35 Comments

1. 1 momskinz (WWID: momsownkinz) said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 1:23 pm

   Hopefully this will help everyone remember to get their shoes – today only!!

2. 2 bepsy aka bepoodlepal said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 1:48 pm

   got mine, does anyone happen to have an extra of the last appreciation gift? i would be glad to trade for it.

3. 3 donkeedonk said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 2:03 pm

   thanks momskinz for the link/info.

4. 4 TheLoopyLurker said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 4:59 pm

   Afternoon Gymbonians!

   Thanks for the well-wishes, peeps. I am almost fully recovered…just a nagging cough that is keeping me up at night, but that should be gone in a few days.

   Glad to hear Diesel’s back to his old self, april!

   WOW gaga. Send some of that luck my way! I *still* don’t have the beach house bunk bed, lol.

   I still have a whole bunch of Fairykinz ponds if anybody needs one. Nothing needed in return. 😉 I also have four pirate cove campfires if anybody wants. Speak up!

   I am SO glad they put the Sugar Plum Sparkle theme in the November sale. I acquired the Sugar Plum Sparkle Chair and Vanity in the trading room a while back and had nothing to go with them. Now I have a shiny new room. 🙂 I had no idea the bed gives off actual sparkles!

5. 5 momskinz (WWID: momsownkinz) said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 6:24 pm

   hey hey hey! tll – i was lucky enough that my cough improved in a few days – sorry yours is lingering

6. 6 nitabuggy (WWID Wophy) said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 6:36 pm

   TLL, mail to Queenie. Nothing needed in return.

   Hope everyone is doing awesome!

   Lots of Love!

7. 7 dee said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 6:48 pm

   peeking in
   need to read……….is this for everyone

8. 8 momskinz (WWID: momsownkinz) said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 6:51 pm

   dee – yes – all estore accounts, so if you have more than one for other email addresses, you can use those too (you don’t have to be Deluxe)

   and i got my shoes & got my shoes earlier …

9. 9 dee said,

   November 7, 2017 @ 6:52 pm

   just saw this and i got the shoes
   i got the shoes

   where is boper? he gets it

10. 10 dee said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 6:52 pm

    ha ha ha on post eight……….yes typing in the dark………cuz it is dark, it was dark before five pm……..thankfully i know a keyboard!

11. 11 dee said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 6:54 pm

    loop……….i may be interested in taking a pirate campfire off your hands……let me google what it looks like

12. 12 dee said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 6:58 pm

    loop
    yes to the please on a pirate campfire……….i am bbqeeun, terryaki and not sure else where we be friendz

    thanks in advance and thanks again if item is already gone

13. 13 dee said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 7:00 pm

    i do not like to ask for things just to ask for things. i want to know what they look like and whether i will use them……..versus just collecting everything that comes aboard (pirate reference)………..just me……..if i see something shiny and new, i want to know its provenance and whether it will fit in my home….

    does that make sense to anyone?

14. 14 bepsy (bepoodlepal) said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 7:25 pm

    I would love to have a pond if I may TLL. thnx!

    Just finished my assignments for the day. Several online psych module quizzes and a 900 word cause and effect essay. my brain is fried, and I have a headache, but at least after tomorrow is a long weekend.

15. 15 dee said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 8:21 pm

    caught the after eight at estore
    just amazing how that works
    just amazing how that works

    🙂

16. 16 zingyginger said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 8:29 pm

    i would love a fairykinz pond if still available TLL. i’m also waiting for the points sale to get boxes. sorry about your residual cough. hope it goes away soon. wish i have a bunkbed for you but haven’t won it yet, either.

    glad to hear moms is on the mend too.

    i slept most of the weekend and made the most use of that extra hour from DST catching up on zzz’s. honey’s much better but he sometimes wakes up as the bandages makes him itchy and that wakes me up. apparently, he can start physical therapy soon except the next appointment we can make it to is next week so hopefully we can get him moving more (and maybe off bandages).

    just got a nail in one of my tires from going thru all the road construction on my way to work. took it to 2 places and the 2nd one finally found where it was (first one couldn’t believe my tire air gauge didn’t go off but it never goes off even when my tires get nails). apparently now, i need new tires. did you guys know michelin makes uniroyal and BF goodrich tires? i usually get michelin but i hear that the other two perform reasonably well and are much cheaper. has anyone tried them? that, and i have 20% left on my disc brakes. sigh. i just have to get it done before trying to drive down to LA for thanksgiving.

