Mikiko Just Gets it Done!

Basics:
Tanning product (Protan / Jantana / DreamTan, etc) &Applicator for tanning product
Latex gloves to protect your hands (10-pack or more)
Dry tanning oil or other sheen product
Dry tanning oil or other sheen product
Competition suits (include 1 back-up just in case)
Safety pins / sewing kit
Loose dark-colored shirt, pants, dress, sarong or other garment to cover-up (pref. silk—doesn’t absorb the tan)
Dark flip flops
Baby wipes
tissue (for some reason, a lot of people get runny noses backstage, and sometimes they run out of TP in the restrooms)
Blotting tissues (even for guys, to take the shine off your face without messing up your tan.  Toilet seat covers work great)
Bikini Bite
Q-tips (tanning product gets in your ears and up your nose for some reason.  if you’re getting sprayed, put a little cotton in your nose, or you’ll be blowing brown stuff out for days)
tooth polisher and Vaseline to put on your teeth before you go on stage (you’ll be so dry your teeth will stick to your lips)
Eye drops (your eyeballz get dehydrated too)
Food & Supplements - Raw unsalted Almonds, nut butter, rice cakes, asparagus (natural diuretic), oatmeal, yams, tilapia, chicken, packets of Emergen’c Electrolytes (has no sodium or sugar), potassium, taurine & calcium (to manage muscle cramps / twitchies), spring water, ginger tea (helps with upset tummy or nausea)
Utensils to eat with / plate
Pump-up band / weights
small hand towel

GIRLS - ADD ON:
Makeup (if you’re doing your own, or touch-up stuff)
- Primer, Foundation, bronzer, powder, blush, eyelash curler
- Blotting paper (don’t pile on powder)
- Brushes (foundation, powder, eyeshadow, eyeliner, eyebrow, blush, bronzer)
- itty bitty sample containers (if your artist is willing to give you a tiny extra of lipgloss / foundation / loose powder to touch-up later)
- Eyeshadow, eyeliner, faux lashes, mascara
- Lip liner, lipstick, lip gloss (if using a lip STAIN, don’t eat anything oily like peanut or almond butter.  Eat raw nuts instead)
Hair stuff
- Hot rollers, curling iron, flat iron, blow dryer, brush, teasing comb, extensions, clips
- Large butterfly clip if you have long hair, to loosely pin up your hair to keep it off your back, so it doesn’t soak up your oil
- Root volumizer, setting lotion, leave-in conditioner, finishing spray, finishing gloss
Bling (hair bling, the blingiest pendant earrings you can find, cocktail ring, and a blingy bracelet - no necklace)
5" clear heels - three pairs if you can…two for the show (in case one breaks), and one extra pair of clear shoes you never wear with Protan for photoshoots
Sanitary Supplies

IF YOU ARE STAYING AT A HOTEL:
2-king-size bed sheets (one for the bed, one to cover the couch) and pillowcases. They can be old, ratty, cheap, whatever…just be respectful and don’t dirty the furniture
Press n seal food wrap to cover other surfaces (toilet seat, counter, alarm clock, desk, etc)
Plastic painter’s tarp (if you are applying your own tan in your room to protect the carpet) & painter’s tape
toilet seat covers
Loose turtleneck, long pants, and 4 pairs of loose tube socks (two for your feet, two for your hands so you don’t mess your tan up)
Extra ziplock and plastic bags
Hot Plate and Mess kit (if microwave facilities are sparse.  In a pinch, you can use a piece of foil and the iron to heat your food)
Fleet Liquid Glycerine Suppository
Towel

Please check out some of my images by Weiferd Watts.
Weiferd is a PHENOMENAL photographer.  Back in the day, he used to shoot bodybuilding competition photos.  He took a hiatus from photography, but is back in the game.

If you’d like BEAUTIFUL, artistic imagery, please consider Weiferd!  His rates are extremely reasonable, and I will personally vouch for his professionalism, talent and kindness.

Weiferd is based in San Francisco if you need pictures done locally.

Look for him of Facebook or on www.weifoto.com
415.931.8480

**Disclaimer**: I am two weeks pre-contest, so I have a lot of random rambling to do.

There was an interesting post over in the MD forum regarding Mercury levels in fish.  Apparently, the client of one of the nutritionists suffered from mercury poisioning after her contest prep.  Her diet included a lot of lean fish, including tilapia.
The USDA lists on their website a table of fish along with the statistics on their mercury levels.  What caught my eye, of course, were the canned tuna and tilapia.
Canned tuna had a high amount of mercury levels tested off a large sample size, while the tilapia listed have one of the lowest levels of mercury.
There are several factors to consider before making any broad statements:
- Tuna is a larger, predatory fish with a longer lifespan
- Farmed or wild makes a difference
- Country of origin makes a difference

<MORE>

Here is a running list of competition costs for the USA’s:

