In Search of Inner Beauty

Hello, Friends!

I've been addicted to beauty pageants ever since I heard Sushmita Sen answer the question: "What is the essence of a woman?" in Miss Universe 1994.

I wasn't yet a teenager at that time and, in my nerdy naivete, she stoked the fire of World Peace. In other words, she awakened my inner beauty queen.

Sushmita was only 18 then. She had always been one of the stronger competitors, sure, but she wasn't a crown favourite. Those were Rea Toutounzi of Greece, Carolina Gomez of Colombia and Minorka Mercado of Venezuela.

These days, if I heard those names, I'd laugh my head off and scream for you to stop pulling my leg, because surely they're queens, but of the drag variety.

In truth, a beauty queen's name needs to sound as magnetic as the woman herself because that's the first thing that grabs your attention even before you are faced with the girl. Margarita Moran. Maju Mantilla. Krista Kleiner. Get my drift?

So going back to Sushmita Sen. Her final answer was:

"The origin of a child is a mother - is a woman. A woman is one who shares love, and who shows a man what love, caring and sharing is all about. That is the essence of a woman."

Yup, 18 years old.

Anyhow, my beauty queen fantasy never really actualized because I haven't got the right bits and pieces to compete for Binibining Pilipinas. So I decided to team up with my good pal, Noel, to do the next best thing, which is to put up our own beauty pageant: Mr. Gay Hong Kong. And by george, have we got a winner. His name: Heihei Yau. 

Heihei, myself, and a small coterie of beautiful Hong Kong folks are travelling to Manila for Mr. Gay World in barely a week's time. We threw Heihei a big, old farewell party at drop last Friday, 7pm, which is really too early to party - even for homosexuals. But hey (or, "hei!"), who's going to stop us when we've got...

BABY GAGA.

With Affection,
James