Sunday October 31st

I have one week before I am home again! That is one long week though as I still have 3 days of training, a tough packing job, a day of traveling and getting checked in my hotel and then a weekend of stressful racing in Cleveland. Its gonna be good because I will make it good.
  Kendal's party was fun. There were a ton of people there from her and her older brother's school. Everybody was dressed in a costume of course. We danced a lot and I was sore the next day.
  The whole couple days was so hectic. But it was a controlled hectic. From skating friday morning I went home with Kendal, dropped her off at school and then helped Annette (Kendal's mother) shop. We went back to the house and unloaded all the groceries and then I went with Kendal's brother Austin to pick Kendal up from school. I didn't sleep all day leading up to the party though I wanted to but when the party started, I was ready - of course. lol. It was too late to go home to the Uyeharas when Casey and I left so I went home to Casey's dorm and slept there on the couch. When I woke up, I had the challenging decision of how to get home. Should I take the lame bus system and take all day to get back? Should I save time but lose a ton of money by calling a taxi to take me? Could I maybe get Casey to give me yet another ride? Could I all Gary to come down and bring me back? Or should I just stay with Casey all day and go with him to practice? I decided on the first option, the bus.
  It went surprisingly well. I mapped my route out on Google maps and took two different buses for a total of 25 miles for just $3. However it took 2 hours and 20 minutes and by the time I got back, I hardly had time to fall asleep before I had to go to practice. It was good though. The whole thing. I have become so good at planning ahead and working things out on my own. I had everything I needed at all times. I was never hungry, thirsty, sleep-deprived or anxious about much of anything. Casey gave me the book Fight Club to read on the bus as I have finished the other two books I had. The area around his College, OTIS, is very nice and artsy. I like it.
  Today Gary is swinging by and we'll spend the day together.

Friday October 29th

Well not much to say other than practice was good this morning. Very hard with lots of sprinting and lots of hard breathing and sore legs. I am at a house now where there is going to be a huge Halloween/ sweet 16 birthday party for Kendal. I have been helping set up all day and am just now getting some energy up for the party.

Thursday October 28th

This morning was another good practice. We did speed endurance so 3 sets of relays all out for 11/2 laps eight times out. I did a 9.0, a 9.1, and a million 9.2s. That is very good for me. I hope to be under 9 soon  but like Chris said, "You just went the fastest you've ever gone and you're complaining you didn't go fast enough!?"
  I fell last night for the first time in a while and I fell again this morning! I think its because I am starting to really get a grasp of what I need to be doing exactly technique-wise and when I don't execute it, but I am close, its dangerous and I can't support the G's. Last night I think that was the case and it was funny the way I fell: It was the last turn(!) of a 15 lapper and as I went down exactly at the middle block, the "apex" of the turn, I fell back on my left and while I was trying to stop myself from falling, I grabbed the apex block and took it with me into the pads where it came dislodged from my grasp from the impact of the hit. I picked it up and put it back and it wasn't until Drew said " there's about a one in a thousand chance that will ever happen again" that I realized what had happened.  This morning's fall was just a case of stepping on a block. I was feeling sooooo good in a 10 lap technique set and I just stepped on the block. 'Twas bizarre. But really, I am feeling so much better than I have skating. I am feeling like I am on a roll, a mission, and that I can prove a lot this year. Now I am in  high again though so I have to be careful how high I let myself go mentally and not be content with where I am, but want more. That should be easy. I just have to shoot for good technique and try to get under 9.0.
  -Gym later and I have to find some sort of a costume for the Halloween Party at Kendall's house Friday night.
  -Now, eating, sleeping, reading, practicing are in my immediate future.

Wednesday October 27th

Well I am pretty much re-settled back into my room here in The Uyeharas' house in Lakewood. Much like a ready sleeper snuggles into the perfectly made bed and fits his head into the perfect nook in the pillow, so I leak more and more into the house the first couple days back until the structure is set and I can function. The key is the "perfectly made bed", which in my case is keeping absolutely everything intact around me and making sure that I am not taking over the house and making it my own. I have to remember that it is still the Uyeharas' house and that I am a temporary visitor. When I came back Tuesday morning, the room was so transformed I could hardly believe it. There is so much room now and I can keep it so tidy. Its good. :) I have only thanks in my heart toward Jon and Jean and their niece Sarah. Thanks and love. Aloha.

