‍  2003 Continued

‍Alexei was amazing that night, and I waved back each time he waved at our section. I loved every minute of the show. Born To Be Wild was thrilling
and fun. Overcome was awesome , and powerful . Racing was exhilarating , and Paula helped me yell for Alexei, as we stood up
when he came out to the ice, and after he was finished. We did not sit down , until he left the ice LOL. Paula and I both have the same picture of Alexei
from Born To Be Wild. She was a great seat mate. Orlando was wonderful , and I
left that night in very high spirits. After that experience , I asked Christine (one of our head managers) if we
could have a card for Alexei's birthday on the AYMB . She agreed , and I supplied the message , then she put the card together, which was like a
form . All of the fans including myself signed it, or wrote him our own messages.

2004

 I  decided to try something new for my show in Orlando , and I also
moved down a few rows, our tickets told us what row we would be sitting.
I had a friend that I met from the AYMB come to Florida , and she
went to the show with me. When she arrived , we both embarked on an
adventure . We created a poster, because I had read about other fans taking banners
and posters, for Alexei to their shows. I wanted to try making one, two
days later , Lina and I made a beautiful poster , but we quickly learned that, all
that glitters is not glued. The 2004 Smuckers Stars on Ice show ,
T.I.M.E was one journey , she and I would never forget .


My poster was stopped at the security point, because it was too big,
but after some waiting around , while I had the security personnel,
on high alert, the poster was finally cleared on that night. We finally
made it inside , got our food, walked around to our section , and sat
down in Row G , I noticed we were missing some letters! I had to make some emergency
repairs to the pictures and letters already on the poster. At least we
did find our X , in ALEXEI . Despite all of those troubles, that night was the best one ,
and it was extra special , because it was on Valentine's Day.


The people sitting around me were angels , then Alexei was very sweet
for pointing at my poster , at the end of the show. The cast was great,
Alexei was out of this world , when he performed Memorial , and Aint That A Shame. Where he blew the roof off of the TD Waterhouse Centre,
or maybe that was the crowds' loud screams and applause . I loved this
show the most, after the show Lina and I had so much fun as we laughed
about our tale of overcoming.


I also tried my first group activity , for the AYMB . I had
some help from my fellow fans , I am sorry that I can't remember their
names, but weall made a lovely poem for Alexei's birthday card . I was very proud
of our little, but important accomplishment. I just had no idea , what
was going to come later on down the road. I did not know that three more group
projects would follow in the near future.


2005

Shortly after the year of 2005 had rolled in, I came up with an idea ,
that I was not even sure if the fans would participate in. I posted my
idea to make Alexei a scrapbook for his birthday. I had very positive replies, and
the idea started to take shape, until a plan was formed. I had a lot of
help, we called ourselves , Alexei's Scrapbook Team . The members were from the United States,
and beyond the borders. Their names were: Aljehandra, Anna, Annika, Astrid, Cecile, Ele, Elizabeth, Hannah, Maria, Maria,
Marie Lena, My Immortal , along with myself. This project was huge, and I
became responsible for keeping all of the details organized. I also had to
find the best way to deliver the scrapbook to Alexei.


 I was very fortunate to have the help from another fan , that one of
the members asked if she would be willing to deliver our scrapbook to
Alexei. That was the biggest obstacle , of all and it was settled . I was very
passionate about giving the fans at the AYMB ,a chance to prove
that we all could give Alexei a gift again. Everyone sent me their pages via mail or e-mail
for my fellow European members. I put the book together, adding some
extra pages, along with my own page. We shared with Alexei , a little about ourselves,
and where we were from , if the members wanted to, along with telling
him how we became his fan etc.


While this was going on, I also planned another glitter poster for my
show in Orlando . I managed to finish the poster the week of my show. My
show was on Saturday, February 19th. My section  was in a different area of the venue. However, I moved down to Row F! I
was excited and ready for the cast to come out. I loved the beginning , and Alexei's
smile , but at times I had a very hard time seeing Alexei especially
when he skatedto Shout , and he had his audience interaction. I could only
see his legs and skates LOL. I was trying to enjoy myself, and I tried
really hard to show him my poster, but this time it was too small. I made it the
proper size, I felt like I could not win.

To Be Continued!

    ‍2005 Continued

‍I did love Alexei's Passion , it was unique and different ,
he was brave to be that high above the ice. After the show, I had to
keep my spirit's up . I still had the scrapbook to focus on, until it was
completed, and mailed by the deadline. I had learned a lot of valuable
lessons through out the whole process.But, my dream of making Alexei a gift with his
fans came true! However, once again I did not get to deliver the gift. I
worked with Christine again , to make the birthday form, there was just one tiny
difference in the outcome , I did not get a chance to sign it! Then I
reminded myself, that I am the one that gave Christine the poem for the top .  A few
months after the scrapbook project was over, I began thinking about the
following year, and what the next group project would be.

