<p>H just paid tuition bill. Good news and bad news: one year left for S, one year (only) down for D!!
D bday falls on last exam day in Spring. I think we’ll send $$ for dinner with a couple of buddies. S bday has ALWAYS fallen on Parents Weekend which we have ALWAYS attended. We have always had gifts and cake. This year some girls beat me to it with the cake thing. Such is life…</p>
<p>I’m in the kitchen. The prodigal son, Fang Jr, is cooking chili for the Fang family. We don’t know what we’re going to do next, or when or if he’ll go back to his college or another one, but so far things are OK.</p>
<p>So glad to hear from you Fang. Just {{{HUGS}}} for now.</p>
<p>Cooking chili sounds great to me…beats isolatoin far from home. Does he have any other specialties?</p>
<p>I am totally numb after four days of cheer competitions…each “song” is a mashup of between 10-20 popular songs…loud, driving beats, girls jumping and tumbling and stunting and falling…My eyes and ears are very tired.</p>
<p>Son just left for school. I hate for him to drive back so late but he said that since he slept until 11:30, it’s not late for him.</p>
<p>He makes a very good brownie. I’m glad to say it does not involve any black beans.</p>
<p>Ha! Yeah - I could not get into those black bean brownies. If I am going to have a brownie, I’m having the real thing! But - I don’t like any type of bean except for green beans. So maybe that is it.</p>
<p>Hey, with a little mole’, black bean brownies might be possible. And they would definitely exceed some kind of daily fiber requirement while getting in the daily chocolate as well. If there was ever place for a winning black bean brownie recipe it would be among this crowd. (On the other hand, I am all for the package kind with chocolate chips added…)</p>
<p>Both my kids went back to school on Friday and husband left yesterday for a 2+ week trip. For the moment I am enjoying the solitude and possibility of spreading out all of my projects without anyone objecting or needing something I can’t find.</p>
<p>Oh Cardinal Fang, I had to look back several pages to see what was up. So sorry and so impressed with you. Enjoy the brownies!</p>
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<p>Missy - how does this compare to dance competitions? Do you get any down time between?
Sure sounds louder though.</p>
<p>D went back on the bus on Sat. and is settling in. She told me on break that every time she goes back it feels a little more like home there. Grades were good first semester, now her big challenge is to find a job…</p>
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<p>That’s good to hear!</p>
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<p>I would say that cheer competitions compare unfavorably to dance because there is only one pace - frenetic. In dance, you see some hip hop, then some tap and then there’s that nice lull during lyrical where you can close your eyes and take a little nap. In cheer, all music is fast and loud and they all do the same thing, only with different levels of difficulty. There are stunts, jumps, running tumbling, standing tumbling, and the big pyramid…each routine has these elements, so there’s not a lot of creativity. And each level can only certain tumbling - so you won’t see a “full” in a level 3 routine, etc. Level 5 features some amazing tumbling, but by the time you get there, you’re so tired of watching that it’s hard to be impressed.</p>
<p>missypie your posts make me grateful that my girls chose soccer 
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<p>I suggest ear plugs for the next competition :)</p>
<p>My parents are going to a cheer competition with us next weekend and new ear plugs for them are on my shopping list!</p>
<p>I was a cheerleader in HS and college, long before it turned into a competition-driven industry and you really cheered for the people on the field. Not sure whatever happened to that EC as it seems SO much more complicated now. Earplugs would be good… and from my perspective, a phone with games and internet access. :)</p>
<p>However, I WISH our basketball games would be a little louder. Seems that when you’re down by 20 the stands are filled with crickets vs. fans.</p>
<p>Competitive cheer really does take a tremendous amount of coordination, stamina and team work. At any point, every team is a split-second from disaster. But why the bows and glitter?</p>
<p>Agree Missy… they really have to be talented athletically, have timing and of course, it’s all about the success of the team. Lots of trust out there. But yes, the glitter and bows seem to take away somewhat! HOWEVER… if you have boys that play football or lacrosse, they take their eye black VERY seriously. And if you watched NFL football this past weekend, one of the guys had a mouthguard that had fang teeth… freakish if you ask me.</p>
<p>My D was a cheerleader. In middle school, the school’s team competed but not in high school. What a relief for both of us. In high school, it seemed that there were to categories of girls: those who were really into competition who were on club teams anyway, and those who (like my D) just wanted to be a cheerleader for the school and cheer for the teams. The first competition I went to when she was in 7th grade freaked me out with all the girl glitz (big hair, big makeup, lots of skin showing thru the uniforms). I kept seeing all these little Jon Benet Ramseys all over the place and it was unsettling for me. This is not to criticize those who do it, but I don’t understand why the glitz is part of the package. The girls are serious atheletes and work hard to perfect their routines. Let them be well-groomed, why not. But then, I’m no fun, I know.</p>
<p>We are the only team in the area that competes with bellies covered. I saw a WHOLE lot more girl bellies than I’ve ever wanted to this weekend and believe me, almost none of them look good. Word is that the rules are changing and that next year, midriff uniforms will be phased out. That would be an awesome development.</p>
<p>I’ve thought for years that high schools should have two teams - spirit and competitive. At our high school, the tumbling requirements are such that only the really serious, competion experienced girls can make cheerleader. But most of them really only want to compete, with the result being that they mostly just stand there at the games. If there was a spirit squad, the girls who actually want to cheer for the teams could do that and the girls who wanted to compete could be on a different team.</p>
<p>I can’t get the picture of Lady Gaga meeting the queen out of my head since you mentioned red glitter eye shadow, Missypie. (Google Lady Gaga meeting queen.) yikes!</p>
<p>At least the cheerleaders don’t wear rubber, pvc or whatever the heck her dress was made out of. (Now that is what you’ll see at dance competitions.)</p>
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<p>I’d go farther. The sport should split off. Competitive cheer ought to just admit that it’s a sport, not a way to support other sports teams. Cheer the sport ought to be completely separate from the group cheering on other athletes, in the same way soccer is separate from tennis.</p>