Written after I got back to the hotel after getting back from Disney World.

I’m so exhausted, but I wanted to post everything I can remember. If there’s anything to add to the report, I’ll do so when I get home in a few days. I took over 200 pics between the 2 events, and will post the rest when I get home. My mom also took video of both events, and that will be uploaded, you guessed it, when I get home. :)

Michelle did 3 events for the public today, though I didn’t get a chance to go to the last one (it was at the Sports Zone, I bet it was cute. Ah well, not my fault, I’m a good fan, really, haha.) She looked great, wearing a brown dress, with her hair down. It was really cold today (in Florida, no fair!) and for the first event, which was outside, she wore a jeans jacket over the dress. For the second event, which was inside, she didn’t have the jacket on. We also talked to 2 women who worked at Disney who loved Michelle (where we bought our tickets, and one by the first event, who may check into the forum at some point), which is always fun!

The first event was a Q&A event. I asked the first question (Michelle waved at me when she saw me. :)), which was a stupid one, haha. After the fact, of course, I could think of a million other questions to ask, but, yea, oh well. OK, let me try to remember everything that was said, I’ll watch the video later to see if I missed anything. I honestly forget a LOT of what she said. I just stood there watching her & taking pics I guess, because I really forget a lot of her answers. I’m not saying this is word for word either (someday I’d like to make a transcript from the video, but that’s way in the future.) The host was really great introducing her. The event before and after Michelle were both football related, so a lot of the people in the area were football fans. It didn’t matter, when she came out, the people were screaming. Unfortunately, I had two annoying people behind me who did not like Michelle, and said quite a bit of annoying stuff. I only mention this because I worry their comments might be on the video (I hope not, I’ll see before I upload of course), so just ignore it like I did in person, haha.

The first thing they talked about was her appointment as public envoy. Of course, that’s what I was going to ask her about, and I knew at that point it would sound silly, lol. I asked what her favorite part of the China trip was. Towards the end, the host asked her how she got the appointment, and Michelle talked about the white house lunch, etc. At one point, someone asked what does she plan to do in the future. She said she wants to get into politics. The crowd went “oooh!” The guy asked her what she would run for, city council, mayor, president. This guy behind me (who also said that she “looked hot” when she came out) yelled out that he would vote for her no matter what she ran for. Someone said something about mayor of Orlando, and the host said the current mayor better watch out.

Someone from Philadelphia (yea!) asked what her favorite skating moment is, and she said that it was actually Philly Nationals (double yea!), and I think the host asked if the guy was a ringer, lol. She said it was the situation, that she was in a cast, and it was an Olympic year, and her parents said to just go and have fun. She spoke about skating to Lyra Angelica, and that she felt like an angel flying during the program.

The next question was what was her favorite sports team, and favorite sport. Since the guy mentioned football (he was a Steelers fan, she pointed out that he was wearing “lucky number 7”, haha), she said it wasn’t football. I forget if this is when she talked about it, but she said she had a Super Bowl party, but didn’t get to watch any of the game because she was too busy playing hostess. She said she loves basketball, she’s a big Lakers fan & LA Kings fan. The host said something about do they even play anymore, and what’s hockey, and I forget what Michelle said to that, but then she said that she (or skaters in general, I forget) can skate circles around hockey players. The host said there weren’t any hockey players at the event this year, so they can say anything they want about hockey.

Another person asked how the music is chosen, and the host guy asked how many pieces of music she uses in a season. She said there’s a long program & short program, and he asked if they keep the same program each year, haha. Someone near me joked that yea, she has 30 pieces of music each season. She said something about how a lot of people are behind it, there’s the choreographer, etc.

Someone asked a question my mom was thinking about asking, about what she regrets having to miss while she was training, and she said nothing, because she chose to do this. That she knew that if a friend wanted to have a sleepover, that she couldn’t because she had to get up early the next day. She said the ones who had to give up the most were her parents, because they did so much for her (or something like that, haha.)

These next few answers I know are not word for word, I especially forget the answers, so that’s my warning. ;)

The woman next to me asked a good question about how different it is to train under the new scoring system, and is it harder on the technical or artistry side. Michelle said that the system used to be 6.0, and now it’s a bunch of numbers, and in the kiss and cry, skaters look confused. She said something about math, and that trigonometry wasn’t her best subject. She said both tech & artistic are import, but that she thinks the system is harder on the technical side

There was another question about since she hasn’t gone pro yet, what motivates her, and she said she’s skated with a lot of world & Olympic champions, but it’s watching the young skaters at the rink that pushes her (I know she said that recently, so I’ll be easy on myself trying to remember this exactly.)

Someone asked something about why the US doesn’t do as well in the Olympics as it could, and she said that in other countries they train different (I think?) and they do things different, but the flip side is here you can have any coach or choreographer you want, not just one you are assigned by the country. I forget what else was said here.

I *think* those were all the questions? When she was done, the host said something like “figure skater, champion, and maybe future president, Michelle Kwan!” When she left, she signed autographs, and I went over there, and she saw me and came over and hugged me. I got a pic with her (I really like it, too, haha.) I said everyone at the forum says hi. I really apologize that I don’t have another message from her on tape. I was going to get it here, but the event people shooed her away because the next guest was coming out (she signed for a ton of people, and if not for the guy, she would have signed longer, I’m sure.) I was going to get it at the second event, and again, I didn’t get a chance. And, as I said, I didn’t make it to the last event, so, yea. :(

The second event was “Dream Job.” Not sure if anyone saw the show when it was on ESPN, but basically they have 3 people from the audience “try out” for sportscenter by doing a sports highlight each. Michelle was one of the 3 celebrity judges (the others were Al Jaffe, an ESPN guy, and Mike Metzger, an X games athlete.) Mike came out, and he talked about his injuries, it was gruesome, and he even was wearing a brace. So when Michelle came out last, the host said he was glad she wasn’t in a brace. She said she was using crutches a few months back (he asked why, she explained), but now she’s wearing high heels (she pointed to her shoes.) The host said something about her being at school in Denver, she said she actually has a paper due on Monday, and that she would be working on it tonight. But, she said didn’t have class today or tomorrow, so it’s not like she’s cutting class, haha.

They all had clipboards to take notes while the contestants did their thing, and it looked like Michelle took her job seriously. =P She said nice things to everyone (they deserved it!) The host talked to each contestant before they did their highlight. The last guy was this big football fan. Well, he came on stage, and pointed towards Michelle, and said how he was so excited/nervous because MICHELE KWAN was there. Haha, it was really cute.

When it was over, all contestants shook her hand, and then she signed more autographs. She signed for everyone, I believe. Mike Metzger came up to her before he left to say that it was great to meet her. I thought the whole show was cute, but the only bad thing was the lighting for this part was weird. The video looks good, but in order to not use my flash (I was in the front row, I know she wasn’t skating or anything, haha, but I still didn’t want to flash her over a 100 times!) I had to experiment with settings. So I’m going to have to play with my pics more than with the ones from the Q&A, which was outside and therefore, much better lighting. I took some vid of her signing autographs, but I don’t think it’s really watchable since it’s pretty much in a blue tint (as long as the actual show came out fine, though!)

*scratches head* I think that’s it. I’ll be sure to add more later if I remember anything else, or if I see something on the video when I check it out. My zillion pics will be coming in a few days! She looked REALLY happy. When I saw her on tour, she didn't really seem to have that spark in her eye (I assume because she was injured, but I don't want to make assumptions), but that spark was back. She looked healthy & happy, and that made me even happier!