Woke up in a void. Just in the nick of time for the 1pm gala.
I was in a total sleep deprived void. Really should be a law that all gala programs feature energetic, rousing music, especially with lowered lights. Hooray! Here comes Emanuel Sandhu, he'd told us thursday that he wasn't sure if he'd be in the gala, ice kissing discussion aside. He was great! I was awake again! Next was Angela Nikodinov, skating to sleepy music, many many sleepy music users followed. Did wake up a bit with D & V's voidy ice sliding move, hurray! Then Honda did something with energy. Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy.... sure I would have remembered more interesting moments,but figured I'd be able to enjoy the gala more during it's broadcast. (HA!!! Hatery ABC!)
Then it was intermission. Awake again! More caffeine, fresh air, daylight!
The gala started again. Sleepy. Not much ice writhing from Todd, hmmmph!!! Loved Slutskaya's catsuit and techno voidy program, Yay! Yunfei Li got to skate in the gala, as well YAY him! Didn't really have an exhibition program though. Loved A & P's Susanna, Hooray! ....Sleepy... Oooh there were Babs & Maurizio, doing that exhibition number I'd heard so much about from the Euro sorts. Told the fun women by me that when Maurizio did this number in Europe, he took his jacket off! Whee! But it looked like he was wearing some sort of tank top under the jacket when in previous performances he'd been shirtless. Hmmm.... damn! (What was that all about? Win the world championships and all of a sudden modesty becomes an issue? Oh, it's supposed to be about the skating, then huh?)
So anyway, next was Plushenko. I'd heard he'd be doing something to Sex Bomb and that he'd remove his jacket (sure, HE would) and have some sort of "macho man" get up underneath. The description sure hadn't prepared me. I laughed myself sick. No, really had to go buy more Rolaids after that! Too many 40 fingerprint nights for sure. Eeek! I was PML for ages! S& P had to follow and close the show. His program really was hard to follow and I think they would have gotten more laughs for the comedy bits had this not been the case. Still they were enjoyable. Next was a closing number and some surprising pyrotechnics from the scoreboard. Wheee!!!
But, waaaaaahh! Worlds was over :-( Well, at least the skating bits were. Dave & I met up with Fab, who'd been at the Gala, too and it was relatively early still so we grabbed something to eat and walked around a bit. I needed more rolaids LOLOL
Then it was back to our hotel to finish the packing and tiff up one more time LOLOL
Arrived at the Hyatt for our last night in Vancouver, waaaahh!!! :(
We'd just missed Cruella :( and the skaters had left for their banquet, so the bar was a bit deserted at first. But Sharon, Tara, Mandie, shellybean and Sue were there and Fab and Rik would meet up with us too.
Time for some coffee to wake myself up, wheee!! Odd looks all around LOLOL Then it was time for the delerious group photo session. Hooray! Let's take a pic of us all in voids! Wheee! The poor bartender was roped into taking the shots, with at least 6 different cameras LOLOL
The small bar crowd finally had something to entertain them LOLOL
Did the usual in and outside during which Shellybean mooched menthols ;-) Then time for a smoker's photo session in the hateful Hyatt outdoor smoking area. Wheee! Street people clearing the ash trays for half smoked butts! Chairs chained to the tables!! Officious door types not letting us bring out our drinks!!
All of a sudden my camera was hijacked as Tara and shellybean chased down some mounties for a pic LOL! They were gone for ages, probably trying to talk them into changing into their red uniforms ;)
Sometime during the night, we started seeing skaters drift back in from the banquet, all dressed in their most fabulous ensembles. Continuing the mad photo session theme of the evening, for some reason, we decided to completely abandon our status as cool, unimpressed bar chicks to become shameless lobby fans. LOLOL I say we did it with a sense of giddy irony though ;)
Camera's grabbed, we dashed off to the lobby. It was insanity! Umm, I think we all had cameras LOL Dave was there too! LOLOL
The skater's seemed to appear as if by magic a few at a time at first. Oooh! There's Fumie! Are you working on a triple axel? It's a secret! Meghan, get in a picture with her! OK! Wheeee!!
During the lulls between skaters we noticed a secret escalator in the back of the lobby. Ha! That's where they were coming from. We kept a casual and respectable distance from it, at least for awhile LOLOL
Sharon was voiding in and out and eventually ended up off at a table for ages with the Brit ice dancers. We'd go visit her occasionally LOL then it was back to the lobby for random conversations with those arriving . Random flashbacks of shellybean exclaiming that she wants to be in some pictures! LOL, Dave asking me endless technical questions about why the red eye reduction of our camera was taking so long. Ack! ("I don't know! Just keep pressing it" Next time you should bring the manual and read it then explain it to me. "Yeah, OK, just keep pressing it." Well it's taking so long. "Yeah, umm, I have to go be in that other picture, you figure it out!)
Wheee! It's Ilia A! A group of us rush over all chattering to him LOL
OMG!!!!! It's Stanick!!!! YAYYYYY!!!!!! We were even a bigger group than had rushed Tatiana Tarasova! PML!! "We love your skating! You're so voidy!! Much gushing to that effect occurred. Not sure whether he grasped the void thing. But he seemed to have a big smile on his face LOLOL
Tara and I got pics with Angela Nikodinov and then Naomi Lang. I think something about Lalique and a bag of fags was mentioned LOLOL
Ooooh! It's Galit Chait! Looking gorgeous!! YAY!! We rushed over to gush. I don't know if Galit recognized Tara's accent or what, but Galit started talking about Brit Jayne Torvill, who had said something disparaging about Galit's skating on some of the British coverage of Europeans! Grrrr!!! Hatery Jayne! Galit said she'd read it on the internet and the next day wasn't even going to put her skates on! :( Tara offered some comfort, told her about her gallopin galit - as she skates so fast- nickname, then Tara went into a void talking about Eurosport coverage and Nicky Slater and how it was better because you could e-mail them and they read e-mails on the air. PML!!! Don't know if Galit was listening, because she repeated to me that she had read it on the internet and didn't want to put her skates on the next day. Awww!!! I said something like: "That's terrible. No! Don't listen to her! You're great!!" (Really their quickstep in the OD was fab and I loved their free dance. Jayne Hatevill!) We spent quite some time talking to Galit. LOL I think Dave even gushed to her about her dog, Luna! He'd met Galit's mom and played with her dog earlier in the week LOL
I think she was one of the skaters we talked to the most. Her and Shae...
