A Godmother Called Miss V

I was telling Nic that I should have bloody gone for the recent Estee Lauder Model Search when they were doing the model makeover roadshow in Queensbay on 31 May. I only read about it when my sis gave me a bunch of her CLEO and Malaysian Women’s Weekly (she only buys mags to clip out the contest forms… and then she passes them all to me).
If you asked me at 24 if I wanted to join such a competition (it is a competition, let’s be brutally honest about it), I’d have run a mile in the other direction.
Then again, there’s something decidedly odd about turning 34. I guess the clock of mortality and age and boldness and vanity tell me that if I want to do something, might as well go ahead and do it.
Once one gets to 34, one either decides to live gloriously or live not at all. Age and experience is a combustive combination. When one is past 30, one must say, “I really can’t care about what others may think, I might as well do something exciting and unprecedented and satisfy some of my inner desires”.
One of those is to get a makeover. Yes, sheepishly I admit, I don’t mind putting myself through hours of styling and stuff to look boootiful. Ya, ya, smirk all you want but I hope to own a presentable portrait of myself when I’m all gnarled and wrinkly and my grandkids want to know how I used to look like.
I was quite regretful that I didn’t get to join the Estee Lauder Model Search as this was one where participants were grouped into those below 30 and those above 31.
So I lamented to everyone who bothered to listen, first to Nic, then to my cousin, Yi (whose eyes grew round as guli when I told her it cost RM300 – she’d just graduated so that amount of money for a makeover was obscene to say the least, despite me convincing her that one could redeem Estee products with it). Then I blurted out my regret to Rona, a friend whom I knew would be highly supportive of such madcap endeavours. I told her I had the height (165 cm) anyway so let’s not waste what I have, right?
I stopped thinking about it for sometime and then today I got an email from Jin, a friend who told me she’d just nominated me to join The Great Women of Our Time Awards, organised by the Malaysian Women’s Weekly!
For once, I was stumped. Then I was humbled. Next, a bit worried. The thing that crosses our minds immediately is whether we deserve it. Jin had nominated me under the Science & Technology category.
But then again, I thought, this is my second chance! I missed out on the Estee Lauder Search and now I get a second chance at a makeover and photo shoot.
Wouldn’t that be fun? Plus I’d be meeting too (I hope) other women and getting to experience something I’d never do in my line of business. Not so much for winning but for trying out something totally new.
Should I join for the heck of it, for the experience, for the sake of my godmother called Vanity?
All nominees get featured in MWW and have a chance to win based on readers’ votes on top of regular judging. Winning would be an added bonus because the winners get money to donate to their favourite charity. All culminating in a gala dinner at The Westin KL.
Let me know what you think I should do.
Methinks I should join, if only to see what really goes on in a photo shoot and makeover!