  Monday afternoon beach training, the first in a while because of rain, went well. I worked hard. :)
  Tuesday morning practice went well. We did lots of work. Lots of tempos - the all out things, remember? I am in a bit of a "low" right now physically. I think this is because I worked so hard recently but it is not a negative thing. I can become much stronger based on how I work through it. If I let it get to me and stop working hard, it will take longer to go away I feel. So my times weren't great tuesday or monday but I worked hard and that's the required constant.
  Tuesday night I had a great weight session and afterwords I went into the mall right next to the gym and shopped for some better shoes. The other ones were not doing it at all. These seem much better and I put them to the ultimate test this morning at the stairs. I was rested and strong this morning on stairs and I did an extra "bonus set" at the end to finish with 5 differing sets, not counting the initial walk up. I hope I feel strong again tonight in skating but regardless, I plan to work hard again. Why not? I can. I am here now. Later

Monday October 25th

Saturday was a busy day. Gary came and picked me up at the house I am living in here in Culver City. Gary is an old friend of the family (my family back in New York) and lately Ive gotten closer with him through the yoga classes he runs at this sweet house. If I kept going about Gary (stories, accomplishments, awesomeness, etc.) it would be a novel. Anyway, he picked me up and took me on a great ride through Beverly Hills, then up and down the Hollywood Hills and we arrived at our destination, the house of one Penny Marshall  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Marshall
Among numerous jaw-dropping features to the house, it has a porch with sofas and tables which looks out over much of L.A. She has a ton of baseballs autographed by Joe Dimaggio, Roger Maris, Jacky Robinson and so many others. Derek Jeter's Helmet, Darryl Strawberry's helmet - there is so much. Outside of the kitchen window there are about 6 or 7 Hummingbirds feeding. 

  Gary took me to the rink and watched the little race we had. I did so so in the race. I have been training soooo hard lately I think it is catching up with me as my legs were super heavy. I had some good moments.

  After the race I went to eat at Chipotle with Casey after and then back to his College Dorm where I met his room mates and chilled there for a bit. Then Zach's parents picked me up on the way back from Souplantation and I slept like a baby.

  Sunday, a new day, an off day, and still a busy day. I woke up and went to the Araneta's church, which was quite an experience. Live music and a very confident pastor were included in the sermon before we went to eat in Chinatown. Then we went to Santa Monica pier which was cool and saw a movie (not worth mentioning, but don't see Life As We Know It). Santa Monica is cool because there are tons of live performers on the street. We came home at night and I played the cello for the family while they ate. haha.

  This morning I was back on the ice and dealing with mental problems. I was not in the mood to work hard and it was the first time Ive caught myself with something less than a determined attitude since my new resolve. I caught it though and finished strong. Joey Lindsay may be coming to train for a long time here. That would be super!

 

Friday October 22nd

When does it stop being interesting changing families! The Aranetas, my latest kind hosts (kind is an understatement in their case as you will see), are from the Philippines. Apparently as Lorelei has told me when you are middle class or above there, you have such an easy, laid back life with Nannies and people who do your laundry. They moved here and took a few years to adjust, with the help of Lorelei's mother, as the life was much more trying obviously. Lorelei is a fantastic cook and she ran a catering business together with her husband Zachary until recently. Now she has a lot of free time and lucky for me she uses a lot of that time to cook for the family. I feel like a king the way I eat here. Egg sandwiches with scallops in the early morning along with a strawberry-banana smoothie; When I came home this morning, the younger Zach who skates and myself went to the pool and jumped in the cold pool for 5 minutes then in the steaming, bubbling jacuzzi for (a long) 5 minutes a couple times. we came home to the smell of delicious salmon burgers and sweet potato fries made only with healthy ingredients along with another shake. Now Zach is off to school and I am here alone in the house with the keys and access to anything. I am serious when I say I feel like a king. I am helping out as much as they will let me, which is not much as they are just too kind. Its amazing.
  I had another good session this morning and Kyle is in town for the weekend (the reason I am not in the Uyeharas' house) so I had someone to chase which was great. I am lowering my consistent lap times which is so cool. soon I am hoping to be under 9 flat consistently. Technique technique technique!

