By the time they had narrowed the field down to 5 finalists, Miss California was still in the running and I was feeling more confident in my pick than ever. But my short-lived reputation as a pageant picker was shattered when she was declared the second runner up! Then Miss Louisiana was announced first runner up, leaving... MISS HAWAII?!?

I was barely even aware of Miss Hawaii (or Angela Perez Baraquio, to be exact) during the preliminaries, though she certainly made a good impression when it counted the most ("She turned her GLOW BUTTON up a notch," our resident pageant/hair expert commented). Plus I did call it when I said it was high time for an Asian-American to win, since we do have the Wen Ho Lee scandal to apologize for, after all. I just picked the WRONG Asian-American.

Of course, now I could hear everyone in the Hall claiming that they had her pegged all along. The Power of the Crown was working its magic already!