Sunshine Blogger Award

First of all, I would like to thank Novus Lectio who kindly nominated This Door is Alarmed for this award. She is a very well read writer, with a curious mind for investigation. She presents a nimbly versatile blog, incorporating but not limited to, a tranquil nemesis of enquiry in her ‘inspiring’ snapshots, images demonstrating her unique style as an artist, and wonderful real-life stories. Check out her blog here!

So these are the rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
• Nominate 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/or on your blog.

Novus Lectio’s Questions:

Do you like receiving awards? In the non-digital world, introverts are almost universally overlooked for accolades, because we look down to where we are walking, fearing to look upwards and into the distance. In real life, this is okay for most of us, because even timorously skirting an award acceptance in our minds leaves us weak-kneed and parched of utterances. However, and it is a BIG however, the blogging world is the refuge for the reticent, and awards are accepted with the rhythmical tap of keyboards and speeches are made before a crowd of type font number twelve. Therefore, my answer is, only when the award is non-physical and I can accept it blushingly from my anonymous and fleetingly temporary catbird seat do I like receiving them.
What’s the first thing you do when you log into WP? Usually, smile.
Do you speak more than one language? This very much depends on how you define a language:

• A language is a structured and conventional system of communication complete with its own syntax, grammar, phonetics and phonology, lexicon, etc. In this case, yes; all home-grown conlangs spoken and written by yours truly in a lonely language community of one.
• A language is defined by its communicative function within a society, with the natural living shifts and changes that are pulled along in the tide. In this case, a language is not truly a language unless it is co-operatively spoken by a community of people as a tool to convey information. My answer in this instance would be no.

If I am brutally honest (and being a linguist, this is akin to blasphemy), although it would be wonderful to speak another living language fluently, the pristine curiosity and gentle tugging chords of enquiry are absent when it comes to the monotony of the learning process; it  simply doesn’t appeal to me as much as studying a language’s makeup. I like to play with languages as a toddler plays with a new toy—pulling them apart, one cog at a time, and perhaps dribbling on them a little. I like to get a closer look at the inner mechanics and learn what makes them tick.
Early bird or night Owl? Always the early bird. There is a taintless clarity to early mornings that lends breath and vitality to daily tasks, in contrast, I find the long hours of late nights leave me swept through with lethargy.
What does living mean to you? A question of enormous breadth. If I excavate to the core, living for me is doing as much as you can to secure your own happiness and the happiness of others.
Do you drive ? Yes, but shockingly poorly, so that should probably count as a no…
What if you could go back in time ? I wouldn’t, but not so much because I believe in the tremendous repercussive consequences of the butterfly effect—as an individual I imagine I am too inconsequential in terms of Earth history—but I believe life is lived looking forwards, not backwards. I lived in my memories for years, it is only in the last five years I have really begun to embrace the future and realise I was living in a replay loop. Life is always held in the future for time-constrained beings (whilst not-accepting that there are non-time constrained beings, and not refuting it either).
Favorite kind of music My musical taste is eclectic, predominantly dependant on mood and situation. The only music I cannot stand these days is heavy metal. All I hear is a harsh, uncomfortable drone.
Are we aliens ? This is another question where the quagmire lies in in a dictionary. According to Google, the noun form of ‘alien’ can be defined as either:

• A foreigner, especially one who is not a naturalised citizen of the country where they are living
• A hypothetical or fictional being from another world

In terms of 1), stripping the definition to its barest bones, almost every one of us, if not already a foreigner to the land we live in, are descendent from an immigrant race through population movement, invasion etc. in the past, so my answer would be ‘most of us’.

In terms of 2), this would appear to be a question based on the assumption there may be other life in the universe, and that they are cognisant enough to have an understanding of the concept of an alien, and therefore would consider the human race alien just as we would consider them alien. There are too many assumptions involved with this, but I never dismiss anything possible, so my answer is, perhaps.
your best drink ? Best as in favourite: water. Best as in best one I make: water. Best as in most expensive or precious one I own: a little brown medicine bottle woven around into a black and brown basket containing moonshine whisky that I acquired from a small rural and very poor Laotian village accessible from the shores of the Mekong river. They gave MANY tasters, and being of very slight of build and not used to drinking shots, I was notably liquor-stewed and terrifically wellied when I got back on the boat.
Would you like to climb the Everest ? Last summer I took a plane into the Himalayas and saw Everest in all its terrible majesty. Its sides are treacherously steep and many who venture that way, I understand, never come back. My answer: unless it was my goal to never return, my answer is a steadfast no.

My Questions:

1. What is your most treasured possession and what does it mean to you?
2. What is your quirk?
3. Of the blogs you follow, which is your favourite and why (please leave a reference to their site, and please choose a blog that you have not nominated)?
4. What five things do you hope to accomplish in the next five years?
5. If I was reading a book, with you as the main character, how would the author describe you?
6. What do you wish you could change about yourself?
7. What accessories or adornments do you wear around your fingers, neck, and arms, and what do they mean to you?
8. If you could have a super-power, what would it be?
9. What are you most proud of?
10. What is one key thing blogging has taught you?
11. What question do you wish I had asked you and what is the answer?

 

The blogs nominated are (I like to select nominees I have not previously chosen, so the circle of awardees does not eddy and stagnate):

https://bipolaronlineblog.com/

https://confuzzledom.wordpress.com

https://audielou.com/

https://omaraaaa.wordpress.com/

https://oneninesixblog.wordpress.com/

https://searchingforelsewhere.com

https://collectivecogitations.wordpress.com

https://strawberrytravelsblog.wordpress.com

https://bearsphotos.wordpress.com

https://ortensia72.com/

https://plantsandbeyond.com/