Awards Mega-Post & Virtual Smooches

It has been a while in the making, but today saw me determined to complete an awards acceptance and thanks post. I’d promise never to be a blog-related procrastinator in the future but we all know I’d just be lying to you.

Those of you who read my blog ramblings with any frequency will note that I am always delighted and ecstatic to find out a fellow writer has nominated me for an award. This month saw eighteen (WTF!?) of these awards for The Verbal Spew Review, and I cannot thank you all enough nor find the adequate words with which to express my gratitude for your support, kindness and recognition.

So I’ll just leave it at: THANKS!

Now I shall tackle the V facts, thank the bloggers who nominated me for the Sunshine, Versatile, Influential and WordPress Family awards, and in turn spread the lurve among a few gorgeous people. And before I start, as always:

Just as an aside, please don’t feel pressured into responding or carrying on the award. If it’s not your thing I totally understand, instead you should look upon this as my shout-out to you, my way of saying thanks and of telling you that you’re awesome.

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Facts first. For more information about me that you can use at a later date for blackmail purposes, see here, here and here.

1. I’m as blind as a bat (-5.5 prescription in both eyes) and so wear contacts/glasses on a daily basis. I broke my hipster designer specs the other evening when I fell asleep wearing them and rolled over, mushing them into my face and snapping them in the middle. I’m currently sporting the same pair stylishly held together in the middle with tape.

2. Back when I was a kid, this was the music we listened to and this was how we danced. I can still do the Prodigy dance, but now I have to hold my boobs.

3. I’m a big fan of breakfast cake. Along with my coffee my morning munch will consist of apple danishes, cupcakes, toffee muffins or chocolate croissants. Breakfast of champions.

4. I have two tattoos, both on my back.

5. I was held-up and robbed a couple of times at work when I was younger. The first time is the most memorable one because the thief in question, before he legged it with the loot said, “Sorry”. I was so taken aback and amused by the apology from a dude who had seconds previously been pointing a shotgun at my head that I started laughing and couldn’t stop. I’m fairly certain I was in shock but my colleagues thought I was a psychopath.

6. I was a very shy and quiet child.

7. That didn’t last long.

8. Having worked for most of my adult life in a predominantly male environment I’ve had dozens of nicknames, none of which I minded (the ones I would have minded were cleverly kept a secret from me, the lads would also do things like send the newbies to the shop to ask for stuff like “tartan paint” and “strawberry tampons”), but I can’t stand it, I actually get inexplicably angry, when someone misspells or mispronounces my real name.

9. The first film I ever saw in a theatre was Disney’s The Lady and the Tramp.

10. I am addicted to online courses. I have an array of random qualifications received from a number of online institutions, including diplomas in Psychotherapy and Counselling and Employment Law. There are also the “fun” ones that I love doing via Coursera, like Logic – The Art of Argument from Duke, Social Psychology from Wesleyan and the most recent, Online Games: Literature, New Media and Narrative from Vanderbilt, wherein we explored the influence of literature in MMORPGs and played Lord of the Rings Online together as a class. To prove that I have absolutely no time to take on any of these extra-curriculars I actually completely forgot about one course I had applied to do (and had paid for, no less) in Addiction Studies. I think that’s a sign. If you have some time to kill though and would like to do something informative and different, check out Coursera.

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My thanks to Alex Raphael, Drakulus, The Mental Attic, JohnHeatz, 1001-Up, Nostalgia and Gaming, Recollections of Play, The Chronic Chronicler, The PewPew Diaries and the late night session for their Sunshine nominations this last month.

THE SUNSHINE AWARD – The following are the people that inject some sunshine into my day. They’ve made me laugh and smile with their posts and general loveliness.

• Screenkicker!
• Silver Screen Serenade
• Smashing Through Life!
• Cinema Parrot Disco
• What About The Twinkie?
• “DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!”
• The Cinema Monster
• Tim’s Film Reviews
• The Otaku Judge
• Movies of the Soul

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My thanks to Game Blog Girl, Gamers Therapy, Lunaliah, The Dad, Gentleman Geek and Recollections of Play for their Versatile nominations this last month.

THE VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD – The definition of the word “versatile” is as follows: “to be capable of or adapted for turning easily from one to another of various tasks, fields of endeavour, etc.” I’m going to take this award by its literal meaning and award it to bloggers who I feel tackle numerous topics, and do so with a wonderful ease.

• Recollections of Play
• Silence cunning exile… maple syrup
• Tranquil Dreams
• The Mental Attic
• Sidekick Reviews
• Adventures of a Girl Gamer
• Y.I. Washington Writer/Poet
• The Dad, Gentleman Geek
• Snippet Studios
• treatmentofvisions

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My thanks to Kim from Tranquil Dreams for her Influential nomination this month.

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BLOGGER AWARD – When I first came to WordPress there were quite a few blogs that stood out for me, blogs that I both loved and learned from. I remember thinking that their authors did fantastic work and had touched readers with their well-written reviews, articles or hilarious hooks. This was something I definitely aspired to emulate.

• Digital Shortbread
• 1001-Up
• Hard Ticket to Home Video

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My thanks to Drakulus for his recent WordPress Family nomination.

THE WORDPRESS FAMILY AWARD – There’s no doubt about it; had I not started The Verbal Spew Review I probably never would have experienced this beautiful sense of writing community that I share with many of you now. Most of you I speak with regularly outside of blogdom. Some of you I actually speak with every day. Regardless of what statement rings truest for you, the people below should please consider themselves to be clan.

• The Mental Attic
• 1001-Up
• John Heatz
• Gamers Therapy
• Alex Raphael
• Dreamatorium Redux
• JF Owen
• IPC
• Drakulus
• Oracle of Film
• The PewPew Diaries

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There are so many more I wanted to mention; some of you I’ve just encountered recently, others I’m looking forward to reading more of. Naturally it goes without saying that every single link in this post is gold, and every single blog either thanked or nominated is worth checking out. Spew swear.

I don’t know about you, but I need a pint after all of that.

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‹ [NEWS] The Monday Spew (2nd December 2013)

[NEWS] The Sunday Spew (8th December 2013) ›

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Categories: Personal

Tags: Blog award, Blogging, Most Influential Blogger Award, Personal, The Sunshine Award, The Versatile Blogger Award, The WordPress Family Award

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