17. 17 momskinz (WWID: momsownkinz) said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 8:58 pm

    zingy – bah! i hate spending money on things like tires – not fun at all

    dee – yep, i got them on the rest, and i got them 🙂 and i totally get what you mean – we’ve seen some wenches in our time who want to pirate everything! hahaha

18. 18 momskinz (WWID: momsownkinz) said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 8:59 pm

    bepsy – so glad you get a break after tomorrow! it sounds like you have earned it!

19. 19 Boper911 said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 9:53 pm

    Hey everyone, just checking in!

    I have my last midterm tomorrow and then I’m home free for the rest of the semester until finals (except for all my projects). Still, I’m excited.
    I’m going to be away this weekend, which is great to get off campus for a bit. Going to Michigan! It’s supposed to be cold.

    I also auditioned for a story slam- you tell a story in front of an audience- and I was selected to perform. Which is great, but now I have to memorize my story (I didn’t have to memorize it for the audition, I just wrote it down). The stories at these slams are usually funny, or sad, or serious, or any emotion but they are usually pretty dramatic. I went for funny and now I’m nervous about my delivery skills. The performances are next weekend so I have time, but last year there were over 500 students attending the performance. EEK

    Dee, I got my shoes! I got my shoes!

    TLL, you are so generous. I am going to guess that nita may have sent you the bunk bed. Is there anything else you need?

20. 20 LeeAnn(wwid:noellepugh) said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 10:10 pm

    Boper.. good luck with your story slam. Maybe you’d be willing to share sometime.. I know they don’t always translate well to paper. How exciting!
    I don’t miss being in university with the intense work load. I hope you and Bepsy enjoy your much deserved break.

    TLL, I am waiting to Black Friday to get points to purchase points for boxes, but if you still have an extra pond I’d be thrilled.

    Thank you for the shoes reminder.. I too got the shoes and got the shoes, lol.

21. 21 tmt5 (wwid tmt5) said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 10:29 pm

    They fixed my estore account. Impressed they got it straightened out so quickly was worried I’d miss the evening appreciation day.

    Too bad about switching the activities back to hourly I was actually getting to do them. Why in the world anyone would want to have to log in at a specific time. Maybe their hits dropped too much with the change.

    That is really neat Boper, good luck. Yes it is going to be chilly here this weekend. Our high school football team is doing too well so YD is stuck at another game this Friday for color guard, going to freeze in what little they are allowed to wear. I’ve bought hand and foot warmers.

    Hope your cough clears up quickly LL.

    OD picked her dorm room for next year today, she was able to get her friend in with her. She just has to sign the housing contract. In a different building but right next to it and still first floor. She was happy. I can’t believe they are doing that already. Her friend doesn’t even have a room for Spring term yet. No breaks for her until Thanksgiving. We are going to watch her fencing competition this weekend. That is a lot of writing Bepsy.

22. 22 tmt5 (wwid tmt5) said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 10:37 pm

    Just got to take a look at the newz. Very pretty room Mist. All those purples and browns. Looks like a nice place to walk around in.

23. 23 zingyginger said,

    November 7, 2017 @ 11:15 pm

    After 8pm, I got the shoes! I got the shoes!

    How did you get into the story slam, boper? Can you practice a bunch with family/friends? That might help get you ready for the actual one.

    And yes, TLL, forgot to add earlier, are there other things you’re looking for besides the bunkbed?

    tmt, I missed reading – what happened to your estore account? It sounds like both of your dds are keeping you busy. Hope you all stay warm this weekend.

    Congrats to mist on your room featured on WKN. Looks lovely!

24. 24 ENCHANTEDISLE ( WWID : ENCHANTEDISLE) said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 3:45 am

    Hi everyone!

    Loopy..if you still have a pirate cove campfire I’d love one!
    Not sure what your wwid name is..mines ENCHANTEDISLE.