I talked to Astrid , about my early ideas. She thought that
appointment book was possible, she also went to work on her research to
find information about the appointment books sold in stores. I posted about the new project
in the fall. I asked for the other fans to give me their ideas and
input. I had a lot of great ideas , but I knew that some were not possible, for a group
project. I tried to be as fair as I could be, I compromised on one of
the ideas, that began as a actual pair of skates , with the blades signed by us. I
decided to make a offer to have a card shaped like skates , and we could
all sign the blades. Another fan gave me an even better idea , and that was to have
a framed picture of skates , with matting signed. That idea led to my
very first contest, that I had to organize and be a part of the judging.




I even had some of the members vote on which two ideas they liked
best. That only resulted in my very first tie . I had to break the
tie, and I did, then our two ideas were an appointment book and the framed signed picture
of skates. Astrid and I worked very hard together, but we also had some
fun moments. I had a lot of practice on selecting particular details for each
section, I got to choose the fonts, but the voters also helped in that
department. I never even knew how many fonts there are . I learned them all, I also had
to help decide on color scheme , the titles , how we wanted the book
arranged , all the way down to what backgrounds each section would have. Yes, I made
more choices than I cared to remember. Later on, we decided to include a
pen and pencil case, but I did not have to choose those .

My fellow Alexei's Time Team members worked very hard with
me, that included: Astrid, Karenna, Marie Lena, My Immortal, Sasha, and
Silvia. Astrid planned out a design for our appointment book , using the ideas
she collected from her research. I joked with my team members that they
could call me "The Linking Machine" , because I was constantly posting links I made
from my URL site , to show them the progress , and to let them see
results, to include them . Each member was wonderful to work with, and we made
our deadline for 2006!

To Be Continued !

 ‍  2006


 The members of the team came a variety of places , like Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In February , I was expecting to get some
packages from Mexico . They came two weeks in a row, one  package had our pencil case, for Alexei's color pencils, that Silvia
sent inside the pencil case. The week after that, Astrid's package arrived, and that
one was very important. Her package contained instructions for me to
know how to print the pages, our appointment book's covers and the dividers. I
also went shopping for other items , and I had a very successful  shopping day. My dad
was my hero , when he found a very nice organizer. I described all of
the items I purchased in my thread titled, Appointment Book Alexei's Birthday
Gift 2005- 2006 .

I also was working with Astrid , when their were down times with the
project, on my own personal project. I asked her last year, if she could
help me with a banner for my show on March 3‍rd.
She was happy to help me, and we discussed the material that would
make the best banner for me to take with me to my show. I told her, I
wanted something I could fold up , when it was not in use. We both decided that cloth
would be best, and the cloth had to be as thick as a sheet. I bought my
cloth the same day I went shopping for the other stuff. I also gave her a blue print , or
a plan of how I wanted my banner arranged. Then I spent some time
outside , as I practically destroyed my poster from last year, but really that was
good , because it helped me to heal, and remember the good memories from
the show lastyear. I did cut out and save most of the pictures, but she had me
select a few more , because she wanted to try to give the pictures a
"foggy " edge . She sent me an example , and I really liked it, so she went to
work on arranging the pictures.


This project caused me to have more choices to make . The finished
graphic had eighteen pictures all together , four big pictures of Alexei
, with fourteen smaller ones that formed a circle around a huge red heart,
that was Astrid's design. Alexei was in the center of the heart , and
he was wearing his Winter costume , with his arms raised . She added a saying, that said in light gold letters , I Love You Alexei. The four bigger
pictures were placed in each corner of the design, the way I had it
drawn on paper. Then she asked me if I wanted to replace this little
sign I gave her with Alexei's name on it.


She let me know that she had buttons, so of course I had to choose my
colors . I picked them, but then she told me that the buttons did not
look too good. She also had me choose some hearts, but I made the decision to have
one heart.

I asked her if I could have a saying on the red heart. She liked that idea, and we both voted on the heart saying, Sway With Me .
Then she had me select some red lips , I liked the fuller ones. We decided where the
heart and lips would go, and she added those to my graphic. She sent me
the final files, but I had to focus on the birthday projects before I could even start
to think about putting my banner together. February came along and I
spent most of it working very hard on the appointment book. I had to over come some
obstacles, just to print the pages. I was introduced to Corel Paint Shop Pro X,
once I had my account settled, Astrid walked me through the steps, and
I learned very fast how to work with a lay out . The program did speed
up time , and each day I had each section done .

However, I also decided to redo some of the sections, but finally our
pages were cut, and hole punched. I placed them in the organizer in the
order I saw in the instructions . I added the pen that she made for Alexei, well she
made a cover for it. I have taken pictures of the pen and finished
pencil case. I had a lot of fun playing with the star stickers , and they matched the
yellow color of the case perfectly. Astrid and I also added in some
surprise pages, that I won't share , in case Alexei has not discovered them yet. ;) I was
very pleased with our finished book, and I could not wait to get it
wrapped.

To Be Continued!

