Voids, Sharon the Hero, and Hatefest. Guest Starring Susie Wynne and massive crowds

Dave was pretty much in a void all day LOL

We decided to ditch ladies qualifying groups and go to the free dance practices instead, wheeee!!

Hopped the #4 bus, which was much more scenic - going by the waterfront, and since it wasn't raining, we could see the mountains clearly for the first time. So, I felt like we were doing a little bit of a tourist thing and I could use this journey in case anyone ever asked why we didn't see more of Vancouver while we were there LOL

Sharpie and the Guv were there and I finally got to meet Madam Cruella.

We were standing outside for a break when we noticed a very small blonde woman with credentials try to get in the main doors. The anal volunteer ticket taker guy was not having it, as she didn't have a ticket. I recognized her so I shouted. "Hey, that's Susie Wynne! I'll vouch for her!" Then we all started shouting "let her in!" and "she's a TV commentator, she needs to be here!" LOL The man would not give in.... so Susie came over to us for a bit of a bitch session about her difficulties accessing the building. Sharon saved the day by walking Susie in with her practice pass. Yay her!

Stayed for all of the dance practice, even though the beginning of the pairs free program would overlap with it. But A & P were in the last group, so there were my priorities. Plus, it's much better to see top ice dancers from very close seats on the judges side than it is to see the lowest ranked pairs from end seats that are a bit farther up, isn't it?

Practice over, we headed to the bus. I'd read and been told that the bus stop closest to the arena was in a very bad area and that it was best to stay on the bus, get off at the sky train and take the sky train to the arena. Well, when we got to the "unsafe" bus stop, I noticed it was such an easy walk to the arena that it would be stupid to stay on and take the sky train. I'm not sure what all the fuss was about really, of course it was broad daylight, but I'd seen, walked through, and waited for the bus in much worse areas when I went to Cleveland State (projectile vomiting, YAY!) So, needless to say, we were tough city people and got off the bus and walked.

I think we only missed the first group of pairs. My only notes for this event were "splatfest" next to Scott & Dulebohn's names. Eeek! I later heard that they or one of them was injured. I was disappointed that A & B had withdrawn. No one around me really knew why at that point. The photographers behind me were joking cynically that perhaps he'd been stabbed. eeek again!

The last group was very exciting. I think nearly every one of them rallied. B & S seemed to have only minor mistakes from where I was sitting and I wasn't sure how it would compare to Jamie popping her axel. Huge roar for S & P after they skated, though I seem to remember B & S getting a standing O, too (And S & Z?) The arena was in a frenzy after the marks went up. It was quite the panic! YAY! I think even Dave was happy that the O Can't-ada curse had been lifted. Of course the celebration had to wait until P & T had skated (umm, yawn LOL) and S & Z. Shen & Zhao were pretty fab until the very end of their program. Everyone around me agreed that that they had really improved their presentation skills. Poor S & Z were very excited after their skate and looked extremely hopeful in the K & C, it was sad seeing their faces fall so dramatically after they heard their marks. Awwwww!!! (not that I wasn't happy with the results....)

The medal ceremony was set up quite speedily, much faster then what I remembered from Nationals. The Mounties were there in their red coats handling the flags and such, yay! It was all rather fun.

We decided not to stick around for the late night ladies qualifying rounds and headed over to Skatefest instead, which, in print at least, sounded like it might be interesting.

Ha! It was Hatefest! The place was virtually deserted. I think the crowds had decided to either stay for Ladies Qualifying or head elsewhere. They had a band in a pavilion and some concession stands outside, but it was way too cold at night for that. There were some indoor things too, which took a total of about, hmm 5 minutes to go through. They'd talked up this big exposition.. but it only ended up being only the sponsors of Hatefest, and not really anything skating related (Unlike the fab expo on the arena concourse at Cleveland Nationals)

The only useful part of Hatefest was the internet cafe. I think they only wanted people to stay on the main sponsor page or iskater.com instead of surfing, HA!!! I quickly went on a mission to search out Tricia, which I think ended up being perfect timing as that may have been the last day she'd be able to access her e-mail before she left. Wrote a quick note to my mom... " Hi Mom, having a great time, hope you and the dogs are OK. Have to go, love you!" Meanwhile, Dave was writing the great American novel to his family detailing EVERYTHING we had done so far and giving a play by play of the pairs competition." I was so hoping that my mom wouldn't get wind of it LOL

While waiting for Dave to get a publisher, I ran into Mandie, who also seemed to be happy about the internet cafe. I'd spotted a tavern/restaurant thing outside of the pavilion and told her we'd be there later if she wanted to join us.

Dave finally having got an agent, a publisher, and an advance on his next novel, we went to the tavern. Yay, they were showing the pairs final on the big screen TV's! The waitresses there were all trying to work a hooters girl thing with extreme push up bras, so when I went to the restroom, I adjusted my Lily of France X bra to it's most extreme setting and went out feeling at one with my environment PML

Earlier in the day, we'd been worrying that we'd never find Fab & Rik in the mad hatefest crowds HA!! LOL We'd been in the restaurant for about 10 minutes when they walked in straight to us. Mandie stopped in too, but decided not to stay.

Ate dinner and went back outside. The "crowds" had picked up a bit, as they were supposed to have a presentation with the pairs medalists and fireworks. Ran into Sue while we were wandering about, so we formed our own crowd. The pavilion was "packed" to see the ceremony with the Pairs medalists, S&Z were there as well as the heroes of the hour, S&P. B&S were not there & we were told they were held up at the venue. Jamie and S & Z "shared a word" with the "crowd" and they all received commemorative jackets. Yay them. Then we watched the fireworks. After that, it was a taxi ride back to the hotel.

The hotel bar was closed, but the ever helpful front desk told us that there was another bar still open that was connected to the hotel. Panama Jacks. We were given a set of top secret instructions involving going up to our room then walking down the hall to some secret elevator and pressing the "ground" button. OK! So, we trooped off to our room, not wanting to disobey any of the instructions and it was a convenient opportunity to give Fab and Rik the gifts we had for them. Then we headed off to the secret elevator.

Got in the elevator, and there was no button for G, so we pressed all the buttons to anything remotely resembling a G floor. Kept ending up in various areas of a parking lot. Got back in the elevator, went up to our floor and tried again. Nope! It was back to the lobby to interrogate the front desk staff, thinking we'd forgotten the secret password. We were sent back up to our floor in search of yet a different secret elevator, far far down the hall.

We finally found the special elevator, and hurray! There was a "G" button! it swept us right to the Panama Jacks entrance. It was like arriving in a voidy 3rd dimension, very freaky. At this point, we all needed a drink. So we had one. Then it was off to bed, which was probably pretty much a relief for Dave as he was still in a post Crime Lab void LOL

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