Woke up at a not so horrible time to catch the shuttle to the O.D.'s. Dave was fairly well recovered, which was a good thing, as we had a very long day/night ahead of us.
I think I may have called and left a message for Tricia and told her the plan for the night was to meet up at the Hyatt.
So, OD's. Loved Navka & Kostomarov's. Tatiana Navka is fabulous!. Wished I could have seen last year's Latin ODs, instead it was a bunch of quicksteps and Foxtrots, with a random Charleston thrown in for good measure. Many dancing fools and exceedingly happy facial expressions for the quickstep.
Anyway, our seats were perfect for these as the diagonal step sequences were all headed straight toward us or straight away from us and we could see both members of the team, their unison, and how far apart they skated from each other.
You'd think from the above, I'd have some sort of fantastic technical reports coming. No! PML! Umm, there was a bit of a bizarre moment when one of the teams was setting up for their diagonal SS ( BLR?). They were happily quickstepping away, yet the man's stirrup form his pant leg was attached to the skate on his opposite foot, yikes! He didn't stop tiffing his happy dance either LOL Finally he did a quick bend down and detached himself and soon the referee's whistle blew....
L & T were fab, liked W & L, but I think I've seen it too many times on TV to really be awed about it's crowd pleasing aspects anymore. Babs & Mauri were great, though I think their SS was faster during practice. I'm not quite the B & K fan, but I had to admit they did a great job with the OD. They seemed to have the most difficult footwork/steps, though maybe a bit slower than some of the rest. By fear of death in the North American section I was sitting in ( just above the US flag thingie), I was moved to stand up LOL
A & P had changed their OD, I'd seen the new version in practice, but hadn't memorized the old one, so wasn't able to really do a comparison. I did notice that they seemed to take out most of the complicated footwork in their SBS SS. But, other than that, they were fab! I think everyone in the arena loved Irina's hair LOL I think she was even doing the color streaking thing in practices, wheee!
I think the OD's may have been the point when L & A were whooping it up ecstatically in the K & C to the resounding boos from those in the crowd who were unhappy B & K had ended up 4th. Really wasn't a surprise where the standings ended up, but I was sorry for D& V.
During the break between the OD's & the men's free, we went to Hatefest again to eat lunch and check e-mail. It was much more crowded and they were being very watchdoggy in the internet cafe, though I still managed to check my e-mail. HA!
Was a bit late making it back for the 1st group in the men's free, but did catch Restencourt on the big screen at hatefest. Happily, we made it back in time for voidy Emmanuel Sandhu. Loved him and his happy dance at the end LOLOL Loved Yags too, he really works his choreography, no matter how the jumps go. Once again tried to start a Stanick Jeannette appreciation society in my section. I seemed to be the only one in my section standing up for the more unusual skaters PML The Todd pennants were out in full force and I may have had to stand up for him, too or once again fear death LOL
Watched the men's medals, grabbed food on the run on the way back to our hotel, tiffed ourselves up and we we're off to the Hyatt, with the plans being to meet up with Fab, Rik, and possibly Tricia and her husband also.
Sharon, Tara, Cruella and Mandie were there already. Todd and entourage were there as well, with Todd watching himself skate his free program on the TV. LOL Somehow Dave and I ended up talking to him. I accidentally gave away that he'd get a commemorative jacket at Skatefest, oops! LOL though he assured me that I hadn't spoiled anything as he already knew that. I wandered off then noticed Todd seemed to be having a hard time leaving as Dave was showing him our skating pictures LOL
At some other point early in the evening, I looked over and Dave was getting a chair for Richard Callaghan. He later told me they'd been talking "politiks" Dave was really talking up the Russians, probably much to Richard Callaghan's chagrin. Richard seemed to try to convince Dave that the Russian's weren't unbeatable, that there was more than one mark etc, etc, but Dave wasn't buying it - citing their quads, and how they seemed to have the whole package. Finally Richard told him it came down to talent and politiks. PML!
Back at the table with the others, Mishy came over, and instead of one invitation to the IFS reception, he had 2 for Sharpie. YAY!! Fabulous Sharpie decided to take us all in, one at a time with her extra invitation. Sharpie & Cruella went up first and they stayed for awhile. As Tara had decided to go back to her hotel to change clothes, I was next :)
So, off to the IFS party which was somewhere upstairs in one of the ballrooms. I wasn't sure I was quite dressed appropriately for the occasion, Sharpie was much better dressed, so I decided to project an air of fabulousness instead, lest anyone question my presence LOL
Sharpie seemed to agree that an air of fabulousness was in order, so we swept into the ballroom being fabulous and were never questioned. The first person we spotted was our benefactor, Mishy, who was probably surprised with just how far 2 invitations were going. Well, if he wasn't then, he would be later LOLOL!!
