Lesson whatsoever

Today, is the day, that I finally...... get my toe-loop. Uhoooooo...
Yes, 9 months has passed since I first learned the toe-loop. With all the frustration in positioning, and then to unlearn it since I didn't really use my toe pick to take off, then all of a sudden, I got it. I practised many times today to nail it down, since I'm afraid I'll forget it next week. Thank you Andy for the waltz jump, waltz jump, toe loop combination practice idea, it really helps to get into the right take off position. Oh..... it feels so good as I finally feel like I'm really learning something. I don't know if my waltz jump is getting better, but I think it does since I did so many waltz-waltz-toe combinations and tried so hard to kick my right leg out.
Spin is still a problem, my spinning leg is leaning too much forward, thus making too much noise by the toe pick, which also prevent me from spinning fast. Now that I can do a toe loop, I think I can unlearn and relearn my spin as well to get to the good position. It really feel so good, really feel like I know I can do it with more practice.
Yea, yea, yea, I know for many people, learning a toe loop is so easy, but not for me. I'm thrill.

First lesson back from Uganda

I've been skating for 1 whole year already. However, I haven't skated for almost a month, and indeed, I haven't really practised for nearly 3 months. Ever since I got more involved in the airport project and ever since I changed my lesson to Thursday night. I just went to lessons and kinda practised a little, then just left and didn't skate again until the next lesson. Thus I was not progressing, and even worse, I have been regressing.
After I came back from Uganda, I decided I have to practise more, and gradually, things are coming back to me.
Waltz jump (oh, yea, still waltz jump) seems to be a little better as I entered w/ more speed. Toe loop. Ummmm....... need to polish each single detail. This one, gotta have Andy's advise.
Footwork, getting better on 3-turn forward both sides. Forward crossovers is getting better as we usually spent the crossovers practising time on chatting, thus we did quite some crossovers, hahahaha.......
Spins, getting better in the entry, I kinda click on a certain position, need to practise more in order to find that position more at ease.
Other than those, nothing much.
I found out I have more and more passion on skating. I'm really thankful to God for giving me this chance to skate. Skating is indeed something solacing.
Oh, BTW, I'm thankful for Jeffrey's sentence. I know it's not the best, but I also understand God's just. I'll keep him in my prayers.

Long time no write

I can't keep track of which lesson it was yesterday. I haven't written for such a long time already. Felt like there were not much to write, coz I was not progressing much.

Let me see, how much did I learn in the past 2 months?

Basically, I did quite some footwork, Andy said he wanted me to master some footwork first before going back to the spins and jumps, it'd help a lot. So I did forward inside edged, forward inside 3 turns, both legs, forward outside 3 turns, both legs alternating (it was the hardest one, but I'm getting better and better). Some other ones like, inside and outside on one foot (don't even know to name it).

As for jumps, I'm getting much better on toe loop. But I can't do waltz jump again as I haven't done it for a long while. Learning a new jump, salchow.

As for spins, I'm still working on the forward one-foot spin. Not much progress, but at least I've learned to enter the spin from a backward crossover. I have a hard time entering the spin. Indeed, I have a hard time doing the spin from a pivot entry.

Oh, I learned spiral, and is getting there.

Other than those, I'm skating a little better overall, but as for freestyles, not too much progress, yet still progressing.

Gotta work harder, as I have more time now after the rendering deadlines.

Lesson 28, 29 & 30

Haven't skated for 2 weeks. Thought that I'd forget everything, but it was actually not too bad. Well, certainly not good, but not as bad as I thought.

Basically doing one-foot spin, toe loop again. Though slow, I'm progressing little by little. Really little, but yet still call it a progress.

Learning new stuff -- Salchow. Wohooo..... well, just learned the idea. Kinda got it. Andy told me not to try it myself. Sure. I'm not dare, plus I still have lots to practise. But I'm glad that I'm learning new stuff.

