Yesterday morning, I woke up and didn’t feel too well. I had a hoarse throat, which I thought was from eating spicy hot pot the day before. I went to the skatepark anyway to drop some ramps. I wanted to do the half pipe, but one side of it was still wet. I decided to try out a high ramp, which looked like the other high ramp I had done. When I looked down, this ramp seemed to have a steeper curve than the other one, but I was overconfident. I went for it.

I didn’t know what happened next. I blacked out for a few minutes. I fell on my butt and my head hit the ground. Fortunately, I had a helmet on to protect my head. When I slowly regained my consciousness, I thought I was dreaming. When I called my wife, it was around 9:30 am. I left my house around 8:30 am. I was not sure how long I was out, but I had a headache when I drove back home.

Other than having some pain on my butt and neck, I am doing fine. Though I think I am coming down with a cold from my kids, which began during our vacation. I definitely need to be more careful. I am also taking a break from skating to recover.

Last week when I was on vacation, I didn’t land my foot on the ice rink. Fortunately, the home we rented for the week was a three-minute drive to the skatepark and a hockey rink. I woke up early each morning and went to the skatepark to do some drops in the bowl. I also used the hockey rink to practice 180 jumps, backward crossovers, T-stops, and the spread eagle, which my son Đạo taught me.

Lately I have been addicted to practicing. I tried to hit the skatepark in the morning when the weather was still cool. This morning I made a drop from the highest ramp in the skatepark. I didn’t fall or break any bones. When I first started rollerblading, my goal was to be able to skate steadily on flat biking trails. I never imagined I would do the drops on ramps and pipes, but I pushed myself just a tiny bit at a time.

As the pandemic started, I picked up rollerblading. I could not skate around the basketball court for fifteen minutes without hurting my feet. Bike rails were scary for me, especially rails with downhills. I used to do the grass stop, in which I just ran into the grass area. Then I skated on straight tiny ramps, then a bit curved ramp, then higher curved ramps. Once I learned the proper technique and got over my fear, I could drop in safely. I hadn’t fallen yet. The adrenaline rushed in every time I let myself off those high ramps.

In addition to doing the drops, I am learning one or two techniques at a time. Skating is becoming like reading. I skate to keep my body active and I read to keep my mind active. The feeling of learning something new for my body and mind is so gratifying. As with reading, I wish I started to skate at a much younger age; therefore, I am giving my kids all the opportunity to do so, but they seem to lack the focus. They learned the techniques much quicker than I could, but they don’t want to practice. I am not making them practice 8 hours a day. Getting them to practice for an hour and fifteen minutes every other day is even a struggle. I am finding myself in a dilemma. Should I push them or should I give them the freedom? If I give them the freedom, they rather play video games and just give up skating altogether.

My transition from hockey to figure skates is now complete. I am now loving the Jackson Freestyle Fusion booth with Aspire blades. Even though I am still feeling a little bit of pain, the stiff figure is more tolerable than the soft hockey. I still need more time to break in.

These days I go to the arena by myself. My kids don’t join me anymore. Both Đạo and Đán were done with their lessons last week and their next classes will most likely be canceled due to lack of registrations. Xuân’s last class is tomorrow. We’re going to give them a break for the summer. They don’t seem to be enthusiastic about skating much anymore, but I still do. I am reviewing the techniques I have learned up to this point. When I took classes, I focused only on skills that were taught to keep up with my classmates. As a result, I didn’t go back to what I had already learned.

Now that I am learning on my own, I am going back to what I am not doing so well yet. I wanted to add more speed to my backward crossovers. Coach Julia has a fantastic demonstration near the end of her tutorial on backward crossovers. She is not only a skilled skater, but also an approachable instructor. If you want to learn ice skating on your own, her YouTube channel is an invaluable resource.

What I missed the most from hockey skates is the hockey stop. Doing the hockey stop using the figure skates is a bit harder than using the hockey skates, which makes sense. I am relearning the hockey stop on both legs. I am also reviewing the Mohawks and outside 3-turns so I don’t lose those techniques. I am practicing insanely on the inside 3-turns, which are for the Delta level that I am supposed to be continuing. Somehow inside turns are difficult to do than outside turns. I can’t seem to rock my skates to make the turn easier. I am also learning bunny hops. My hops are more like old-ass rabbit limps than bunny hops, but I am getting there. Once I learn forward outside edges, lunges, and shoot the duck, I should complete the Delta level on my own. I already saved all of Coach Julia’s videos for these techniques.

