Lie- ..Nomi-...Who, me?

Susan Brody of The Art of Not Getting Published (do you know this blog? If not, I assure you, you should! Utterly awesome!) has very kindly nominated me for the Liebster Award. Thank you, Susan! 

Anytime I get a blog award I keep looking back over my shoulder if there's anyone standing behind me people are addressing.  You sure you're speaking to me??  I have been awarded the Liebster before, and I can tell you from experience this looking-behind-over-my-left-shoulder thingy does not go away with experience.

The first rule of the Liebster is to answer a set of 11 questions, so here goes

1. Is your blog your best friend?  Why or why not?

 My best friend? Nope, my best friend is a person. But the blog is a good friend.  I spend quite a lot of time nattering and whingeing with her, so…clearly…

2. Blogging feels to me like a job ___ percent of the time, and like a joy ____ percent of the time.

Blogging feels to me like a job 0.0000001% and like a joy 99.9999999% of the time, not sure if the decimal places are correct, but you get the idea.. I blog for pleasure and...um...self-expression I think it's called, though how anybody can express somebody else's self beats me.

3. What rules of Blogger Etiquette are most important to you?

Keep it civil folks! No need to get excited and use a lot of hateful words. Chill and let chill.

4. Do you have any great tips for attracting readers to your blog?

Haha, no way… this is a blog with a readership barely into three figures…if you have any magic tricks then please lemme know... 

5. What do you wish you could change about the education you had?

No changes wished for…grateful for whatever I’ve got….it’s all good barring minor peeves which are totally and eminently ignorable. Many of my contemporaries could not access education at all…many kids in my country still can’t get to school, leave alone higher studies.

6. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

An adwoman :) 

7. Of all the places you've lived, which one is your favorite?  Why?

I don't know that I can pick favourites.  I have deeply loved the places where I have lived, some because I went to school there, one because I got married there, some because my son went to school there…every place has grown me up or has grown me in unfathomable ways…. 

8. If you had a time machine, which era would be your first stop?

Wow! That’s a toughie!  I think I’d start with the Paleolithic first, and then kind of amble up the centuries with major stops at the Yarmouk Valley Civilisation, Ancient Egypt, and Indus Valley Civilisation and the Tudor and Mughal eras, maybe take in a bit of the Mayans and Aztecs, and of course Ancient Greek and Romans.  To be honest, I’d disappear so fast and for so long into the depths anybody’d give up hopes of ever seeing me again. 

9. What's the best thing that happened to you within the past week?

A friend from across the oceans came to visit me!! :)  Yep, that’s why the lag in collection of the award. 

10. What's the fastest way to get on your bad side?

 Hide the coffee.      

11. What's the one thing that never fails to inspire you?

 I’m really not an inspired individual…just stare at words most of the time…on a page or on a screen…

Okay, done.  Now I have to state 11 random facts about myself, which is even more difficult than answering questions.

I can’t think of eleven random facts

about myself, that’s 1, to be exact.

I’ve two left feet, and that is number 2.

Three members in my home that’s 3 for you.

I know my 1-2-3 in tongues galore

ask me for 4 and I’m stumped - there’s number 4.

I was born in a land of rivers, yet survive

living in riverless deserts – that’s number 5.

I’d rather have grass underfoot than bricks

crosshatched into pavements – take number 6.

My bread comes simple and hot without leaven

but the dips are complicated, that’s 7.

I’ve lived in compounds without a single gate

though that’s over now for good – a bad 8.

I was less than nine when I wrote a line

of poetry, I’ve never stopped since – there’s 9.

How I’ve reached this far is quite beyond my ken

as most things are, and there you've number 10.

I had schoolmates once who I’d meet quite often

now I have friends who I don’t meet – 11.

Whew, done.  Now I get to nominate some cool bloggers for the Liebster and here are my nominations :

1.    Word Splash 

2.    Burggraf's Blog

3.    The Lair of the Silver Fox

4.    Keith's Ramblings 

5.    Elephant's Child 

ELEVEN QUESTIONS FOR MY NOMINEES TO ANSWER 

1.  Describe yourself in one word.  

2.  What is your beverage of choice when you're sitting writing a blogpost?

3.  Complete the sentence. I can't do without my ..........

4.   Name the top five things on your bucket list

5.   What is your relationship with James Bond? 

6.   If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

7.    What is the message that you would send out through your blog? Your life?

8.   Every adult is a guardian to the children in his/her community. Agree?

9.  Technology is making life...........

10. Have you read any poetry beyond school? If yes, whose? Name a favourite poet.

11. Spring, summer, autumn or winter? Why?

If my nominees accept, and I hope they do, here are the rules that must be followed:

RULES OF THE LIEBSTER AWARD

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award and you choose to accept it, write a blog post about the Liebster Award in which you:

·                     Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog in your post.

·                     Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”.

·                     Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

·                     Provide 11 random facts about yourself.

·                     Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers.

·                     Create a new list of 11 questions for the nominees to answer.

List these rules in your post (copy and paste from here). Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

·                     Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster Award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)