Sweet (Minty) Dreams

I really enjoyed my lesson today, which surprised me as I felt practically suicidal all day, due to, um, girl issues. Never been like this before, but for most of the day I felt really low, and like I was going to burst into tears at any moment (in fact, I did have tears on my cheeks at one point). Goodness knows what was going on, but I do feel much better now. I have had some mild SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) in the past, so will keep an eye on myself, but hopefully it's just hormonal! My tummy and lower back has been sore all day too, but that was also helped by skating this evening. I remember dancing always used to help anything like that, or headaches - simply sweat it off!

Today we covered the usual Level 4 stuff:
Backward Skating with a Two Foot Glide: My backward skating is getting faster and faster now - although this is sometimes a little scary! I was also told that I need to put my feet right next to each other when doing the two foot glide.
FO's: As before, LFO's are going well, RFO's not so much. Thank you to 3turn for leaving a few tips on my last post, particularly the "knee over little toe" tip from Mrs Redboots. I joined this with the pointing the toe of my free foot in - I can feel how these will help and I am noticing a little more curve now (rather than a straight line!) but I think this will take more practice to adjust my balance with the new points.
Two Foot Turn from Forward to Back: these are going well now. They used to be frustrating, but I am getting these 95% of the time. And managing to continue skating backwards - although I do have to be careful that after my turn, my weight is not too far forward, as when I start skating, I occasionally toepick myself. I was also wondering if this is what a Mohawk is, or is this a two foot turn but done on the curve?
Forward Chasses: As I think I said once before, I enjoy doing these. The only problem I have with doing these things in a big circle with the rest of the group, is that I seem to go faster than everybody else. I don't know if this is down to less nerves because I skate more than the rest of them, but it can be difficult as I have to keep stopping and starting. I know it is good to have control, but surely there is a difference between control, and grinding to a halt doing a one foot glide?

My confidence was really boosted today, as the coach came up to me and asked if I had done ballet. She said that the way I "hold" myself is very impressive, and I always know how to put my arms "just so". Just for a bit of history, I went to a vocational ballet school for five years to train professionally, until I was sixteen (this one) but I decided to pursue a more academic career after a back injury and always being slightly curvier than your standard ballerina, so teaching ballet would have been my only option. However, this very intensive training early in my life has stayed with me, and as a result I have retained a lot of flexibility (although this is partly genetic), and it has really helped with other things I have pursued, eg. karate and skating, both with things like poise and posture, and also being able to follow physical instructions. We shall see in the forthcoming months and years how much this continues to help with the skating. The other good thing is that skating can't possibly gnarl up my feet any more than pointe work already has done!

Mouse Update: No more mice found. I did hear one in my bedroom on Monday night and had to sleep with the light one (I know, I am a complete wuss) but I had a blissfully silent night last night. This may be due to the fact that I found out that Peppermint Oil is supposedly a natural mouse repellant. As a result, my bedroom now smells just like a Polo mint (well, I suppose it could be a lot worse!), and I have started minting the kitchen too. I have to say that my dear colleagues at work, who I turned to for help and reassurance, were neither of the above as they started discussing how mice could even run across your face at night. Yeah, thanks guys . . . . .