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LONG POST ALERT - apparently I have so many things to say about 2016 Worlds in Boston and my experience there :)

Guys I just attended the final event in Boston and I can’t believe it’s all over. Like right now is in the middle of the school session and for the past few days I’ve been literally spending my entire day at the rink and watching my favorites from like 7AM until 11:30PM and seeing skaters I love in person and it’s all been a whirlwind of crazy emotions and amazing experiences. I know I said I was going to do an overall 2nd half of the season ‘recap’ since I’ve been slacking ever since Japanese Nationals but I think a separate post about my trip to Boston needs to be done just to make sure I don’t forget any details.

I attended (in this order)

Ladies SP

Free Dance

Pairs SP

Mens FS

Pairs FS

Ladies FS

Exhibition

And I’m the luckiest person alive because I also scored 2 FREE practice tickets from someone who received extras (thank you!!!!!!! so much!!!!!!!) so I also got to see:

Pairs SP Practice

Mens FS Practice

Pairs FS Practice

Ladies FS Practice

And I sat in the FRONT and CENTER seats of the rink which means they were all like less than a foot away from me.

I guess I should just post my initial thoughts on each of the bulleted points above and then my highlights of the event :)

Ladies SP - Wacky scoring, was upset about the lowballing of Satoko and I wish Mao landed her jumps :( The American audience was very lukewarm towards non-American skaters, noticeably Rika which made me upset but whatever. Elizabet is insanely tiny on the ice but had a great skate! Amy Lin from Taipei performed AMAZINGLY to Slumdog Millionaire and received the first standing O of the event :) Dabin Choi skated in the first group and stayed in 1st for like... forever. Maybe until 2 or 3 groups later. Zijun Li was so graceful and wonderful when she was skating, and she did really well and got a PB!. Rika Hongo went clean as usual, and her program was so great. So did Satoko. I can never get into Gracie, her skating does nothing for me. But Ashley was absolutely fantastic in the SP :) SO Was Mirai, who had one of the best, most emotional skates. Worth noting that Gracie got the quietest applause out of the three American ladies.......There were so many Japanese fans at this event. Satoko was perfect but got a lower score. Her SP was great. Mao made jump mistakes but her step sequence was AMAZING. This was the first event and I only missed the first group so I ended up watching tons and tons of short programs and was a little bit tired, but it was a great first event!

Free Dance - SHIBS were magnificent, skating last and tearing the roof off. Their FD was slower than I expected and the music volume in the arena could’ve been louder to make the ending twizzle sequence more... grand? The audience still went nuts during the twizzles and I felt the excitement in the arena when their FD began to pic up speed. Their FD was one of my most anticipated programs to watch Boston! P/C were really really good, and C/B were also good. but I guess the american audience didn’t like them as much, because their applause was less than the Shibs. Everyone else was enjoyable. Kana/Chris were great, charming and cute :) Glad Japan is getting better at non-singles skating.

Pairs SP - SUI AND HAN SLAYED MY ENTIRE LIFE and more, their performance was the HIGHLIGHT OF THIS EVENT and I already wrote an incoherent emotional post about their SP performance a little earlier. But it’s worth repeating that they got the ONLY complete standing ovation, the LARGEST CHEERS by far after their performance, that the american/canadian audience started standing BEFORE THE PROGRAM WAS EVEN OVER and that they earned the HIGHEST SP SCORE IN THE ENTIRE SEASON. And that the American/Canadian audience gave them the most bland, lukewarm applause when their names were first announced, but before the end of their program were on their feet and SCREAMING for my pairs kids. Also worth noting that over half the tweets featured on the ‘tweet board’ were about them :) I just love S/H so much. V/T have such a great Bollywood SP to a song that I actually know and enjoy. I like their dedication to the theme and the program itself. They’re very good live! Savchenko/Massot were great, and I’ve always loved Savchenko in particular and their weird but awesome music choices. Wang/Wang were a delight to see in person, P/Z just weren’t on their game this event and Peng had a super scary fall that wasn’t great to see in person. James/Cipres were awesome and I’m a fan of theirs :) S/K are actually very cold to watch, but in a chic kind of way. No warm emoting from their skating, but there’s still something interesting about them. T/M were very very very slow in my opinion. D/R try their best to be artistic but it does very little for me. Lots of Canadian support at the pairs event though so I guess they saw something more in D/R than I did...

