Mastering the HP5

Not gonna happen.

SLSA Mini-Comp

I participated in an offseason SLSA comp. since it was a sim fundraiser there were no prizes, but still all the fun. It was a sudden death setup kinda like pro comps. Sort of. Two riders per heat, only one advances. But only one wave to do your stuff. I was lucky enough to make it into the semis. But the catch was you didn't know what the board was until your heat was called. I got lucky that it was ssi longs for the first two, so I could use my trusty Namiko. But then in the semis they called for a HP. I can barely ride an HP, and I was up against Eko who is an HP king. Still I ended up 3rd or 4th, which isn't bad. And Flynn hung out with us which made me very happy.

A good day.

So much to do, so little time

There are so many things that I want to participate in, in SL. The mini-comp on Sunday has come up. But how fair is it to my family in RL to take myself away from them for several hours. I'm in a quandary and am not sure what to do...

Mari asked me to put together my thoughts on the VH Waves of Courage competition for SurfWatch. I thought I should also post them here.

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My thoughts on the Waves of Courage competition… hmmm… so many different things go through my head.

I have to mention my thoughts leading up to the competition first. I approached VH with mild curiosity. It was kind of, Meh, I had SL what did I need another virtual world for? But then Mari mentioned surfing and I had to go check it out.  So I went and looked.  I couldn't really form an opinion at that point because there weren't any rezzers or loaner boards. And I wasn't ready to invest any money into VH yet. Since I couldn't try it out, I didn't know what surfing was like at that point. Then I read Mari's article in SW that the competitors would be given boards to practice on and keep. My ears perked up on that one. A free board??? Hard to turn that incentive down. 

I went back to VH to look again. I ran into Mari. She asked if I was going to compete and I said I was thinking about it. Next thing I knew, she was giving me a board, a kini and a rashie. Guess I was going to compete then.

I didn't have a lot of time to practice. I went into VH every couple of days about 2 weeks before the comp. I would surf for about 15-20 minutes before starting to scream, "I hate this board! I hate this wave!" NO ONE SHOULD TAKE THIS PERSONALLY AT ALL. I hate every new wave (and some of the old ones if I haven't been on them in a while) and every new board. And screaming and bitching about it is par for the course for me. Then I settle into the challenge of learning their nuances and what works and what doesn't. You should have heard me leading up to the HP5 comp in SL. It was ugly. LOL. But generally by the time the comp rolls around I am fine.

Unfortunately my practices were terrible. In each session I might make it to the beach once. Every other time, it was up and over! And frankly I expected the same thing to happen during the comp.

The day of the competition I was as nervous as I am before every comp, even though there were only 4 of us competing and a small group of spectators. I just was hoping not to embarrass myself too much and have at least one good run.  But seeing all those familiar faces made me feel a lot better and calmer. And all the usual encouragement and camaraderie that I have ever experienced in a surfing competition before was going strong here too.

On every wave I was talking myself through it, remembering Mari's pearls of wisdom. Start low on the wave, head away from the wave first, then weave. So I tried to be patient and wait for the wave to come to me. Not to stand up until I actually was touching the wave (even though Flynn was shouting in my ear GO, GO, GO!). Then it was "stay low," "go left, " "go right", "ack, too far," "left, left, left, " "ack, don't surf off the wave," "move, move, move, don't just stand there, you look stupid," "oh god, TURN, go down the wave," "DOWN, DOWN, DOWN," "crap, do a trick," well, you get the idea.

And don't ask me how it happened, but every wave I surfed into shore. Well, except the party waves, but we won't talk about those.  

I felt the same adrenaline rush that I get while surfing in any competition.  Having all those wonderful, friendly, supportive people around made it so enjoyable. Yes, I won. But that wasn't the best part. (Okay, that was pretty exciting.) But honestly it was the people. That was the best part. In any world, VH, SL, RL - it is the company you keep that makes life enjoyable.

I couldn't have asked for a better group of fellow surfers - Colleen, Kako, and Melina - to be with. We had the best judges - Bobbi and Sally. Of course a wonderful EC - Mari. The wave and board inventor being our marshal - Kayaker - fit in so well. And those that just came to hang out, watch, and encourage - Flynn, Mick, Zadi, Eireen, Tiffany, logger, geez who did I miss? We just partied the whole time and had a blast!

It was a wonderful day. Thanks Mari for everything!

Some Pics from VH Waves of Courage Comp

Colleen

Melina and Colleen

Me - being patient

Me - coming down the face of the wave

Party Wave!

The Surfers - Kako, Colleen, Me, and Melina

and Mick giving it a shot!

the rest of the pics can be found on my Flickr stream. And thanks to Flynn for taking all the pics!

VH - Waves of Courage Comp

I won!