    I bought a few boxes if the fairy stuff..got 1 trampoline 2 chairs and 3 or 4 ponds..still have two boxes left to open. I really want that cottage…but my luck …I’ll get more ponds! Lol

25. 25 ENCHANTEDISLE ( WWID : ENCHANTEDISLE) said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 3:49 am

    Thanks for posting about the appreciation gift! I was able to still get it at 3am this morning…I almost missed it…lol

    I hope everyone is doing ok..I only have my phone to get on here right now and it’s hard to read everything. ..hurts the eyes after awhile. .

    Trying harder to not go too many days,without popping in. .I still can’t get over how many people are here now..it’s very nice.

26. 26 ENCHANTEDISLE ( WWID : ENCHANTEDISLE) said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 3:51 am

    Dee..I’d love to see a picture of your upholstery project..

27. 27 ENCHANTEDISLE ( WWID : ENCHANTEDISLE) said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 4:06 am

    Zingy, I went to send you a fairy pond..but your not on my list??
    May I please have your wwid name..or please add me..and I will send you one..nothing needed in return..

28. 28 gagagee said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 5:29 am

    Good Morning !
    tmt.. glad you were able to straighten out your e store problem.. can be so
    frustrating !
    April .. so happy Diesel is doing better !
    Boper.. Congrats on being selected for story slam ! You are very brave to be able to get up in front of audience ….Hope you have a great time in Michigan and can have some fun.. off campus…Thanksgiving is right around the corner and you can have some time to relax and visit us here !!
    Zingy … sounds like your honey is doing better !
    nita.. nice to see you ! Hope all is well with you !
    Have a great day everyone.. gotta run… time goes so quickly in the morning..

29. 29 Miracle's Mom (pet4mom) said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 7:08 am

    Good morning, all!

    My boys are headed off this morning on a trip to visit the college (and to see their sister). They get to visit classes and tour the campus. They are pumped … especially, since it is 45 degrees here, and 70 there. Jealous, but my dh and I get to experience a few days of empty nesters. I think we’re planning a trip to an antique mall and a nice lunch/dinner. Looking forward to spending extra time with him.

    I’m with you, tmt, about not liking the switch back to hourly. I was happy I could finally do some of the things I always miss.

    Congrats on getting your room featured, Mist! Congrats on the speech, Boper! I’m sure you’ll do well!

    TLL, I’d love a campfire if there are any left!

    Looks like I get Friday off! That will be fun catching up on WW. I really like the Town Hall wallpaper and flooring that is on GanzNewz rewards right now, so hoping to make a room. I hadn’t seen those before, so I always love saving up to get those pieces.

    The full-time teachers are off to a convention Thursday and Friday … I am part-time, so my participation is optional. This year, I am staying behind to help the maintenance staff paint some coolness on the walls while school is closed. The kids have been begging for color, and the administration has finally okayed it, so hoping I don’t mess it up!

    Anyway, have a great Wednesday everyone!

30. 30 dee said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 9:02 am

    off to hang with dh and do dh stuff………………

    michigan is the place to be………my dh is going up for a week……….

31. 31 TheLoopyLurker said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 10:16 am

    Morning Gymbonians!

    nita – thank you SO MUCH!!! I’m not even going to mention how many prize pies I bought at the estore and failed to get the bunk bed. You totally rock!

    dee – you have campfire mail!

    bepsy – you have pond mail!

    zingy – you have pond mail!

    LeeAnn – you have pond mail!

    Miracle – you have campfire mail!

    Enchanted – you don’t have campfire mail because you have not added me to your phone. I am QueenieB15. Please let me know who you are so I get the campfire out to the right person. Thanks! 😉

32. 32 TheLoopyLurker said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 10:21 am

    Oops, missed where you stated what your WW ID is, Enchanted. Off to add you now! Let me know when you’ve accepted so I can get the campfire out to you.

    Boper – what is a story slam? Now I’m all nos–err, curious.

33. 33 RubyCubes (WWID: clm88) said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 10:40 am

    Good morning all!

    The board is so active. Yay!

    Thank you for posting about the customer appreciation gift yesterday. I would have completely missed it if not for this board.

