Winning

This post is out of date, because it pertains to something that happened last weekend. It's also not really a craft post, but it is about something I did with my hands and it is something I worked hard for.


Back in September, I started my first year at university, 2 years behind most of my peers at 20 years old. I was really scared I wasn't going to make any friends, because I go to an art school and I don't really do bullshit. I am super down to earth and blunt. I was also really worried I was going to get super fat from living off shit food and not getting any exercise, so I joined the cheerleading team. Which is very very out of character for me and resulted in a huge collective "...what?!" from everyone who knew me before university.


It was hard and at first I didn't feel like I fit in with the girls. I'm not naturally coordinated or flexible, I'm not particularly fit and I don't even smile very well without being prompted. There were times when the whole thing felt like some awful spy bootcamp (being told to do a forward roll over and over comes to mind) and lots of bruises, friction burns and other assorted painful encounters. 


Last weekend was the Future Cheer Nationals competition. Two days before, we still didn't have the stunts quite down and by Saturday everyone was nervous as fuck, and on top of that we hadn't slept well the night before nor been given a proper breakfast.
Some how we pulled it off, and became level 1 champions!

There's me with our trophy and about an inch of make-up on my face. The bandage is there because at some point during the routine I re-tore a ligament in my dominant arm (but kept going).


Yes, it was only level one, but we're going to shoot higher next year. I'm hoping to take a first aid course over the summer and become team medic. I'm super proud of myself and the rest of the team for sticking together and pulling everything off. I haven't achieved everything I wanted to at university and at cheer this year, but now I have the motivation to keep going!

Have a bonus shot of me looking adorable on the way to competition (the foxy lady in the background is our captain for next year). Looking at these pictures is so strange, because I look about 14 in most of them. It's like an alternate teenage timeline, in which I have a life instead of getting agoraphobic and learning to bake/sew/knit/grow things.


Oh and a big shout out to our pom team, who, despite learning the routine essentially the night before, did not come last in their division!