The security was walking around talking on their walkie talkies.
Finally a nice security person, a lady told me the reason why I was
being held hostage, at least I felt like one. She said, "If people bring in big posters
people complain they can't see." Meanwhile, Frita is saying, "Are we
 allowing the big posters in tonight?" I said to Lina, "I don't believe
this." She later told me, that I looked like I was not pleased.

 I had a stern look on my face. I also told Lina, "I am about to cry."
She put her arm around me, finally my ordeal was over! I felt like the
 heavens opened up the sun shined for a few brief moments when I heard,
"You're okay, it's 12 by 12, Go on in." I said, "Thank you so
 much", profusely. I felt like a prisioner that had been set free. Lina
and I raced inside and made a bee line for the first food stand we saw.
  

   Lina wanted caffine in the worst way and she would have taken it
anyway she could have gotten it. I ordered some nachos and a mountain
dew, while Lina , I might add wisely chose a hot dog and a mountain dew, the hot dog can
be consumed in 3 minutes, nachos I never counted how long LOL. Time was
not on our side, literally and the poor lady whom served us had rung us up as paying
all together.
  

  
As Lina fished for her money, I pulled out another 20 and said, "We
are together." Lina looked at me like, "I can pay!" I said, "I am treating you to dinner." After we got our food we had to walk all
the way around the venue to section 122. Meanwhile,I am walking slowly
as I can with Alexei's valentine hugged up against my leg.
  

 Because, the N wanted to escape, two ladies with short blonde hair,
nice sweater vests on, very nice and polite asked me whom the poster was
for. I was hoping that the Alexei button, Lina so sweetly mailed me two years
ago, that I had proudly pinned over my heart would have been enough, but
I was proud of the poster.
  

So, I showed them while I said with pride and joy in my voice, "Alexei
Yagudin." The two ladies smiled and said, "Oh, we like him too, he is
 such a cutie." I smiled and said, "Yes, he is." Lina and I finally
made it around to section 122. We walked down these steps that seemed to
go on forever. We finally found row G, which was like the 7th row from
the on ice seats in the lower bowl .
  

Lina and I found our seats and got busy eating our food, I tore into
those nachos I was starving! I noticed the time, while I also noticed
the letters and pictures coming away from the poster. I panicked, I said, "Lina, get
in my purse and get the scotch tape my dad brought, we have some
emergency repair work to do!" Lina watched me eat my nachos, she told me later on, she
wondered if I would ever finish.
  

   I saw the error of my ways and tried to pawn my nachos off on her.
Finally, my dad came and I passed them onto him. We laid the poster out
on our laps, I  said, "Oh No! Where is the E?!" Then I saw the letter sticking out of
the doily, I said, "Phew, The E is in this doily". Then, I noticed
 a big problem the O from our word, YOU was MIA!!
  

   So, now the word was Y_U ! I freaked out, and Lina made me laugh so
hard when she stuck her head all the way (I might add) into the black
garbage bag to look for our lost O , then I majorly freaked out again, and I practically
screamed "Aaaa , We are missing the X in ALEXEI! " Lina was trying to
make me  laugh and she succeeded when she pronounced our new saying, HAPPY
VALENTINE'S DAY WE LOVE Y_U ALE_EI.  Well, now we could not have that.
  

I refused to have his name like that! We looked around our seats. Lina
saw a green glittery glow, underneath a man's seat in front of where I
was sitting. She said, "I see our X" (pretend that is green LOL) becuase
Lina suggested we put Alexei's name in green , it was a miracle I was so
 excited, I was shouting excitedly , "Get it Lina! Get it Lina! Oh My
Gosh, I am so happy! Yes, at least his name would not read ALE_EI!!"
  

   I finally felt like something was going right for us LOL, I think the
night was just filled with angels and miracles. The man was sitting in
front of us,  Lina tried to reach our run away X. I was beginning to think, Oh, Boy
this is just great!! Lina said, "I'll ask this man to help us", or maybe
 I pleaded to her to ask him LOL. As, you can probably imagine I was
bordering  basket case status at this point.
  

   Lina was so great, she tapped the man on his shoulder and she said,
"Sir , Can you help us, our X fell off our poster and I saw it gleaming
under your seat." He said, "Sure, No problem", as he looked, but the letter was
way back there, naughty letter. His little girl was sitting next to him,
 she was an angel, I am not kidding this whole family was. She had
little blonde pig tails, big blue eyes the sweetest looking face.
  

 She had her little SOI note book that they had bought for $5.00, she
sweetly said, "I can get it for you." God Bless her!! She crawled in
under his seat and reached her tiny fingers out to grasp our missing X . She was
such a sweet heart, her dad gave us our letter.
  

We thanked her and her dad for retrieving that little rascal , I
looked at my watch and the show was going to start in 10 minutes! I did
have some comic  relief from an unseen voice, that said funny comments and also told
you the rules for the show for the skater's safety, we also had a
contest I am happy I won, because I did not even look at my ticket.  LOL.
 

