An Interesting Tie and What Not to Do in a Pageant

There is now a new three-way tie for first in the Miss Costa Rica contest between Emerald, Veronique and Sabien!  Will be interesting to see how that shakes up.  I got a chance to talk to Emerald a bit more yesterday during the day and she’s quite nice and seems to be a pro with these things as she also has qualified for the SL Universe pageant.  I wish her the best in both contests! 

As this has been my first pageant and my last I think, I can’t offer any advice as to how to win but I can tell you what hasn’t worked for me.  I’m not comfortable with asking for votes.  I was expecting a pageant with judges so this has been different.  I was told last night by Felicity that the next phase of the pageant will be that way.  Alas, I don’t see myself as making it to that phase.

I first sent out IMs to the few people I know in Costa Rica asking if they would consider voting for me.  I think a few might have.  Since it is only my second month in the Costa Rica sims, I’ve spent some time hanging out at the clubhouse smiling and greeting people as they come in to vote.  Engaging in some friendly chit-chat to get to know them a bit better but not asking or begging for their votes.  I have met many more of the residents that way at least. To me, I think I would find the begging as annoying so I haven’t done it myself.  I have been with Marielle when she has been more aggressive at rounding up votes and that did seemed to work out for her. She has a unique personality that I think lets her get away with going after votes without seeming overly pushy about it.  I was counting on the interviews playing more of a role in the contest but I haven’t seen much of a change after those were published.  Mine was the only one that added humor to it.  That could have been a mistake to try but it is how I am and to do a completely serious interview without any humor in it at all would have not really been me.  Seems a long boring interview recapping much of what is already on the Costa Rica website works better.  So serious is the way to go in the interview process rather than trying to make a few people laugh. 

I attended one of the Friday parties last night at Iron and Stormy’s.  If you haven’t yet attended one of these parties, I would encourage you to do so. I had an incredible time and hope to attend the next one even tho it doesn’t fall within my normal SL time.  Costa Rican parties are always so well attended because they are so much fun!  Veronique and Marielle were also there and I think they managed to grab a few votes out of it.  When I left, I asked people if they hadn’t already voted in the contest to take a moment to go to the clubhouse to do so but never said, “Vote for me”.  I think I will volunteer to help with the pageant next year, as I think that would be much more fun and I can take what I learned this year with me to try to improve the experience for others. 

What has been very clear to me that I learned from this experience is that I am not a highly competitive person.  I’m not willing to win at any cost by begging, bribing or as one contestant said, “being mean”.  I was naive, not might have been naive but was as to how these pageants work with the vote boards and such.  Del and I talked about my dropping out of it entirely before the interviews were published, as it wasn’t the fun I thought it would be for me because of the vote getting process. I know I’m not the only contestant that hasn’t liked that part either. He asked me to stay in as the next phase would be what I wanted to be involved in and would excel at and see how it goes.  Not to drop out of the contest but be eliminated if that is what is meant to happen.  I love to socialize and meet people so that is just my plan till Monday when I leave it behind and not worry about it at all. I’ll continue to hang out with the other contestants as that has been lots of fun!  Socializing and having fun is more my personal style. I’ll find out when I get back which way the wind blew in the last round of voting which will wrap up while I am away.  I think that plan beats agonizing about it, which I know I am doing. Now to dress and work on a review for the blog today! Now what to wear…  No more posts on that Pageant.  I promise.  I had enough of it too.