I Won 1st Prize, Alhamdulillah

I went to Menara Kuala Lumpur alone because all my close friends had class today. Note that this is my first time to Menara Kuala Lumpur! Like many people who lives in Kuala Lumpur, the thought of visiting the monument never occured. Going to the Banquet Deck was a breeze but upon entering, I was positively mesmerized. The banquet deck was fudging awesome. The tables and chairs were covered with golden fabric and there were rose petals, kayu manis and aromatic jellies laid on the tables. The banquet was lit with subtle gold light and the view was kick-ass.

The first thought that came across me was "Damn, I should've bring my camera. Excellent Facebook showoff material."

I can't lie. I was nervous as hell. The fact that I was alone was even more nerve wrecking. I sat with a highschool girl (who was shorlisted) and her entire family. Her mother broke the ice. "Where are you from?". Think, think, think... Sabah, Kedah or... "Saya dari Gombak." She looked surprised. "Oh, orang melayu..." I smiled an -I-get-that-a-lot- smile.

After speeches from VIPS: the CEO of Jerneh, CEO of Edusmith and Senator Dato' Maznah Mazlan, the deputy minister of natural resource and environment, they announced the Jury Award and I didn't win. So I was like "Ramadhan dah dekat." After learning that the Jury Award is like an award for those who didn't win I was like "Ramadhan lagi seminggu."

I was estatic when they mentioned that the Dato' Maznah threw in a camcorder for the champion and holiday trips to the 6 winners. After a nerve-wrecking, smile-inducing, palms-sweating, diorrhea-threatening *panting* *panting* countdown to No.1, they announced the champion. Me! I practically berlari-lari anak to the stage, cancelled my plan to refuse to salam Dato' Maznah due to my Islamic principles UIA had taught me and received the heavy crystal trophy.

I won cash, a camcorder, a three days two nights trip to an Inn at Cherating, an awesome trophy, a goody bag full of sponsored misc stuff, two heavily binded books about Pahang's natural reserves and the most invaluable prize of all: a certificate.

Upon returning to my seat, a small lady from the VIP table lifted her hand and requested a technical explaination or simply "Tell her us how you made the video." And tell them I did. The fact that it took 8 hours for a 10 second feature astonished them. They were all nodding and whispering to each other "Oooo, 8 hours for 10 seconds." All of them whispered in unison so they amplified their modest amazement, making me more kembang than I already was.

After event ended and and the caterer brought in the buffet, almost everybody congratulated me. Participants were eager to learn how I made the video so instead of telling them off (didn't I just explained everything!!!) I explained to them everything they wanted to know. Tak boleh kedekut ilmu. After countless of poses "Ok ok angkat sikit trophy tu... Ok ok sekarang buat macam 'aik, dah menang!' Ok sekarang angkat trophy macam baru menang Fifa" and interviews, I kept smiling and repeating "Thank you so much Dato'" and "Thank you for the oppurtunity." I even said "Thank you for the oppurtunity" to a participant's dad. In my defence, he looked Dato'-like.

You know what's funny though. I will be featured in Fokus SPM edisi November. I'm also going to check out all the newspapers tomorrow, especially this Sunday's Star Edu feature.

And no, I didn't take any pictures. But I'm sure they will update their website and show my teethless grin. I hate my braces!