Vincent Ehindero Blog Award

I’ve received a nomination for a Vincent Ehindero Blog Award from Lotus Laura! If you haven’t already checked out her awesome blog, I recommend stopping by. She recently made some design updates while continuing to post on a variety of personal, spiritual, and cultural topics. Thank you, Laura!

The Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you with a link to their blog.
2. Make a post of the award (with a photo of the logo).
3. Post the rules.
4. Ask 5-10 questions of your choice.
5. Nominate 10-30 other bloggers (or more) and notify them.

Laura’s Questions

1. What is your favorite thing to write with (computer, phone, pen, pencil, typewriter, etc.) and why?

I’m a pencil person! I type my blog drafts straight into the computer because I’m often researching and citing while I work, but for fiction, I have to write the first draft by hand. Otherwise, I’ll spend hours staring at a blinking cursor instead of writing.

As for pencil versus pen, I find pencil is more forgiving. I took a writing class where we were required to use a pen for first drafts to stop “recursive editing,” the official term for rewriting your first sentence so many times that you never get past it. I do try to avoid stopping to correct every wobble, but sometimes I misspell words or names in my haste and it’s better that I stop to correct them then rather than to come back and be confused at my own draft.

2. How do you cheer yourself up on a bad day?

Spending time with my cats can be a real mood-booster. I might also indulge in a fun show or book. If it was a really bad day, though, I might give myself a purposeful crying session to let out the tension. Or work on a really dark story.

3. What is one question that you never want to be asked?

It’s hard to think of one specific question I would never want to be asked, but there is a type of question that I hate: moral dilemmas. You know, where they ask you if you’d push a fat man into the path of a train to save a person on the tracks. I get that these questions are aimed at showing your values and whatnot, but it infuriates me that they pose these uncomfortable scenarios and then limit the options to two. Reality is so complex that only rarely will such a narrow range of choices occur, and if we don’t train ourselves to look for them, we might miss a better option.

What’s worse is that these dilemmas are often unrealistic or really don’t give enough data to make a good choice. There’s one where you decide whether to murder someone to save 5 or 7 people who need organ transplants. What are the odds that this one person is compatible with all those people and that they all need different organs? Or there’s one where you’re in a boat stuck in acceleration and your options are to crash into the beach and kill one person, crash and kill three people, or crash into a rock and kill yourself. Is there seriously no empty spot on the beach? Probably you could make one by yelling, “Get out of the way! My boat will kill you!” You could also turn the boat in circles until it runs out of gas and gravity applies the breaks or aim at the rock and jump off the back. The world is not binary!

4. What’s a hobby of yours that no one really knows about?

It’s not a full-fledged hobby yet, but I’ve tried my hand at archery a few times. I really wanted to build my own bow and arrows for a while, but I decided I should train on something more standard before I got too ambitious. Sadly, I haven’t been able to take lessons because of current conditions and I don’t have a great place to practice at home.

5. What is the last holiday you celebrated and how did you celebrate it?

I guess that would be New Year’s Eve. I didn’t do a whole lot because I was mainly focused on keeping my cats as calm as possible when the fireworks went off. Honestly, I tend to do more for Lunar New Year’s than Julian New Year’s. It’s just easier for me to connect with the rituals for bringing in new luck compared to staying up late.

6. How do you deal with anxiety?

I have a whole arsenal of techniques for anxiety. Right now, the first options I use are singing certain songs in my head or purposely slowing my breath and pace if I have only my brain available, sniffing lavender essential oil if that’s on hand, or knitting if I’m at home.

7. Who to you turn to for comfort?

My mom. I’m lucky enough to have a pretty close relationship with her. She’s not perfect, but she listens and even if we fight she’s willing to work with me to resolve things.

8. If your life was a book, what would the genre be?

Maybe magical realism. My life is pretty mundane for the most part, but I have had a few mysterious experiences. Nothing flashy like visions or ghosts, but once I lost a handmade necklace in a park. Several days later, it turned up in the nest of a banished hen at my home, which is in a different town than the park. It was absolutely unique, and I searched long and hard when I lost it, so I have no way to explain how it got in that nest.

9. Do you have any “good luck charms” you keep with you?

I’ve had a rotating cast of charms I’ve kept with me. One is a Lucky Knots that I carry in my purse. It’s not necessarily for luck, but holding it often eases my anxiety. I also sometimes carry a penny in a pocket or special stones.

My questions

1. Name a food you never get tired of eating.
2. Do you feel more alert in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening?
3. How would you describe your approach to blogging? Is it for business? For fun? Something else?
4. What do you do when it rains?
5. Who makes you laugh?
6. What eats your time?
7. If you were on a quest, which would you prefer for a companion: a talking animal, an intelligent machine, or a random human being?

My Nominees:

Mental Health 360

The 3H: health,happiness,healing

Chocoviv’s Lifestyle Blog

The Truth

Middle Me

The Hindu Mythology

Sui Generis

Stuart Danker

KS Blogs

Macalderblog