A Sunshine Blogger Award I Was Given Last Month

Cat over at The Strawberry Post was nominated for a Sunshine Blogger Award recently, and she nominated me for it.  You can check out Cat's post by clicking here.

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate up to 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
4. List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

~

So, first of all, thank you, Cat!

Secondly, here are the questions she asked me to answer, along with my responses:

1. If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be?

I think I’d have to go with potatoes.  Because you can prepare them in all kinds of ways: baked, roasted, turned in to chips (fries) and so on.  Plus, I’m a big fan of potatoes, and eat them most days already.

 

2. Is there anything you like to collect?

I collect books, cuddly toys, and stones (as in gemstones, crystals, minerals, etc).

 

3. What is your favourite colour(s)?

My favourite colour is purple.

 

4. What hobbies do you have apart from blogging/reading?

Apart from blogging and reading, I also write poetry and children’s stories, do various crafts, watch movies and TV shows, listen to music, play roleplaying games, and play some other kinds of games (for example, I have recently become addicted to the Dice World app I was introduced to that I now have on my phone... You should check it out if you're a fan of games like Yatzi, Farkle, etc... If you do, let me know what your username is and I'll tell you mine so we can have a game of something).  I’m also interested in certain parts of history, and have a few other interests that randomly capture my attention from time to time. Not to mention everything I’m involved with in the ACB community these days.

 

5. If you could live in any time period in history which would it be and why?

There are several periods of history I’d like to visit, but as a general rule I’d rather it just be a visit.  If I had to pick one to live in though, I’d prefer the time period usually refered to as pre-historic times, when there weren’t so many people, and the people who existed still respected and took care of the Earth.  Yes, I’d be minus all the modern conveniences and technologies I rely on, and every day would be a fight for survival.  But at least my tribe would be working together to try and assure that survival, and the world would still be free of pollution.

 

6. What is your favourite animal(s)?

My absolute favourite animal is a lion, with a horse an incredibly close second.  I also love rats, and most other kinds of animals.  If it’s an animal, as long as it’s not spiders or creepy crawly bugs, I probably like it.  Yes, even snakes.

 

7. Which season is your favourite and why?

My favourite season – which I’m sure comes as no surprise to those who know me – is Winter, because it tends to be colder, and sometimes we get snow.  I can’t deal with heat very well, so bring on the chilly Winter days, and even colder Winter nights.

 

8. What music do you like to listen to?

I enjoy most kinds of music, and will listen to quite a variety depending on my mood, from Jazz to soft rock, and across multiple decades.  But country music is my favourite genre, and the one I’d pick if forced to choose one single music genre to name as my favourite.

 

9. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was young I wanted to be either a vet or a nursery (preschool) teacher, plus an author; I wanted to have a large family, work with either animals or young children, and write in my free time.  Though where I was finding free time between all the kids I planned on having and work, I have no idea.  But there you go.

 

10. If you were granted your own national holiday, how would people be told to spend/celebrate it?

It would be a national day of rest and relaxation, where people would be encouraged to spend some time doing things that they find relaxing; things that recharge them, replenish their souls, etc.  It would be up to them whether they do so alone or with people they’re close to, as well as whether they do things at home or not.  As long as they did something that made them happy, feel relaxed, etc.

 

For example: I would most likely spend it by myself at home, with a plentiful supply of tea and snacks, curled up somewhere reading.  I’d alternate between reading on my Braille display while listening to music (I’ve found classical piano music to be an excellent accompaniment to this) and listening to either an audiobook or a book on my Kindle while working on a craft project.

 

11. If you could live in any book which would it be and why?

 

If I could take liberties with this question and merge three books, I’d want to move Hogwarts to Narnia, and have a hobbit hole somewhere in that world.  That way I could go to Hogwarts, and during school holidays I could live in my hobbit hole and invite various talking animals over for tea.

 

However, if I absolutely had to choose one… This is harder.  But I think I’d go with Narnia, because of the talking animals and Aslan.  The Harry Potter books might be the ones I revisit most often, but the Chronicles of Narnia books contain a world I’d really love to be a part of.

 

~

 

I never tag people on these things any more.  Most people I’d want to give it to don’t do these kinds of things these days.  With that in mind, if you’re reading this post and want to join in; consider yourself tagged.  And you can answer the questions Cat gave to me – I’m sure she won’t mind me using those, and I can’t think of better ones.  Just be sure and make sure I know where to find your answers if you do this.

A Week Of Celebrating My Birthday

Technically, my birthday celebrations lasted most of the week, since I was fielding birthday messages, or doing something birthday velebration related, right up until the weekend.

