10 days!

It doesn't seem like any time at all since I was excited that it was 'only' eighteen months till the Olympics, but now it's ten days until the opening ceremonies, and so I have written a list of the skaters I am most excited to see:

Pairs
- Mostly Savchenko / Szolkowy. They haven't had too great a season and I'd really like them to skate two perfect programs.
- Shen / Zhao, because the pairs buzz is all about them and I've somehow totally missed out on seeing them skate at all this season.
- Kawaguchi / Smirnov. I thought their FS in Tallinn was really magical and I completely understood why they won, but like I already said, watching it back on tape was a totally different matter and I am definitely interested to see if a similar thing could happen in Vancouver. Also I am kind of morbidly fascinated to see if her shoulder will pop out again.
- Morand / Dorsaz, because I pretty much live for their SP outfits right now.
- Kemp / King, because they're British and I want them to skate as well as they can. And I want her to pull her finger out and do SBS 2a.

Mens
- Stéphane Lambiel. I. Love. Him. I will probably die if he messes up and lands off the podium.
- Plushenko. I live in hope that he will fall one of these days.
- Jeremy Abbott, probably my next favourite after my boy Stéphane. I'm already nervous for him, I think I will literally cry tears of happiness if he skates like he did at Nats.
- Brian Joubert, because after all these years of hating on him, I suddenly want him to hip thrust his way all the way to the podium.
- Tomas Verner. I figure he has to skate two clean programs at some point this season, right? Might as well be at the Olys.
- Florent Amodio, because I was robbed by the French Fed of seeing him at Euros and I think he's right there with the Rippon-Brezina crowd.
- Javier Fernandez, for the same reason as Amodio.
- Brezina, because I could watch him all day.
- The Japanese men.
- I think what I'm trying to say there is that I cannot freaking wait until the men's competition. If I don't get to watch it live, I will cry.

Dance
- Davis / White. Oh my God, I love them. Their OD pretty much rules my life right now.
- Virtue / Moir, because I love them, too.
- Delshoes! I am so interested to see them skate. I will be sad for them if they don't reach their potential, but honestly, I don't see how they can.
- The Kerrs, who I love and adore and who I really don't want to retire after this season, because what with all/most of the other top Euros teams likely to retire, I think next season could be theirs. I really really want these to place within the top ten, and I doubt I will be able to breathe during their twizzles.
- Pechalat/Bourzat, who I am counting on to stick around even if John & Sinead retire and who I am falling in love with at an alarming rate. I think that Nathalie Pechalat is the best thing ever.
- Cappellini & Lanotte, undoubtedly one of the best looking teams in ice dance. I miss their Love Story program from last year but I loved their OD in Tallinn. I kind of can't wait for Faiella/Scali to move on out of the way so that C/L get their time to shine. (I have tried and tried to like F/S and it just is not happening.)
- Domnina/Shabalin, because I'm sorry, but I loved their OD. And I don't even like them.
- Khoklova/Novitski, because her firebird costume is something else.

Ladies
- Miriam Ziegler, because even though she bombed at Euros, I think she's great.
- Cheltzie Lee, because she only found out she was going for sure, like, yesterday, and I really want her to skate her best. She seemed really sweet at Nebelhorn.
- Joannie Rochette. Let's go Joannie! I think she's the biggest threat to the Asian dominance, if she can pull it off like she did at Nationals/all through last season.
- Yu-Na Kim. So she's basically already won the gold medal. Let's see if she can do it in style.
- The Finnish girls. I could watch Laura Lepisto just skate around a rink for four and a half minutes and be happy, but I hope they both land all their jumps anyway.
- Elene Gedevanishvili. Words can't express how much I love saying her name. Loved her at Euros!
- Both Russian girls. Alena Leonova has kind of been losing the plot lately and I have my eye firmly on Ksenia Makarova as a star of the future.
- Rachael Flatt & Mirai Nagasu. I want Flatt to place top five and not have to apologise to anyone for doing so. I want Mirai to land all her jumps and perform like she did in Spokane (although a very small part of me also wants her to mess up so that I can smugly say, well, they should have sent Ashley)
- Mao! I am willing and willing her towards gold (or at least silver). There is something not right with the world if she is not on the podium.

Oh my gosh. I am excited. Ten days to go!

xxx