OK, I'll finish up here where I left off now that I have some time. So, they called each of us out on the stage, in order, one last time, and we formed a line across the stage. They took a while thanking people and stuff, then they announced the winner of the interview competition. That was Jennica. Then, the swimsuit competition, which was Carla (not surprising since she's a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader!), then the talent competition. There was a 3-way tie here. The winners were Tiffany (of course!), Janel, and Jennica. The winner of evening wear was a tie between the girl next to me (I'll have to look up names later cuz I forget!) and the girl wearing the gorgeous lilac gown. Then, the runners-up. If these aren't right, I'm sorry and I'll edit them asap! 4th runner up was Carla, 3rd was Janel (I think), 2nd was someone else I can't think of, 1st runner-up (who gets to go to Miss Heart of it all for a final shot to compete in Miss Ohio) was Tiffany, and the Winner of Miss Cincy 2002 was...April Yeager! No, just kidding! It was Jennica, which I figured since she'd already gotten the top score in 2 competitions. She was very excited, as this was her last year to compete (her "swan song!"). So, after she took a little walk and waved, we all filed back to the cafeteria to change back into regular clothes. I wasn't upset or disappointed or anything. I didn't expect to win, with it being my first competition. I was just so glad that I could look back and say I did it! I plan to do it again this year, too, and not just once. I wanna enter as many as I can to increase my chances of winning one. So, Mom and I gathered up my stuff, hugged and congratulated all the girls then went out to the foyer. All the judges were there getting their pics taken with the winners. I got one of Hot Frank! Jennica's mother hugged me and told me to keep with it cuz I had a lot of potential, and gave me a business card for a pageant consultant. (Hehe. If I contacted her, I'd be reneging what I told the judges about the whole "naturalness" thing!) She also said many people couldn't believe it was my first one and I looked so poised! I had to run back to the front of the auditorium to get my CD back. All the way there and back, people were like, "Good job! I really liked your talent, etc." Even the judges said that. I said thanks but was thinking, "Then why didn't I win?!" haha! I said good bye to Ronn (he said I did a terrific job) and eventually found my way back to the car. Mom let me drive home (I had to beg her, though). It was a lot smoother going home. No accidents or traffic jams. We stopped at a McDonalds somewhere cuz I was starved! I hadn't eaten much all day, and nothing at all since lunch, which was a good 11 hours earlier! On the way home, we called Dad on my cell to tell him how things went and I asked how the kitties were. For the last hour or so, I was really struggling to stay awake, but I refused to switch cuz Mom is so not a night person and was even more tired than me. I drove like 85 the whole way just to get there faster, which made my mom tremble and beg me to go no faster than 75.  Hehe. So, anyway, we got home between 1:30 and 2 am and I just dropped my stuff on the floor and fell over on my bed, after kissing each of the kitties hello, of course. Bro was just ecstatic to see me! Well, anyway, Ronn emailed all of us later to tell us we did a fabulous job, etc. Then, he emailed me again to inform me that I had in fact won something: the gift basket auction! So, I get a special prize for that (which should be on its way, I hope!). I just ordered a copy of the video, so if anyone wants to see it, let me know! Oh, and by the way, after the competition, I told Tiffany that I still think she's going to go on to Miss Ohio, and guess what? She won Miss Heart of it All and will be in the state competition this June. I sure love being right!:) Congrats to her, too! 'Kay, well I am finally finally FINALLY done with the complete story of my first (and definitely not last) beauty pageant. Look for me on Miss America someday! Or, just sing the song when you see me walking by!

Ok, ok, I'm finally back, now that it has been a month since the competition. I'm mainly here to appease Stephen, who's been not-so-patiently waiting for the conclusion. I'd rather just go home and watch my new DVD's of the entire first season of "Friends." Season 8 finale in 3 weeks!! I have spoilers for all the remaining episode, although I am not going to read the one for the finale, but I can forward them to anyone who wants them. 

