Unicycling Meets Ice Skating

I was looking online to see if there were any videos of backwards unicyling (a skill which still escapes my grasp!), and found something that simply astounded me.

This looks like ice skating/ice dancing-- on a unicycle. Ice skating already has a great coolness factor... but this unicycling has an even greater one, in my opinion. :) I've seen videos of mountian/cross country/extreme unicyling, but I think this looks prettier. :)





Pairs:


Hope you enjoy!
It should be an Olympic sport... :)

Skateboard Crash

Poor Will. He busted his lip, skinned his nose, scratched/broke his glasses, and banged up his hip. Here's the story.

Today I pulled out my unicycle for the first time in months (winter is not a good time for cycling). Within an hour I got my freemount down, did several figure-eights up and down our hill, fell over as I tried going backwards, and managed to idle for six full seconds.

Then the boys came out to play. I decided to go for a distance ride, and started pedaling up the very steep hill. I turned around and spotted William. He was riding the ripstick (a kind of skateboard, but oh so much cooler) up the hill, just as fast as I was cycling. We raced to the top (I barely beat him), and then I crossed the street and continued my trek through the neighborhood.

I had gone at least half a mile and gotten my legs very sore. Then, suddenly I heard a strange noise. It wasn't a car... It sounded like plastic wheels on rocky pavement. Well, it was, and it was Will. He had ripsticked (skateboarded?) all the way, following me. I was going downhill (quite a long and tiring ordeal on a unicycle), and William shouted that he would beat me.

Well, he zoomed on down. And down. He gathered up a ton of speed, and once he was ahead of me, he tried to get off (realizing he was faster than he meant to be and that he would likely fall off).

So he veered off to the side. He said he was trying to land in the neighbor's grass, but instead he did a magnificent summersault onto a steep driveway. I think he'd hit a rock.

His face was bleeding. I handed him my unicyle, told him to sit still (of course, he didn't... he walked home), and sprinted all-out, reaching our house in record time.

He's okay-- he busted his lip (thankfully no harm to his braces), and scraped up a bunch of his skin. He is milking it now, of course. Drinking milkshakes, watching movies.... :)

At least he will have an amazing story to tell when people ask about his scraped up nose. Going full speed down a hill on a skateboard, I ask you! Unlike Ben, who broke his foot simply by walking on that old floor by the theater's bathroom two years ago...

Ice Dancing

I really enjoyed some of the ice dancing this Olympics!
Granted, there were some really weeeird costumes, strange poses, and awfully offensive dances, like the Aboriginals. I do not recommend watching their dance/look at pictures of them. >:(

A senior who uses my curriculum and who I have chatted with a bit used to be a figure skater. She retired this year, but she used to use the same training facility as Emma and Evan! Watch their dance HERE. I really wanted to embed a video, like in YouTube, but NBC does not support that. So you will have to click on the link. Sawwy.

This was one of the most beautiful, elegant ice dances ever! It won first place-- and really won it. I really recommend watching!!! HERE.

Second place belongs to the Americans, with Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!! Watch it HERE.

That's all for now, folks!

Olympics

The Olympics are here again! In Vancouver. I sadly had to miss out on the opening ceremonies and I have not been able to remain glued to the television because of school. But I do find the Olympics quite fascinating. :) I like the summer Olympics better, though, because I am familiar with those sports. And imagine my glee when I discovered that the new volleyball rotations we were learning were the same used by Team USA. But that was awhile ago. Now its time for the Winter Olympics!

Figure-skating is, of course, my favorite. The fluidity of the movements... Its like ballet. Of course, there are a few strange costumes and weird moves... But there are also unique approaches, such as this German pair who took an interesting theatrical approach to their short program, skating to "Send in the Clowns" and dressed in corresponding costumes. Video here. I plan on pulling out my sketchbook tonight during single's skate...

On a random note, I absolutely love the graphics/color scheme for these Olympics. My favorite shades of my favorite colors.

On another random note, any of you who have iPod touches/iPhones should download the free NBC Vancouver Olympics app. Very nice for updates and watching recap videos.

I thought I was unfamiliar with these winter sports (the closet I've ever come to doing them is a snowboard-like thing we use when it snows). But I had no idea. Many of these sports I have barely heard of! Such as one that looks suspiciously like shuffleboard on ice. With a bit of Bocce Ball thrown in. Apparently it has a name, curling, and is famous enough to get in the Olypmics.

Curling

 A U.S. speedskater who was in a previous Olympics entered the convent. I like the random links that Father Veit puts up on facebook. :) Here is the article.

I don't know about you, but I think the 2010 mascots are funny. :) I think they are based on Canadian mythology.

Another random thing: Lent begins tomorrow, and Ash Wednesday is a day of fast. I wonder if the Catholic Olympians still have to fast? I bet it would affect their performance, so maybe they get permission not to? Anyway, that was a random question that Mom didn't know the answer to.

Mom said the Olympics used to be an entirely amateur thing; no one who got paid to do their sport could compete. I found that interesting. :)

I like to notice the little details-- such as the extremely wavy design of the medals this year. I found this website that has pictures of every Olympic medal ever made, except for this year's, here. Apparently this year's are made up with some recycled materials. ::P I really liked the second medal concept, here. Too bad it couldn't work out!

Enjoy the Olympics, everyone! Even if your family, like mine, is not a huge sports fan and has no clue what is going on, its still fun. :)

Tennis!

