Tag: Sunshine Blogger Award

Sunshine Blogger Award Nomination

My response to being nominated for a Sunshine Blogger Award.

INTRODUCTION

Thank you to simpleillusionblog for the nomination. This post is my response to that nomination.

SBA

I hope that learnography will get something close to an answer to a question they raised in a comment recently:

Will you share how you feel before, during or after the writing? In fact, writing is the motor knowledge of brain circuits which deals with the finger mapping of cerebellar learnography. Your therapeutic experience is valuable in the development of cerebellar basal ganglia circuitry. Thanks

First up for the rest of thist post…

THE RULES

  1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
  2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
  3. Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
  4. List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award in your post/or on your blog.

MY ANSWERS TO SIMPLEILLUSION’S QUESTIONS

  1. How dedicated are you as a blogger? pretty dedicated – in just under eight years since I started I have produced just over 1,500 posts, and whenever possible I like to put something up most days. I also read a huge number of blogs, posting likes and where appropriate comments.
  2.  What do you love most about blogging? Interacting with a community, something that I struggle with except via the medium of a computer.
  3. Do you collect anything when you travel and if so, what and why? I collect maps to remind of me of places I have visited and I also collect photographs to share so that others can see things that have caught my eye.
  4. Do you speak any other languages? No, I am sadly monolingual (my efforts to learn other languages have all been failures).
  5. Are you a tea or coffee drinker? I am a coffee drinker. These days I drink filter coffee, and my method for producing the perfect brew is: Two heaped scoops of coffee grounds into the pot, cover with enough boiling water to produce two cups of coffee, place the top over the pot and leave to stand for not less than five minutes (I check my emails while filling in this time), then press the plunger down and pour. The result looks like black muck and drinks like liquid velvet.
  6. How did your blog get its name and why did you start it? My blog got its name from a shortening of my official 2006 diagnosis – Asperger’s Syndrome – although these days like most autistic people I simply use autism and refer to myself where appropriate as an autistic person. I started the blog because I hoped that people would be interested in reading about an autistic person from their own point of view. Also, I find writing to be therapeutic – I always feel better for having created a blog post.
  7. What post are you most proud of on your blog? The one I wrote about going through a melt down, because it was a difficult and sensitive subject and if I had misfired with such a post I could have copped some serious stick, while in the event it was very well received.
  8. Name one thing you didn’t expect to happen with your blog that has. That I would acquire as many followers as I have done – almost 800 of you now follow this blog.
  9. What is your typical weekend like? I can no longer claim to have a typical weekend, but unless something (usually an unscheduled hospital trip these days) prevents it Sunday lunch with family remains a regular feature.
  10. What is your greatest inspiration in life? My inspiration comes from the natural world – I love to get outside in to green spaces and see what the beasts and birds are doing.
  11. What advice would you give someone wanting to start a travel blog today? I would say start by picking a title for your blog and creating a wordpress site, then continue by searching wordpress for travel blogs and see what kinds of stuff they post, also leave a few likes and comments to advertise your presence (I spent my first three years or so as a blogger failing to do this), then think about what you want your first post to look like and set about creating it. Once you have created the post make sure it is categorized and tagged properly (no more than 10 tags for a post or you could fall foul of various spam filters) and that you have a good feature image. If you do other forms of social media (not all bloggers do) then post links there to maximise exposure of the blog.

MY QUESTIONS

  1. What inspired you to become a blogger?
  2. How do you promote your blog?
  3. What has been your greatest recent challenge?
  4. Do you ever set yourself to do muli-post blogging projects (e.g my “100 cricketers” series, which occupied 40 posts)?
  5. How do you go about creating a blog post?
  6. Which of your posts did you most enjoy creating and why?
  7. Where in the world would you most like to visit and why?
  8. What is your favourite meal?
  9. What kind of music do you most enjoy? If you fancy expanding on this one you could do a “Desert Island Discs” style selection of eight pieces and finish by pickinf one from that list.
  10. What do you enjoy most about blogging?
  11. Do you have an idea that you think you could turn into a book? If so what is it?

MY NOMINATIONS

I have nominated the following, who I present as a bulleted list to avoid any suggestion of a ranking order:

If I have not nominated you but you fancy taking on my questions anyway, please feel free to do so.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I sign off in my usual fashion…

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Sunshine Blogger Award

My response to Alison (The Unabashed Autist and Alison Wonderland) nominating me for a Sunshine Blogger Award)

INTRODUCTION

Sunshine Blogger Award

I am honoured to have been nominated for this award by the wonderful Alison (The Unabashed Autist and Alison Wonderland) – click here to see her post in full.

DA ROOLZ

I have borrowed this section heading from Jerry Coyne of whyevolutionistrue. Title explained, here are the rules:

The Sunshine Blogger Award is for bloggers who are creative, positive and inspiring as they spread sunshine to the blogging community. 

Here are the rules:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you with a blog post and a link back to their blog.
  2. Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
  3. Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
  4. List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or your blog.

