Well, the time has come to pass this on. I have only procrastinated for nearly a month now. But in all fairness to myself, during this past month I found and subbed several wonderful sites which many are included in my list of sites I am awarding.
On January 7, 2012, Chris from Word Play awarded me with the Versatile Blogger Award (Now please, you MUST CLICK HERE before continuing). Sincerely… thank you, Chris. I am both honored and humbled – and honestly not really sure why you choose me, but you did so now it is time for me to carry on this award.
According to the requirements of the award I must:
• Nominate 15 other bloggers
• Inform my nominees
• Share 7 random facts about myself
• Thank the one who nominated me
• Add a picture of the award to this post
So let’s get moving and start with the list of 15 blogs. First, though, a brief commercial from someone who is not my sponsor…
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In my list here, I will be listing a specific post rather than the blog in general, so please, check them all out. This is how I have found nearly all the blogs I follow. This was not an easy task, which is why I procrastinated for so long. I started around 8 PM tonight and it is now 12:49 AM, and that was just choosing the sites and which post. Now I have to write this as well as figure out seven things to share about myself. Anyway, without further ado, in alphabetical order, the Versatile Blogger Award goes to…..
1. 365 Veterans: Honoring a Veteran a day for a year | The Twilight Zone of the USS CONSTELLATION: A true story about an occurrence that happened in the Gulf of Tonkin in February of 1970, with a Twilight Zone finish.
2. Barking In The Dark | Election Day 2020: A True Story (part one): A satirical story about what life would be like after the New Republican Party takes control of our government. Here is part two. And I specifically chose this post because I’M WAITING FOR PART THREE, TONY!!! I am addicted to politics, especially satire, and Tony gives me my fix. Now, where’s part three?
3. Creative Endeavors, The Home of BoxcarOkie.com | Tuesday Rant: This site is pretty much all about humor, and this post covers the whole spectrum along with some other tidbits.
4. Don in Massachusetts | Ewwwwww by Cameron Cardow: Like I just previously mentioned, I am a political junkie, and Don here gives me my political cartoon and quotes fix on a daily basis. He somehow finds only the best.
5. Facehookin’ | Smell Good Stuff For Your Muff: A site full of witty and sarcastic humor, another daily fix I need. This post is the first one I read on her site, and the section about a different approach to advertising still has me ROTFLMAO.
6. Guapola | An Adventure – CHEESESTEAKS!!!: I just subbed this site literally two days ago, but I’ve been reading his comments on Barking in the Dark for a while now, and just love his sense of humor.
7. I Want Ice Water | The Pastor’s Ass: As the author’s site says, “Is a mixture of humor & seriousness that reflects my own personal philosophy of life.” So check out the story about the pastor’s ass.
8. onmysquare | Happy Black History Month!!! Today We Salute The Homies That Ain’t Here: A variety of thoughts put to virtual paper. This specific post is exactly what it sounds like.
9. Our Process | Provo Post High School II part 2: The author is a substitute teacher who also has a gift of drawing. This specific post is one in a series of his days substituting for a special needs class. He most certainly deserves an award for humanity in caring for the needs and welfare of these students, as well having a mountain of patience in working with the challenges these students live every day in life.
10. Peace for Every Living Thing | Romney: Karmen covers a variety of topics including her love for the earth and environment, as well as politics. Karman hails from Utah, and is very open about her disdain for Mitt Romney. She and I are very much alike in both these regards.
11. polentical | Daily Show / Colbert Report: Week in Review: There are three different authors on this site which all share the same interests. Matthew in particular helps keep me up to date on both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Again, another political junkie site mixed in with posts from the entertainment world.
12. The ObamaCrat | “One A Day” Black History Month ~ Mr. Jean Gregoire Sagbo: This site I literally subbed today, but immediately fell in love when I read this post.
13. Today in Heritage History | January 27, 1942 – Colder Than a Toverheks Borst: Again, another blog I just subbed today. Here Peter posts a daily historical fact – along with a twisted sense of humor I love.
14. Yo Yo-Dyne Propulsion Systems: Reno Division | SECRETS REVEALED: The Truth behind Santa and Hanukkah Harry: Rachael is a fellow Mensan and her dry witty humor in both her posts and comments keep me laughing. When she teams up with Don in Massachusetts, I make a bowl of popcorn and sit back for the show.
15. You’ve Been Hooked! | The Universe is Truly a Marvel to Behold…: Daily life working as a bellboy in a full service hotel. I am sure everyone can attest to the odd bi-legged creatures which wander in and out of hotels. The Hook shares his strange encounters with his hotel guests.
It is now 1:51 AM and I am determined to finish this tonight (or this morning as it really is). So now on to the seven things about myself you did not know. But first, another word from someone who is not my sponsor…
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Seven Things About Myself You Do Not Know (oh, boy….)
