OK, so another new thing I'm working on is called a pivot.  If any of you out there watched the sitcom "Friends", you'll remember the episode where Ross, Rachel and Chandler are trying to get Ross' couch up a narrow stairway.  Ross keeps yelling out PIVOT!  PIVOT!  PIVOT!!  It's hilarious!  And when I heard this move is called a pivot, I decided the only correct way to say it is PIVOT!!!  So I always write PIVOT in caps.

So a PIVOT is when you plant your toe pick into the ice firmly, and then "pivot" your free leg around it in a full circle.  When Tabitha does this, it looks pretty and graceful.  When I do it, I look like a Heffalump.  It's a very interesting move, though, and I want to master it, because it's a great way to start a routine.  Now that I know this move, I've seen professional skaters begin their program with it.  I'm sure it will be a fun move once I can actually complete a full rotation! 

When I plant my left toe pick into the ice, and move clockwise around it, I can't get further than halfway around.  That's it.  I run out of steam.  I don't know why I can't get momentum in that direction!  I'm sure part of the reason is that I'm not putting full weight on my toe pick leg.  I think I'm distributing my weight too evenly on both legs.  My weight should be mostly on my toe pick leg, and the other leg just skims the ice around it.

When I plant my right toe pick into the ice, and move counter clockwise around it, however, I can get around much more easily, and can make it about 3/4 of the way around.  I am sure I'll be making a full rotation in this direction first, with more practice.  It's so weird how one foot can do things better than the other foot.  Or one direction can be so much easier than the opposite direction.

So PIVOTS are another new move I'm working on.  Just today I took my first video of me doing PIVOTS.  I'll do another video in a month or two, to see if I"ve progressed.  Here's today's video of me doing PIVOTS:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf1jRn_20Ao

Happy skating!