Friday, October 1, 2010

On this fine day in October...

...it is time for take off. NaBloWriMo is starting today, and I look upon the task of writing blog posts for every day of October with a mixture of glee and dread. I find myself having much of the same problem as I did this time a year ago. I don't really have anything in particular to say. And that makes for lousy bloggery (I'm not fishing for compliments; I really mean it. It is the sad fate of many a blog when it eventually winds down to only posts along the lines of "I have nothing to blog about today, so I'll blog about that" and then "I have nothing to blog about today either, but let me post this picture of my cat" [I'm planning on joining Wordless Wednesday next week... No cats as of yet, though] and eventually "Oops, it's been three months since my last post. I am not dead. But I just don't have anything to blog about. Add me on Facebook, though!". We've all seen blogs like that). 


So instead of taking that route I thought I'd write down the first three things that pops into my head, and let that be today's post (and hope for better days ahead). 


1) Dear Cruella. You don't like cortado. Yeah, the coffee. Every time you are feeling brave in a coffee shop that's what you ask for, and every time it's a big, awful failure. You walk away disappointed in every way - of its size (eeny tiny small! Sometimes size does matter), of its taste (how can it be too coffee-y and not enough coffee-y at the same time?) and of the fact that you keep repeating this mistake. Every other coffee variety there is = fine. Cortado = not. 




2) I once had a semi-regular feature on this blog called "currently reading/listening to" (it's true - look it up in the topic cloud in the sidebar). I'm not entirely sure why I didn't keep it up, but it probably was a combination of not reading enough books (I felt terribly self-conscious whenever I didn't get around to finish a book before my next update - not unlike how I feel whenever I update my Goodreads status only to see all the books where I've made no progress whatsoever in the longest time...); listening mainly to Spotify where I generally end up mindlessly going through random playlists; and perhaps most importantly: I didn't really have anything to say about what I was reading or listening to. Okay, you're having a Bob Dylan week. So what? 


Well, today that is different. I have been reading a lot of nonsense lately, page turners intended to offer a certain escapism in my constant combat with thesis-ness. Running low on supply of that genre, however, I picked up Aryn Kyle's The God of Animals, a book I originally bought in my very first visit to a bookstore in the US. There I pulled it out of a shelf at random - going for gut feeling and nothing else. I kind of liked the cover, but I can't really recall if that was the only decisive factor (I suspect there might have been a "take 3, pay for 2" deal in play... This might have been my number three). Anyway, I never got around to read it, and thus it came unread back with me a year ago. It didn't even make it among the small selection of books that fitted into my tiny (why do I always feel the need to signify size by usage of font sizes? o_0) Also, am I using the word tiny too much?) apartment when I moved this spring. 


Last time I visited my parents, however, I rediscovered the book, and decided to give it a go. From the very start two things struck me: a) this book reminded me strikingly of "To Kill A Mockingbird"; and b) I was about to read a horse book for the first time in fifteen years. 


Yes. It's a horse book. Not one of the mass-produced "romance-meets-mystery-meets-pretty-animal" things for young girls - though this book can be read by young girls (I don't recall it being in the YA section in the bookstore, though, but then again, I was pretty jetlagged and high on my first visit to a US Starbucks...). 


I'm not sure how much more I should say about this book - reviews isn't really my thing - but let me at least say that I didn't put it down when I left the house the other day. Which explains why I nearly got myself killed by a car that morning... 


And for the record (no pun intended), I am listening to Wes Montgomery's "Whisper Not" right now. But there isn't all that much more to say about that... 




3) Awards! I got some lovely awards! First of all, the Versatile Blogger award. I keep getting this one, and I love it, because I feel it is one of the few blog awards I really get why people want to give me. I'm not a category blogger (which, incidentally, might be the cause of today's problem - if I'd been a "mommy blogger" I'd know I was supposed to write about my kid all the time (but then I would probably have to actually have a kid first... So that is sort of out of the question). If I had been a food blogger, I would write recipes (but then I'd have to follow recipes. Which I don't. Ever). Instead I am left with whatever pops into my head at any given time, and sometimes that is naught. (Which reminds me of the saying "If a messy desk equals a messy mind, what does an empty desk mean?" - not that I'm in danger of EVER having an empty desk. I am lucky to find the space to plop down my laptop most days - in between towers of books, instant coffee, packs of gum, post-its, [unused] tea bags, hand moisturizer, pens and hair clips - and my laptop is tiny [there we go again... ])


(Fortunately, even when my mind if blank, I have enough digressions in there to fill up a parenthesis or two)


Well. The awards. The Versatile Award was given to me by Debbie of words 'n' whimsy. Debbie claims she's a newbie since she hasn't been around the blogosphere all that long, but I'd rather say she's a fast learner, because her blog is great. Go visit her to find out for yourself. I won't be passing this award on this time, since I've already done that in the past, but I'd still like to thank Debbie properly :) 


As for the other award, I have definitely not gotten it before. You see, it's brand new. Leigh, of That's Write (and she usually is!), made the "Strangely Irresistable" aka "Yo Gabba Gabba" award. Thank you, Leigh, I love it! The only rule for this award is to give it on to three bloggers who are - surprise, surprise - irresistible! I know a bunch of those, but the first three that popped into my mind are... *drumroll*


Georgina Dollface. This is one of the places I visit even on days I don't have time to visit blogs. Georgina masters the difficult art of being both organized and creative at once. On a scale from one to funny, she is hilarious with a side of thoughtful. 