    ‍2006 Continued

‍Then Astrid wanted me to add one more little detail to the front, so I
worked on that , while I worked on my pictures and graphics for my
banner. Even though, the first gift was completed, I had to wait for our second
gift to arrive from Canada.


The second gift was the framed picture of skates with matting
included. I did get that , towards the end of February, and I got the
matting signed with each team member's name or screen name. I took a picture of it, and with
it, then I wrapped the picture. I was afraid that the paper would not
fit, but the frame and everything fit the paper , and I was more than happy. I
finally got to wrap Alexei's appointment book , and I added the envelope
with the card inside. I also had taken pictures of the birthday card , on the inside
with all our names on it. March arrived, and I could finally focus on
my own project .

I used PSP to print the files that Astrid sent me , I also
experimented with iron on transfer paper. I printed everything then just
this past week, I got the white cloth prepared for ironing . I had to go borrow an
iron , and we ended up buying a smaller travel size one. I also spent
two days the week before , calling the TD Waterhouse Centre , to ask them which way would be the best possible way to get my gifts to Alexei.


I was starting to worry, because my show was coming up fast, but I
finally had a call back, and she explained to me that I would just take
the gifts to the door, and then hand them to the ticket attendant, and they would get
the gifts to a representative from Stars On Ice and they would give
the gifts to Alexei. Well, that sounded great to me , I just wanted a solid plan.
However, I still was not sure how the security guards would let me in
with the gifts .

Especially Karenna's beautiful picture and frame, because it was kind
of big. I also was nervous thinking about how Alexei would react to the
size, I wondered if he would have room for it in his luggage. I sincerely
hoped so. I did have the banner, but that made me nervous, because some
of the pictures were very stubborn , and came out the wrong way. I also added a iron
on of our team logo, and that turned out very nice. My mom helped me
with the ironing It was not as easy as it looked, we used the Clorox Bleach Pen , to remove imperfections .


All of this was very nerve racking for me , especially trying to
finish the banner on time. However, it all ended up working out, and I
spent the last three days before my show, painting the sayings with gold glitter paint,
then I got the idea to make gold frames around each picture and the
logo. I was very pleased with my banner, and my mom was proud of it too. Friday, the
big day arrived, and I thought I was coming down with something. Luckily
, it just turned out to be a severe case of butterflies. The butterflies lasted
all day for me, I barely ate anything , until we stopped to eat, but I
will get to that. I got ready , and my dad took some pictures of me with the
wrapped gifts, I was still in love with that shimmering blue wrapping
paper, and when the sun hit it, oh it was so gorgeous! We finally left for Orlando,
and I just had to lay my head back and rest, or I would have gone
crazy. My thoughts just continued to spin with possible scenarios , of things going
wrong. I finally fell asleep , until I heard my dad say, "I think, I am
in the wrong lane." WOW, he certainly was, we came to our second toll road, and he
managed to some how end up in the E-Pass .

To Be Continued!

   ‍2006 Continued

‍That was for people, that had a card , and they paid a certain amount
of money each month. My dad was like, "Well, what do I do?" Mom replied,
"Just go, Jer!" A car honked at us from behind, so we zipped through
there, it did not stop us. My dad said, "Well, I owe Florida 50 cents." I was laughing and saying, "Oh, my gosh." We made it into the area
where the venue was located. We stopped at the same place we stopped
last year, it is like a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell combined. I found my appetite, and I ate my quesadillas and soft taco , but
my nerves were still there and they let me know it. We pulled into the TD Waterhouse Centre around 5:36 PM, and my dad wanted to find some one else
to talk to about the gifts. He was still not too sure of the plan that went down on the phone.

He also just wanted to walk around , so we did, but I still just
wanted to stick to the plan I had . We asked one of the security
personnel, she was like a head usher. She told us exactly what I was told , so I knew I was
doing the right thing. But, she also busted my dad with the camera, she
kindly told him that there were no cameras allowed inside, and that they were not
letting any in. Oh well, rules are rules , and I wanted to follow the
rules. Dad took my picture in front of the lovely fountains. Then my mom had a lesson on
the camera before we took the digital camera back to the car. I pulled
my gifts out, and I carried the wrapped appointment book , I explained that it was
the team's baby. My dad carried the wrapped picture , we came up to
security , and the butterflies fluttered in my stomach. We explained what we had and
the lady, said, "Oh yeah, we can take gifts." Her partner said, "We are
not sure if they can be wrapped." I thought, Oh, here I go again.


He flagged down another security guard and he gave him the
"OK" I was very happy , when he said, "Ok, those are fine, did I check
your bag, Miss?" Mom had to help me open it, and I got the all clear .
That was one big obstacle, and I made it through with the gifts, and
they did not even question the size of the picture. We walked on up the steps and
waited in line , and I was very thrilled and honored to have this
pleasure of taking gifts to my show to deliver to Alexei. We were very close to getting
to A Show About The Show. I had some ladies, singing Happy Birthday.
I
explained to them about the gifts and they acted like they did not
know who Alexei was! They still thought it was very nice, or maybe cool.
The ticket attendant scanned our tickets, and I was a little confused because I
thought that she would take our gifts. She explained to us , that the
head ushers handle the gifts for the skaters. That they were the people in the red coat ,
so we looked for people in a red coat.