Before I tell you about my birthday though, I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes last week. Every message was very much appreciated, and helped to make me feel special. So, as I said... Thank you!

Apart from all the wonderful birthday messages I got, I also got some money I'll probably end up spending on books and DVDs, a couple of presents, and a few cards. Kelly brought me the DVD of the 2017 Jumanji movie, so I had something from him and Lilie on the day (since, as you may remember, he brought me my new Kindle as an early birthday and Christmas present a few weeks back). Also, someone gave me the gift of buying some of my books on my birthday. That's a very good birthday present to give your favourite author, by the way... Just so you know.

Most of my family and friends don't bother with cards these days, but I had cards from Rita, my Grandma, my Dad, and my Nan (Grandma is my Mother's Mother, and Nan is my Father's Mother). Here are the cards:

My Dad made me a dragon model, which kind of reminds us of Spyro (from the Spyro game I used to play on the Playstation when I could still see) though it doesn't look exactly like Spyro. It's just close enough to Spyro that it reminds us of him. I'm still calling it Spyro though. Anyway, here it is:

Dad also made me a Baby Groote (a character from Guardians Of The Galaxy)...

"I am Groot!"

Plus, Dad made a new version of the braille D10 for me to test...

I tested the dice a bit between dealing with birthday messages on Facebook. It rolls better than the first ones, so it seems we're heading in the right direction with braille dice creation. YAY us!

My Mam got me a couple of DVDs that are due out about now. They're pre-ordered, and will come to me when they're actually released. So, I guess my birthday is technically still not over yet.

We were meant to go out for a birthday dinner on my actual birthday, but it got rescheduled. Instead, Kelly and I watched Jumanji while eating some of my birthday cake - a lemon drizzle cake - on Tuesday evening. I've got a movie reviews post going up on the weekend though, so I'll tell you about the movie then.

Wednesday and Thursday I finished my birthday cake (it was only a little cake) and dealt with more birthday messages and phone calls.

Friday was when I ended up having my birthday meal. The meal was rescheduled because Oscars couldn't do it after all. They aren't usually open on a Tuesday, but were going to open for me. But something came up that meant they couldn't, so my birthday dinner was rescheduled for the Friday after my birthday instead (this past Friday). I didn't mind though. Sometimes things just come up. It happens to us all, and can't be helped.

I'd originally planned to have my birthday meal as an evening meal, but asked for the afternoon instead when it was changed to Friday, since they didn't mind which I did, and I figured it would be quieter there on a Friday afternoon than evening. Not that things are too bad for people this time of year anyhow, since tourist season is over. But still. Friday nights are popular for people going out, and I prefer to go when less other people will be.

Not because of Lilie. Lilie would actually prefer us to go when there will be more people, since more people means more potential friends for her, and a higher chance of getting attention. It's me who prefers the quieter times. So, Friday afternoon it was, since it was me who got to make the choice, not Lilie. *wink*

It was worth the wait. Food from Oscars always is. At least, we think so. They made it even more so with a free dessert. I got to choose, and picked apple crumble with custard, since I love fruit crumble. I did offer Kelly to share it, and they provided utensils so he could. But he wouldn't. Said he was too full from dinner. I enjoyed it though.

I got a birthday card from them too...

Wasn't that nice? They were already my favourite place to eat, but now I'm even more glad I picked them for my birthday meal, since they made it a very special one.

So, that was my birthday week.

Before I end this, I want to direct your attention to a post that may be of interest to those of you who read blogs on your iPad or iPhone. It seems there are issues with Safari's privacy settings preventing you from commenting. The post explains, and also tells you how to resolve the issue.

3D Unicorns, Accessable Dice, Subscription Boxes, And Other Random Things

My Dad got a 3D printer. Not a posh expensive one, but a reasonable one. Apparently he's having a great time with it. He's made several things, including a unicorn keyring he sent me recently, which you can see in the photo at the top of this post.

He's also made some tactile dice, which are pictured below.

One is just like the usual kind of tactile dice you get, where counting the dots gives you the number you rolled. The others are actual braille dice, where the letters of the braille alphabet is used to represent the various numbers. The regular tactile dice is a D6, the others are two D10s and a D20.

Right now he's trying some different templates to see which types work best before he makes a full set. I'm helping him test them out. Checking which ones roll best, which ones are easiest to read, etc. When we get it figured out, he can make accessable dice for me and my brother, Carl, for all the games we play that need dice, especially the various roleplaying games we play.

There is a company called 64 Ounce Games that does braille dice, as well as accessability kits for some card games, etc. But a lot of their stuff isn't cheap. Just like everything else you can buy to make things accessable. While I'd like to support their efforts, I'm also happy to help Dad figure out a less expensive way to get some accessable dice.

