New posters

Hello and welcome all you new posters. I start this every so often. Love hearing about you. Where are you from, what do you do? Anything you would like to tell us? Hope you all enjoy the board as much as the rest of us.

Hi Grgranny,
Thanks for the welcome. I'm getting hooked on goldensk8 very quickly. Hmmm what would I like to share... how bout some basics, and then how I became a skate fan convert?

I live in Austin, Texas, where I grew up since age 8 (I'm now 34). I'm gay and in a long-term relationship with my partner of 10+ years. (I often say I'm "married" and refer to him as my husband, but that sometimes leads to confusion.)

I live in a great house that we bought 4-1/2 years ago. We have 4 dogs and 3 cats, which is kinda crazy. They are all strays and rescues, and I would say that we are a bit over our limit, but managing to make it work.

My favorite pasttime of the moment is playing tennis, which I've taken up again after many years (really since childhood). I also enjoy reading, particularly science fiction/fantasy type pulp stuff.

Okay, so that's a bit of the basics, but how did I become a skating fan? Well, I'd never been a huge fan of skating, watching with some interest maybe just at the Olympics, but my partner is a big fan, and his interest has grown over the years. (Neither of us were skaters, but he has some background in dance.) He watches every competition that comes on TV, and we've been to a couple of Champions on Ice tours when they came to town.

I have a hard time watching skating on television (still do). The energy just doesn't come through, and I hate to see them fall. However, last year we found out from a friend (we ran into at the Olivia Newton-John concert- I'm a moderately-fanatic fan) that the US Nationals would be in Dallas, TX (about 3 hours car drive away).

My husband claimed that it was the chance of a lifetime, probably the only time we could actually afford to go, so we bought tickets (all event) and went. It was our first real vacation together after 10 years. Nationals in Dallas were pretty poorly attended, so even though we bought late in the year, we got great seats- 5th row.

Now, this whole time I was thinking I would leave him at the arena and go visit friends and family throughout the week, still catching most of the events... But that didn't happen. I got totally sucked in. The energy of the live event took my breath away, and I absolutely loved sitting in on the practice and warm-up sessions. Okay, now I'm gushing. Anyway, my rear was glued to my seat 12 hours a day for 5 days. I had lunch once with a friend, and rushed it. The only time we got up was when they resurfaced the ice- we'd do a lap or two around the arena and try to meet skaters. We collected autographs for my niece.

So now I'm a fan- even though it's still hard to watch on TV. But now I follow online, love looking up scores and stats and news, etc. I've gotten so excited about the new season. We decided that we deserve a yearly vacation, and US Nationals is a fun place for that, so we've already bought our tickets for Atlanta and for Portland 2005. In fact we've already made hotel reservations in Portland. If I think my credit card can handle the strain, I may buy for St. Louis 2006 this year...

I'm already glad I started getting involved in the forums here. It seems like a great place for information and friendship. Thanks for the welcome.

Wow Convert, that was a great story.......so come on now, any favs??? 42

yes please we need details

Welcome, Convert, and I LOVED your story. Yes, there is nothing like seeing great skating live to get one hooked. TV just can't compare and it's a pity. So glad you and your husband took the opportunity to go to Nationals in Dallas. I think you saw two of the great performances of all time in skating--Michelle Kwan's "The Feeling Begins" and "Aranjuez." But you're right, the practices are what are really fascinating.

BTW, what is your husband's background in dance? Ballet, modern, other? Curious because I had a professional modern career many decades ago, which included much touring (and partying--woo hoo!) in Texas. Austin was great.

Looking forward to reading your posts.
Rgirl

BTW, what is your husband's background in dance

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Rgirl,
Sadly, my husband doesn't have any professional experience in dance. He is a totally natural tap dancer, and as a child took tap, and I think jazz. He can learn a tap routine in a few minutes. His parents stopped him as a teenager because it wasn't a masculine pursuit. He's maintained an interest and I think transferred much of it to skating.

Yes, Austin is a pretty fun place. We'll have to trade party stories sometime. Oh wait, I think I blocked all those out....

show 42 said:

so come on now, any favs??? 42

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Oh, okay, hmm. After nationals I have a new appreciation for all (okay, almost all) of the US skaters, but I have some international favs too.

Ladies: Lord, how do you choose?! There are so many great ones. It's mostly about the US ladies for me, though I think Fumie is a lovely skater. I love Sasha for pushing the envelope, Michelle for meeting the challenge and continuing her graceful dominance. I still remember watching her first worlds and how moving that was, and it's just gotten better. Last year in Dallas was unbelievable, mostly because of her skate, but also how the crowd loves her sooooooooooooooo much (me included).

I also got sold on Jennifer Kirk, about whom I hadn't been too enthusiastic before. Her performance at nationals was very beautiful, and she looked so Valley of the Dolls! (The book is even better than the movie) And then of course, I met Beatrisa Liang and Yebin Mok- sweet girls (they sat in front of us for one of the events). Yebin is a particularly gorgeous skater, though she did not connect to the audience as much as some of the other top ladies. And I can't leave out AP!

So here are my top five favorites ladies (in no particular order, which is such a copout; and they're all US skaters, which is a little nationalistic, but there you go): Michelle, Sasha, Jenny, Yebin, AP. I also have a soft spot for Angela Nikodinov.

Some of my all time favs include: Lu Chen, Yuka Sato, Oksana (particularly as a pro, for the short time before her troubles), and of course, Dorothy Hamill (I remember my mom got that haircut).

One of the cool things at nationals- the 3 novice ladies medalists sat in front of us for a competition: Kimmie Meissner, Katy Taylor, and Jessica Houston. Lots of fun meeting the up-and-comers!

Men: Well, I'm not so nationalistic about the men... Both Plushenko and Yagudin get my vote- they seem way ahead of the field. I like Johnny Weir a lot- hope he can come through. All time: Brian Boitano and Kurt Browning. I liked Rudy a lot until he signed our program at nationals in disappearing ink! (Seriously- his signature just faded away in 2 months- and he had his own pen... very suspicious...)

Pairs: Pairs seems like it's in a real transition to me. Shen and Xhao are great. For US, I really enjoyed Don and Hunt, and I seriously think they will soon be contenders- their energy and presence on the ice is impressive.

Dance: I don't really pick favs for the dance, since the judging has always been so suspect... Annisina and Peizerat I like. Belbin and Agosto were fun at nationals last year- the Elvis dance was just terrific.