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.:(