I guess by now you could call me a brat, but it comes with the territory of being an only child. And no, I'm not spoiled. There is actually a separation of being, rich, spoiled and a brat. Rich is rich - wealthy in a sense. Spoiled is getting what you want when you want it - i.e. not me. And brat is like young attention-seeking kid. Ok, there is some overlap I guess but I swear I'm not spoiled.
Anyway, a lot of people (especially those with bros and sistas) are like
"I wish I were an only child. You are so lucky!"Riiight. You want to be perpetually lonely and psychologically neglected? But it's not all that bad. So in repentance for my ungrateful complaining all these years, I will proceed to list out the things I have won over the years. The two have nothing to do with one another but I needed an intro to the topic and nothing came to mind, so I went with the flow.
Note, that the following are things that I have won in contests and are not part because I worked hard for them or deserved them in anyway.
Piggy
When I was about 6 or 7 (I was in the UK then), I went with my mum to Children's World in Croydon or somewhere thereabouts and there was a booth set up by the British Rail outside the store (the store is huge by the way. The booth was in the car park bit outside).
I was quite the nerd then (by nerd I mean I liked to learn. Which makes me a nerd to this day) so the talk that the British Rail gave at my school a week before was still bouncing around in my head. I was intrigued so I went up to the stall and chatted to the guy behind the counter and I pointed out the different trains to my parents and it was all so cute. Then the guy pointed to a stack of paper on the table and said that the British Rail was having a competition or something. I filled out the form / entry thing and handed it back to the guy - if it was a contest it was really easy; all the answers were on the booth. Like pasted on the uprights and all over the place. So I figured it was just an educational thing to interest little kids and I went into the store with mum. I don't remember if dad was there but I think he was.
Fast forward to about a month or two later. By now the BR contest has faded away and archived in my brain. Friday is Assembly day for the whole school so about 220 students in the Hall (an all-girls school, one class per year. Really titchy but cosy). The usual announcements go on as usual. Then the head mistress mentions something about British Rail but I take no notice. I think I was playing with my shoelace or something. "Contest", "prize", "Sara Lim!" Say WHAT? I'm stunned and pleasantly pleased. This is so cool. There was a huge beanbag neon pink pig up on stage next to the headmistress. I was thinking that it was pretty cool when I first saw it but I didn't think I'd be able to take it home. First thought Wow! I won! A pig! Its neon pink. Niiiice… or something to that effect.
Second thought How am I going to lug this home?
I was always a practical child.
The pig was stored in the head mistress' office till it was time to go home so that was my pig problem solved. Without saying, mum and dad were shocked and pleased and I was squished into the backseat of the car with the pink, fat pig (who I later christened Piggy). I hugged him all the way home (don't ask me how I knew it was a boy. You just know these things intuitively).
You may argue that I did "work" and "earn" Piggy but honestly it was no sweat at all. I mean the answers were right in front of you! You must be really fried in the head to not find the answers. Oh, and I also won a 10 pound voucher to ride on British Railways. And a certificate and stuff like that. I never used the voucher and it's still stored in my file at home. Its obviously expired but since Piggy has gone (in storage I think, due to his nostrils falling off), it's the only reminder I have of that day. At least I have proof to show to my kids,
"Look, Mum won a pig once!"
The Dull Ages
No more free wins for a few years till I came to Malaysia. I did win things, just not without effort - like gymnastic competitions and poetry recitals. They don't count in this list.
Mtv is good to me
I had never seen Mtv till Astro in Malaysia. In the UK I was exposed to Take That and Boyzone but I was 7 and didn't really care. Then Mtv made things interesting. Donita Rose was the hostess with the most-est; not because she was pretty but because she was good. The VJs can't hold a candle to her. Channel [V] VJs are pretty good but they're either pretty or sexy. None have a really strong personality - save Paula who can hold her own, I'll give you that.
Anyway, Mtv don't only play music videos they also give out things for free. Good for the viewers, dontcha think?
If you've been watching Mtv for the last few months, you'll know about the Mtv Whatever Things, which is like a tamer, lamer (haha!) version of Jackass. When they first introduced the show, they asked viewers to log onto the website and submit three music videos that would go with the stupid prank / stunt that was online. I did as such - I had loads of ideas. I mean just pick the music videos that parody other videos. Simple, easy and funny too. I won (yeah duh) and got the September slot (one winner a month). They ask you to send in pics and my oogly mug was on Mtv for a whole month (in sporadic spots). Prize? Whatever Things was (and still is) sponsored by Philips so you got a choice of either a camera phone or a 128MB MP3 player. I picked the MP3 player and waited gleefully for it to arrive.
5 months ticked by and still no word. I actually forgot till my dad reminded me. I emailed the guy who emailed me to tell me I had won. He said they would send it and I passed his email to my dad who I think sent some more emails - I don't know if they were friendly or not but it wasn't my fault they were 5 months late. I also emails the Philips office people / person and told them about it and they contacted what's-his-name and eventually they sent the stuff.
Whatever my dad had written in his correspondence paid off because they actually sent us both prizes! The phone and the MP3 player! Wicked! But the phone sucked and my mum said I was responsible enough for a colour-camera phone so she took it and used it. And to be honest, the phone sucked. It was one out of Philip's first line of phones so it was slow and the camera was an external attachment and the colour sucked. Mum ended up dropping it in the loo. It was clean and the phone dried out. Philips claimed that the phone (new) was worth RM600+. When we traded it in, it was worth a little over RM100. poor worthless phone. The MP3 player still works which shows that Philips should steer clear of phones and stick to their audiovisual stuff. The only bug with the MP3 player (it's almost 9 years old) is that you have to keep the external AAA battery connected or it won't run. I think the internal battery is fired but other than that it works like a charm.
I liked this prize the best of all.
More Tusic Melevision
Entered a Gorillaz competition (online. I don't bother calling in or whatnot). Caption a picture. Won a white T-shirt. Very nice "Don't Worship False Idols" on the front and composite face and hat thing on the back. Apparently it's their promo thing.
That present was fun to receive. I had no idea what it was going to be.
Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away
Fly Fm is a new radio station in KL (well KLIA, if you can still consider that KL). Nice music even if it is constantly repetitive. DJs are ok cept for Jules who has an annoying voice (sorry, I did like you in the beginning but you grated my nerves once to many times) and Shel needs to breathe more and talk less. It's not a race honey. No one's going to steal your airtime. Anyway on their website (like I said, I don't do call ins), there is this competition called "Play It Back" where they have a (flash) audio clip and its been played backwards. It's really easy to figure out the song. I wont give away the technique but let's say it involves a microphone and the sound recorder. I don't remember if there was a slogan involved but it wasn't like a major mental strain.
Prize was worth RM800! Woohoo! What was it? Eight hundred ringgit! Woohoo! Got the dispatch service (from my parent's Company; not my personal one. Duh.) to go and get it. Mwahahah! I'd never won money before!
Oh wait. I just did.
So far that's all I've gotten FOC. I did get some free CDs and T-shirts and stuff while I was working at Xfresh but I had to work all the while so that doesn't count either.
Getting free stuff is awesome but there is a downside to it. It's addictive. Once you start you have to keep getting free stuff or you get cranky. It's life-changing experience. It takes over you. You have no control. Some advice: don't start winning stuff. Keep pure and gift free. As for me? I'm caught in the endless loop that compels me to receive free things and I don't think I'll ever escape. Save yourself!
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