    Dee – I do not understand collecting only items that will be used in room decoration. That concept does not compute in my brain. 😀

    I’m kidding. I get it. I’m just more obsessive about collecting than I am decorating (although I love to decorate too). I like to have at least one of everything. Not that I’m anywhere close to that, but that’s the ever-elusive goal. Except food and estore items. I like items that can be traded, so I only purchase items directly from the estore if they can be traded (that’s why I like mystery and promo) or if I plan to use it in a specific room design. Pets not included. I love estore pets, and I will buy them even though I can’t trade them.

    Miracle – Enjoy your time alone with your hubby! It’s awesome that your boys get to visit your daughter at school. What a great experience for them!

    Moms, TLL, and Zingy – I’m glad you are all on the mend… and Mr. Zingy too!

    I’m in the same boat as some of you, still trying to get the cottage and the boat house bunk bed. I’m also waiting until later in the month to purchase boxes though. I have a fixed Webkinz budget each month, and I’m hoping to stretch it further with Black Friday deals!

    Boper – I can’t even tell you how excited I got when I read that you’re doing a story slam! That is awesome! Did you write the story yourself, or are you reading someone else’s story? Is there a time limit to the performance? What is the story about?

    I can give you a few pointers if you want. This is totally my thing! Except I write poetry, not prose. But I slam comedy, and it is SO much fun! I would absolutely love to see a story slam.

    I’ve never been much of a writer of fiction, poetry or comedy until a few years ago. My husband asked me if I wanted to go to a poetry reading with him. I imagined some overly-dramatic, emo college students standing before 5 people in a coffee shop painfully reading the poorly rhymed woes of their barely existent dating life from tattered journals, so I was like, sure! Let’s go! And I was totally wrong! There were at least 20 audience members listening to the awkward poets on the open mic. I loved it so much, I kept going back!

    Inspiration is fascinating. I’ve always been very serious and introverted. I’ve never enjoyed public speaking, performance, or even large groups. If you want a deep four-hour philosophical debate, I’m there… but comedy? Never.

    That’s what was so weird about slam. I felt so oddly inspired to get up on a stage in front of strangers and pour my soul into their coffee mugs. The first poem I wrote, I went dark… read it word for word from the paper on the open mic. I was so nervous, my hand trembled like it was having a grand mal seizure, and I couldn’t bring the words into focus, had to use my other hand to steady the paper. When I stepped off stage, I was like, ‘Never again! What was I thinking?’

    But with a little time and distance and lots of hugs and encouragement from the small audience, I started to relax. And before the night was over, I couldn’t wait until the next show to get back up there with a new poem. The first time I entered a slam, I had only written two poems, performed both of them, and won. Started attending writing workshops and reading about writing and performing for slam. Kept writing. Entered a second slam and won. Started traveling to other cities and performing in their slams. I’ve won almost every local and regional indie slam I’ve entered (which has been dozens). I lost one because I didn’t have enough poems to enter the final round, so I came in second place.

    I’ve written a variety of pieces for slam, some very dark, some sociopolitical critiques, some comedy. All of them have gone over well, but it’s my comedy that audiences especially love. I won the Funniest Poet award at the Ohio state poetry slam 3 years ago. I also had the incredible experience of representing Cincinnati at IWPS (Individual World Poetry Slam) in Washington D.C. 2 years ago. Since then, I’ve been invited to do a number of features, conduct workshops, and speak to Middle School students about writing and performing for slam.

    Here are a few tips. I’ve never been to a story slam, but I would imagine it’s quite similar to a poetry slam, only you’re performing prose. I’ve also judged many Middle School speech/drama competitions, including prose, story-telling, HI, and DI. I know that’s not the same as slam, but it is another venue for competitive story-telling. So adapt these to the setting you’re in.

    1. It doesn’t matter how good of a performer you are if your writing isn’t on point. I’ve seen a number of people get up and try to wow the audience with theatrics, but all of the screaming and gestures and running around the stage are just that if you don’t have a good story to tell or point to make. Slam is competition, and you want to gut punch “slam” your audience with your words. Whether your subject matter is personal/experiential, political, social, or anything else, and whether it’s drama or comedy, you should leave your audience going, “Wow!” A great method to accomplish this is a story that flips. Take your audience in one direction, but flip it with an ending they never saw coming.

