SLE Sports

The Second Life Cheerleading Squad recently hosted a carnival at their stadium in order to make some Ls for Relay For Life, and the SL Enquirer was there.

Let me start off by explaining two very important things regarding myself and carnivals. One, my first date with my future husbnad was at a Carnival, and I threw up on him. I was quite surprised when he called me up to ask me out after that, to be honest. We're not going to discuss this matter any further,

Two... I don't like clowns. It's what psychologists call an Irrational Fear, but I can save you eight years of college by simply stating that I'm happier when they aren't around. I won't consider going near one, and I will go to great lengths to make sure that none of them come near me, While I don't know exactly what I'm afraid of the clown doing to me, I am self-aware enough to know that I'm put off by the face paint and the Capering. A clown managed to sneak inside my perimeter once at the Duxbury 4th of July parade, and I actually hid behind my husband and went "Make him go awayyyyyyyyy." My husband- who has killed men in Somalia- merely shrugged, and the clown broke character to say (in a Boston accent) something along the lines of "I get this once a parade... no offense taken."

But the name of Cardalines was not forged through Timidity, so I lowered my shoulders and sort of snuck into Girotte Stadium while keeping an eye out for clowns. Girotte is a giant stadium, and would hold maybe 50,000 people by my expert estimate. It can easily accomodate a carnival. The SLCS had all sorts of good stuff up there... a ferris wheel, a tilt-a-whirl, a kissing booth, bumper cars, a concession stand, and what have you. If you need a laugh.... the top left picture shows me barely being tall enough to get on the Bumper Cars.

We were also treated to a performance by the full squad, which looked like about 15-20 of the girls. They set up in the end zone, and went to town for the audience... which, by that point, was the cheerleader trainees and several of the luckiest men on SL. The best part, of course, was hanging around with all my cheerleader friends like Brandi, Flitter (my contact to the SLCS for this paper), Persephone, and the thankfully-petite-like-me Sayrah. Sayrah and I are the two shortest cheerleaders, by about a foot or so. It's a leggy sport.

As for my own training... I'm at session three of four, with four being the big one. I've missed a bunch of practices due to IRL stuff. The girls have given me some slack, and I'll eventually pass muster, I hope.

My last lesson was formation training, where we line up in a starting gate not unlike that used by the Kentucky Derby. This is where that HUD that I was telling you about comes into play. The head cheerleader controls the group formation, leaving the others (myself included) to merely hit their spots in the routine. It is somewhat complicated when you're new to it/nervous, but I got a full dance in. I also missed the stage entirely once, then fell through the floor trying to get back on.... but that sort of stuff happens to everybody.... or so I like to tell myself. Flitter has been patient enough that I feel badly about that Nazi joke I made a few articles back.

My final session is upcoming, and, should I pass it, I'll go before the board. I'm quite nervous about that, as I still do things like Flip Out Of Context and Change The Camera Angle At The Wrong Time, Thus Suddenly Giving Me A Backstage View While I'm Performing Onstage. I'll work all that stuff out in time, but it bears mentioning. You don't just walk into a place like SLCS and grab the top spot.... they don't have all that training space for vanity, you know.

Anywho... that's where I'm at cheerleading. The SLCS and the Second Life Enquirer have a good working relationship now. The cheerleaders are good people, the sort who might let you, say, stash a treasure hunt item at their football stadium. That's not a hint or anything, though. I took some photos, and some more appear on the cheerleaders website.... www.slcheerleadingsquad.com

Before I go.... I want to do two things. One, I want to offer my congratulations and a big hug to my friend Tori, an ASU cheerleader who was really, really happy to make the team here. It's as happy as I've been for anyone since I started SL. Tori and I trained together, and she's become a good friend of mine. She may be the sweetest kid on SL.

Two... I'll be going away on Family Business for a few weeks, and may miss a publishing date. Do not think that I have abandoned you... I love working for the Enquirer, and sharing my daily deeds with you good people. I'll be back, late April or so.

Adieu!