For all my bitching I had a blast. And don't ask me how, but I rode well on all my waves. Although, I completely flubbed each party wave. But I'll take it that way.

To be honest what made it fun was the people and that Flynn was there with me. Of course there were the usual glitches and delays, but being with a great group of people made it seem like no big deal. And once we got underway, it flowed smooth as silk.

I won some money, so now I can go make myself a pretty avi. :) I think I got some prizes too, but I was having too much fun at the after party to unpack my backpack.

I will try to get some pictures and other stuff up later.

Mari, you did good.

2012 Season 1 Results

Just realized that I never did say how the awards ceremony turned out.

First of all I showed up in jeans and a tank. Everyone else was in formal wear. Luckily this being SL, I carry my closet with me wherever I go, so I found a out of the way corner and changed real quick. Thankfully I have a lot of dresses from the Last Call going out of business sale. Remember them?

Sorry, got off track. I put up my hair real quick, so I could show off the pretty back of my dress and my tattoos, cuz that's important you know?

Anyway, the results.

I finished 9th overall. Since my goal is to finish in the top 10, that made me very happy. And I got a pretty new trophy to put on my shelf. :)

VH-Waves of Courage Comp

Not sure how I managed to get roped into doing this, but I am competing in todays comp on Virtual Highway. Pretty sure I told Mari I was thinking about it, but the next thing I know she is giving me a board and a rashie and I am registered for it.

I am still reserving judgement on this whole thing. Overall I am not too impressed with the wave or board, but I realize it is the first of its kind created there and I assume a work in progress. And that is not a bad thing.

Plus I will have friends there, so it should be fun for the company at least. There are only 4 of us registered, so it should be a quick comp, lol. Hope I didn't just jinx anything. O.o

I will let you know how it goes...not holding high hopes for my performance. I seem to still be the queen of up and over. And there won't be any pics (unless I remember to do screen captures from my computer) since I have been hesitant to invest any money into it yet.

But we will see...

New Sim, New Waves - Updated

Went and checked out Valium Lavender's new sim...crap, can't remember the name of it...but it is right next door to Carpe Diem Surf. She just got it and opened it up today. So it is a little sparse, just sand and some rocks, but I kinda like it that way. Oh yeah, and some brand new waves. As it spanking new, never been seen before. And damn if I could remember the name of those either. They are mesh and blue and have a bit of a lip. How's that? But there is a lot of em rolling in. You surf off one and hop right onto another. I managed a few tricks and only bellied once. I'll mark that off as a successful run. Okay, I will check and see what both are called and let you know. But in the meantime, you can TP to Carpe Diem Surf (no, I don't have the link on me, geez, use your map and look it up) and turn right and start walking. You'll get there.

Happy surfing!

Update #1 - they are the Maoli NextGen
Update #2 - the sim is Barton Springs

You're welcome.

Mea Culpa

So there was an announcement about the awards ceremony. But it went out in group notices, which I never get. And it was only a couple days before the ceremony. Wish they would use the mailbox thingy, I get those...or put it on the forum or the website. Could have sent out a save-the-date... Okay, that went from a "my fault" to a bitch rant. Sorry, I'll shut up now.

End of Season Awards Event

Today is the SLSA end of season ceremony. Not that there has been any official announcement about it. There was a little mention on the forum in the middle of a post about the Angel/Sportspersonship awards. Last night I got an IM requesting the presence of the top ten finishers for the season. Since the season end results haven't been made public, I assume I finished in the top ten. Holy Shit Batman! Are you serious? No clue how that could have happened since my performance at Encinitas was so abysmal. Anyway, if I didn't really finish in the top ten I am gonna be pissed after that tease. Oh well, I was going to go anyway so I can put something together for SurfWatch. Now, what to wear? Casual, or super casual... Or grunge? I never know what is appropriate.

Just a few glitches

I was on VH walking along minding my own business, when I stopped for a second and this happened:

WTF?

Surfing in VH

I don't know what to think about surfing in Virtual Highway.i know it is in its infant stages, but so sluggish and hard to control. Just staying on the wave and not going up and over is a chore. I could only handle it for 15 minutes before I got too frustrated and needed a break. But the pics Mariann took look good, lol.

Progress

Well, I finished my interviews. Haven't gotten into VH, or done anything fun in SL. No one to play with... So sad. Somebody talk to me! LOL this is starting to look like a twitter feed.

No time

Supposed to be finishing up writing an interview for SurfWatch. Supposed to be answering questions for another interview. Need to get into Virtual Highway to see if I can surf that wave... just want to find sometime to get into SL and have some fun.

Happy Independence Day

To my US friends and Happy Wednesday to everyone else!

Believe it or not

I am thinking about starting this up again. Stay tuned.