- Joined
- Nov 12, 2013
Well, I will try to. 
I emailed the Polish fed again to confirm that audience is still allowed (they didn't answer the previous email). The Polish foreign ministry website is... um, interestingly up to date? I checked yesterday, and some of the restrictions still have the label 'valid until October 31' 
And our foreign ministry takes info from them, lol. I would like to have some guarantees, but alas. 
I'll just keep 
and hope for the best, I guess
Oh yeah, I hope Sota has a safe flight. The dance couples and Vincent are still listed - maybe they are on the same flight? Then he needs to sleep a lot, and rest his legs and feet. Did you guys notice how he kept massaging his thighs after the FS at NHK? His conditioning seems good, but maybe the competitions are too close to each other and he's not used to it. Well, competing twice in a week's span brought Kazuki a small WC medal a few years ago, so maybe Sota will have a good competition in Warsaw, too? But, I want him to be cautious while practicing. I am still somewhat traumatized from having seen Daria get injured, and I'd hate for Sota to have a mishap due to going for very difficult content while jetlagged. I hope he competes safely in the first place, and then make the top 8 if possible. But safety is paramount.
I emailed the Polish fed again to confirm that audience is still allowed (they didn't answer the previous email). The Polish foreign ministry website is... um, interestingly up to date? I checked yesterday, and some of the restrictions still have the label 'valid until October 31' And our foreign ministry takes info from them, lol. I would like to have some guarantees, but alas. I'll just keep and hope for the best, I guess Oh yeah, I hope Sota has a safe flight. The dance couples and Vincent are still listed - maybe they are on the same flight? Then he needs to sleep a lot, and rest his legs and feet. Did you guys notice how he kept massaging his thighs after the FS at NHK? His conditioning seems good, but maybe the competitions are too close to each other and he's not used to it. Well, competing twice in a week's span brought Kazuki a small WC medal a few years ago, so maybe Sota will have a good competition in Warsaw, too? But, I want him to be cautious while practicing. I am still somewhat traumatized from having seen Daria get injured, and I'd hate for Sota to have a mishap due to going for very difficult content while jetlagged. I hope he competes safely in the first place, and then make the top 8 if possible. But safety is paramount.
and yet he did it!
And judge #3 was so smitten with his finale he gave Sota +5 for both last spins and choreo sequence! Finally, the grandeur of Sota's skating is getting recognized! 
Sitting close to Wesley Chiu, Shmuratko and Fentz at breakfast, and to Koshiro and Lindsay at dinner. Saying 'That's okay' in Japanese to Koshiro when his lift stopped on my floor and I wanted to indicate I wouldn't get on (we were supposed to take it individually, though with just two lifts there, many people didn't stick to that rule). Checking in in the same line as some of Team Italy.
Imagine my surprise when me and my mum checked in, left our bags upstairs, and went down to the restaurant to have a hot dinner, only for me to immediately spot Sota and his coach (Shota Higuchi) sitting at one of the tables. The place was bustling like a beehive, because there was a judge dinner meeting taking place there, and also the skaters were already there. We didn't immediately see any unoccupied tables, so we waited for a waitress to show us one. She took a look around, and pointed us toward a table that was almost directly behind Sota and his companion! I suspect Sota did notice us the moment we entered, as he was facing our direction. I wonder if he thought our seating purely accidental (which it was) - for all he knew, I might have been asking the waitress if we could sit close to Mr. Yamamoto... 
The hilarious thing is, my mum didn't notice the two boys at first. Sota must have been this bark-immitating gecko in his past life, I swear. He was doing such a great job of blending in with the surroundings, muffled in his black jacket and not really looking up much, that he fooled mum into overlooking him. The first thing she noticed at our table was the dinnerware mess left by the previous guests, and she started commenting on it in our native language, drawing attention from Shota who looked at her with interest. She says with a smile she gave him a momentary 'what are you looking at?' stare back, not realizing who he was. At that moment I nudged her, letting her know it was the boys, and we started snickering and feeling embarrassed. We got in a dinner booth, and after a few moments, Sota and Shota went to sit in the adjoining one. My mum had sharper ears than me, and actually heard one of them ordering the margarita from Sota's IG photo. I just heard the boys chatting in low voices (I didn't understand a word of course, nor did I try to listen in), laughing, and generally having a good time, despite the service which was quite slow on that day. The two even had to clear the plates of the previous guests off their new table themselves. ^ ^ So, if Sota perhaps expected the organizers to have forgotten to raise the Japanese flag during the medal ceremony, he had good reasons to think so, as some things didn't go all that smoothly in Poland.
He has Keiji's hairstyle and hair shade, and of course had his face covered by a mask at all times. But watching his interactions with Sota, I am now very sure these two have a very good coach-student relationship, as well as a friendly one. Not on just one occasion did Shota remind me of the sonzai that Ryuju was for Sota at Kokutai. (yeah yeah, I can't forget that one...) Sort of an older brother + mentor + friend figure, all in one. I think it's a great thing that Tokai training center has Shota, and that Sota is glad to have a man as his co-coach. Sota looked the happiest to me when he was flanked by Shota and Koshiro. Before the SP however, I didn't see Koshiro and Sota together very often, and the few times I spotted them, they would each sit at the table with their coach, probably focusing on competition strategy.
This was Sota's chance for a new SB, and PB, and GP slots and WS points... But, what made me glad was hearing a guy who was sitting right behind me speak highly of Sota during the warmup. I don't know who he was, but he sounded like someone who does skating. I think he may have been a freestyle skater, but no idea. And he literally said (in English) to his female companions: 'Watch the Japanese guy. He's really good!' He repeated that once or twice during Sota's successful warmup. Sota seemed fine. And yet my nerves didn't ebb away until after his program. I was so glad to see him score over 91 points. Almost like his Finlandia score, with just one quad! And that is a good strategy for now, I think. It really feels like the Tokai team know what they are doing by listing very few quads, although we don't know the reason. I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the day 
Couldn't the photographer done a better job...
