?

My current favourite names are as follows:

Anna Christine

Sierra Eponine

Charlotte Gina

At the moment, if I had three daughters, these would be their names (I don't love the last one as much as the other two, but it is one of my favourites still). So... what do you think? I realise that Eponine's a little strange, which is why I would never use it as a first name. But it means a lot to me, so I like it as a middle name. I always figure that the first name should be sensible, and the middle name can be that 'guilty pleasure' name (provided it's not too ridiculous) that the parent(s) really love.

Thoughts? Please try to be polite :)

If anyone cares, these are the reasonings behind the names:

Anna Christine - After Anna O'Byrne, who is a very kind person, and a great actress and singer. Christine is from Phantom of the Opera, my favourite musical.

Sierra Eponine - After Sierra Boggess, another great actress and singer. Eponine is from the musical and book Les Miserables.

Charlotte Gina - Charlotte is from Phantom of the Opera ("Little Lotte"), and Gina (Beck) is another West End actress that I adore.

Next week I am going to see Les Miserables (Thursday) and Phantom of the Opera (Friday). I will get to see one of my favourite actresses in each (Sierra Boggess in Les Mis and Anna O'Byrne in Phantom). I have heard that you can go to stage door after a show and get autographs and I really want to do this, but the problem is that I am a very shy, quiet, nervous person. I'm worried that I would say the wrong thing, and I'm worried that they'll just walk right past me and I'll be too scared to say anything.

So I guess my main questions are: What is the required/appropriate behaviour when waiting at stage door (aside from the obvious 'be polite')? Are there typically a lot of people? Any other information would be helpful :)

Thank you!

I'm applying to university in the UK this year (for 2013 entry; I'm currently in Grade 12 in Canada), and so far, my list is 1. Kings College London 2. St Andrews 3. St Andrews* 4. University College London (*I'm applying to two different programs at St Andrews, so each takes up one spot). According to UCAS, I can apply to 5 universities/programs, so I'm stuck on the fifth choice. I'm stuck between Durham and Edinburgh.

Edinburgh appeals to me because it's in a big-ish city (I'm no so fond of teeny tiny schools; only applying to St Andrews because I love the programs), but Durham has the 3 year program instead of four. I've heard excellent things about both schools, and I've made many pro/con lists, and I just can't decide between them. Things like nightlife, bars/clubs, etc. aren't important to me. I'm not a social person.

What are your opinions on both schools, and which would you choose and why? Thank you for your help!

I was thinking about this after a situation at my club where a girl said something was hurting, but her mother told her she had to put her skates on, get on the ice, and skate for the next two hours. The poor girl was crying and looked really hurt. I'd never seen anything like that before, and it got me thinking about whether I'd want to put my kids through what I've been through (my parents never forced me to do anything; I'm talking about the injuries, the stress, etc.).

I really want my future kids to be involved in sports (anything but soccer -_-), but I think it'd be hard to find that balance between encouraging your kid to do something that they're so talented at, and pushing them to do something they maybe don't love.

So, would you like to have your kids involved in Skating? Would you wait til they asked, or put them in lessons and hope that they like it?

Very curious to hear the opinions on this, because I know most of the people in this category have very interesting opinions :)

I'm taking a course during the summer for three weeks that focuses on Ancient Greece and Rome, and I'd really like to get some background reading for the next couple weeks while I'm on vacation (trying to get away from the computer), and google searches have revealed nothing but purely fact-based books.

I was looking for something similar to a Philippa Gregory, or Jean Plaidy-style book, as they are some of my favourite authors. Or, if it's purely fact-based, I love Alison Weir's style. I don't mind books about Greek or Roman mythology, but I know a lot about that already, so I'd prefer books focusing more on daily life, politics, possibly the legions, etc.

Thank you for any suggestions!

I'm just randomly curious about what people think about my current favourite names.

For girls, I love Anastasia (Ah-nuh-stay-see-uh), Aleksandra (Ah-lek-sahn-drah), and Callista (Kah-lih-sta). The first two are Russian; I think Russian names are so beautiful and elegant. Callista is greek.

For girls, I adore Henry, because I'm obsessed with Medieval History in England, and it's full of Henrys. I don't really have any other favourite boys names; I like Andrew and Edward (not because of Twilight! Same reasons as Henry), and Jasper (again, not because of Twilight. Red Jasper is my favourite gemstone).