 

 He also mentioned auditions for people to try out for the transition
numbers, I thought, Hey, I have danced, now I just need to learn how to
skate. Meanwhile, Lina and I are still making repairs, the poster accidently
poked a lady in the seat next to the dad, she did not complain. She
looked at the poster, and with out a word she held the corner so that I could tape
more pictures and letters.
  

My hands and Lina's hands were just flying all over the poster it had
to have been quite a sight, we scotched taped here, scotch taped there,
so that our hands would be free to give the skaters their due applause. (Had
Wizard Of Oz tune, in my head LOL.) where they are getting primped up to
see the Wizard).
  

Finally, I was all ready for the show and I am sure you my devoted,
patient, all too kind readers are too LOL. I made sure the poster stayed
put, by holding it with my legs. The lights went down, my heart sped up, as I watched
the black tunnel, that was near me which made me excited.
  

  

  This electronic voice, came on and said, Ladies and Gentleman , TD
Waterhouse Centre and Smucker's Stars On Ice are proud to present,
 T-I-M-E." I think that was close enough, I loved how they did that very cool Anyway , I watched the black skating tunnel for any sign
of the beginning of Time. Yuka Sato came out, then Elena Berezhnaya, Jenni
Meno, Jamie Sale, Kyoko Ina , then the men came out, and my heart sped
up just thinking,  Alexei is coming , Alexei is coming.
 

 

 But, the first out was Todd Eldredge, Paul Wylie, Todd Sand, followed
by Anton Sikharulidze, John Zimmerman, David Pelletier, then Oksana
Baiul, and then  Alexei!!!! I screamed and cheered loudly for him as he joined the rest
of the cast on the ice.  I have to be honest I watched Alexei the most, he looked great in
those rusty colors and I liked the whole casts costumes. The cast did do a
wonderful job, they were working hard together to give us a great start to the long
anticipated event. I loved the lighting!
 

 

 I thought the golden yellow sun rays that danced,shined on the ice
were just awesome. Like Lina mentions in her review on that other board
we had awesome seats , that gave us the best of both worlds! We had a clear vantage
point of the skaters and the lights, that just made the night even more
magical for me.
  

  
The skaters had clean foot work during Sunrise -Grand Canyon Suite.
Alexei looked like he was relaxed and happy, I was so happy. I yelled,
"Go Alexei!", and whooped as the men landed perfect triples. Alexei did
beautiful split jumps, he was AWESOME, when the skaters were being
announced, I turned to Lina and I whispered, "Let's stand and yell for Alexei when
they announce him."
  

She said, "Okay", I made her forget about being timid LOL, she said my
enthusiasim was contagious, so she wanted to join in on the cheering.
They announced Alexei, "2002 Olympic Gold Medalist, Four Time's World's
Champion, Alexei Yagudin !" Lina and I popped up and yelled and clapped
 loudly and proudly for Alexei.
  

  
The cast left after they had all been announced , then Paul Wylie came
out for the first solo act of the night, called Long Time. Paul Wylie
had a rough start , I felt bad for him, so I clapped for him, and he recovered and
landed his next triple axel, I told Lina to stand up with me to give him
support after he finished a very touching program.



To Be Contined !   
  





    

 David Pelletier came out in a little comical transition number called, Timing Is Everything
he was dressed in a silly black and white outfit, he had an umbrella , he skated out to the center of the ice with a skater
whom neither Lina and I both can not remember LOL. I wrote Todd Eldredge
in my notes, then I crossed that out and wrote John Zimmerman, but then I scratched him
out too. LOL.
  

   I knew Todd Eldredge had a transition number coming up so , he would
not have to change it might have been him. So anyway, the two men stood
in one spot and David opened his umbrella and water poured down from the ceiling out
of no where it was very funny but luckily the two stayed dry so I guess Timing
 Really Was Everything ;)
  

  
John Zimmerman and Kyoko Ina livened up the audience with an upbeat playful number called, Look at Little Sister.
I was amazed by this one move where John laid down on the ice, and Kyoko jumped over him, that was
really cool. John and Kyoko also had powerful lifts and throw jumps.
  

  
The audience really seemed to applaud, I don't think I saw any people
standing up, and I was afraid if I stood up the poster would slip down
into the next row LOL, which would have made me scream, "Turn on the lights I
lost my poster!" LOL, so I clapped for them but I had to continue holding my
 poster with my legs, while I cheered loudly for them .
  

Todd Eldredge came out for another transition number called, Metronome
he was wearing a funny costume with a hat that had a feather, he led
John and Kyoko off the ice, then Yuka Sato came out being led by him , but she
stopped him and changed the speed of the tic tic tic to a slower pace so
that she could amaze us with her grace and beauty on the ice.
  

  
Todd skated off the ice, but before he did he took off his hat and did
a bow to her. She gave Todd a polite curtsy before he disappeared into
the black skating tunnel once again while the audience gave Yuka a warm
reception for her solo number that she was about to start.


