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So this week, it's either a bunch of reruns or figure skating. And so, in keeping with that theme, I've decided to rerun something I wrote last year about figure skating. Enjoy!

Why figure skating is the devil

Okay, I'll admit it. I like figure skating. Wait, let me correct that; I like watching figure skating. You won't find me on the ice perfecting any triple toe loops, but I'm glued to the TV set anytime a figure skating competition or show comes on. It's been like this for as long as I can remember. I mean my whole family watches figure skating! It probably has to do with the fact that Elvis Stojko comes from my hometown or maybe it's the fact that Michelle Kwan is my mom's brother's wife's cousin's daughter. (No really, I swear.) The point is, I watch a lot of figure skating and that has become a big problem...

I guess it all started the night before I had a French test. The first skating event of the year happened to be on and so instead of reviewing my conjugations for "être" and "avoir," I found myself cheering on some 15 year-old skater from Saskatchewan as she unveiled her new short program. Needless to say, I ran out of time to finish my studying and the next day, I wrote my test totally nervous and unprepared, receiving a terrible mark back of... well, you get the picture. Then there was the time I was writing my term paper for English Lit. This time it was a Christmas on Ice special, or something like that. I was getting up every ten minutes from my computer to check out who was performing, and that slowly shifted into getting up every fifteen minutes from my couch to see what I'd written on the computer. I knew something was very wrong when I started incorporating skating terms into my essay. In fact, one sentence probably went something like, "the author loops around the same triple axel of despair, lacking marks for originality and camel-spinning readers into a lutz, their minds iced over by his poor technical merit as if double-twisting slowly toward their death spiral." I vowed never to let figure skating get in the way of school again! Then came the Grand Prix skating finals. I decided to skip my readings (just once!) for this all-important event. The Canadian pairs duo skated amazingly to a gold medal and I was captivated by their performance. Just how captivated I didn't know until I began saying my bedtime prayer… "Dear God, thank you so much for this day and for letting Jamie and David skate so beautifully and for letting Jamie nail her triple jump. I pray that you'll help them perfect their program in time for the Olympics and…" Whoa. That was weird. Not only had figure skating taken my attention away from schoolwork, it had now taken my attention away from God. It had become a distraction, luring me away from more important things. And that was a problem.

I'm really not as obsessive as this article makes me out to be. I mean, just because I watch every single competition and can spell perfectly the name of the Uzbekistani national champion, does not mean I'm obsessed! I just needed to get my priorities straightened out. It also means being focused and disciplined, whether I am writing a paper or doing my daily devotions. 'If figure skating can consume so much of my time', I thought to myself, 'imagine how much better spent that time would be studying?' I would definitely be doing better in school, that's for sure. I wouldn't need a French judge to change my mark. I'd actually deserve it.

posted by Tim at 11:49 PM