What makes me still passionate about ice skating is that there are so much to learn even just for the basic level. Now that I am learning at my own pace, I am taking my time to practice each technique rather than trying to rush through for the test. I wanted to be in it for the long run rather than trying too hard and giving up. I sweated profusely after an hour and fifteen minutes on ice. It had been a great workout every time.

My ice skating trajectory is taking a few setbacks. The transition from hockey to figure skate plays a part of it. I have to relearn everything I had done in the past and I also want to learn new skills. As a result, I lost my focus. I kept switching from one thing to another.

The other part is fear of falling. Even though I wore a helmet and strapped up my protection gears, I still can’t overcome my fear. Seeing people hurt themselves on ice made me feel intimidated. If I want to go further, I need to get the fearness out of my head.

In several previous public sessions, I could not skate much. I got so frustrated. In the last session, I decided to just take one thing at a time like I used to do in the past. I just focused on one skill until I could do it then move on to the next.

Group lessons for my age haven’t opened up yet and I decided not to take private lessons either. I want to try learning on my own based on the skill levels listed on the test chart from my group lessons. For the techniques, I find Coach Julia’s YouTube channel to be straightforward and easy to follow. I want to do this until I get used to my figure skates. I am in no rush to get anywhere. I just wanted to learn new skills to keep me engaged in this sport.

Making the transition from hockey skates to figure skates has been a challenge for me. Now I understand why Đán didn’t want to make the switch. The hockey skates were much more comfortable than the figure skates.

When we first started out, we used rental figure skates for a while. Then I bought myself a pair of Bauer Supreme S29 for $130. The price was low because I could fit into the youth size. It was brand new. My wife bought Đán and Đạo CCM Youth Tacks.

We took lessons and skated for a while until Đán went to Gamma/Delta, in which he needed figure skates to do some of the techniques. I looked up on Facebook and found a pair of Jackson Freestyle for $25. A new pair would cost $265. The boot was still in good condition. I asked Đán to give it a try. He skated two rounds around the rink and gave up. I asked Đạo to try. He didn’t like it at first, but he had an easier time making the transition. He now can skate in both, but the Jackson Freestyle will be his main skates.

My wife found me a used pair of Jackson Ultima Freestyle Fusion on eBay for $100 plus shipping. A brand new pair is $320. The pair still looked new. The seller said that his son only skated one time.

I skated three times already. The first time was horrible. The boot felt super stiff compared to the hockey skates. I didn’t realize that the higher the line, the harder the boot. I couldn’t even shave the ice to stop. I took it to the pro shop to get it sharpened. The second time I skated felt the same. I could only glide, swizzle, and cross over forward. I felt so frustrated, I wanted to give up and just go back to hockey skates. In addition, skating with 80 other people in the rink didn’t help.

This morning, I took Xuâx with me to an earlier public session. The rink was almost empty. Less than 10 skaters in the rink. The patrol didn’t bother to keep an eye on the skaters. He had his eyes on his phone instead.

I was determined to give the figure skates one last time before giving up. I put more effort in and went beyond my fear. I reworked everything I had learned up to this point, which included T-stops, 3-turns, and the Mohawks. Figure skates gave me more balance to do these things than hockey skates. I am still having trouble doing backward crossovers because my back foot kept getting caught with the toe pick. The hockey stop was also much easier to do on the hockey skates than the figure skates. Once I can do both of these, I will complete the transition. I am looking forward to doing more with the figure skates.

I started using my new figure skate today and it was horrible. I could not do anything other than just gliding forward and doing some crossovers. I couldn’t even do a plow stop. I thought the blades were not sharpened, but the expert from the pro shop said the blades have edges. I am going to need more time to make the transition.

Đạo is doing great with his group lessons. After class tonight, his instructor asked me if I would be interested in signing him up for private lessons. Since he picked up the techniques quickly and easily, his instructor thinks he would go further with private lessons. Of course, I will sign him up.

I signed Đán up for ice hockey. I hope he will enjoy it. He skates fast, but refuses to use figure skates. Now I can see why as I am struggle to make the transition myself. I am not going to give up though.

My wife also wants to sign Xuân up for private lessons. I am also thinking of taking private lessons myself now that my group lessons had canceled, but I need to get used to my figure skates first.

I am going to need to take on extra freelance projects to pay for these extracurriculars. If you need a professional website for your doctor office, nail salon, restaurant, or any business, hit me up. If you know someone who needs a website, let me know. My price is very reasonable.

The good news is that my Jackson Ultima Freestyle Fusion figure skates had arrived earlier today. My wife got a great deal on it from eBay. The skates look like new and they fit me perfectly. The bad news is that my group lessons for Delta were cancelled. I was the only student signed up. At least five students were needed to hold the class.

