beauty judge, second time around

i was again invited to judge in a high school beauty pageant somewhere in my neighborhood. i'm wondering whether or not the organizers ever found out my ambivalent take on beaucons, but something in my personal profile--probably the entry on socio-cultural criticism--won over their urge to cancel the invitation altogether. meanwhile, i accepted upon the agreement that it will not match or even outdo the catatonia-inducing length of time of the latest tilt i appeared in. i was assured that it won't; in fact, the organizers had the brilliant idea of splitting the program in two parts, the pre-pageant being that day and the finals having been set two weeks from now.
i arrived just in time so i didn't get to enjoy the opportunity to buzz my fellow judges in the cheek. to begin with, i don't know any one of them. which is such a bummer: i noticed, upon the introduction of the board of judges, that seated next to me was a cute starlet who has speaking lines in some independent films. i asked which films he appeared in, and he bashfully admitted that my ignorance of the titles he had mentioned might be largely due to the fact that they were being produced for a foreign audience. aray. neocolonial commodification ito.
anyway, the pre-pageant was held in a makeshift stage that called to mind mutya ng barangay beauty quest locations, the ones adorned with tarpaulins bearing local politicians' reminders of the forthcoming elections. however, seeing the young male and female contestants in their made-up selves, i could surmise that their transformation from budding flowers to ravishing beauties must be tremendous. the female bets were elegant in their choices of dresses, while the male bets looked rather mature for their age, and that's a compliment. i'm looking forward to a more spectacular finals night on the 31st.