If you follow @manujune, you know that she has been involved in a singing contest (#VozTeenSucre). I missed her first Gala because I had urgent work to deliver that day and because these events tend to be maratónicos (longer than needed).

Long but very Gratifying Night

I have always had issues with events that are organized without much concern for the audience. So, I tend to avoid them as much as possible. However, as you can imagine, for the sake of our children we make quite a few exception or concessions.

I started this post last night. It was meant to be a real time post with updates as they happened, but thanks to our “amazing” internet services and crappy phone batteries, I was unable to do it.
I am glad I did not. This is how the rant was going:

Don't get me wrong. I am very excited and having a good time with my wife and some friends. It had been a while since I last attended a night event and it is my daughter who is going to be performing. However, the show was supposed to start at seven and it is 8:30, as I write this. It's really hot and there is no air-conditioning. They charged $5 for the ticket but there is no way here to get a drink (not even water) or a bite and this is going to end after midnight.

We are a bit nervous because we know our girl and we know she gets nervous after too much waiting. I just can't understand why the organizers, after the first gala experiment, did not take measures to make this one more time-efficient. The Gala includes way too many participants (in both the modeling section and the singing section).

Well, it looks like they were waiting for me to start ranting. The show is about to start.

I'll keep you posted. As I have said in several rants, we have issues with valuing and respecting people's time. These shows are great, but organizers need to think about their audience and the treatment they receive. After all, the success of the event will depend on always having an audience. In a town where staying out at night is life-risking sport, event organziers cannot have people exposed at late hours.

As a matter of fact, we have to see a friend and her teenage son walk home along deserted streets. We were unable to square a ride for them.

In any case, the show was worth the wait. I am not into modeling, so I just did not pay much attention to that part, but the singing competition was amazing.

15 kids with incredible talent and my daughter had a wonderful performance.

I will let her tell you the details in her particular style. @manujune always surprises us, even thought we see her working in the house. We sort of see how her rehearsals evolve, etc. And yet, she finds a way to do something at the last minute that adds so much to her performances. This time, she managed to draw the whole audience's attention, despite being one of the least known participants (most of the kids have been participating in contests like these since they were little and belong to different singing academies).