9.10.11: They didn't call it a Grand Launch for nothin'

Or how I won a brand new SMART Netphone, told through a series of tweets and pics ;p

It all started with this poster:

Whilst it felt flattering and surreal that my name was in the poster together with celebrities and personalities famous from different fields, it also felt a bit unsettling that I didn't even receive an invite. It was already Thursday when I saw the poster, so the event was only two days away! I tweeted this to no one in particular:

Thankfully, Jon replied right away. Arrangements were done, and I was scheduled to get my invite the next day!

Alas, it rained dragons and lobsters the next day so it was nearly impossible for me to get my invite. Thank God for friends though; Ana's friend Mai went to the Connect Agencie's office to get our "event passes" as it was a 'No Invite, No Entry' type of event.

The day of the party came. Thoughts about the party were in my mind the whole day:

But because I wasn't really expecting to attend this event, I didn't have a ready outfit as all my dresses were in my parents' house. The invite said the dress code was 'smart casual' so I decided to just wear my favorite jeans (even though I know most girls will be in their party dresses). Welcome to my outfit woes:

On the way home from work, it suddenly rained again!

In the tradition of Dear Blank, Please Blank

It looked like it would rain the whole night that I seriously considered not attending any more! I was beginning to compose my "I'm sorry I won't be able to go..." tweets and texts in my mind while in the shower as I was scared of being stranded, but I don't know why I couldn't. I still did my hair and makeup, and still went to Ayala to meet Ana for dinner before getting our invites. I refused to succumb to laziness and the desire to just curl in bed :)

While being squished in the MRT:

And finally, I saw Ana! We took our sweet time eating dinner and talking as we were still early for the 9PM event.

Little did we know that Mai suddenly had an emergency which meant she wouldn't be able to give us our tickets. There goes our event passes! Hence, this tweet:

By the way, that's my boss's boss I was tweeting with. One of the things I love most about my job is that everyone's cool like that ;)

A miracle came in the form of Tracy who gave us extra invites. Thank you Tracy! We reached Resorts World in no time after that!

I thought Republiq was packed during the Media Launch last week, but it turned out Connect Agencie and SMART were able to invite MORE people this time around!

Most were college students from Manila's best universities!

The program was hosted by KC Montero and Andi Manzano once again. Actually the program was like one big deja-vu as they just repeated the entire thing from last week's event, the only difference is that they gave out more phones AND Ramon Bautista was there to enliven things up!

Ava and Tracy being interviewed by Ramon :)

KC and Andi

Shuffling contest

Also,

I blame the open bar. LOL.

Of course I had to have photos with my blog-friends. As you can see I chose to wear the white top:

With Ana

With Tracy and Ava

My "dates" Ana, Ava, Tracy, and Earth :D

With Vern

With Ramon Bautista

I used my HTC ChaCha to 'live-tweet' with the #smartnetphone hash tag a LOT of times (for more chances of winning the raffle) haha.

And before I knew it...

I WON THE RAFFLE, BABY!!
Yeah, 4th on the list!

I don't know if it was pure luck or if they were moved by my "passionate" tweets, all I know is that Twitter is not at all bad like other people (who don't have Twitter anyway) claim it to be - especially when it helps you win free phones haha!

I also posted the good news on my Facebook wall:

^^,

^^,

We went home after the program. Woohoo what a cuhrrrrazy night!

Too bad Ana went home already before we had this photo taken.

I got home a little after 3AM, super tired but sooo perked up!

The elusive, exclusive invite

Here are some photos of my new SMART Netphone:

I just realized I now have three Android phones.
My name should be Kristel Anndroid ;D

I will use my HTC ChaCha and this Netphone permanently from now on. I have decided to sell my Samsung Galaxy Ace, and he will be with his new owner soon. And because of that, I think I'm going to call this new gadget Sheldon as well :)

The package contains: the SMART Netphone unit, charger, battery, 2GB microSD, mini manuals, headset, and a SMART SIM.

I am so thankful I got to go, even when there were so many external forces that seemed to stop me! Big thanks also to my soul sister Ana. I really appreciate our conversations and shared realizations :)

I am currently enjoying my new phone and the fact I can view and post on my Facebook and Twitter feeds for free! Proof?

Do you have a Netphone too? Find me from the Global Directory so we can chat! :)I am a proud SMART Netphone owner. Thank you SMART!!! I will continue playing with Sheldon for a few more days, and will post a more comprehensive review soon. Watch out for that!

My workweek starts again tomorrow. Later, guys!

Special thanks to Connect Agencie and Jon Herrera! :)