We did not have any luck finding them, but I noticed another man that had a badge , it said, ALL ACCESS . I went over to him, and my dad explained
about the gifts and I provided other information for him. He got on
his walkie -talkie , and talked to an official . He called Alexei, Alexa !  I said,
"Alexei, Alexei Yagudin ." He just replied, "One of the skaters." He
was told to find a head usher , and he went and found one. The head
usher came up to us, and he asked, "Who are these for?" I replied
with, "Alexei Yagudin." He asked me, "Is the name on there?"
I replied, "Yes, it says, 'Happy Birthday Alexei!' " He said, "I will
get these to him right now, thank you." Or maybe he said,
"I will see that he gets these ." We thanked him too, then my dad and I
watched him walk through the double doors , and I had a feeling , that
he was headed for the black tunnel.

To Be Continued !

  ‍2006 Continued

‍Then we bought us a program, WOW these are always worth the money. I
also bought my autographed picture of Alexei , and he is always worth
the cost too . I did get separated from my family , but I just went to section 102,
and I found my dad. However, my mom was looking for me. My dad and I
looked for my mom . We finally found each other, and she told me she was worried,
that I was taken back to a room for questioning about the gifts. I
said, "No, I was looking for you guys, but we are together again." She told me to stay
where I was LOL. We walked all the way down to Row D, this was the
closest , I had ever been to the ice for this show. I was pretty happy, but I also
secretly hoped that the cast would not stay on the left side too much. I
would have moved , if the chance came along. Last year, that chance was very good, but
this year , that was not the case. My row was filled all the way down.
The venue was packed, but I still noticed some empty seats on the ice, like I did
every year.



My dad was not too happy about those empty seats either. He said that
they had better been filled by the time the show started. We did learn
everyone else's secret , about how to get seats on the ice, but it was a
secret, so I couldn't tell. The music was awesome as always, I heard
them play, I Can't Stop . I had some fun as I did the cast's moves from the
2003 show , in my seat LOL. I could finally relax, I knew the gifts had
gotten to their rightful owner , now I just had to sit back and relax. There was
another thing we could not understand, and that was how on earth ,
these people brought their cameras in! That certainly was a mystery , the place
looked like a fire works display , going off at once! There were flashes
coming from every section , it was not very fair . Then those sneaky and naughty people
hid their cameras when the head ushers checked the sections.



My mom thought that the husbands had their wives smuggle them in , by
hiding them inside their jackets. Jackets are never checked and that was
a good thing for me, because that is where I hid my banner. Our seat mate had a
cute five year old daughter , and she told us that her little girl
really watches these kind of shows and figure skating. I heard her naming off the various
parts of a figure skate , from her autographed book written by Kurt
Browning. She really knew her skates . Her mom admired my banner, that I had unfolded
across my lap . My mom felt like showing it off, I was just acting very
modest about it. My mom asked me what year the pictures on my banner came out, and she
told me that I should have put those years underneath the pictures. I
told her that I probably did not know what years they came out.


She pointed to each picture, and I did know the years, and I told her ,
"2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005," She said, "See, you could too ."
The mom with the five year old, was impressed, when my mom told her
that I knew all of the years. I was impressed with her camera phone, and
I thought that might be a good investment for future shows. The skaters were not
disturbed by bright flashes, she just held it up , pointed and focused,
then she pushed a button. The picture was taken discreetly and in a safe way. I was just
going to have to create pictures for all of you , by using as many
descriptive words that I could .


A few minutes later, I saw the spot lights being tested out, and I
watched the fog , fill the ice and air from above. The show was about to
start, everyone knew because, all of the sections started to scream and shout. I loved
the atmosphere, I will tell you, all these folks in Orlando LOVED this
show! Finally , we were going to see this highly anticipated event. However , we had a
little commentating , from two representatives of the Channel 9 News.
I was sorry that I could not remember their names. There were some things
they said, that I can tell you, and one of those was the number of
people that filled those seats, ten thousand! There was a BIG crowd that year, and the
energy level was high already! They talked about their involvement in
the community, welcomed us to the show, and told us how proud they were to be apart
of the event. Then they gave us the second part, and it was very
exciting! The show was going to start in five minutes! YAY! We started to scream, the second
the lights went out, and we were not screaming , because we were afraid
of the dark. NO WAY!

To Be Continued!

