Lainy's Musings: Blog Contest

2009-03-27

Contest Updates and More!

As of this writing, there's only 4 days, 18 hours, 32 minutes and 12 seconds remaining until the end of acceptance of entries for the Lainy's Hottest Blogoversary Writing Competition: A Bloggers Celebration! I must admit I had a great time reading the first 23 submitted entries. Such interesting and awesome reads! I got amazed how bloggers can be so creative while at the same time inspiring bloggers through their own blogging tale. It is such a pity though I won't have a say in judging the entries submitted.

As you all know, the competition shall be composed of 3 credible judges who shall make up 50% of the contest results. Too many people have been actually asking me bluntly for the judges' identities. I sincerely understand your curiosity and anxiety concerning the identities of those who will be deciding your fate as far as this contest is concerned. If I were in your shoes, I won't be different. However, I hope you do understand that for a clean, fair and transparent judgment, the judges don't have to be influenced in anyway. You must be assured that none of your competitors are mailing them and asking for favors or proposing bribes. On my part, I have done my best to make sure that the judges were carefully selected and I can truly vouch for their capabilities. They won't be passing on their judgment while blindfolded because they may or may not know the blogger behind each entry they are judging. As a result, I made sure I picked up people who are good in writing and have a mastery of the English Language, and above all, very objective but not so emotional.

If the judges are one of the reasons that's pulling you back from joining this competition, let me give you confidence by saying we have the best around here! That being said, I am sticking to the contest rules. The judges shall remain anonymous until such time the winners are declared. This is to give no shadow of doubts to the competition results.

As I have previously written, conceptualizing a competition of this magnitude is not a walk in the park. I wanted this to be something different from the usual contests. I made sure this contest will be worth the sponsors' pledges. This certainly is not your "copy-paste" thing. This time, I won't be going by the numbers but rather of the quality and effort that participants will be putting in.

I must confess, with the contest rules, I thought that bloggers were fighting shy to write stuffs.

I said to myself:

"It really doesn't make sense at all! Why would people shy away from joining? That's what bloggers do- WRITE stuffs! "

But the 23 official valid entries proved me wrong! Bloggers can be amazingly creative! And I know there are still too many of you there! Rest assured your efforts won't be for naught.

Apart from the major prizes, here's what's in store for you:

BEST STORYTELLER AWARD

READER'S CHOICE AWARD

The winners will be given due recognition in the Storyteller's Hall of Fame.

*** The following are the official valid entries as of March 30, 2009:

R E C E L!

First commenter for this post...

2009-03-21

The Eye is the Window of the Soul...

I am certain most of you are familiar with the adage:

The eye is the window of the soul; the mouth;
the door; the intellect; the WILL are seen in the eyes!

I realize how important our eyes are. It gives us the opportunity to see the beauty of life and everything that God has in store for us. But it is such a pity! I have been suffering from severe myopia since I was 15 years old. I am a complete invalid without my contact lenses or my eyeglasses. I have been advised by my ophthalmologist a few years back to undergo laser surgery for me to get rid of the hassle of wearing both contacts and glasses but I only laughed it off! Where would I get the huge amount of money? It would take me a whole lifetime to be able to save that amount! So I entirely forgot about the surgery.

I had my annual eye consultation today. The good news? No increase in eye grade; still stands at 1000 on both eyes. The bad news... I was over refracted. Meaning, the eyeglasses that I am currently wearing is way above the normal grade that I am supposed to have. But that's OK, the doctor says so. The only important thing to take note is to change my contact lenses every after six (6) months and not one year since I am living in a very dusty community.

The doctor had my eyes dilated. He actually hesitated at first because there was no one with me. I surely will have a difficult time going home. But I insisted. I told him I can manage going home all by myself. So he proceeded with the over-all check up.

Everything was on a blur after that. I can hardly see and I had a difficult time going home and coming online. My Prince decided to call it an off night despite my complaints. I hated it when I couldn't spend my time with him! Long distance relationship is killing me! But he lifted my spirit up when he called on the phone instead and told me not to worry so much because we have a whole lifetime ahead of us. Isn't he such a sweetie?

Going back to the results of the check up, the doctor told me that the problem with having such a very high eye grade like mine is that it creates some sort of stretch marks on my eyes. Apparently, there is a need to monitor my eye condition every now and then. If symptoms like flashing occurs even when my eyes are closed, there is a need to see a doctor right away. If problems won't be detected at a very early stage, the stretch marks will result to a hole! Oh sweet heavenly! I don't want that happening to me and to anyone for that matter. So we better take good care of our own eyes before it's too late.

Anyhow, I would like to make a quick update on the Lainy's Blogoversary Writing Competition: A Bloggers Celebration! Six (6) official valid entries were able to make it for the first week since the competition's kick off. They are the following: