Monday, January 30, 2012

Winners of the Laughter is the Best Medicine contest

Oh boy, what a tough decision. Thank you so much everyone for your stories. It came down to a random.org drawing for the winners, after I called in a couple of extra judges. (Thank you judges ;) ) The winners are.....drumrollll

Ian and Elder_Wizard. I will be DM'ing you both your gift card codes. Congratulations and I would like to give an applause to all of you for truly great and comical stories.

Since you were all so wonderful and shared yours, I will share one of my personal favorites about me. I don't know how many of you know how much I like Red Velvet Cake but here is a story I wrote on my other blog about my favorite dessert. Hope you enjoy the story.

It's titled CSI (Cake Scene Investigators)

During its first 4 seasons, my favorite show was CSI. This was before Miami (maybe Miami had one season) and New York. It was just Grissom and his team doing what they did best. Solving murders in an hour that would take a real team of Forensic Scientists weeks or years but I digress.

Another fact about me that some may or may not know, I absolutely LOVE Red Velvet cake. Have you ever looked at the recipe for it though? The recipe takes about 2 hours to prepare, not including baking time if you make it from scratch. I’m not even sure that includes the homemade Cream Cheese icing but man is it worth it. (Pause for drooling) You have no idea how excited I was to walk into a grocery store one day and discover Red Velvet Cake mix. It was like a sign from heaven and I swear the fluorescent lights of the grocery store all faded except the one over that box. I bought the cake mix and was in for another surprise when I got home. There was a marathon of CSI on one of the TV channels. Could the day get any better?

I get into some comfortable clothes (White T-shirt and jeans), turn the TV up so I can hear it in the kitchen, and start to read the instructions on the cake box which are easy enough. Take some water, oil, the mix, and eggs and blend them together with a mixer. Yay,10 minute prep time. I do not own one of those fancy mixers with the bowl where you can just toss your ingredients in and let it go. All I own is a simple hand mixer but it works so I’m not complaining. I wait for a commercial and commence with the beating and blending. I think the box said to mix for 5 minutes but can’t remember.

As I am mixing, I suddenly notice the cord from my hand mixer has fallen into the bowl. (I am left handed and have the classic left hander hook) Oops! I pick it up, wipe it off with my hand, put the excess batter in the bowl and since I am at home, just clean my hand with my T-shirt. Not sanitary but hey, it’s not a restaurant and I am the only one eating the cake. My cake, my germs. I keep mixing and something hits my sock. I look down to discover a bright red splotch on my toe. Confused, I look up to discover the cord had fallen into the mixer again and as I moved, the cord corrected itself but of course, batter was all over the cord and that is what caused the splatter. By this time, my mind finally registered the fact that the batter was red…RED, oh heavens.

I looked at the counter and the batter from the cord had not only dripped on my sock, but the counter, there was a red streak from the dishwasher to the floor, and of course, the floor itself, which I had stepped in by now. I then remembered how I cleaned the batter. My white T-shirt was covered in red and I looked like one of the suspects on the TV in the next room. I was half expecting the Police to come knocking on my door for no reason and discover me in red stained clothes holding a lethal mixer. You know, I lost interest in the show shortly afterwards. Wonder why?

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Laughter! The Best Medicine Contest

(Sponsored by Ravenwood Radio and Petnome)

I have noticed a lot of Twizards (Twitter wizards) have a case of the Winter Blues. Christmas Break is over, school and work are back to normal schedule, and germs have infested many of us. This has made for some very stressful and very sad tweets. It drives me crazy to see so many friends stressed out. There's an old cliche that states, "Laughter is the best medicine" and I have decided to test that theory out. That's where the contest part comes in at. I need your help.

I would like for you to post a funny short story in my comments section.

Rules:

Keep it PG rated. If there is any foul language, or filthy talk, it will be immediately removed and you will be banned from any other contest I sponsor/hold.

Be nice and respectful: I should not have to add this but I do not tolerate rudeness or bullying. (This includes both your story and if you write something bad about someone else's story.) This will also get you banned from any other contest I sponsor/hold.

I would like to see something funny that you experienced, saw, or heard about. (I will be posting an example). It does NOT have to be Wizard101 related although there are plenty of funny experiences I have had in game.

Keep it short: A little blog is no place for a "Gone with the Wind" sized story. Try to keep it at the very MOST, 3 small paragraphs long.

Have fun: I think this one is self-explanatory

Include Twitter name: If you do not have a Twitter name, let me know and I will see if we can work something out.

Deadline for entries is Sunday, January 29th, at 6pm ET.(For those on the West Coast that is 3pm your time) Late entries will not be accepted. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

I will be choosing 2 stories I think are the funniest and give the writers of those stories a $10 Wizard101 Gift Certificate. Not only will you be getting 1,000 Crowns, but the Certificates also come with your very own Ice Elf pet. ( Winner announcement is TBA.)


Hmm, what am I missing? Oh yes. You need an example. Here is a funny story of my own to help get your creative juices flowing.

A few nights ago, I was playing another MMO game and had my headset on so I could listen to sounds and music from that game. This particular game is a bit more intense than Wizard101 and enemies can come out of nowhere and attack you. I was just running my little character around doing various quests, feeling pretty relaxed, yet ever vigilant. Ever have one of those moments where you are relaxed and tense at the same time? I must have been having one of those moments because someone tweeted something, (in my defense no one had tweeted in about an hour) my Tweetdeck made its little "Bloop" sound, and it startled me so much I jumped and my mouse flew out of my hand.

Now it's your turn. Let's see if we can laugh the blues away.

I would like to thank Petnome and Ravenwood Radio for sponsoring this contest. Thank you. :D