A Blogging Award

This morning I found out that I was nominated for the Mystery Blogger award by Cheryl Mary Coleman. I haven’t been blogging for that long, so I didn’t really know what that was all about. Turns out it’s a way to show one’s appreciation for a blog that they really like, and this award is specifically for “amazing bloggers with ingenious posts.” Well, I guess I can say that I’m honored to be chosen. I was going to accept the nomination right away, but as I looked more into the ins and outs of this award, I began to hesitate. It involves a list of rules that I must follow (I’m usually not very fond of following rules, and it seemed to go against the entire non-conformity creed that I seem to promote a lot on here), and it involves my nomination of bloggers that I think merit this award, which seems like a very overwhelming task to do, especially for an introvert like me. Regardless, my gratitude for being recognized overpowered my rebellious and shy spirit, so I accepted this award. Yay!

The Rules are as follows:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog

2. Mention the Creator of the Award and provide a link as well.

3. Answer the questions from the person who nominated you

4. Nominate other bloggers

5. Ask your nominees 5 questions of your choice.

1. Thank you, Cheryl Mary Coleman, for nominating me. I really recommend checking out her blog. She writes very interesting haikus.

2. Thank you, Okoto Enigma, for Creating this award. It is truly very kind of you to do this.

3. Questions for me to answer:

1. Outside of blogging, what other interests do you have?

I rock climb, both indoors and outdoors. It is essentially a mental game: you have to build up the right amount of determination and confidence for a climb you are about to do, and it is very easy to doubt yourself. Outdoor rock climbing is the best because I get to be submerged in nature of an entire day, which is both humbling and simply beautiful, and I get to forget about all my worldly worries and just focus on climbing. These climbing trips make for some of the best days of me life. I listen to music a lot, too. I have a very great appreciation for it, and my interest span across many genres. I like old country, classic rock, 60s and 70s music, Indie, and psychedelic rock. Lastly, I consider myself an artist. My art is usually very weird, but maybe one day I will have the confidence to post it on here.

2. Do you have a favorite place that you visit, and if so why is it your favorite place?

As I mentioned above, I like outdoor rock climbing, so my favorite place to visit are the Shawangunk Mountains (also known as “the Gunks”) in upstate New York. I’ve actually been visiting the Gunks ever since I was a young child. As a family, we would go on hiking, apple picking, and swimming in the various lakes throughout my entire childhood. I have very fond and nostalgic memories of that place, which really adds to my appreciation as I still visit very often to rock climb.

3. If you could spend the day with someone from the past or present, that you don’t already know, who would that be and why?

This question took me a long time to contemplate. I’m very interested in conspiracy theories and unsolved murders, so my mind kept thinking of Jack the Ripper, D.B. Cooper, the leader of the Illuminati, and the Zodiac Killer, which aren’t the safest options. I finally decided on Louis Le Prince, a French inventor who allegedly created the first motion picture camera. Before he was able to get a patent for it, though, he mysteriously disappeared. Many theories suggest that he was killed by people working for Thomas Edison, who is historically credited for creating the first motion picture. I just want to meet Le Prince and ask him all about this because I am very curious to know.

4. Where do you draw inspiration for your blog?

Most of the posts on my blog come from the very random and interesting thoughts that fly through my head. Before I began blogging, I would let these thoughts escape, but now I capture them, do a little extra research on them if necessary or turn into a poem if more appropriate, and post them here. So essentially, it’s all in my head.

5. What do you most love about blogging?

I really like seeing when people leave me very thoughtful comments on my posts, especially those that present their own opinion about the topic that I discussed. My main goal for this blog was to write posts that made other people think and relate what I wrote into their own lives, and I’m very happy to say that I think it’s working out well so far.

4. Nominate other bloggers: The initial list of bloggers that I came up with was much longer than reasonably expected, so I narrowed it down to those that I have been following the longest (which really isn’t that long, considering I started this blog in April) Actually, I just want to nominate everyone. So, if you are reading this right now, consider yourself nominated! But here is a list of bloggers that I want to express extra appreciation for:

1. Sniffin Poetry

2. Small but Mighty Adventures

3. Writing on Tangents

4. Whispers of the Universe

5. One Flame

5. Questions for my nominees:

1. If you could describe yourself as a fruit, what fruit would you be and why?

2. If you could dis-invent one thing, what would it be?

3. What is one random fact that you are proud of knowing?

4. What is your favorite song and why?

5. If you could travel forward or backward in time, which year would you choose and why?

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