rallamajoop

Aaand I’m back! To where the weather is colder, but the Internet more reliable (holidays are wonderful and all, but nothing makes you appreciate good ADSL like being stuck on a dodgy low speed modem for a week).

( All that skating stuff )

Other random: I could’ve sworn I saw someone in an Akatsuki coat just standing around at a bus stop the first night we were there. This is even weirder considering I would also swear I saw a Naruto cosplayer in Melbourne a few years back. Is random cosplay bigger in the eastern states than I realised or something? Even better, there was a girl in one of those skating events (which I got to see on account of NOT BEING SICK, DID I MENTION THIS? YAY!) in a Songstress Yuna costume. Wish I could’ve asked her about it, because I’m all curious now. Is she into cosplay outside of skating? Did she have a themed routine last year and decide to recycle the costume for another event? Did she just like the design? Dad’s got her on one of his videos if anyone wants proof – it’s a pretty simple costume as they go, but it’s far too distinctive to be coincidence.

Didn’t do a lot of sight-seeing this year. It’s my third time in the Gold Coast for skating, so we’ve pretty much done everything there already (and stuff like Movie World just isn’t so much fun when you’ve only got your parents there to keep you company). I did find a place in a practically deserted arcade selling all these gorgeous Chinese style clothes really cheap, though, so now I have this nice new outfit and no idea where I'll ever be able to wear it. ^^; Ah well, it’ll be sure to come in handy somewhere or other.

But one of the nicest things about these kinds of skating holidays these days is suddenly having all this extra time to write without the usual distractions. So, back to finishing all those xxxHOLiC AU's I started over there so I can get them posted. =D

So, I'm back from Sydney.

Animania continued to be great fun through the second day. Finally managed to track down Clara and Tini (yay!) and I could stay long enough to see the cosplay comp and such that day. It sounds like most of the best costumes were on day one, but there was still some memorable stuff there - like the Shinji who brought his own cello and played us the opening bars from "Death and Rebirth" (and even got to tell the MC, absolutely deadpan, 'that everyone should just go die' XD Perfectly in character!). The karaoke competition was seriously impressive too - some of the finalists were terrific!

Then I got home and came down with a cold that left me stuck in the hotel for the next two days. If anyone who's been reading this journal for over a year just got deja-vu, that's because the same damn thing happened right before the comp last year. I don't know what to conclude except that I really don't travel well. ^^;;

I was still feeling a little sick during my first event, but I didn't perform too badly considering. *Just* missed out on second place, which was a little disappointing. The three Queensland judges put the Queensland girl ahead of me, which was generally voted to be more than a little suss. Actually, from all the complaints we heard from other skaters there seemed to be a *lot* of events where that happened this year.

Look, it's not paranoia when they really are out to get you.

At least I can say that, sick or otherwise, I gave it a hundred percent in that event; which is to say I practically collapsed afterwards and spent over the next hour lying down in the sick room and being told to drink large quantities of water and powerade. Apparently this worked, because I felt a whole lot better afterwards. (Thank god sugar has yet to be classified as a performance enhancing drug.)

There were six in my second event and I was pretty sure I wasn't in the running for the medals, so I decided to just go out there and try to enjoy myself for a change. Possibly I was still on a sugar high at this stage, but this was definitely the right way to play it, because I had a really fun routine to work with this year (it was a jive, using this song) and I wound up having the most fun I'd ever had at a competition with that performance. Didn't get a medal, but I'm still pretty happy with it all.

I had one final day free after that, so I met up with Clara and Tini again on Friday and finally got to do some touristy stuff. We wound up going around the Chinese gardens in Sydney, the best part of which was that they have all these gorgeous traditional Chinese costumes and headdresses you can rent out and wear around the gardens. I still didn't have a camera, but they took tonnes of photos which I'll have to get off them at some point.

I finally got to see X-Men 3 on the plane on the way back, about which I'll say only this: it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone has been telling me, but I don't have any particular desire to ever watch it again.

Back from darkest Melbourne! The week in summary:

Friends from Perth who have not been seen in months, caught up with while in Melbourne: 2

Anime geek supply outlets visited: Many. X)

Naruto cosplayers spotted in the city (albeit at a distance): 1

Catwoman cosplayers spotted performing in the competition: 1

Time between the moment Joop should have realised she was genuinely sick for the first time this year and her first skating event: About 24 hours.

Result in Joop's first event despite this: Silver medal.

Result in Joop's second event despite still being sick: Bronze medal.

Total other skaters who Joop actually had to beat to get those: 2

Times the competition venue had to be shut down because the roof was leaking: 1

Degrees Celcius by which the venue was colder than the outside air temperature: We're all sure it must have been at least 10.

Times Joop has now arrived home from a competition in Melbourne with two medals and a sore throat: 2

( Loot - in case anyone wants to see what you actually get to show for all of this )

Overall, hasn't been a half bad week. ^_^

Since there are a few of you who like to know when they’re on, this was going to be a post about the skating competition I have this weekend. Only, they told us today it’s actually not on any more.

Apparently, the rink just closed down. Permanently. With - as far as I can tell - no warning, three days before the league. It’s not the place where I usually train, and there are other places we can hold the comps, but it’s a bit late to reschedule it anywhere else at this stage. More to the point, besides some very general money issues that have been going on for years, this is the first I or anyone else I know has heard about it. Don’t they usually have more notice about these things?

So, looks like I’m free Sunday. Anyone got any plans?

A couple of days ago I got hold of a copy of the draft of this year’s nationals program. Not sure just how final it is at this stage, there’ll probably be a bit of shuffling still; but apparently my events will be on fairly early this year which would make a nice change - usually I’m not finished until the last few days. It also gives numbers for how many people are competing in each event.

…

There are three in Advanced Solo Dance, and four in Advanced Creative. Out of the. Entire. Country. That's just pathetic.

OK, given, there were only five in solo dance last year, but we were holding the nats in The Most Isolated Capital In The World (ie, here) that time around, so I just put the low numbers down to some of the competitors from other states not wanting to bother with all that extra traveling. Numbers have been at least in the eight-or-nine-range for as long as I can remember; up until last year anyway, and even if my other event was looking a little sparse then there were still good number for the creative last time around.

To put this in perspective, I’m really not a particularly good skater on the scale of the standard in my event. I came last in my first event last year and didn’t do much better ranking-wise in the second either. But if these numbers are accurate, this year I am guaranteed at least one medal; and I have a pretty decent chance of a second one too.

Looks like operation Make It To The Medals By Shear Persistence is paying off.

(Pst! Kneecapping brigade! I don’t know how managed to do the rounds of all the other states without ever appearing to leave WA, but let me tell you, I’m impressed. you missed a couple though)