Then again, this is a good time for me to take a break from lessons and to give me time to break into my new figure skates. If nothing comes up in the next few weeks, I might consider taking private lessons. I am not sure what my goal is for taking lessons. Maybe I just wanted to find out how far my body can handle the techniques. Yesterday, I saw a man in his early 50s doing turns and spins. He started figure skating when he was 45. I was encouraged.

I still have so much to learn, but I am taking my time and taking each step at a time. Skating is my only form of exercise at the moment. Both ice skating and rollerblading make me sweat. They both keep me stay active.

I worked on a freelance project until 3 am in the morning because I was in the zone and didn’t want to stop. As a result, I only had a few hours of sleep. I woke up to take Đạo and Đán to their Boy Scout meeting at the park. I dropped by Dunkin’ Donuts to pick up breakfast for the kids and iced coffee for me.

While the kids attended their Scout activities, I went to the skatepark to rollerblade. I got bored going down the straight ramps. I felt like I was not going anywhere with rollerblading. I was too nervous to take on the curved ramps like a half pipe. With my mind going berserk due to lack of sleep and the caffeine kicking in, I decided to just do it. I nervously put my left foot on the coping and dropped in with my right foot. I didn’t fall at all. I felt rejuvenated and kept on doing it for an hour. I even tried out a higher half pipe. After I showed Đán, he did it as well.

Later in the evening, I took Đạo and Xuân ice skating. Đán didn’t want to go. The arena was empty. I only picked the least busy time so I practiced. Xuân could do both the T-stop and the hockey stop simply from watching us. His form for the hockey stop looked so good. He is a natural skater. As we were having a great time, a teenage boy fell. He twisted his foot and cut his hand with the blade. His blood spilled all over the ice. With injuries occurring more frequently, I am getting a bit nervous.

I signed up for Delta, but no one else had signed up. It looks like the group lessons will have to be cancelled. I am attempting to sign up for private lessons, but I am still waiting for my figure skates to arrive. My wife bought me a used pair of Jackson Freestyle on eBay. The seller shipped over a week ago, but it is still somewhere in California. USPS sucks.

I wrapped up my ice skating Gamma lessons last night. I scored 47/50 on the test even though my performance wasn’t that good. My 3-turns and hockey stops were good. My Mohawk combinations weren’t so good. I scored a nine on my left and an eight on my right. The points don’t matter, but they give me a sense of where I am at in this recreational journey.

I am exhausted and a bit burned out. The challenge gets steeper as we go to the next level. I am still debating about continuing to Delta. I have to switch to figure skates, which my wife had bought a used pair on eBay. They haven’t arrived yet. One of my classmates won’t continue because he is going into hockey. With just three students, they won’t have the class. The minimum requirement is five students. They would hold a class for four but not three. Maybe I’ll just watch YouTube and learn on my own. I could do private lessons, but I don’t want the coach to focus on me the entire time.

My sons are showing less enthusiasm in ice skating. Đán has not done much in Delta. He wants to play hockey, but I am not even sure if he does. Đạo is doing great in Gamma, but every time I asked him to go practice he got grumpy. Xuân is doing fine in Alpha, but he doesn’t like to practice either. Of course they would rather spend time on their computer and play video games.

My wife is right again. Without an end goal, they would get bored. We’ll see what happens once they are done with their lessons. They seem to be done with rollerblading.

As we left my sister’s house around 11:30 pm, I realized that I needed to pick up distilled water. We stopped by CVS. I ran in and looked at the water section. Another man was also looking and he asked, “Are you looking for distilled water?” I replied, “Yes.” He said, “Me too. I needed it for my CPAP tonight.” I replied, “Me too. Let’s ask if they still have it in stock.” He asked the receptionist and she said, “If you don’t see it on our shelf, we ran out.” He asked, “Do you think Walgreens might have it?” She replied, “No.” As we walked out of the store, he said, “Oh shit!”

I went back to our car and told my wife what happened. She quickly looked up Walgreens and it would be closing in 13 minutes. As we headed over, the neon lights started to shut off. I parked the car and ran in quickly. I spotted the same man I encountered earlier carried four jugs of one-gallon distilled water. He told me, “There’s more on the shelf.” I ran back and grabbed one jug.

Even with our masks on, we looked at each other at the checkout with a sigh of relief. I wished him a great night of sleep as we parted. It occurred to me that I am now depending on distill water just like drugs. I dragged my wife and my sleeping children to the store to get my drug. I should have listened to my wife and bought one earlier in the day. I procrastinated until the last minute.

By the time all of us showered and brushed our teeth, it was almost one in the morning. The kids were knocked out, but I was still wide awake. Even the CPAP didn’t really help much.