There was a free bar, so we headed there first for wine or something. Looking around, there were a lot of industry types, coaches, choreographers, random pro skaters, and pairs skaters as their event had already finished. ( Not going to name everyone) Didn't feel too horribly underdressed, though IFS publisher, Mark Lund, was GQing it as usual and Roz Sumners was in a cleavagey type gown.
We "dahlinged" our way around the room and somehow we were adopted by some woman who had been visiting the free bar for a lot longer than we had LOL I think she was a net type person, though she was dressed to blend. She was very chatty and friendly and I thought she knew Sharpie or something. When she wandered off briefly, I asked Sharps who she was. She didn't know either PML
Anyway, we had arrived and gotten situated just in time for the announcement of IFS mags 25 most influential list YAY!! Roz and Mark headed up to the podium and Roz gave some sort of speech and started announcing the influential sorts. There was a video and powerpoint presentation as well. We cheered deleriously for Tatiana Tarasova and Philippe. Then, the powerpoint pics got stuck on Philippe YAY! LOL I think his pic must have stayed up there for about 15 minutes. I have no recollection who any of the others named were. I think Dick Button, umm, maybe Sarah Kawahara? I know she was there... Felt like I had a real scoop for the Gallery, though really no way to share it LOL Sharpie wrote the list down and I think dispatched someone somewhere to post them.
Paul Martini was there, so Sharpie decided we should chat him up. Much gushing of iskater.com's live event coverage was done and the relationship of FSW to the rest of the site discussed. ( Don't think Paul has much contact with FSW LOL) Sharpie and Paul shared a bondy moment as web people annoyed with late adaptors who don't allow sites to use voidy special effects.
Got the scoop on the secret smoking area on that floor from the world's greatest bartender, then Sharpie realized that Tara was probably changed and back and made motions to go get her. I decided I was staying PML So she went to get Tara and I did some insurance chatting up of the bartender and the door guy- who always had a special word or several for me as I flitted in and out. Wheee! No way he'd forget me as a legitimate party attender! I could walk in and out on a whim LOL
Went to find the secret smoking area and ran into Michael Rosenberg and friend who were already there. Had some bondy evil smoker moments with them and a chat then found the even more secret special smoking area outside. I was hailed as a genius! LOL So, I decided to go out there, sort of a roof area, to his assurance that he would not allow me to get locked out LOL I didn't quite trust him though, thinking he might wander off into a void with his friend, so I devised a failsafe way of propping open the door, which they found pretty amusing.
Went back to the party and asked the bartender to recommend a girly drink (umm, think I ended up with a seabreeze) Then I was in a void. Hot on the trail of some gossip, I may have gone downstairs for a bit then ended up chatting about the OD's with Emma LOL Then, back upstairs... I think at this point Sharon and Tara were back. At some point tara collected Mandie and shellybean also. (hmm, I think that made 5 of us at one time between 2 invitations)
They found a table and we all loaded up on extra drinks lest last call was announced anytime soon. Mishy came and visited then introduced us to IFS Editor in Chief, Lois Elfman, who deserved much appreciation for throwing a fantastic party. She even took a picture of all of us at the "FSU Table"
*********International Figure Skating is a fabulous magazine! Everyone should rush right out to buy a copy or better yet, subscribe!!! I, myself, have been a loyal subscriber for many years!!***********
Sitting there off at a table was so not working for me, so Tara and I decided to mingle LOL
Gave Sasha Zhulin an airy Hello, which I think amused him LOL Then we spotted John Zimmerman and Emmanuel Sandhu standing a few feet from each other. Hmm, decisions. John Zimmerman "won" LOL
Sharpie decided to mingle then too ;-) So, we somehow started talking to John and told him that he'd just missed out on winning the "FSU Porny Skater of the Year" award. In fact he'd lost to Peter Tchernyshev. He said he could understand just missing out as Peter was a good looking guy. I think he was given the impression that there were thousands of voters. LOL We told him who the previous years winners were and he asked what he could do to "ensure that he won next year". PML Not marrying Silvia was mentioned as an option, or at least waiting a respectable time after the voting was held. He seemed very eager to comply and really seemed to want the award. I may have assured him that I'd politik for him or we'd buy the bloc, YAY!!!