Nonamedufus. I am fairly certain that deep down he knows how funny he is. But just in case: he is one of the funniest bloggers there is. Now you all know. 


Finally, and appropriately considering that today is the first day of NaBloWriMo, Heather (who is NotHannah - I will never tire of typing that, tee hee) is pretty darn irresistible too. In a way she reminds me of myself in that she appears to write on whatever subject that pops into her mind - from her kidoodles to her garden to her writing to Hell-Mart (makes me giggle every time). Unlike me, however, Heather always mixes her humourous musings with a foundation of seriousness. She bravely tackles difficult topics, and I always feel that I am a little wiser whenever I've read one of her posts. 


So there. You guys are irresistible! 


And I guess for a tiny post about nothing, this became rather   l  o  n  g   (and about a lot). 



18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. Really.
And I think that you’re brave too, cos you said, “I thought I'd write down the first three things that pops into my head”; if I did that I might still be here in two weeks time with the post only a third written.

All the best, Boonie

Denise Covey said...

Where have I been? Haven't heard of NaBloWriMo. You gave me a start, as I'm heading for NaNoWrMo in November. Gotta clear the decks for that.

Interesting post about blogging..:)

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

First class post, congratluations on the awards well deserved and congrats to the winners of them from you.

Take care.
Yvonne.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You always make something out of nothing! Congratulations on the awards. And you could do "What I'm listening to" with music instead!

Golden Eagle said...

Excellent post!

Congrats on the awards! You certainly deserve them. I know I find this blog irresistable. :)

Jules said...

Well, your nothing sounds a lot more interesting than my nothing :)

Congrats on the awards and stick to just plain coffee :D
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

M.J. Nicholls said...

Aryn Kyle is frightening close to "Aryan Kill". I hope s/he has nothing against the former Indo-European people.

Did you set a word limit for your blogs? It might be less gaspingly strenuous with a limit (pending digressions, of course).

Unknown said...

If everyday you write down what pops into your head, you'll have your blogs.

COngrats on your award.

CD

Deb and Barbara said...

Ha! You're adorable.

If I can't get on here every day, know that I'll catch as many as I can!

B

Hart Johnson said...

You know the reason you are walking and reading at the same time is that the horse book is making you pick up habits of your horse friend *shifty*

YAY for NaBloWriMo and awards and BOOOOO for bad coffee.

Cruella Collett said...

Boonie - the popping isn't the problem, but the recording of the popping is a bigger problem. Now I'm not sure what I am talking about anymore...

L'Aussie - oh, this is the little brother of NaNo. Wrimos come in many shapes these days. Good luck with NaNoWriMo :)

Yvonne - thank you :) You're the sweetest thing!

Alex - as long as I don't make nothing out of something, I should be good... And I find that most of the time I don't have a whole lot to say about music, even if I love listening to it.

TGE - aw.. Thank you!

Jules - tee hee, plain coffee is proably the safest, yes. And your nothing is probably interesting too, but you generally write about something ;)

Mark - I sense a tendency in you to judge literature on the basis of author names. I wonder what it says about you that you approve of Will Self...
(And yes/no. I haven't set a word limit, but this will definitely be in the high range. I predict that tomorrow's blog will be CONSIDERABLY shorter...)

Clarissa - huh, there's a thought. The problem is of course that if I chronicle my thoughts, I spend too much time on my blogging....

Barbara - I have complete understanding for that. I'm busy, and so are everyone else. One of the things I'm not too happy with about this NaBlo is that more of my blog time will go on my own blog, which probably means less time on other people's logs :(

Cruella Collett said...

And clever Tami snuck in without me seeing ;) Are you my "horse" friend? I know I got the read-while-walk thing from you, but I had no idea the horse had anything to do with it. *neighs*

Kelly said...

I'm not familiar with that book, but interesting that you compared it with "To Kill A Mockingbird". I read TKAM for the first time this past year and watched the movie for the first time last night! I'd heard the movie was just as good as the book. It was good, but I still liked the book better.

Hannah said...

Congrats on your awards!! I love the Yo Gabba Gabba one. LOL!

for someone who had nothing to say, you sure filled this up nicely and entertained us all. Well done.

Not Hannah said...

Snnnnurrrrrffff. I luff you.

nonamedufus said...

Why, thanks for the kind words and the strange award. I feel like I should say something funny. "Something funny."

Anonymous said...

What an awesome compliment! That made me feel so good. Some days I wonder, "What the heck am I doing?" but knowing that people come by to read me **blushes**, makes me feel swell!
Good luck with NaMoBloWri or whatever the acronym is! I'm off to check out your other award winners too! Have a great weekend! - G

Cruella Collett said...

Kelly - I prefer the book too. The movie was great, though.

Hannah - thanks - I love the Yo Gabba Gabba one too :)

Heather - right back atacha!

Nonamedufus - see - you're funny! ;)

Georgina - you're very very welcome :)

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