ALISON’S QUESTIONS

  1. Do you sing in the shower? No
  2. Is there someone for whom you’d die? I cannot answer this one.
  3. Set a time for 10 minutes.  You have until it expires to pick a band name.  Go. I am mainly a fan of classical music, and am no good at coming uo with band names.
  4. One thing you would surely grab before exiting if there were a fire? My camera
  5.  You’re chosen as part of an exploration team to visit a new planet and return in two years.  Do you go? Absolutely – no way am I missing out on something like that.
  6. A time traveler offers a choice between a cure for AIDS and cancer or a clean, plentiful source of energy in exchange for keeping her story secret. Which would you choose? I go for the clean, plentiful source of energy – we are already making good progress on AIDS and cancer, but not on ensuring that our planet remains capable of sustaining life, so I deem the latter the greater necessity.
  7. How long since you last ate peanut butter? A very long time.
  8. What do you collect? I collect things with a railway connection.
  9. If you could step outside of time for however long you wanted, then return and no time has passed, what would you do with the time? I genuinely don’t know.
  10. Who is the first comedian that made you laugh so hard you cried? I can’t remember
  11. Who will play you in the hypothetical movie about your life story? Daniel Radcliffe

MY NOMINATIONS

Whether I have nominated you or not please feel free to respond to the challenge if you so desire. My official nominations are:

The Thoughts of Life and Me (Masgautsen) – sample post #tbt Kaffekanna (The coffee pot) opening paragraph below:

One of the posts I found in my drafts was this post about a nice cafe and wine bar. It is quite fitting that I started this post and never published it, because this is one of those places that I really wanted to go visit when they first opened, but it took me quite some time before I actually went.

The Adventures of Captain Cornwall (Laura Easlick) – sample post A Sunday Afternoon in Zennor – opening lines reproduced below:

If I won the lottery, I would buy a house in Zennor.

I love the idea of having plenty of space between houses, with unspoiled views and dramatic coastal scenery.

West Cornwall can feel like a different place to the rest of the county. Driving from Hayle in West Cornwall to Zennor in the area known as West Penwith, the views change quickly and it suddenly feels like you’re on the way to the end of the Earth!

The Skwawkbox – sample post VIDEO: NEIL ‘DOES A PAXMAN’ ON SQUIRMING TORY MINISTER OVER CORBYN SMEARS

…However, it seems that Mr Neil agrees with us that recent smears by Tory front-benchers against Jeremy Corbyn have been beyond the pale – as they prompted him to ‘do a Paxman’ on Wednesday on a hapless Tory minister during the BBC’s Daily Politics programme:

Robert Loves Pi – sample post Three Rings of Eleven (as I pointed out on the original, I saw five rings of eleven shapes) – given the significance of the number 11 to this challenge this is a particularly neat fit (IMO):

Three Rings of Eleven

Undestined Pieces (Anusha Sridharan) – sample post Bright days bring bright beginnings.

…A day gets a good start when you have made up your mind to think all positive, and nothing but positive. What acts like an icing to it is having a nobel purpose attached to it.

Travelling the World (Ester) – sample post Greenwich-London:

Our Autism Blog (Emzamy) – sample post A Cure for Autism? (note the question mark with which this title ends – and that this piece follows the usual rule that applies to titles including a question, or I would not be linking to it) – quote from the end of the post:

The most important “cure” for Autism is to teach the child that being different is not a bad thing.
We need to make it possible for a child to live and thrive by helping people to understand the nature of the condition.
For the child to grow up and be happy, their Autistic needs have to be met.
The way forward for us all is to accept difference in a world full of discrimination.

Getting rid of Autism isn’t the key to the perfect child…..I love mine just the way she is.

The Neurodivergent Rebel – sample post Web Resources

My last three nominations are blogs I also nominated in my response post when I was nominated for a Blogger Recognition Award.

Stimtheline (Mish) – what else could be sample post but The Autistic Bill of Rights Shareable Image:

Autistic Bill of Rights.pub

The Silent Wave (Laina Eartharcher, also has a sharing site, Lainas Collection), sample post The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Neurotypicality:

In Short:

The NT Take On Life is often (too frequently) to dumb it down, complicate it with bullshit and distractions, condense it into bite-size pieces, and send it viral.  Strip it of substance, complexity, and real-ness, lace it with double-speak, polish it up into something shiny and digestible, package it for appearances, and act like That’s The Way Things Are, assuming broad acceptance and mass adoption.

I started this list of nominations in Nordic lands, with a Norwegian blog, and I finish back in that part of the world with a Swedish blog, fargaregardsanna (Anna Bohlin), sample post Så här bygger vi i Trosa kommun – not climate smart building in Trosa Sweden:

To finish this section: If you want to make a comment that relates specifically to one of the posts I have highlighted in this piece please go the original to do so. If your comment is about the post as a whole or about something that is specifically my work then by all means post it here.

MY QUESTIONS FOR NOMINEES (AND ANYONE ELSE WHO IS INTERESTED)

  1.  If you could restore one place that exists only as an archaeological site to perfect condition waht would it be?
  2. If you remove from existence one current organization which would it be?
  3. What is the most amazing sporting performance you have ever witnessed?
  4. Who is your favourite author of fiction?
  5. Pick one word beginning with each letter of the alphabet that is particularly associated with your life.
  6. An alien visitor offers to give you the solution to one of humanity’s great unsolved problems: which one do you ask for?
  7. If traveling were free, where would you like to go? 
  8. If you could have a dinosaur renamed in your honour which one would it be? (note to Autism Mom, if you take these questions on you are permitted to subcontract this one to The Navigator!) 

    –the last three questions are based on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs – :

  9. You are able to save one music CD from the waves as you scramble ashore – what would you like to be on it? (If you want to go above and beyond and make the full eight music choices around which the actual programme is built be my guest!)
  10. Choose three books that would help you pass the time on the island (the real thing restricts castaways to one choice, giving them The Bible and The Complete Works of Shakespeare whether they want them or not).
  11. Choose one luxury item (it should not be too useful, but I am not going to be harsh on that, and I will allow a little latitude in the matter of what the main item has with it – e.g if you select a camera, as I would, it comes with a spare battery, as well as the fully charged one that is currently in there).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Having completed the business part of this piece I conclude it by putting up some recent photographs of my own:

Squirrel CLXIISquirrel CLXISquirrel CLXBlackbird CLXIICormorant CLXIICormorants and gullsCormorant CLXIBrace of cormorants IIBrace of cormorantsCormorant CLXWater birdsFlying Cormorant XXMoorhen CLXI