I Humbly Accept the Liebster Award

As I pointed out in my last post, I was also nominated for a Liebster Award, by Wendy Weir and shamilahr. Thank you, ladies!

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The Rules

Unlike the Versatile Blogger Award, it wasn’t as easy to find consistent rules or even try to establish the origin of the Liebster Award. Depending on which post I read, there were changes to the rules, from how many questions to answer and ask, to how many people to nominate, to how many followers would qualify a nominee. There was even a post made that tried to streamline the rules.

In this case, it was easier for me to go with the set of rules I found on Wendy Weir’s post.

Liebster Award Rules:

• Thank your nominator.
• Share the award on your blog.
• Answer the 10 questions asked to you.
• Ask 10 questions to 10 new nominees.
• Notify them via social media.*

*This can be via WordPress, the best way to notify the nominees.

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My Answers to the Ten Questions

1. If you had the awesome opportunity to live anywhere else than where you are now, where would you want to live and why?

Believe it or not, I would like to stay in the United States. There are two places that come to mind: Northern California and New York City. For all the complaints I might have about the attitudes of some New Yorkers (namely the sense of self-importance — sorry guys), I would like to at least visit that city as a tourist. This is also tied to family. I would like to be closer to relatives in my extended family in both cases.

2. What kind of music do you like to listen to – your favorite singer/composer?

I really love Rhythm & Blues first and foremost. Jazz is a close second. I have tastes for music in other genres, including rap, hiphop, country (a few artists), classical, reggae, and rock. I also love all types of artists from the 1980’s and some oldies.

Favorite singer? I love music from Eric Benét and Jill Scott. The late Luther Vandross might be my favorite or maybe it’s Stevie Wonder or Faith Evans or India.Arie? I don’t know, because this changes from time to time.

3. What is your favorite blog to read?

Sorry, but I don’t have a favorite blog [yet]. I’m still getting comfortable connecting with other bloggers in this community. And I have to admit it has been easier here than on other mediums. For now, I just follow blogs with great posts and with themes that appeal to me.

4. What’s your favorite activity on a weekend?

When I get my head on right, I love working on my art. I also love working on blog posts, but that’s the easier thing to do. Getting out [for recreational activities] will top the list whenever that is on my schedule, of course, and the activities vary. It really rocks to be around people I care about.

5. What is your favorite book?

Wow. I have never really had a favorite book as an adult, but I guess I am a sucker for novels with romance in them. I remember reading For the Defense. Totally forgot about the author’s name.

6. Why did you decide to blog?

I never blogged until 2010 and then I decided to blog for a variety of reasons. I keep a blog to get my thoughts out, to share them with a wider audience, to learn things, and to be a better writer. These reasons still hold today. Additionally, it has long been a dream of mine to be a professional writer, and this may be one avenue to realize that dream.

7. What is your favorite movie?

This will sound incredibly lame, but it’s a Disney Movie. Ever since I first saw The Little Mermaid, it captured my imagination. I love some of the older Disney movies, too.

8. If you could give only one wise advice to a 15 year-old, what would it be?

I have three things I want to say:

• Sometimes, confrontation is unavoidable. Be prepared to defend yourself verbally. Don’t just take people’s crap when you are free to speak up and you know you could beat the crap out of the instigator. (I’m not telling anyone to beat the crap out of instigators, but you know what I mean). Other than that, run after you say what you need to say you have to pick and choose your battles.

• Enjoy your youth. School sucks (mostly because some of the people), but you are partially responsible for your own education.

• You might think it’s too early, but you really need to start thinking about your future right now. If you have access to the Internet, start doing research about professions and things you need to do to get hired. Ask questions. And if you already have marketable skills (like acting, acumen with numbers), find out what you need to do to stand out.

9. Who is your best friend and what are his/her biggest qualities?

I have someone in mind. Let’s just call him J. I speak to J a lot. We bounce ideas off each other and help each other on projects on a weekly basis. My friend J is imaginative and single minded. The latter is a good thing — when it’s a good thing — in that when he’s really focused on a project, he puts his all into it.

10. How long did it take you to finish this post?

I said in the last post that it took me more than a few days to get around to this. So much went into these two posts that I stopped counting the hours. Screw it.

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My Nominees

Here are the ten lovely people I’ve nominated for the Liebster Award:

1. Elan Mudrow
2. robintournadre, who runs Robin T. Photo.
3. shandraeats
4. Timm, who runs Sketchb.in
5. usfman, who runs Snippets of a Traveling Mind
6. Audrey, who runs Journal Entry 356
7. shewritesfire for Modern Diversity
8. myinsanewxnderlandblog
9. bookishwritings
10. shiftlessloser for Musings of a Shiftless Loser. (I put you on the spot, bro. Deal with it.)

Note: Just like the Versatile Blogger Award, no one I nominate has to accept it. It’s really up to each person. This is a chance to explore WordPress some more and recognize other bloggers.

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The New Ten Questions I Pose to My Nominees

This is hard to think of, but I’m going to steal one or two from the ones I answered. I hope the other ones are creative enough.

1. Why do you blog?
2. Who was your favorite teacher?
3. Name your favorite movie.
4. Have you ever played a musical instrument? If not, which instrument do you wish you could play?
5. Who’s your personal hero?
6. Name your dream job.
7. If you could travel to any part of the world and money was no object, where would you go?
8. Let say you play the lotto. Would you rather win one of the smaller pots or take a lump sum of the jackpot?
9. How good are you with social media?
10. What’s the real-world issue that’s closest to your heart?

Thanks again to the ladies who nominated me. And now comes the real hard part of making sure my nominees are notified.

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P.S.: For anyone wondering, I’m giving myself a week to get started on the famous sayings feature. I already have one lined up, but I need time for extra research and to edit the post.