When I woke up on the first day of March, the sun was aggravatingly bright and then it hit me: the Olympics were over. I recalled hazily the train wreck of giant beavers and mounties with Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan singing songs I liked when I was an angsty pre-teen and shuddered as I tried to bury that image in the graveyard of forgetfulness. True, the Olympics and the figure skating that I so eagerly awaited was gone, but I could still enjoy my pretty red Vancouver 2010 mittens as I rolled snow into a ball and threw it at my darling friend and fellow blogUT writer, Julia. Speaking of Olympic attire, here are a few fashion highlights and splats of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. (more…)

photo from blogTO.com

What can I possibly say that could even remotely capture the feeling that was the 2010 Olympic games? For seventeen days, this entire nation, the entire world, was glued to their TVs reveling in all the competition and the excitement. For seventeen days, Canada demonstrated to the world its incredible hospitality, the amazing talent of its athletes, and the absolute spirit of this great nation. For seventeen days, it was as if all the citizens of Canada were as one. We celebrated together when Bilodeau won that first gold on Canadian soil.  We mourned with Joannie Rochette after hearing about her loss and cheered her on as she courageously took the ice. We drank with Jon Montgomery as he marched the streets of Vancouver. Our hearts went a flutter watching the heavenly Virtue and Moir. We randomly burst into song, belting out our national anthem night after night. We rejoiced and wept together every time our athletes won (or lost). We groaned and moaned collectively when Parise scored that wretched goal in the last few seconds of last night’s game. And of course, we screamed, drank, celebrated and paraded down the streets together when Sid the Kid won us that glorious hockey gold! It has been riveting. Electrifying. Straight-up magical. Never before have I ever felt so proud to be Canadian and I can’t even count the number of times I’ve gotten misty eyed because of all this pride welling up inside of me! With a total of 14 gold medals, not only have our athletes set a personal best for our nation, they’ve set a record that the entire world has yet to beat! It’s been an amazing ride and regardless of whether you were watching the games from Vancouver, the local pub, or just your own living room, the feeling of euphoria has been undeniable and unstoppable.

And so, if I may indulge myself for one last time (everyone shout it with me now)…CA-NA-DA! CA-NA-DA! CA-NA-DA!

photo from blogTO.com

About a year and a half ago, I fell completely in love with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir – a team of Canadian ice dancers. In light of their gold medal victory, I feel completely justified as many of my friends have expressed their awe after watching them. Personally, I also find it hard NOT to love them – I mean, they’ve skated together since they were 7 and 9, it’s obvious that there’s a lot of love and joy in their skating, they’re skilled, beautiful to watch and after meeting them at Skate Canada, I can say that they are wonderfully congenial people. In any case, let’s recap what they did at the Olympics, how they won gold and what their win means in the grander scheme of things. (more…)

As December rears its ugly head, some people diligently prepare for their upcoming exams. Others, resigned to their inevitable fate of  abysmal grades,  procrastinate instead. I unfortunately count myself among the latter camp, having whittled much of my time away by watching figure skating. After all, it is an Olympic year: the one time every four years in which the mainstream media gives an indication that figure skating does indeed exist.

My opinion on figure skating is rather mixed. On one hand, I love the sport sincerely–at best, it is a sport that blends athleticism with artistry, the triumph of the human will over the constraints of gravity. On the other hand,  the idiosyncrasies and the sheer ridiculousness of figure skating brings forth a steady stream of snark on my part. Today, it is the latter half of figure skating I focus on, a part of figure skating that lends itself to a substantial amount of (perhaps not completely unwarranted) ridicule and dismissal: the costumes.

Costumes are a fundamental part of figure skating. Most figure skaters regard themselves as artistes, wringing out their souls on the ice in the form of angsty expressions, overly-dramatic gestures and costumes that appropriately reflect the character of the arty masterpiece they are attempting to pull off.  However, as in life,  good taste is more often than not a rare commodity in the figure skating world.  Which, of course, spurs me to pass judgment on a bunch of hard-working athletes not by the content of their character but by their choice of attire and my completely subjective sense of aesthetics. Ah, internet, my never-ending outlet for catharsis.

And so, without further ado–the best and worst dressed figure skatings of this season (so far):

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After going to Homesense Skate Canada International 2009 this weekend, I figured I should write something about the competition. However being a Grand Prix event in which most of the skaters are barely known, I thought that it would be more helpful if I wrote about the athletes most people would cheer for by default – in other words, the athletes from Canada. Being in Canada, the competition featured the country’s best figure skaters in all 4 disciplines: men, ladies, pairs and ice dance; as a result Skate Canada is perfect for seeing how each skater does against the international competition, as well as taking a glimpse of the results of the backstage politicking that, unfortunately, goes on in this subjective sport. As subjectivity is fundamental to figure skating, I cannot promise a completely objective post; instead, what I can offer is a less nationalistic alternative to the blind pro-Canada garbage that CBC tends to spout. (more…)

Image from Wikipedia

So I went caving, aka “spelunking,” this weekend. I came away with so many bruises but it was all worth it considering how much fun I had. Now for those of you who don’t know what caving is, go here.

I swear that having escaped all of those — what I consider to be — “near death” experiences really changed my perspective on things like how strong our instinctual survival abilities are. I had to climb, crawl, lean against walls and whatever else, whilst holding a tiny flash light in my hand, as I was sure I was close to plunging to my death. Alright I might be exaggerating a bit, considering how much of a wimp I am. I kept having to ask my fellow cavers (yes I made up that word) to help me out, like by telling me how the heck they were able to climb up or down and in or out in the first place.

If you’d like to give caving a try, why not join our very own U of T Outing club (UTOC)? There are several opportunities to go caving with them at their cabin near the Niagara Escarpment. The club also offers other amazing outdoor events and activities.

If there’s one thing figure skating has taught me, it is that life is never certain. And also, ice is very slippery. The ladies’ event at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships was an especially exemplary example of those life lessons.

Since the 2006-2007 season, the ladies’ division has been dominated by Yu-Na Kim of South Korea and Mao Asada of Japan. This rivalry seemed to be as solid an institution as the legendary rivalry between Alexei Yagudin and Evgeny Plushenko, the two brilliant Russian skaters who had firmly monopolized the gold and silver positions of the men’s division previously. As for Kim and Asada, the two have been heavy favourites for every major ladies title for the past few seasons. However, cracks began to show. Asada had won the Grand Prix Final title over Kim in December 2008, but ‘only’ won the bronze at the Four Continents Championship in January 2009 (Kim won the gold). But in the weeks leading up to the world championships, Kim and Asada were still the favourites for the title, even with the vulnerability Asada had shown during Four Continents and an earlier competition, the 2008 Trophee Eric Bompard. After all, Asada has been a lock on the podium of every international competition she has ever competed in as a senior skater.

All seemed well during the short program last night. Kim skated a splendid short to Camille Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre and thoroughly trounced the competition with a massive 9-point lead over second-place finisher Joannie Rochette of Canada. Asada had finished in third place after her ethereal Clair de Lune short with a costly error by doubling her planned triple lutz, but had the most difficult technical content planned among the ladies with her two triple axels (Asada is the only lady to even attempt triple axels). Pessimists predicted that Asada would skate decently, but remain in the bronze medal position. Optimists insisted that she would overtake Rochette for the silver in the long program, given Asada’s formidable technical content. Die-hard Asada devotees hoped that Asada would make up the 10-point deficit between her and Kim and take the gold (technically possible, as Asada had done so in 2007 before). (more…)