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!:)