UP anyone?

so like couple weeks ago I came across Nuffnang's co founder Tim's post about giving away premiere tickets to watch UP. In order to kind of win a pair of tickets, people would have to tell him what they've always wanted to do in their lifetime and why. After reading that post for the first time, I told myself "nah, I can never write anything good about what I want to do" etc. Regardless, I started writing up about the topic and actually finished it. But I didn't think it was good enough to be sent and I guess I was scared about the possibility of him thinking I am a weirdo or a loser or something - come on, we're talking about Timothy Tiah who is undeniably successful at a very young age. There was no way I could impress him with my tiny puny dream.

So I saved my entry and just left it at that.

That night I told Gruffy about it and he said I should just submit my entry. I emailed it to him and asked him what he thought about it and he still said I should just go ahead and submit it - which I did. Honestly, I didn't think that my entry would leave any strong impression and when Tim replied to me and said it was the first time that someone shared a dream like that with him, I still thought he was just being nice. He does seem like a nice guy after all. Secretly I hoped I won so I kept checking his blog to see if he's made a decision. When he finally did and said that the chosen winners would receive an email from Nuffnang in the next few days (with 1st August being the last of the next few days he mentioned), I eagerly waited for that email to reach my inbox.

Came Saturday - no email so I told Gruffy I didn't win. Of course, being the biased fiance he is :P he said that I should have but it was ok. He said he was proud regardless. I also told him to download the movie once it's out on dvd so we can watch it when I go back to Florida this coming holiday - I was sad but I have already accepted that there was no way I'd win cos my writing isn't good. And probably didn't convey what I really wanted to.

It was totally out of my head and I haven't thought about it since Saturday but I came home today to find an email from Nuffnang saying I got the invitation to watch the premiere!!! I was kinda shocked and kept asking myself "I won?" and seriously couldn't believe it cos today's Wednesday and I thought there's no way that email was legit - but it was! So I told Gruffy that maybe some people who won couldn't attend or something so they decided to give the tickets to people who submitted entries or something. Regardless, I got them!

I know that some might think "it's only premiere tickets, what's the big deal?". But it means the world to me that there are possibilities that people actually think that my dream is as big as anyone else's and that my writing managed to convey that. It may just be premiere tickets to you, but it's potential clients who might send their kids to my bookstore for some good storytelling fun to me! (maybe I'll share that entry about my dream that I submitted so you guys would have a better idea :)

But whatever it is, I'm going to the premiere screening! I wanna take Cyan with me but she hasn't replied - must be a busy day at work. And it doesn't matter if my entry was second or third best or what, I am glad I submitted it and gained a little bit of confidence - thanks to Gruffy who has always been supporting me and my writing, as well as always motivating me to chase my dreams :)