   2006 Continued‍

We all could tell that it was show time!!! Scott Hamilton appeared on a
television monitor , and he welcomed us to share this moment with him.
Then I heard voices, that announced the different countries represented in a
competition , I believed it was the Olympics . I thought it was cool,
how these lights with dark silhouettes stood in the door ways, of the upper bowl. The lights
turned on , then went off, as each skater from the past had been
introduced to us. Then all of the sudden, the lights turned on , after the voices told
us about Scott's beginning, and I was very surprised , because their was
the cast! I honestly did not see them come on, I noticed some figures, but I
really could not tell who was who, until those lights came down on them. I looked for Alexei , but I could not find him among the cast members. I worried a little, and wondered if he was okay.




The rest of the cast were out there, my dad thought Alexei was laying
down on something, but that was Todd Eldredge . In case you were
wondering if I did.......... No , I did not yell, "ALEXEI !" The first act of Act 1,
was Loverly Spring. I saw John Zimmeman and Anton Sikharulidze
with pastel colored watering cans. While Kyoko Ina and the other ladies,
were dressed in pretty pink, yellow, light and bright pastels. All of
the ladies were flowers , I just don't recall very much, although I do remember the
music being very light, and bouncy , kind of like one of those cartoons ,
where the flowers sang, and the sunshine smiled. I thought it was very cute, but
it was short lived. I will just say that , Scott did not have that in
mind. I was slightly confused , but oh well , I quickly got over it, because
Alexei kicked off the next performance.




I immediately started to scream, he had the right idea, I did not think , I would ever think of I'd Do Anything For Love, quite the same way
again. While I watched Alexei, I could not help thinking of the meaning behind that one verse, where Meatloaf
sang, "But I won't do that." What exactly will he not do ?  Do any of you have an idea?
Ok, back to the show , and Alexei . He wore a dark black sweater
with one stripe, or maybe two on it. I thought the stripes were a dark orange,
but I was in a trance , so I could have been wrong . He was AWESOME! I
also noticed his hair, it was my favorite color, light brown! His hair was also long,
but I loved it , because to me it looked soft and fluffy in the lights.  He landed all of
his jumps , that looked like triple Axels , or triple toe loops, oh well I always mentioned that I don't pay much attention to the
jumps, but I am learning how to recognize them a little better.


He really made all of us scream and yell. I yelled, GO ALEXEI !",
while he skated near my section. He was still brilliant , and I became
entranced , as I said before . I enjoyed every minute of his time on the ice. He went
back into black tunnel, and the rest of the cast skated out, they kind
of trickled out of the tunnel. My eyes did not know who to watch , they were all
great, and I also remember that Alexei and the other guys did some
impressive death rops. Then the cast left, and Alexei skated back out wearing his Winter costume . I was so excited to see one of my favorite programs right
in front of me! Scott came back on the screen, as Alexei stayed in his pose for the beginning of Winter. Scott asked us, "So you want to know
how you join Stars on Ice?" The spotlight continued to shine down on Alexei , as Scott answered his question with, "Well, it's very
simple , you have to win a gold medal."

Alexei began Winter , and I went right to heaven , because
after watching this program time and time again on the television, I
finally was experiencing the moment, in person. Although, I was a little worried,
because he looked pale, and did not have that bright smile . I tried to
forget about that, and I just took it all in. He also had a hand down on one of
his jumps, but we all went nuts . We still loved him , I did wish
that I was on the ice , as he scooped up those shavings from the ice , and tossed them
into the air. His footwork was AMAZING, and his spins were so fast, at
the end. I loved every minute of Winter. I yelled, "WOOOOOOOO!" He did smile as he bowed and waved, I smiled back and I blew him a kiss , after his back
was turned to me LOL, but I felt so much better knowing he was doing better. I also gave Alexei a Standing Ovation , and held up my banner, but I
was not too sure if he saw it at that point. After Winter had ended, Scott came out with Todd Eldredge , but it was not in a way Scott liked. I
don't want to ruin the surprise for fans that have an upcoming show. I will tell you, it was very funny.


I was happy to see Yuka Sato again, my dad enjoyed her program, Benefields.
He really liked the music , and I liked it too. She looked like she was
having a lot of fun , I even tapped my toes . She was great, and the
place really came to life, as it was once again filled with clapping
hands , and enthusiastic cheers. I gave her a Standing Ovation , as she smiled at my section. Then Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman came out, and they started to
skate with music from Swan Lake .   Kyoko got up on her tip toes, and twirled around. All of the sudden they stopped, because John had a cell phone
call. Scott told him that he and Kyoko graduated to Act 2. Scott also got on him for skating while he was on the cell phone . We all laughed at
that one.

To Be Continued!

  2006 Continued

‍Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze came skating out. They
enchanted all of us , with their graceful presence , and their lifts
were beautiful , I felt that it seemed fitting, because they skated to, You Are So Beautiful. They were beautiful together, I could feel the romance, and love . I
honestly hoped those two would have formed a partnership off the ice, they made
a lovely couple. Oh well,  that was just my humble opinion.