NPC Card dues - 85.00
Registration fee - 150.00
Money order fee - 4.00
FedEx fee - 9.00
Spray Tan - 150.00
Make-up - 150.00
Hair - 150.00
RT Airfare - 185.00
Hotel - 500.00
Car rental - 150.00
UVB Tanning - 130.00
UVA Tanning - 85.00
Infrared Wrap - 130.00
Wax - 200.00
Mani/pedi - 100.00
Hydrostatic bodyfat testing - 150.00
Metabolic testing - 40.00
Vo2 testing - 40.00
Nutritional coaching - 1200.00
Physical therapy co-pay - $240.00
Chiropractic co-pay - $240.00
Wellness screening co-pay - $20.00

This is an intersting article on other benefits of sleep.  Sleep is so important, especially for competitors!  Not only does it stimulate GH production, and trigger other critical biochemical processes, but it is also crucial in improving mental health!  It seems that, in summary, happy people achieve REM sleep…so make it a point to get your rest, especially in emotionally stressful times.

I often have trouble getting to / staying asleep myself.  Additionally, I can at best get 6 hrs of sleep a night (usually 5) due to my busy schedule. I think it’s not the quantity of sleep, but the quality.  I have found aromatherapy oils helpful in promoting restful sleep (my favorite are the scented oils from Aveda).  Sometimes I will have a cup of peppermint or chamomile tea before bedtime.  I don’t keep any electronics in my room, other than my crackberry.  Finally, I have found a few supplements that improve the quality of my sleep.  My favorite is Phenibut (available here on bodybuilding.com).  I just mix the powder with a little warm water and a pinch of stevia extract, or put it in my evening shake.  I noticed that I feel 1000x more refreshed and happier the next day after I have some!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
July 20, 2009 - Add on to entry…
Especially crucial for contest prep!  I have been SO STRESSED during this whole process and can maybe get 4 hours of sleep a night at best.  The few occasions I surrendered my evening cardio session for an additional 4 hours of sleep, I dropped 2 lbs of water OVERNIGHT! Consistently!
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090616/hl_time/08599190456100

By TIFFANY SHARPLES Tiffany Sharples – 1 hr 15 mins ago
Dreams may not be the secret window into the frustrated desires of the unconscious that Sigmund Freud first posited in 1899, but growing evidence suggests that dreams - and, more so, sleep - are powerfully connected to the processing of human emotions.

According to new research presented last week at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Seattle, adequate sleep may underpin our ability to understand complex emotions properly in waking life. "Sleep essentially is resetting the magnetic north of your emotional compass," says Matthew Walker, director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. (See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2008.)

A recent study by Walker and his colleagues examined how rest - specifically, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep - influences our ability to read emotions in other people’s faces. In the small analysis of 36 adults, volunteers were asked to interpret the facial expressions of people in photographs, following either a 60- or 90-minute nap during the day or with no nap. Participants who had reached REM sleep (when dreaming most frequently occurs) during their nap were better able to identify expressions of positive emotions like happiness in other people, compared with participants who did not achieve REM sleep or did not nap at all. Those volunteers were more sensitive to negative expressions, including anger and fear.

Past research by Walker and colleagues at Harvard Medical School, which was published in the journal Current Biology, found that in people who were sleep deprived, activity in the prefrontal lobe - a region of the brain involved in controlling emotion - was significantly diminished. He suggests that a similar response may be occurring in the nap-deprived volunteers, albeit to a lesser extent, and that it may have its roots in evolution. "If you’re walking through the jungle and you’re tired, it might benefit you more to be hypersensitive to negative things," he says. The idea is that with little mental energy to spare, you’re emotionally more attuned to things that are likely to be the most threatening in the immediate moment. Inversely, when you’re well rested, you may be more sensitive to positive emotions, which could benefit long-term survival, he suggests: "If it’s getting food, if it’s getting some kind of reward, finding a wife - those things are pretty good to pick up on."

Our daily existence is largely influenced by our ability "to understand our societal interactions, to understand someone else’s emotional state of mind, to understand the expression on their face," says Ninad Gujar, a senior research scientist at Walker’s lab and lead author of the study, which was recently submitted for publication. "These are the most fundamental processes guiding our personal and professional lives."

REM sleep appears to not only improve our ability to identify positive emotions in others; it may also round out the sharp angles of our own emotional experiences. Walker suggests that one function of REM sleep - dreaming, in particular - is to allow the brain to sift through that day’s events, process any negative emotion attached to them, then strip it away from the memories. He likens the process to applying a "nocturnal soothing balm." REM sleep, he says, "tries to ameliorate the sharp emotional chips and dents that life gives you along the way." (See the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2008.)

"It’s not that you’ve forgotten. You haven’t," he says. "It’s a memory of an emotional episode, but it’s no longer emotional itself."