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Laurie's Log - Unofficial Practices
October 22, 2000 Okay, I've just checked into my room (and ready to collapse - getting up at 3:00 a.m. is w-a-a-a-a-y too early, LOL!), so I'm going to take my nap now so I can go exploring later this evening.... Well, it's very quiet here! All the skaters are being very good and not hanging out in the bar, LOL... I did go into the bar - for travel recuperation purposes only, of course, LOL! - and I'm sure glad I did, because I got to watch the 2000 Worlds Exhibitions on the huge big screen TV! It was so funny, because there were only guys in the bar, and they were all watching the baseball game on the small TVs. But the bartender (a woman, LOL!) had the figure skating on the big screen TVs - it was awesome to see the skaters on the big TVs. Of course, I watched Alexei's wonderful "Tosca" exhibition! Love that costume! And they also showed his interview afterwards - what a cutie! After that, I went out to have dinner in the coffee shop. I did see Jamie Sale & David Pelletier (for those who have been hearing they might be injured and not skating here) having dinner with Barbara Fusar-Poli and the ever gorgeous Mauricio Margaglio a couple tables away from me. So I'm pretty sure Jamie and David plan to skate here, or why would they be here so early. I also saw two of the men's singles skaters, who looked very familiar to me, but I can't name them. But when I spot them at the practices, I will let you know which two they were. No Alexei sightings so far, but I'm very tired and I'm going to bed, LOL...
Laurie October 23, 2000 Okay, I finally got to see what I came for, LOL - a practice! This was an unstructured practice, which is unlike the "regular" structured practices which start on Wednesday. Those practices are set up for specific times and specific skaters. For example, the men skate at a specific time and the ladies skate at another specific time. This practice was open, and skaters could come and go as they pleased. I think I arrived too late to see most of them, though, LOL. I did see Tim Goebel working hard on his triple axel/triple toes and some quad sals. I saw Angela Nikodinov and Sale & Pelletier. I also swear I saw Ben Ferreira, but since he is not supposed to be on the roster, I must have mistaken him for someone else, LOL... I also saw Elena Sokolova (who was working hard on her triple lutz and her spins) and Alexei Mishin, which really surprised me, since according to Anke's report, Elena had just skated in an exhibition in Europe the other night. They must have taken the Concorde to get here, LOL! Mr. Mishin looked dapper, as always. At practice, I heard Michelle Kwan is not here yet, but she will probably arrive tomorrow. It seems like every event I go to, there are always some skaters you see gadding about much more than others. At Masters, it was Irina Slutskaya - it seemed like every time I turned around, there she was. Well, the skaters du jour here seem to be Sale & Pelletier and Fusar-Poli & Margaglio. I see them at breakfast, lunch, leaving and going to my hotel room, LOL! I missed their practice today - saw them returning with skates in tow. But I headed back to the rink, figuring maybe I'd catch some others. And I did. Shen and Zhao had a great practice today. They nailed practically everything they tried. Great SBS double axels, triple toes, and a terrific triple twist. They skated with a lot more speed than I saw at Masters. At the hotel, I ran into Mr. Margaglio again in the hallway to the elevator. He almost got on the elevator with me, but alas, someone called to him just before he stepped inside, LOL! Darn! I had gone into the bar, but nobody interesting was in there, so I went out into the lobby and picked what I thought was a good spot for skater-watching, LOL...I brought my drink out from the bar with me and had my Robin Cook novel to amuse myself with. Saw Mr. Margaglio again, of course, LOL....yikes! Don't kill me, Kim - I woulda missed Alexei walking right by me totally, except that someone eating dinner called out to him, so of course I looked up! And there he was, wearing his baseball cap and beige jacket. After he finished his conversation with the people who had called out to him, he happened to look over at me (because I was the only person in the vicinity, LOL), and I got a nice smile. And then he headed off to the elevator - *my* elevator, LOL....no, I did not follow him to see what floor he got off of, LOL....but I wanted to! I hadn't seen Alexei until tonight, and the hotel staff told me they expected a lot of people to arrive today, and a lot of people did. The Japanese contingent arrived, along with quite a few others. I did not see Bourne & Kraatz or Alexei at the practices or at the hotel, so I think it is very possible they just got here today. When I said that the practices were why I came to Skate America, I didn't mean that, LOL! What I meant to say is that is why I came this *early.* I'm here for the actual competition, of course. The first of my compatriots will start arriving soon - Kim arrives tomorrow, and I think everyone else will arrive on Wednesday. I think I'm going to get up extra early tomorrow and see if I can catch some of the earlier practices. I slept in (bad Laurie!) and missed a lot of them, I'm sure. Okay, back to duty, LOL! Y'all don't know how much this is costing me in internet charges - I'll probably spend as much on posting here as I do on my room!
