So this weekend I was in Vegas. Blah blah…concert…blah blah…Queens of the Stone Age…
I talked my husband into sending me to Vegas for Valentine’s Day because JOSH HOMME.
But from far away, because J.Ho is 6’5. And y’all know how I feel about the unnaturally tall.
Nesto didn’t wanna go. Because he doesn’t love Vegas. Or rock music, really. Which is okay.
Because he loves ME. All the time, so I didn’t need a special day to show me he loves me.
(also: he gave me some spendin’ cash, which when you’re going to Vegas is a lot like love)
Also, you guys…I also would like to take a second to talk about their drummer. Because DAMN.
Captian Obvious comment of the day: He’s black!
Which has nothing to do with anything except that we’re talking about black people and shit that black people do. And that IS a fact. Not THE fact. Just A fact.
Actually today’s fact has to do with the fact that while we were flying to/from Vegas, I was watching the Olympics. Because who isn’t?! I’ve been watching a lot of ice skating. Because it’s all I seem to be able to catch. Which is fine. Because I love ice skating! (Tooooe pick!)
Fun fact: I took an ice skating class in High School. Nobody is surprised by this right? This is a perk of having an ice skating rink one block from your high school. I’m not terrible, but I can’t do THIS.
This badass is Surya Bonaly, French-American professional figure skater. She is a three-time World silver medalist, a five-time European champion, the 1991 World Junior Champion and a nine-time French national champion. She’s also the first woman to ever attempt the quadruple toe loop.
But! She’ll go down in history for as the only figure skater to complete one bladed back flip during free skate at the 1998 Winter Olympics. To this day she is the only skater to ever do this – not the only female figure skater, the only figure skater period. (Oh look! A black history fact and a regular ol’ HISTORY fact rolled into one.) Backflips had been deemed not a legal move because all jumps must be landed on one blade to be scored and in order to complete a back flip you must land on both feet. So basically she MADE the backflip legal because she was able to do it using one blade. It was still ruled illegal and deducted against her final score. Also! She believed that the judges had been consistently giving her lower scores than her white figure skating counter parts* and that move was a big EFF YOU to the judges.
After the 1998 Olympics, Surya Bonaly retired from amateur competitions, began competing professionally and won many professional titles. She toured with Champions on Ice for several years. And In 2004, Bonaly became a U.S. citizen and moved to the United States.
She currently teaching skating in Las Vegas, Nevada (Hey! I was just there! Not ice skating, though. Drinking. And gambling. And concerting –a lovely valentine’s day song. You’re welcome.)
Look at that! All roads lead back to Vegas!
*I mean, I can’t say that she wasn’t discriminated against. Maybe in a sport where there are few black people she struggled because in general we are taught we have to be twice as good to get half as much, she felt put upon to do more and still felt like she wasn’t getting what she deserved. Maybe even when she DID more, she got dinged for being better. Maybe because EVEN in 2014 a 10-time figure skating world champion, a triple Olympic gold medallist posted some racist BS to the entire world so it would stand to reason that in 1998 a young black girl would feel like maybe the judges were being assholes because she’s black. But maybe not. Who knows?
Yeah I said it 