Ok, now down to business. Intermission time. Everyone took a break, I got dressed in my evening gown and waited to watch the remainder of the talent competition, and most of the audience went out to the foyer to start the silent auction on the gift baskets. Once they announced the end of the intermission, the talent continued. I watched Meghan do her vocal/dance routine to "Nothing" from "A chorus Line" (very cute!), Jennica did a vocal number which I don't know. I couldn't see her very well, I could only hear her. She did great, although she definitely wasn't happy with it. Small wonder she's going to Broadway! Kim played a Kenny G. song on the sax, Kara did a monologue, but I didn't get to see her, and Princess (that's her real name!) sang "Hero" by Mariah Carrey. If I had my program book with me, it'd be easier to remember who all did what. Oh, well my two personal faves were Janell, who sang Juliette's waltz, and then there was Tiffany. This girl is fresh out of the teen competitions and she got up there, started to sing "Glitter and be Gay" from "Candide" and I nearly fell over on the floor. Up until that point, I thought I might have had a shot of winning the talent competition. But, this girl did a flawless job! Anyway, after that was the evening gown. Well, I was ready for that in plenty of time, so I didn't have to run like hell out to the stage. It was the same thing as swimsuit: walk out on stage, do a circle, stop and pose, then walk off. The evening gowns were beautiful! My favorite was Janel's because it was lilac! I love that color! Most of them were pretty sparkly. Mine was simple and black. I guess the judges prefer gowns that catch the light, but oh well. After the evening gown, that was pretty much it. There was supposed to be a talk with the contestants so the judges could tally their scores, but they cut that part out. They had the sound guy do a little rap, song and dance. The guy's pretty good on stage and off. Hard to believe he was only a HS Jr. They seemed to be taking a long time tallying the scores, though. So, they gave the audience another intermission to continue bidding, and Jessica sang some songs to keep them entertained. Meanwhile, the rest of us were hanging out backstage, just wanting to get it over with! It'd been such a loooong day! I just wanted to get out of my evening gown, get into my car and go home to see my kitties! Finally, Lester came back and told us the reason it was taking so long. Apparently, there were several ties in the competitions they needed to sort out, and because of that, most of the winners wouldn't get their plaque that night since they'd only made enough for one winner in each competition. (I told Tiffany I thought she won it. I said, when I saw her come in, "That girl in the blue jacket is probably gonna win.") OK, well after years and years (it felt like), they were ready. So, they called us all back out onstage one by one for the last time to announce the results. And, oops, wouldn't you know it? It's 10:30, the music lab is closing. I have to finish this some other time. Seriously, I fully intended to finish it tonight, but after typing my paper, I just didn't leave myself enough time. I'll do it ASAP. Maybe tomorrow after my appointment with my advisor. I PROMISE!!! sorry.:(

Hey! Long time, no read, huh? I think that, since it is a Saturday afternoon, I will work on my Cincy Chronicles for all you inquiring minds who wanna know. Ok, so, when we last saw each other, I was just about to go into my interview. Let me describe the sight before me: it was a typical classroom with desks, a podium up front, and Spanish verbs on the blackboard. haha. The judges (there were 5 total) were all sitting in a desk, and another guy, a time keeper, sat behind them. There were 2 women and 3 men. Both women were over 30, but, two of the men were...how should I put it? HOT DAMN!!! The one's name is Frank and he's very Italian-looking (y'all know I love that!) and an opera singer. The next guy is from Brazil, his name's Luciano and he's a member of the Cincy ballet, but you'd never guess that to look at him. I thought he was, like, an auto-mechanic or something. It was very hard not to stare! You'd think I'd have gotten tongue-tied, but I kept my cool.
If you're not familiar with how the interview process works, I'll lay it down for you: I walk in and I have 30 seconds to introduce myself. Then, they drill me for the next 10 and a half minutes. Then, I have 2 extra minutes to go back over something from earlier, or touch on a subject we didn't get to. Or, I can just call it quits right there.
So, I walked in and said, "Hello, my name is April Yeager. I'm from Bowling Green, OH, where I am a Sr. at BGSU majoring in voice, and during this interview, I'd like to talk about animals and my dedication to prevent animal cruelty" (or something along those lines). Then, they all went down the row asking me a question, and when they got to the end of the row, they just started over until the time was up. The first lady judge said that, on my fact sheet, it said I'd adopted a lot of my pets from Humane societies and shelters. She asked how I usually go about choosing them. I told her that the first thing I'd learned when looking for a pet is, you don't choose your pets but you let them choose you. I then told the story of Joy and how she meowed at us everytime we walked by her until we finally figured out that she wanted us to taker her home. The next judge, Hot Frank, asked me if my animals ever join in when I practice my singing. I said some do, others just politely leave the room. But, my kitty Aria, ironically, hates opera so much she bit my lip when I was singing an aria. He was amused at that. When we got to the 4th judge (the other lady), she said she'd heard about laws in Ohio limiting the number of dogs one can own in a city, and asked if I'd heard that. I hadn't. I wish I could've given her more specifics. So, I think my lack of information on that subject may have hurt me a little. They pretty much asked me about my platform the entire time. The only exception was when the 2nd lady judge said that most people like Miss America to be like the girl next door, but people go out and hire pageant consultants all the time, and do I think that takes the "naturalness" out of it? Well, I said yes, of course. That seemed like the right answer, don't you think?:)
Finally, Time Keepr Guy said, "time!" so they asked if I wanted to add anything, but I said "No, I think we've been pretty thorough." So they smiled and thanked me, and that was it! I thought it went really, really well.
