Well, it's very obvious that there are tests approaching since skating this morning was a bit like trying to cross the M25 at rush hour...

The skirt received it's premiere and, despite feeling a bit odd at first, it felt quite nice eventually and it's definitely having the desired effect of making me very aware of my knees and my extension, which can only be a good thing :)

Bit of a messy lesson really- started off fine when it was still fairly quiet but all went a bit squiffy when, as Ro put it, "someone suddenly pressed a button and spat out a bunch of people".

Edges were fine, chasses were fine and then we danced...oh dear. We managed a DW all the way through but had to dive for cover out of an NF and a CT. Even Ro said that if we had to leap for cover one more time, we were giving up!

Fingers crossed this evening will be less stressful!

I was itching to skate this morning, I could not wait to get there- I love it when that happens :) Since I embarked on the 'walking everywhere' plan with the aid of my fabulous new pedometer, my energy levels are alot higher and I'm sleeping like a kitten. This morning I practically leapt out of bed when the alarm went off- most unlike me!

Anyhoo, got there and went straight into plain old forward stroking, desperately trying to bend my knees more. I love it when I *do* manage to get decent knee bend because it obviously means I go faster and I love going fast!

Went onto chasses- swing, slip and closed. Almost, almost took myself out on the closed chasses when my right foot failed to get out of my left foot's way in time but, despite a couple of seconds of what felt like my blades being knotted, I managed to save it. So many saves with these damn chasses that I know I'm going to go down soon enough.

Ran through the NF a couple of times trying to focus on getting the RFO edges better because they're still so much weaker than the LFO- hence all the chasse practice.

I was having massive right boot issues this morning, it was one of those sessions where it was too tight/too loose/too tight/ too loose. Judging my the faint ring of bruising across the front of my ankle, I think too tight won out!

Pootled around a little more before I headed off, not before some much welcome words of encouragement from a couple of people regarding the subject of the skirt...it will make it's debut tomorrow.

This morning's skate was a million times better than Wednesday evening, as I knew it would be. Had my lesson on Tuesday since Ro hadn't thought he would be in this morning so purely practice time for me.

Arrived and warmed up with edges, crossovers, chasses (slip, swing, open) before running through the NF, CT and GSW, which I think I'll definitely like once I get my head around the wide step. mrs_redboots gave me a great tip about these that suddenly made it click into place why I wasn't managing to do it at all, so I was grateful for that :)

I then spent a solid 10 minutes just doing circuit after circuit of closed chasses to get them feeling comfortable- and they do. One side is obviously more comfortable than the other but I'm not bailing on the bad side so I'm quite happy about that. As with everything else, if I could just bend my knees more, they'd be even better. Stupid knees.

I am thinking I will brave a skirt next week- can't believe I am getting so bothered about a simple thing like a skirt!

Another skating week ending well :)

Blah. The only word I can think to describe this evening's lesson. I really struggle when there are 3 of us in a lesson on a Wednesday eve, I just can't seem to follow that many people in a dance which just leads to me getting frustrated and wondering why I bother even doing Wednesday evenings at all.

So, right now I have no idea why I bother and I am unbelievably grumpy- it's times like this that I am so glad I live alone, no-one should have to deal with me when I'm in an "I'm crap" strop.

Anyway, edges were fine, change of edge fine, dances (with the exception of the NF) were a mess. Stayed a little while after the lesson but had worked myself into such a bad mood by then that there was nothing remotely productive going on.

I'm going to eat dinner and attempt to de-grump. Friday's skate will be better, I will make sure of it.

Had another really good lesson this morning- becoming a bit of a habit lately :) Pre-lesson I got stuck into forward crossovers, both directions. I've picked up so much speed CCW recently so my aim now is to attempt to get at least a little speed CW because they're still slow and a bit scrapy.

Shared lesson with Liz and we worked on;

Forward Edges
Change of Edge
Backward Stroking
Chasses- slip and swing
GSW

Forward edges were the best they've ever been today- if only I could figure out what the magic formula was and save it for future reference!

Change of Edge was a million times better than yesterday, although I'm not sure whether Ro yelling "Point your toe!!" from the other end of the rink helped or hindered!

Backward Stroking still continuing to improve as are my slip chasses finally! Well, I think I like the GSW (although in my head GSW *still* makes me think gunshot wound...). I actually have no fear of the cross behind, it's the wide step that's throwing me off a bit, I can't quite get it but it'll come.

