As a cheap person, I’ve vigorously applied for online giveaways and free samples on the Internet for three years now. I suspended it as of today because I’m moving to my new place and my address will soon be changed. I take this opportunity to go over the result of my three-year applications. The best freebie I won for a giveaway was two dozen cans of limited-edition beer with an antique label. It was worth over $60. I got two dozen cans of cheaper beer or soda for a couple of times and a box of eye cosmetics, too. But mostly what I got were small packets of shampoo or cosmetics. Although it took time to fill out my personal information and answer a survey for the application, I was often disappointed at what the company sent as a reward. While they extravagantly announced that I had won the giveaway on a letter, what they enclosed was a teeny tiny packet. I sometimes saw the similar packet handed out for free at a store or on the street. I may have wasted so much time to apply for freebies online after all. But there’s still the even worse result. In these three years, my eyesight has deteriorated significantly. If it has to do with spending a long time on the Internet to apply for freebies, that certainly did more harm than good…
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When lucky, you find some #bread at half price at a grocery store. These are 50 cents and 60 cents each. #Japan
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I felt as if I had been put in prison with a life sentence
It has gotten warmer little by little and spring is near. Shortly, cherry blossoms are blooming here and there around Japan, making a usually somber country beautiful. Cherry blossoms mean the season to begin a new year at a school and an office in Japan. It was spring when I entered elementary school and this time of year reminds me of how I felt at that time. At Japanese schools, the whole school assembly is held once a week. I remember the first assembly at the elementary school held in the schoolyard. The school had a large number of students, well over 2,000. They gathered in the schoolyard to listen to a principal’s weekly address, lined up in neat rows by the class and the grade. As I was in the first grade, my row was near the edge of the yard. I glanced at the far side of it, where the sixth-graders stood in line. They were tall and looked like grown-ups to me. And all of a sudden, a strong sense of claustrophobia seized me. I realized that I would keep coming to this school until I grew that big. Considering the excruciating two years I spent at kindergarten, coming here for six years seemed forever and torture. On top of that, it wouldn’t end there. Three years at junior high school and another three years at high school would follow. My mother had already talked about a college then, too. The day I would be freed from school I loathed so much would be so far away. I felt as if I had been put in prison with a life sentence, while the principal was congratulating the first-graders in his speech and cherry blossoms were warmly looking down…
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This must be the way for me to become a millionaire.
One day, I saw numbers in my dream. I dream a lot every night, but numbers rarely appear. I thought it was some sort of sign, and bought a lottery ticket. I won $10. A few weeks later, I dreamed about numbers again, and bought a ticket accordingly. I won $100. I was convinced this was it. This must be the way for me to become a millionaire. Since then, I’ve kept buying a lottery ticket every week, but with no luck at all. For the first time in almost a year, I won $10 yesterday. The sum dropped off. And the total spending for the lottery has become incomparably much more than I gained…