures. I also made a few Thin Mint truffles using the Oreo method and they were yummmmmm.

- We've started doing some furniture rearrangement in the house. Yesterday we took down most of the posters from the bedroom, just leaving the ones we actually care about. It looks so different! Much more open.

Tanith Belbin's roommate in Vancouver? Johnny Weir.

YOU GUYS I CANNOT STOP LAUGHING. I CAN'T.

"He said he already sent a box of decorations, curtains and rugs and some other things for the room," Belbin said. "He also called and told me he's bringing supplies for our hair."

SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMONDS.

(many thanks to hollywdliz for the link!)

Yay, I got to watch my TiVoed recordings of the ladies and ice dance Nationals. (I'd been keeping up with the results as they were posted but didn't get a chance to watch till later.)

( It was kind of anticlimactic, actually (spoilerz within) )

Dear The Future of US Men's Figure Skating, as anointed by one Scott Hamilton,

I would strongly suggest that you both realize that you're skating in front of rather a lot of people. And much as those people appreciate your clean jumps and fast spins and difficult footwork, they would also like to see your shining faces and your bright eyes and hey, maybe even a smile once in awhile. Those people aren't just window dressing, kiddos. Get your eyes off the ice. Look up. Connect with them. They'll love you for it.

Sincerely,
Me

Dear Ryan Bradley,

I love you, man. I can't believe you pulled off a competition program that made fun of other people's competition programs *and* had two quads in it. Please join a tour. I want to see you skate some more.

Here are some hugs,
Me

Dear Evan Lysacek,

Put on your long program costume. Now go stand in front of a full-length mirror. Now look at yourself, and consider, if you win an Olympic medal this year, that *this* is the picture that will follow you, all the rest of the days of your life. C'mon, Evan. Grey shirring and scrollwork shoulderpads? Really?

Think about it.

I've only got your best interests at heart,
Me

Johnny doesn't get a letter because he knows full well that from the waist up, he's apparently wearing one of Oksana Baiul's old costumes, and he absolutely glories in it. Jeremy doesn't get one either because he can actually dress himself. He can even pull off a vest without looking all Todd Eldredge about it, which *is* a feat.

OH MY GRACIOUS, we are finally caught up on Bones and we watched the last two episodes in real time (more or less) and I am still just STAGGERED by how much I love this show and everyone in it. It makes me want to jump up and down and hug someone and make squeaky noises.

( spoilers for tonight's ep, 'Mayhem on a Cross' )

What I really really need is an animated icon from that one ep where they go to pottery class with Sweets and his gf, and Booth is like, "Look at my horse! Tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk" and he makes the little clay horse gallop. Rogue swears he's seen one but the Internets are not yielding to my demands. The skating icon is awesome though too, obvs. (I love that this season's episodes are all, The One Where They Go Skating! The One Where They're Stuck on a Plane! The One Where They Join the Circus! The One Where They Go to a Con!)

( Nationals, Ladies' Free Skate )

Okay, now I can get on with my day. The men skate tonight (at a reasonable hour for me, not so much for you East Coast people).

Tanith and Ben still rule the world, but Melissa and Denis just plain rocked. I'll be rooting for them at Worlds for sure. And dear God, julietvalcouer, I totally see what you mean about Morgan Matthews. She looks-- well, gross. Very sad.

Pairs? Um. I really did not see this great American pairs renaissance that the commentators kept going on about. I mostly saw couple after couple heave each other about and gasp around the ice. The kids with the big triple twist though, they were good, but they've got a ways to go to be really competitive internationally. And what the hell was up with John Baldwin's I-got-mugged-in-Russia story? Seriously weird.

The little junior girls were adorable, but I kept thinking, "Oh, just wait till you hit puberty, kids. We'll see who's laughing then."

Tomorrow night! Evan Lysacek and His Manly Stubble try to dethrone Johnny Weir and His Inexplicable Hair! Oh, and there might be some girls skating too or something. (Go Alissa! Don't choke!)