TWoNN Hall Meeting: TWoNN Citizen of the Year Award

Hello, world!

Today, I want to share a conversation with you. It is a deep and meaningful conversation that just puts a different perspective on things. I don't want to scare you, but I actually do have plans for our little blog. I like to call them "festivities," but feel free to apply your own labels.

In February, I challenged myself to post one blog entry per day. Okay, okay, so I chose the shortest month (but it is a Leap Year), might have underperformed sometimes, and deliberately announced the challenge in the marquee so there wouldn't be any actual evidence (e.g., a blog entry) of the promise I made. But it really got me to see that I can't just expect our blog to run itself. I must participate. I must treat it as a job (for lack of a better word, since this is one of the most enjoyable of the semi-regular activities in my life). I must make it a point to post here because "trying to" doesn't do it (the last entry I posted was four days ago).

But, this recent decline of blogging frequency is just one half of the participation puzzle. Another event has now forced my hand. I wasn't going to unveil this until March 15, but I fear it may be too late, so I will do it now. The one-year anniversary of TWoNN is coming up! April 15 is the date. Easy to remember, right? So, I had planned to conduct a trivia contest whereby a TWoNN Citizen of the Year is chosen. Of course, the selection will have a random slant to it (more on that later). But first, allow me to share with you the conversation that occurred earlier this week. This is the event that forced my hand.

Freelance Midget is favorite niece (don't tell your sister), and we chat during the day (via gmail) sometimes. She is a graduate of a prestigious university, and a very bright individual. One chink in her armor, I am grieved to reveal, is her knowledge of TWoNN history. Check it out (chat and email to be read in conjunction with each other):



Are you witnessing this? It seems that America's general blase attitude toward anything educational has seeped into TWoNN and its citizenry. One of the most important topics of TWoNN--Maggi Sauce, its origins and uses--completely forgotten by one of our brightest. Hang your head in shame, Midge. I hope your mom (3-fish) isn't reading this.

The above conversation and the realization that I must commit myself [insert crazy joke here] has encouraged me to launch the next TWoNN activity ahead of schedule. Okay, so, TWoNN Citizen of the Year--WHAT IS IT?? TWoNNCotY is a competition to determine who might be the most knowledgeable TWoNN citizen alive. The reason why I say "might be" is because I have devised a scoring system that has a random component. In the next month, I will try to come up with a trivia question each day* and the person who gets the answer first gets the points associated with the question. And, how many points does the answerer get? That will be determined by this. Yes, that's right. Either Mr. Nonny Nu or I will roll a die to determine how many points the person will get (and we won't do that until the question is answered--so don't even try to get all efficient and select only high-value questions to go after, Stillman).

The winner will be determined on April 15, and will receive a TWoNN trophy along with a certificate of appreciation. TWoNNCotY begins tomorrow, so be sure to look out for it!

Note: Play is suspended on the Chinese Idiom Game until TWoNNCotY is over, or it is revealed that Man from U.N.C.L.E. is actually Man from C.H.I.N.A., whichever occurs first.

* Like the Chinese Idiom game, the trivia question will change either when it is answered correctly, or when I can't stand it anymore.

[edit] Due to popular demand, the number of questions have been capped at 3 per day.