Having accomplished that, we decided to present random awards to anyone we could find, wheeeeeeee!!! Next up was Emmanuel Sandhu. We told him that he'd just missed winning out on the "FSU Voidy Skater of the Year" to Stanick Jeannette, but that he was a lock for next year. For some reason he required no explanation of the term voidy. Perhaps it was a zen thing, or he'd worked with Christopher Dean at some point, or figured it out by the Stanick Jeannette context. Anyway he was all into it! YAY! We gushed a bit about his free skate and his little dance at the end. He did require some explanation for what "Tiffin it pukka" meant LOL Then he started Tiffin it pukka at the reception, LOL Reliving it a bit and saying how he just decided in the moment to do his Seinfeld dance. Sharon & Tara then went on about how much Europeans love people who kiss the ice and tried to get him to kiss the ice during the gala PML! ( wahh, he didn't, maybe when he leaned down to kiss it he rolled over into a somersault instead? LOL) they also tried to lobby for him to come to Lalique next season.
Somehow we wandered off from him and needed a new award. Hey! There's Sasha Zhulin, FSU choreographer of the year, wheeeeeee!! Around this time, shellybean joined the mingle. LOL Don't know if we ever actually "awarded" him, but Mishy came over, I think, and explained where we were from. With that bit of info, Pasha & her possible pseuds were mentioned, and the phrase Old Wych somehow came up LOL We also gushed about his fabulous wife and asked where their baby was. Then, since the OD's had happened early in the day, I asked what was up with L & T moving down in the ranks. Politiks! 2 North American judges! I then asked if it seemed to him that A & P had taken all of the footwork out of their sbs SS PML The term novice skaters was bandied about. LOLOL Then he gave his opinion on who should have placed where in the OD's. He may have said that it wasn't for the internet, or was it something somebody else said that wasn't for the internet? hmmmmm, well it's already out there, so he had 1. B & K, 2. FP&M, 3. L & T.
I think he was laughing and calling us "You crazy girls!" as we wandered off. Somehow Tom Collins was accosted. I'd almost lost this to a void. shellybean pressed him to do his tour in Canada and he gave some sort of long explanation why that wasn't going to happen involving lost money on a show he did there ages ago. Then Tara tried to get him to commit to Wembley LOL
The party ended shortly thereafter, which was really a shame as I'm sure we could have thought up an award for nearly everyone present :)
So, it was back downstairs. The table where I'd left my imitation Tarasova coat was now populated by a group of much older gentlemen. They were not giving my coat back either LOL They tried to do an exhange - that I'd get my coat back if I sat down with them for a drink, but somehow I ended up with my coat and my principles intact ;)
Now that I think about it though, maybe I could have bought the bloc for someone next year?
The bar was about to close, so we found some last drinks and an alternate table. So began a certain someone's streak of spilling 3 different drinks on me over the course of the evening. LOL This first time the glass broke... all heads turned to me, but it wasn't me I swear! It was only in front of me! The older men were most disappointed with me and told me perhaps I shouldn't have another drink. (eeek!) I assured them that I was only going to the bar for an ice water ( and perhaps some towels? Plus, it wasn't me!)
Umm, I think they closed down soon after that and sometime in here we met Laura and made a really good impression on her LOL
Then it was off to the Crime Lab. Wheee!! I think Dave was a bit reluctant at first to divulge it's locale and said he'd go see first if it was OK for us to get in, as it was perhaps already "closed" . While he walked off to accomplish this, me, Sharpie, Tara , shellybean and Mandie piled into a cab or 2 and drove off to the Crime Lab. When we got there the door was locked and the blinds were pulled. But, we knew it was just a cover! Ha! So we knocked on the door. When the bartender opened it, we intelligently argued our case by saying something like "We're foreigners! Let us in!!!" LOL So he did YAY!! We Rule!!
Dave showed up 15 minutes later and was let in only after I said he was my husband. HA!! Actually he'd been there a few minutes earlier warning the bartender about us and asking if we could be let in, but the bartender never made the connection. In fact, he'd told Dave he could only bring in 1 or 2 people. The bartender later told me that he'd let us in because there were too many men in the bar and we were a group of women, YAY!
Had a very voidy time, learned too late to stay away from fingerprints, considered taking black mail photos, met many fabulous people including Jackson, the man with the world's best eyebrows, and left about 5AM,.
Sharpie said we walked a diagonal step sequence back to our respective hotels, I'd say it was more of a circular step sequence. LOL Unfortunately, my hotel was much further away than the others and Dave was a hater and decided we'd walk all the way back. I think my entire conversation with him during that time consisted of me saying "My feet are bloody stumps" over and over again. LOL Got into bed at about 6am.
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