Watched a little skating after all

When I woke up this morning just before the women's final flight took the ice at Japanese Nationals, I decided to go ahead and watch that. To some extent, the success of some of the elders of that country is comforting after the increasingly insidious work of Eteri Tutberidze. (Her apparently blatantly politicking her daughter into the open ice dance spot is *really* depressing; was her damage to the women's discipline truly not enough?) And I don't think anyone's eyes were dry when Wakaba Higuchi put down the free she needed to look more or less safe for the Olympics, four years after she just missed. It was six very strong performances, even with the rough spots from the first three-and even with hers, Satoko Miyahara still reminded us her greatness. And while Kaori Sakamoto's music choices may be a bit questionable(couldn't she have kept that Matrix program for just one more year?), it truly is a delight to reflect on how much she's grown since she first usurped everyone for that second spot last time around. If either of the latter two skate well enough for the YouTube highlights, I'll look forward to that.
Also, while I am not watching Russian Nationals, I am currently looking at the tweets about it, and I may even have to consider a pair of very brief pauses of that boycott if Elizaveta Tuktamysheva actually makes it. Some things must be watched. Though I'm pretty sure the ROC will leave her out if they can find any excuse to, so....