and the new miss provo is...

this evening i went to the miss provo scholarship pageant. luckily the crowning of miss provo wasn't as dramatic as the picture shown. actually it was quite anticlimacti. anyway, with notebook in hand, i intended to reimerse myself in the pageant light in preparation for the national american miss (namiss) national pageant in november. i brought my friend todd along with me and he was a good sport considering he thinks pageants are pointless and merely show off beauty without actually seeking out the truly talented. it makes perfect sense; those girls who are absolutely amazing go unnoticed because they would never dream to participate in a pageant.

but i digress, the point of my writing is to alert those few readers and just put it into words for myself pageantry in general. i'm really looking forward to november. i think i have what it takes to go far and that excites me. a few friends have told me that i don't need to do the pageant and the only reason i'm doing it is for the attention. this is kinda sorta part of it, but not completely. i have learned valuable speaking skills from doing namiss pageants that i couldn't have gotten elsewhere. the miss provo pageant seemed like it was more about one's composure and presence on stage rather than allowing the girls to tell the judges who they were. i am also glad namiss doesn't have an onstage question. yikes! i much prefer a personal introduction.

another difference i encountered as a member of the audience, the professionality of the pageant itself was not up to the standards i am used to dealing with, which could possibly just mean i have high standards. obnixious family members made it sound, and look, as if we were at a football game, not a beauty pageant. enthusiasm is fantastic but not at the expense of surrounding audience members, please.

all in all, it was a good experience. it reminded me that real girls do these pageants, so i should relax a bit. but i still have a lot of preparations to make. i got some notes to practice and sketches for potential dresses, although i'll probably just wear the ones i have. i have a lot of work to do once i get home: publicity as runner-up to miss california, aka miss sacramento as long as none of the other runners-up are from there, but mostly raising money for entry to nationals, a whopping $800 entry fee plus other competions.

oh dear, looks like i have my work cut out for me.

help!