PART I: The Arrival & Overwhelment

This review is going to be very long, I already know, & very detailed. So bare with me. But trust me, it is a very GOOD review!  I went to COI in San Diego, my first attendance at an actual show with Michelle Kwan & all the known skaters. I was so excited! I also went with just a small hope of meeting Michelle, but did not expect anything. I arrived an hour early with my sister & grandparents. I got excited & perked up just at the sight of the big trucks that said "Champions on Ice" on them! I was getting so excited I was saying crazy things like "Oh my God! I’ll be in the same room as Michelle breathing the same air!". J Hee hee! As soon as we entered we bought a program at a table right there. We found our seats, which I thought would be alright but not the greatest but alright you know. Our seats turned out to be real good! I mean they weren’t right down there by the ice but they were great compared to other seats. (Like the nose bleed seats…hee hee! J ) We were in the last row (row 9 to be specific) of the 2^nd section from the ice. Our section was to the left & almost centered, for the viewing. That was fine with me! I sat on the end seat so I could have the best view, in my opinion. And if you walked down to the ice from our section & to the left a little there was the area where the skaters came in on the ice! That was pure luck that we were close by! J So my sister & I went down there to see if there would be some skaters coming out before the show & sign autographs & take pictures. I started talking a little to this one guy who had been to many of these shows before & said he didn’t even do autographs anymore, just came for the pictures. And he gave us more information about getting autographs from skaters. I had asked the usher & he said the skaters don’t do autographs but I know better from what I’ve heard from all you other MK fans! So he said after the show go outside & there’s this one area. You know where the buses are parked & everything. We were told to take our seats so we did. The show was starting! They started up the lights & projected flags of different countries on the ice & I was already screaming! Then all the skaters skated on to the ice & around for a little while in the dark. I was trying to spot Michelle. Then I saw a dark figure come on the ice with short hair and I knew it was Michelle! So I started screaming: "It’s Michelle Kwan! WoOoOoOo!" etc. Then the lights came on & I saw everybody but basically focused on Michelle Kwan! I was screaming the whole time! It was my first time seeing her in person! I couldn’t believe it! Most of the show I was like "Wow this is too good to be true with all these great skaters here…how do I know they are just impersonators instead of the real people?!". I was just overwhelmed & couldn’t believe it! I started getting tears in my eyes & the show had barely begun! Michelle’s hair is longer now & it was kind of slicked back. But I still love it! It’s great & shows a great difference in maturity. I did love her long too though. She was also wearing her costume from "I Put A Spell On You" from Disney’s Greatest Hits. That is such a cool costume seeing it in reality instead of just on TV. I never realized how details can be distorted on TV. Well this is just about my arrival at COI & the intro of the show. So I am just getting started!

Continue to PART II