Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I Forget I Entered a Contest but I Won

It strange I never really fancied taking part in contests. Maybe it stemmed from the fact that my lucky streak with such endeavours never really pan out. Of all the contests I've ever entered I can really only count on one hand those that I won. The funny thing is that some of them are from contests that I've actually forgotten I sent an entry to or that I just typed a few words for the heck of it with no expectation to win. The most anticipated contest I can remember entering was one organised by Sustagen, you know the malt like drink with nutritious factors that supposed to help you during your growing up years, that my mum tried to push onto me every single morning until way past secondary school until I got sicked of it and found my new love in getting addicted to caffiene. It was for an all you can grab shopping spree at Toys-R-Us. I remembered ethuistically collecting all the tin foils from Sustagen cans and then sending in entries, but to a child of 7, putting so much effort and not winning really was a downer.

Well, the other memorable contests that I've participated included a quick online survey for Magic the Gathering when they were launching the new Nemesis cardset and after entering and forgetting about it for months, lo and behold a package straight from the United States actually arrived at my doorsteps and in it was a card folder with a Nemesis design cover. Of course I've managed to win some more legitimate contests which required more than just sending in product wrappers and writing slogans, there was the time that I somehow by some unknown fate managed to get 7th place in a "I love Kuantan" drawing competition organised by Kuntum and with it came a small cash prize and a year subscription to Kuntum. Latest of all was the Malaysian writing contest for the article on my crabbing adventure in Pulau Banggi which got me RM 50.

It seems once again I am fortuitious to get another contest win and one that I really just entered for the fun of it with no inclination of ever winning. Entering the "Survey: Software Piracy is STEALING" by Trend Micro it seems my survey entry coupled with my slogan (of which I have totally no recollection of what I had written but must have been corny) won third place (ok ok there are 6 prizes for third place so its no biggie). Looks like I've won either a Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 or a Trend Micro Anti-Spyware 2006 from the looks of it.

Another factor that I never enter contests such as ticket redemptions is that all prizes are usually applicable for those living in the Klang Valley only or need to be collected from KL offices which is really an inconvenience since I'm stuck here over the huge wide South China Sea in Kota Kinabalu. Seems I need help from my friends in KL to help claim it, sigh. It reminds me of the time I got two free tickets for opening night of X-men at Tanjong Golden Village KLCC on opening night but I was here again in Sabah as usual, what a waste. Oh well a win is a win is a win so no complaining. This will add to the collection of my limited "original" software like the Windows XP Home on my computer.

1 comment:

Minny said...

I've won my fair share of contests. :D It is certainly worth the effort of making 50-100+ entries because the prizes generally go to the fanatics out there who seriously expect to win. Perhaps you should read up on "compers". These are people who enter contests full-time. They're usually students or retired people who have a lot of spare time on their hands!