I had never ever won anything in my entire life, until yesterday.
I was at an assembly, and they were randomly drawing out names to go get a prize from the prize table, and they actually called my name! I went up there and got this really cool tent. It says it fits up to 4 people and it has windows and a mat so you don’t track dirt in! Woo hoo! And a little cubbyhole thing to put your shoes in!
The funny thing is, I really did need a tent. My last one blew down when I was at the Bluegrass Festival in Winfield last September.
So what’s the coolest thing you’ve ever won?
I won a 31" color television. I had to buy a new entertainment center for it because my old one wouldn’t hold it. I won it at bingo after collecting tickets for several weeks in a row. They drew for it at intermission and my hands didn’t stop shaking for the whole second half of the session.
When I was a senior in high school, I entered a cake decorating contest help by my father’s Knights of Columbus council. I made a cake that looked like their council beanie, sorta (I’m not very artistic) and I won first prize - a stainless steel cake carrier. It’s a good size round plate with a cover that locks to the plate and a carrying handle on top. I wasn’t all that impressed with it when I was 18, but 31 years later, I still use it frequently.
Aside from $46,000 on Jeopardy in '94 – I just won a Dr Pepper T-shirt. I drink gallons of Dr Pepper and am very happy about this. I hope it’s cool – there was no picture. (Hmm, maybe I should go to the website and see if they’ve got a picture.)
I wasn’t an academic kid at school. I did just enough work to get by. But once, in mathematics we were given an ‘assignment’ about keeping pets. For some reason I worked my ass off on that. Mine was the best so I won an easter egg.
Oh and the first ever lottery scratch card I bought won me a tenner.
I once won second prize in a No-Talent Contest at the Baptist Student Union. My untalent was playing “Ode to Joy” on the recorder. My prize was a plastic toy cellphone/watergun.
Yay, an ** ANSWERING MACHINE!!!**
What 16 year old doesn’t dream of winning an answering machine at her afterprom?
Actually, the coolest thing ever was at some fishing gathering I went to with my dad and sister when I was 12. They had a prize raffle at the end of the day, and we had gotten there just before they picked names, so we added all our names (you could add your name as many times as you paid for, I think we did each of our names twice), and then sat down as they called our names.
Grand Prize - a four person tent - my dad
2nd Prize - a boat motor - my dad
6th Prize - a bag of money - my sister
13th Prize - an electric knife for skinning fish - me
Keep in mind this was no small gathering, there were probably about 200 people there and only about 20 prizes. Woo!!! Though people started to complain by the time my sister went up to grab her bag o’ cash.
Not quite as exciting as a tent or an electric fish-skinning knife, but the only other things I’ve ever won were fairly bland (gift certificates, a poster for a John Grisham movie, and a coupon for a candy bar that I forgot to redeem).
I don’t remember whether I came in first or dead last, but it was a game played in a bar in Akron, Ohio, in which a D.J. would play the first few seconds of songs and the patrons would try to figure out the title and artist.
However I placed, I won a large, inflatable can of Old Milwaukee, a Budweiser keychain, and a box of pens.
When I was around 8 or 9, I won a 21 inch TV and I had to go up on stage in front of 5,000 people to claim it. But since it was too big they told me that my parents could pick it up after the evening was over.
When I was in college and by definition poor, I won a stereo from a radio station. I’d been getting by on a clock radio! So it was completely wonderful to get a whole stereo.
Also in college they drew my name out of a hat during halftime of a basketball game for dinner for two at a restaurant. We ate out and then attended a big do at the opening of the Louisville Orchestra at the (then new) Kentucky Center for the Arts, also free thanks to comp student tickets. It was a huge night on the town that cost us all of about $10 for the bottle of wine that didn’t come with the free dinner!
My days of freebies are about over, it seems. All I ever win nowdays is the prizes at baby and wedding showers. I kick all the little old ladies’ butts in the “friendly” games. LOL.
Twick, did you really win on Jeopardy? Wow! There’s a 5 time Champion around here, but he was the only one I was aware of who’d been on Jeopardy. I’ve got a friend trying out soon. Any pointers?
