If I ever feel like I need to question God's favor in my life,

I need to remember this day.

you know those dumb (though I secretly adore) games that are like fun "getting-to-know-each-other" things? I remember doing them in high school if I had a particularly energetic teacher, we would go around the room and say our name and one interesting thing about ourselves. I've done this particular "game" in numerous places, even in the internship that I'm in right now.
whenever I have to do something like this, I can never think of anything fast enough. but, generally, even if I can't think of anything I find to be super interesting I can always 'wow' the crowds with this: "One time I won a contest..."
one of those "we'll pick a name at random to get a prize" type of contests, the kind that require no skill, just pure luck of the draw (literally). those are the hardest to win, which makes sense, there's nothing you can do to better your chances, other than entering a bunch of times, your chances are very slim.
the contest that I won was put on by the swedish rock band Mando Diao. which not many people have actually heard of, outside of places like sweden itself, maybe germany, japan... as in, the bitter americans I've generally told the story too are not terribly impressed by the actual winnings. one time I told a german customer I had (who was wearing a MD shirt) about winning, in broken english she exclaimed that she had seen them on MTV and I think really had no idea what I was talking about. but I feel like she would've really appreciated it, if she knew.
I won all the CDs & singles & EPs they'd released by that time (2006), a couple of (ugly) tshirts, a hat, lanyard, wrist band, and one of their singles on a 45'' from germany. All the CDs & vinyl signed by the band.
it was really cool. I was absolutely amazed.
it was a cool story. something that's kind of a weird once in a lifetime thing, you know? your name being randomly chosen to win a prize? definitely a once in a lifetime thing.


except that it happened to me again, just a second ago.


so, I love the relevant podcast. I like the magazine a lot too; they always have decently written articles on things that generally interest me, they have a pretty good selection of music reviews, and usually cover issues (social justice, spiritual, ect) that I can am interested in. but the podcast has the humor of jesse carey.
I love the podcast, I've laughed so hard listening to that bad baby in my car; their jokes become jane & mine's jokes. it's great.
so I was listening to one of the newer podcasts the other day, while I was letting color-enhancing conditioner sit on my hair before bed, and they made a comment about running a contest where all you have to do to enter is reply to relevantmag on twitter with a specific hashtag and you could win a ticket to cornerstone.
now, I'm not a big christian music person, I'm really not... but I am a big cornerstone fan. I've been five times, and I plan on continuing to go in the future. this year, with the internship, it didn't seem like going was really going to work out very well, but I thought: 'what the heck, I may as well enter, the chances of me winning are slim'. so I entered, and I forgot about it. that was last week.

I was just talking to my mom on the phone, not even remembering having entered the contest, a few minutes ago, about trying to get something about cornerstone to work out. and I happened to refresh my twitter page, and in the middle of her talking about how I would have just  barely enough money to go, and I notice that I have 3 direct messages. for the past, eh, two months or so, I've only had 2.
so I was kind of confused, so I checked it...turns out I won another contest. another. contest. I won the contest.

this is weird.
I am a lucky person.