Lakiamia's Diaria: The Vegas Edition, Part III

We're up to day 3 in Vegas, which marks the first day of competition for the Cinderella contestants. When I woke up, I was still tired from the long day we'd had yesterday, but I had to be at orientation at 9 am. So I forced myself out of bed and did as much primping as possible before heading out the door with about 5 minutes to spare. Mom and Dad were really riding me about being on time. But once I got there, I don't see how anyone would've been able to notice who came in late. The room was packed with girls from pre-school to age 26, and from areas spanning completely across the globe. Judy soon found me and directed me to the front row of seats, where the rest of the Ohio delegation was waiting. There was a guy with a television camera walking around filming stuff for the highlight video, and another guy taking pictures of everything. Up at the front of the room was a small stage with a blue backdrop of the Cinderella logo, and tall speakers off to the sides. 

Once orientation had gotten underway, we were introduced to Fred Vollman, President and C.E.O. of the Cinderella Organization. He gave us the rundown of what the program is all about, stressing the fact that this was a natural pageant looking for natural beauty (i.e. No JonBenét Ramseys!). In fact, the younger contestants were not to wear make-up at all, except during talent, if needed. For the Miss and Teen contestants, all make-up and wardrobe was to be "age appropriate." The Women were given more leeway with that since we were all old enough to wear make-up on an everyday basis. But, basically, they were looking for "real" girls in "real" clothes. After that, he introduced our MC's for the week. There were a lot of them, including a few whose names I recognized from Miss America state competitions. (I soon found out there were a lot of girls currently involved in Miss America or Miss USA that had also been involved in Cinderella at one point or another, and past royalty included several well-known names, such as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen.) Then he introduced the judges. As soon as they came in, you could tell every young woman in that room turned on her game face. This was, after all, the first and probably the only time the judges were going to get a look at us before interview. There was a very impressive panel of judges. Six in all, including 3 for Tot and Mini-Miss, and 3 for Miss, Teen, and Woman. One of the Woman judges (a guy) was an Academy Award winner for the song "Chim-Chim Chiree" from the movie "Mary Poppins!" I've known that movie by heart since I was little, so that was quite an honor for me (and no, I'm not just saying that to kiss up!) :) 

After all the introductions, there was a Q & A, then we were released to get ready for interview. The Woman interviews weren't until 2 o'clock that afternoon, so my family and I went back to The Feast for the breakfast. Some of the Ohio group was already there, sitting together at a long table. They invited us to sit with them, which we did. I found out that Lisa, our Teen rep, had won AAMTC's cameo girl the night before, and Jennica had won AAMTC's Talent of the Year. Naturally, Lisa's little sister Tomi (our Tot rep) was experiencing a bit of sibling rivalry over Lisa's win, so Lisa had had to pay Tomi $20 for her to be nice to her again. 

After breakfast, Rob went down to the casino to gamble and I went back to the room to get ready for interview. I got out my blue interview suit, my taupe Frederico Leone interview pumps, plus all my hair and make-up equipment. I totally suck at doing my own hair, but I tried my best, using lots of volumizing hairspray. Then I went back to the salon area, where I was met by hordes of other contestants waiting, pacing, and primping. Jamie and Jennica were in the adjacent bathrooms with Judy, fixing their hair and make-up. Apparently, I'd done a pretty shoddy job on my hair because Judy ended up whisking me back up to her room for a quick "salon appointment." She sat me down and filled my hair with hot rollers, then we did a mock interview session as we waited for them to cool. She reminded me to never break eye contact with the judges, always smile, and keep my answers short but witty and informative. (The answer plus one or two facts to embellish, she said.) She asked me stuff about my goals in life, my animals, and my linguistic abilities. When she asked me to say a phrase in Italian, I spouted off one of my old answering machine messages. She loved it! She hoped they would ask me about languages so I would get a chance to say that since she thought it was so clever! I hoped they would ask me about my pets, too, since I never run out of things to say about them! 

It was comforting to know that, unlike Miss America, these judges were not trying to stump us. This was really just a getting-to-know-you session so they can get a good idea of who is the right candidate for the job. However, Judy also told me that the interview is the most crucial part of the pageant because, if they aren't impressed with you in there, it won't matter how good your talent is or how well you model your evening gown. They were even told in their orientation to find the top 20 in each age group and not even look at anyone else all week. So basically, I had 90 seconds to make an impression and if I didn't have a little star by my name when I left the interview room, it was over. Thankfully, the last-minute coaching helped me feel much more prepared. 

