Official Recap of W.I.B.I.J.?! Game 1 (Presented by Tina and Heather)

Tuesday, March 9 1:00 pm, EST, the day we had been waiting for. All the canvas raising and the hay strewing had been for this moment. Blogger, the Elephant, had been fed, fake eyelashes applied. Google, the lion, had paced his cage the whole night. Now he was tied up out back. The Farmville steak seemed to have calmed him. Everybody was raring to go. In fact, Jon was already gone. He was out swinging from the fiber optics leaving comments as he went. That left Heather, Ringleader, and Tina, Master of ceremonies, back to welcome the players.

Dena arrived, raring to go. Checking in at the appointed hour and heading off, before we could get her to fork over for the peanuts, much to Blogger’s chagrin. At first we only had Dena. And by only, I hope you know that I mean, ONLY Dena, her enthusiasm, her bubbling joy could not be contained and it was the perfect place to start. We set about marking her progress, she had just landed at stop one when Mariah appeared on the scene, and proved to be speedy. She popped back to the big top to give full reports and compliment her opponent. The hour was underway and as will happen, the animals were enraptured by all the action and so did not misbehave.

The race was on!  Dena had landed at Stop One, Crowe’s Nest, where Lisa Schroeder guest posted about the birthday of her book,  IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES. It is a six full minutes before Mariah shows up.  A bit of time in a W.I.B.I.J race. Could Mariah catch up? At Stop Two, Pimp My Novel, a repost called “The Importance of Bad Reviews.” Mariah is quickly making up time, her intelligent comment is only 4 minutes behind Dena's thoughtful one. At Stop Three: “Author Friends: Meet Helen Walden”, The Rejectionist, a favorite here at WIBIJ, let's Helen have her say about Heavy Metal. Thier comments are one after the other, arriving at the same minute, Dena posts first and Mariah second. Even in the heat of the moment these bloggers are on topic and they do not scrimp! By Stop Four: Combreviations: “I am the Savior of Waterlogged Books,” Mariah is AHEAD by 9 minutes and this is where our racers truely shine. Mariah's comment mentions The Book Thief. Clearly the girl gets points for that and then Dena's comment made us Roll On The Floor Laughing. Finally they are on to the tricky stop: Stop Five: Nathan Bransford reminding us again, “Don’t Believe the E-book Skeptics." Jon's comment was hidden somewhere in the 80 comments below. And, SURPRISE, Dena is back in the lead!! At the big top, we were biting our nails, knowing that any minute now the racers will be returning. Who will arrive first.


And even after the timed sequence OUR GUESTS have amazed us with their comments:
Laura made us laugh with her honest comment:

Okay, Lisa. This totally cracked me up. Let me explain. The whole time I'm reading this, I'm thinking, "wow. Lisa Schroeder wrote a book about cupcakes too. Cupcakes must be getting popular." And then it turned out to be you!

Sounds adorable. Can't wait to read it.

And, Robert, with beautiful comment style, included a link:

I love the journey of "It's Raining Cupcakes" and three cheers for happiness! 

While driving from Massachusetts to Washington state in January, I went to a fantastic cupcake store in Nashville. The family that runs it believes in happiness. There's cool YouTube video of the smiley founder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbGFhG55CjQ

Kelly, her usual cheerful and supportive blogger self tells Lisa Schroeder:

Congrats, Lisa! I've heard to write what you know and love; so glad to hear that was successful! The story sounds fun! Who doesn't love cupcakes?

Mariah and Dena raced back to the big top to be the first to correctly unscramble Jon's phrase:

A FEW CLOWNS SHORT OF A CIRCUS

Which is how we normally feel around WIBIJ.  But, not on that day.  No, we were struck by the respect and quick wit of all our contestants.  We want to thank you all for an amazing first race here at WIBIJ.  We were in awe that you all are all fleet of fingers and have such agile minds.  The comments around the blogosphere were inspiring.  And funny.  And they weren't just awesome out in the blogosphere, but here, at the circus tent as well.  Check this out, from Paul, of Northwriter:

I've figured out four of five

But can't play today

That's no Jive

I'm out the door

To soak in a Hot Spring.

But this looks like fun

Way better than Bling Bling!

Congrats in Advance

To all who have played.

If my schedule allowed

I sure would've stayed!

Paul, that rhyme was fantastic.   Maybe one race, we'll pass the torch to you, and you can write some awesome clues for WIBIJ!

Thanks again to all our participants!  And now, you're probably yelling, "Who gets the bling?  Who gets the bling?"

So, here's the bling:

AWARD CEREMONY

The First Place Winner of Game One of W.I.B.I.J.?! is...  Dena!  Dena, you were the first to correctly unscramble Jon's phrase.   Awesome job!  It was certainly a close race!  You are a googling pro!  Make sure to pick up your award, and hang it honorably on your blog, if you wish.  And, we can't wait to hear your acceptance speech in the comment section!

The Best Comment Award goes to Casey, for her wonderful comment about her D&D playing uncle, at the Rejectionist's blog:

Love that someone has outed heavy metal as being nerdy. Whenever I hear Iron Maiden I think of my D&D playing uncle and all his friends who used to pick the songs apart and argue over their meaning. So. Awesome.

Casey, thanks for all the great comments!  That one warmed our hearts!  Pick up your medal, and please leave an acceptance speech in the comments.

Dena, you earned an honorary mention for ROFL WIBIJ Comment, when you commented at Combreviations:

I accidentally dropped THE BIBLE in the crapper once, at church. Yes, so embarrassing. I was waiting for the lightening bolt in the stall for like 10 minutes.

That definitely ruined my day!

Nice work.  The Ringleaders had to compose themselves before moving on...

And, everyone, keep your seats.  We have a surprise award!  A Best Comment in the Circus Tent Award.  Which, Paul won, hands down, for his excellent rhyme.  Paul, you have a gift.  Please take your Best Comment Award, and we can't wait to see what you leave in the comments as an acceptance speech!  

Thank you all for participating, and being such wonderful sports!  We hope that you visit the blogs mentioned in the recap, and the hunt itself, and we hope to see you on March 23rd, at a time TBD, for the second   W.I.B.I.J.?!  race!  And feel free to grab a button from the Everything Else You Need To Know Page and spread the word!