 Yuka Sato skated to a calm, soothing program , which had flowing music
that was relaxing and peaceful. This moving performance was called , Misty.
She skated so gracefully, her face clearly reflected the emotions the
song portrayed. Her movements were smooth and very calming, like a
lullaby that is sung to a sleepy child before he or she goes to bed at night.
  

She seemed to float over the ice, and she took my breath away. Lina
said to me, "She skates like a dream doesn't she?" "So graceful , so
 soft." I eagerly agreed, and I did notice some people that stood up
and gave Yuka an standing ovation , she blew kisses to show her
appreciation. I know Lina stood up, but again I just clapped and cheered for her.
  

Jamie Sale and David Peletier skated a number called, Come Away with Me.
I thought this number was gorgeous. Jamie and David looked as if they
were dancing on the ice together, instead of only skating together on the
ice, the throw jumps were outstanding, then David and Jamie did this one
lift, where Jamie held onto David's shoulder with one hand, as David skated
around, while Jamie balanced herself in like a one handed hand stand. I
gave them a loud cheer and clapped loudly.
  

  Then it was time for another transition number called, Hands of Time
where Kyoko Ina , Jenni Meno , and Yuka Sato came out wearing black and
white poofy dresses, with hot pink or red gloves, and these giant head band
like things that really reminded me of ear muffs. The three of them had
hot pink clubs in their hands. To me they really looked like Air traffic controlers,
with the wands guiding in the planes. LOL.
  

   Sorry, I am only kidding what really happened was the lights made a
clock's face on the ice. The women moved their hands around as they
skated around the  clock , they were to resemble the hands of a clock very clever.Oh,
they also had like saddle shoe covers over their skates took me back to
the 50's .


 Todd Eldredge skated to a Latin number called, Flamenco he was really great, he landed his triple combinations , he spun around, around and around
 like a very fast top! Lina and I both stood up for him, he really was an amazing skater.
  
I really think that quads are over rated now, I find that triples and
triple axels are very impressive, but a skater does not have to pop into
a quad to  impress me. He deserved the applause he had gotten and the whole venue
seemed to really love Todd.
  

 
Oksana Baiul skated out onto the ice, the audience gave her a warm
welcoming. I was happy to see her back on the ice. She had a wonderful
performance to  Ain't It Funny the number had a tune you could just bop your head to. I did bop mine up and down, since it was a pop song. I had a lot of fun
 watching Oksana .
  

 Lina and I stood up for her to support her. She was very happy, she
smiled and said, "Thank you." She was just so sweet in my opinion, I
also found out later on while reading my International Figure Skating Magazine that she and I were both 26, so I thought that was very cool!!
  

  
The time had come once again to have another transitional number, this one was called, Time for an Olympic Champion.
Jenni Meno and Todd Sand came out, and I was hoping they would bring out Alexei LOL, but instead
they whooshed Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze out into the
center of the ice, Istill clapped and cheered they were Olympic champions after all.
  

  Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze skated to such a moving song called, Let Me Fall.  Elena and Anton skated so peacefully , gracefully, Elena
 soared in Anton's arms as he had her lifted above his head . Elena  also held onto landing every throw jump, Lina explained something to me
about her having trouble , but she landed them beautifully tonight. Lina and I
both stood up for them, or maybe that poster slipped down again so I
could just clapped  and yelled out enthusiastically.
  

The next number was ..... Yes! You guessed it was another transition
number, I also knew Alexei was coming up LOL. This one was called , Jailbird,
 Todd Eldredge , Kyoko Ina , and John Zimmerman all came out to the
center of the ice. Kyoko was behind this prop that resembled jail cell
bars, and Todd was standing by John, one of the two I think it was John said, "She's
doing time ."
  

Now, during this time I also noticed a dark shadow skating quietly to
the other end, then I felt very guilty for seeing him. Because, in other
reviews I had read that Alexei surprised the audiences by suddenly appearing. So I
turned my attention back to the skit, it was funny.
  


I had seen Memorial on Thursday and Friday on a tape of The World TeamChallenge and The Skate Canada Tribute
(Canada's version) that Lina had copied for me! I was so lucky that Lina made a
copy for me. Really, I told her, "You just gave me the world." I was so
moved as I watched Memorial on the taped broad casts.
  

She explained the meaning behind the piece, and I really could not
keep myself from crying. The tribute was just so emotional and when he
cried, I felt tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. I had a box of tissues beside me
after being warned by Lina that I would cry. She was right I did cry, I
am a sympathetic crier and I really hate to see people being sad and hurt.
  

   I just cry and I want to hug them and tell them, "Don't cry , smile it
will be okay." I even cried with a fan in the audience during the
 tribute that was just so bitter sweet and so precious. Then I watched
Alexei skate in The World Team Challenge, and he rocked in his Racing
 program, Ok back to the show LOL.
  

Memorial was powerful, Alexei was marvelous, he skated with
his heart , his expressions were thoughtful, his feelings were clearly
reflected out from with in. He was so moving and so touching that I had tears in my
eyes again! I thought to myself, You can't cry or you will have mascara running
down your cheeks.
  