Lesson 27

Didn't practise for a whole week. Yet, I had a productive lesson. Learned quite some footwork stuff.

It's a weird feeling. I can't explain it, but I hope I'm not serious. I know I'm just lonely. I can't be serious. But how come, how come I feel jealous, how come I feel my heart hurt a little. I can't explain it. Am I really falling? It's dangerous, I shouldn't indulge myself, I have to hold back. But...... anyway.......

Forward Outside -
I finally understand the trick. Getting there, though slow. I'm more confident in doing the move. Will add more speed when I get more comfortable with it.

Forward Outside Inside -
I don't quite know how it called, so just call it I/O changing edges, or swings w/ one foot. Very nerve wrecking. Andy taugh me to do it with 2 feet first, when I got into the pattern, then held my right leg up. However, whenever I held my right leg up, I'd start skating flat instead of going outside, inside. Need a lot of practice in this one.

Forward 3 turns -
I can do LFO3 and RFO3 by itself, but when putting them together, I just can't link them in-between. When Andy was doing it, I saw there was a little trick when proceeding from LFO3 to RFO3 and the other way around, but I just can't get that trick done by myself, I'd just keep gliding. Something's wrong in here. Will find out.

Toe-Loop Jump -
I landed a couple finally. Andy told me I did do a toe-loop; I did take off backward. Wohooo...... I kinda felt it too. Though I would sometimes going back to doing a toe-waltz, I'm thrill enough. Andy said the whole move is fine until before landing. I need to improve my confidence level in doing the jump, then improve my landing position, then improve the height and the speed. But I did it, I did a one-revolution jump. Though I suspect it's a full one-revolution. Anyway, I'm thrill enough.

Lesson 25 & 26

Half year already! I've been skating for exactly 6 months. I think I've learned a lot within these 180+ days.

Outside edges -
Haven't done it for quite a while. Somehow I feel like Andy read my mind. As I was thinking about these couple days ago, he started our lesson with outside edges. And..... I almost forgot it all. I couldn't bring my free legs to the front again. Then later on, after practising for a while, I found out I actually didn't forget it all, but before, I just practised to a point that I could do it with an arc, a large one, not even a half circle. But what Andy wants me to do is more like a small half circle. Need more practice.

One-Foot Spin -
I fell a big time, but I'm getting better at straightening my left leg. My spin's getting more and more consistent, and I started to get the trick to enter from an outside edge T-position. But yet, need to practise more to make it more steady.

Waltz Jump -
Getting better and better. Need to get more height and speed.

Toe-Loop Jump -
I landed many toe-waltz jump, but not a single toe-loop. Andy said I still haven't got the feel of the power generated by bringing in my left arm. Yea, I really feel nothing. But at least I can land a toe-waltz. I think I'll practise more in landing more toe-waltz. Get more height and speed, then I think I'll proceed to a real toe-loop jump. Will see.

Overall, I think I'm progressing. I'm out of the plateau, I still have space to improve. Just getting a more consistent one-foot-spin is already a big reward.

Lesson 23 & 24

Was not in the mood last week, so didn't write anything. Lonely, lonely, I feel like I am the only one left behind. Everyone has moved on his/her new life, new love, but me. I stand at the same place, looking back, losing direction. Even Andy saw it. He said I looked like I was disoriented. I said physically, I was not, but mentally, I did lose my direction.

Thank you Grace, Ching, Iris. I just need someone to talk to. I'm lost, but I shall be back soon.

Glad that this week, I have a little break through.

One-Foot-Spin -
I kinda found that one spot. My body starting to remember the location. My successful rate has bumped up to 60-70%. However, Andy still wants a better position. It's a tiring position. Will try harder. But I'm happy enough, much better than couple weeks ago. By then, I could start out a pivot 10 times, and failed 10 times. But now I know, even I fail a couple of times, I would at least be able to make a couple right on. Then we process to the T-position entry, or outside edge entry, whatever name. With Andy's help, I got 1 succeeded. Not bad for now.