So... thoughts?

Also, for Anastasia, which nickname do you prefer: Nastia/Nastya, Nastasia, Stasia, Ana, Stasi (like Stacy), or Anya. Again, just out of curiosity :)

I always love hearing other people, from other parts of the world's opinions on major competitions. In case you weren't able to follow the competition, the results can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_World_Figure_Ska... and here: http://www.isuresults.com/events/fsevent00011327.h...

I watched pretty much the entire thing live; when I wasn't watching on TV, I had my computer open on my desk (on mute, of course. But I still got to see almost everything. The beauty of having teachers who like you! And a spanish teacher who is also a major fan - her son is an Olympian in Ice Dance). There is also a tv right next to the arena at my club, so for some of the programs, the ice was empty and ten skaters and even coaches were glued to the glass. I have a picture of it XD So I pretty much caught everything. And what was most glaring for me was the scoring! It was so... odd. I was looking at the result forms online, and I didn't understand how the scores were what they were. I can't count the number of times I was saying 'That can't be right; they must have made a mistake'.

I also found that the quality of skating itself was lacking. There were some phenomenal programs (Wagner's long, Leonova's short, Kostner's long, Weaver and Poje's short and free, Volosozhar and Trankov's free, for example), most of them were badly executed and riddled with mistakes. I wasn't really impressed. I'm hoping that everyone was just saving their best performance for next year (I'm going to London next year to see the whole thing live, so I want to see the very best :) ). Also, the calls on the Choctaws for D/W and V/M... what? I downloaded them onto my computer and zoomed in to take a look and they looked fine to me.

A list of 'moments'

Most shocking moment: Volosozhar and Trankov's fall in the short

Most exciting moment: Leonova's long program

Most irritating moment: Suzuki beating Wagner

Most unexpected moment: Takahashi and Tran's bronze medal

Saddest moment: Amelie Lacoste's interview after the long

Favourite Programs

Ladies Short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iais8SwERwU

Ladies Free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E0vKp_0Swc

Ice Dance Short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnp1ijZMHWo&feature...

Ice Dance Free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czgho3uNYIg&feature...

Pairs Short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTcY33o_PuQ&feature...

Pairs Free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG64wuOb_AE&feature...

Men's free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97I4QNoR4cg&feature...

Didn't watch many of the shorts, so no opinions on that. I only saw Chan and Takahashi and wasn't impressed by either.

So there're my opinions! Feel free to share yours, as well as any 'moments' or favourite programs :)

I always love hearing other skaters and fans opinions on competitions (performances and results). We only got to see the competition yesterday and today, so that's what made me want to post this 'question'. I'll start with my thoughts, and then I can't wait to read everyone else's :)

Ice Dance: This is the event I follow the most closely, because it's basically me figuring out my possible future competition. I'm really sick of the Davis and White vs Virtue and Moir. Frankly, this season, I can't stand either of them. I do think V/M are better overall, but D/W are more consistent. Both skated well; I would have been happy had either of them won. Ok, not happy. Indifferent. Now, for Weaver and Poje... yay for them! I honestly can't pay attention to their feet on the free dance because the performance is so good. However, they need to hold their lifts longer. It looks sloppy when they rush through. I'm glad they won. I actually didn't hate the Shibutani's as much as I usually do. I was impressed with how Alex held through to the end before he collapsed. I wish Paul and Islam have skated better, but they're young; they have time to improve. Hubble and Donahue... meh. Don't love them. They're kind of sloppy.

Mens: No surprises with Patrick, but at least he earned it this time. I wasn't surprised by Takahashi's 2nd place; also expected. But I was very impressed by Ross Miner. Although I don't think he skates to the music in his LP very well. it's a shame that the Japanese man, Mura something, had a poor LP. I thought he would medal after the SP.

Pairs: After the disappointing results of the Canadians after the SP, I couldn't watch the LP. Not even sure of the final results. I'm very sad for Meghan and Eric; they were so happy after nationals, and it just all fell apart. Hoping they can pull it back together for worlds.