Stayed a little while after the lesson then got some wide stepping advice from mrs_redboots before a hug and quick chat with Pip before heading off to work.

Right now, I am *itching* to get back to rink, 6.45pm cannot come quickly enough :)

Bagged a surprise lesson this morning- Ro arrived about 10 minutes after I did and asked did I want a lesson at 7am since he had found out he wasn't going to be here this Friday (Child Protection Course at Ally Pally). Made me v glad I was in this morning, no lesson missed :)

Pre-lesson I worked on forward crossovers, forward cross rolls plus a couple of stabs at the CT, NF and DW. Lesson time and we worked on-

Forward edges
Change of Edge
Backward Stroking
Chasses
Forward Cross Rolls
CT, DW, NF, GSW

Edges were much better this morning, the annoying one-sided toepick habit seems so close to being beaten finally. Change of Edge felt fairly good too, with the exception of a very bizarre shoulder movement which resulted in my foot totally skidding out from under me and a comedy "will she fall or will she save it?" moment. Saved, for the record ;)

In a total reverse of last weeks dancing, the DW was the stronger one this morning and the CT was messy, messy, messy. It must have been bad because when I announced to Ro how poor it had been, he wholeheartedly agreed with me!

So, having abandoned trying to learn the RB pattern on paper since the announcement we were going to learn the GSW instead, I have been a good student and memorised this one :) Weirdly, the wide step freaks me out much more than the cross behind, mainly because it feels so alien! With the cross behind I just bend my knees, hold my breath and hope for the best. For the first attempt, it really wasn't too bad but I have yet to do it solo. I am hoping that, in my shared lesson tomorrow, Ro will take Liz through it in hold and I can follow, see if I don't kill myself on the cross behinds with no-one to hold onto.

Stayed a while after the lesson and basically practised cross behinds and cross rolls. Also started thinking that I should attempt a 3 jump again- it's been so long since I did that I think I've scared myself off them! I will have a bash in the morning...

Just realised I haven't updated yesterday's skate so I'll do it now before it falls right back out of my brain again.

No lesson yesterday as Ro had a very rare day off so it was just practice time for me. Firstly, the rink was absolutely freezing yesterday, really cold! I usually need gloves to start then often take them off once I've been on the ice for a while but yesterday my hands were freezing even with the gloves on.

Anyway, it was fairly quiet again, as expected with everyone still over at Euros. Started off with backward stroking, forward edges, forward cross rolls which were all feeling fairly good although the cross rolls start well then run out of steam because I fail to KEEP MY KNEES BENT. How many times do I tell myself this is the problem but then still only manage to fix it temporarily? Annoying.

Ran through the DW a number of times to try to work on getting deeper RFO edges and then the CT to try to understand how Ro can possibly say that this is the one I skate the best. I still don't see it, I still feel like I'm very sloppy with it and am wondering if I shouldn't take the horrible step of videoing myself, even though last time I did that all it did was depress me and convince me that, not only was I a terrible skater but that I was a fat blob too! So, I am a little reluctant to go down that road again.

Had a bash at the GSW which, although hard to tell with no-one to critique it, felt fairly ok for the first attempt solo. Happy to discover that the cross behind feels much easier when it's in the dance rather than I'm focusing on just that step- don't know if it's because I'm thinking about the whole thing rather than just that step or if it just *is* easier with speed. I suspect it's a bit of both.

Left the rink chilly but having had a good skate, which seems to be the pattern on Fridays lately :)

Lovely quiet patch this morning- barely a handful of us on the ice. Great ice too. I used the space wisely before my lesson and worked on backward stroking and back crossovers, the things I'm still not great at practising when they are lots of people around. This is clearly because I am a big scaredy cat (we'll get to that...).

Onto the lesson and it was all about the edges and the dance, which is fine with me :) Now, I've really knuckled down over the weeks since Christmas and got back into a healthy diet and started walking more again. I don't do scales but the trousers that I could not fasten for most of December are now back on and approaching comfortable again.