I also loved his black velvet costume, it looked very comfortable and
soft. I smiled and admired this man's courage and his determination.
Alexei jumped up into a triple Axel , he landed on the ice making that "thud" sound.
Alexei also had high and very thrilling Russian split jumps !
  

   I also witnessed something so awe inspiring and so mystical, when
Alexei went into his fast foot work, the ice just flew , shooting off
his blades in a big spray. I always wanted to see that, and now I was close enough to
watch this magical moment. I loved his end pose, which was so dramatic.
Alexei was in the center of the ice, bent down on both knees with his arms stretched up
and out.
  

Alexei's face looked up to the heavens, my heart flew and soared . I
was smiling as I clapped , then Lina and I stood up with my poster. We
lifted myposter, but my end kind of hid me LOL, I was getting a little shy, but
I still thought, This was worth all of my obstacles that I had to face and
 overcome, I am showing my favorite skater love and support, that he truly deserves at least in my eyes.
  

  
 I was so proud and I loved him even more as a fan. I continued to lift
and hold my poster up, and I also tried to yell, "We love you Alexei!"
He looked so happy, his smile just said it all. I knew then that this was
the best for him, to go Pro. Although, it was sad, I just wanted him to
be happy and healthy, and he truly was his face just beamed.
  

  To Be Continued !

TGIF was a fun energetic, and upbeat now it was the time to party. First of all was a number called, Steppin Out
where all of the men stepped out of their coveralls, while Alexei went to go change. They
basically partied and socialized with one another I liked the suits on
the men and I could not wait to see Alexei in his.
  

   After that number came a comical or number called, Is She Really Going out with him,
the men tried to impress one of the ladies it might have been Kyoko or Elena I am not sure , but I do know all of the men were vying
for her attention and affection.A little romance never hurt in Fools In Love.
 I think Alexei came back out in I'm the Man, Alexei certainly was the man I watched. LOL.
  

   I laughed as he pretended to be a bull, he made bull horns with his
hands on his head with one finger pointed, while Todd Eldredge acted
like a matador making, "Toro" motions with his jacket that Alexei charged at, I found
that adorably funny. Alexei's sense of humor (that I have read about on
 the Net) really came out.
  

All of the men just showed off to the ladies and the audience LOL, I
found that whole number to be really great. I do have to admit, I was
very nervous when  the fellows flipped and threw Alexei around in the air . Be My Number Two , Todd Sand had a lesson to learn, he wanted to have both Jenni and Jamie,
 but trust me my male and female viewers that never works out.
  

Jamie and Jenni left him to stand alone served him right LOL, just kidding. Jumpin Jive,
was a swinging and fun time. Oh Yes! Alexei could really cut a rug, he was very playful and he had a ball with the cast, the
number was just so catchy I really wanted to get up and dance, but
instead I just watched the skaters skate their hearts out.
  

Alexei had his jacket off both of his shoulders, he had nice
shoulders. I also loved the blue shirt, he looked so good in blue and
his hair was my favorite color light brown!!!!!! It took me awhile to
notice LOL. I was already in HEAVEN, but by the end of the night I shot
up to the stars.  I really felt like I was in a dream.
  

Todd Eldredge came out with a microphone in his hand. He asked us if
we were having a good time, and if we were enjoying the show. We all
cheered and  screamed and he said, "Well, we have some great acts coming up after
our short break in Act 2 so you don't want to miss it." I really can't
 recall his exact words, but that is close enough.
  

Then an announcement came over the loud speakers, "Be sure to take
this opportunity to check out the Stars On Ice merchandise, in a booth
right outside." (That was close enough too. ) My mom and dad left me, Lina
had to rush to the bathroom, which I could not really blame her at all.
But, I had a problem, or so I thought because I was stuck once again with my
poster. LOL.
  
 Is that ironic or what? I mean at first I felt like Timon from The Lion King, when he was running away from the hyenas and he wanted in
 Zazu's cage saying, "Let me in! Let me in!", while I was outside of the venue. Then, I felt like Zazu, when he wanted out of
 the cage, saying, "Let me out ! Let me out!" I tried to place the poster on Mom's chair, and naturally it fell off.
  

   So, then I entertained the insane idea of leaving my poster on the
floor! But, I came to my senses , because that really would not have
been a safe place, because people would walk on the poster.I envisioned how their shoes
would scuff and peel the tape up from the letters, then my letters would
end up on the bottom of their shoes.
  

I would walk around looking at the bottoms of their shoes, I could
just see and hear myself say, "Excuse me sir, but you have my A L E X E
and I , on your shoe." Oh My No! That was not even an option so I realized this
and tried to place the poster onto my chair, but the naughty poster
dared to slip down almost through the crack of the back of my chair!!
  

I pulled the poster back up and another angel entered the scene. She
was sitting in the seat directly behind mine, and she helped me hold the
poster. I  thought she was just helping me with pulling the poster back up. I
said, "Thank you." However, she did not let go of my poster and she said
words that were music to my ears!
  