Mens FS - I realized that I’m very impartial to the top mens contenders which makes it a wonderful, stress-free event! Between Javi, Yuzu, Patrick, Boyang, and Shoma in particular, I like qualities about all of them. So whatever the outcome, I would be okay. I had the worst seats for this event but they weren’t that bad. Yuzu was subpar but I could immediately see the it-factor with him. Javi was just outstanding. Shoma made me very sad, and his fall was scary. He was definitely crying when he got his scores :’( But his skating skills and edges are out of this world and some of the best in the field! Boyang was so so so slow, it made me worried about his jumps. But he got them anyways. Pls get a new program Boyang. He’s so cute but his programs are lacking in lots of choreography/transitions/interesting stuff etc. Patrick made me sad too. But you can’t deny his superior skating skills. I also really enjoyed lots of other competitors, like the ones from Italy, Malaysia, and Philippines. Mikhail from Russia also impressed me a lot with his skating. He’s got lots of potential and I like him way better than Kovtun. His program music was also... interesting lol.

Pairs FS - I was so so so stressed for this event and S/H killed me with their mistakes and D/R skated technically perfect so they ended up winning. I was okay with it I guess but their skating still leaves lots to be desired in my opinion, although it definitely was a moment. S/H did win the PCS though, so I’m glad about that. The whole audience GASPED when they did the choreographic move where Sui slides on the ground between Han’s legs super gracefully and I loved that (because I literally gasped out loud when I saw it for the first time too). And the people behind me kept saying “Who choreographs for this pair? They’re AMAZING!!” and their quad twist was so so so big and so high! And bless Sui for landing her SBS jumps and her throw flip in front of where I was sitting. AND BLESS the american audience who STILL gave S/H a pretty big Standing O even when they messed up. Like thanks American audience for recognizing quality skating. I have such low standards for you. Basically S/H are loved by the entire audience and deserve everything :). I love S/M’s free skate and the music but lots of people don’t like it?Their triple twist is so so high they could definitely do a quad twist if they wanted to. V/T’s free skate is not good, their SP is so much better :( I started to fall asleep during a Canadian and Italian pairs and woke up just in time to see P/Z make lots of mistakes and drop china down to 2 pairs next season......... Also Wang/Wang were delightful as usual. Lots of mistakes from all the pairs though. Still really enjoyed the event though. I was on the edge of my seat.

Ladies FS - Probably my least favorite event, although it had many of my top highlights overall. First of all, MAO ASADA landed the most gorgeous triple axel and performed her best FS this season (besides Japan Open). She was absolutely gorgeous and the (very misinformed) people behind me even acknowledged how well she captivated the crowd. The crowd went nuts for her performance and I knew the judges would hose her in PCS but FS judging is a joke and I’ve come to accept that. FINALLY the american audience shows some decency to Rika and actually were super into her FS! They clapped and cheered with everything and she had the audience in the palm of her hand the entire time. She had the biggest smile on her face throughout the step sequence and I could tell all the crazy audience cheers made her perform the heck out of that program even more than she’s ever done before. I was smiling like an idiot throughout the entire thing. And she got an amazing standing ovation from the crowd. I was so happy for Rika. She’s truly delightful when she skates this program. Such great packaging for her this season. And once again, Satoko performs a perfect FS and wows the crowd, gets a standing ovation, and gets crapped on by the judges. But like I said, FS judging is fake and a joke so all I can do is enjoy how Satoko (and RIka!) never falls and has the most nuanced movements and interpretation of any lady besides Mao :) Worth noting Mirai got a standing ovation before she even skated. When her name was announced the audience freaking stood and clapped for her. What a queen. Not commenting on Yuna’s record (FS, not combined) being broken because watching the performance in person really felt lacking and not very fluid and didn’t feel like a world record performance? Maybe I like Yuna too much. Anyways, it had to have happened someday and she still holds the combined score record. Also she lost the FS record by .4 points so thanks for continuing to be a joke judges :) (I’m being a little harsh but that was my first impression anyways lol)

