missizzy

Went with my sister to see Legacy on Ice today. She's someone who sometimes watches skating, and she and mom both came with me to Milan and joined me for 2018 Worlds whenever they weren't going to someone else, but she doesn't really follow it the way I do. This was her introduction to Ilia Malinin. She absolutely loved him. I have instructed her to watch his free program from this season.
Legacy on Ice did well as a memorial show, especially since the emotions from those on the ice about them was very real, and you could tell that. Maybe especially powerful was Jimmy Ma skating the program Jinna Han was apparently planning to make her junior debut, and of course Maxim Naumov skating to a song so beloved by his parents. My sister was crying by the end of that, and I had tears in my eyes myself. Some of the decisions made in what it would include, however, were a bit detrimental. Most notably Scott Hamilton coming in and prayer ambushing us. Like full on Christian, as if it never occurred to him that there are people in that audience who did not ask to have someone else's religion forced on them like that.
We also got to see Johnny Weir, which I am very happy about, since I always wanted to see him live, and of course I thought the chances to were all gone. He's one of those skaters that definitely has a presence live.
I'm actually now a little sorry we're not going to Worlds in Boston this year; when individual event tickets went on sail right after the election, I thought it more prudent not to spend the money. My sister suggested we could look at the next Worlds held in Canada, even saying she's always wanted to see Vancouver.

Yesterday we got one piece of figure skating news that genuinely surprised me: that of Delilah Sappenfield getting hit by a lifelong ban. We've known for years she deserves one, but it was hard to believe it would ever actually happen. I've seen SafeSport being accused to trying to wiggle out of punishing people when they can. The investigation results really must have been such that they felt they had no choice. There are still a hell of a lot of problems in the sport, but this is getting rid of one big source of them. I feel much better going into next season now.
Then, of course, came today's news. I came tragically close to learning Trump had been convicted from Dean Winchester. I was scrolling through Tumblr when my mom came running in with the news; ten more seconds and I would've hit one of the posts on it. We turned the TV on briefly, but there's only so much of that we were willing to sit through.
It may not be actually getting rid of him; he continues to be all too resistant to being gotten rid of. But surely there's no way this doesn't do him significant damage, at least. It could very easily prove the difference in the end, when it comes to the election. Especially if he does get jail time; be a little harder for him to campaign then. And who'd have thought it would've been this case that did it?

Yesterday mom and I went to get the latest flu and covid shots, so I expected to spend this weekend recuperating as well, but all I've really been hit with this time is some upper arm pain. Would've liked it a few days earlier, so it would be fully in effect when I boarded the train to New York, but at least it will be for the last part of the trip.
It's still been a productive week for me. I even finished a new skating montage, although the embed doesn't seem to be working for it, so just view it here. Password is "tessa"

I've spent the weekend on painkillers, but while there was still considerable pain yesterday, it's largely gone now. Not unlike what happened on my first two shots, and I'm starting to wonder if the main reason the first booster hit me so hard was because it was Moderna; I'd heard stories already from those who got it for their initial vaccination. Although I also might have been a little more tired than usual yesterday, and mom apparently was a little foggy-headed. I've even made attempts at recording my song this weekend, which I didn't know if I'd be able to do. (Though the sinuses still proved a problem there. I don't think that was from either shot; they'd been acting up already.)
I was also able to watch a bit of Skate Canada, though as I'm no longer subscribed to Peacock I may not be able to see all of the bigger events. (I've mostly been watching ice dance videos from the B events in recent weeks, and have been enjoying them a lot.) It seems that we're suddenly getting a whole new swath of Japanese faces at the top, and I can't help but feel very sorry to Rika Kihira; you don't want to think she's lost her big chance, but who knows at this point. But at least we saw a medal for Starr Andrews this week, which is a very big thing for her.

I am starting to wonder if every time Critical Role will leave me particularly anxious about the cliffhanger, I will find myself writing smut over the weekend to cope. Thoughts of Ashton and Laudna hit me out of nowhere very early on Friday, and I think I'll probably be ready to post the resulting fic some time tomorrow. It's my first time while writing to actually having a choice of pronouns to use when referring to someone, which has been an interesting challenge in itself.
The other big thing I've been doing this weekend is watching Junior Worlds. The juniors always make for less stressful watching, especially when the Russians aren't present, and I am getting very impressed indeed with Isabeau Levito. To have a single podium finish at Nationals is one thing, but now she's building up a track record. Of course, the next big question is what she'll be able to do with it-or what she'll even want to do with it. All things considered, you can't exactly blame Alysa Liu for clearing out the way she did.
I am also about halfway through Sonia Purnell's biography of Clementine Churchill. My main thought through most of it has been that wow, did her egotistical husband drain her dry. Even if she chose to embrace that life, you can't help but feel it. I've just reached the start of World War II, and by the time the narrative reaches that, you can at least think that this is a woman who has already handled a hell of a lot, so maybe she can handle this too.