Anyway, the point of this is that, I feel more comfortable doing dance when I don't feel like a big fat blob, which is good. Now if I can just convince myself I'm not totally lacking in any elegance or poise at all, I could well get there. I'd better steady on or I'll be announcing that I've got myself a skirt to skate in next ;)

So, lesson time and working on;

Forward Edges
Forward Cross Rolls
Backward Stroking
Chasses
DW, CT, GSW

Edges are feeling much better this week- finally I think the dodgy toe pushing habit on one side may be starting to leave although I'm hesitant to speak too soon. Cross Rolls- I still need MORE KNEE BEND! Backward stroking- still good and getting faster which I like :)

I was saying only yesterday that the DW feels stronger to me than the CT but Ro told me this morning that I look much more confident and am dancing the CT way better than the DW. How typical! I suppose it would be too easy for the one I enjoy to actually be the one that looks half decent too.

Ro decided to throw the Golden Skaters Waltz at me this morning. Since I've been staring at the pattern for the RB all day, I almost smacked him! Now, it doesn't seem to me that the GSW has many steps....however, what it does have is a bit scary. The wide stepping, the cross behinds, the inside swing rolls. My feet were playing along but my brain was not falling for it.

As is my usual style, this was much better on tonight's attempt (I think my brain appreciates the day to process the info and can then give it a proper bash later), although I have to fight the urge to bail out of the cross behind. As is also usual, Ro told me off for being too impatient and reminded me again that I have got to stop expecting to be shown the steps once and know them instantly. I told him that I can't help it, impatient is my middle name and he told me that yes, he is well aware of that!

I have managed to de-Gareth though and have gone a whole week without stopping when something goes wrong...it's hard work though! Next goal is to try and push myself harder- I'm very aware that I stay within my comfort zone far too much, do not fall enough and think that this has a lot to do with why I'm still so rubbish. Easier said than done though so it's unlikely that I'll be doing backflips or anything anytime soon!

No lesson Friday so I am going to hit patch anyway and try to crack the fear on the cross behinds as well as seeing if I can actually get the whole way through the GSW without either kicking myself over or my head exploding.

Original Dance at Euros tomorrow so I'm assuming I will do very little work, instead choosing to watch a soundless fuzzy live feed while checking scores and receiving email updates from people who are watching it on an actual TV!

Hope P&P have a good skate, I do enjoy their Zorba the Greek programme. Looking forward to catching The Kerrs OD too, since I didn't get to see it at the British.

Thank god the weekend is within sight, I'm knackered!

Ro isn't in on Friday so I arranged a lesson for this morning instead and am happy to say that it was a good one :) Very quiet this morning too with Diane and crew out in Zagreb.

I stupidly walked home from work yesterday in boots rather than trainers only to discover that my boots are not made for walking 5 miles and I now have the blister from hell on the sole of my right foot. Luckily, it actually feels more comfortable skating than it does walking!

I had an hour on the ice pre-lesson so I worked on forward cross rolls, forward extension, backward stroking, back crossovers, cross behinds plus a run through of NF, DW and CT. The steps to the RB are almost there in my head but I've yet to translate them onto the ice yet. Already the pattern makes sense to me so I'm hoping there's a chance that this one may fall into place quicker than the DW did.

So, lesson time and we worked on;

Forward Edges
Backward Stroking
Forward Cross Rolls
Chasses
CT and DW

Well, the DW has gone from being the dance that wouldn't stick to being my favourite so far- funny how that happens. I wish the timing made more sense to me because there's not much point in me knowing the steps if the timing is shot to sherbet. I'm hoping it comes with time because, if not, I'm stuffed!

For the first time today, my CT actually felt as though it may have actually resembled a Tango rather than some weird thing with vaguely Tango-esque steps. Of course I could be wrong, my slip chasses could still look like I'm chasing a football!

Backward Stroking still getting stronger as are Forward Cross Rolls and Chasses. Still having some push issues with my edges. Outsides are decent enough but insides are a bit messy, although they have occasional days where they feel like they're improving. 5 steps forward, 10 steps back...

I reluctantly left a very quiet rink at 8am- another day I would happily have stayed. This working for a living thing is highly overrated ;)

Ah well, morning and evening patch tomorrow so it's all good, although with C off to watch her sis at Euros, I'm curious about who will do tomorrow night's ice...I have my fingers crossed for Ro!

Had a really good skate this morning and a good lesson.

Pre-lesson I worked on forward crossovers, forward cross rolls, backward stroking, chasses, NF.