She said, "You go on ahead, I am not going anywhere, I will hold this
for you until you come back." I was elated, I thanked her once again,
and  then I politely asked my seat mates, or row mates to excuse me. I
finally made it up the stairs and out into the hall way, I walked around
until I found the  booth or stand with the Stars On Ice merchandise .
  

   I saw a beautiful picture of Alexei from Memorial and it was
autographed!! I never had a real autographed picture of him before, I
would have loved to buy this, I had a scanned one that Elide sent me last year when her
friend had bought her souvenirs from last year, and I have pictures that
I found on the  Net that his autograph was on, but not like this.
  

   I knew in my heart I did not have that kind of money the picture was
$20.00. So I purchased a picture of cast, Alexei had a great smile in
that one and it was $6.00 . I went back to my section just in time to see the Zamboni , finishing up from remaking the ice. I thanked the kind lady once again, for
 holding my poster for me. Lina came back, my dad came and he had some kind of form in his hand.
  

   I said a dumb question, but I honestly had never seen one of these
before ! I said, "What do you have there?" My dad said, "Some form a
lady gave me." I said, "May I see the form?" He handed me the forms and
HALLELUJAH!!, I could not believe it! I had ADVANCED PRE-SALE TICKET
 FORMS!! ON ICE WAS AVAILABLE!! until June 1st!!
  

  I was so excited really I was, but you probably couldn't tell right?
LOL. The lady handing them out during intermission gave my dad two!! So,
I had to find a job so I could help my dad pay for those I had motivation baby
LOL. I was concerned about my mom though, until I found out the line to
the women's bathroom was long.
 

 

 She came back which was really good, because I saw a crew member come out of the tunnel, and he was pushing the ACME time clock to the section next
 to mine! I was excited because the show was about to resume!!

To Be Continued !

 The time had come for the long anticipated number, that I had only seen on the Net in pictures.Work'n Time
I was really dying to see this number, I began to loudly cheer for the men in cute coveralls, as they
came out skating in a straight line one behind the other. Todd  Eldgredge, David
 Pelletier, Alexei Yagudin, and John Zimmerman came to the ACME time
clock, and one by one they all punched in their time cards.
  

  The details got a little fuzzy LOL, I can't remember if the men
already had their time cards, or if they were found on the ACME time
clock and handed to  each man. I do not recall seeing the white time cards in their hands,
because all of the men were moving their arms up and down, so the cards
would not have been under their arms. Any way, that really did not matter LOL!
  

  The guys handed each other their brooms, and I could not help but to
think about how Alexei would have made an adorable janitor . I also
joked with Lina when  I said to her, "If we had on ice seats, they would be sweeping up our
glitter." I felt that this number was very creative, and very, very
comical at times.
  

Alexei was in the middle of two brooms, he waved to the crowd and ,
while he enjoyed his free ride, they also tossed him around in the air (
and I read in another review that the guys jumped over him ). I did not see any
mistakes, they landed their jumps (read that in another review) The men
showed off again by doing tricks with their brooms, I thought I also saw some cartwheels
and flips over the brooms.
  
 At one point they were all sweeping in a circle and as Lina had
mentioned in her review, I did yell out to Alexei, "Work that broom,
Alexei!" I added another part after that, but I shall leave that out LOL. The
brooms also impressed me when they all some how (maybe by magic) hooked
together and the men did what you do when you play "Red Rover" (a child hood game where
you link arms and the person you call out from the other side, has to
try to break through.)
  

   It was kind of like that, the men also switched their brooms and when
Alexei missed (on purpose) he looked so cute when he did an "Awww
shucks",  kind of move with his hand. I really enjoyed this number , I guess you
could say Alexei really swept me off of my feet as I stood with Lina to
give him a standing ovation.
  

  
Shall We Dance? After the men worked their brooms for us,
Jenni Meno and Todd Sand came out onto the ice, there was a little
dialogue done in their voices, while pictures of them as little children danced on the ice.
The sweet little angel whom crawled in to get our X turned around and
said, "Wow!" I smiled at her and said, "Yeah, that's neat ."
  

I also noticed that her dad had moved over to the seat next to his, so
that Alexei would be able to see my poster with out any one in the way!
I am telling  you I was surrounded by angles, the whole night. Anyway LOL,I should
get back to the number. After the pictures of young Jenni Meno and Todd
Sand disappeared, they were replaced with pictures of them as adults.
  

Jenni Meno and Todd Sand shared a dance together as they skated
smoothly across the ice. Their number was very romantic and touching,
she floated in his arms, and their lifts were so majestic, their love for each other was
clearly evident. Especially, when Todd and Jenni shared a real kiss at
the end. My mom said, "He really kissed her!" I smiled and said, "They are married,
they are partners on and off the ice." I felt this number was very
 appropriate for Valentine's day.
  

