For the most adorable eyes Raina has and challenging bones structure that fits every frame and artistic needs Krista has, Tyra and her judges made the right choice when they had to turn it down to 2 (two) finalist at the America’s Next Top Model Finale, cycle 14. Raina’s positive ways to see the world and consistency of working her way up from Krista is one and two thing I will never forget from this cycle.
More of the more, I also learned one simple thing from that (seemed to be) glamorous life, as a model. One of my favourite model in the cycle, beside Ren the tattoo girl, was Alexandra Underwood, a plus size model comes from Texas.
And here is why.
In one of the challenges, models have to do runway walk. They will appear at the top of the stairs, walk down the stairs (about 20/30 stairs down) and walk the straight runway, passes 2 (two) giant pendulums, and walk back to finish the runway. The real challenge was to pass the giant pendulums at the right time (right, it’s a ‘timing’ challenge), so they won’t get hit by those giant pendulums.
Alexandra, before any of her steps noticed by audiences downstairs, slipped down and fell while she was still have to walk 10 more stairs down. She got her self up-steady and continued the runway until the giant pendulums stage happened. It was a brave walk, with a strong face sketch (if you don’t want to say it ‘anger’) when she made it to the first pass of giant pendulums. But on her way back, her runway walk became memorable for everyone, because she was pushed by the last giant pendulum off the runway. She fell of the stage. She got her self back on the stage and finish her runway back.
"Models falls all the time, it's waht you do afterward that matters" Alexandra and her episode of 'dreckitude!' runway walk.
After the show, when Mrs. J evaluate everyone’s runway, there’s a good sentence mentioned, addressed to Alexandra. It says, ‘Models falls all the time. So, don’t worry, it’s what you do afterward that matters.’
When I made my self a fried-rice dinner this evening, I remember a friend, a dear friend that may need to hear this sentence. A friend that I know is a good person, with a quality of number 1 charmer, now lost somewhere in her journey.
We were friends in college. We made short movies together, helped seniors finished their last assignments (by making a movie too) together, helped talented directors made their very first short film, lent a hand to people who doesn’t know about film but dying to make one. We dealt with any kind of situations, finished our homeworks and screamed out loud afterward, then move on to another crazy projects.
When we both graduated, we walked on our own paths. A week ago, I met her after almost a year never met or hear anything from her. I never knew why, but she pulled her self away from me, and her other best friends, her other life that has “I want to be a director someday” in it. That night I’ve learned that things, bad things happened to her lately, all in one time. She lost her ‘partner in crime’–a (talented, she said) director that she wished to team up someday, lost her father (from long illness), resigned from a job (her first time as a Production Manager for feature film) where her boss caused her difficulties physically and morally, and many other bad things I never really know (because she never told me).
With a charming smile as usually, she told me that it’s depressing for her. That somehow she decided to shut down her links to any kind of film productions and have her own way of happiness, spending time with her family. That’s why she never answered to any calls or SMS about works that I or AD (my roomate) sent to her. Well, there’s times she might have been said ‘Yes’ several times, but she never really did what she had spoken up.
Talking with AD (my roomate) several days ago, I told him that all I was thinking was she might need a job, so I (even though I don’t have one for my self yet, too) told her all the job infos and really put a lot of thoughts to get her out of her comfort home and work again. I mean, it’s been over a year for her, and I thought, she might need some works, you know, just like I do.
Apparently, she didn’t want to work, and still doesn’t want to go to work.
Man, this statement she told me waking me up from a long dream of having a partner in crime. That we know life doesn’t always treated us good, but we never give up. That, living in this city is never easy, but we work it out anyway. That no matter how sucks life in the day, we can always laugh or scream out loud at night. Let it out, and move on.
If there’s a fall, something stupid I never intended to happen to me–but it happened anyway, yeah, I have some this year. One big fall for sure, and I’m still struggling to get my butt up back to the stage, and finish the runway. Finish what I have started.
Talking to her that night made me realize one thing, that this is not gonna be the last (hell, this isn’t the first, too!) band aid I will ever need to take off quickly, in order to move on with my own life. There will be a lot more band aids to be ripped off in my next phases of this life.
No one will cover my wounds now, that I know now. I will have to learn to find my own path to scream over my chaos day. I will have to learn to trust someone to handle my feelings again, over a bright sunny day or a cloudy rainy night. I will have to learn to find my self more songs to sing. More dances to dance on. More clothes to try on. More hopes to rely on. More challenges to face on.
But first thing first, now that I (think I) got my self up back to the stage again, please, let me finish my runway walk.
My fave photo of Alexandra. You're cool, girl! 😉
I’ll see you on the backstage, wonderful people of the world 😉
PS: RYH, if you read this, know for sure that all you need to do is get up and finish your runway walk. GBU, my dear friend.
beautiful mess 