Exhibition - This was the BEST because of the front row seats I managed to get :) The exhibition was so much fun and I had the best time sitting in the front row, even though it wasn’t center ice. the best part about my seats is that MAO ASADA’s exhibition starts with her looking at all her props on the rinkside, and literally she started her exhibition program like 5 inches away from me !!!!!! She set down her props (her cane, hat, mirror, and fake lipstick) on the rink rail that was literally so close to me I could literally stretch my hand out and grab them. She was so close to me!!! Closer than during the warm up!! Like inches!!!! And Yuzuru hanyu introduced her so she was just chilling for a few minutes inches away from me until he was done and I almost died. SHE WAS SO CLOSE TO ME!!!!! Highlight of my life. The absolute best part though was when she put her hat on. Before she skates away, she hangs out by the rinkside while she’s looking in her mirror and putting on her hat and all that fluff, and right before she skated away after putting her top hat on, she flashed the brightest smile RIGHT AT ME and the people around me. Like she smiled directly at us while chilling 5 inches away from us and I literally died. Guys this is no joke I couldn’t believe it. Her props were so close I could literally just reach out and take them. Sui/Han’s exhibition was absolutely magnificent and felt like I was going to cry the entire time. Satoko’s exhibition was kind of boring but her skating is glorious so it doesn’t matter :) Boyang’s exhibition is SOOO much better in person! I was expecting everyone to get weirded out by it but literally everyone in the stadium loved it. The people behind me even commented “now THAT’s an exhibition!!!” like they had just seen the program of the year. The crowd went nuts when Boyang threw his bouncy balls into the audience. Yuzuru’s exhibition was actually amazing, passionate, raw and emotional. He got to express a lot of feelings that he didn’t get to during the FS and I’m so glad I could see it up close because I really felt like he projected his entire emotions into the audience. during the finale, the skaters all took a big lap around the rink, and all the people in the front row were stretching their hands out for high-fives so I did the same AND THE SKATERS ALL HIGH FIVED ME!!! Like I touched their hands and everything. Like all of them (except shibs). I never wanted to wash my hands again :P They all high fived me!!! I absolutely loved me exhibition seats, especially for the Mao moment and the high fives :)

I actually want to comment on practice sessions as well so here I go:

Pairs SP Practice - I woke up at 6:30AM to watch the pairs practice and it was worth EVERYTHING. Arrived just in time to see S/M practice their circus SP and got to see P/Z, V/T, and some other random pairs. Finally for the last group I saw S/H for the first time and before the group took to the ice Wenjing (minus partner bag carrier friend) marched over to the kiss and cry area, sat down on the bench, and fixed her hair like a queen. It was so iconic. She was just looking over the rink and the pairs before her and it literally looked like a queen looking over a group of peasants. Finally one thing I really really like and noticed in particular is before S/H warm up, they do two full laps around the rink in synch together doing edge exercises (one facing forward and one facing backwards) and then do their start pose similar to when the announcer calls their name in a competition. Then they practice together for a bit, warm up throws and SBS jumps and occasionally lifts. but once there’s about a minute or two remaining in practice, they go off on their own and work on individual stuff. They’re hardly together or in the same vicinity as each other. IDK their practices were always like this which I found really neat. They practiced their SP in front of me (i got front row seats center ice :D) and it was absolutely glorious. They skipped elements and such but it was so good!! She also fell twice during their throw 3Flip (I think it’s the flip?) and that got me super worried about their SP competition performance but obviously I had nothing to worry about :). They went in their costumes too. As they were circling the ice they were super focused and I heard them talking to each other (but idk what they were saying lol). At the same time, S/K, D/R, and S/K (USA) were warming up, but none of them had such a consistent practice outline as S/H did. I was sad when the warm up was over. S/H were last to leave the ice as well. I guess they wanted all the practice they could get. OH best part - there’s a group of (kind of rowdy) practice watchers who would hang over the stairwell banister to ask for signature/pictures after the warm up. The american pair (maybe canadians too) went to sign stuff but Wenjing just walked past them without even looking in their direction like a boss. She didn’t stop for no one. It was awesome, and such a diva move :P (however she posed, hugged, took pics, and shook hands with TONS of people during the medal ceremony)

Mens FS Practice - I watched the ENTIRE mens practice but I’ll just talk about the GROUP OF POWER with my 5 guys. They were amazing to see live. The audience members went crazy for Yuzuru. I saw his Pooh Bear tissue box! He landed tons and tons of jumps but also messed up on a few. It’s so awesome seeing him skate in person. It was awesome to see him rehearse his Semiei FS program right in front of me. Shoma also did his cantilever right in front of me too. Shoma is a lot shorter in person, but his skating skills are amazing in person. I became an even bigger fan after seeing him in person. Boyang did tons and tons of jumps. He looks older in person. Patrick was also great (I’ve seen him twice before so I wasn’t too surprised by his skating). Javi was great but had lots of trouble with his jumps (not a problem during competition though :)) One thing I noticed by sitting this close is that a lot of the men have super hard landings, because I felt them all in the floor. Some men who travel upwards rather than far land super hard and I definitely felt the ground shake. I also really enjoyed some of the other men I saw practice, like those I mentioned above in the Mens FS section.