***~~~***

We have a certain amount of money we set aside each month spacifically for us to spend on things for ourselves. It's sort of like an allowance, only we don't get it taken away for bad behaviour. Yeah, we could go without this spending to move quicker. But it wouldn't make a lot of difference to timescale. Besides, we can now take as long as we need to with nasty neighbour gone.

Anyway, Kelly uses his for magazine and game subscriptions. I mostly use mine for books, sometimes also DVDs, since I can no longer see to play the games, or read the magazines. I mean, there have been some magazines I've had anyway, for the stuff that comes with them, like the gems and minerals one I got for the samples that come with it. The ones out now though either don't interest me, or have nothing with them I could enjoy despite my inability to read the magazines.

But, I miss having things come in the post. I like getting post, and the only fun mail I've had in months is the package from Dad with the unicorn and dice in it. Everything else has been bills, copies of medical letters, or stuff for Kelly. So, either not for me, or not the kind of post to get excited about.

I know my DVDs sometimes come in the post (unless I get Kelly to fetch them when he's in town). But I've not been getting many DVDs, because I have a huge stack of them to catch up on as it is. Yeah, I know that's the case for books too, but they don't end up in piles all over the livingroom while waiting for me to get to them, since I mainly buy eBooks. Plus, only not having the money available can stop me buying books. *wink*

Anyway, as I said, I like getting things in the post to open, and wanted to have that happening regularly.

I'd heard about boxes of goodies you could get sent to you regularly by subscribing to the companies. The idea sounded like a fun one, so I figured I'd go see if any of them appealed to me, and were also accessable to me. I mean, I knew there were ones filled with food and drink products, like one for tea, one for healthy snacks, etc. But I didn't really want a food and drink one. Although, I'd have ordered the tea one if I couldn't find anything else, just so I had a regular package to look forward to.

Anyway, we found this site that lists the various subscription boxes in the UK. They have loads of great ones.

I was pleased to see all the different catagories. It didn't take me long to pick which one I wanted to look in to most either, because I also miss doing crafty projects. In fact, I mentioned earlier this year that I wanted to get back in to it, but just couldn't decide where to start, what to make, etc.

I'm sure you've figured out where I'm going with this, right?

Yep. I subscribed to a couple of the craft boxes.

One of them is officially meant for children, but I didn't see why I couldn't have it too. Besides, those kinds of simple craft projects are ideal for me to manage by myself, even without being able to read the instructions. Actually, if I know what I'm meant to be making, I'm pretty good at figuring out most craft kits without reading the instructions. But crafts aimed at kids are always easiest. Plus, some of them are fun. The activity book that comes along with the craft project in that particular box won't be any good to me, but I want it for the kits. Yeah, OK, so I'm a big kid. Whatever. The kits sound fun, and I want them.

Anyway, I've already subscribed to Mister Maker Club, and the SewMineBox. The first being the one that's officially meant for children. I'm also planning to subscribe to Makerly Crafts, since I like the sound of their boxes too.

I was going to say that my first boxes should come in the next week or so. But I got my first Sew Mine Box already. It arrived on Friday, and Kelly's still laughing about how excited I got when it arrived. It's got two kits in it. One is for an Autumn themed table runner, and the other is for a purse (a little coin purse with a clasp).

It won't be long before I get more fun post. I'm looking forward to having a go at making the things. Not just the kits in this box - one of which I've already made a start on - but the others that will be coming too.

I like to keep my hands busy while watching or listening to things, so I enjoy doing crafts while watching movies and TV shows, and sometimes while listening to books (assuming I'm not listening to the books in bed). That's what I did when I was doing crafts a lot before. So my plan is to work on the kits while catching up on the things I want to watch and read. Especially the things I want to watch.

I've got plenty to catch up on too. I've got NCIS and Ghost In The Shell to finish watching, as well as a stack of Disney movies to rewatch (which I'm rewatching because they're among the DVDs in the boxes my Mam gave me). There are a few other things too, but I actually don't even remember all of what I need to catch up on. Yeah... That just shows how long I've been meaning to watch these DVDs! I have a long list of other stuff I want to see too, so I'll have plenty of options for things to get hold of to watch when I finally get through all those DVDs. Plus, I also need to catch up on watching past episodes of Critical Role, since I'm still quite a few episodes behind with that too.

I made a start on the first kit yesterday (Saturday). I started to work on the little purse, while reading part of a book for a buddy read. Although, I didn't get to do much work on the purse project, because I was also doing other things, and only finished as much reading as I did because of reading for a while in bed before settling for sleep.

