PNWISC -- and that means skating.

[icarus]

Okay, skating fans.

I'm off to the Pacific Northwest Interclub Skating Championships. I get to watch -- get this -- a grand total of three men skate, as opposed to a gazillion women. There's only one Senior level (think kick-ass cool Nationals-type skating you see on TV) skater there.

But hey. It's skating.

I called the woman who's the president of the club (and contact person) and she sounded surprised they were going to have a spectator.

Running late. The practices start at 3pm.

*excitement!*

Comments

[crownglass39.livejournal.com]

That sounds awesome! Have fun!

[ev-vy.livejournal.com]

Yo, man! Have fun! Is Lysacek there? *g*

But it always seems to me that figure skating used to be so much more exciting before the iron curtain fell. Prolly because all the politics behind the rivalry.

[cyanne]

That's so cool. Hope you have a great time.

[ladyflowdi.livejournal.com]

Hurray! Have fun!!

[tingler.livejournal.com]

Woot!!!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It was a blast. Oh my god, those little girls were so cute!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It's not that level of event. Purely local skating clubs, getting a head start on the season to try out new programs. 90% adorable little girls springing about the ice like kittens chasing string.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It was a blast. I learned quite a lot, too.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

The big surprise: wow, what skeevy figure skating rink.

The second big surprise: oh my god, these little girls are cute.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I learned a lot of helpful information.

Also, skating rinks smell faintly of cold clorine.

[ladyflowdi.livejournal.com]

The big surprise: wow, what skeevy figure skating rink.

Skeevy? Seriously? Dude, that's gross. A good thing to help in your writing, but still -- eeww.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I mean, totally 1970s grungy.

The light fixtures had rust on them, the benches were totally beat up, the girl's bathrooms reminded me of the men's rooms in high school (and that's where the skaters changed), the main entryway had this greenish stuff growing down the aluminum siding... it was almost charmingly bad. I mean -- gritty.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

By the way: I love that icon. May I steal it?

Icarus

[ladyflowdi.livejournal.com]

The light fixtures had rust on them, the benches were totally beat up, the girl's bathrooms reminded me of the men's rooms in high school (and that's where the skaters changed), the main entryway had this greenish stuff growing down the aluminum siding... it was almost charmingly bad. I mean -- gritty.

You've got to fit that in your story somehow. Maybe as a flashback! One of Rodney's, um, early forays into skating ;) That'd be awesome.

As for the icon, sure! I'm not entirely sure which one it is you mean, so for the Kingdom Hearts one it's credit to sukobot, who is awesome, and for John Sheppard the always great _wwsd_ :) Have fun!

[ladyflowdi.livejournal.com]

Hey, can I ask -- who is the 'model' you've used for all your Out of Bounds stuff, like for your icon?

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of several of the rinks where I've skated. One is only semi-enclosed, which means that not only does wind tend to whip through the place (with all that may mean, including leaves and trash frozen to the ice*) there are also pigeons nesting in the rafters, and thus certain areas of the rink that one needs to be careful of. Let's just say that pigeon poop and skate blades aren't well matched. The poop wins.

*And, over the course of the season, the ice starts to slant. The wind, over the course of the winter, makes it so that one end of the ice is a bit higher than the other. You can really get speed going.

Another rink has this odd yellow ooze dripping from the ceiling. It drips to the ice and makes raised - are those stalagtites or or stalagmites? Anyway, you get my meaning. Which is fine, if slightly rough. Grossness comes when one of those drips hits you in the head. Ick.

Another rink has no doors on the bathroom stalls, and the whole place looks as if its seen better days. I'm sure the hot pink paint on the walls doesn't help the general ambiance. Frozen hockey-boy spit doesn't help, either.

Another rink has fabulous ice - no poop, no stalagmites, no hockey-boy spit, just beautiful, smooth ice. Of course, no one skates there anymore. It was the riots that did it.

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

And hockey-boys. Sometimes, also of diesel exhaust.