Woke up late in a void, see a pattern here ?!? We headed off in the direction of the arena, but decided that we really ought to go and see SkateFest first. As we walked in, we saw an open space with a roof over it. There was a stage in the middle and various huts and tents all around. "This can't be *it* ! " I thought to myself. We were very relieved to find an actual building after walking around for a while, because it was freezing that day. There wasn't too much on display inside, although they had a cool photo gallery. We went to the iskater.com section and entered a prize draw, wheeeeee ! HelenW wasn't there, unfortunately, but the people there directed us to where the computers were and we had a surf for a while. We bumped into Connie up there too and chatted for a while, getting out photo taken in the replica K&C on the way out.
We walked over to GM Place in the rain and were glad to be inside again. At this point we split up and I went to look up a friend of mine from the T&D list, Lindy. I've known her on the web for a few years now and it was nice to finally meet her after all this time I sat with her for the first few groups of ladies and we caught up on all the goings on. We talked about the ladies and who I had liked at Euro's and who she had liked at Skate America. Lindy also filled me in on the Mr Void show at the theatre of champions the previous night She also filled me in on all the antics of the gala practice earlier, in particular the antics of Gwendal LOL !
Cheered loads for Gusmeroli, whom skated the best I had seen her all season, although shaky in places. Got Lindy into Sarah Meier too, but she was not as sharp as Euro's. After a while, she pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me saying "Have you seen this ?". I took the piece of paper and read it. It was calling for people to turn their backs for 1 minute at the gala, in protest at the 'bad' ice dance judging ! I was PML ! As the last group came out, I got up to go back to Sharon on the other side. Said goodbye to Lindy and asked her to try and catch us at the Hyatt if she could. She was extremely nice and had been great company.
Back to Shaz at our side of the nosebleed Told her about the flyer and she was PML ! On to the last group and we gave Maria a massive cheer. She wasn't on her best form in the short, but she has such wonderful programs that it often doesn't matter ! Here in the long she rocked though !! Such a wonderful program, I just loved it Glad she got 3rd place in this section, just a shame about that damn short !
Next, I think, was Sarah Hughes. She was just amazing ! Was very pleased to see that she kept the flower in her hair ! LOL ! Go Sarah innit ! I just don't get people's constant criticism of her right down to the flower ! Yeah, maybe she has the evil 'cheated jumps', but I see her improving all the time. She is such a talented skater and still so young and I was very impressed with the way she stayed so in control despite all the pressure and noise in the arena. She tiffed it more than at any other time I've seen her !
Angela Nikodinov came out next and although I liked her style of skating, the program as a whole wasn't my cup of tea, it was a bit twee and mushy. She didn't skate with quite the same attack, but she too has so much potential and I was glad to see her.
I think Michelle Kwan came out next, she just blew me away ! I've never seen anyone zip so fast and effortlessly from one end of the rink to the other. This was the first time I had seen her live too, and it was clear to see that she had that extra something special. I was in shock! First B&K and now Kwan, lack of magick silk fags ?!?
Lastly, there was Slute. There was still so much noise in the arena after Michelle had skated such a blinder and as I saw Irina's face on the screen going into her void and concentrating on what she had to do, I instantly became a new fan and wanted her to do well ! The Kwan fans had blown the roof off and the buzz around the arena was taking a long time to die down, it must have been so difficult for Irina. She gave it her best shot and skated with a lot of gusto and attack, but she was not clean. It was a fantastic performance from her though and I stood up for her She was almost in tears as the marks came up and I felt so sorry for her She looked like she was having a tough time, seemed worse than Marina at Euro's. Despite this, I was pleased with the result and was very happy for Sarah to be up there.
Almost forgot Volchkova LOL ! I'm not really into her skating, but I just love to watch her jump ! She seems to jump a foot higher than anyone else !
After the medals, Sharon, Beth, Mandie, shells and myself eventually ended up at the Hyatt. In there we rejoined Meghan and Dave and met Sue Murphy (smurphy), Becky (Rainey) and Blades from FSW !
Todd was back in his usual corner and we saw various skaters come and go. Saw Sarah and Robin coming in while we were outside and congratulated them.
We also saw Amy and Emma. Heard again about Gwendals antics at the gala from her, she promised to show us a photo later :)
On to the Crime Lab YAY !!!! The fabulous Jackson was there again and turned out to be an image consultant ! Beth, Meghan and Sharon were in deep make up discussions with him all night They still haven't revealed Jackson's secrets to me yet and I need to know (especially the next morning, bleugh ! ) ! I chatted to Sue, Phoenix ( Sharon kept calling him Fenwicks, as in the Brit shop PML ! ) and Patrick.....Dave seemed to be in a void somewhere.
OK, OK, I didn't go home when Sharon and Beth did ! We were going to Denny's, but I didn't quite make it and ended up in some bar called Mungo's or something I was with Phoenix and Patrick and this place was staying open til 6am and was just as delerious as the Crime Lab ! Had a mad cheeseburger with bacon and just about everything else in it afterwards and got home just before 7am....I think ! Sharon and Mandie were fast asleep I didn't even want to think about how soon the gala was !
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