 4x2= 8 After Jenni and Todd skated off into the black skating
tunnel together, Elena Berezhnaya and Kyoko Ina, and Yuka Sato came out
for yet another transition number called, 4x2= 8. The ladies showed Todd Eldredge how to make a figure 8 very clever.When You Come Back to Me Again
 Todd Eldredge stayed out on the ice, and skated his second solo number.
  

This number was very heart felt, Todd portrayed the mood very well.
His skating was powerful , yet thoughtful (meaning his arm movements and
facial  expressions). He landed his triple jumps very clean, he did have a
problem in Flamenco, Lina informed me of him putting his hand down on the ice.
 The reason I did not notice is because, Todd recovered so well from that, that I did not even notice his mistake.
  

   His spins were still amazing, I am sure Lina and I stood up for Todd.Out of Time
Paul Wylie skated out and I did not even realize that this was
 another transition number until I finally looked at the program to jog
my memory of the show LOL. He was all ready to skate his Hero program and
 this announcer came on, while Paul was in the spot light.
  

  
The unseen voice said, "Hey Paul, Paul?" Paul turned around and around
as he was looking for the person calling his name LOL. He said,
 "Yes?" The voice continued with, "I'm sorry Paul, but Todd such a long
time with his bows, that we ran out of time for you right now.  Sorry about this Paul maybe we can squeeze you in later." Paul hung
his head and he had a pouty look on his face, and he skated while he
sulked back into the black skating tunnel.
 

 

 We all went "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww."Timely Advice (Sunscreen)
Yuka Sato , David Pelletier and John Zimmerman skated out, the lights
 brightened the ice like sunshine on a sandy shore. (Very popular with
Orlando, we are in the Sunshine state) The advice was very good, I could
really apply these words of wisdom to my life. Basically I heard the words telling
me to lighten up, have fun, live life to the fullest, still take care of
yourself, but don't get caught up in looks, and always wear sun screen.
  

  
 I did laugh when they all gathered around Todd Sand when the song
mentioned, "Don't worry if you don't know what you are going to do with
your  life, some 40 year olds still don't." Todd shrugged his shoulders
while they all pointed to him very funny. At the end Yuka Sato laid down
in a beach chair, donned on a pair of sunglasses and worked on getting a
nice tan. My final thought about this number, The men weren't too bad looking
 either. LOL.
  

  
Show You to Your Seat Kyoko Ina skated out dressed like an
usher from the movie theater. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharuildze
were led by her to their seats, or in this case the center of the ice LOL. She took their
pop corn and drinks away from them, while a funny like squeaky voice
said, "Tickets please , Follow me, and Enjoy the show." Elena and Anton
looked after her like, "Hey come back with our pop corn!", as she
 quickly exited the ice. Oh by the way, if you could not tell that was
yet another transition number (Surprise, surprise eh?).
  


 Before Show You To Your Seat, Paul skated to Hero.
Paul Wylie skated out and performed his number. This number was very
moving, and Paul skated with emotion, he had a much better turn out with his jumps. He
landed his triples and his triple axel, he really was brilliant and he
moved the audience unto their feet, as I noticed people stand for him and
applaud.
  

After Show You To Your Seat, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze skated to a traditional Russian song, or number called, Kalinka.
I  loved the music, the audience showed their support by clapping a long
with the music. Anton and Elena had beautiful lifts, and jumps. I
believe I saw at  least one side by side jump. I kept on clapping and smiling this song
just lifted my spirits, I wanted to dance myself. I gave them a standing
ovation, after  they were finished skating.
  

   After, Kalinka,Oksana Baiul skated to Swan Lake. Wow did she bring back memories when she skated to her Olympic winning program, Swan Lake.  I loved her skating dress, the lights shined on the shimmering  white material. Oksana was so graceful, she floated over the ice as if
she were flying.  She looked so beautiful and peaceful, just like a swan, and she truly
danced like a ballerina. She also landed some triples, maybe even an
double or triple salchow. She was perfect, but if I may be honest I don't know about
her jumps. I get lost while I am watching these skaters perform, I don't
really care about the jumps.
  

  
I don't stress myself out over that, skaters are more than just jumps
to me. I see skaters as people, not just jumping machines, I know I feel
bad when they fall, but I always cheer for them no matter what. I gave her a
standing ovation, while I remembered how I watched her win the Olympics ,
and now she was skating the same program live, Wow, I felt that it was amazing.
  

To Be Continued !   


  

  


  


  

  

  
  

  


  

  

  

 
  


  

  


 

     Rock Lesson The next number was the final transition for the night! However, I really did not notice, because I was having too much fun,
 participating with all of the cast minus Alexei LOL, as they gave us a Rock Lesson . The first rule was a must, this rule was very important, and
 that was to "Bop your head up and down."
  

   I shared the Rock Lesson with all of my fellow fans from the
AYMB, I hope some of them tried it, and impressed the cast, because they
already knew these lessons. You are welcome to try them out at your computer, the
first step is to bop your head up and down. I will give you a few
minutes , Ok now the second step was and once again very important , "Pump your fist in the
air."
  
