long time no write and a blog award

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I’ve been really busy at work after a long-time employee quit the company I work for and I’ve been having to do her job as well as handle my own plus some added duties as well. So there are my excuses and I’m stickin’ to ’em. Despite not posting in a while I decided to sign up for the Writing 101 course that The Daily Post is hosting. Are any of y’all doing it?

About my first blog award. Well, not my first… I did receive the Liebster Award but it seems as though almost everyone was receiving that in the Blogging 101 course.

I have to be honest… I was surprised and extremely humbled to have been added to the list of bloggers that Dandelion Fuzz says should be able to put up the Inspiring Blogger Award. I say that because SHE sets a pretty high bar for inspiring when it comes to bloggers. If you haven’t swung by Kat’s blog, then you don’t know she writes about her experiences as the parent of a child who is transitioning from one gender to the other.Her love for her child is heavy and solid and fierce and tender. You want inspiring, you should go by there. Thank you Kat for including me on your list along with some other folks who are pretty inspiring as well.

So one of the “rules” in receiving the Inspiring Blogger Award is that I am supposed to tell 7 things about myself. I’m not sure what to say… should it be things that people don’t know about me or seven things I’m proud of or seven things that are weird and quirky? I’ll go with the “first-thing-that-comes-to-mind” approach.

1. I’ve mentioned a number of times that I was a working photographer and at one time fancied myself an artist. I actually won an award that confirmed my aspirations. I won Best in Show for the Houston Photographic Society’s annual member show which that year was judged by the curator of photography at the Houston MFA, Anne Tucker. I won for this image here.

2. Ok, this one will be a big surprise to my new bloggy friends because I’ve never mentioned due to the whole “anonymity” thing I’ve mentioned a few times. I’ve played in a band with a couple of friends here in Houston for the past seven years. We used to gig around at coffee shops, bars, friend’s parties and pretty much any place that would have us. We used to play about twice a month but in the past couple of years that has slowed to only about two or three times a year. As a result, I have developed a little bit of stage fright the rare times we do perform in public. Weird, huh.

3. Again, related to music… I was in the marching band in high school and my senior year I had a solo in our competition routine. That year we went to Mexico City and my high school marching band performed for the mayor.

4. Here’s something a little quirky and weird. I’m right handed but there are a handful of things I do left-handed. For instance, when I was in the military I had to shoot my rifle left-handed because I can’t close my left eye and leave my right eye open. When I was a waiter in college I balanced food trays with my left hand/arm instead of my right. Odd, huh. Or is it? I’ve never met anyone else like that.

5. Except for Mexico City, a honeymoon trip to Cozumel (that found me with a stomach flu before we left and during the entire five day trip) and a couple of drunken runs across the border during college spring breaks, I have never ever been outside the United States. It is something I rather regret.

6. I count myself extremely fortunate that I do not have an addictive personality. In my college days, I had a few indiscretions with alcohol, weed, pills, sex and porn. I never became addicted to any of those vices and I’m proud to say except for a couple of craft beers a couple of times a week and husbandly duties with Mrs aBoyNamedSue I don’t have any terrible vices to which I am addicted, except for the occasional porn image. Hey don’t judge!… sometimes a porn site busts through on a popup window. : )

7. Somewhat related to vices and attempting to be a good person… I am rather spiritual. I believe in God but not in the way most people in the U.S. do.  I am not a Christian, Jew or Muslim. I am not Buddhist or Hindu. I have a spiritual practice and I pray and I hope for something better beyond this That rules out the biggest five, so, I’m kind of a rare bird in that regard. I believe in one God and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy. If you recognize any of what I’ve typed here then you know precisely where my religious philosophies lie.

So what’s supposed to happen is I am supposed to:
Thank the person who nominated you. (check)
Add the Very Inspiring Blogger Award to your post. (check)
Share 7 things about yourself. (check)
Nominate a list of bloggers that inspire you. (che… wait… ugh, this one is hard)
Include this set of rules. (check)
Inform your nominees by posting a comment on their blogs. (see two above)

I am really humbled to have been nominated for this and I will post the badge on a page that shows any blog awards I receive but I’m having a hard time choosing any from my blog roll and leaving any others off. I really like all of the bloggers on my blogroll so I’ll leave that part blank for now.