I'm planning to work on it some more today. The kit is officially simple enough to complete in a couple of hours easily, which should have meant I either did it all yesterday, or was close enough to doing so that I'd be finishing it today for sure. But I'm doing it in bits between other things this weekend, since I'd planned to be sorting some things around the flat this weekend with Kelly, not expecting any kits to arrive until next week. I don't suppose it matters how long the kits end up taking me to complete though, as long as I enjoy doing them.

Oh, and... Yes. Of course I'll get Kelly to take photos of the projects when I finish each one. I know some of my followers at least would be very disappointed if I didn't do that. *wink*

I'm considering getting this Harry Potter themed box too. Because... Well, it's Harry Potter stuff!

There I was, worried I wouldn't find one that appealed to me, while also being accessable enough that I could really enjoy it, and now I find I'm spoiled for choice. Haha!

***~~~***

Apparently the last time we had the police out because of nasty neighbour - just before she moved away - was the last straw for the police.

We got a call from victim support a few days ago.

Yeah, I know. Better late than never though, right?

Anyway, I figured there's not much point in doing anything now she's gone though. We've not seen or heard anything from either her or her guy since she moved, and nobody else is hastling us. So I told him she'd finally moved.

He asked if we were OK now.

I told him we were, and thanked him for checking in, since it seemed like the right thing to say. Besides, what else could I do? She's gone, nobody else is threatening us, so there isn't anything he could help with, and it was good that they followed up, even if she'd already gone by the time they did.

Well, I suppose I could have asked him to help us move too. But usually they only help with that kind of thing if the situation can't be resolved another way, so it seemed pointless to ask.

***~~~***

We went to Oscars in the evening this past Thursday, instead of for our usual Friday lunch, and were the only people there.

We usually eat outside, but went inside because it was trying to rain. So we were in there chatting with the people who own and run it while enjoying our meal. They're lovely people, so it was nice.

I'm assuming the weather was why it was so quiet. It's always quieter near the beach when the weather isn't so good. It probably also helps that most of the Summer visitors will have gone, so it will be mainly locals around for the next several months.

Anyway, Lilie loved our trip to Oscars too. She always does, but was really excited about being able to go inside (they've always told us we could take her in, but we never did... Until now). They think she's adorable, and she knows it. She loves attention, and they always give her plenty of it.

As it happened, the rain did start while we were having dinner. Not that there was much rain. To be honest, we didn't even get all that wet on the walk home.

A warm front came through here on Wednesday, and decided to stick around. So we had a couple of days where it was about 19 or 20 degrees C (about 70 or 72 F). As I said, it got rainy on Thursday evening, but it was like a warm Summer rain, because it wasn't really that cold out.

I think we're supposed to get some storms soon though. Parts of the UK have had them already Not that I'm complaining. I mean, I wouldn't be so eager for storms if our storms were like the really nasty ones that keep hitting the US, and I'm certainly not hoping for those kinds of storms. But a mild storm would be nice. I expect we'll get plenty of them over the next few months though. We usually do.

As I said in a comment towards the end of last week, I wish I could order certain types of weather. This would be my order:

"I'd like to order a mild thunderstorm please. A bit of gust to the wind, and a reasonable shower of rain, but nothing too heavy. Also, can I pre-order some snow for the holidays? Nothing too deep. Just a few inches of the kind of snow that's perfect for building snowmen. Thank you!"

What would your weather order be?

#SciFi #Book Release: Jeffrey The Orange Alien

Eager to see the universe, and hoping to make some new friends from far off places, Jeffrey the Zuling decides to take a trip to another planet.

With such similarities in appearance between Zulings and Earthlings, he decides to start with a visit to planet Earth. But his introductions to the planet’s native creatures don’t go quite as planned, and Jeffrey soon finds himself wondering if he should have just stayed at home on Omega Zulu 8.

Is he right? Join Jeffrey on his trip to Earth, and judge for yourself!

The above is the description for my latest story. It's called "Jeffrey The Orange Alien" and is the story that was inspired by the Story Dice session with my brother, Carl, which I posted about back in March. It's only a simple science fiction story, but I hope those who read it enjoy it.

When I decided to hold on to the story and expand on it, I made a note of my dice so as to post them when I announced the release of this story... In case anyone is curious. We were playing with five dice (you can do anything up to 10 on the Story Dice app) and my dice were: alien, blue ribbon, fire hydrent, microphone, and swimming pool. If you want to know how they all fit in to the story, you'll have to read the book.