Scott talked to us some more, and Jennifer Robinson was introduced by
Scott. We gave her a round of applause , just to welcome her , then she
started,  And the Beat Goes On. She looked like she was enjoying
herself, and we yelled louder, when she had a few slips on the ice. The
ice seemed to be very slippery in front of this one section by mine. At the end, we showed
her it was okay we still liked her skating. I really can not remember
what transition came next, but Steven Cousins came out. He performed Belfast Child, and he did a very good job, I just gave him one , "Wooo", but of
course at the end, I was in a yelling competition with the other
sections, so I was louder. After he left the ice, all of the cast members came out wearing
masks , but I don't want to reveal too much information , I will just
say that Scott was not amused. We were laughing though . Jamie Sale and
David Pelletier , stayed out on the ice . Scott told them that they could
have given him more hair.

Those two gave us a very entertaining
performance . Jamie and David still had those high triple twist flips, and the lifts
were spell bounding! She had one hand on his shoulder, while she was
above the ice , in a one handed hand stand. Then she held onto his arm , and did a head
stand! Wow, I yelled and clapped for them a lot. I also gave them a Standing
Ovation at the end of Elite Syncopations .


Todd Eldredge came out, and took us back in time with, Alexander's Ragtime Band. He still had very fast spins, and he also executed some very
nice Russian split jumps, but Alexei's are the best no doubt about it. I felt that he had improved so much , he has really grown as a performer
on the ice. I stood up for him as well. The last act of Act 1 , with the cast was very funny and educational . We were able to have a backstage pass
to what they do , when they explore different ideas to the tour. The number simply was called, Dance Medley , and Scott walked us through each part.
They skated to , I Got Rhythm , I was just happy that the  cast members were spreading out to all of the sections this year. I got
to see a lot of Alexei , YAY! He was smiling more , and that made me feel more relaxed. I also liked all of the guys' costumes , one minute Alexei was
pulling out suspenders, which I think were orange, or yellow, or yellow orange.
Then Scott mentioned about the ladies, I loved his quote , "When Mamas
happy , everyone is happy." Three of the ladies, skated to Dancing in the Street. I was pretty sure it was Jennifer Robinson, Elena Berezhnaya , and
Kyoko Ina, or maybe Yuka Sato. Then each pairs showed off with a little country two steppin , in Some Days You Gotta Dance.
I also watched the other skaters at the costume rack, they were doing the steps, well some of
them . The fellows and ladies of the singles category, or as I liked
calling them, Alexei and his crew, tried to make me believe that they can't dance.

‍

‍To Be Continued!

  ‍2006 Continued ‍

Alexei had the rhythm , and I loved the dance they did , I was going to have, I Can't Dance , in my head from that moment on . Then suddenly
Alexei flipped his shirt collar, for Last Dance. I thought it was so sweet, when the girls and guys laid their heads down on each
other's shoulders . Awwwww. I actually said , "Awwwww, " , and I
believe that I heard others say it too. I loved every minute of , You Should be
Dancing , I stood up for Alexei and the cast at the end, with my banner up , but I still don't think he saw it that time either.


Intermission came , and I spent the break letting people in and out of
my row. That was one of the disadvantages of having the first three
seats , in the row. I also watched the performances from the past, and I danced again
to I Can't Stop . The Zamboni came out too, and I
watched the machine , slowly pass by, and go around in circles , until the ice was
so smooth. However, that would not last for long, because Scott was
telling the cast , that they had five more minutes, and he reminded us ladies , that we
had five minutes too.


The lights went down again and Act 2 began, as the cast
allowed us to see what happens in a rehearsal. This performance was very
funny, and there was so much going on, but I will try my best to give you all the play
by play. I knew , I saw Jamie lose her hat, all of the cast had hats,
and poor Jamie could not keep her hat on. The cast was practicing a step and Jamie
was chasing her hat, while she tried to keep up with them. Then Alexei
tapped someone on the knee or leg , in one of the On ice seat sections , across from
mine. I thought it was a little girl, or a boy, but I could have never
known for sure.

Suddenly poor Alexei had one of the skaters knock his hat off his head. I thought it was either Anton or David that did that.
Alexei went skating after his hat, that was being tossed around by
each cast member. He jumped up at some points , and at other points he
held up his arms and waved them. We were all laughing , but I felt sorry for him too . I wanted to shout , "GIVE ALEXEI HIS HAT!" He finally got his hat
back, and they started skating round and round, as they all tried to hold
hands. I did see Jennifer Robinson fall, but she smiled , so it was all
good. Oh yeah, Kyoko Ina lost her skirt, and David ripped his pants. At the end ,
Scott was sort of speechless, but he did give them an A for effort. I
felt that it certainly was an Overture Comedy Tonight.

Anton Sikharulidze skated out, he was impersonating Charlie Chaplin , and I thought he was pretty close to the real thing. Elena Berezhnaya
came out , in a long coat, and she had a rose in her hand. They were a funny  pair and we all laughed at the humor , that they portrayed . Then I
really believed that they did a little piece from The Kid. I hoped that was the name of the number. Elena looked really cute, and Anton picked her up , by her suspenders
a couple of times. She had her hair braided in two braids. When their number, Chaplin Medley was finished, I gave them a Standing Ovation .

