Liebster Award, Part Deux

Another nomination for the Liebster Award, this time from Hayley over at Dear Dad. She was on my list of nominees, so definitely check her out. She’s a bright young voice that should be heard.

All of my biggest favorites were nominated in the last post, so I won’t be listing any more nominees, but I will gladly answer the questions posed to me. So, without further ado,

1. What is your favourite colour? Do you associate that colour with anything in particular?

My favorite color is blue; I generally prefer darker or more muted shades. It doesn’t hold any particular significance as such, I just like the way it looks.

2. What is your most embarrassing moment? The one your friends and family like to remind you of!

Oh boy, there’s certainly plenty of those. The one (well, two) that tend to come up now and again are the one time I got drunk at a party, attempted to do push-ups, and ended up bouncing my chin off the floor. I spent the rest of the party with a big plaster on my chin.

That same night, I was told (jokingly) to go walk in the snow by a close buddy, so I bounded out the door and started stomping around in my bare feet until my incredulous friend called me back in.

There’s actually quite a bit of backstory to both these incidents, but this doesn’t seem the right time for it. Let’s just say I wasn’t trying to do push-ups just for the hell of it. 🙂

3. If you could change one thing from the past, what would it be? Or do you prefer to live with no regrets?

I’d love to live with no regrets. I absolutely would. Unfortunately, regret might be my greatest wealth. Things I wished I’d said, feelings I wish I’d expressed, and so many things I wish I hadn’t done or said.

The one thing I’d want to change is my mother’s cancer. I wish she’d never had it. I wish I could have done more for her, or could at the least have made her passing easier than it was. That’s a pretty deep hole to go down, though, so I’ll stop there.

4. What is the funniest joke you’ve heard in a while? (Don’t worry if nobody else finds it funny – as long as it makes you laugh!)

A man comes across a disheveled old man on the street, furiously scribbling away in a book. Curious, he asks him what he’s writing.

“I’m writing a 200-page book called How the Horse Walks,” the old man replies cheerfully.

“How the Horse Walks?” the man says. “Well, that sounds interesting. Mind if I see it?”

He takes the book from the old man and looks through it. On the first page, in large, looping letters, are the words ‘How the Horse Walks.”

And the other 199 pages? “Clippity clop clippity clop clippity clop.”

5. What is one of your first memories from your childhood? It can be the simplest memory, or one which stands out for a particular reason.

One of the earliest memories I can recall, very vaguely, is my mother telling me not to put my finger into a table fan. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Still have all 10 of ’em, though!

6. How would you like to be remembered?

As someone worth remembering. Someone kinda and generous and funny. I’m actually curious how the people I’ve met do remember me.

7. What is the most inspirational book you have read (fiction or non fiction) – or the one that has left the biggest impression on you?

The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate by Gichin Funakoshi. Why? Well, that might be the subject of a separate post by itself…

8. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

To not obsess over things I can’t control. Wish I could follow it, though.

9. What makes you literally laugh out loud? (and I mean full on belly laughs!)

Slapstick humor. Especially people walking into doors or walls. In movies, that is. It’s funny in real life as long as nobody gets hurt.

10. Finish this sentence: “I wish…

For more than I could possibly receive.
Thanks again to Hayley! Do check out her blog!

Liebster Award

Well, this is exciting. Another month, another blog award nomination.

I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award by Lenee, aka awritershelper, over at Scribbles to Compositions. Thank you, Lenee! That was quite awesome of you! I’m generally a fan of awesome people. She’s got quite a few stories to tell, so do give her a read!

Now I get to nominate 10 bloggers of my choice, so here we go, in no particular order:

1. Beyond Beirut

2. Bali Info Blog

3. Adoption =

4. Lovely Reflections

5. Smiley Like I Mean It

6. The Neurotic Logic

7. Lone

8. Dear Dad

9. All That Chatter

10. Rantings of A Third Kind

As per the rules of the award, every nominee poses 10 questions to whoever they choose to nominate, so here are awritershelper’s questions:

1. List 5 things you thought of to write about as you read through this blog post.

I was actually trying to come up with some blog post ideas earlier today. One of the first things that came to mind was, obviously, the response to the nomination. I also thought about covering my general experience on a random day of the week, or another chapter from my past. A short story idea for my fiction blog whizzed by, and a post about being a dog person.

2. What was one of your parent’s favorite songs?

Boy, that’s a tough one. My parents listened to Indian music, specifically Hindi and Bengali songs. My mother was very fond of Indian classical music, which she taught professionally. I can’t think of a song right now, but they loved anything by a singer named Kishore Kumar, who is essentially a legend in the Indian music industry, and was massively popular from the 50’s till about the 80’s.

3. Do you like fruit pulp in your juice?

No. I just like juice in my juice. The tiniest hint of pulp, perhaps. I also prefer smooth peanut butter to chunky.

4. What do you think of when I say, “wooden spoon?”

Mixing cake batter. Granted, I use a silicon spatula for that, but for some reason, that’s the image wooden spoon brings to mind. Or mixing pasta sauce. Good thing I’m writing this up after lunch.

5. Have you stood on top of a mountain and watched the sunrise?

Sadly, I’ve never stood on top of a mountain. Then again, I’m not too great with heights, so maybe that’s a good thing. Seen a few sunrises, though, and they were amazing.

6. Have you seen something unexplainable, like a UFO or Sasquatch?

Hmmm…no, can’t say I’ve ever seen anything that bizarre. I once experienced what I believed to be an encounter with a ghost, where I woke up in the middle of the night and felt myself being choked by some invisible force, unable to move my limbs or even cry for help. I’ve since discovered that it’s a condition called sleep paralysis, so mystery solved.

7. Which sports team is your favorite?

Not really much of a sports person, really, so I have no answer to this. But my closest friends are Steelers fans, so Go Steelers!

8. Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker?

I don’t drive, so no. If I did drive though, I’m not sure if I’d want to play a game of ‘Harmless of Serial Killer?’

9. Which movie star would you want to portray you on the big screen?

George Clooney. Because he’s great at comedy and went prematurely grey, as I seem to be doing. Or Peter Dinklage. Because Peter Dinklage is always awesome.

10. There appears to be no 10th question, so I’ll make one up. Ummm…if you could go back in time and meet Abraham Lincoln, what would you say to him?

“Hi, Mr. President. Nice hat.”

So there you have it.

And now it’s my turn! So, my fellow nominees, riddle me this:

1. What’s the last thing you think about before going to bed?

2. What’s your favorite word, in any language? It could even be a made up word, like flurble, for example. No, I don’t know what it means.

3. Would you want to live forever? Why, or why not?

4. Describe your childhood pet (or the one you wish you had).

5. What minor thing bothers you more than it should?

6. What food will you absolutely not eat? And I don’t mean due to allergies or any other conditions, just food you plain don’t like.

7. What does the word ‘comfort’ mean to you?

8. What makes you smile, no matter how grumpy you’re feeling?

9. What personality trait or quirk of yours do people notice the most?

10. Is it really better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all? Also, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? (Ok, ignore that second question)

Well, that pretty much covers it. Oh, one more thing. As a nominee of the Liebster Award, you’re expected to follow these rules:

Once you are nominated, make a post thanking and linking the person who nominated you.

– Include the Liebster Award sticker in the post too.

– Nominate 10 other bloggers who you feel are worthy of this award. Let them know they have been nominated by commenting on one of their posts. You can also nominate the person who nominated you.

– Ensure all of these bloggers have less than 200 followers.

– Answer the ten questions asked to you by the person who nominated you, and make ten questions of your own for your nominees.

– Lastly, COPY these rules in the post.