I do believe I already blogged about being a contest whore earlier this year, and Lady Luck pretty much has not left my side. I do hope she stays as I really get a kick out of joining online contests and games especially if I need to blog my way through it. As you can see, I blog when I feel like it and when I am motivated some more (ahem, with the prize) then I get to unleash whatever creative demon I have kept chained in the deepest recesses of my mind. Har har de har.

Just a few days ago, I got notified that I won 2 contests... on the same day! How lucky, right? One worth PHP7,000 of Mary Kay products and the other (supposedly) an iPad -- but that was before I got DISQUALIFIED SOON AFTER IT WAS ANNOUNCED AND THEY INFORMED ME AS THE WINNER! Who does that? I mean, what is this? ELECTION???

Here's the story. First the good news.

Mary Kay Philippines sent me this package full of goodies.

Eng eng eng... What could it be?



Gosh! How I love loot bags...


Might be time I learn to put on eye shadow correctly because as much as I would love to put make-up on, I simply FAIL at it! FOR REAL! I'm simply just the eye-liner-mascara-type of gal... =D


I guess to start with Mary Kay, how can I possibly go wrong? Oh and I got this awesome sweet-smelling little gift set, too! :) Can't thank Mary Kay Philippines enough!


Any proper lady should smell like this! I gotta stop relying on just colognes. Tee hee.

And all that I won because I participated in a makeover contest with Mary Kay with this look:


Pretty cool, huh? :) But I would like to thank everyone who voted for this look. If not for you guys, I wouldn't have won any of these. You guys made me a winner. Mwahhh!

And now the second part.

The more interesting... and controversial story.



This one's from the Lipton contest. It's a blog contest so this is more my type of contest because I do enjoy making and writing a blog story about something. And since I'm not new to online contests, I read RULES and MECHANICS over and over again to make sure I don't violate any to cause any disqualifications. Again, I'm not new to contests obviously and have had my fair share of winning and losing. The number of wins I have had is almost the same ratio as the number of times I didn't get to win. All the same, I really don't count my losses because each contest gives me a chance to write passionately and express what I can creatively in any way I can provided it's not illegal to do so.

At first, I had used Lipton BRISK tea which the supermarket person told me was pretty much the same as the Yellow Label tea brand.

When I realized I should have used the other product, I emailed the organizer and they replied telling me I could just change my entry which I did... BY EDITING THE PHOTOS. Heck, my Photoshop skills have been honed for over a decade since Photoshop 5.0 and I do believe it's a great talent. Bleh! =P


I guess the word "CHANGE" can be relative. Change is defined as "to cause to be different". They don't suppose I write another recipe just to cater to the YELLOW LABEL tea brand when in fact my recipe is pretty valid using any kind of black tea. I didn't want to waste a perfectly good recipe and blog post so I resolved to edit the photos instead... to be different and to abide the rules. That is CHANGE for me. And besides, as per mechanics:


Compare that to this contest's mechanics:




Now that one with Vice Ganda is pretty UNKABOGABLY CLEAR to me. NO EDITING it says. Am I right or am I right? Clear?


I didn't even bother posting these photos below because I didn't want to get in trouble with His Excellency the president or Her Majesty the Queen... BUT STILL... It's pretty convincing enough! =D




When I could make up a really good story about these two photos... I didn't. Even so, I don't think even these two will cause any disqualification had I included these in my entry for some humor or what. Looking at Queen Elizabeth, could you really tell that she's NOT using Yellow Label tea? It's an advertisment or a commercial! Show me an ad that is not edited. Even Angelica Panganiban went to the extent of altering her whole body for a freaking calendar!


Whatever, I'm not arguing anymore. I don't freaking care about the prize, however sayang it is. I was happy to write a blog and that is that!

They asked for an explanation.


Complaints daw o! From SORE LOSERS obviously if you ask me. But I replied to the email:


Like I said, these are just photos! Why make a big fuss about it? I delivered what was asked to be part of the contest. Don't tell me the photos are all that matter?! What about the recipe? The blog story? The audience impact? I really do not understand why should I be disqualified for something that the organizer had suggested.

It's just one contest though. There are still so many contests to be won! I can't believe some even cared to send me messages like this one here who said he's not BITTER daw but apparently he is... else why send me a message? HA? HA? HA?


And what's this pagpalain ka chuva ek ek... I am not TAGALOG and you think I don't realize that this feigned well wishing doesn't reek of sarcasm? And so what if you're a fan? Are you gonna stop reading my blog now? Pfft. Did I ever ask you to read my blog? Wait, do I even know you?!?

Anyway, for all the emotional distress that the organizers of this contest has caused me, I think I'd want some settlement. Can you imagine if I had a heart problem, I get elated one moment because I won a major prize then minutes later it gets retracted!? I'd probably have a heart attack! But I'd be lying if I say I didn't shed a tear or two. Can you imagine being so happy this minute and the next minute you're being treated unfairly with people calling you a cheater? WHAT THE EFFFFFFF...

I was basically putting my baby to sleep when all this happened that crazy afternoon and I had to leave the poor boy crying because I couldn't focus lest I drop him or what, no thanks to the sore losers and all the stupidiTEAS.

Wait a minute, did this contest have a DTI permit? Hmm... I should look into that. But really... it would all have been better if I were disqualified the first time I submitted my entry or that time I submitted again! It's bad enough to wait for how many weeks to know the results of the contest and who won... and then you found out it's YOU but then it's NOT YOU anymore. I mean, FML! Tsk tsk tsk... Looks like Lipton got FREE ADVERTISING from me all the while, don't cha think? Gosh, I feel so... USED!

Oh well. You win some. You lose some.

Ahhh, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

NEXT CONTEST PLEASE!


xoxo,