Waltz Jump -
Pretty much the same. Maybe a little better after I tried to hold my entry a little longer before taking off. Have been trying to perfect the air position. Will see.

Toe-Loop -
Starting to understand how it works. I even landed a couple ugly and small ones. I could feel them as real toe-loops, instead of toe-waltz. Yea, I got that feeling, the feeling of revolving almost 360 degree in the air. I got it. But in order to make the whole jump looks nicer, I have to go back to practising a toe-waltz first.

Lesson 22

There must be something wrong with the computer system. How come it said today was my first lesson of the cycle? And I haven't paid the tuition fee yet? I was confused at first until I came home and checked on my receipt and saw that it was actually my 3rd lesson of the cycle and I had paid already. Anyway, not a big deal, just need to clear it up next time.

I went with Amy, Emily, Yee, Victor and his friends to the "flower market" today. Wow, my goodness, it was more like sweeping along by people instead of walking, I was sure I had made a couple one-foot-spin at the spot. Well, just an experience, next year, hehe..... not much desire to experience it again.

What's wrong with Andy? I don't know, and I don't care what other people said. Do I really not care? No, I know I do care, but in another way around, I care, because I find out I care about Andy. I care about him. Thus I feel hurt for what I've heard. I feel hurt for him. Though I didn't hear much, but it seemed to imply Andy is not a good coach. I know he's not the best, but to me, he's good enough. Sigh..... I do care about him.

One-Foot-Spin -
Tried the T-position entry, with some kinda success. Other than that, the same, not much progress.

Waltz Jump -
Again, not much progress.

Toe-Loop -
The same, not much progress.

My feet are hurting. I'm tired. I can jump and spin no more. In the coming lesson, I'm going to ask Andy to help me with the basics.

Lesson 21

Andy is always on the phone! Is he managing his other job? I was almost pissed at a point. But, well, I just practised myself then. Then I remembered how I was always on the phone in the last couple months in PA. Was John pissed? Anyway, I hope he's doing fine. He seemed like he was not only always on the phone, but kinda worried/ irritated, whatever you name it. Sometimes I wanna know more about him. Just like how Ben always talks to Sally and Eva about himself, more like friends. But he is who he is. I still think he's a good coach. Just let it be.

Waltz Jump -
Tried hard to do a moving Mohawk, but the more I tried, the weirder it got. Thus I had to go back to make it slower and cleaner with every single move. Andy wanted me to keep a more steady pace, even it means it'll be a slower pace. Feels like it's getting a little better. I gotta go back to try many of it until I can make it steady, then I'll make it faster and higher.

One-Foot-Spin -
Still very inconsistent, but getting better and better now. I can hold my free leg up higher and longer, and I kinda found the trick for the position to hold my free leg longer, it really makes a difference, but it's indeed easier to understand by theory than really doing it.

Toe-Loop -
Let me call it a cheated toe-loop, or a toe-waltz. Have been practising on the rail. I'm just afraid I'll get used to doing a toe-waltz and won't be able to develop it into a real toe-loop. Well, I saw Ben taught his students the same way, and saw some other youtube video with ppl doing toe-waltz and call it a toe-loop. Seems like it's the learning process.

Lesson 20

Thank you Andy, for your encouragement. I'm feeling much better now, knowing I'm not too stupid, but indeed above average, as you've put it. Thank you so much, and you're great too. I don't care what other people said, to me, you're a good coach. :)
Thank you Jeffrey too. Haha..... for thinking I'm younger than you and Andy. I think I'm at least 8-9 years older than you guys. But thanks for the compliment. :P

LFO3 turn + Landing -
Reviewed it. I thought I could do it though not smooth, but during the lesson, just figured I couldn't quite do it when I was restrained in a tight circle. It's all about edging. Thus I went back to practise more on my forward outside edges. Well, but indeed, it's backward outside and inside that I need to practise. But I think I haven't learned it officially.

