FEBRUARY MERNETWORK CHALLENGE: WHERE DO YOU SWIM?

[malinghi]

MerNetwork is proud to announce our February MerNetwork Challenge: Where Do You Swim?


The theme: You're challenged to make a video, photo, drawing, song, or other submission about where you swim. You can celebrate what you love best about a local pool, complain about a beach, give us a tour, show us how the other swimmers react, you name it. You can make anything, but it should feature the theme the challenge: the place you go to swim.

The rules: To submit your entry, simply post it or link it in this thread. The deadline for submission is March 1st, at which point the polls will open in this thread. Polls will close one week later, on March 8th, at which point the winner will be announced. Good Luck and Have Fun!

Explanation for those unfamiliar with MerNetwork Challenges- MerNetwork Challenges are a sort of game we can all play together, where everyone is given a theme to work with, and encouraged to make something based on that theme. The winner is chosen by a vote. There's no prize, its just for fun. In the past the winner was posted on the front page, but I'm going to be redesigning the front page, so I don't think I'm going to be posting the winner from this on there.

If you have any questions you can post them here.

[Princess Kae-Leah]

What about those of us who cannot swim? I had a spinal fusion surgery when I was 10 which rendered my core muscles for all intents and purposes paralyzed, so swimming is very difficult for me. I hate to be touchy here, but I think it's important that the mer-community keeps in mind that not *all* mers can actually swim, and we should be accomodating and respectful toward us "landlocked" mers and make sure we never feel left out or like less of a mer than those of you who are avid swimmers.

[Mermaid Jewel]

KL, you can do it about where you normally hang out with your tail! Like with your dolls or your bathtub or wherever, because I think it's like swimming when you get to put the tail on :)

[MermanJesse]

I'll go first!

Silver Glen Springs in the Ocala National Forest.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZjERuH_HFg&feature=g-upl&context=G221bb07AUAAAAAAAHAA

[malinghi]

I hate to be touchy here, but I think it's important that the mer-community keeps in mind that not *all* mers can actually swim, and we should be accomodating and respectful toward us "landlocked" mers and make sure we never feel left out or like less of a mer than those of you who are avid swimmers.


KL, you can do it about where you normally hang out with your tail! Like with your dolls or your bathtub or wherever, because I think it's like swimming when you get to put the tail on.

Kae-Leah, you make a good point, and I apologize for the challenge being somewhat exclusionary toward people who cannot swim. I think that Jewel makes a good suggestion as to how you can participate, and I hope that you choose to.

Ultimately its difficult to make a challenge theme that doesn't exclude someone. I had considered making the theme romance for valentines day, but that excludes everyone who isn't in a relationship. If the theme involved photography it would discriminate against people that don't have cameras. Someone even pointed out that the challenge last year that was themed with the end of summer excluded everyone in the southern hemisphere, where it was winter at the time. I want you all to know that I respect you all, and hope to be as inclusive as possible, and for those whom the challenges are less accessible than for others I hope you can be patient with me. I'll try to do these more regularly, so if anyone finds participating in it to be prohibitively difficult they will have the opportunity to participate in the next one shortly.

[Princess Kae-Leah]

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/310612_258326200854204_253963584623799_873080_5348 659_n.jpghttp://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/299437_258326277520863_253963584623799_873081_3394 291_n.jpghttp://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/308852_258326380854186_253963584623799_873083_1807 013_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/321352_258329017520589_253963584623799_873121_1511 435_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/313567_258326330854191_253963584623799_873082_2585 865_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/300579_258328594187298_253963584623799_873113_7387 289_n.jpg
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/321375_258328940853930_7609763_n.jpg
Here's my entry: a shoot I did last fall in the bathtub. Check out my loosely waved hair and my attempt at the "faux topless" look with a beige-colored cotton/spandex blend tee.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Oooh, I like the poem idea!

[-Annwyn-]

http://youtu.be/PgTIVDYGRyM

This is the place where I swim, Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne, Australia :)

[Mermaid Saphira]

I want to make a video, but it's the middle of feb. and it's cold :(

[Alveric]

Maybe you can do an indoor, 'what do Mers do in winter' kind of thing?

Alveric

[mermaid.dreamer]

My tail isn't finished yet so i don't think i could do this one :(

[malinghi]

I want to make a video, but it's the middle of feb. and it's cold :(

You don't swim at any indoor pools?

[AniaR]

it'[s winter, this is me lol


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YffbaFGpsM4

but soon I'll be in Florida!