Also, in case you're curious about the origin of the name of the planet, or the name of the creatures from it... The name of the planet Jeffrey comes from was one of the suggestions made for me by the planet name generator, and I made up the creature name based on randomly placing "ling" or "ian" after parts of the planet name (since creatures from various planets usually get called something ending in "ian" or "ing" - take the words "Martian" and "Earthling" for example) and then deciding which I liked best. Jeffrey himself also went through a couple of different shapes before I decided on the shape that worked best for this story, and even then had his appearance tweaked slightly when I liked how Jacob drew him for the cover more than my own version of him. I'd have made him an orange cone-head alien, if it had worked for the story. I nearly did anyway, but - as I already mentioned - the shape didn't work for what I wanted for the story.

This story may have started life as a piece of flash fiction, but as I took the time to tidy up the rough edges, expand on the story, and so on, it grew in length a fair bit. Now it's a few thousand words long, is ready to be set free to take its chances out in the big wide world, and today is its official release date.

You can already buy the eBook version from Smashwords in all formats they offer, as well as from Barnes & Noble, the Apple iBookstore, and Kobo, and will be able to get it from a few other places Smashwords distributes to soon. That means there are plenty of options for reading it, so you'll be able to find one that works for you, regardless of your prefered method of reading eBooks.

If you prefer a physical book, don't worry! The paperback will become available as soon as it can be arranged... Hopefully very soon. Watch my Wednesday posts for an announcement of its availability.

#Writing Wednesday: story dice

While I was in Wales at the end of February, my brother, Carl, introduced me to a fun - yet also useful - app for the iPhone. Which, by the way, is also available for other tablets and similar devices.

Anyway, the app wasstory dice, and I mention it in a writing post because... As it says on the app store...

Story Dice is a creative writing prompt tool to come up with ideas for plot, character, and setting. It can be used for both written and oral storytelling.

It's worth noting that, though the "dice" show up as pictograms, it works so well with Apple's voiceover software that the app is still accessable to the blind without any assistance being required from a sighted person, making this a great tool for those who can't read well (such as young children) or those who rely on screen reader technology to read what's on the screen for them (such as the visually impaired) as well.

Most importantly though, this is a potentially fun way of helping someone struggling with writers' block to get their creative juices flowing.

Carl and I used it to entertain each other by making up flash fiction on the spot, when we had an hour spare to mess around on the Sunday evening. Most of our stories weren't that great, but it was good fun.

I did make a note of one of mine though, because I was quite pleased with it - and Carl seemed to like it too - so I plan to expand on it in the future, as well as take the time to iron out the rough edges, if you know what I mean. I'm not sure if Carl plans to work with any of his in the future... I didn't ask, to be honest.

Are you thinking this isn't for you because you don't write flash fiction? Think again! For one thing, the app doesn't have to be used for flash fiction. For another thing, there are 5 smart reasons to write flash fiction, even if it's only from time to time.

Anyway...

I happen to think it's a fun and useful app, and Carl obviously thinks so too, since he recommended it to me. We also both grabbed the spooky story dice version, since it contains some "dice" that the other version doesn't.

Oh, and... If you're wondering... No. I did not get asked by anyone to tell you how totally awesome I think the app is, and I'm not being paid for it either (which is a real shame, but there you go). I'm writing this post because I want to, and telling you about how awesome the app is because it's how I feel, and I want you to know about it... Especially those of you reading this who are writers too.

Y is for Yahtzee AKA The Game Challenge #2

"Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley (now owned by Hasbro), which was first marketed by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier dice games such as Yacht and Generala. A public domain version of Yahtzee, which is popular especially in Scandinavia, is Yatzy. Yahtzee is also similar to the English game of Poker Dice and the Cheerio dice game.

The object of the game is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn to try to make one of the thirteen possible scoring combinations. A game consists of thirteen rounds during which the player chooses which scoring combination is to be used in that round. Once a combination has been used in the game, it cannot be used again."

~~Above taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahtzee where you can read more if you like.

I had plenty of ideas for a "Y" word, but I needed it to fit in with a spacific theme to work for today. Why? Because it's time for the second challenge for The Game so it's time for me to post my entry for the challenge.

This time we had to use the "Jack" face card in our work. Nobody said anything about which one, so I used the Jack Of Diamonds.

Here's my entry:

The image was found for me somewhere online by Kelly (I have no idea where, sorry). I'm pretty sure the card is from "Craft Planet" and the same goes for the little gemstones used to make the dots on the dice in the corners of the card. And I'm pretty sure the foam squares were part of an "Art Attack" foam shapes pack I brought.

Anyway, join me and the rest of the Design Team at The Game and see what everyone creates. And, hey, why not see what you can create by using the Jack face card in your work?