In my lesson, we didn't start the RB but Ro did make me do the closed chasses which, remarkably for one who is scared of pretty much everything, I didn't actually mind! They seem to be one of those moves which are definitely easier when you do them faster, as long as you can brave the speed. I feel fairly happy that, when I actually start the dance (am going to print out the pattern and give it a bash on Tuesday), I won't bottle out of these!

We also worked on backward stroking and I was again relieved that the improvement from last week is still there- yay! Forward cross rolls are continuing to get better, they just need to get deeper but they do feel like they're on their way.

We're also still working on improving my extension in everything although Ro pointing out Pippa doing the same exercise and saying "that's how I'd like to see it" didn't seem entirely fair!

Stayed a while after my lesson and alternated between watching P&P run through their CD and FD before they leave for Croatia on Sunday and doing closed chasses over and over as I tend to do with anything new to banish any fear of it from my brain.

Another one of those sessions that I hated to have to leave, which is always a good sign, I reckon :)

...I'm talking about those cross behinds in the Rhythm Blues. My god, I don't see how it is possible to do those without just kicking yourself straight over! I mean, obviously it involves lots of knee bend but still, yikes!

Managed them moving very slowly with the barrier within grabbing distance and will be forced to attempt them as part of the dance on Friday morning, presumably at a little more than snail's pace. I swear, this may be the time for me to finally get myself a crash helmet!

Apart from those, we worked on forward cross rolls, forward edges, NF, DW, CT. All fairly good and Ro says he can see an improvement in the NF since we've been working hard to get the RFO edge much stronger. Glad about that :)

After the lesson, I spent more time gossiping about the British, DOI and Heroes than doing much actual skating- I feel slightly less guilty about it than I would have if I hadn't made it in yesterday morning :)

I made it to patch yesterday morning- first time I have made it in on a Tuesday for a while and I am determined to keep it up. Once I get my lazy arse out of bed and to the rink, I am always so glad I did.

I discovered while watching DOI that I am Gareth Gates. Not literally of course but I have the same tendency to stop if something goes wrong instead of just carrying on and fixing it on the next attempt. I vowed straight away to stop doing that and have, for two sessions, managed so far.

Have been mostly working on chasses, cross rolls, backward stroking, back crossovers, forward crossovers and basic forward stroking.

The visualisation is still working wonders and I am now doing back crossovers at the start of every patch session, without fail. They're scrappy and it still should never have taken me this long to see some improvement but I am just happy that they are finally happening without my brain getting in the way and stopping me from even trying.

The backward stroking breakthrough last week seems to have stuck- again, it amazes me how long it takes for stuff to fall into place with me but again, I am just pleased that it does eventually.

In other news- starting to feel an improvement in my cross rolls and chasses which is, in turn, starting to make me feel a little more confident in the dancing. Now if I could just get me some slip chasses that feel vaguely ok, I would be even happier!

I had two decent skates on Wednesday- nothing awful, nothing wonderful. Then this morning, I had the best lesson I'd had in a long time :)

Firstly, there was just me on the ice for 40 minutes, the ice was *perfect* and, even when I was no longer the only one on the ice, there were only 4 of us in total, since the usual morning folk are in Sheffield, either competing, coaching or spectating.

Pre-lesson I worked on forward and back crossovers (we'll get to that...), forward edges, backward stroking and forward cross-rolls.

I've been quite sure for a while that my problem with back crossovers is all in my head, a total mental block. So, I've been really working on visualisation/mental imagery- 20 minutes every night before I go to sleep, I visualise myself doing back crossovers, 10 minutes in one direction, 10 minutes in the other. It appears to be doing the trick- I am very aware that I have got to start thinking "I can" much more than "I can't" and it helps having Ro as a coach, who is as positive a person as there can be. Bring on the PMA!

So, in my lesson we worked on;

Forward Crossovers
Back Crossovers
Backward Stroking
Forward Cross Rolls
Forward Edges
Chasses- slip, swing, open
NF, CT, DW

Bit of a breakthrough this morning....backward stroking. The weird shoulder thing seems to have sorted itself out and it was better this morning than it's ever been- faster, smoother, equal glide on each foot. I think Ro was more surprised than me because, at one point, he just kept saying "It's a breakthrough, a breakthrough! Turn around and do that again!".