For the past month, I've been telling myself I can still go down to Old Town, and that I would if I got a weekend where the temperature up. Except I forgot that such a rise would probably result in my sinuses going into overdrive. My throat's been sore since last night, when meant I wasn't going anywhere after the grocery run this morning. It's not as bad right now as it was when I woke up, but tomorrow turns cold again.
Didn't watch the RD this morning, but I was following the results. A lot of people seemed pissed Sinitsina & Katsalapov are ahead of Hubbell & Donohue, but at this point I'll settle for them not winning. Disappointed Komatsubara & Kolete didn't make the free, though. The dance field may be getting overcrowded.

The US Open begins tomorrow, and here, too, I am running low on enthusiasm for a sport I have followed for many years. And this time it's completely because of the athletes themselves. The anti-vaxxers for one thing, and while I was very zen about Rafa surpassing Roger, the idea of Djokovic surpassing them both, when combined with the person he has shown himself to be this past year and a half, is very depressing indeed. It is also very painful that Zverev is also on the rise-and being coddled by everyone on tour, or Sandgren is also establishing himself as someone we're going to be stuck with for years. Maybe I'll just stick to watching women's tennis for the next decade or so; Osaka will be great to watch and to cheer for if they give her time to recover instead of driving her out.
I have been watching a bit of the Junior Grand Prix, though. It's easier to watch the junior skaters, less stressful, especially since these first two events haven't had any Russian girls who you know are being forced to break themselves for a year or two of glory. How I'll feel watching the seniors, I don't yet know.

Yesterday as the ladies competition concluded, I finally got fed up and turned off the TV. As the evening arrived with news of a COVID case within the bubble, I even cancelled my subscription to Peacock Premium; what a waste of money that turned out to mostly be. I'm not watching any skating today, or tomorrow. I don't even know how much I'll watch next season. Really, I'm hoping we'll be out of quarantine by then, which means I will have better things to do with my weekends than sit inside and watch skating.
I've chosen to deliberately walk away from things I've been obsessed with before. It wasn't easy emotionally, and I'm still not sure I really want to do it completely. But at the very least, I'm going to detach a great deal.
It's been a crummy week all together, of course. If the Republicans get away with what they're doing in Georgia-and I honestly don't see any way left to stop them-then all that's happened is we're just going to lose our democracy later instead of sooner. At this point I want to be vaccinated and see everyone else vaccinated just because that time we have left to enjoy that I hoped for last year will probably be next year instead, so the sooner we can get out, the better.

Yuma Kagiyama has officially entered the rapidly growing top tier of Japanese men. That was pretty much the performance of the event, though maybe it looked all the more spectacular because of how badly everyone else skated that day. Also, it was very nice to see someone finally do justice to the Avatar soundtrack. Forget everything else about that movie, that score has deserved to see someone do it justice for ten long years, and someone finally did.
Nice as it was to see Daisuke Takahashi back, and also to see Kana Muramoto back with a partner with so much to contribute, they are going to have a steep curb if they want to vie for the top of even their own country. Misato Komatsubara & Timothy Koleto were already getting really good, and that free dance yesterday blew me away. And now that they're Olympic-eligible, it'll be really hard to dislodge them from Japan's likely one berth next season.
In fact, the competition for the Japanese Olympic teams might be a little nuts in three of the four disciplines, even if they get three berths in both ladies and men (And if Worlds gets canceled, who knows how the ISU will even determine that one.)
It's kind of a pity that the ISU will probably decline to homologate Wakaba Higuchi's triple axel due to a penalty none of the twelve ladies who landed it internationally before her had to worry about, and when more than one of them probably would've incurred it if they had. There's a point where you have to ask if the demands are getting a little too high.

But I fear the big thing yesterday was less what happened on the ice than the news of Evegnia Medvedeva having COVID. It's particularly painful to hear she has it, after all she's been through, but the news that anyone in Tutberidze's group has it is downright scary. You know that woman doesn't prioritize the safety of her students, after all.
(Especially when the Russians seem not to be protecting themselves very well in general. Could someone *please* tell them the masks go over the nose?)
Meanwhile, the more we have to pay for skating coverage, the worse it gets when someone fails to pull the switch or whatever and the live coverage doesn't happen. I'm left wondering how many times that happens on Peacock's live streams in general. Because of that, I still haven't seen much of the ice dance, though I saw enough of the the rhythm dance to wonder at certain aspects of the scoring. Thanks to that, I'm actually not in much of a hurry to watch the winners, honestly.
I haven't seen much of the pairs either, but I have seen most of the singles. I suppose I am glad to see Liza T is still capable of beating the baby ballerinas, though of course Kostornaia was down her top jump, and Alexandra Trusova still very much seems to be cracking in general. But I'll be way more glad if none of them are reported as sick after this.