Tag: meme

Nominated for a Beautiful Blogger Award!

Wouldn’t you know it? There’s yet another blogger award making the rounds, and I’ve picked up a nomination. And it comes from a new follower to this page, one who is equally if not more prolific than I am. So my thanks to Maarit-Johanna of Literature and Culture for the nod. May you musings on literature, the arts, travel and culture continue to inspire!

So… as always there are rules to this award. Four to be specific:

1. First up, thank the person who nominated you:
That’d be you, Mrs. Maarit-Johanna. Thanks a bunch!

2. Post the award image to your page:
Did that!

3. Tell seven facts about yourself:
-I love the smell of fresh air! City living is fine, but there better be plenty of green spaces to provide that scent of dense foliage and clean air

-I love cats and dogs. I grew up with the plenty of the former, but my wife’s love of the latter rubbed off on me. Now we need to get a big enough place to accommodate a few of each.

-I love to cook, bust suspect I might have only a few moves: Pasta, stir fry, stew and barbeque. But enough variations on these basic areas make it seem like I got lots of moves!

-I have a notorious passion for beer! I hope to one day be able to brew my own, and not from some sissy homebrew operation. I’m talking my own barley roasting, my own mash tun, and my own hops grown right out the back.

-Four books have inspired me more than any others: 1984; Guns, Germs and Steel; The God That Failed; and Dune. I’ve read plenty of good books, and quite a few great ones. But these ones stand alone as the one’s that blew my mind!

-My favorite colors appear to be green and black. Of all my clothes, the vast majority are one or the other.

-I’ve studied Taekwon-Do for a good twenty-four years and can’t really imagine life without it. I’ve gone for short periods without any training, and honestly felt like I something major was missing.

4. Nominate 15 other bloggers:

–Rendezvous Heath

–MythRider

–Mark Sackler

–Michelle Proulx

–Vinny Lanni

–Tazein Mirza Saad

–Shafiqah

–Casey Sheridan

–Erin Brady Pike

–Czech the Flip

–Gigable

–Liz

–Vee Villarreal

–Vandhana

–Carolyn

Thanks again, and congrats to all those nominated by meeeee! 😉

Nominated for a VBA!

Well, this is awkward. It seems I’ve been nominated for a VBA for the third and fourth time… by two people… in the space of two days. I’m not sure what to do… I can’t imagine there’s a protocol for something like this, but I assume that the practical thing to do would be to roll them into one and acknowledge everyone who made it possible.

For starters, thanks to Dave W at theroadmarathon and Richard at Richard’s Ramblings for the nomination. You guys both rock!

And of course, seven things about myself… going to be hard to think up things I didn’t say the last two times.

  1. I have a notorious love for the color green. An inordinate amount of my clothes are this color. It’s embarrassing when they clash!
  2. I’m a historian and English teacher by training, for high school students. How I got into writing sci-fi and teaching elementary kids is kind of a long story.
  3. I am obsessive. When I want to learn about something, I kind of OD on it before moving on. It’s how I got into the history of WWII, Star Wars, cool-looking guns, and sci-fi literature.
  4. I don’t do organized sports. Though I’ve been doing Taekwon-Do for over two decades, I have no real love for organized sports outside of martial arts and MMA. Some people don’t get this, can’t say I blame them.
  5. I have more girl friends than guys. Though my oldest and best friends are all men, the one thing we all have in common is in being SNAG’s (Sensitive New Age Guys). We all tend to get along better with girls than guys. Probably because there’s no dick measuring involved.
  6. I’ve inherited a slew of health problems from my ancestors. These include baldness, high cholesterol and other heart problems. As such, and despite the recent advances in the field of medicine, I’m likely to die at the age 65, bald and as a result of a heart attack.
  7. I don’t tan well either!

And now for my nominees!

  1. Khaalidah – Indie author and fellow grim5Next contributor Khaalidah Muhammed-Ali. In addition to being a fantastic writer, and a faithful friend, she’s also a working wife and mother. I know eh?
  2. ramiungerthewrter – Rami Ungar, a college student who’s passion for anime, horror and science fiction are a constant source of inspiration for my own work.
  3. Sotet Angyal – The dark angel, or as she’s known to her friends, Nina D’Arcangela. I recently pledged my thanks for her constant follows, but today, I would like to acknowledged her hard work as writer, publisher and a social media anarchist!
  4. Kotev1000 – The dedicated soul who runs the site European Scientist and Journalist, a site dedicated to capturing history in words and photographs.
  5. hnsieverding – Esteemed (and published) fantasy writer Mrs. Sieverding, a relatively new acquintance of mine, but one who’s extensive credentials have not failed to impress me!
  6. VictorsMovieReviews – Film buff, movie reviewer and cinematic guru, definitely a man to be consulted on the latest releases, but not someone you want to cross while waiting for tickets on opening night!
  7. jazfagan – The website of catseyesk, a notorious lover of music, practitioner of Buddhism, and lover of all things existential. If its musical, life-affirming, and spiritual, chances are she’s posted about it.
  8. nicolahigginsfiction – The home of Nicola Higgins, fellow science fiction writer AND martial artist. She is also a working woman and a wife who somehow finds the time to also run two brownie packs. Though I can only nominate 7 people, I would be derelict if I didn’t acknowledge her too.

Well, that about does it for me. Thank you all for the ongoing support and recognition. Rest assured, I am not letting it go to my head… much. If I got paid to do this, then I might start going batty. So… we’ll see how that goes 😉