Ya Can't Say Better Than That

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!

Could there have been a MORE inopportune time for my internet to conk out!? Honestly. I've been tearing my hair out for the last two days, I never thought I'd be so dependent on the interweb. But this, this most crucial time of the year for gossipmongers like me, is not a time to be without web access. Anyway. It's a cold and unforgiving morning here at uni but I braved it all (and a new personal record - the 7am bus!) just to get here early and into the labs to let you all know what's going on. I've got a crammed inbox and a dozen witty Facebook wall posts to get through, not to mention an important correspondence to complete and gym message boards to cruise. It's going to be a busy hour or two for me!

So Nationals is already underway and you're all aware of the good news, I'm sure.

As sure as I am that lemon butter goes great on toast at 6 in the morning.

As sure as I am that an indie-looking kid in a bowler hat standing outside a Christian Science reading room is not the weirdest thing I've seen this morning.

As sure as I am that Derren Brown and David Tennant sharing the television screen together is the most inviting-looking manwich since Keira Knightley stood somewhere equidistant to Johnny Deep and that po-faced Bloom fellow in that piratey trilogy.

...but that's beside the point.

Dasha Joura wowed them all with some personal best scores in the team competition last night; sadly it wasn't enough to keep WA out of second place. Victory went, fittingly enough, to Victoria. Dasha's sitting in first-place with a 61.6 (part of which was a record-setting 15.75 floor score) followed by Vic stalwarts DJ Sho-Mo (60.4, so she really can hit a 60!) and Asher the Smasher (59.45).

So it's shaping up to be an exciting all-around comp tonight, with Lauren Mitchell looking to overcome last night's bars troubles (sounds like she had a rough go of it, finishing in 5th with only one plus-15 score coming on beam), Naomi Russell looking to make it out with all her appendages intact, and everyone looking to make 2nd/3rd behind Dasha.

For news coverage and things for your scrapbooks, try these lovelies on for size...

The Age

The Australian (interesting quote here from Liddick - "Through the national camps, I warned them 'don't even bother showing up if you aren't going to pay attention to landings and consistent performance'," Liddick said. "It's not about the skills this week. It's about how cleanly and consistently you can perform it. We want the most dependable gymnasts we can find.")

The Age again

And again!

The Waverley girls were profiled in The Herald Sun on Wednesday morning, all nice and huggy.

There was a very VERY brief piece on Sky News yesterday, showing Lauren dismounting off beam, one of the Vic girls fluffing a double-front off bars and Dasha tumbling. She spoke to the cameras briefly but wasn't afforded a subtitle with her name so nobody knew who she was. She thinks we've got a "strong team" for Beijing. Joura's top-scoring routines got a mention on the Fox Sports News channel "active" news space (accessible by the red button on your remote).

Any reports, gossip or sightings from Nationals? Do let me know via the email address listed on the top right on this page. You will be credited (under your real name or a pseudonym if you'd prefer) I'll be there in person tonight, tomorrow and Sunday but I'm a bit crap at multi-tasking so heaven knows I'll miss something life-changing going on while trying to operate a video camera.

To answer (and raise) some recent questions:

1. I thought the Apparatus Challenge was general admin? I'll be really sh*tted off if it isn't, I got such good seats last time. I don't have my tickets on me right now, otherwise I'd check.

2. I hope to seat myself somewhere nearer to bars tonight, perhaps between bars and floor if I can. Look for a black duffel coat. I'll have a video camera so surely that narrows the field for you. Come and say hi. I don't bite. I'm quite shy so you'll probably want to find me before I come and find you :P I don't plan on going home by myself so please don't follow me home if you're a creepy stalker. I have a boyfriend, he'll be chaperoning me. Sure, he's weedy but he''ll kick the crap out of you WoW-style when threatened.

3. My potential banners/t-shirts, had I been afforded the time (if my internet hadn't broken down) and could have made them:

"Chloe, Hollie, Monique, Melody, Monette, Jasmine... We Remember the Fallen Ones."

"Break It 'Til You Make It - That's What Peggy Wants!"

"Y-Fulls at Worlds: Australia Says No!"

"You're all Winners... Even if GA Doesn't Think So!"

"Dasha Joura School of Sass: Class of 2008."


4. My Honours thesis is about children's literacy and reading habits.

The flight to the Olympics "boards'' in Melbourne... GAME ON, MOLLS!