Title: "Horse Head"
Hi Everyone-
Thank you so much for coming to my site and checking up on me. Things have been pretty crazy lately so I'll try to cover everything that's been going on.
First of all, my family moved to a new house in September. We had lived in the same house for ten years and it was time for a change. The new house is nice. It was such a hassle to move, pack everything up and actually get everything in the new house. I never knew how much stuff I've accumulated over the years, but it was nice to go through old boxes and see how life was back in the day! I found old photos, family things, my certificates from church, videos, old medals and so on. It was fun!
Shortly after the move, I competed for the first time this season. I performed my new short program at Campbell's Cup in Cincinnati, Ohio. The event was a bit strange because I was on a team with the other American men, and I don't play well on teams. I don't like to have the responsibility of holding my team up and I don't like being angry if someone makes a mistake. The week of the event I got very sick. The first cold of the season for me. Priscilla was at the North Atlantic regionals, so I got to train alone and cough and wheeze in solidarity. The event went well. I skated pretty good for this early in the season and I got a good score for the new short. I got great feedback from the judges and other people in the skating family about the "new look" and I was happy. It was odd to be in the kiss and cry when the other guys came off the ice. It was so uncomfortable that all I could do was offer everyone tissues to dap up the sweat! Marina Viacheslavovna was on pins and needles in Moscow waiting to hear how things went. She was happy when she heard that I skated well and my team won. There is a lot of work to be done still, but it was nice to have a strong season opener.
My next big event was Skate Canada in Victoria, BC. My goal was to not get seventh place! I felt good going into the event. I had trained very hard, I was landing quad toeloop and salchow before the event, and I was happy to be back in the routine of compete, train, compete, train and so on. In the short program I skated okay again. I made some mistakes on the spins, and I was a little slow and tentative, but I was happy. Going into the long program I knew I could win the event. I skated last in the free program and for once, I wasn't nervous. I saw the scores of the other guys and I knew I could win if I just skated solidly. That was probably the worst thought to have! I felt great going on the ice. I felt happy and confident, then I missed the first jump. Then the spin was off, then I was ahead of my music and tried to fix it, then I made mistakes on two jumps, then I made more mistakes at the end on spins and jumps. It was AWFUL! I thought for sure I would lose a medal, and I think I probably should have, but I came away with a bronze medal. I was very unhappy with the way I skated. I think it's one of the worst ever for me. The long program in general is getting good reviews from the judges and officials, but I obviously have to skate it well. I was so afraid to call Marina after the event, but she was supportive and just said I need to work. I will work. My impressions of Skate Canada are okay. I am starting to feel old. The majority of the competitors were just up from junior and I felt like the elder. I was half waiting the whole time for one of the youngsters to help me cross the street! Victoria is a beautiful place. I will skate better in Russia.
Skating in general is going well. I'm skating good, training hard and I'm happy. I am changing some things with my free program costume, I think I'm doing quad salchow at Cup of Russia, Marina is coming to Moscow to be with me which I'm excited about, and all in all, it's okay. I'm past the point in my career where I overanalyze everything, so I take things as they come and look forward to the future, instead of the past. I have had the opportunity to see some of the competitions this year and I'm really impressed with some of the programs. I've really enjoyed seeing Miki Ando, Denkova/Stavisky, Mao Asada, Alissa Czisny, Sergey Voronov, Dubreil/Lauzon, Gregory/Petukhov and Tomas Verner.
Life has been interesting I suppose. I've been busy decorating my wing in the house. I've been helping my family a lot with their things and the move. I've been out a lot with Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov. I was really happy they asked me to design a costume for him. I thought it was very kind to ask me, and I think the costume looks great for the most part. I love the apple! A big group of us went to a great spa, Southampton Spa in Pennsylvania to use the sauna and ice pool. I've been keeping in touch with Marina via phone and e-mail and everything with her is going great. She's very busy. I have a lot of projects I'm working on. I will be designing a coat for Weatherproof, I have some small shows coming up in New York, and for one of them I'll be skating with a live singer. I have also been invited to take part in two shows on Red Square in Moscow just before Christmas and I think I'll do them. I've also been invited to do shows in North Korea. They take place in some time, so I haven't said okay yet, but I would love to go to Pyongyang and see it and be an ambassador for the US. I also think I'll be doing some things for Russian magazines while I'm in Moscow. I'm busy, and happy and I like how my life is going so far.
Thank you all for coming. I'll keep you posted on things. I'll probably write again after Cup of Russia and the Boston Pro-Am. I want to thank all of you who came to support me in Ohio and Canada. I felt all of you there, and I really appreciate it. I'd never seen as many Johnny, Cheburashka, and Angels banners as I did in Canada. I really appreciate all of your time and love. Take care and enjoy the season.
Love,
Johnny
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