Off to Sheffield tomorrow to watch the Free Dances at the British, which I'm looking forward to :)

Yup, this week I had one of those weeks where I somehow banished the negativity and remembered why I love to skate so much- it's the only sport/hobby I've ever had that, even when it's bad, it's fun.

Mixed week I think but mostly some improvements, most notably my forward cross rolls and CW forward crossovers. Apart from that, we really went back to basics to try and begin to crack some of my irritating habits (on ice only, not much Ro can do about the off ice ones!) such as;

my tendency to toe push with my left foot when working on chasses, dances, edges
my apparent inability to know how to control my own damn shoulders
my total terror (yep, still) of back crossovers

With the toe push issue, Ro has had me go right back to when we first started doing curved edges to try to break this habit- coming onto 2 feet before changing feet after the first curve. It's helping I think and I am quite happy to take what feels like a bit of a backward step if it means getting to the point where one silly habit messes up otherwise halfway decent edges.

Hmmm, the shoulders...not sure a miracle could fix these but then a few weeks ago I think I said something along the lines of "oh, I'll never get the DW" so I'll shush now ;)

So, the back crossover saga continues. Wednesday evening patch was lovely- Liz and I were the only people on the ice at all for the last half an hour of the session and the ice was gorgeous. Despite what you would think were perfect conditions, would my brain let me do any bloody back crossovers? Nah. This morning however when it was about -20 in the rink and the ice was a collection of ridges, grooves and lumps, did I find myself doing back crossovers at 6.40am? Oh yes, I did. I officially give up attempting to figure out this mental block now that it only kicks in at certain times and can only hope that one day it will bugger off altogether. I will wear my "World's Slowest Learner" title with pride!!

My favourite sight of the week was our 2 elite senior couples running through the Yankee Polka ready for the British next week. It's quite possibly the fastest dance I've ever seen but they made it look lovely. Looking forward to seeing them in action in Sheffield :)

Despite it only being a week since I last skated, with Christmas and all of that, it felt like longer so I was glad to be back- looked forward to it right through Thursday :)

The ice was beautiful yesterday morning, really lovely- that perfect combination of not too hard, not too soft and lacking the golf ball sized condensation lumps that make it so lethal sometimes.

It was lovely and quiet- just me and one other on the ice until around 7am so I had a good half an hour warming up (with actual useful things) before my 7am lesson. I seem to have finally broken my habit of just pootling around the ice pre-lesson and have discovered that if I go in with a list in my head of what I'll warm up with and just get on with it, it works.

So, I warmed up with backward stroking, forward crossovers, forward crossrolls, forward chasses- open, swing, slip and quick run throughs of the NF, CT and DW.

Really good lesson, working on forward crossrolls, forward chasses, backward stroking, NF, DW, CT. The forward crossrolls are really starting to feel better but are, of course, much better in one direction than in the other, when the toepick still kicks in. The more I bend my knees, the more I can avoid it- I know this but actually doing it is another story. They're definitely improving though because the Ro says the cross roll in the CT is much, much better and that he no longer feels my terror when we approach it :)

The problem in the CT I have is the slip chasse- I seriously feel like I just 'kick' rather than 'slip', hence me adding these to my list of warm up things. At this rate, my warm ups will be 3 times the length of my lessons!

DW is unbelievably starting to become my favourite of the dances so far, except for when I do it to music when my terrible timing lets me down still. Ack, it'll get there.

DOI Celeb arrived just before my lesson started and came over to say hello. He is such a nice guy but the fact that he is now a million times better than I will ever be after a mere few months of skating does kind of make me want to cry! It's a good thing he's so nice!

I haven't updated for a couple of weeks, mainly just because there have been no disasters and no significant improvements so I didn't see the point in babbling without anything useful to report.

Then, I had a really good skate this morning, the best for a while- everything just felt stable, which is pretty much all it takes to make me happy. The ice this morning was *beautiful*, really lovely. I didn't have a lesson until 7.30 today so had almost an hour on the ice beforehand and am proud to say that, for a change, I used my time wisely.

I worked on forward extension, forward cross rolls, forward crossovers, backward stroking, forward edges, forward change of edge before running through the NF, CT and DW without confusing them once. Result!

