It is that time again! Once more, my friends, we find ourselves halfway through NaBloPoMo, and once again it's time for me to throw a contest!
(And this year, like last year, you really will get a prize if you win. Still working on the prize for 2006. This is because I suck. See notes on personal failure supplied prefatory to this year's NaBloPoMo exercise.)
This year, if you are lucky and/or clever enough to win, you will receive a Super Special Surprise Souvenir Pack, a grab bag of goodies hand-selected by me just for you from the wonderful West Concord 5 & 10 in West Concord, Massachusetts (total value no more than US$20, but not less than US$15). Longtime readers of this blog know that this is the source of all sorts of wacky goodness, from clearly labeled jumbo rubber rats to Hallowe'en jokes that just won't quit. Here are just some of the other items shoppers routinely discover for five or ten dollars -- or less! usually less! -- at the West Concord 5 & 10:
- all kinds of art and crafting supplies
- cheesy but inoffensive local interest postcards
- hardware you can actually use
- office supplies
- cheap and wonderful plastic toys
- ribbons, notions, and yarn
- cookie cutters and other kitchen gadgetry
- sunglasses both chic and not so much, and of course
- holiday decorations you won't find at Macy's
As you might surmise, US$15-20 is a whole lot of Super Special Surprise at the West Concord 5 & 10. However, be advised that no item in your Super Special Surprise Souvenir Pack is guaranteed to be of any practical use to you whatsoever.
So, now that you know what you can win, let's talk about how you can win it!
The name of this year's game is...
...drumroll please...
...OMG! What Is That Stuff? (Click to enlarge, if you think it will help.)
Well? What do you think?
Just as with last year's contest, the rules are simple:
1. Submit your best, most descriptive guess by way of a comment on this post sometime before midnight at the International Date Line on Thursday, November 20, 2008 (GMT-12).
3. The person who most completely and accurately answers this question in the comments attached to this post before midnight at the International Date Line on Thursday, November 20, 2008 (GMT-12) will be the winner.
4. In the event of a tie, I shall personally write each of the tying entrants' names on a tiny piece of paper, crumple it up, and throw it with all the others into a big bowl. I will then close my eyes, mix them up, and draw one. If your name is on the piece I draw, you will be the winner!
5. It pays to be partly right! However, it also costs to be partly wrong. If you look at how I chose a winner in years previous, you will see that I assigned points to each entry based on the number of correct details offered, and negative points based on the number of incorrect ones.
6. Also, if no one guesses correctly, I will simply choose the answer which most amuses me. So even if you don't have the faintest clue, it is still in your interest to enter if you wish oh wish you could only get someone to send you a Super Special Surprise Souvenir Pack from the West Concord 5 & 10.
7. Finally, I don't care where you live! If you think you want to post a guess and you live anywhere the U. S. Postal Service will send a package (and that's a lot of places), please go for it! Also, you do not have to be a NaBloPoMo '08 participant yourself to play this game.
Barring catastrophe, the complete answer and the name of the lucky winner will be posted on this blog sometime on Saturday, November 22, 2008.
Good luck, and may the person who will have the most fun with this win!
Edible gravel. Available from all good Farmers' Markets. Looks like gravel and can be used as such on a short term basis so ideal for covering unsioghtly soil in the pots of those house plants you are given by visitors but allow to die through neglect over the next few weeks. Edible by cats and dogs for when you forget to feed them and they trun to the plants for nourishment. Oh, yes, you wanted detail. Average size of gravel on long axis - 18mm.
Posted by: ScriptorSenex | November 16, 2008 at 01:34 AM
Oh, please, it's a bowl of unused gravel.
Posted by: TheQueen | November 16, 2008 at 09:25 AM
It absolutely has to be a pile of chipped chocolate eagerly awaiting it's turn to be baked into something yummy.
(I'm so sad I missed last year's contest, I would so have guessed correctly... just like everybody else)
Posted by: Bethieee | November 16, 2008 at 07:56 PM
It's a bowl of *used* gravel. Reuse/recycle and all that.
Posted by: miz_geek | November 19, 2008 at 08:12 PM
it must be ¿ a sort of kitty litter ......Yup,,that's it
Posted by: Fred** | November 20, 2008 at 08:42 PM
I shall reveal nothing here, but thanks for playing, everyone. Tune in tomorrow, 11/22 (probably late in the day by my time, which is GMT -5), to find out who won!
Posted by: Sara | November 21, 2008 at 09:30 AM