NaBloPoMo Round-Up #5: Fs, Ns, Qs, and Double-Us

I am not loving the new tab setup in FireFox 2.0 – now that the close buttons are on each tab it’s much easier to lose, say, a post filled with interesting W blogs you’ve been working on for an hour without saving. Especially if you just drank a 12oz Rose Martini.

I delight to inform you that after a pitched battle against my inner OCD Godzilla i have eliminated the need to check each blog for failure (being handled elsewhere by Fried Dreams; I am sending mental projections of Rose Martinis to her location). This should shave hours off of my blog reviews, which was totally worth all the fourth and fifth degree burns the monster has left on my tattered remnants of a soul.

Last to first tonight, which means Ws are leading off. Of course, we already know i love reading Whoopee, and the inspiring Writing Aspirations, who have kindly complimented and linked-to my efforts here at OCD central. On to fresh links.

But, wait, before we get started with the new Ws i need you to read quite possibly the best post i’ve read all month, which is featured on Naked on Rollerskates. Totally not surprising that she writes “funny, romantic suspense novels.”

Okay, now we’ll return to the Ws.

Both Elise and the yet-to-be-introduced Lindsay mock me for exactly this thing, explained by White Thoughts. Tom at Weblog: 1202261 writes about a slightly fabricated holiday he imported from college (an F blogger corroborates the story).

Water Under the Bridge shares an interesting (and cautionary) tale of her health in multiple installments, starting here. Wonderdawg does some on-the-scene reporting about Nashville residents camped out for Playstation 3s. Where the Wind…. posts about a solution to global warning that was a feature article in the last issue of Rolling Stone.

Food! Wednesday Chef offers many yummy recipes, like fudge pudding cake. Wayward Waif gives us the ingredients for homemade marshmallows! (and, if you live under a rock and still haven’t seen some iteration of it, KT Tunstall rocking her loop pedal).

Themes! Why I Don’t Like You is writing late-nite monologue jokes all month. Seriously! Check out his Thursday monologue for an explanation and a slew of good punchlines. Woolgathering scans in a daily picture from her sketchbook; i like this one. What If No One’s Watching has a great theme – Woman Making History! Woman #23 gave her blog its title – Ani DiFranco.

I’ll wrap up the Ws with a salient quote for all NaBloPoMoers to keep in mind, via What’s Your Name, Mommy:

One of the most valuable pieces of writing advice I’ve gotten is that the writer must always remember is that it is foolish to assume that the reader will ever be as knowledgeable about the character as the person who created it. This goes double for the personal narrative writer. A writer who assumes that the audience inherently knows his background, circumstances or personality without having it explained is a writer who will continue to be misunderstood.

Q was a delightfully succinct letter. So succinct that i don’t have any links to share. Way to fuck up my per-letter link average, Qs. Maybe i’ll revisit you at the end of the event.

If Naked on Rollerskates wasn’t enough of an indication, the Ns packed a lot of cool into a 49-blog sack. I’ve already introduced you to No Assembly Required, a un-schooling blogger. Now, in the “Totally Original, Totally NSFW,” category we have an un-dressing blogger: Naked Jen poses nude at the end of every post, sometimes from Mexican Restaurants or Weddings. Don’t believe me? Check out her fender bender, or read about her philosophy of nudity.

Nelson Kwok posted a completely ridiculous YouTube video from what i assume to be a Spanish sort of “Mythbusters” show exhibiting how cornstarch and water is a non-newtonian fluid. How do they exhibit it? By filling a small pool with it and then running back and forth across the surface.

No Place Like It contributes one of those uniquely hilarious co-worker stories that i can’t experience because i work with sane people.

Notes! A trio of notes blogs. Notes in the Cookie Jar is in the midst of the major weather emergency impacting a slew of Canadian bloggers. She posts her adventures in survival here and here. Notes on a Napkin worked on some life books at her craft night; i can’t believe my mom was doing these every week twenty years ago. Scary. Notes to Self combines a great concept and a fun masthead with a wonderfully random post, even though she is not hurting for material.

Okay, time for the effers.

How many bloggers have written about holding a brain in their hands so far this month? Probably only Frectis, a midwife and student and great blogger. I also really like bloggers who post original art, and French Toast Girl‘s NaBloPoMo archive is full of it. She has some very nice holiday cards for sale, though they are a little too Christ-y for my purposes.

Flotsam Blog offers a fascinating flashback to teen years gone by. I totally identify with the Age 13 memory. Like Mighty Goods, Fresh Arrival points you towards new and unusual products; i dug this collaborative art project.

Frank Lee Speaking with an apt comparison regarding his personal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy:

I said that asking [if someone is gay] was a lot like asking a woman when she’s due. Unless I see a baby emerging from a woman, I don’t make any conversation that might be construed to imply that she is pregnant.

Food and Family blogs the rules to an witty DIY board game you can play just about anywhere with minimal materials. It’s sortof a parcheesi/backgammon/connect four hybrid. I really liked Fly On the Wall, partially for her photo-essay on How to Open a Ketchup Packet. Fist City posts a funny anecdote about working in academia.

I wound up with two uncredited links from tonight’s reading, which is what happens when you read 200+ blogs while drunk. The first is IGN’s wrap-up of the 50 Loosest Plot Strands on Lost. I don’t watch the show, but that sure seems handy. The other is a complete map of LiveJournal. Intense.

Wow, this whole letter-reading thing gets much more entertaining after drinking a grandé worth of vodka martini. I hope i have enough ingredients to last me through the 1,200 blogs i have yet to read.