lishevita's blog

I recently got an outraged chain mail that was supposedly started by a disabled vet who wants you to vote against the Democrats who are giving your tax money away to illegal immigrants, or something like that. The problem is, it's nothing but a falsified scare story.

Yesterday I shared some exercises for competition preparation. Today let's look at focus during your program. When it comes down to it and the steel hits the ice, you have to remember this:

There is only NOW.

Getting ready for competition day is more than just making sure that you can do all your elements and that you have your program choreography down pat. If you want to get the best scores, you have to shine when you get out there. You need to look like you aren't nervous at all, even if you feel like you could explode at any minute. You need to make the program look like it's easy, like you aren't worried about a thing. You need to smile. But how can you do all that when your palms are sweating and you feel your knees shaking as you step out onto the ice?

I have a somewhat unconventional way of parenting. Sometimes it works out fabulously. Sometimes, not so much. (But, then, you can say the same thing for conventional types, too, right?)

Over at LiveJournal, Zoethe said that Avatar is a massive race FAIL and her other half TheFerrett basically said that it's a beautiful movie with no actual plot, so I was totally ready to like Avatar only for the geek factor of the CG when my son and I found ourselves at the theater today. Guess what? I think that they both missed something huge here. Avatar isn't just the story of the strong white guy coming in and saving the poor natives, it's a story of a broken person finding wholeness in a new community, becoming a convert and an immigrant, and proving themselves by laying their own life on the line for their new people.

(Spoilers be beyond this point...)

Watch and learn

It should feel like this...