Thursday October 21st - New House

Well I am sleeping in yet another bed tonight through Monday. It is very nice here. It is an apartment facility with lots of winding little paths here and there and many green plants and foliage. The fact that there is a jacuzzi and a pool right next door is very nice. The mom of the two skaters, Zach and Shadrack, Lorelei is an amazing cook and I am in food heaven. It is late for me as I have to wake up before 5 tomorrow so I will write more tomorrow. Goodnight.

Me, Edin and Zach, with whom I will stay when Kyle comes back this Thursday through Tuesday.

I am so sad Edin is leaving. He has been such a good friend, example, training partner and role model just in the way he goes about things. It is going to be lonely in the rink in the mornings. I expect it will be just myself and Coach Wilma some mornings but apparently it was like that when J.R. was training with her at one point.
  I just found out today that when Edin was young, he, his sister and his mother were forced to move to a refugee center during the violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He told me some pretty amazing things about what they had to do to stay alive. His father was in the army and because the United Nations nailed Bosnia with the Embargo that they could not use automatic weapons, his father would be facing the Serbians who had guns and everything with nothing more than a water pipe. A lot of his friends do not have their fathers anymore. People my age and younger were fighting, having "nothing to lose but their lives", as Edin put it. He is extremely thankful to his mother who would sometimes look harder for toys and means of keeping him and his sister mentally active and healthy before searching for food. for water, his uncle took a soup spoon and dug a hole the size of an average room so that they could access the river that flowed under the house. If they risked going to the water supply near by, they faced snipers, and or the worry of having the water poisoned from the source. I mean, what a different world!! When I was that age, I was chillin under an apple tree with Mommy.
  Its been awesome knowing you Edin and I will miss you.

Tuesday October 19th

The days are flying by! Its already almost November! I have a race, another American Cup, November 6th and I am working hard as ever to have better showing than last time, which was just embarrassing! I am able to finish sessions comfortably now though without my foot being the thing I think about more than my technique. Speaking of my technique, I am starting to narrow things down and I am really ( I think) a different looking skater now than I was just at the last Am. Cup. My feel for the ice is improving which enables my foot speed to increase and when I move my feet rapidly there is still power behind the pushes. I can stay with Edin now when we do what Wil calls Plyo turns, where we start at the beginning of the straight -away doing slow, low strokes and once we pass the first block, build speed as quickly as possible for one lap from the next red line. This morning after the warm-up relay, we did 3 of the pkyo turns, which we do a lot, but I never mentioned them because I never really liked them (aka I was never very good at them). Then we wasted no time in jumping into the "Tempos". I don't quite understand why they are called tempos but its any distance all out, from what I can make out. We did a one lap build and then 9 laps all out 3 times. When Wil was previewing us the workout as she does every session, she said apologetically , "I'm sorry guys, but I'm gonna have to throw in a couple tempos". haha. The first one was okay. Andrew led it but died after 5 laps so Edin took over and he kept the laps fairly consistent so that  think we ended with a time around 1:32ish. I led the second one but I died super fast - much faster than I expected and who knows what my time was. Edin blew by me and finished miles ahead. It was weird because the next one, Edin led and following him, I did 1:30.9 and finished strong! I guess following is just that much easier??? All I know is that I felt very good in the last one and Wil said she was happy with the times this morning. Next we did slow technique laps which I love. We have the luxury of doing technique work at this point in the season because there is ice 6 times a week and it really helps me. We did 10 laps then 15 then 10. I felt great but again, I felt and looked the best following Edin in the 15 lapper. We did the band on the ice and then finished with 15 minutes of relays - 3 man team, 3 laps each.
  I will go to the gym later and tomorrow I will do whatever workout Wil gives me instead of stairs  because it has been so rainy here!! It has rained almost every day since I think sunday and is forecast to rain again tomorrow.