Jan, the groovy writer at strangegoingsonintheshed.wordpress.com nominated me for the Liebster Award, a simply marvellous gesture.  Before I go any further, Jan’s blog lays out a mixture of folklore, myth, legend, humour, the gothic and shamanism. Her musings have a brilliant leaning toward mysticism and esoterica. She has plethora of fantastic work on her site. So, I don’t want to have to tell you giggling Gerties again, VISIT strangegoingsonintheshed.wordpress.com, you will not be disappointed.

I’ve chosen to accept and have nominated the following blogs for the Award. There are many other blogs I love to read but have to contain my enthusiasm and restrict the list to the following:

adarkprocess.wordpress.com

awifemyverse.wordpress.com

secret-lifeof.com

rugby843.wordpress.com

trepantheuniverse.wordpress.com

vampyreshanelestan.wordpress.com

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The Liebster Award is an opportunity for bloggers to recognize and support other bloggers for their achievements. It’s available between January 1 – December 31, 2018. All nominations are voluntary and geared towards blogs with 1000 readers or less. The Rules are below if the nominees choose to accept.

IF YOU HAVE BEEN NOMINATED AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT, WRITE A BLOG ABOUT THE LIEBSTER AWARD, IN WHICH YOU:

*Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

*Display the award on your blog, by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or “gadget.”  (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your computer, and then upload it to your blog post.)

*Answer 11 questions about yourself which will be provided by the person who nominated you. Provide eleven random facts about yourself.

*Nominate 5-11 bloggers that you feel deserve the award, and who have less than 1000 followers.  (NOTE: you can always ask the blogger how many followers he or she has, as not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information).

*Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

*List these rules in your post (you can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published the blog, you have to:

*Inform the people/blogs that you have nominated for the Liebster Award and provide a link for them to your post, so that they may learn about it.

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The questions put to me are:  

What does it mean to be truly human? 

To truly be a human, live by one very simple rule – ‘Don’t be a bastard.’ It probably sounds like a flippant response, however, it is anything but. Throughout the history of time and the world, every religious text, be they the Bible, Q’ran, Torah, etc. only ever needed one page for believers in that deity to adhere to. That page should read ‘Don’t be a bastard.’ What does it mean? Don’t do awful things to any thing or any one. If you can achieve that, then you are human.

What poem touches your heart deeply?

Until I was injured, I served the better part of my adult life within the Australian Defence Force. Coupled with that, I am from a family with a lengthy history of Service in the ADF, the AIF, Colonial Regiments specifically the BVC, and British armed forces prior. Hence, the fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon’s  – ‘For the Fallen.’ is incredibly important to me.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

What type of music gives you the greatest pleasure and feeds your soul?

Music is a contextual thing, and my interests are broad. A favourite band of mine is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, yet I thoroughly enjoy everything from the Blues, to Jazz, to The Beastie Boys, and even Slim Dusty. I don’t like modern electronic music; it is evil and must be killed with fire.

What do you feel is your greatest achievement as a blogger?

The greatest achievement as a blogger also proved to be my greatest nightmare. People liking my work enough to plagiarise it.

If you were Sherlock Holmes what mystery would you like to solve?

That is a seriously good question. The ‘Five Pip’s’ stood out to me, although I don’t recall why. I haven’t read Conan Doyle for quite a while, as such, short of going over the Reichenbach Falls, his individual Holmes stories have now, sort of, blended in to one. If that makes sense?

What art form appeals to you? Painting, Sculpture or Photography?

Visually, painting. Klimt, Van Gogh, and Lindsay have left me breathless on a number of occasions over the years. I have always been impressed by sculpture, although, more from an archaeological view point, as opposed to one of an artistic nature.

Which archetype appeals to you? Trickster, Psychopomp or Hero/Heroine?

Hero/heroine stuff, and then the spiritual/psychopomp.

If you had a chance to ask a question of any historical/mythical character, what would it be?

This is a massive question, I don’t know how to answer it. Although, I wouldn’t mind asking the Dread Pirate Roberts if he is looking to retire, and if I could give him a hand.

“I think, therefore I am” – Rene Descartes. What’s your opinion on this?

I always feel like that quote/statement is only half done. Should it be ‘I think, therefore I am; therefore I am?’, or ‘I think therefore I am. I am, therefore I act.’? I don’t know. My personal favorite is ‘Carpe Jugulum’, I have Sir Terry to thank for that one.

What appeals most to you, using either a computer or pen and paper to create?

Personally, my favourite is my typewriter. I have a ‘Remington Quiet-Riter’, and it is super cool. But, it isn’t as practical as the computer. God bless spell check, plus the ‘backspace’ and ‘delete’ keys.

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My questions to those nominated: