It's been about a week since I've blogged. But this past week has been one of the biggest adventures in my life! I spent the last weekend with Gary Antol Jr. (Merman Jr.). He's one of the owners of Merpalooza and a close friend. It was wonderful to be able to show him around the city and swim for hours on end with him. I can't give you details on the plans of Merpalooza. But I can say that we spent lots of time talking about it and there are big plans in the works! I can also say that I've been asked to help and be a part of it this year (and hopefully for years to come). And I'm dying for things to get rolling and for August to be here.
We spent all day Friday swimming. My legs hurt so bad by Saturday morning! We literally spent like 8 hours in his hotel pool, talking, swimming, catching video and pictures (hopefully we'll have some to upload very soon). I also got to get a close look at his Mermaid Creations LLC tail. It's amazing. His dorsal fin is a work of art. I don't know how he swims with that weight though! The tail actually would change color in the light. It was very similar to my tail in that manner, only much more dramatic. We also had a surprise encounter with a large birthday party that came in. It was a lot of fun to swim with those kids. I learned so much about my tail in the process too. First, a Finis Competitor monofin isn't necessarily better than a Finis Foil. Gary beat me in all our races. I can say that Mermaid Creations' tails are extremely agile, despite the fiberglass fin. I'm able to do hairpin turns, twists, and everything else in that tail. I also gained quite a bit of strength over the past few swims as well. I'm now able to lift my tail (even water logged) above my head, without help. That did lead to a problem on Friday night. I thought I would lift my tail over the railing to slide down the stairs........but I slipped on the wet concrete, lost my balance, and fell head-first into the pool. Hitting my left hip on each stair as I went down. Luckily I just bruised myself badly, and didn't cause any permanent damage (or hit my head). Okay, I lied. Permanent damage was done to my ego.
Saturday was a whirlwind of touring the city. We saw Temple Square and City Creek, and had a great time at the Disney Store (I stocked up on Villians gear, and an Ursula doll!). And then back to the pool for more swimming. Both evenings of swimming we spent with Dottie and Janelle as well. There was a pool full of mermaids! I was also able to try on Dottie's tail (and she tried on mine). Since there has been so much snow here, the pool has been freezing! We spent so much time racing and talking and playing. Having multiple mermaids makes swimming so much more fun. Poor Janelle though, was freezing! We ended the night with hot cocoa and pizza.
Sunday was a lot of fun since we spent the afternoon at a go-kart racing place. Gary treated (he's so sweet), and then lapped me like 3 times there. It was a little terrifying to speed through hairpin turns at 30+ MPH. Mermaids are not made for speeding! We had a blast. Here's a picture of us (with legs!) all geared up for the races! (You can't tell, but I'm actually smiling in the photo!)
Now you can say you've seen a mermaid in a go-kart. (Well, sorta...)
Monday evening was especially fun. I treated him to Training Table (he thought I was crazy, but looooved their burgers and cheese fries!). And then we spent a few hours at the rec center where I do my swimming. He kept raving about how awesome that facility is (and it really is a great facility). We took some underwater video too that I hope to get up soon! At the rec center we met so many darling kids that just loved meeting us. One little girl kept coming over to the deep end to say hi. We even gave mermaid (and merman!) rides in the shallow ends. The kids thought that was great, and they loved swimming with us in the lazy river and being splashed with our tails. The best part of Monday was getting to talk to THE Thom Shouse on the telephone with Gary. Gary is actually related to him (he's his uncle). What was fabulous is that Thom asked me to friend him on Facebook even. It was a dream come true to be able to talk to him, the father and king of mermaids! I hope to meet him at Merpalooza this year.
The weekend went by in a flash it was so much fun. We made so many future plans, and have so many exciting things in the works! I can't wait to share more, but I've been sworn to secrecy for the time being. A lot of what is going on with Merpalooza is under wraps until it gets closer to the actual date. So these fishy-lips are sealed!
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