And He Survived

Ice Show forms are out, the rules are up, and the skaters are whining about the theme but quibbling over solos. Last night, Rink Pal handed Stitch a form, and Stitch rolled his eyes. The prospect of skating while dressed as a sparkly policeman might be the only thing that gets Stitch in this show, but I can't promise that. For all I know, the Pre-Freestyle boys might be the ones getting "rescued" by some Gamma Girls, and that would be disastrous. Reality is, Stitch won't be doing any of his cool spins or high Bunny Hops for Home Rink until the Open Competition, not without Divine Intervention.

But at last ice show I was driven insane by the halation on the spots and the lack of visual interest on the ice surface, so I want to throw my hat in on the lighting efforts. It can look better, despite the arguments that they were out of power. Well, that's why the good lord made breakups, 90 degree lens tubes and split gels. And watching all these galas on IceNetwork, I figured out that all those spots have a light frost in them, which kills some of the halation and masks when the spot ops lose the skaters.

Anyway, I'll talk to the Volunteer Coordinator and Stitch. Ice Show is on the horizon at least. It's only three performances.

This morning went okay. For awhile I was afraid Stitch had a fever, as he was warm and sluggish. But he perked up a bit when Coach arrived. I warned her about the "might be sick, see what happens" situation, but the lesson was good. I watched from the windows, mostly bored. Then she showed him a mohawk turn, something I know only from Youtube, and I got excited. Something new!

They finished up, I gave Coach her birthday present (a package of pocket pack tissues) and we chatted briefly. Then she tells me to hang on a minute and she disappears. I get Stitch's skates off, give him some money for the vending machine and orders to get water this time. He goes off, and Coach comes back.

"Can you be here at ten?"
"Sure."
"Be here at ten. Find Coach M, and she will take him in the Gamma Class. After that, he can skate in his regular Beta Class. Okay?"
"Uh," My two Shoulder Ghosts are arguing.
"Don't move him up too fast! One thing at a time!" says the one with the halo.
The one with the horns pokes me in the neck with her fork. "Shit, yeah move up! Beta is Boring! And this will piss Lucy off!"

But he's still in the Beta Class, just heading over to Gamma for the four weeks left, so maybe we can think of this as a Gamma Preview. Yeah. "Okay, we'll be here at ten."

Stitch was upset. "But then I won't pass Beta," he says on the way to the car.
"No, you're still in Beta. You will still get your patch, I'll make sure of that." Damn straight. "Besides, now when Lucy says that she's a better skater since she's Gamma, you can say you're in Gamma, too."

Stitch liked this idea. Lucy's been lording the Gamma title over Stitch since December, and it's been annoying him.

So tomorrow we'll skip Practice Ice (As we got up so early this morning and as precaution in case Stitch is indeed working on some sickness bug), and do Gamma and Beta class. I'm really curious to see a group class session without a horde of Pre-Alpha bodies littering the ice.