Had a really fun lesson, working on all 3 of the dances that currently reside in my little brain- first solo, then in hold and then to music. Oh dearie me, I do struggle to music...NF is fine, CT is just about ok but the DW is pure comedy on ice. I try to go fast when I need to go slow and vice versa but am sure that this is definitely one of those things that will get there with practice. Heck, I never thought I'd remember the steps and I've got there so miracles can happen!

Also worked on cross rolls, which Ro says are definitely improving....when I remember to stay down in the knees. The second I forget that, it's toepick city and all over. Again, another thing to practice, practice, practice.

Headed off to work feeling energised, refreshed- always a great feeling to leave the rink with. Next skate for me is next Friday, tomorrow I head home for a few days.

Have a very happy Christmas everyone :)

After what feels like a really long week, I am very happy it's Friday!

The ice was really lovely this morning and it was a nice quiet session although, despite the minimal numbers, there was a heck of a collision between one dance couple and another skater. Luckily, it looked a lot worse than it was and everyone was fine.

I was determined not to pootle around this morning pre and post lesson so warmed up with forward crossovers, forward edges, backward stroking.

Had a really good lesson, working on;

Forward Cross Rolls
NF, CT, DW

I asked Ro if we could work on Cross Rolls because I feel that they're getting better but that I need some help with my arms/shoulders- as usual! When I remember to keep my knees bent and think of my shoulders as the handlebars of a bicycle, it all makes much more sense.

We did a lot of dancing this morning, I was knackered after we finished! All 3 dances in my tiny collection we did to music this morning which I think may have been an exercise to prove that my timing needs some work! I've done both the NF and the CT to music before but, since the DW has only just fallen into place very recently, I hadn't done it to music before.

The main thing that stood out like a giant sore thumb was just how much faster everything feels to music. I must be crawling along at a snail's pace without it!! The NF and CT were actually not bad but I struggled with the timing on the DW although after what felt like the 27th circuit around the rink (it was probably 3 or 4, in reality), it finally started to sink in a bit.

Worked on the Cross Rolls for a little while more after my lesson which, now that they don't terrify me anymore, may actually start to improve....hopefully anyway!

Only just realised that I didn't update last night- oops!

No lesson yesterday morning due to a ridiculously late night on Tuesday (I had cancelled earlier, I knew it was going to be a late one!) so it was just one lesson yesterday and it was a mixed bag, to be honest.

Another beautifully quiet evening patch- a mere handful of us on the ice. We worked on;

Forward Edges
Backward Stroking
Forward Crossovers
Slip, swing, open chasses
DW, CT, NF

So, the dancing was fabulous whilst the rest was a bit blah. Here's a thing I never thought I'd say...the DW was the best of my 3 dances this evening, Ro said I danced it perfectly, both solo and in hold. It's funny how something that I could not even see the pattern of a couple of weeks ago is now the one feeling the smoothest. Weirdness.

Stayed a good while after the lesson and took advantage of the quiet ice, working mostly on Forward Cross Rolls, which seem to have started to feel less awkward again after weeks of me feeling like a giraffe trying to do them.

Everything else was less than fabulous but I am happy to blame that on getting to bed at stupid o'clock the night (or rather, morning) before. If it all falls apart tomorrow morning, I will have no such excuse though!

Happy to report that there wasn't a tantrum in sight today and I had 2 really good lessons. Lovely ice this morning and very quiet out there too. We worked on;

Forward Edges
Change of Edge
Forward Crossovers
Backward Stroking
NF, DW, CT

Everything worked this morning, it was like someone who could actually skate had taken over my body- wonderful! Never thought I'd say it but...this morning I thoroughly enjoyed the DW *and* managed to do it without Ro having to prompt me on the steps at all. Plus, the CT also stayed in my head and was not bad either although any tips on how to do slip chasses that don't look like I'm trying to score the winning goal at Anfield will be gratefully received. So, apparently I can retain 3 whole dances in my confuddled little head, which I'm very pleased about.

Lovely lovely ice this evening (Ro did it) and so, so quiet. Due to a combination of work issues and train problems, Liz didn't make the lesson so I had the half hour to myself and we danced liked crazy- I loved it. I'm amused that I remember how I protested about doing dance and now I love it more than anything. Fickle, me ;)

Not skating Friday morning because I'm out with work tomorrow evening (skating at the NHM rink and then dinner) so it could be a late night and I figured I'd play it safe and tell Ro I won't make it Friday.

So, 2 really good lessons + no crying = happy me :)