Ladies: ZOMG SO HAPPY FOR ASHLEY! I smiled ear to ear for a good hour after she won. She deserved it. Both her skates were beautiful, and the triple triple in the short! Good for her! I hope she can pull off the same performance at worlds. I thought Mao skated well, aside from the few glitches, so I was surprised that Ashley placed above her. I'm most interested to see the Ladies competition at worlds, because anything could happen. I don't want to talk about Amelie and Cynthia... bad skates from them both, but Amelie will go to worlds, not Cynthia... poor girl :( She always looks so sad when I see her, and I assume she'll be even worse now.

Worlds Predictions:

Ice Dance: The typical battle of the americans/canadians. Third is really up for grabs. Probably either the French or the other Canadians will get it.

Pairs: Germany vs. Russia for first and second, and again, it's anyone's game for third. The Canadians, Chinese, or Russians could take it.

Men: Patrick Chan has gold in the bag. Silver and Bronze could be anyone, really, but I'm thinking Gachinsky, Takahashi, and the like.

Women: Probably Kostner for gold, Mao or Ashley for silver, and the same for Bronze. Maybe one of the Russians will sneak up on them, but I doubt it.

Your turn! Can't wait to hear everyone else's thoughts.

I'm a huge germaphobe with a fear of vomiting, and on Monday, my friend missed most of her classes because she had the stomach flu (she threw up). I sat next to her for about fifty minutes during a school assembly. She didn't cough on me, although she definitely breathed on me. It's been roughly forty eight hours since she got sick, and over forty eight hours since I sat next to her. I only talked to her for a moment today, long enough to find out she got sick, after which I promptly went to wash my hands. I felt a little sick yesterday and this morning, but now I feel mostly fine (although I have a headache because I started hyperventilating a little, and my stomach hurts a little. But it is lunchtime and I haven't eaten yet, so that could be the cause).

So, explanation aside, if I sat next to her for 50 minutes, but she didn't vomit on me or cough on me, and we didn't share utensils or food or anything, and I haven't thrown up yet, am I ok? Is there still a high chance that I will get sick? My school nurse thinks I should be fine, but she's used to reassuring me that I won't get sick. I can be forgetful when it comes to washing my hand and putting them near my face, but I try to remember whenever I can.

Thanks for putting up with the paranoia of a Germaphobe XP

To clarify, do you find "Skating Parents" - aka the parents who stand at the boards and order their children around when they have no skating experience and no idea what they're talking about - annoying and/or disrespectful? Just curious to see if other people feel the same way as me. Personally, I don't think the parents have a place in meddling with the on-ice stuff, especially if they know nothing about skating.

The motivation behind this question - If anyone cares or is curious - is this: I was skating this afternoon at a Club that I don't belong to. There was just me, my partner, my mum, his mum, and this one little kid on the ice. The little girl's dad was playing her program music over and over again, and was yelling at her that she had to do her axel properly. The poor kid was barely doing waltz jumps, let alone axels. Not to mention that these parents repeatedly screamed at my partner and I to get out of the girl's way, even when we were doing pattern stuff. I have also seen parents at my club screaming and banging on the glass because they think their kids aren't doing things correctly. One mother actually got banned from the skating area because of that.

BQ. What is one thing you dislike about figure skating?

BQ.2. If you could learn and perfect one skill, and this one skill wouldn't contribute to anything else (eg. if you pick triple axel, it doesn't mean you can land a double or single axel. Yeah, kind of stupid to say that, but I don't like when people pick quad axel because then they would be able to do every single jump), which one would you pick?

That is all :) Happy Skating!

Usually I only skate at my rink, which doesn't have boards, and lately, I've noticed that at all the figure-skating-only rinks in my area, there are no side boards. I'm pretty sure this is because boards are only needed for hockey, but I still find it interesting. I kind of miss smacking into the boards every once in a while. Sounds crazy, but sometimes it's fun :)

So, do you prefer arenas with or without the boards? Or if you've never skated on an arena without boards, do you think you would like it? The only thing I don't like about not having boards is that if you lose control, you go straight over the edge, which really hurts, whereas on a rink with boards, you would just hit the boards. Aside from that, I like the feeling of not having boards. It makes the ice feel more open and bright.

((This is what a rink without boards looks like, for those of you who have never seen them before: http://sfsc.on.ca/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/a... ))

I thought this would be fun; basically, do you have any similarities or connections with any well know skaters? For example, are you from the same city, have the same birthday/date, etc.