After that, I could breathe a huge sigh of relief. I went back to the caferteria and changed into my normal clothes. There's kind of an un-written rule that you're not supposed to talk about your interview to girls who haven't had theirs yet, but I did anyway. (I warned them about the hot judes!) After other girls had gone, we talked about each other's interview. Meghan was asked, "If you had the Miss America crown in one hand and a $40,000 scholarship in the other, which would you choose?" She said the crown. I'm glad I wasn;t asked that cuz I don't think I could've chosen!
Well, after that, we had several hours to do nothing before we had to be back for the actual pageant to begin. So, I called Amanda and Kevin and we drove down to see them. We spent some time there catching up, playing with Doug (kitty), and watching some T.V. We left around 5 or so, even though I didn't have to be back till 6:30.
When we got back, I changed into my opening number outfit (the cute little Easter dress and hat) and just waited, finishing the crossword and stuff. Mom told me about her conversation with Lester, one of the emcees. He'd been to Hawaii, so Mom asked him about it, since we're going there in 35 days!!! He told her what to do and when to do it (like to go Pearl Harbor as early as possible so the tide is low enough to see the ship, and the crowd is smaller).
Well, the pageant was supposed to start at 7:30. But, that time came and went and we still hadnt started yet. It turns out, the judges had all gone out to dinner and their car got stuck or something on their way back. So, we ended up starting a little after 8:00. Around that time, Jessica (the other emcee) came back and got us. We all went out to the side of the stage we'd been at during the rehearsal (which now seemed like a whole week ago!) and waited for the music to start. I could see the crowd from behind the curtain. I'd say there was only about 100 people there, mostly students at the high school. It seemed like forever until the music started. Jessica sang the national anthem after they welcomed the crowd, then "Easter Parade" began blaring through the speakers. I plastered on my best smile and walked out to the stage to meet the girl on the other side, just like before. Very uneventful, except at the end no one remembered whether we were supposed to curtsey or what. I did, but I think I was the only one. So, after that, I had practically no time to change into my swimsuit. Oh, the joys of being 1st! Ronn said they would stall for a while to give me enough time, but I hoped they wold stall a LOT! I quickly put my suit on and adjusted myself in the mirror. I asked Meghan if she could see my butt-cheeks sticking out (a big no-no!) and she said yes. So, she let me use her "butt spray." It's actually athletic adherent, but it keeps your suit down over your cheeks too. It worked! A little too well, though, cuz I was still sticky 2 days later!
After that, I went out to the stage to see where they were in their stalling. That's when I heard: "And now, for the swimsuit competitioin, contestant number 1, April Ann Yeager!" So, I flew over to the stage and was like, "Am I supposed to go out now?" They said yes. So, I walked out, smiling, did my little spin and posed real quickly before walking off. Then I ran back to the cafeteria and told the other girls, "You better get out there, they're doing it already!" That caused a big fuss. They were so mad that nobody came back to tell us it was time. Kara said they'd waited about a minute for her after calling her name. Yeah, that sucks.
But, I didn't have time to dwell on it cuz I had to get ready for the talent competition. I changed into my talent dress quicker than I'd ever changed before, and ran straight out there to be sure I wasn't late this time! I actually waited quite a while cuz they were presenting their woman of achievement award.
After that, they announed the beginning of the talent competition. (Earlier, we'd written a short intro to our talen presentation, like what it was, title if applicable, etc.) Mine just said that I am a voice major at BGSU and tonight I'm singing the French art song "Chere Nuit" (complete with a pronounciation guide for the non-francophones!) by Alfred Bachelet. I took the wireless mic and went to center stage. The sound dude started my CD and I began. It was hard to hear the music at times cuz the mic made my voice sound huge. I had to hold it away from my face during the high notes. But, it went very well! No screeching or accidental coughing. I remembered all the words and just concentrated on making it musical. Then, it was over, so I went back to change into my evening gown. I wanted to hear as many talents as possible cuz that's always been my favorite part of pageants, so I hung around backstage and listened. They only did the fist 7 though, cuz after that it was time for intermission. And, I think it's time for that here as well. I'll continue with this later, and that time I'll finish it--I promise!!! Ciao!:)

OK, hi again! Let's see...when we left off it was Friday night and I had to wake up at 7am Saturday to be at Hughes Center by 9am. Anyone who knows me knows I am *NOT* a morning person! So, you can probably sympathize with my mom, who kept trying to get me up and into the shower. Well, I did that around 7:30, which did not give me much time to do my usual amount of primping. But, I managed. Mom even went downstairs and got breakfast for us. We had arranged to follow Meghan there, since she was better with directions than any of us. So, right around 8:30, She, Kim, Kim's mother, my mother, and I all piled into our cars and were on our way. The drive was fairly simple, although Kim and her mom had to run a red light to keep from getting stuck behind it and losing us!
