11/05/00
When I was in high school, I entered a whole lot of contests in magazines like Seventeen and YM and Sassy, being a dorky teenager girl and all.
In one contest the grand prize was a nice computer for you, and one for your school. First prize was a ten-speed bike. Second prize was a year's supply of Bic pens and pencils. Third prize? 100 winners would receive that year's issue of The World Book Almanac.
I think I still have that stupid Almanac around somewhere at my parent's house.
In another contest, all you had to do was send in a postcard with your pant size and you might be one of the lucky 200 to win a pair of Lawman jeans. I won my pair, but they were so short in the crotch that they gave me an almost permanent case of camel-toe.
*****
My friend Dan used to live in Iowa City, too, before escaping back to Wisconsin. To kill time between one unsatisfying day and another, he took to entering online sweepstakes. To his surprise, he managed to win the "Yellow Submarine Sweepstakes" on VH1.com: a brand new KIA Sportage, a trip for two to London with a backstage trip to where Yellow Submarine was filmed, and a nice fat wad of income tax to pay out of pocket.
I, too, like to enter online sweepstakes.
I, too, have entered contests on VH1.com.
Have I won a car and a trip and some income tax to pay?
No. Instead I have won a copy of the forthcoming book The List 2000, due in bookstores this December, with a retail value of $13.
Will I have to pony up some cash to the gubbmint for this privilege? Probably not.
Can I drive around town in it to do errands? Definitely not.
Will I need a passport and and posh accomodations in another country to fully enjoy the depths of its pages? I highly doubt it.
Why do I keep winning useless books?
Somehow, I think Dan got the better deal.