Back in "pageant land," all the other Woman and Teen contestants were waiting in a holding room while they called them out in groups of five. When I arrived, they were still on the Teens, which meant it would be a while yet. So I took my pumps off to keep my feet comfortable up until I had to go in. We all stood around in groups talking and getting to know each other. I met a girl from Grand Cayman named Stephanie who talked about owning Papillons back home (yes, it made me miss my Kirby even more!). Most of the girls were asking the ones who were already done what questions they'd been asked. Several said they were asked what they would do if they saw their best friend shop-lifting at Wal-Mart. As we waited, they had everyone who had ordered a photo package to get their pictures taken by the photographers. The first picture was in front of a neutral background on a chair facing the side. They had me sit sideways on it, facing the camera, with my arms propped up on the back, one hand over the other. The other one we just sat up straight on a stool and smiled, like a school picture. They explained that the first one would be the 8 x 10 photo and the other would be made into a button. Besides pictures, we also had to go over our bios with the MC's to make sure all their information was correct. It was mostly mundane facts like hair and eye color, favorite food, favorite hobbies, your family's names, and your pets' names (haha, yes that was the longest part of my bio). 

Before long after that, the Women were being called over to the interview room. The format for the interviews was 60-90 seconds with each judge, one at a time. There were 3 contestants in the room at the same time and we rotated until we had talked with each judge. The other contestants in my group were a girl from Texas named Danielle and another girl from the Cayman Islands named Melissa. The guy who was waiting outside the interview room keeping time instructed us to walk in and go to our first judge (mine was the one on the left side of the room) and sit down immediately rather than waiting for someone to tell us when to be seated, like we'd done at states. When our time was up, he would knock lightly on the door to tell us to move to our next judge. My first judge was a guy named Jim. He was a middle-aged, soft spoken man who apparently had a background in music, so he asked me right off about my degree in music. I told him about how I had majored in vocal performance at BGSU and hoped to become a professional opera singer one day by joining a major opera company. Then he asked me what I was going to sing for talent tomorrow. 

"Actually, I'm playing the piano!" I told him. He gave me a look of disbelief. So I explained that I had taken 14 years of piano and started out as a piano major before deciding to switch to voice, and had successfully auditioned for the voice program after only 4 months of private lessons. He seemed impressed by that. I also told him about my morbid fear of singing in public that kept me out of the limelight for 12 years, finishing with, "Now, you can't get me off the stage!" Knock, knock. Time to move to the next judge. This one was a young woman with dark hair, also involved in the arts. She also asked me about my degree in music and what I planned to do with it. So I gave her pretty much the same answer as I'd given the other guy, making sure she knew I would be playing piano rather than singing for talent. I also told her about singing with the Lima Symphony Chorus and the Cincinnati Opera. She asked me where I would like to move to sing with an opera company. I said anywhere that will take me! Although, ideally someplace warm, like Florida. Another knock, and it was time to rotate again. 

This one was the Academy Award-winning judge. So, obviously he knew a thing or two about music. Guess what he asked me about? Yep, same thing. We had a little more of an in-depth talk, though. He talked a little more about himself than the other 2 did, saying he used to play in bands and was good friends with John Denver. Then, he asked me about Bowling Green, Ohio. He said he'd heard that being in Ohio on a Friday night was like being in the middle of nowhere. I agreed, saying I get to choose to hang out in either a potato field or a cow pasture. The third and final knock, and that was it! I'd concentrated so hard on making eye contact that I felt like hadn't blinked the entire time. When I asked Jamie and Jennica how their interviews went, they both said they thought it went well. (Surprisingly, none of us were asked the Wal-Mart question.) Out of all the Ohioans, Lisa was the only one who didn't feel confident about her interview. Apparently, she hadn't been able to talk to one of the judges for very long because the girl that was there before her took up more time than she was allotted. So, she was pretty upset about that. 