I've been going to the high school's tennis camp (actually, this was the second day) and its lots of fun! I really like tennis. :) I've done Optmist tennis in the past, and didn't learn nearly as much as I am now. Most of the other kids there are on the high school team, but there are two other beginners, so I don't feel quite so out of place. :)
The coach asked if I was interested in tennis next year and what other sports I play (conflicting seasons). Of course, I can't, because we are moving and homeschoolers can't be on school teams anyway. (Grrr!)
He said that I should do jumprope because it strengthens the muscles you need for both tennis and volleyball and helps your reflexes. So, all you awesome Rolla Royal players out there, pull out your jumpropes! :)
On that count, I think I might go to the open gym on Monday, say hi to people. I'm going to miss ya, Royals.

Why oh why must the tennis camp be only for an hour?! *pouts*

Volleyball Games

Tonight we had volleyball games. The Junior High played St. Pat's, and won the first two out of three. My team, the JV, played Maranatha's (sp?) team, which I think was Varsity. We lost two out of three (well, we only played two because we lost both). I think we played fairly well, though. We had some awesome moves! We had several played where we dug the ball out of the net. We also got to steal Elise from the Varsity! She came and joined the JV instead of doing practice.

Volleyball

Oh, I can't believe that I forgot! On Friday we had a volleyball game in Lebanon. We played two teams, a match per team. We won out first match and lost our second.

Go Rolla Royals!!! !!! !!!

Sorry- still no videos. I haven't even asked Dad yet, but we have had alot going on! Yesterday the Junior Varsity team had our first game of the season. We played Marshfield, best 3 out of 5. We won the first, lost the second and third, won the fourth, and won the 15-point tiebreaker by two points. But we won! Go Rolla Royals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have another game on Friday against Lebanon, wish us luck! Volleyball rocks!!!

Nick's Baseball Game

Nick had a baseball game at Lions Club on Ben's B-day. The birthday boy didn't watch; he played a card game with Will.

Nick got a home run!

Waiting to bat

An interesting view of the game

Lions Club is a beautiful park...

Three New Skills

Guess what? Adelynn learned how to ride a bike without training wheels this week. She sort of popped onto the bike and said: "Hey, Shayl! Look what I learning do!" (Shayl is what she calls me now; she no longer says "Shaylie"). Nicholas learned how to do the Ripstick (a two wheeled skateboard), and is now able to turn tight curves. All in a week! If I don't hurry up and practice the Ripstick, all of my brothers will be better than me at it! However, I have done one thing on the Ripstick that they have not tried yet: dribbling and attempting to shoot a basketball while riding it through a sort of obstacle course. And the third skill mentioned in the title is- the unicycle. I have gone all the way across the driveway on it! All that I need to do now is learn how to turn. While spending several hours in the driveway with the unicycle, I learned many things. One of them is to never try riding it while both Nick and Addie are on the Ripstick and bike; you wind up falling off every foot to avoid crashing into them.

Recently, I finished reading Eragon and Eldest by Christopher Palonini (spelling?). I thought they were pretty good; especially because they were written by a highschooler! Because I am trying to write my own story, I now appreciate just how difficult it is to create one. Here is a tiny review of the book by yours truly:
The Inheritance series is the story of a farmboy who discovers a dragon egg. He finds out that he has become a legendary Dragon Rider. Then he is thrust into a world full of magic, dwarves, elves, monsters, treachery, treason, friendship, adventure, discovery, and many, many other things. His goal is to defeat the evil king Galabatroix, who is a Dragon Rider gone bad.
Many people critique the fact that the dragons are good, rather than the typical, traditionally evil role played by these giant fire-breathing creatures. However, in the books, the dragons have free will the same as humans; they are neither good nor bad as a whole, but choose their own path. Magic is also often critiqued (as it is particularly rescpetable to being made into some new age sort of thing). In the books, it has a huge part and the author goes to great lengths to describe how magic is used in his world. Magic seems to be a tool that can be used for both good and evil; it is used by spells (which are phrases in the 'ancient language') that are uttered, and each spell uses energy. If you preform a spell too difficult for your abilities, it will draw on your strength so much that it can kill you. One thing that I do not like about the uses of magic in Inheritence is that it is possible to use energy from other creatures, and thus easily kill them. The magic seems to be so strong that it can control everybody, and those without any magical abilities can be killed or controlled very easily, without any chance to defend themselves. However, the author makes a big deal about the fact that magic is a responsibility not to be used lightly, and concentrates on how evil it is to misuse it.
The magic used is not particularly bad (though not particularly good, either) and I would normally think that the books are just fine, were it not for the fact that a couple parts are notably atheistic. The dwarves and the humans in Aglagasia are basically pagans; they believe in a number of gods and have their own mythology. However, the two races that are the most looked up to, the most revered for their wisdom, reject the notion that any greater being(s) exist. They are the elves and the dragons. The elves have lives many hundred years long. They have used magic to increase their time span, and spend much of their time studying magic. They fancy that they know everything and have not discovered any thing supernatural that they they think cannot be explained by magic. In Eldest, Eragon and his elfish teacher have a lengthy discussion on the elves' religious beliefs, and the case of the atheists is discussed in far too much detail. There are the usual, pointless arguments ('if there is a god or gods, why do they let bad things happen', or, 'well, maybe they exist but they deserted us long ago'). The dragons simple seem to believe that they are the gods themselves. This is my biggest problem with the book. I would recommend the series (at least the books so far) as an enjoyable and creative story, but I would warn people to read with digression (is that the word for that idea? or is it discretion? or some totally different word?).