MALL OF ASIA ARENA – It is 7:30 a.m. and I am right here in the very venue where 86 of the universe’s loveliest ladies gather to vie for the Miss Universe 2016 crown.
Not withstanding technical glitches, this post will be published at 8:00 a.m. Per Miss U program announcement, the most beautiful day of the universe starts at eight in the morning.
I am with my good friend Jessie Cubijano. We have been fans of beauty pageants ever since we first met in 2007 (or was it 2008?) and we’ve exchanged notes and shared laughable anecdotes of the all-too-many major and minor pageants we’ve witnessed and followed online and offline.
People are wearing their best Monday morning outfit and no one seems to scream that they hate Mondays because they are off to see through queens.
Live updates, tweets and posts on my social media accounts
Watching the Miss Universe preliminary competition last Thursday, via an Internet connection that also slowed down while I was nursing fever and flu, was a direct assault on my humanity. Internet, you don’t freeze when Chile is strutting her stuff because any minute from her, Curaçao will be showcasing her runway skills.
Curaçao is memorable to me because late last year, Jeff and I visited this Caribbean island with fellow travelers onboard Crystal Serenity of world-renowned Crystal Cruises. We were on a planned shore excursion but the weather was so humid that we could not wait for the tour to end. Our plans to check out the town square and the eat in the local watering holes were derailed. We ended up in a local theatre where the air conditioning unit was divine. We waited for two long hours before Dr. Strange played in one of their theatres and ordered two slices of Domino’s Pizza from their snack bar. We went back to the ship around 7:00 p.m. with more than enough time to spare before the ship sailed for Aruba at midnight.
Alright… so much for Curaçao memories…
The days after I covered the swimsuit presentation for the Inquirer at the Jpark Island Resort and Waterpark Cebu, there are a couple of candidates whose stars are shinning brighter than the rest. Miss Philippines Maxine Media, despite all her boo boos (Imelda invented the terno, what?!), has confidently showed her bashers that her catwalk skills and charmed personality were out to slay the Latinas and the stronger Asian delegation (check out Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and even Myanmar!).
Her performance at the preliminary competition is praiseworthy. All those years modelling paid off on Thursday night and you have to give it to her for a solid performance.
That twirl during the swimsuit round?
Wonderful!
It will be a heavenly miracle to see Miss Medina win the crown. But my prediction is: she’s going to make it to Top 6 along with USA, Colombia and Venezuela. I’m still not decided which other two countries will join them.
My Top 13 are: Venezuela, Canada, Colombia, Philippines, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, Curaçao, Malaysia, USA and France.
It’s going to be an interesting Monday.
Home Tuesday night!
