A Walk To Remember - [MISS MALAYSIA DIVA PAGEANT 2003/2004] Part II

A Walk To Remember - [MISS MALAYSIA DIVA PAGEANT 2003/2004] Part II




Ladies and Gentlemen; Welcome back�

Now� kat mana dah kite? Oh ha� part II. THE STATE SELECTIONS

From the day I decided to masuk Miss Penang State selections, to the actual day of competition, dekat nak 2 week jugak la. Everything was set. Make up artiste dah ade, my traditional state costume dah ade, accessories dah ade, shoes, yes� everything dah ready except for one thing� my introductions! I know mostly about WP and SEL, KED jangan tanye lah. But Penang? Ape yang I tahu about Penang? God! Help me!

Time time tu lah I started gabra carik kawan2 yang asal Penang ke or at least ade tahu menahu about Penang. I know Penang in general. But to win, and get the judges attention, and to make people believe that I know what I�m talking about, I need to do my homework. Masuk beauty pageants nih, it�s not always about �how you walk, how you standout the rest , how you catwalk and show your breast?� � hey it rhymes� hehehe. Anyways. It�s about having the brains as well� It�s about being sensitive to your surroundings i.e. the judges, the audience� the aura around you. Semue tu penting. So finally I managed to get some bit infos just a day before the state selections. Pening jugak nak menghafal my introduction lines.

September 10th 2003

Competition was said to start off at 10pm. So me and Vee dah got things ready, starting at 7.30pm. She siap make up and did my hair semue around 9.30. Then on we went to the club. As we arrived, I felt it already. NO, bukannye felt winning! Ish. I bukannye thatttt over confident ok! I felt a bit nervous la. Tu jer. Crowd ramai� as I entered the changing room, I saw like 9 people, all geared up, ready to give out their best. And when they saw me coming into the room, they were like �you�re not entering, are you?�� I just smiled and get things ready. Couldn�t be bothered nak dgr diaorang mengumpat ke, whatever ke. I had to get ready. Vee make up kan, vundabar! Memang meletop! So Chinese sikit dia make upkan I for that night as I go with a sort of a Chinese name�

Somewhere after 1/2 hour after we arrived, I dah siap salin to my state contemporary outfit, hair make up all out� contest began. Pilih number, I was lucky number 1 to go out. Ade baik buruknye dapat jadi peserta pertama nih. Baiknye, you get to set the paste, the standard. Tinggi you set, susah la yang after you tu semue nak kejar. Buruknya, you tak dapat nak see how far or how well the others can go or do, so that you have time to prepare backstage. Tapi, twas time for me to go first. So be it la kan�



Held up the mic, softly yet clearly said � �Assalamualaikum, dan Salam Sejahtera Ladies and Gentlemen, Tuan2 dan Puan2 sekalian. Wa ae mia si Lauriellai Lee, I�m 24 years old, dan saya datang dari negeri yang penuh dengan kepelbagaian bangsa dan tradisi, The Pearl of the Orient, the treasured island of, Penang!!!

As I held up my hand to wave the audience, they sort of like gave me, this one, big applause for me and I was like, �OK, I think I do this right!�

MC came up to me� he asked the standard q
MC: Miss Lee, pls, ye, tolong terangkan for us all, apakah yang dipakai oleh anda sekarang? Terang for us all, what is it that you�re wearing right now?

I took the liberty of being a bit funny sbb sebelum2 nih I tgk state selections yang lain, contestants semuenye serious je?

Me: What is it that am wearing now? Well, I�m sure it�s not called sport attire? Hehe (The crowd laughed a bit with me) On a serious note, what am wearing now in the traditional Kebaya Nyonya, with some added modern flavour, it�s what I call contemporary design, made to enhance the sweetly traditional design of this stunning outfit. (At the background, I heard someone shouted �Hey ini Miss Malaysia, bukannye Miss Overseas� cakap lah Melayu! It hit me like, sakitnye hati aku! Tak pe. Tunggu kau! Spontaneously I went on like this) I love you too honey!� (Having said that with a big smile on my face, the crowd really went wild applauding for me)

MC: It�s time for your second q. Choose a judge from this bowl.

And so I picked up number 2. And the judge was the top model, Ursya�

Ursya: Miss Lee, tell us the differences between Baba Nyonya Penang, Melaka and Singapore?

Tertelan kejap air liur aku! I mean, I didn�t expect this q! After pausing for while, took a deep breathe, gave a big friendly smile, and then I answered this�

Me: Perbezaan Baba Nyonya Penang, Melaka and Singapore? Hmmm� Although I nak cakap pasal perbezaan dari segi pemakanan, I pulak yang not so sure about it, sebabnye I pun bukannye from that, erm, keturunan. Sorry for being blunt, but I�m just being me. So my answer would be, the differences between the three keturuan Baba Nyonyas, is simply, erm, ehheeh (yes I actually giggled a bit ) Baba Nyonya Penang lives in Penang, Melaka lived the Baba Nyonya Melaka� and what can I say about the last one? Yes� they come from Singapore. Thank you�

Pathetic answer, yes? But at least, itu yang termampu dipikirkan oleh otak I nih at that time. So, what to do? But the crowd sure loved me and my answer as I catwalked for like for 1 minute, they cheered for me as though I already won my placing. Hehehe� I was lucky�

And so like the contests went on and all the other 9 contestants did the same thing I did but I think I�ve set up a high paste� I think. Although a pinch of me ade jugak menyatakan yang I screwed up big time but hey, I was just being Lea� the funny non edited version�

After nearly an hour plus, results are up. Tension jugak. Seriously takut� Vee kept on askin� me to keep my fingers crossed.

MC: Tonight�s state selection has got to be the toughest one, as there were two best and outstanding contestants. But the judges had already decided who wins the title, and the other one would be runner-up to the title. But let me remind everyone again that both contestants would be in the running for the title of Miss Malaysia Diva 2003/2004. Here we go. Good luck to each and everyone of you. The 10 of you looked amazingly beautiful but only two would go on in the running for that RM5000 main cash prize� And the 1st runner-up to the title is contestant number 3, Miss Nurnilam Sari!!!!

Yes� at that moment. I had that feeling I could just win. Sbb to me, Nurnilam Sari was like the best out of the rest and she could just be the only to give me �competitions�. So since she got 2nd , ehehe.. I can only giggle to know that I could be walking home that night with the title of Miss Penang/ Malaysia Diva 2003/2004�

MC: And� the winner for tonight, who will walk away with a sash, a certificate, a trophy and cash of RM500 and also a bouquet of roses, is, by only having 3 points away from the runner-up is, Miss Lee. Miss Lauriellai Lee!!! Contestant number 1!

Oh yes� I won� I won! Ehehehe� And so, me and Nurnilam Sari, made it to the finals. We�re like the 25th and 26th contestants to go to finals, out of 30. Tingal lagi 2 states, Kelantan and Terengganu, 2 from each states, so that means another 4 winners to go to the finals.

And so contestant number 3, Nurnilam Sari won 1st runner-up and I won the Penang State title, even by just 3 points. I admitted what she was a tough fight but I had my methods� didn�t I?

Next blog entries:
PART III The Preliminary Round
PART IV Miss Malaysia Diva 2003/2004 Pageant final night.