I seem to have quite a few; I have the same birthday (June 5) as Julia Lipnitskaya, and the exact same birthdate (June 5 1995) as Natasha Purich (A fairly well known - in Canada, anyway - pairs and singles skater). I also have the same program music as Ashley Wagner (Black Swan), and I train at the same club as quite a few very well known skaters.

Anyone else?

I think the question is pretty self-explainitory. It's just something I'm curious about, since I love skating, but I also have a passion for Rhythmic Gymnastics and AGG, and when I'm not on the ice or at school, I'm in the gym. My AGG group just found out we're going to a huge competition in Bulgaria in April (don't ask how I have time to train for that. Let's just say I have no social life, or really any life at all), so that got me thinking about what other skaters might do, either for fun, for cross training, or for whatever reason. RG started out as my cross training, but then I started to enjoy it on a more competitive level. Then the head of the club wanted an AGG team, and I got shuffled onto it. I get exempt from Ballet twice a week like the rest of my group because of Figure Skating.

So yeah... :)

So I just finished watching the Free Dance, and it was certainly interesting! For those of you who haven't watched it, here are the results:

1. Meryl Davis/Charlie White USA

2. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat FRA

3. Isabella Tobias/Deividas Stagniunas LIT

4. Nelli Zhiganshina/Alexander Gazsi GER

5. Kharis Ralph/Asher Hill CAN

I wasn't surprised to see Davis and White on top, but I was surprised that Kharis and Asher didn't medal, and that the French pair managed to stay in second after the very shaky second half of their free dance, and the fact that she almost fell three times and almost got dropped. I liked the other US pair, Hubbell and Donohue, although they definitely need work. Hubbell looks a lot like Kristen Stewart, I think.

as for the mens:

1. Michal Brazina CZE

2. Kevin Van der Perren BEL

3. Takahiko Kozuka ***

4. Richard Dornbrush USA

5. Denis Ten KAZ

There are some programs uploaded on this channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/RecintoMoxo#p/u

I'm not familiar with any of those skates, aside from Ten, so I don't really have opinions on them. Although it's interesting to see someone from the Czech Rep. at the top.

So... opinions? Predictions for the women and pairs? Predictions for Skate Canada next week?

I was randomly thinking about this during math class today, and I was curious as to what other people's pet peeves are when it comes to figure skating. I have quite a few, but I'll list some of my major ones.

- Sit spins that aren't actually sit spins. I hate it when people say they have a great sit spin, but they're barely sitting at all!

- When people say "Oh, Figure Skating! That's like ballet on ice, right?" Um... no.

- When people say "That looks so easy! Can you teach me?" This happened on a school trip to an ice rink last year; I demonstrated a double loop and some girl who really hates me - and was wearing hockey skates - said that. So I laughed and told her to give it a go. The end result was hilarious ;)

Anyone else have anything that bugs them? Whether it be about skating in general, scoring systems, competitions, etc.

Kind of a random question, but I haven't asked any questions in forever... so yeah, I'm going to shut up now.

Julia Lipnitskaya is a twelve year old Russian Figure Skater who used to do Rhythmic Gymnastics. She placed 4th at the 2011 Russian Figure Skating Championships.

Short Program 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlQqRP6jZ4

Long Program 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEF41tCbP3g&feature...

Personally, I think she's kind of sloppy. She never finishes anything, and her split jump and illusions are terrible (you would think she's be good at those :P ). Her spins are impressive, and her jumps are mostly pretty good, but there's just something missing. I also can't stand her music, especially the long program.

But I think with a bit of work on her cleanliness, she could be a really great skater. She has beautiful lines, and obviously has a lot of talent. She definitely has potential, and she's Sochi eligible! But with so much Russian talent, it's hard to tell. She's going to need to get her triple axel soon if she wants to catch up with Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Adelina Sotnikova.

So... thoughts?

I'm a day-camp camp counsellor to a group of nine four-year-olds. I'm not used to dealing with this age group, and my co counsellors and I are having a lot of problems.

