13/Jun/2008
12/10/2007 (a very informal review)
I went by Festival Walk today to watch the HK Figure Skating Championship. Just a few notes:
Senior ladies: Hilary Ho, second after the short program, skated first. She landed a 2 lutz (could be a triple...landed on the far side and I couldn't see clearly), 2 loop, 3 toe landed forward, 2 axel forward, a 3 toe that looked cheated, and a 3 salchow. (No complete notes on her other elements, sorry.). 2nd place overall
Ono Tamami, who was leading after the short, skated next. Landed a 3 sal 2 toe, 3 toe 2-footed and turned out, 2 axel, 2 axel, camel to donut to camel spin, layback, 2 loop, 2 flip, camel-change-edge-to-donut- spin, 2 axel (on the same spot), flying sit, 2 lutz. She was our winner!
Christine Lee skated last. She was trailing by nearly 16 points after the short program, and she did not skate well enough to close the gap. She landed a 2 axel, another 2 axel that looked messy, and attempted some sals that were either messy or underrotated. And did she try 3 triple sals? 3rd overall
One thing I noticed was how the skaters weren't using the entire ice surface. It was really obvious with Ono Tatami. She completed many of her elements on one side of the ice rink (in front of the judges) and barely, if at all, went by my side.
There was no senior men competition. The guy at the reception jokingly said the men were too busy working to compete. :-)
Junior ladies: 1. Tse Wai Sang (leading after the short) - as soon as she stepped on the ice and I saw her fantastic pink dress and heavy makeup (the only girl to dress up), I knew she meant business, and she did not disappoint. Even when she was skating around waiting for her turn, she was showing off her superior edges. :-) Landed a double-double-double and had a real nice change-edge spiral. 90.25 overall
The junior girls mostly landed double jumps. No 2 axels in my notes.
The novice boys and girls couldn't do anything more than singles and doubles, but they were a fun bunch to watch. They skated to upbeat/dramatic music -- no muzak. (Yay!) Lee Hau Yin won the novice boys by a mile. He skated to the diamond commercial and landed a 2 axel.
Yuen Lap Kan skated to Riverdance and went from 4th to 2nd. The other two boys (Chan Hau Ran and Yeung Kwan Nam) finished after the music and probably had their last element not counted. Interestingly, Yeung was wearing a toned-down version of Yagudin's 2002 long program costume, and as soon as I saw that, I knew what music he was skating to! haha!
Novice girls mainly landed singles. Samantha Yuen held on to her lead after the short program and won with a score of 68.88.
I noticed how some of the girls were already doing Bielmans though they could barely squeak out a single jump. (Sigh.)
07/Jun/2008
Question: can you tell me the differences between the following terms?
a competition, a match, a tournament, a race ANSWER: A match is usually a competition between two parties, e.g. a tennis match, a boxing match, or a chess match. A tournament is a competition consisting of many rounds of matches, with the winner of each match playing against each other. e.g. a chess tournament or a tennis tournament. A good example of a tournament is the World Cup (soccer). A race is a competition of speed. A notable exception: political races. Since politicians are supposed to be "running" for offices, the competition within an election is also regarded as a race. Note that a final election that resolves an earlier election (in which no winner is produced) is called a “run-off” election. A meet is a competition in which many people "meet" and compete. It's not a one-on-one match. e.g. A swim meet. As you see, competition is the generic term.
07/Jun/2008
Question: why should I say "keep an eye on" (with one eye and not two)?
Answer: When people ask me to "keep an eye" on something, they don't expect me to watch that one thing the whole time. Let's say, my mom asks me to "keep an eye on the boiling water" while I'm cooking. That doesn't mean I will stop everything I'm doing to watch the water. I'll simply keep the water within my visual range, while I use my eyes to complete other tasks in the kitchen. Imagine using your eyes to cut meat, while watching the water out of the corner of your left eye.
That is different from sayings like "keep your eyes on the road". As a driver, you have to pay attention to the road all the time, with your two eyes.
Hope that explains why it's "keeping an eye on" -- one eye, not two.
04/Jun/2008
First Blog.
This is my first blog. I've finally managed to add a forum and a blog to this site, and revamped the whole thing. Wow!