Hughes Center is a really old, kinda run-down building (a girl in my French class said her grandparents went there!), but it has so much character! There were drinking fountains that were so ornate and beautiful, made out of tiles with terrific vintage artwork. The auditorium was a simple wooden stage, wooden floor, and really hard wooden seats, the kind that the seat flips up when you stand.
Believe it or not, we were the first ones there. We hauled our stuff up the steps outside and into the foyer, where Ronn (the director of the pageant) greeted us and directed us to the cafeteria, which was to be our little changing quarters. There were enough long tables for us to have our own and spread our stuff all over it, but there were no places to hang our dresses. Some people got creative and used door hinges, window sills, or a vending machine. I chose a table with a pipe by it so i could use that.
Well, after that, there was nothing to do but wait for everyone else. Mom and I walked around admiring the architecture for a while, then found seats in the front row of the auditorium. Finally, around 9:30, Ronn passed out some program books and copies of the day's schedule. (Usually, they send those out ahead of time, but according to everyone else, this pageant was extremely disorganized. Ronn's dad had died recently though, and he'd injured his knee, so you couldn't really blame the poor guy!) Basically, we would rehearse the opening number from 9:45 till 10:15, then walk through the routine for the swimsuit and evening wear competitions, and begin talent rehearsals at 11, in reverse order of the interview schedule. Interviews began at 1:30 and lasted until 6. Basically, we could go or do whatever from the time our interview was over until 6:30.
Anyway, I checked the interview schedule to see what time mine was and it just said contestant numbers instead of names. So, I had to find my contestant number. It was one. I had to be the first contestant to walk out onstage in every competition!! What a terrible thing for a rookie! If I complained, though, it wouldn't look very good because Miss Cincy/Ohio/America is supposed to be a leader. So, I tried my best to untie the knot already forming in my stomach and accept it.
Well, we had a brief briefing (haha), where he said a little about the Miss America program, gave us some history on it, and introduced our emcees. One was the current title holder for Miss Mon County named Jessica. The other was an older guy named Lester. More about him later.
When we were getting ready to rehearse the opening number (which was supposed to be a little dancey thing to music from the 1948 Judy Garland movie "Easter Parade." We had to wear a typical Easter dress and a little hat or bonnett.) There were supposed to be some choreographers coming, but they didn't. In fact, no one had any idea what they were gonna have us do. They just figured they'd decide as they went along. First, they had us form two lines off-stage and come in about 5 beats apart, meet in the center and greet each other, then stand back for the next two girls. The last 2, after they greeted, were supposed to wave to the audience as the rest of us curtsyed. It took a while to figure that out, though. They kept changing their minds about little things, or someone would say, "I don't think this is gonna work." Well, anyway, after we had that straightened out, we practiced introducing ourselves to the audience. Of course, I was first. I just did what I saw the contestants do on my Miss America videos: "April Yeager! Bowling Green, Ohio! A senior at Bowling Green State University!" (a huge smile on my fce the whole time.)
We almost didn't go through the swimsuit and evening wear routine, but someone said we should for the people who hadn't done it before. (That would be me! And another girl! So, I wasn't the only newbie! Pretty much everyone else, though, had been doing it for a while and knew all the other girls from previous pageants.)
Well, we finished around 11 or so and then everyone broke for lunch. My little carpool, plus a few others, all decided to go back to the hotel and get something there. So, we all followed Meghan again! And, Kim and her mom had to run a red light...again!
Mom and I saved a table while the others dropped some stuff off in their rooms. There ended up being eight of us all together: the aforementioned people plus two other contestants, Kara and Jennica, and Jennica's mom. It was fun talking with all them about Miss America. They all couldn't believe I'd been following it so closely for so long and never entered until now. Yup, that's me: a Miss America junkie!
Well, around 12:30, I had to hed back to the school to get ready for my...dunt dunt DAH!!...interview. Mom and I drove back with Kara (following a map Meghan had drawn for us).