    2. Whether writing drama or comedy, try to look at your subject matter from a completely different perspective than everyone else. For example, whenever a big news story comes out, there will be thousands of poems and stories written about it. To slam about a current news event, your perspective needs to be completely fresh and original. Look at the story from the right or the left or upside down, from a vantage point that nobody else has approached.

    I.e. One of my most popular comical slam poems, which I get asked to perform every time I feature, is a love poem. Why is that significant? Because love is the most popular topic in poetry. How do you write a poem about love and make it original? Look at it from a completely different perspective. After watching college students perform about 500 cliche’ love poems, with the same wording and subject matter and overly dramatic gestures, I decided to write a poem about how to construct the perfect love poem for slam. The entire poem is satirical, and it is titled How to Perform a Slam-Winning Love Poem. The first half is a how-to instruction manual on how to craft a slam-winning love poem using every cliche popular in free verse love poetry. The second half of the poem is a sample of what that poem would sound like, and it is SO silly. It’s full of sappy cliche’, superficiality, over-the-top metaphor, terrible rhyme sequences that make you cringe (or laugh hysterically if you get the satire), and overly dramatic facial expressions and gestures. It’s the most awful 3 minutes of love poetry you’ll ever hear, which is the point, and slam audiences love it because they get it. They’ve all seen “that poem” done hundreds of time. But not like that.

    3. If you’re writing for slam, the best advice I can give is memorize. Never read from paper. Even if it’s someone else’s work, memorize it. It is fine to read from paper if you’re just performing on an open mic, but in slam, performance is as important as the writing. Your audience doesn’t want someone to get up on stage and read a story to them, even if it’s a good story. Your audience wants to experience the story, to be moved by it, to remember it two or three days later when they’re driving to work or struggling to stay awake in Calculus.

    Even if you’re an incredible reader, your performance will be better if you memorize the story, like an actor performing a play. You don’t just tell the story with words, you relate the story through eye contact with the audience, facial expressions, and gestures.

    Each of my poems are 3 minutes long. That’s the time limit for a slam poem. Every poem I’ve slammed, I’ve committed to memory, not just barely memorizing, but memorizing it so thoroughly that I can recite it when I’m thinking about other things. When you become that familiar with your story, you don’t have to focus on recall, which frees you up to focus on your audience and your performance and how your audience is connecting to your performance. Whenever I write a new poem, I try it out on the open mic first to make sure I have it memorized well enough and to gauge my audience’s reaction. I wrote one poem that I thought was hilarious. I tried it out on a couple different audiences on the open mic and didn’t get a single chuckle, so that poem never made it to slam. Conversely, I wrote one poem that was so ridiculous, I totally expected it to flop, but audiences loved it so much it became my signature piece. It won the Funniest Poet Award, and I performed it at IWPS.

    So memorize your story and then practice it until you are so comfortable with it, you don’t even have to think about it when you recite it. Perform it in front of a mirror to see how you look when you perform it. You can also record yourself performing it and watch the video performance. Watch how other slammers perform their stories, and watch how the audience reacts. What gestures do they use? What do their body language and posture convey? Do their facial expressions match the content of the story? Are they appropriately happy or sad when reciting it? Figure out what works and what doesn’t by watching other performers in relation to the audience. Then, if you’re able, find an open mic and practice your performance for an audience (or a few) before slamming it. Ask for feedback from the audience. Every time I feature or win a slam, I have a lot of people come up to tell me how much they loved my performances, but I always ask for constructive criticism. And I’ve gotten some great feedback from audience members. It also helps to have a friend record you while you’re performing on the open mic. You may find that your performance is one way in the bathroom in front of the mirror and quite different when on stage in front of an audience. Decide what is good about your performance and what can use improvement, and go from there.

    That’s all I can think of at the moment. I hope this helps! PLEASE let us know how your performance goes! I wish I could be there to see it! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! 😀

34. 34 shorty said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 10:52 am

    TLL — that is a really nice giveaway. You are so generous!!!!

    Boper — I have been to poetry slams before, but I have never heard of a story slam. Congrats on getting selected to perform your story.

35. 35 momskinz (WWID: momsownkinz) said,

    November 8, 2017 @ 1:58 pm

    new post:
    http://www.thelamberts.com/webkinz_blog/?p=41016

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