NOTE: This is transcribed from my original iphone note - date 2/14/10
Having forgone the bodypainted party bus headed for Club Rain last night, we stayed close to our room at The Flamingo to collect our thoughts. There had been a misstep in the preliminary tabulation of placements and in fact, one artist in our category had to be removed from the finals and another who had actually earned the score put through. We had ALL been put on alert that the scores might change and no one knew who might be affected, so nerves were a bit raw. Scott went off to find a quiet spot to meditate (in VEGAS, mind you) and tweak designs, which served to tweak ME as I was left packing our things to check out in the AM. We planned only 3 nights in Vegas, set to leave on a red-eye back home in the wee hours of Monday. Kristen was spirited off for a fabulous meal at a posh new club with a local friend but came back early to get her beauty sleep.
We rose swiftly and headed downstairs with the paints for finals day. Because of the tabulation issue, it had been hard to get a definitive answer on the actual start time today. It seemed best to arrive early, figure it out and then wake Kristen, who had been sleep-deprived due to a mysterious snoring noise that occurred in the dark of our room each night. From the escalator, finalists were whisked off to a meeting and told that the room we'd used previously had been engaged and they were moving the finals to a banquet room upstairs with a new start time of 1PM. I eyed Scott fearfully (thinking of our departure) but he pointed out that we should still be okay and we trotted off to enjoy breakfast with Jimmy Buffet (his videos anyway) with our unexpected free time.
At 1PM, 75 artists and their assistants begin painting furiously, the atmosphere crackling! Scott altered our design significantly the night before and I couldn't just follow a color key (like I had on day one) and do my thing. Unintentionally. I distract him with questions that subsequently seem to provoke too much information, causing his careful instructions to fly from my head. It's an out-of-sync day. A sharp word from him about my lack of comprehension finally reduces me to tears and I paint that way for a good 15 minutes, aiming my face so as not to splash the paint. Time is moving impossibly fast.
At half-hour to the finish, I anxiously wait for the magic to happen as I mop up spilled water and catch running paint drips, the result of Scott painting faster than he ever has before. I attach Kristen's headpiece but completely forget her eyelashes, giving up as time is called. WOW! Some AMAZING painting has gone on around us! We were tucked into the corner and could really only see about the next two bodypainters' work (also incredible), not that there was any time to gawk. Now we do and it's quite humbling, inspiration and vision of the theme, 'Evolution', executed cleanly and clearly. I couldn't choose a favorite and I don't know how the judges will manage to.
Scott and Kristen are off to the judging line and I start packing the paints. After judging there will a stage presentation of the models, who will certainly take the full 2 minutes alloted to showboat as they compete for the model's trophy. Unlike the other nights there will also be a burlesque troupe, a stand-up comedian and a band! Plus, they're certain to do stuff like introduce the judges and make speeches and thank sponsors. You KNOW that the last thing to happen will be the awards ceremony, and I'm mentally ticking off the time. Everyone else can relax after that, but we have a plane to catch & I can already tell this will be a close shave.
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