Don't I wish we had one. You know, someone to pay the bills so we wouldn't have to. I'm talking about skating bills of course. Like many adult skaters, Tim and I work so that we can skate. And also to pay the mortgage and eat, but we work extra hard because skating is not cheap. Getting to the rink has also become more expensive as the price of gas flirts with $4 per gallon. For me, public transportation is not an option, since the earliest bus from near my house would get me to the rink by 7:15 (well, I'd have to walk 1/4 mile uphill, take the bus into town, and then change from bus to MAX train, and the entire trip would take about 45 minutes vs. the 12 minutes it takes by car). I'd be able to skate for about 20 minutes and then have to rush back to the MAX in order to make it to work on time. Why bother.
It's a fact of life that adult skaters usually have jobs, and this has been an issue for us as a team. Last year we were unable to attend Adult Nationals because Tim had to work. Now our travel for work schedule is going to prevent us from competing at Lake Placid in August. We've both scheduled 2009 Adult Nationals with the big bosses already so that we don't get preempted again, because quitting work is just not an option for either of us and we don't want to sit out again. However, the possibility exists that either one of us might not be able to go. We are really working way too hard for that to be palatable.
I am still going to Lake Placid to judge. I was looking forward to pulling double duty as both judge and skater. A recent blog by Mombo #9 talked about a pretend fundraising event in which skaters would pay to skate with their favorite (or perhaps least favorite) judge. The author was joking, and I'm not sure if she knows that there are some really good skaters among those she named. (She didn't name the two of us who are still actively competing as adults, but Mike and I have only been on the Lake Placid judging circuit for a couple of years.) This year I would have been the only person both judging and skating at Lake Placid, but I am not the first to do so.
In any case, I will only be judging this year, which makes packing a whole lot easier. I guess we'll have to look for another competition opportunity before we forget what that's like.
Today's injury log:
~Terri's ribs still hurt, toughing it out
~Tim's back hurts, going to doctor
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