 Oooooo a coordination test. How are you all doing? Are you ready for
the third step? Now you might really impress your friends with this one
LOL, you might  get the spotlight shined on you at a local dance club, or concert!
Okay, the last step was, "Pull your leg back and forth to your arm,
while your arm is  holding your leg."
  

   I do suggest one helpful tip, "Don't go wild and go into a full head
bang, like I did later. LOL." I just wanted to see if I still could head
 bang, I can, but the next morning I had to put Icy Hot on the back of
my neck LOL. So, I don't recommend the head bang. The third one, you
might have to watch your friends do LOL, because now I want to talk about Alexei
after he came out ready to rock and roll!
  

The moment I had been waiting for , I felt that Alexei was a big time rock star LOL in AIN'T THAT A SHAME!!!!
Alexei came out rocking his  head, and pumping his fist in the air and the crowd went "coo coo "
That means NUTS LOL, Yes, We all went NUTS by this point LOL. Alexei
poured on  his charm, he poured on his playful side.
  

   He swayed his hips, Oh My and I watched him slowly rub his head on
this girl's shoulder very slowly and seductively. I thought at first
(until I read another review from Orlando) that he chose an old lady LOL the
lighting was bad and I was clear across on the other side, Ok! He landed
his triple , Oh Yeah he was on FIRE!!
  

   He also break danced for us, and did a slow push up off the ice. He
also moved his hips in ways I am sure are illegal , and dare I say
pelvis? His knee slide was AWESOME!! Alexei also played an air guitar and he flexed his
muscles and strutted his stuff. Oh, Yes I was getting warm as I wrote
this LOL. I also had to fan myself.
  

   I suggested to the other fans that were going to see this number, to
bring a cold water bottle or a fan because this number was HOTT!! That
shirt he wore, Oh My sleeveless and those tight black jeans, OOOOO Alexei is
all I have left to say. The only problem I found with this number seemed
too short.
  

   I was begging for more LOL. I also stood up completely dazed (I might
add) with my poster and I got a little braver and lifted my poster up
higher . I also  found my voice so that I could yell out, "Happy Valentine's day , we
love you Alexei!!" The bows were very short, so one minute he was there
 and the next minute he was gone.




   Ballroom was the next number, and Jamie Sale and David
Pelletier calmed the mood down, and lightened the atmosphere as they
skated . They were very funny and voices of a man and a woman saying, "Whew, what did he have
for lunch?"
  

   "Whew, what did she have for lunch?", while Jamie and David faced each
other. Jamie threw off part of her costume into the audience and it
woke the lady, that caught it up, LOL, she was startled I will just put it that
way. The two made quite a pair LOL and were a very big hit with the
Orlando crowd, I know Lina and I stood up to give them a standing ovation.
  


The end of Time was upon us, and Lina could not believe that Time
was the finale, I watched Alexei and Todd do their mirror jumps, triple
 Axels I did believe. The two also did death drops and spins, I thought
they were sit spins, but their mirror moves were right on target. The
whole cast  looked elegant in white, but again I must confess my eyes were glued
to Alexei.
  

  
I even tried one more time at one point with my poster. Lina and I
stood up for him when they announced him again, then the audience stood
for the final bows, Alexei was on the end, and close to our section, I was facing
his direction while Lina and I held my poster way up high. I saw Alexei
look, but then my dad said, "I think he saw your poster."
  


So, I continued holding my poster, while the skaters bowed and waved
(after they shook hands) This was also the time they announced him so I
still cheered  for him with Lina. Alexei was standing kind of off center, and he did
see my poster, he smiled at first , then he pointed to my poster! He
also waved to our  section!! Wow, that was when I left planet earth LOL. I walked out
mumbling, "That was wonderful, that was wonderful, that was wonderful,"
with this huge smile on my face and stars in my eyes. LOL.
  

 To Be Continued !

 I remembered a detail that I left out, Alexei had on his crucifix during Ain't That A Shame ,
I had to share that Ok now I will continue with after the show . After the show I was GONE , and I raved about the
show, saying "That was so awesome!  Alexei was amazing," while I had
another big smile on my face .
  

  

 Lina stopped at the merchandise booth, I showed her the autographed
picture of Alexei . She asked me, "Have you ever had an autographed
picture of Alexei?" Maybe she asked me if I had one LOL, I was still up in the
clouds. I said, "I have a scanned one from Elide when her friend sent
her souvenirs from last year. I also found some pictures with his
signature on the Net."
  

She asked me another question, "How much money do you have left?" I
counted my remaining money out and showed her. She said, "Ok, You have
 enough to pitch in with me." She said to the lady vendor, "I will take
two of those autographed pictures, Please." The lady vendor brought one
 from the case and carefully slid the one that was on display to Lina.
  

