DIARY OF A FAN, part 4

*January 26, 2004
Since it’s a Monday, wala akong pasok sa school! As soon as I woke up (that was around 8.30), I had coffee and after that, I sent my entry via e-mail right away… I didn’t do the presentation kasi wala rin akong time so yung entry ko sa MYX, full of smiley… ‘di pa nga yung animated e… my entry was really simple and humorous, at the same time, direct to the point… so nung nasend ko na yung mail, I thought my day is through already… as in back to normal na ulit…
Come 6.30 in the evening, while my sister was using the computer, she answered the phone… “Ate, sa MYX daw!!!” I was shocked because I just sent my entry that morning… my first reaction was, “Weh?! Totoo ba yan?!” tapos malapit na ako sa phone, I asked her, “I won? I won?”
So, I got the phone… and the conversation, as I remember, was like this:
Tin: hello?
MYX: is this christia morada?
Tin: yes… speaking…
MYX: hi! This is mila from MYX… we got your entry and read it…
Tin: really? (I was getting really excited already… parang yung voice ko nga medyo expecting na… ang stupid nga e… siyempre, kaya nga sila tumawag eh kasi nabasa na nila yung entry ko…)
MYX: so, you’re a real vic zhou fan?
Tin: oo naman… matagal na…
MYX: are you Chinese? Kasi yung entry mo in Chinese kasi e…
Tin: no… that was just translated by my sister…
MYX: may passport ka ba? Nakapagtravel ka na ba before?
Tin: opo…I’ve been to the states and hong kong before…
MYX: valid pa ba yung passport mo? Baka hindi naman…
Tin: valid po yon… kakarenew lang kasi ng passport ko e…
MYX: ahh… okay… ganito, you’re not yet the official winner pero we’ll call you again whatever happens… vineverify lang naming yung mga contestants…
Tin: okay… sige po… bye…
MYX: bye.
After the conversation, sobrang happy ako… medyo uneasy kasi when I thought about my answers, sabi ko, “Shoots! Dapat hindi ko sinabi na pinatranslate yung entry ko… dapat sinabi ko ako yung nagtranslate… dapat sinabi ko I haven’t been to hong kong kasi baka hindi nila ako gawing winner…” yung sister ko, sabi niya…”’wag ka mag-expect… malay mo ‘di ikaw yung winner… masakit yon if ever you find out na hindi ikaw yung winner… tawag ka kay Arlene (friend ko na zai zai fan din) tapos tanong mo kung nagsend na siya ng entry niya, kung tumawag sa kanya yung myx…” Sort of counter-verification on my part, di ba?! Point taken… but I didn’t call Arlene…
An hour later, I was able to answer another call from MYX… Ms. Mila just asked me if I joined any contests conducted by MYX or MTV in the past… if I won in those contests daw… I answered no kasi first time ko talaga yung contest kay zai zai… that was it…
My brother who was eating that time told me, “Ate, ikaw na yung winner… kasi tignan mo, twice na sila tumawag sa’yo… ano ibig sabihin non?!” Outside, I looked really calm na tipong parang wala lang sa akin yung sinabi ng brother ko… na wala lang yung second call from MYX… But man!!! inside… sobrang lakas na ng heartbeat ko…
While I was preparing the doggie food in the kitchen… around 8.30 pm… the phone rang and my mom called for me after a few seconds… “Tin!!! Sa MYX…” Oh my god… another call… is this it?! Siyempre ang dumi ng hands ko when I took the phone from my mom…
Tin: hello?
MYX: christia? This is mila from MYX again…
Tin: yes…
MYX: I don’t know if I already asked you this pero itanong ko na lang ulit… nagtravel ka na ba before?
Tin: opo… sa hong kong and sa states po recently lang…
MYX: ahh… okay… sige na nga… kasi ganito yon… ikaw na yung WINNER…
Tin: talaga?!?!?!?!?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After I heard her say the word winner… wala na… I didn’t understand the words she’s saying… sobrang tili ko, my entire family was looking at me… for the first time in my life, nabakla ako in front of them!!! Another reason why I didn’t get the things she’s telling me was that zai zai and ken’s yamaha commercial was on TV kaya sobrang wala na talaga… DAMN!!! I’m going to hong kong to meet THE guy!!! Yung mga details na lang during the latter part of the conversation, yun na lang yung naintindihan ko… she gave me her office number… she told me that I should prepare myself from February 4 to 8 kasi hindi pa nila alam yung exact date ng flight… I asked her kung maraming entries… She told me “Sobra!”… then we said goodbye…
OH MY GOD!!! This was the statement I kept on saying to myself from the time Ms. Mila informed me upto the time I went to sleep… siyempre before closing my eyes, tinuloy ko na yung prayer…=)

*** The following morning, pasok ako sa school… I was waiting for Arlene to come kasi gusto ko siya and my close friends lang yung first sa school namin na makaalam… wala pa siya pero I can’t help myself… so I told Izaw that I joined this contest and I won… buong batch ko na yung nakaalam after a few minutes… Arlene was the last person to know about it… saying! late kasi siya eh…
*** from January 27 to the early days of February, I received no call from MYX… I was a bit scared already kasi I don’t know if it’s really true… every time I enter the gate, I ask my mom kung may tawag from MYX… wala daw… Thursday lang tumawag si Ms. Mila to get my full name… after that, zero, nil, wala… Sobrang scared ko, I was thinking na baka they found a better entry than mine… maybe they read red_star’s entry already kaya ‘di na siya tumatawag… maybe joke lang ‘to… my friends were asking me bakit pa daw pinapakita yung promo sa MYX eh may winner na? I just told them kasi next time pa daw nila ipapakita yung name ng winner… I was so full of fear and doubt kaya kung anu-ano na yung naiisip ko… if ever I found out na iba na yung winner, I’m going to sue them for giving me false hope!!! I’m going to bring them down!!! February 4, she called me up… “christia, punta ka dito tomorrow to claim your ticket…” that was the day na naging okay na talaga ‘ko…