It's taken me a couple of weeks to post about this, but... At the start of the month I was nominated for The Sunshine Blogger award by Cat over at The Strawberry Post after she was given the award herself by someone else - you can see her post for it here. I can't tell you how many times I've been nominated for this award in the past - not without looking through my old blog posts to find out, which I'm not about to do, sorry and all that - but it's always an honour when someone thinks my blog and I deserve things like this. So, thank you, Cat, for giving me that honour once again.
Naturally, there are rules that go along with accepting the award, so here are the rules:
• Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog
• Answer the 11 Questions sent by the person who nominated you.
• Nominate up to 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.
Well, I thanked the person who gave it to me - thanks again though, Cat. I also displayed the award and listed the rules. So, let's get to those questions, shall we?
1. Do you have any hobbies your blog followers don’t know about?
I'm not too sure. I have some hobbies I don't mention too often on here, but I think long time followers do know about them. For those who might be new here though, my hobbies and interests include, but may not be limited to: reading, writing, watching movies and TV shows, listening to music, doing crafts, cooking and baking, astronomy and space, astrology, science, animals and nature, history, doing brainteaser puzzles, and gaming. Which I focus on depends on my mood at any given time.
2. What’s your favourite animal?
My absolute favourite animal in the world is a lion.
3. What is/are your favourite movies?
There are several movies I consider favourites. However, my all time favourite movie is "Practical Magic" - it's been my favourite since I first saw it as a teenager after I was gifted a copy by an online friend. Yes, I said online friend. I'm old enough to remember when we didn't spend as much time online as we do now, but young enough that most teens were getting online for at least a short time each day by the time I was in my mid teens (though it was a new thing at the time, and internet connections were dial-up ones) so I made some friends online in my teens. I've had friends online since I was almost sixteen. I still talk to a couple of them actually - married one of my online friends, but that's another story - though I unfortunately lost touch with most of the online friends I made back then, including the one who gifted me my first copy of "Practical Magic" all those years ago. I always think of my friend Melody when I watch the movie though - even though the copy I own these days didn't come from her.
4. What’s your creative outlet?
Mostly writing, especially poetry - yes, I write a whole lot more poems than I do stories, hence the several published poetry collections where the shortest has a good dozen poems in it. If I'm not writing poetry, I'll be writing children's stories. I also enjoy doing craft projects, but would pick writing as my favourite over those in a heartbeat, even though I do love doing craft projects too.
5. Do you enjoy any sports (watching or playing – assuming no pandemic/lockdowns exist)?
Playing... No. I used to do Judo and horseriding - which I do sort of miss sometimes - and played netball at school (though I was on the team more because they needed me for the numbers than for any interest or talent on my part). But that's it as far as playing anything vaguely sporty goes.
As for watching though: I sometimes watch football (soccer) and basketball, and do even have teams I support (Liverpool FC and the Toronto Raptors respectively). I'm not one of those fans who feels the need to watch all my teams' games though, and don't check in on their progress constantly. I just support them enough to sometimes wonder how those teams are doing, and will watch one of their games if I'm in the mood to and one of them is playing.
6. What would your dream job be?
I'm doing it. I mean, when I was young I wanted to either be a vet, work in a nursery school, or become an author. In an ideal world - and in my daydreams in my youth - I might have done one of the first two - either be a vet or work in a nursery school - while writing and publishing my work on my own time, all while raising a handful of children. However, reality and circumstances made that impossible for me personally, and I ended up going with just the author option. Though I sometimes wonder what things might have been like if I had been a vet or worked in a nursery school, I'm happy with how things worked out. After all, I struggle with my health and accepting my own limitations enough when I have a job as flexible as writing, so I think the stress of being a vet or working in a nursery school on top of that would have been too much, especially since I know I'd still have needed to write. I have a tough enough time with practicing proper self care as it is, so hate to think how mbad I'd be at that if I was trying to manage a full time job on top of everything else. Besides, writing was the ultimate dream anyhow.
7. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Right here. I've lived in Wales, England, and Canada. All three places have their pros and cons, and all three places I could be happy living in - at least, I know that's the case for the parts of those countries I've lived in. But, if I'm totally honest, Wales is where my heart is. I've always ended up coming back to Wales, and always considered it home - no matter how hard I tried not to think of it that way during the times I thought I wouldn't end up moving back here. So, like I said, if I could live anywhere in the world, I'd want to live where I am right now: in Wales.
8. What type of music do you like to listen to?
It really depends on my mood. My favourite is country, if I have to pick a favourite music genre. However, I also enjoy pop, oldies, light rock, classical, jazz, new age, etc - basically, anything except RAP will at least be given a chance. Which genre I listen to depends on my mood, the kind of atmosphere I want to create with the music, and sometimes also the preferences of whoever else is around (since some people aren't quite as open about enjoying a variety of music genres as I am).
9. If your life was made into a book, what would be the title?
I'm not sure, but I'd be prepared to bet that anyone who picked it up without knowing the genre would automatically assume it was fiction, and insist nobody's life is really the way mine is/has so far been.
10. What food do you never get sick of eating?
There are two things: toast and chips (fries). Not at the same time, of course. But, if you're having trouble getting me to eat - not an issue that happens often, but it has happened - a nice bit of toast spread with vegan butter, or a nice plate of chips, will generally tempt me. Both are also things I eat a lot, but never seem to get bored of, no matter how often I eat them.
11. If you could bring back something/someone that has gone (disappeared/lost/died) what would it be?
This is hard. On the one hand I want to say Kero - my Westie boy, who died in August 2014. He was a very special little dog, and I still miss him terribly; I still miss him so much it hurts. What I wouldn't give for just one more day with him...On the other hand, last year we lost my Nan (Dad's Mother) who also died in the month of August, and I'd love to have her back too. I'd hoped I'd make it for moving back to Wales in time to see her again, and I'm devistated that I didn't. I wish I could have them both back.
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I'm supposed to tag people and set questions of my own at this point. However, most of the peple I'd like to give this to don't do awards., so I'm not bothering with the tagging part, and I can't think of better questions than Cat came up with, so I'm not going to give you new questions. With that in mind: if you're a regular visitor to my blog, consider yourself tagged. If you want to do this, use Cat's questions. Yes, that's cheating. No, I don't care what anyone thinks of that.