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icepixieToday I did battle with the Evil Salchow, and emerged victorious.
P played with the positioning of my arms and legs on the entry edge and I finally manged to make it an entry with a hook instead of just an arc that keeps going and going and never actually turns into a jump. (Let me remind you, this is the jump "you just have to feeeeeeel" when it's right to actually move off the edge into the air.) Unfortunately, the entry wasn't into a jump so much as a stumble and a forward landing.
So in the last half hour, I decided I was going to get this to look like a jump. I'm pretty sure I did it 50+ times. It was like I was starring in one of those cheesy motivational commercials that has twenty fast cuts of some athlete or other doing the same thing over and over again untilexhaustion perfection.
And I will say this for those cheesy motivational commercials: The strategy is sound. By the fortieth or fiftieth mohawk-into-entry edge-into-stumble, I was able to get the hook--albeit scratchily, and too far onto my toe pick--and step through so that I landed mostly backwards. Depending on exactly where you pop off the toe pick, a Salchow is actually more of a 2/3- or 3/4-revolution jump than a full revolution (a fact which surprised me, given what you see on TV--it looks like they take off backwards, but in reality you take off...kind of halfway between forward and sideways). I probably have half a revolution now.
Also, the exhaustion. The exhaustion was real. I don't usually get that out of breath skating unless I'm doing Moves I know well at a pretty good clip, or those few occasions where I do 5+ waltz jumps one after the other or something. I usually do something, then take a moment to contemplate why it went wrong and how it can go better before trying again. Not this time. I was ready to fall over after all that.
It made me thankful that toe loops exist and are so much easier, especially since mine actually became a jump while I wasn't looking this week. Well, if I remember to bend my knee after the three turn; then I get into the air and I can feel my free leg swinging out and around as I land because I have real momentum, which is a very cool feeling. Toe loop-toe loop combinations are also less scary now that I can land the things more securely (yaaaaay new blade placement!).
*
Hey, this actually got good! I was surprised when it ended instead of half-watching the clock like I have been for earlier episodes. I got the impression there's quite a bit of background I'm missing in re: the Army unit who went to Russia with Peggy et al., but they did a decent job of covering for it and I don't feel like I didn't know anything vital.
The Good:
Peggy kicking ass and taking names.
Sousa being a smart investigator, and the way this led, in part, to a complete reversal of relationships at SSR HQ.
Dottie backstory. Dottie backstory that is super creepy. Dottie as a Soviet spy!
Dooley becoming slightly less of an outright asshole, maybe? Perhaps he is just biding his time.
I think I've lost a couple of details about the Battle of Finnau, but like most of the characters, I am very curious what led to all those dead Russians.
The Ambivalent:
Thompson's about-face. I absolutely buy his behavior over the previous episodes is a result of imposter syndrome. I don't entirely buy him voluntarily telling Peggy about ~his shame~, but...maybe? I was worried that he'd double down on the sexism and the disrespect after, because now she Knows His Secret And Must Be Punished--come on, you all know this is what happens IRL--but it was really quite nice to see him not do that.
If they'd led the show with this, nothing on god's green earth could keep me from shipping Carter/Thompson (I did enjoy that locker room scene), but they've had him be an ass for four straight episodes and I just can't get around that. Maybe with time. Though to the show's credit, it doesn't seem like Carter/Thompson is endgame, which is nice.
*
I went to an "Asian bistro" on the university side of campus for lunch yesterday (where I had a bowl of completely flavorless pho, ugh), and on the way saw a hawk of some stripe. It floated out of the sky onto a tree and then sat there for a while, tucking first one foot and then the other into its feathers (perhaps because it was 42 degrees at the time). I don't think it was a red-tailed hawk--although it might've been a lighter morph--but maybe a broad-winged or Cooper's?
