May 2, 2026: Stars on Ice!

Today, mom, my sisters, and my sister's husband went to the Giant Center to see Stars on Ice, which my mom bought tickets for a few months ago, for around $70. We were supposed to have relatively close seats, but on the side instead of the middle, thus the relatively cheap pricing, but in the end, our seats were actually moved, due to the "tech" being in the way; I guess the organizers didn't know the 113 B seats were going to have tech screens in the way when they were selling tickets.

Due to this, we had to go back up top and talk to one of the staff, who handed us ticket stubs (which was nice, since the tickets in general are now digital through an app, but now we have a little souvenir), and said we'd be on the ice/in the penalty box. Sadly, we did have to get split up, though: my middle sister and her husband were on the ice, near the corner (kind of close to where our original B seats would've been, except on the ice), and the rest of us three were in the Penalty Box instead, near the middle of the rink.

It wasn't a perfect spot by any means, as we had to crane our headss back and forth because we were so close, and we did have the "ice" seat people (who paid ~$200) in front of us, but it was super neat to be so close to the skaters, being able to easily see their faces. It was also nice that we had plenty of leg room, and could move our seats around. I would've moved my seat right next to the barrier, but I didn't want to get in the way of the other three strangers who were in the box with us, so I just moved my seat up maybe half a foot for a slightly closer view.

There was also a tiny fridge in the corner, which we opened out of curiosity, and it contained hockey pucks! Huh!

More indepth recounting:

Anyway, we left home shortly after I got home, around 4:30; Sister's Husband drove, in their recently-bought car, and we ate at El Rodeo, then got to the Giant Center by 6:20. We got to our penalty box seats at 6:45, and it started right around 7:10. It started with an opening with everyone, then moved to individuals, then back to everyone with some "it's hot in here" song. The highlight for me was Danny O'Shea (and Ellie Kam), because he's just such a happy, fun guy, from what I see (also, because he's old; relatable). Regrettably, he did fail a difficult maneuver to skate under Ellie, which caused a fall; I hope she's okay; on the bright side, I saw no cut, at least? But anyway, I love them, for being the underdog "weakest links" in the Olympics that were expected to place Last (out of five) in the Team Event, but they skated their best skate of the year and got their best score of the year, right when it mattered, clinching 4th instead, which ended up winning us the Gold. Such a wonderful and deserved win—even if it was technically 4th out of 5, but darn it, it's touching, especially since they weren't "supposed" to be at the Olympics and were just a replacement, and it was Danny's first time ever, at 34 years old (one of the oldest "Olympic debuts").

I love Danny, for so many reasons.

But of course, seeing Ilia and his many backflips was also neat. He did three in a row here, and while it's not high quality, I did catch it on camera.

In general, I struggled with what I should do: record for the sake of my poor memory, or just live in the moment. I think living in the moment is important and we're too obsessed with chronicling things on phones (often for social media engagement), but I also am rather sentimental by nature, and do want "evidence" to look back on years later. Without video, in five years, I'd remember practically nothing of the actual "feeling" of being there; if I have video, I can look back and relive those moments...in low quality, but in some form, nevertheless. Anyway, I did record a lot, but I tended to record with my phone to the side, while I was watching live, which was good, because my phone made everything look so small and washed out; if I watched the entire program on my phone, it'd be really sad.

But I also didn't record absolutely everything, because I wanted to clap for all the wonderful things they did (and felt guilty when I was recording and couldn't do that as well). I wonder how the skaters feel about people recording. Do they think it's eye-rollingly pathetic, or do they think it's endearing that people are so starstruck by them to have to record lower quality video of a no-stakes show, when there's already better recorded, riskier skates that already exist during actual competitions?

Anyway, we occasionally had the skaters get really close to us, which was neat. Ilia placed a rose around our section at one point, and in general, whenever people skated near the edge of the ice, we got a good view.

There was an intermission halfway through, at 8:10, which was supposed to be 20 minutes, but was more like 30. It started up again around 8:40, then ended right around 9:30, with the skaters skating around the rink, slapping hands with the people who had the "on the ice" seats. We were so close, yet so far away! My sister and her husband got to touch their hands; lucky! (That said, I'd be stressed that I'd somehow mess up, so in a way, it's also a blessing.)

Leaving took a bit, but it wasn't as dreadful as it could've been. We got home right around 10:30. The others left shortly after, then mom watched the baseball game, which was thankfully, a very good game. The Reds gave the Pirates 7 consecutive walks, tying the all-time high, which has only happened two other times (my mom said the Pirates themselves were one of the others who did that). First time in 43 years, I think. The Pirates won 17-7, so it was a very high scoring game; 7 runs is nothing to sneeze at either.

My dad was at some Book Club guy's party, and he surprisingly didn't arrive home by 1 AM.

And now it's 2:30, and I should sleep. It was a nice Saturday. Everyone liked the Stars on Ice, and were even mentioning that we should do it again next year. That'd be nice...