competitive and skilled, that is i....so naturally, skills competiton 2008

so here are shots from a time in my life i cherish very dearly. i competed in the province-wide skills competition in 2008 representing durham region in the secondary school level. you actually had to compete in regionals before making it to provincials but how do you compete when there are no competitors? thats right, i was the ONLY person who registered to compete in regionals. therefore, i technically was the "winner" by default and advanced to provincials, plus i got a medal out of it. i'd like to think that i was the most courageous and skilled one in durham region and that's why noone wanted to compete but there could have been millions of reasons for my lone success. i'm sticking with that one.

    we travelled to waterloo where we stayed for one night and got up at the crack of dawn the next day to get to the venue. this was a skills competition covering all technical skills such as floral arrangements, fashion/sewing, construction and the like. there were ALOT of people that day...it was nutso. for hairstyling, competitors were separated into secondary and post-secondary categories but our requirements were the same. we all had to do a woman's trendy cut, woman's evening updo and a mens trendy cut and style. i personally couldn't stand the fact that they used the word 'trendy' but who am i to make up names for these competitions. anyways, the first 4 photos is the cut i did, which i was very happy with but now that i look back on it, i could have done something more edgy and fierce. the next 2 is the updo i did, which i practiced repetitively, which was very mundane for someone who is a spontaneous, updo improviser. last 2 shots are of me working on a 'bombage.' believe me when i say, NOBODY in that entire competition managed to do that style the way it should be. this style is the hardest thing i've ever had to do and for my mind to fathom. to this day, i still can't do it. more like, trying to learn how to do it was so frustrating and scarring that i haven't even attempted it after the competition. i butchered many mannequin heads in the process. all in all, this was a great learning experience and i had alot of fun doing it. i landed 7th place out of 30 competitors which is not too shabby at all. i'll definitely be competing in the bigger competitions when i get around to them. heads will definitely be flying then.