Free Prizes. Back To School. Baseball. Those are just a few of my favorite things. As for my least favorite things, well, maybe I’ll share those at the end of the blog. Anyway, let’s stay focused on the positive, what do you say?
Contests are a really intriguing concept. I’m not quite sure if it’s the thrill of competition, the ability to take part in bragging rights or the allure of the prize. I’m thinking it’s a combination of all three and then some. I’ve won a few competitions in my day, nothing to write home about mind you, but still, it’s fun to shout out at the top of my lungs “Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!”. (Yes, I have actually done that…sadly.)
I remember when I was a teenager I cut out, completed and mailed an entry slip found in Hit Parader magazine. Remember that glossy-paged journalistic gem? It was the must-read periodical for the hard rock loving, black t-shirt stage of life, teen male demographic. What was The Grand Prize, you ask? Why a pre-release vinyl LP of Quiet Riot’s second album. I became a neighborhood celebrity overnight!
Seriously, do you want to know what became of that heavy metal prize, as well as all the other records in my collection? I donated them to Goodwill back in Pittsburgh like 20 years ago. It’s amazing to think how important those albums used to be to me, but they quickly lost their luster when replaced with a growing family and living space coming at a premium. Yes, I was told my record collection would have to go so the kids would have more room to play. For the life of me, I don’t understand why, to this day, my wife still has her collection of knick-knack lighthouses, though. Go figure.
But I digress. Sorry about the preamble, but I got really excited when I learned about the Back2School Challenge from Horizon Goodwill. Check this out:
An iPad Mini? Sounds a heck of a lot better than even the tastiest poultry meal or the highly anticipated sophomore release from a legendary band that I haven’t listened to since I was single. How can I get in on this action? Better yet, how can you get your shot at a brand new iPad Mini? It doesn’t matter if you’re entering kindergarten or graduate school, you’re eligible to take part…unlike me. Life can be cruel sometimes! Even though I’m not going back to school next month I still think I deserve a shot at that iPad and the Horizon Goodwill gift certificates.
I called my good friend Deb Carbaugh at Horizon Goodwill Industries to clarify this important point. She let me know that anyone can enter. “Back2School is more of a season: the beginning of autumn. You or your kids or your brothers or sisters or your mom or dad may be heading back to school, but we don’t want to keep anyone from participating. The more the merrier!”
I’m kind of a by-the-rules guy so I still feel like I should be going back to school. But it doesn’t say which school…
Right now as I’m writing this I have another window open, searching for a school, any school, that will accept me so that I will also be eligible for the Back2School Fashion Challenge. So far the only institution that I can enroll in before the competition begins on August 1st is an online clown school out west, but that poses a really big problem. As I mentioned earlier, there are only a handful of things I really don’t like, one of them being clowns. The others? Well, one used to be Jimmy Buffet’s music, but that’s kind of grown on me lately. That leaves the worst of the worst. Raisins. The only thing absolutely worse than raisins would be prunes! They’re like monster raisins put on earth only to scare me.
That being said, I’m still trying to find a loophole to get in on this contest. But there’s nothing stopping you from planning your strategy. I know what my game plan would be. I would visit every Horizon Goodwill store I could and find the perfect ensemble! What? You’re telling me guys can’t use the word “ensemble” to describe their wardrobe choices? My goal would be to find cool shoes, a flashy shirt, a hardcore belt with maybe a skeleton buckle—who knows, maybe even one of those really cool bolo ties, yeah, made out of turquoise!
Whoa, what’s this? A Santa Claus school located in Midland, Michigan? That sounds promising…and I love the Holiday Season. Gotta go readers, time’s getting close to the start date of the competition and I want that iPad!