Pairs FS Practice - Woke up to see this by 7:30 AM this morning :) I was not disappointed. Sui/Han landed a THROW QUAD SALCHOW literally RIGHT in front of me. Like one inch away. Like so close I felt the air. Like so close that i felt the ground vibrate when she landed. Also when Wenjing lands her jumps she has the best landing position and best landing face. Like a boss. Also worth noting, before the last warm up group came on the ice, she went back to the kiss and cry bench, looked over the rink like a queen looking over her peasants, and fixed her hair just like in the SP practice. I wonder if it’s a part of the warm up ritual. Because they also did their edge work lap, their pair work together, and then their individual warm up during the end. They were also last to leave the ice again. I will never forget the crazy quad throw right in front of me. Although she did fall the first time. It looked scary. Watching S/H throws in person is just amazing. They also did their crazy upside down lift right in front of me. Basically S/H were perfection. Couldn’t tell if Wenjing stopped to sign autographs or take pictures, but I doubt she did :P Lowkey didn’t pay attention to the other pairs during their warm up (except for S/M) because I was too busy watching S/H perform throws and lifts like crazy. And I got a few pictures of them too. She didn’t fix her hair that much and in the middle of practice she just took her half-ponytail out because I guess it was annoying her? I thought this was worth noting just because Wenjing is a huge diva and her hair was just not doing it for her during practice. So she just took that hairtie out.

Ladies FS Practice - So many Mao supporters! Mao landed a clean triple axel RIGHT in front of me similar to S/H throw quad, where I felt the air when she jumped and I felt the ground when she landed. Guys i can die in peace now. Mao is so iconic. There is no skater with her maturity, her artistry, and her elegance on the ice. Hands down, the class of the field. She is just so good. It’s hard to put into words. Before she went on the ice she went and hung out by her coach and they were standing together by the rink and it was really cute :3 So I took pics. She was so close to me like.. a foot away it seemed. It was magical. I couldn’t believe it. Rika’s Riverdance run-through had me smiling like an idiot, and bless the warm up audience who clapped along. She did a COMPLETE run through of her program and didn’t miss a single jump. I was already smiling like an idiot and the audience was already pretty into it, so I couldn’t WAIT until I saw it actually live where the audience (and I) went absolutely NUTS for Rika! Satoko was clean, perfect, wonderful, etc in practice without missing any jumps. She’s just fabulous. Her jumps look bigger in person. Mirai got lots of cheers from the crowd :) She had fun with her gatsby warm up. That’s all I really care about remembering :)

HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to the lady who gave me her two practice tickets :) I met up with her during the Free Dance and she just gave them to me. They were SO AMAZING to go to, even if it meant waking up early in the morning on 5 hours of sleep just to see S/H and the pairs practices. Guys I was at the rink for the past two days from as early as 7AM to as late as 11:30. It doesn’t even feel like I’m in the real world anymore. I never want to leave this life. And now I sound crazy :P

But finally, my highlights of the competition portion. I tried to narrow it down to around five. We’ll see how that goes :P

HIGHLIGHT NUMBER ONE BASICALLY OF THE ENTIRE COMPETITION HANDS DOWN belongs to Sui/Han’s INSANE, CAPTIVATING, MAGNETIC, Insane, Crazy, AMAZING, HIGHEST SCORING Short Program. Read my emotional post earlier if you wanted to get my gut reaction. Basically I almost cried (I was tearing up for real) and for the rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about it. You had to be there. Seeing it in video is amazing, but actually WITNESSING that program; that PERFORMANCE in person was like from another world. Everything was captivating from start to finish, they had the entire audience in the palm of their hands. Absolutely no errors on any of their elements, and their Step Sequence was pure FIRE, perfectly nuanced, wonderfully choreographed, and exactly on the beat. This short program is an absolute masterpiece, the best short of the entire competition. Sui looked so gorgeous and her makeup was on point. Han was okay I guess ;) Hearing the audience ERUPT into applause and a standing ovation before they were almost finished almost made me cry, because idk it always feels like so many people don’t recognize what they’ve been through and the pure QUALITY that there skating is. Seeing their reactions right after their performance and right when they got their scores made my day. Seeing Han pick up a giant stuffed monkey and give it to Wenjing was also a bonus. Guys this performance was my moment of the entire competition and watching the video of their SP at Worlds doesn’t do it justice, you had to BE THERE to just feel the atmosphere of the entire arena, to feel the floor shaking with applause, to not even be able to hear the last few notes of their song because the audience was so loud already before they ended. I’m so so so blessed to have witnessed this and now I’ve become incoherent and emotional again :P

