Taking the Chances!

Today's post is gonna be a little laid back and different. You know, like how differently I wore the life jacket ;-)

or how we do our yoga differently

(No, don't worry, this blog hasn't been hacked, silly! ;-) 

No specific topic, whatsoever. 

I'm tired of always trying to be in control. I'll just let the thoughts flow. When was the last time that I wrote? Oh, here and here. 

For the past few days -- or should I say months, I have been running in circles. I traveled to Boracay with my friends - Karen Reontoy and Airel Ilarina just to shoot for a couple of contests that I'm joining. I know, I'm crazy at that. I have been kind of addicted in contests. It all started when I joined the Standard Chartered Bank's World's Coolest Intern 2010 contest. Among 1,180 contestants all around the globe, I made it to the Top 10 (being the only Filipina in the list). However, I eventually lost to the Social Media Wizards of Oz. It was one of the most memorable moments of my 2010 and something that would always inspire me all my life. I lost but I felt like I won a lot. I gained the respect of the people I've always admired. Gained friends from all over the world and learned that life is not always about winning but about how you enjoy every moments of it. Also, my story became one of the winners for the Yahoo! My 2010 Story. You see, God is not bad in balancing things ;-) 

So yeah, the experiences that I get to learn from contest has kept me going along with the support I'm getting from my friends. The same is true in real life. There are contests and trials that we win. There are some that we lost. 

The sign of being a mature person is not how well you prepare for everything to be right, but on how you stand up and move on after everything goes wrong.

I invite you all to take a look at my entries and see if you 'like' them. Here's my entry to Samsung Galaxy Tab Craziest Things where I ate a raw egg, had a zorb run over us and climbed the highest...see for yourself here.

For a contest which is truly close to my heart by Veet for a chance to date with Daniel Matsunaga and the dashing iPad.  In my entry, I showed how Veet could empower me as a woman and I feel that helping the kids and defend those who are powerless. I hope you also notice how the actions sync with the song by Heart Evangelista like when I tried to reach out for the balloon so I could give them to the kids, "there's nothing that I can't do whenever we're together" - with Veet. Here's the video. You could vote for it until April 30. Everyday. Up to 15 times. 

Last month, I also took a chance to a contest hosted by the Azerbaijan government in honor and commemoration of the Khojaly Tragedy, thus called the Khojaly contest. "Khojaly - Lessons for future", organized by Athena Ventures, supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan.


PRIZES:

First Prize: Rs 10,000 Cash
Second Prize: Rs 7,500 Cash
Third Prize: Rs 5,000 Cash
Certificates of Honour for good entries
Participation Certificates for all participants

PLUS

Travel will be arranged (or paid for) for the winners if they wish to receive prizes from the Ambassador of The Republic of Azerbaijan

ACTIVITY:

Write an essay after exploring internet, books and other sources

REFERENCES:

1. http://www.khojaly.net
2. http://www.khojaly.org
3. http://www.justiceforkhojaly.org
4. http://www.khojaly.org.az
5. http://www.khocaly.s5.com
6. http://www.wikipedia.org

Then several weeks ago, I got a call from a guy whom I didn't remember the name. He identified himself as someone associated with the Azerbaijan embassy. He told me I won the Khojaly contest. Though I know I wasn't one of the Top 3 winners, I was elated to hear that my entry must be one of the best. He took down my bank details and said they'll send me my prize via my local bank.

Me and my mom went to Banco de Oro yesterday and lo and behold, I got $195.00 credited to my account! Me and my friend were joking that since their grand prize is First Prize: Rs 7,500 Cash, they might just be giving me Php10.00 being one of the consolation prizes but hey, they actually sent me Php 8385. You see, never underestimate any contest! It was fun joining such a contest because it has helped me become aware of what's happening in other sides of the world and how cruel the Armenian forces were to the residents of Khojaly.

Now why I am sharing you all these. There will come in our lives when we want to get things that we like. However, we just can't have everything we want, just the things we need. 

When me and my friends shoot in Boracay, there's a lot of things that me and my friends learned. I've opened the album for everyone so you could have a glimpse of how fun it was. 

When we were on our way home, Airel told me that she has learned so much for such a brief yet fun experience. She learned that we need to take chances once they show up. She continued that though she may be preparing for her board exams, she decided to go with me and show her support instead. Karen was reviewing for gazillion of exams for the week and I felt so lucky to have friends who would abandon all their other responsibilities just to have fun with support me. 

I guess we should:

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than the person to be loved. - Barbara Johnson

Just like my favorite blogger Danny Brown said, 

Life moves fast; we’re not always in the lane that we should be to keep up. Time is precious. We need to remember to treat it as such.

May I take this opportunity to thank everyone for all the wonderful things you did in my life. Thank you for being part of it. Thank you for making it colorful, fun and a totally rewarding one. I feel that I haven't been able to reach out with you all more than I should be so allow me to take this chance to THANK YOU. You are amazing for who you are.