Versatilely Inspiring? Inspiringly Versatile? Uh, Adverb-Adjectives Galore.

Huh. Versatile and inspiring are rather ugly as adverbs.

But that’s not a reflection of the beautiful bloggers, Rebecca Fraser-Thill and olivethepeople for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award and the Very Inspiring Blog Award, respectively! Despite my best efforts, these gals think I’m versatile and/or inspiring (as the titles suggest). But I kid. I love these tag-you’re-it awards. So to do my part in spreading the love, here we go.

Rules of the Versatile Blogger Award:

• Display the award logo on your website.
• Write a gratitude-filled post and link to whoever presented your award. ["You like me! You like me!"]
• Nominate 15 deserving bloggers [Deserving? Observe my Godlike powers!]
• Be sure to notify the bloggers you’ve nominated. [Or leave them in the dark. To each their own.]
• Post 7 interesting things about yourself. [Does being able to sleep for 14 hours straight count as "interesting?"]

Rules of the Very Inspiring Blog Award:

[Copy and paste the above rules.]

Since the protocols for receiving each of these highly esteemed accolades are pretty much the same [Read: exactly the same], I’m just going to mash them together because I am not going to nominate 30 bloggers and write 14 semi-interesting things about myself. Hey, I’m not lazy. I’m just skillfully un-razzmatazzmic. [Fun words are fun.] Also, because I’m skillfully un-razzmatazzmic, I’ll nominate 7 because I don’t want to just list 15 bloggers and leave it at that. I want to tell you why you should check out each of these  bloggers in salaciously intimate detail.

So all premature joculation aside, here are 7 bloggers in no particular order who are either versatile or inspiring (or both):

• Queen Celery - Personal, funny, and – as shown by her tagline – humorously awkward (in the best of ways, of course). dandoona1999 is honest with herself and her readers, having admitted to over-confidence, sappiness, sensitivity, and a bit of perfection. And she watches ZeFrank on YouTube. Awesome taste in creative, intelligent people. Plus, if you don’t know what a Quokka is, visit her about page. Don’t forget to thank her for it.
• Kismet’s Oubliette - Awareness! Learning! Exploring! That’s what D. Thomas is doing with her blog. She seeks out the realities of the world around her – or rather the realities of  herself, a piece of the universe of which she is a part. Read bits of news and musings about the climate of our world, physical and social. And if you seek growth (and good book recommendations, D. Thomas has a wonderfully open mind (and mental collection of books).
• leastfavoritepersonoftheday - Maybe it’s because I tend to be a grumpy pessimist or maybe it’s because I have a sarcasm/tough humor fetish (did I just use the word “fetish?” Guess I did), or maybe it’s because reading about other people’s aggravations makes me feel fortunate not to be in their shoes. Actually, it’s probably because such aggravations are so relatable that I feel a curmudgeony kinship to the aggravatee (recipient of aggravation?). vibrantval, true to the title of her blog, relates her daily tales of aggravation, focusing on one individual or group in particular with each post. They’re pretty hilarious – stuff you just can’t help shake your head at in familiarity.
• a photo and some words - Each post is a photo and some words. Plain and simple – and yet, pleasant to read. According to his About page, mrcoteybucket is doing a 365-day long project of blogging a photo (from an actual camera with the allowance of one phone shot a week) accompanied by – you guessed it – some words. He posts every single freakin’ day. That takes admirable dedication and the words that he places beneath his photos aren’t just gibberish. Actually read them and ponder, ponder away…
• The Average Girl’s “How To” Guide - Quick, digestible morsels of advice are actually quite satiating, especially when loading with self-aware humor and sass. Him & Her delivers. Relate, chuckle, lather, repeat. And these tidbits aren’t all just for those of the female persuasion. Fellas, read up; you might learn something.
• The Thought Buffet – College and the early 20s kind of blows. And yet, it’s kind of fun. Even though he lives across the pond and across a large landmass from where I’m situated, his musings hit pretty close to home. Explorative, funny, and honestly horny (not that I’m trying to encompass his whole being within those three skimpy descriptors), Seb is much like the rest of us young adults trying to figure stuff out maybe steps or leaps at a time. And thank God he has a sense of humor about it all.
  
• Awkward Turtle World - As you can probably tell, I like blogs that are awkward and/or humorous. This is because – here’s another theme – they’re so damn relatable! Painfully so, sometimes. zucchinipi creates funny comics kind of reminiscent of Cyanide and Happiness (if C&H were friendlier and less cynical). The tagline is “comics written by and for the awkward” – sums this blog up very nicely. And there’s also a tutorial on making Munchers. That’s totes legit. Check it out.

To those nominated, pick either one of the awards – whichever one you most identify with. Don’t be shy or overly modest. Take one (or hell, if you’re that audacious, pick both. I’m not the awards police. Just remember to recognize your fellow awesome bloggers.) In addition, if I got your gender wrong, I very deeply apologize. Please berate me with an anti-ignorance shtick.

And now, the uber self-involved portion of this awards post, 7 semi-interesting facts about me:

1. The only thing funnier than awkward humor is sarcastic humor, which is why George Carlin is one of my idols. What a comedic genius – and just a genius in general. Watch his “Modern Man” routine here. Pure. Genius.
2. I may or may not have cried as a 12 year old after reading the Sherlock Holmes tale “The Final Problem,” where he plummets to his death with his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. My mother may or may not have then told me he would return in the next tale. I may or may not have looked it up. (Yeah, he comes back to life in “The Empty House.”) And I may or may not have proceeded to cry out of embarrassment under my covers in my room. Yep. May or may not have happened.
3. I don’t care what your religious beliefs are. As long as you’re not being a douche canoe and harming others, I just don’t care. Want to discuss religion mutually? Fine, I’m down with that. Want to shove your beliefs down my throat? This girl ain’t swallowing.
4. How have I not discovered Tim Minchin before? I’ve watched/listened to him perform “The Pope Song” about a dozen times in the past couple days. In fact, it was one of the songs I listened to while writing this. [Warning: Some "complicated" language.]
5. Don’t recite purpley poetry to me. Blow my freakin’ mind with some reality-bending ideas and then we can negotiate some terms.
6. I love depressing books and movies. The depressing aspect isn’t the draw – the fact that a book/movie has the ability to make me feel such intense emotion is what gets me. Damn you, McCarthy and your stupid bleak road. *sniffle* Damn you.
7. After watching Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk about “The Art of Asking” and watching her “Do It With A Rockstar” and “The Killing Type”, I think I may be in love. Free, femininely masculine, and intelligent. Oh yeah, total crushing action going on.

And there you have it! Go ahead and check out those blogs and spread the awesomeness.

Cheers,

SOS