One of our kids, a five year old, won't stop tattletaling. If someone does anything that is not exactly the way he wants it to be, he marches over to the counsellors and tells. Most of the time, it's something seriously minor. But it's getting out of control. Do any parents or teachers have suggestions that might make him stop, or at least do it less frequently? He tattletales about 10 - 20+ times during a 40 minute period (depending on the activity). He also complains all the time about the most insignificant things (he said he had a huge scrape on his knee that was hurting him; there wasn't even a mark). Any ideas on how to help him get over these habits (or whatever they are?)

We also have another girl (4 years old) who is incredibly stubborn. She won't do anything she's told, and it's really affecting the rest of the group. If something doesn't go exactly the way she wants it to go, she sulks and refuses to move. I had to leave her in the bathroom by herself today because I needed to take other campers back to the group to continue their activities, then I had to come back and literally drag her back to the group. This was all because she didn't want to wash her hands and I said she had to. Any ideas to get her to stay with the group, and to stop being quite so stubborn?

Also, my co's and I often tell the kids that they'll get a time out if they're doing something wrong. Problem is, my co's never follow through with that threat and tell me that I shouldn't do anything. The kids are starting to realize this and they're not taking it seriously anymore. How can I get them to follow through with what they say consequences are, or to at least let me if they don't want to do it themselves? Also, I wanted to go to our supervisor for assistance dealing with the stubborn girl, but they said that was stupid and we didn't need help (we definitely do).

Finally (Sorry this is so long!), if a four year old says this "I will never come back to school (she meant camp) because I hate you and you are mean and the worst teacher (counsellor) ever," is simply saying 'Ok' in a nonchalant voice, and then ignoring the rest of her rant, the appropriate response? She said this because I told her she couldn't colour with the rest of the group after she tried to snatch a crayon box out of another kid's hands, ripped open the box (spilling crayons everywhere), then wouldn't apologize. (This is the same girl that is really stubborn).

Thanks in advance for any helpful answers! I know this may seem like nothing to many teachers and parents, but please keep in mind that I'm only sixteen, my co's are 17 and 18 and of the three of us, I have the most experience as a counsellor (this is my second year). So please don't tell me that these are stupid questions and I should know how to deal with it myself.

((Sorry this is kind of long))

Adopting internationally is something I've been thinking about for a while. I'm only sixteen, so I won't be adopting any time soon, but I've pretty much already decided I don't want to actually go through a pregnancy (I have a pathological fear of vomiting and pain terrifies me, not to mention that I like my stomach where it is), and I love kids (I am a camp counsellor during the summer and I teach canskate) and I like the idea of adoption; giving a child who was given up by their parents a chance for a better life. I think I would like to adopt from Russia or the Ukraine, because I have two very close friends who are adopted from there (one was adopted from Russia at 18 months, the other from Ukraine at 6 months)

That brings me to my actual questions: I am a Canadian Citizen living in Canada, but I plan to move to California or Arizona in the future. If I lived in the states, would I have to adopt through a Canadian Adoption Agency? And if I still lived in Canada, what would be the general process? I've read about dossiers and stuff, but I don't really understand any of that. Can someone possibly give me a link to a Canadian International Adoption Agency?

Also, how much does international adoption cost? I know that for both the Ukraine and Russia, you have to travel to the country for a set amount of time. I also know that you need to bring clothing and shoes and toys for the child, as well as some medications and stuff. But what are the other costs involved in international adoption?

Thank you so much!

If I think of more questions I will post them :)

Just out of curiosity, how do you pay for coaching, ice time, outfits, etc?

I'm lucky; I'm an only child and my parents are fine with paying for everything. However, I decided that I would rather them pay for university and school and all of that, so I teach Canskate in exchange for Ice time, and I work at camp during the summer and I have a part time job at a pet store during the year to pay for outfits and coaching. Of course, my parents still have to pay for a lot of stuff, but I feel good having contributed as much as I can.

So how do you other competitive skater pay for your skating?

((not sure how long this will be on youtube before summit takes it down))

Sooo.... I just saw the BDp1 trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QU8peFczPE

And I have to say I'm disappointed. I was hoping that they would tastefully skirt around the sex scenes, but instead we get to watch a sparkly fairy and an emotionless weirdo get it on in a variety of different places.

What are other people's thoughts on the trailer? Is it like you expected or did you visualize it differently?

Also... It's my birthday :) and Draco Malfoy, Mark Wahlberg, and Anastasia Romanova's xD