After interviews, we were supposed to drop off one of our souvenirs at the registration table for judging (they give out awards for the best souvenir in each age group). So I had to run back to the room to find my best representation and run all the way back down to drop it off. Then I was free to relax until the Welcome Banquet. Well, I relaxed the only way I knew how: by going shopping. My family decided to take the car to one of the outlet malls just off the strip (partially so Mom could find something to wear to the banquet that didn't have holes or stains on it). I bought 2 pairs of shoes from a Nine West store and a purple and black striped halter dress from Windsor. The tie on the skirt I was wearing had started to come loose, though, so I had to walk from store to store asking if any of them had an extra safety pin. I finally found one at a baby clothes store. While I was shoe-shopping, Dad and Rob went across the street to a men's shoe store, where Rob used his casino winnings to buy a pair of rattlesnake skin cowboy boots, which I loathe! I kept asking him, "Why cowboy boots? Why?" 

At the Welcome Banquet, we had to stand outside the salon for a while as they finished setting up the room. I saw Judy and went over to tell her about my interview. She wanted to know everything they asked me and exactly how I answered. When I told her about choosing between a potato field and a cow pasture, she cracked up and said, "That was clever!" She was surprised they never asked me about my pets or my languages, since those were very popular topics in all my Miss Ohio prelim interviews. I then found out that we all had assigned tables for the banquet. I didn't remember reading that part in any of the packets I'd gotten in the mail. Fortunately, Judy had all the Ohio contestants' table numbers. Everyone was spread around so we had the chance to meet as many new people as possible. 

Inside the salon, all the old rooms had been opened up so it was now one huge ballroom, with a small stage in one corner, and of course the TV camera in front of it. The tables were all set very nicely and even had a piece of cheesecake sitting on a plate at the top of each place setting. There were coffee pots and punch bowls off to the side of the room, which I helped myself to throughout the evening. Rob, though, decided he didn't feel very good and went back to the room to lie down, so he missed the entire meal. What a waste, since we'd already paid for it! After a few minutes, they introduced all the MCs and staff again, and the MCs danced and sang a cute little choreographed number to "Celebration." Then we all had to stand as they introduced the 2004 royalty to regal-sounding music. They also introduced all the state directors. Besides the ones from the U.S., there were representatives from the Cayman Islands, South Africa, Bulgaria, Singapore, and Russia. 

Later in the evening, after all the dishes had been cleared from the table, they announced the cover girl winners for each age division. The teen winner was Ohio's own Lisa Iwasaki! Things were looking pretty good for her so far! Once those awards were given out, the banquet was pretty much over, except for one of the young male MCs singing a ballad to entertain the girls. The program books were now on sale in the gift shop. So I grabbed a $20 from Dad and stood in the line that was already stretched halfway across the room to buy one. They were very, very thick (mostly from ads that people had sold to their sponsors). They were also taking pictures of the delegates from each state, so when they called Ohio, the other girls and I gathered on the stage and watched as about 30 people snapped pictures of us together. I was ready to go to bed then. But as soon as I got back to the room, Rob said that Jennica had called and left me a message to go right back down to the ballroom. All I really wanted to do was sleep, but I changed into more comfy clothes and did as I was told. The whole room, as well as the area outside, was packed with contestants rehearsing their talents for tomorrow's competition. Judy was already there with everyone else. She'd brought her own CD player with her, which a bunch of other people asked if they could use, too. I got to see a lot of interesting talents. One girl did a dance with poi balls, several sang songs of contrasting styles, and one of the Mini-Miss girls did an acrobatic dance that was so good, it didn't look like she even had a spine! One of the Miss contestants did a character ballet to "Music Box Dancer." (By the way, I later found out she was Mark Brunnell's daughter. Yes, that Mark Brunell!) 

Jennica ran through her song twice, while Jamie fine tuned her jazz dance, and Lisa played through her flute solo. I, however, had no means of practicing in that room. The only piano I'd seen in the entire hotel was outside the ballroom area, pushed up against a wall. At that time, though, there were a bunch of people rehearsing talent out there, so we couldn't get to it. Judy waited until all of the others had gone through their acts. then she led us all over to the piano and requested, in her trademark bellowing voice, that everyone step aside for about 5 minutes to let us use it. I ran through mine first, and was not at all encouraged by how it went. The piano had such terrible action and response time, hardly any of the notes sounded in the quick passages. Judy kept reminding me to keep focusing on the piece and not to break my concentration. Then another Woman contestant who was a pianist (another Danielle) ran through her piece, "Malaguena." She was very, very good! I asked her, since she was a veteran, how the piano at Cashman Theatre is, and she assured me it was a lot better than this one. After that, it was well after midnight so I returned to the room to get my rest for tomorrow's competition, which will be continued in the next edition...