The Sunshine Blogger Award (because Cimmorene figured I needed it)

January 7, 2014 by jaklumen 7 Comments

This came about when Cimmorene told samara that she’d never been nominated for a blogging award before.  And then Cimmy, my dear wife that she is, decided that I needed some of this.  I probably do need some sunshine, because I tend to have a perpetual storm cloud over head with all this pain.  Also, I put this off long enough.

Because jak can’t be damned to have a storm cloud brewing over him forever.

Post 11 random facts about yourself:

1.  I don’t wake up “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”  Family that knows says waking me is like trying to wake a hibernating bear.  See also question #1 further below.
2. I have a scar that covers most of the width of the inside of my right hand:
   

   Work accident- I’ll tell you dear readers about it later.

3. I was falsely accused of rape.
4. I grow facial hair full in mid-autumn and shave much of it off in the summer, including close-cropping the hair on my head.
5. I have full, kissable lips.  (Where did that thought come from?)
6. My beard is redder than the hair on my head.
7. The nails on my right hand are longer than the nails on my left, because I used to play classical guitar.
8. I maintain my own computer and run Linux.
9. I have a blog, TechsWrite, that was given to me from a friend on the VOX blog platform.
10. I have a few Southern affectations in my speech (howdy, y’all, calling my son “boy”)
11. I’m tired of giving 11 random things about myself now.

And then, 11 questions:
1. What is the first thing you do as soon as you wake up in the morning?
Wake up?  Good Lawrd Almighty, what’s that?  I’m never fully awake in the morning, and haven’t been since, I dunno, 1992.  I don’t do mornings.

2. What is your greatest fear?
Betrayal.

3. Do you have a new years resolution for 2014?
I resolve to be less of a grammar nazi… erg, no, I’m just going to fix a few things in that question…

3. Do you have a New Year’s resolution for 2014?

That’s better.  No, I’m more in favor of setting goals throughout the year, and not necessarily at the beginning of January.  I want to renew my commitments to injury recovery, which have lasted about five years so far, I think.  I’m reminded of people observing the spike in activity at their local gyms in January, and that amuses me.  Gym-goers would mention that from time to time, and I said I was just there to get better.  I got great support year-round from all sorts of people at the gyms I attended, and yeah, I’d like to continue that.

1. What is your favorite song at the moment?
   

2. What is your favorite childhood memory?

shudder There’s so much pain there that it’s really hard to think of any memories I’d call my “favorite”.

6a. Facebook or Twitter?

Cimmy changed this question, but I wanted to address this anyways.

I had a really bad experience with Facebook.  Now, there’s a new trend (new to me, anyways) for bloggers to promote themselves by way of Facebook.  I get that this is part of the “branding” process, as well as widespread promotion, but… ugh, no, I can’t think of using Facebook again even to merely promote my blog.

I do have a Twitter account, to follow a few blog friends in particular (I think it’s just Jack Yan now, really) and I do promote this blog on it.  I don’t know how effective it is.  I don’t actively use it– I just can’t generate enough chatter to keep myself above the fray.  It feels like an extroverted response to this so-called flat medium, and I’m introverted.

6b. What’s your favorite social media platform and why?

This is Cimmorene’s modification.  I do like WordPress!  It’s my favorite platform so far, because not only do I enjoy using it as part of my writing process, but because it has the best options for me of all the blogging platforms out there.  Now, Facebook and Twitter are sometimes called “short-form”, in contrast to blogs, which are called “long-form”.  So, just for fun, to keep to the spirit of 6a, I say that 43Things is my favorite “short-form” social media platform, or to be more particular, I’ve really enjoyed 43Things best of all the goal-setting sites out there.  I think it’s the best so far in helping me achieve my goals.

1. What did the last text message you received say?

“Your new month starts now!  Your monthly plan is good through 02/06/2014.  Enjoy!”

This message came today, like it does every 7th of each month.  I don’t do texting– I can’t afford it.  I have my cell phone through a government subsidy, because I’m poor like that, and this message comes to let me know I got my allotment of 250 minutes.  I do get severe weather warning alerts, so that would be the only other possibility.

1. What bugs you the most?

Hasn’t it been said that what we despise in others is really what we despise in ourselves?

Let me guess… the award doesn’t allow me to answer a question with a question.  Okay, fine.  Ignorance, probably.  I don’t want to find that I am ignorant.

1. What do you consider to be the most important appliance in your house?

It’s a toss-up between the heat pump HVAC and the stove/oven.

1. If you could have one song that would play whenever you entered a room, what would it be?

It wouldn’t.  I don’t want a song playing every time I enter a room.

But if I was FORCED… well, it would probably be the 1982 Naked Eyes cover of “Always Something There to Remind Me” by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.  It would be always there to remind me!

1. What’s your favorite movie quote?

I’m having a hard time thinking of one.  What’s crammed into my brain right now is this:

“Man, I can’t fucking believe this.  How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?”

as sampled on Positive K’s track “I Got A Man” on The Skills That Pay da Bills

but according to IMDb, the full quote, from Die Hard 2, is this:

“Oh man, I can’t fucking believe this. Another basement, another elevator. How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?” — Bruce Willis, as John McClane

No, I’ve never seen the movie.  I’ve got a boatload of movies I need to catch up on once I can afford a Netflix subscription again.  So, if you’d like to tell me I need to see this movie, please take a number– I’ve got a long line of other movies from other folks on the Internet.

Nominate 11 bloggers.

Some of these will be repeats from Cimmorene’s nominations, because, I would like to see responses from these bloggers.

stephrogers

militarywiferants

huntmode

…

Oh, screw this, I’m tired and grouchy still… the sunshine isn’t quite enough. I want to be done with this post already.  I’m sure I’ll come up with the required 11 bloggers eventually, but right now, my head and various other parts of my body, including my scars on my back, and probably the screws in my spine, hurt.

The questions I would have bloggers answer can be exactly the same as here, as Cimmy passed them on to me, as samara passed them on to her, or any damn thing they please that tickles their fancy until their fancies can’t breathe and plead for mercy.