...PML!! Poor Shae! Tara and I don't remember ever hearing her voice, just have images of her giving us an amused smile for ages LOLOL I think everyone just talked excitedly at her for like 20 minutes or something PML I think being robbed in the ODs was mentioned as well as Sasha's assessment of it LOL Somehow I missed out on being in one of the many photos with Shae. I think this was the point where Dave was in his biggest complaining about the camera void ;) We finally let her move on PML
Endless photos and visits to Sharon followed.
Grabbed a random shot of Tara with Dinev. Timmy Goebel and Tanith Belbin were all chummy. Dave had a photo with Timmy.
We managed to get the whole gamut of previous porny skater of the year award winners, Gwendal laughing about the talking picture of him at FSU and wondering if Tara would make the next picture talk as well PML! No, she didn't have her dictaphone! Damn! LOL
Maurizio had won some heavy, sharp pointy award at the banquet. I know this because it was pressed into my back for AGES while Dave tried to get the camera to work LOLOL
Somehow I missed the pic with John Zimmerman, awww!!! But that's OK, he's not official until next year ;). I rallied though and spotted Peter T, looking like he was wearing his white OD suit/costume from earlier in the season.LOL Some of us dived into a picture with him LOLOL
More photo ops happened, a long visit with Sharon and the Brit dancers, a goodbye to the hateful Hyatt smoking area then it was time to grab my coat and say goodbye to everyone. Wahhh!
Went back into the bar to see the gang take it's table back from the German team ;-) Shared a lovely polite moment with Rene Lohse while we were both trying to get out of each other's way in a very small area around the table LOL Then it was hugs all around and off we were :( No crime lab tonight, wahhhh!!
Back to our hotel as we had to wake up at some ungodly hour to catch our Air Hateada flight to Toronto, then on home....
... Woke up Monday in an I only got 2 hours of sleep void. Said goodbye to my luggage, figuring I'd never see it again, then it was off to say goodbye to Fab and pile into the shuttle.
At the airport, I immediately spotted a familiar pony print coat. Yep! It was Irina L. Ilia was pushing around a cart with their carry ons. Hmm, I wonder if he ever got his luggage back?
Once again, we were there insanely early. So it was off to experience one last hateful Vancouver smoking area, grab some breakfast, read the paper, and shop for teeny tiny gifts that would fit into our jam packed carry ons LOLOL
We then returned to our gate for boarding. All of a sudden I looked up and there was Shae, smiling at me PML! I think I was recognized. Then, sure enough, there was her mother too, and Nicky Morozov.
Time to sneak my over stuffed carryons past the gate attendant. Walked up the boarding ramp right behind Elvis Stojko. He was in a void.
Got to our seats, sitting in the same row was the Canadian team physician. Then Victor Kraatz and a girlfriend type sat across from me.
I was in a Team Canada void! Elvis and Victor were sitting in our section. Shae, Nicky and her mom were in the section behind us. Someone said Jennifer Robinson was on stand by for this flight, don't know if she ever made it though.
This time, the flight actually did have their video equipment operating. I'd missed Billy Elliot on the way over, Damn! The Legend of of Bagger Vance had a very sleepy soundtrack.
In Toronto, our luggage was there. So was Elvis' and Uschi's LOL ( insert much bitching about the hateful too tight scheduling of our connecting flight, customs and the rat maze to our far away gate)
Back on to the puddle jumper for the very short flight to Cleveland. For no apparent reason, all of my attention from the flight attendant was in French. Dave got the English version. I must have been giving a French speaker vibe, or maybe it was my perma scowl? LOLOL Had a most hysterical snack service. Actually it was a pretty big meal, surprising for such a short flight. No sooner had they handed out the food then one of the flight attendants was pleading for us over the loud speakers to return everything as we were making our descent LOLOL
We were back home and Dave's parents were waiting for us. I didn't even bother going to the baggage claim with everyone. The short connection, the far away gate, figured I'd be getting my luggage back in a week, if ever. So, I went outside to wait for my father-in-law , who was getting his car.
Had to go back in after awhile. It was freezing outside. ACK! There was even hatery snow on the ground!
Surprise!!! OMG!! All of our luggage was there! Of course my suitcase had a bag over it, and random items were tossed in it LOL They were claiming no responsibility for my bag popping open in transit. I think I have everything still . I dunno, I'm not completely unpacked yet PML
Went back to the in laws to pick up our car then it was over to my parent's house to pick up our dogs. They'd been having their own delerious time all week with my parents 2 dogs LOL
Back home finally to a million voids!
PMLed at devleoping the last of the photos and seeing more random shots of Dave with skaters.
At this point, I'm still on Crime Lab time and keep having random PML-worthy flashbacks: Shaking every 'award' winners hands all officially and mock soberly at the IFS party, pounding on the Crime Lab doors, "OMG! didn't we talk to Babs, too? Didn't we tell her to go to the Crime Lab?", wringing out my scarf thursday night, the look on Tarasova's face as we broke into spontaneous cheers, straw fishing.....
PML! Wheeeeeee!!!! But now it's the off season. I'm in a void! :(
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