To Be Continued!

   2006 Continued

‍There was a little transition number that followed, I thought that
Scott sent John Zimmerman and Kyoko Ina a telegram , through Yuka Sato .

She was dressed like a telegram delivery person, and she had a little
bell that rang . We could hear Scott 's voice , as John read the
telegram, that had a lot of stops in it . He told them that they would be skating later,
in a very special number later on. Steven Cousins came back out on the
ice, and the crowd got into his performance , Superstition . I had grown
tired of yelling, "WOOOOO!" So, I yelled, "YEAH!" Our section yelled
louder for him , we were the loudest that time , and we won . Yuka
Sato and her husband, Jason Dungjen came skating out. I remembered how I
used to watch Yuka as a single ladies skater , and Jason as a pairs skater competing
in the televised events. On this night, I was able to watch them , as
they skated together. I felt that they were lovely, and I could tell they were
still in love . Awwwww.


I gave them a Standing Ovation , at the end of Get Here.
Scott returned to the screen, and he informed us about what it was like
traveling from city to city, performing from night to night , and staying in
hotels, basically living out of a suit case. I heard the sound effects
of a bus, as it pulled up and stopped.


Scott told us that this number was based on actual events , I watched
Steven Cousins , Todd Eldredge , David Pelletier , and John Zimmerman
skate out of the tunnel. They all had on black long sleeved shirts, kind of like the
same look of a turtle neck , but they also looked like light
sweatshirts, and blue jeans. They all had one piece of luggage , then Jennifer Robinson skated out
like she was some kind of movie star. While , the guys toted her luggage
around, she waved and blew kisses, at us .


I thought this performance was very creative and clever. The guys left, and Jennifer skated to the rest of Too -Me Tango . She did one
spiral , then she skated back over into that slippery spot,  and she decided at the last minute not to finish the sequence . I tried
very hard not to notice Alexei , as he quietly crept up the stairs, in the section
across from mine , but I still did . He was more exciting , because I had been waiting
for a long time to see Sway . I also tried to get my mom to see him too, I nodded my head towards the direction he was in. She saw him, after
Jennifer lugged her bags , and screamed each time they hit her leg, or fell over .

The music that had haunted my dreams at night, floated around the
arena. Alexei slowly walked down , the steps , as if he were on the
prowl . He crept down ,wearing his black hat, that very nice white shirt, and those even
nicer black pants. Um, ok moving on, his eyes scanned the crowd in that
section. I longed to be over in that section, I had that section in 2003, or one very
close to it. Anyway, he gave this one woman the hand, then he selected a
very lucky older woman, from the view I had from my side , she seemed surprised. I
thought it was sweet of him to pick her. This time I know it was an
older woman, because I double checked with my mom and dad . ;)  She was so lucky to have
Alexei sprawled out, as he laid in her lap. My mom said, "He gave her a
kiss." He did give her a kiss on the cheek , and my dad piped up when he said,
"How come he did not come down from this railing?"  My dad did not
understand , he just cared about my time at the shows, and if I
enjoyed myself. Hey, I was thrilled to see Alexei's audience interaction
this time . I was not disappointed, and I had fun yelling for him.



To Be Continued!

‍

   ‍2006 Continued

‍He blew the sweet lady a kiss, then he made his way down to the side
of the ice, and he quickly pulled off his skate guards, before he skated
out to thrill us. He pointed at the still very lucky lady, as he skated by her
section. In my opinion, he was FANTASTIC, his jumps were nailed each
time . I waited until he skated to my end, then I yelled, SWAY WITH ME , BABY!" His
moves were very smooth and smoking . I behaved myself when he pulled
off his shirt, I just yelled, "WOOOOOOOO!" , "YEAH, ALEXEI!", "GO ALEXEI !",
and then I added, "DANCE BABY , DANCE!" while he was shaking his hips , I also loved the slow push up off the ice, that
was next to my section ;) OOOOOOOO , I absolutely adored Sway, and of course, I gave Alexei a Standing Ovation at the end. He blew that lady a kiss in her section, and his back was turned to mine, but then he turned around to my section , and he waved at my section while he smiled at us, and I waved back.


One of the sections was not loud enough, he held his hand up to his
ear. I knew what that meant, he wanted them to scream more. I was proud
that he never held his hand up to his ear with my section, because once again we
were LOUD ! After Alexei left the ice , Yuka Sato came skating back out.
While Yuka softly and very gracefully skated around , we were shown the images of the
cast members that now had families , and little children. She pointed to
the monitors at times to show us very special moments . I recognized some of the
scenes from show I recently had watched on the television. However, I
could not recall what the name of that show was. I did know that it was really neat, after
we applauded for Yuka Sato , Scott appeared again.