Laurie October 24, 2000 Wow! I'm just back from "dueling ice dance!" Bourne & Kraatz and Fusar-Poli & Margaglio on the same ice. And it was dueling, too - first one couple would skate to their music - then the other couple. There were other ice dance couples out there, but I think all eyes were on these two! Tatiana was there, of course, and so was Alexei (in his baseball cap and beige jacket - don't think he's ready to let us see his hair yet, LOL), but he didn't stay. I don't know if he was done already or went to another rink - there are three ice rinks available for the skaters here. Sale & Pelletier were skating in the other (I did go over and watch them for a few minutes - they looked good and were skating to nice, romantic music), but I stayed and mostly watched the dance. F-P & Margaglio (and don't you know we arrived at the same time, LOL!) skated in costume. He was wearing a deep blue, military type costume with rhinestones, she was wearing a beautiful white and blue chiffon-type dress with a red heart on the front. The music was very dramatic, operatic, kind of "Carmina Buranish" - sorry, I'm pathetic at this stuff! Anyway, they were very impressive! Fast, furious and exciting stuff. B & K were not in costume - they were wearing black work out clothes. They skated to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy ("Jumpin' Jack") and some "Big Spender" sounding, Stray Cat blues sounding music. Very sexy and sassy. If Shae-Lynn's knee is bothering her, it doesn't show at all. They looked good! Tatiana worked with both couples. First one would come up to the boards and talk with her and then the other. Victor Kraatz is a nice guy! When he walked in the door and walked past me, he looked me straight in the eye and said "Good morning." I like that in a man, LOL! Shae-Lynn was also nice and smiled and said "Hi." For an hour, I was the only fan in the place. Every single other person was a skater. It was great! And they were all nice. After a while, other people starting coming in. Tim Goebel and Angela Nikodinov came in towards the end of the session, but I didn't see them on the ice. As I was leaving, Victor Kraatz tried to leave, too, and he pushed or pulled on the door the wrong way. He struggled with it a bit and then looked over at me and laughed - he was funny, and I liked that he had such a good sense of humor. Anyway, that was fun! Well, I know exactly where Alexei is right now - he's practicing in the World Arena rink. I was crushed, because there were three rinks he could have walked into - and, of course, he walked into the one that you need a pass to get into, LOL - the other two are open to the public. (sniff) Of course, this might be perfect timing for Kim, because by the time he saunters back to the hotel, she should be arriving and looking for me in the lobby, LOL... Bourne & Kraatz were wearing different black work out clothes from this morning (I think they were work out clothes - either that or their costumes are very, very simple this year, LOL). Fusar-Poli & Margaglio were also wearing black. Maurizio was wearing a black tux with tails; Barbara was wearing a black backless dress with rhinestones at the collar and sides. Unfortunately, there was no music, but both couples, along with the other dance couples, pretty much skated their programs all the way through. It was strange to watch without music, though. I actually preferred both programs from the morning practice, but that may be because there was no music this time - it just seems very weird to watch dance without any music playing at all because the music is so important. To answer the question about Angela - she looks pretty much the same as I remember her looking from last year, although she does seem thinner. But I wouldn't say it was that noticeable a change. I did get to see her skate a bit the first day I was here, but I was mostly watching Tim at that time, so I can't really say what she did, except that there was nothing particularly memorable, so she either probably wasn't doing anything particularly difficult, nor did she have any problems with what she was doing. When we got back to the hotel, we saw various skaters traipsing through the lobby - Trifun Zivanovic, Sarah Hughes, Vincent Restencourt, Barbara and Maurizio, of course, Victor and Shae-Lynn, Elena Sokolova, and a few others who looked very familiar but we couldn't name right off the bat, LOL... Well, that's all for today - we're worn out! Official practices start tomorrow.
Laurie |