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1. I went on a date with Ed O’Neill. Yes, “Al Bundy” from Married with Children Actually, it was more along the lines of spending a day together. I was still attending Purdue in 1993 (since I was on the “long-term” program) and was a server at a fine steak house in Lafayette IN during that time. Next door to the restaurant was the only extended-stay suite hotel, which is where the cast of Blue Chips stayed when they were in town doing some filming at one of our older local high school gymnasiums. One Saturday night, I was the closing server and in walks Ed and was seated in my station. We proceed to chat and he mentioned that they did not film on Sunday’s. Jokingly I responded, “I’d be happy to show you around the “wonderful” town of Lafayette, Indiana.” Much to my surprise, he said yes. So the next day I meet him at the hotel, we went swimming (was hoping to see Nick Nolte but didn’t), went for a tour around town, to a movie, dinner, etc. and really had a very pleasant time. I was very amused watching the locals throughout the day. Lafayette does not see many Hollywood stars, so everyone knew they were in town filming. Ed wore a baseball cap and kept the brim pulled down fairly low. People would glance, do a double-take, look a little harder, and I’m pretty sure most ended up deciding that it was who they thought it was. But no one stopped to ask for an autograph. And now that I think about it, I never asked nor got an autograph either.
2. I have swam with the dolphins. During a spring break trip in 1991, my boyfriend and myself went to Florida with another couple friend of ours. In one of the keys was a dolphin park which we had already secured a “swim” before leaving Indiana. The trainers would tell the dolphins what to do. It was an absolutely magical experience, especially when holding on to the dorsal fin and being pulled through the water.
3. I did a photo shoot for Playboy Magazine. Back in the spring of 1984, I was finishing up my sophomore year at Purdue. Playboy came through to do a “Women of the Big Ten” shoot. There were three options to choose from: 1) Fully clothed, 2) semi-nude, and 3) fully nude. I tried out for the fully clothed and was chosen from thousands of other women. The shoot was done next to Ross Ade Stadium down a flight of stairs outside. I was outfitted in a skimpy little sundress which was very low-cut and short, with string bikini underpants. I carried books in my arms, and bounced down the steps so that my skirt would fly up and expose my panties. To my disappointment, though, I did not make the issue. Not all the women did. And since Playboy is, well, Playboy, they favored the women how wore less cloths than I did. Nonetheless, it was fun and I was paid something like $200 for the shoot.
4. Pets I have owned. Besides the normal cats and dogs, here are some other less conventional pets I have owned. I had a pet billy goat names “Billy.” I have owned two ferrets, “Riki Tiki Tavi” and “Portnoy” – names after the groundhog in “Bloom County“. I had an iguana named “Iggy.” I had a beta fish commit suicide (it jumped out of it’s bowl and I found it all dried up on the coffee table. That’s the last fish I’ve ever owned.) And I had an aquarium with several sirens, which are aquatic salamanders. LOL…. I had these when I lived a whole one year in a sorority (discovered that was NOT my thing). Needless to say, most of the other girls in the house hated them. I loved it! So evil I was – and still are for that matter.
5. My mother died from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. It is a degenerative neurological disorder (brain disease) that is incurable and invariably fatal. It is also the human form of Mad Cow Disease. Even though this fact technically is not about me, I included it because I really get a kick out of watching the reaction on a doctor’s face when I get to tell them for the first time what my mother died of. It really is too funny. And I’ve been seeing a lot of this reaction lately because…..
6. I found out on October 31, 2011, that I have Multiple Sclerosis. More to come on this one as I will most likely start writing posts from time to time about my trials and tribulations of learning to live with this disease.
7. I am a recovering addict. Clean date: September 6, 2006. I turned to drugs because it was a way of killing the pain from the life I was living as an abused spouse. I eventually drove away with a suitcase in my car and went into hiding for nearly 5 years. I lived in a van and off of what was left from my investments during my period of time as a mortgage banker, which was not much by then. Dickhead loved to spend my money. But I somehow made it stretch. The first three years I used, then cleaned up. After finally feeling safe from my ex, I reappeared into society in 2008 and rebuilt a life from scratch. Literally. All I had were the clothes on my back as my van finally crapped out and I left it on the side of the road. I returned to Albuquerque to move in with my best friend, Lyn. LOL… and the irony of it all. I moved out of Lyn’s into my own place, finally after 6 years of running and having nothing, only to be moving back into Lyn’s next week as the MS has now deteriorated my health that I can no longer work full time and cover my living expenses since I am taking a cut in pay. Lyn is giving me two rooms this time so I may use one as my office in hopes of eventually becoming successful in creating graphics (I specialize in doggie stuff, so click HERE to see a few things I have created – and I am definitely changing my logo as that one is gross), selling photography online, and building and maintaining WordPress websites for people willing to contract me. My current job is extremely stressful as I am Director for a company which provides the hotel reservations for large sporting tournaments around the country. Hospitality is a very demanding job, and the stress is only adding to my health problems. It’s time to make a move and start building what I truly want to do. I will stay with my company during our upcoming busy spring/summer season, but plan on leaving by this fall. By then, I should have my new sites up and running and marketed.
It is now 3 AM. Stick a fork in me, I am done. Good night all! I will be back shortly as I am now addicted to the internet, wordpress, blogging, graphics (which is what my first degree is in), photo manipulation, etc etc etc.
UPDATE: Sunday, February 5, 2011. I have added in a 16th blogger I would like to recognize.
I couldn’t find her post last night when I was writing this,
and she wrote THE MOST moving true story I have ever read.
I have published a post all to herself,
so please click here to read about A Hunting: From The Periphery by V.Lyn
Oh, and here is a photo from Wikipedia of a siren….
Motley News 
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