[Gem Stone]

-My Spot-

As a swimming fish
Or a dry photo model
My tail always takes me
To where I want to be
Swimming in my dreams
Or meeting little kids
Making dreams come true
Or making mine too
My favorite spot is sacred
It's where I always go
I hope it will be mine forever
But that is not to be so
I go there when I'm stressed
Or when I need a break
When I want to be alone
Or sometimes just for fun
We each have a special spot
That place where we are 'us'
And whether that be at the beach
Or even in the tub
We each should treasure our place
Because it won't always be ours
And one day we'll look back
At all the fun we had
And wonder at the times
We wish we made time for
And maybe think about
Who's there now
Playing where we used to
And seeing what we saw
We'll wonder if they feel
They way we used to
And then we'll tell the stories
Of all the fun we had
And all the times something
Went wrong or didn't go as expected
But all the same
We'll have to leave
Cause our special spot
Wont be ours anymore

[Mermaid Saphira]

Mal: Nope, no indoor pool :p

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

*A Visit (to ACAC) from St. Fisholas*
Through the entrance, light and airy, I stride,
I scan my card at the desk inside.
I grab some towels and try not to stare
At the bodybuilders lifting over there.
I skip past kids, personal trainers and the yoga gals,
As I enter the locker room, my eyes scan for my pals,
And, seeing none, I hurriedly change,
"Into something rich and strange"
(But since I lack sea-nymphs to ring any bells,
I only change to board shorts sporting sea shells)
and emerge at the pools to check the charts
And see to which lanes I can safely dart
And not disturb swim classes or elderly water aerobics
So I weave my way past parents and aquaphobics
Greet the lifeguard (since its a boring job)
And jump into the cold water, trying not to sob,
Submerging myself to adjust to the cold,
Then dolphin kick across the bottom, like a triton of old,
After one pleasure lap, I practice my stroke
(Freestyle, Butterfly stroke, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Sidestroke, but not Sunstroke)
Then practice treading water for ten mins,
Daydreaming about the day I get my fins,
Before diving down, holding my breath,
Swimming across the pool's length and breadth,
Before pulling myself out and exciting the scene
To shower off the chlorine.

[Prince Calypso]

I swim in my bathtub, my cousin's pool or the Kern river... when nobody is there

[SireniaSolaris]

KL, I think that's adorable how you have a minitature you as a doll - brown hair and the same purple tail. Mini me mermaid :D

And Raina, I just can't get over the cuteness of your winter vid. Very creative :p

[happyguava]

1837

Port Phillip Bay - we dubbed this particular area Mermaid Rock. As you can see it's a very exciting place :P

[Artisankatie]

Love it, Guava :P

[Mermaid Saphira]

@HappyGuava: Beautiful picture :)

[Aradia]

Heya fellow Merfolk!,

http://youtu.be/pSBTmhrZdkI

This is where the Mermaidens swim which is comprised of myself, Happyguava and Artisankatie on the boards or Mermaids Aradia, Nerissa and Volitania. Enjoy :D

[happyguava]

Yay, thanks for that, Aradia :)

Mods - I submitted my entry before we decided to film the above, so if the fact that I'm in both is a problem, feel free to just not count my photo :)

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Aradia, Happyguava, and Artisankatie, I liked the details about mermaid exercises you guys did (and it was nice when subtitles were added during the windy scenes, though I had trouble hearing some of the other parts as well... I have a mild-to-moderate hearing loss though, so that issue might just be for me, not a problem anyone else had). It looks like you ladies have a lot of fun :)

[Artisankatie]

We don't really do mermaid exercises :P we were just being silly, haha.

[malinghi]

Sorry for the delay. Polls are now open, and will remain open for a week!

[lasserine]

I vote for everyone.

[Artisankatie]

By Aradia do you mean Mermaidens? Cos it was a joint entry and people might be confused :3

[green52]

Whew... this one was harder than the others. Without saying who I voted for, I want to offer props to AniaR and Joy & Raptors, who both easily could've been my vote. All of these were great, though.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Aww, thanks green52! I was deeply torn in my vote too, since I had an obvious conflict of interest. The mermaidens were pretty awesome, Princess Kae-Leah has a beautiful tail, Raina's winter video is amusing due to its clever humor and non sequitur-ness, happyguava's picture is so vivid and exuberant, gem stone's poetic style is much better than mine, and aela and merman jesse's underwater filming are always fun to watch.

[malinghi]

Congratulations Mermaidens on being voted the winner of MerNetwork's February Challenge: "Where Do You Swim?"!

http://mernetwork.com/index/images/customstuff/mermaidens_banner.png (http://youtu.be/pSBTmhrZdkI)

[Gem Stone]

gem stone's poetic style is much better than mine
Thank you so much! It's pretty obvious that I didn't even vote for myself because I felt everyone else's was so good.

[Artisankatie]

Thanks for voting guys! We feel so loved :3