International Pole Dance Fitness Competition 2008 Part 1

Thurs, Nov 27th

5:00am woke up to pack last min things and walk to the airport express

6:00am check in at the Cathay Pacific counter @ the airport express and got bumped up to   

business class because the flight was full!!!!

6:45am arrive @ airport and head straight for the business class lounge..it's been a while since I went business class....or even Cathay for that matter....damn, wish it was a long haul flight!!!

7:45 we start boarding and I'm so excited to see the new type of seats that are like little        

individual stalls and lie down all the way!!!  Maybe I can convince the pilot to stay in the air longer....?

I had a lovely flight with better food than usual....and 2 episodes of "Flight of the Concord"....which Harry got me into...totally ridiculous but funny show!

I arrived in Manila and was picked up and sent to the hotel, ate and had my first practice at the venue.  Manila is actually more polluted than HK!!!  They have these really funky looking cars that people take for public transportation.  I believe that they are the true cause of pollution there....

After trying out the pole at the venue, I no longer felt the nervous anxiety I felt for weeks because I knew that the pole was going to be much higher and thinner than I was used to...it wasn't slippery and I felt very confident for my routine to go smoothly.  An hour later, we had to each go through our routines so that the competition could use it for promotional reasons...For some reason, the pole had become slippery and I couldn't even climb up it anymore...I started to get so irritated and upset...and didn't get to finish my recording.  I was so worried after that...I didn't want to watch the other girls because I was scared that it would make me even more nervous to see how good they were.....I was also on the verge of tears...thinking about how humiliating it was going to be when I slipped and couldn't finish my routine the next day!!! 

Fri, Nov 28th (show day!!!)

I got up early like usual to have a good breakfast with Melodie (my fellow instructor from HK, photo of us in front of the polluted cars).  We, of course, complained about the slippery poles, the guys who are always starring at us (all over Manila), and the really bad service in Manila.... for the whole meal....and I started to think that maybe the air conditioning was affecting the pole.  Sure enough, that morning for our practice, the air con was turned off in the stage area and the pole was much easier to work with.  I was also introduced to this ingenious invention..it's this sticky towel that golfers use!!!  I'm going to buy some during my trip back to the U.S.  The recording went really well!  In fact, it was probably the best I ever did!  At last, I was finally confident again about my routine. 

That night, the competition went in a flash and it all seemed like I was dreaming everything that happened....in fact, I was so scared to wake up and have to go through it all again!!!  This is definitely the last competition for me!!! EVER!!!

Left to right:  Melodie (HK), me (U.S.A.), Lu (my roommate and special guest from Japan..she owns the largest pole dancing studio in Tokyo), Yuko (japan)

Melodie, me, make up artist, Lu, Yuko, Ana (Manila and winner of the local competition), another make up artist (who was totally funny)

Ana, me and I don't know her name...but the are both from Manila...VERY amazing dancers!!!  I got to watch Ana during rehearsals and she had all these crazy stunts on her head....the other one, I didn't get to watch her but I heard she was amazing!

Diana from Moldova and Simon from the UK. 

My teacher, Anya from Poland!!!  yes yes, a pole dancer from Poland...hahahaha...not really a great joke since it's laughed about all the time...she is sooo amazing!!!

Olga from Belarus, White Russia. She was beautiful...looked like Barbie

Yuko from Japan...completely drunk after the competition....and she got quite frisky...which shocked me!!!

the ladies from HK and the ladies from Manila...Ana was so tiny..she looked like a little kid performing..and her song was really rock and sexy...kind of disturbing..hahhaha....and she has a baby too!!!  I don't know how young she is!!!  Crazy!!!

My friends Karolina, her cousins friend, Lu, Gosha, me, and Javiar (the owner of the venue)

....well...stay tuned for the results.....(I thought I'd write another blog for that since it's already so long...hahahaha)