One-Foot Spin -
Getting better and better, though slow, but I think I do get better.
Learned the crossed leg position. It was actually easier than holding my free leg out. Yea, it's all about practice, practice, practice.

Waltz Jump -
The position is OK, I guess. I just need to add more power to it. So Andy wanted me to add more speed, i.e. accelerate a little before entering to the Mohawk. So I spent quite some time after lesson to practise a "moving Mohawk" along the perimeter. I think I'm getting better, but yet to do it faster and more steady.

That's it for Lesson 20. Oh, well, a lot to practise.

Am I hitting the plateau already?

Frustrated!
Though I know I'm still progressing slowly, but..... just feeling frustrated. So many things I've learned, yet so many things I fail to do. The plate's so full. What did I learn in the past 5 months?
Forward crossovers, backward crossovers, backward wiggle, lunge, stop, 2-foot-spin, 1-foot-spin, LFO3, RFO3, LFI3, RFI3, mohawk, waltz jump, half-flip, cheated toe-loop, forward outside edges, forward inside edges, plus the combinations of some of the above moves.
What have I mastered? None.
But have to admit I have much better control on the ice than 5 months ago.
Oh, come on, I know I can do it, not giving up yet.

Lesson 19

I got an hour long lesson today. I guess I was way too relaxed today and started to be "too myself" and said quite some mo liu stuff. I hope Andy didn't mind. Well, for some reasons, I thought that he was a mo liu person as well. But when I asked Wai Chai, he said he didn't quite know Andy and couldn't really tell, since Andy was quite serious most of the time. Wai Chai said most of the coaches would just treat their students as clients, thus won't show much true feelings, not even when they're being offended. But I see them as my friends. I really don't know. At least, I see Andy as my friend. But maybe I should show more respect to him, he's my coach afterall. Anyway.......

Backward Stroking -
We did backward stroking figure 8. Good way to practise backward outside. Then we processed to backward crossovers figure 8 with 3-turn transition. It was way too hard for me, thus Andy lowered the level to forward crossover & backward crossover figure 8 with 3-turn connection. A little easier, yet I could only do them when grabbing tight on Andy. I think my main problem is I can't do a 3-turn on a move. It was in my items-to-be-polished list: practise 3-turn w/ momentum instead of in a standstill position.

Waltz Jump -
Not much progress. Still the same. But I think I'm getting more used to swinging my right leg to the front. Just need more practise to anchor the position. Then practise on getting more speed and height. Also, need to have smoother transition from 3-turn/Mohawk into the jump.

Toe-Loop Jump -
Can't believe it, I'm learning a single toe-loop jump!!! Can't believe I'm learning to do a whole revolution. Well, I was actually not really doing a whole revolution. Andy actually just wanted me to get the feel of it. So he taught me to do a cheated one first. But I'm excited enough. Well, but indeed, I totally doubt my ability, and I don't even know if it's a good idea to learn a toe-loop now since I didn't even secure my waltz jump and my half-flip. I should work harder to master the half revolution jumps, since I'm thrill to be learning a single jump.

1-Foot-Spin -
Getting a little better, and a tiny little bit more consistence.

I'm slowing down a lot. Feeling like I'm not going anywhere and won't go anywhere from here. Will I?

Lesson 18

Having so much fun skating lately. Not because of skating itself, but of all the fun things, friendship, so and so. Indeed, I'm getting more and more lazy and inpatient in practising, but on the other hand, more and more keen on seeing friends and chatting in the rink. Don't know if it's a good thing or not. Anyway, I still enjoy skating a lot.

Backward Crossovers -
Practised backward crossovers figure 8. Not much progress. Seems like it's still the same. Still fall from time to time.

Forward Crossovers -
Getting better doing crossovers at the perimeter of the rink instead of just in a small circle. Still tend to point the toe pick down after crossing over.
Haven't practised the clockwise crossovers for a while.
Oh, well, I really gotta practise more on my basics.