He tried to find John Zimmerman and Kyoko Ina. This time he was mad
because John turned his cell phone off.  He found them, and they
skated to Vertigo .  The two of them were very energetic , and a huge crowd pleaser. I was
impressed with this one lift , but my mom said that Kyoko's knee had hit
the ice, but I could not tell. Everyone loved them, I screamed for them at the
end, but I did not stand up, because I wanted to keep my banner on my
lap. John Zimmerman blew my section a kiss! Wow, I certainly was not expecting
that, but I was happy.  After John Zimmerman and Kyoko Ina left the ice,
Todd came out as Scott explained to us about how a skater learned to grow and develop
as an artist, and about making something already performed their own. Todd showed us
what that was like, when he skated to Bolero. He did a wonderful job, the performance was moving , and filled with his passion his love. He was
becoming a stronger performer, for all audiences to enjoy.

Then Jamie Sale and David Pelletier , gave us a very touching and thrilling time with I Want to Know What Love Is. I was so happy for them , because
they found love with each other. I gave them a Standing Ovation , at the end. I did not know about this, but Jamie looked over at me
and smiled . My mom told me that she looked over while I was standing and yelling ,
and smiled. I really was the only one standing up for the skaters in my
section. I was excited to hear that Jamie Sale gave me a smile. I was very touched as
well, because I really enjoyed those two on Olympic Ice.

‍To Be Continued!

   ‍2006 Continued

‍The finale had come, and I loved the song , Sing, Sing, Sing .
This number was packed with a lot of action too. I was just happy to
have more of Alexei skating in my section, the skaters zig zagged , and zipped
across the ice. They also split off into two big groups, and showed off.
I enjoyed Alexei's back flip , off of some one's back, and how they showed us
their "goodies." I was still not too sure of when they were finished.  Just when I thought they were done, they would start skating
again, it was just on going, while I just hoped Alexei would eventually
stop at a place , where he could see my banner.




The cast formed two circles, one was with the ladies in the middle,
while the fellows held onto their legs, and moved around them in their
circle .  Everyone loved that moment! I did not realize this at the time, but
the part where the cast was introduced was the beginning! I waited on
the edge of my seat, and I got ready to pop up the minute that Alexei's name would be
announced. The moment I heard , "Olympic Champion, Four Time World
Champion", I shot out of my seat and I was clapping, screaming,
yelling, and waving my banner by the time the voice said, "Alexei
Yagudin . I waited until there a little silence as Alexei waved and smiled to the
sections, then I yelled as loud as my voice would allow me to, I LOVE YOU, ALEXEI !"  Then I waved my banner some more , before the voice went on to some one else and I sat down.



My mom told me the minute I sat down, "He heard you, and he smiled."
She also thought he saw my banner. That was good enough for me ! The
skaters went to shake hands, Alexei went to some seats on the ice, kind of
across from my section , and John Zimmerman came and shook hands with
the people on the ice, and the people behind it. I was very, very, happy after this
year's show. I wanted all of the cast to come back to Orlando,
next year! I was going to be there, I did not want to miss this show for the world !
We all waved back at the cast, as they waved to us. Then we made our
way up the steps to the doorways, but my dad had us come back . The reason why was
because, we did not see our order forms on our seats for next year.


He asked one of the head ushers where they were, and she told us that
they were on the seats. We let her know and showed her, that we only had
our coupon for Jiff LOL. She was very kind , when she went through one of
the sections and hunted one down for us. She found one , and she gave it
to us. I thanked her , and she was going to get one more . However, my dad left, which I
thought was kind of rude. Oh well, I did get to see some of the crew
members tearing down. That was cool to watch, and then we had a lot of fun getting out
of the parking lot, but we managed. We drove a couple of miles, just
to find a place to stop for ice cream.


We ended up stopping at Mc.Donalds , and I ordered a medium
chocolate milk shake, that was freezing cold. I had forgotten how cold
those shakes were! After I drank a little of it, I was so cold that my teeth began
to chatter , and I had chills! While we had our treats, we talked about
the show, like we always did when we stopped some where on the way home. We also
discussed next year, I told my dad that he was risking the chance of
buying tickets , and how Alexei might not be on the tour.

To Be Continued!

   ‍The Conclusion Of 2006

‍He did not like that, he wanted to see Alexei again, I know that I
really wanted to see Alexei again. He decided to buy the tickets , so I supported that
decision . I did not get home until 12 AM , Saturday morning , and of course I was too excited to sleep. So, I spent a little time reflecting
upon my time at Orlando, and I remembered Scott thanking us for being a part of the Stars on Ice
family. I was proud and happy to be a member of that family , and the family I had at the AYMB , everyone has touched my
life in so many ways. I hope that all of you enjoyed my story. I found
out later that morning, that I was going to go to the show next year and that, my dad
bought our tickets , and he mailed out the form . I was hoping to be
in the seats behind the ice seats. I was just had to wait and see what tomorrow
would bring . Little did I know, that during that summer my dad would go
missing, and never be found until it was too late .

My adventure from 2007 will be shared soon!
Enjoy!