   Lina said, "This one has a scratch of some kind." I said, "I will take
this one, I don't mind." But, Lina said, "No, she can get you another one." The lady vendor said, "Yes, I will give you this one
instead." So Lina helped me buy the autographed picture!!! I was so
 happy I said, "Thank you!" I gave her a kiss on the cheek (like a
friend , or a daughter would kiss her mother) .
  

 
She said, "You're welcome, now I will slide these in here for now," as
she carefully tucked them into her program. She also told the lady
 vendor, "You are looking at his hugest fan ." The lady vendor smiled
and said, "I could tell, she is I saw her button earlier." Lina then
 asked, "Did you see the poster she and I made for him?"
  

   I laughed as Lina told her a little about our poster. She told us to
have a good night, we told her the same. We got back to our car, and
after loading our treasures into the trunk , we were off. We wanted to go to get some
ice cream to celebrate the successful show and talk about the show .
  

   So, we stopped at this diner like place that was attached to the hotel, which I believe was an Holiday Inn (right next to the T.D. WaterHouse
 Centre). We walked in under a false impression that this place
had ice cream. The mistake was easily made because there was a giant
sundae design on both of the frosted glass doors.
  

We went inside, and we were seated and we looked around for any sign
of ice cream being served . We did not see any machines, even the menus
did not list ice cream, or any desserts for that matter.
 

 But, we still thought maybe the desserts were listed on a separate
menu. The waitress came and we finally asked her, "Do you serve ice
cream?"
  
You are not going to believe her reply LOL. "No, we do not have ice
cream."  Well, we left that place in a hurry LOL, then we got lost on the
way home .We found out later on, we would
have been on Colonial Drive if we would have turned right instead of
left. (I really was horrible at directions and I was on a MAJOR HIGH LOL).
  

   Anyway we did get home, and I was too hyper to sleep, so Lina and I
talked about the show mostly ,  Alexei mostly, and I found glitter on my
program, cast picture and Alexei's autographed picture of Memorial. We had glitter
everywhere.
  


Sunday we spent close to three hours sweeping , and rounding up
glitter particles. I also got to work at writing our review and laughing
about Saturday. I thought it was so funny and I never realized until I was writing
about the security stopping me with my poster, and failing to check my
purse!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha , this was too rich, so since Lina and I both came up
with the idea to make our review funny so we kind of spent too much time
laughing and not enough working .

Then I also worked on Elide's surprise,my friend from Italy. I had felt bad because I could
not use most of the photos she had sent me, so I made her an Valentine's
day collage with the pictures I did not use.


I also played the movie, The Lion King for Lina, and I recited the character's lines before they did LOL. Lina and I also had fun practicing and
learning Timon's Hula number .


Monday I had to take Lina to the air port and say, "Good bye , Lina "
Whaaa I gaver her a kiss on each of her cheeks. She said, "I feel so
French." I said, "Awww, I was going for Russian ." She said, "They do
kiss each other on the cheeks in Russia too." I was happy, I
came home just in time for Family Feud.

I also watched the both times Alexei was on there and taped those
episodes. I am sure I was not the only one who was upset when Richard
Karns mis pronounced Alexei's name. I spent the rest of the week working on my review and
trying to get it all posted, before the month of March LOL.




Suzanne's And Lina's Guide To Surviving Arrivals At Airport



1. Make a simple poster . Just put your arriving guest's


name, and include flight' arrival, and time , gate and any other helpful information to your guest.




2. Ignore people , Lina could have slipped by me while I was putting up
with people's nosy and some time ludicrous comments. So, only hold up
your poster when you see or find out your guest's flight has arrived.




3. Make sure that you and your guest have a clear understanding where you will meet with them at the air port .




4. If this is possible , tell your guest what you will be wearing, and have them do the same if they can.




5. Be sure to ask for the officials help at any time .




Suzanne's and Lina's Guide To Surviving The Making Of A Glitter Poster




1. Call the venue ahead of time to ask them about their guide lines for posters.




2. Make sure you follow those guide lines , the poster size for T.D. WaterHouse Centre is 12 by 12.




3. When gluing make sure you use plenty of glue, because the glitter will cause the glue to not to stick.




4. Clean -up glitter as you go along in the process of making the poster. This will save you three hours of cleaning later LOL.




5. Make sure you bring along some emergency repair tools, like scotch
tape, and you could make an extra set of letters , that way if one or  two fall off, you
can replace them.




I hope these will help you, I was very lucky because I was the only one
there with a poster of any kind so I was allowed and I am so grateful
for that . But, for next year I will do things differently. I would also like to take
time to thank of my angels, the lady that held my poster while I taped
on the letters and pictures.




The sweet little blonde headed girl, whom crawled underneath her daddy's
chair to get our X , her dad for moving over one chair, so that Alexei
would be able to see my poster. The kind woman that held my poster while I was
buying my cast picture, and the security guard that said, "It's 12 by 12
you're okay." And last but never least in my heart I want to thank
Alexei Yagudin and the entire SOI cast for making my Valentine's day the
best one I had ever had.




The End

Stay tuned for 2005's Smuckers Stars On Ice Review!