Steve Green very kindly nominated me for The Pink Liebster Award, which was a great surprise. Thank you very much Steve and congratulations on your own award. I do very much enjoy your bleak brand of sci-fi and other genres, so keep up the good work.
The rules that come with getting a Liebster are:
1) Link back to the person who nominated you.
2) Answer the 10 questions they gave you.
3) Pick some favourite bloggers of your own to nominate.
4) Pose 10 questions of your own for them to answer.
5) Make sure that the people you nominated know about it. And have fun.
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Steve opted to not set questions and instead wanted 10 random or unusual facts from me so here they are:
1) I used to have horrific nightmares when I was younger which lasted until I was almost in double figures. They vanished when I embraced them and I would happily have them now instead of the usual being late or lost anxiety type dreams. Give me werewolves any day!
2) I still find the original Robocop to be one of the grimmest and scariest films that I have seen. Might be because it was the first 18 I watched. ED209. Jesus. The hum of its systems and the way it kills the corporate suit and no one could stop it. Also...exploding hand. Say no more.
3) I've listened to audio books as I try to get to sleep almost every night since I was little. I think they have gone some way to making me the erudite young man I have become. lol.
4) I dislike TV. Adverts, reality TV, game shows, chat shows in which the only guests are other chat show hosts. Utter dross! I do watch the odd series like Luther, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad though, but even those are usually via box-set rather than watched at broadcast.
5) I can't stand Harry Potter. Some love it and that's great. I just think that its nothing special. I did gain great enjoyment from the religious nuts proclaiming it encouraged children into Wicca and Satanism though.
6) I love dark music. I used to relax by listening to new age stuff but nothing relaxes me like the booming sub-audible drones of a dark ambient track. I think it comes from the belief that we need to embrace our light and dark sides or we become unbalanced.
7) I think I'm addicted to Pepsi Max. I could swim in a swimming pool full of it. It's the most "cola" tasting low cal drink that I think I've ever had. It even tastes better than regular old Pepsi or Coca-Cola to me.
8) I rarely feel like doing something until I start doing it. Whether this is due to my chronic illnesses or whether it's just how I have aged, there always seems to be a mist of "meh" around anything I consider, even if I know I want to do it.
9) Gillian Anderson is my celebrity crush. I have two autographs and a lovely art print on the wall in my bedroom. I feel it is a bit sad on one level, but on another, fuck it :).
10) Writing is my last "thing". My life has been severely limited by illness for over a decade and many of the things that I used to enjoy are lost to me now. I always enjoyed writing when I was little, and now writing has become my last route to expression and maybe some kind of career. As a result, I'm going all out to make a real go of it. I don't know how far I can get but there is nothing else I want to do.
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Now for my nominations. I will nominate two as Steve did, as that is a nice manageable amount for me to follow through on.
The first is my good friend Paul Brewer and his blog The Mind of a (Soon to be) Recovering Agoraphobic. The transformation Paul has brought about in his life this year is truly inspirational, and I am not someone who chucks that word around very often. He was my first thought when I had to think of someone else deserving of the Liebster award.
My second is from the #fridayflash community. Spencer Hixon writes some very clever and intriguing flash tales involving technology and the world wide web. After reading his stuff, I always feel jealous that I hadn't thought of that, and it is for this reason he is my second nomination.
I will also follow Steve's example and request that Paul and Spencer give the world ten random or strange facts about themselves, rather than give them a set of questions to answer.
Cheers again Steve.