Highlight NUMBER TWO I’ve decided is Mao Asada’s comeback FS after many months of being sick, being written off, performing subpar, withdrawing, and basically being shoved to the side by teenage jumping beans. Although she didn’t medal, it meant everything in the world to see that smile on her face after her FS. She just has this presence on the ice when she skates (not in an exhibition, but in a real competition program) and it was just so obvious that she was in a class above everyone else. I was just hoping and praying that she would land her jumps and although there were some minor errors, she delivered one of her stronger FS performances. Just seeing her face of relief after her performance (where she stayed in her ending position for a few seconds before standing) was just magical to see and I’m so so so happy she was finally happy with a performance, even if it wasn’t perfect. And the Roar of the crowd when she landed the 3A (and then every jump after it) was deafening. People always say Mao Asada is a slow skater and although her speed isn’t like a race car or anything, her slower style (that isn’t actually that slow in my opinion?) works in her favor because it gives her such fluidity and grace on the ice that SO many other skaters lack (while they’re trying to do triple jumps after jumps in some fragmented fashion). And her spread eagle during the climax of the aria is my EVERYTHING. Chills every time. Mao asada is a gift to the skating world, and I’m so glad she finished this tough season with a good skate :)

Highlight NUMBER THREE is Rika’s FS because she was amazing and the audience was amazing. I was smiling like an idiot during her free skate practice, so I was practically a grinning idiot during the actual FS performance. The audience went absolutelY NUTS during her step sequence and I literally saw her face light up when the audience cheered her on and clapped. She got SO INTO the choreography of her Riverdance program and SOLD THE HECK OUT OF THAT PROGRam like nobody’s business. She landed all her jumps, and the audience gave her a well-deserved standing ovation. Even the misinformed folks behind me had nothing but good words to say about her program. Everyone loved her program and I could not stop smiling. at all. Rika is a joy to watch on the ice and you can tell she just has a good time. Bless the team behind her program packaging this year for giving her great program this season and none of the ballerina-style music like last season. She was just wonderful, energetic, charismatic, and the audience loved her. I can already tell that she gained many new fans from this performance! I actually had the energy to clap along the entire time, and seeing all the support she was getting from the audience made me SO SO SO happy. I really wanted to see her Riverdance live and I’m so glad I did. It was absolutely magical, and way better than on television. The best part was how happy Rika was. You could feel her joy fill up the entire stadium :)

Highlight NUMBER FOUR is all the skater sightings I had! I first passed Shizuka Arakawa when I was walking to dinner and I literally did a double take because I knew I recognized her face. Then I ran into Miki Ando outside the TD garden entrance before the Mens FS and I was brave enough to ask for a picture and autograph!!! She was so nice and she had nice smelling perfume on :) Then I saw Soyoun Park in the TD garden lobby during the last group of the ladies FS and she was so nice! I also saw Grant Hochstein on the train after the ladies FS and lowkey eavesdropped on his conversation where he was discussing Patrick Chan’s Ice Wine brand lol. He also mentioned “Patrick is great with little kids. Older people... not so much”. The shade :P I also think I sat near Mervin Tran during the ladies FS. There were so many other skaters I happened to see in Boston but I didn’t know them well enough to meet them (or I was too scared :P Miki Ando was the only one I actually went up and talked to and I was so terrified). It was so cool though and I was fangirling the entire time.

Highlight NUMBER FIVE is not really a highlight, but it’s just my experience in the arena in general. Basically I’ll never forget the terribly long bathroom lines, the terribly overpriced gelato, popcorn, and hot dogs, and the crazy amount of stores selling jewelry, dresses, blades, boots, etc all around the arena. I think there was a John Wilsons blades booth set up with postcards of a bunch of famous skaters who used their blades and I was lucky enough to grab the last Mao Asada postcard :3333 I also grabbed one of Shoma Uno and Yuna Kim. Basically I bought some mercy like a sweatshirt and a skating bear stuffed animal, got an awesome program book that wasn’t terrible to read, and an awesome signature from Miki Ando on my program book! Basically I brought back tons of merch and lots of memories (cheesey I know :3). Although the results were a little iffy for me, the experience was absolutely amazing. I’ll never forget seeing my favorite skaters in person and I hope one day I’ll be able to do it again soon!

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