P played with the positioning of my arms and legs on the entry edge and I finally manged to make it an entry with a hook instead of just an arc that keeps going and going and never actually turns into a jump. (Let me remind you, this is the jump "you just have to feeeeeeel" when it's right to actually move off the edge into the air.) Unfortunately, the entry wasn't into a jump so much as a stumble and a forward landing.
So in the last half hour, I decided I was going to get this to look like a jump. I'm pretty sure I did it 50+ times. It was like I was starring in one of those cheesy motivational commercials that has twenty fast cuts of some athlete or other doing the same thing over and over again until
And I will say this for those cheesy motivational commercials: The strategy is sound. By the fortieth or fiftieth mohawk-into-entry edge-into-stumble, I was able to get the hook--albeit scratchily, and too far onto my toe pick--and step through so that I landed mostly backwards. Depending on exactly where you pop off the toe pick, a Salchow is actually more of a 2/3- or 3/4-revolution jump than a full revolution (a fact which surprised me, given what you see on TV--it looks like they take off backwards, but in reality you take off...kind of halfway between forward and sideways). I probably have half a revolution now.
Also, the exhaustion. The exhaustion was real. I don't usually get that out of breath skating unless I'm doing Moves I know well at a pretty good clip, or those few occasions where I do 5+ waltz jumps one after the other or something. I usually do something, then take a moment to contemplate why it went wrong and how it can go better before trying again. Not this time. I was ready to fall over after all that.
It made me thankful that toe loops exist and are so much easier, especially since mine actually became a jump while I wasn't looking this week. Well, if I remember to bend my knee after the three turn; then I get into the air and I can feel my free leg swinging out and around as I land because I have real momentum, which is a very cool feeling. Toe loop-toe loop combinations are also less scary now that I can land the things more securely (yaaaaay new blade placement!).
*
Hey, this actually got good! I was surprised when it ended instead of half-watching the clock like I have been for earlier episodes. I got the impression there's quite a bit of background I'm missing in re: the Army unit who went to Russia with Peggy et al., but they did a decent job of covering for it and I don't feel like I didn't know anything vital.
The Good:
Peggy kicking ass and taking names.
Sousa being a smart investigator, and the way this led, in part, to a complete reversal of relationships at SSR HQ.
Dottie backstory. Dottie backstory that is super creepy. Dottie as a Soviet spy!
Dooley becoming slightly less of an outright asshole, maybe? Perhaps he is just biding his time.
I think I've lost a couple of details about the Battle of Finnau, but like most of the characters, I am very curious what led to all those dead Russians.
The Ambivalent:
Thompson's about-face. I absolutely buy his behavior over the previous episodes is a result of imposter syndrome. I don't entirely buy him voluntarily telling Peggy about ~his shame~, but...maybe? I was worried that he'd double down on the sexism and the disrespect after, because now she Knows His Secret And Must Be Punished--come on, you all know this is what happens IRL--but it was really quite nice to see him not do that.
If they'd led the show with this, nothing on god's green earth could keep me from shipping Carter/Thompson (I did enjoy that locker room scene), but they've had him be an ass for four straight episodes and I just can't get around that. Maybe with time. Though to the show's credit, it doesn't seem like Carter/Thompson is endgame, which is nice.
*
I went to an "Asian bistro" on the university side of campus for lunch yesterday (where I had a bowl of completely flavorless pho, ugh), and on the way saw a hawk of some stripe. It floated out of the sky onto a tree and then sat there for a while, tucking first one foot and then the other into its feathers (perhaps because it was 42 degrees at the time). I don't think it was a red-tailed hawk--although it might've been a lighter morph--but maybe a broad-winged or Cooper's?
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Date: 2015-02-07 09:55 pm (UTC)Sorry you had bad pho! Have you been to VN Pho and Deli yet? They have the most amazing Vietnamese in the city, IMO, and for very reasonable prices. I'm out on the sampling route this month and next, so if you'd ever like to get together for lunch and try it out, I'd be game!
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