This was the part I was most nervous about. I had no idea what kinds of questions they'd ask me, what kind of people they were, etc. After I'd changed into my business suit and fixed up my hair and make-up, I had some time to spare, so I skimmed through Cincy's newspaper, just in case they asked me about current events. That got me all worked up again, so I found the crossword and started doing that to calm me down. As soon as my watch said 1:30, I got up and followed Lester to the interview room (a regular classroom with desks, a small podium, and Spanish verbs written on the blackboard. Haha.) They weren't ready for me though. So, I went back to the cafeteria and chugged water like it was going outta style. My mouth always gets so dry when I'm nervous.
After 5 minutes or so, I went back again. They were ready this time. I took a deep breath and entered the front of the classroom as gracefully as I could.
And, that's where I'll leave y'all tonight. Time to go home (and empty my bladder!). Be sure to tune in again soon for the conclusion of "April Ann Yeager's Choronicles of Miss Cincinnati!! Byeeeee!

Hello again to all of my loyal subjects! Miss Cincy was and adventure and a half! I simply must tell you *all* about it, my dahlings!:)
Well, the drive down there was a disaster. We (mommy and I) left around 4:30-ish (we'd hoped to leave much earlier, but due to delays that didn't happen). We had to take my grandparents' car because my anti-locks aren't working right and Mom and Dad took the van to BP the day before for a quick car wash, but the damn thing decided to beat the car up instead of cleaning it. The window's smashed and there's a little trail of dents all down the top.
Naturaly, traffic would be heavy on Good Friday, but there were also two accidents along the way. One just north of Dayton, and another just north of Cincy, in which a 27-year-old guy was killed. So, we were literally stopped on I-75! Plus, it was raining and thundering pretty badly. Then, the guy on the radio came on and said there was a tornado warning for whichever county is just east of Dayton (Allen, maybe? Wherever Xenia is.) We'd barely side-stepped that land mine!
I'd talked to Amanda (my darling sweetie pie!):) on my cell and discussed going out to B-dub's or somewhere when we got into town. But, it was about 9 pm and we were, once again, stopped on 75, just miles before our exit! People were getting out of their cars and running up ahead to see what was going on. It was horrible! I started checking out the other people cuz there was nothing else to do, and this one nice-looking guy caught me checking him out and winked at me. So, I took his picture! Hahaha!
OK, well, we finally made it to our exit and followed the directions to the Downtown Holliday Inn. We checked in and took our massive amounts of luggage (mostly my dresses and shoes) up to our room. It was a nice room with a king-sized bed! Lovely! But, we were starving! I hadn't eaten anything all day, except for 2 peices of Big Red. So, mom went downstairs to the restaurant while I looked for an ice machine so we could keep out water bottles cool. While I was doing that, I saw another girl walking down the hall with a glass of wine in her hand, so I asked her if she knew where an ice machine was. She said no. Then, I asked her if she was with the pageant, by any chance. She said she was so I was like, "Great! Me, too!" I told her it was my very first one, so she invited me in her room to see her outfits and videotapes of past pageants, and I brought my stuff over there for her to critique and give me advice. (Our rooms were right across from each other. How convenient!) We were doing that when another girl she knew from the pageant came in with her mother, looking very distraught. Turns out, when they'd gotten to their room and pulled down the bedspread, they'd found hair and blood on the sheets! EEEEEEWWWW!! So, they switched to a different room.
After a while, my mom knocked on the door and showed me a menu of this place called La Rosa's. Turns out, when she'd gone down to the hotel restaurant, they were closing it up an hour early. My mom said she really wanted to get some food since we were both starving, so the lady gave her a menu and said she could call down and get it to go. Well, when my mom called, no one answered. Finally, she called the front desk and told them about it. The guy said, "well, I hate to tell you this, but she lied to you. She just wanted to get rid of you so she could go home." Nice, huh? So, he gave her a menu for this other place. All I ordered was a salad.
In between all that, I hung out in Meghan's (the other girl on my floor) room with Kim (the girl with blood on her bed.). I got in touch with Amanda again and said that since it was so late and it'd been such a hectic day, I was just gonna stay in and try to get some RnR. I went back to my room around 11:30 to get ready for bed and eat my salad (which was just OK). Mom pretty much conked out right away, but I had a hard time sleeping. Maybe it was the paper-thin pillows? Or, the constant fear of some foreign substance appearing on the sheet below me!
So, that was day 1, in a nutshell. Day 2 will follow in a future episode, as I am tired and freezing my little butt cheeks off.
To Be Continued.... (Dunt-dunt Dah!!)