What do I think of Beauty Pageants? =
Pretty girls parading pretty dresses. Wow, look at her crown! ~gasp~! She won? ~gasp!~ Oh my, I love her hair!
Obviously the first thing that we look for when assessing Beauty Pageant contestants is the marks of a beauty like blinding smile? check! eyes like the sun? check! Tall? check!
If all above checks out, the second round of assessment ensues. A bit difficult this one, maybe that's why most people never bothered to look further than the first round because really, how do you judge or measure intangible qualities such as personality, confidence level and brains?
Obviously when on stage, everyone brings their A-game, so the only way to know for sure is to mingle with the potential Queens in a casual setting and prepared to be awed or vice-versa.
So, the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself in the form of an exclusive invite to the Miss Earth Sabah Dinner, thanks to Mr. Dinoza Mahruf and my BFF, Dedz who thought that it would be awesome to have some life outside of the Induction Course that nearly killed us all. We managed to convince Elvie aka The Twin to join and that's how the three of us ended up sitting at a table at The Roof Restaurant on the 15th June 2010, feeling all giggly and stupidly awkward! haha
We found out later that instead of just taking photos with the Miss Earth Sabah finalists, we were also given the privilege to interview them. Now that's a surprise bonus!
Though i only managed to talk to four finalists (May, Fiona, Lydia and Melody) it's enough to conclude several FAQ about BP that have been hovering in my head all this while.
The first one that i talked to was May Salitah, a sweet soul who is bent on promoting tree-planting culture to the masses, especially to young children. Anyone who have met and talked to her will agree with me on this - that she's a friendly, confident and articulate lady who seems to be genuinely passionate with her cause.
So, it's not really a surprise when she was crowned as the 2010 Miss Earth Sabah on the 20th June:)
Picture credit to Miss Earth Sabah Official Page
The second finalist, Fiona is also as passionate as May when it comes to promoting environmental causes in which her main concern is to work on eradicating the rubbish-throwing culture of the city people. I mentally applauded this because let's face it, though a city, Kota Kinabalu has yet to embrace the "Bersih Tanpa Sampah" mentality. Meanwhile, Lydia, a licensed diver and a graduate in the field of Environmental Science expressed her interest in preserving the cleanliness of the coastal area.
Think of Tanjung Aru and you get the idea.
I was also really impressed with Melody who feels that change should begin from the individual. Walk the talk and the rest will naturally follow. It's akin to the butterfly effect, very inspiring! :)
I came to the conclusion that Sabahans can be rest assured that our Miss Earth Sabah winners truly, wholly embrace the concept of "Beauty With Brains" or in the context of Miss Earth pageant
"Natural beauty - Unblemished, immaculate and refreshingly natural".
Congratulations to the winners!
Picture credit to Miss Earth Sabah Official Page
Make us proud at the Miss Earth Malaysia Finals!
My post has gotten ridiculously long but it wouldn't be appropriate to end it without mentioning our meeting with Miss Earth Malaysia 2009, Mandy Nandu, an amazing, down-to-earth lady and again to Mr. Dinoza Mahruf, whose effort of promoting this event by reaching out to the Sabahan Bloggers deserves another round of applause from us who were lucky enough to be there ^_^. Honto ni arigato!
Picture credit to Miss Earth Sabah Official Page
As for you, yes you! and of course, me too!
Play your part.
Heed the call
Protect our Mother Earth.
Till the next post,
xoxo :)
9 comments:
Envy you got a shot with May! Haha. And, the finalists definitely are beauty with brains.
Glad we were there to spread the words and perhaps, walk the talk? Let's hunt for that eco-bags and wear 'em with style!
woah. it must be pretty cool to be there. beauties with brain to promote environmental issues. a good approach to attract the society to actually see the importance & seriousness of it.
kan best kalo ada bgini dlm social studies dulu hihi :p
jess you look super awesome in the piccas :)
wah u r so lucky n the winners are very pretty!
LV: I was hoping they would sell the eco-bag somewhere and yes, I was lucky to get a shot with the eventual winner..hehe
Mimi: It's really amazing how these beauties are deeply attuned to environmental issues. Our new generation of Beauty Queens are very promising.
Thanks again 4 d pic compliment :)
San2: Yep I am and they are! :D
WOw..It's a great opportunity to be sandwiched with beautiful lasses like you....
And Taking a pict with Mandy was a another added meal to the course:)
You three sure could be one of the winners too .....
As a former event organiser who worked on countless beauty pageants (including several national-level ones), I can tell you that the pageants are not what they seem at all, if you don't already know.
If you enter with the right intentions and with your heart at the right place, good for you, and I wish you all the success and sincerely hope you win and get to do what you set out to do. And don't be discouraged because you didn't win, because the results, unfortunately, is usually already determined before yo even step onto the stage for the very first round.
The real evaluation is done during the many events leading up to the big day, and more often than not the winner is picked for reasons that suited the needs and purpose of people or companies who has a stake in the pageant.
So if you do win, and have the right attitude on how to handle your fortune (yes its a fortune, nothing more, nothing less), then all works out for the better. If not, you'll find the one year(or how ever long) period during which you are obliged to carry out your 'duties' a living hell, because trust me, they didn't let you win because they want to be nice to you; the let you win because thy feel that you can serve THEIR purpose.
Be warned, aspiring beauty queen wannabes.
Sis felly: I enjoy being a spectator, a participant..probably never..haha
Anonymous: Hi, thanks for dropping by:) Those are useful pointers for aspiring Queens out there. I believe that when one joins a beauty pageant nowadays, a pretty face is simply not enough. Personality, brains and like you pointed out - attitude and intentions are very important too. Winning a beauty pageant not only wins you fame, exposure and money but also big responsibilities that only a truly passionate Queen could accomplish with flying colors. Thanks for the insight:)
1st photo.. I almost confuse which 1 is miss earth Sabah.. both gorgeous..
^_^
Awww, thanks Cath but May is really more gorgeous in person. Anyone will be drawn to her person :)
Thankd for dropping by :)
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