Waltz Jump -
Have Andy checked on my position. After doing several small jumps, he said I've improved a little on the take off. He gave me 70 out of 100. I know he's way too generous.
Andy told me to bend my knee upon landing. It helps a great deal in securing the landing.
We tried entering the jump from a Mohawk instead of a 3-turn. He said it looks nicer that way though I couldn't tell the difference. I just know it's harder since I still need more practice on my Mohawk.

1-Foot-Spin -
Sometimes I can hit that "sweet spot", that feeling was so good, I'd just rotate naturally, almost effortless. But I can't most of the time. I have to practise more in getting right on the "sweet spot" everytime. I'm indeed very frustrated now. How come I just can't do it? Just can't. The times that I could do it was more like merely out of luck. It's very frustrating.
Then on top of the pivot entry, Andy added a T-position entry. I just can't do it. Am I way too stupid or what? Sorry, Andy, I know you've been very patient. [sigh] I'll practise more. But somehow I just wonder if it ever helps practising more if I just can't do it.

Lesson 17

Since Andy was sick, we changed our lesson to Thursday instead. What's going wrong? Lots of people are sick; Andy's sick, Ben's sick, Sally's sick. Must be the sudden drop of temperature. I do feel cold sometimes, especially there's no heat at home, but certainly it's no where to compare to Philly's weather, shouldn't complain.
So both Wed and Thur before lesson, I tried a lot of inside and outside forward. And Thur after lesson, I did quite some 1-foot-spin.

1-foot-spin -
Probably Andy has spotted me failed on all of my 1-foot-spin during practice, he asked me to do a couple 2-foot-spin first. Though not perfect, I thought they were OK. But I failed again when he asked me to do 1-foot-spin. Then I mentioned the screws of my left blade was losen couple weeks ago, I fastened them back and seemed like I lost my ability of doing a 1-foot-spin afterward. (Well, I gotta blame on something else sometimes, hahaha......) Andy took a look at my blade, then centered it a little and put another screw on. It didn't help much, and too bad, I lost my excuse. hehe....... anyway..... but he gave me some more instruction on doing the spin, and told me indeed my position was correct, it was all about practice. After knowing the fact that it's quite normal to fail like that at the beginning, I felt much better, and the pressure was lessen. Certainly his instructions helped and I started to feel the position and the trick. So after lesson, I kept doing 1-foot-spin until my left foot hurt. I think I'm getting just a liiiiiitttle bit better.

Forward outside/ inside edges -
I think I passed the fear of bringing my free legs to the front. I could hold my free legs up front higher and longer. Yee has once told me I kept looking down at the ice, so I tried to look straight to the front instead, it also helped to stablize myself. More practice is needed, but I'm thrill enough at this point.

Waltz jump -
Yee said what Andy has said, yes, I tend to swing my right leg to the side instead of forward when I take off. It's kinda like a cheaty jump, since when I swing my right leg to the side, I already made a 1/4 rotation, thus I just need to do another 1/4 in the air before I land. I don't know when I've developed this bad habit. I gotta correct it before it's too late. Not only it doesn't look good, I can't jump high if I swing my leg to the side, I guess it also set a bad foundation if I'm going to do an axel later. (will I ever get to learn axel jump? oh well, doesn't hurt to dream a little) I did practise a lot on swinging my right leg to the front and try to make the whole half rotation in the air, but since I can't see myself, I don't know if I'm doing it correctly. I think I better stop for now before I develop any more bad position. I gotta ask Andy to check my position first, and I have to feel the right position before practising more to anchor it.

LFO3 & RFO3 turns -
I think they're getting better now. During the lesson, we tied them together. It was kinda fun. Andy said we were like doing latin dance. :)

Oh, I saw Marco demonstrated some jumps to his students. Wow.... he jumped so high with great speed. Nice. :)