Beautiful? Moi? Why, you cad!

The other day I received a lovely surprise upon checking my notifications –  Angelique from Why I Can’t Stop Reading had nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award! That means I now have three blog awards under my belt – the Versatile Blogger; the Very Inspiring blogger; and now the Beautiful blogger, and the fact that three of my book blogger peers (who I admire and respect) think Book Polygamist is versatile, inspiring AND beautiful is just a huge honor and gives me the drive to continue during times when I’ve thought about quitting. Thanks Angelique! 😀 😀 😀 The rules to receiving the Beautiful Blogger Award are quite similar to the others:

1. Copy the award logo onto your blog – tick!
   
2. Thank the person who nominated you – tick!
3. Post 7 facts about yourself – see below ↓
4. Nominate 7 bloggers/blogs for the award – see even further below ↓

I’m running out of facts about myself that immediately come to mind, but here goes:

1. I don’t know how to ride a bike….or drive a car O.O
   Like any normal child (ha! normal!) I did learn to ride a bike…well I almost did anyway. As a pretty nervous kid the thought of trusting my life (and knees) to a metal frame with wheels was already a little terrifying, but for the sake of appearing a bit normal I gave it a go. I was pretty fine up to the mighty milestone that was removing the training wheels. Then I quickly remembered that I had the balance of a drunken sloth with an inner ear infection (are sloths known for being unbalanced? That may not have been the best example but it makes a good image) and the training wheels had been the only thing keeping me from toppling over. I tried for a while to just walk my bike along by sitting on the seat with my feet tip-toeing either side, but this was actually slower than walking. Eventually I gave up and decided I’d rather read or play with my imaginary zoo anyway (more on that later). I never really mastered any other wheeled contraption throughout my youth, so by the time I was old enough to begin driving lessons I didn’t trust myself behind the wheel of a very large, and flammable-liquid propelled metal frame with wheels. I do plan to learn how to drive at some point (it’s actually a tentative goal of mine for this year) and maybe I’ll even tackle a bike again, but at the moment I feel safer with my life in the hand of bus and train drivers….hmmmm that may not be exactly logical.
   
   

   This is pretty much how it went down, except my outfit was in the more tragic late ’80s – early ’90s style

2. I have a “saying the wrong word” problem which I have dubbed my Rollerdex
   I don’t know if any of you have this problem, but it seems to have plagued me for as long as I can remember. You go to say something wonderfully eloquent that you have rehearsed in you head over and over, and then your brain and mouth conspire to say something completely unrelated and make you look like a tool. I can’t remember If I dubbed this disorder of mine “Rollerdex” or if one of my friends did, but it’s perfectly fitting for what happens. If you’re any younger than me you may not know what a Rollerdex is because they’re virtually extinct now, but basically they were a little wheel that business types kept on their desk that held all their contacts details in alphabetical order. If they wanted to contact Mr Thomson they would simply turn the wheel until the cards for T were front and centre and there was Mr Thomson’s address, telephone and fax numbers ready for your correspondence. The way my Rollerdex works is more stealthy and much less useful. As my brain is constructing a sentence is remains perfectly still and well-behaved, but the moment I speak it spins out-of-control, and totally unwarranted, eager to give me a word which is miles away from what I meant. It has resulted in some great laughs though, so I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on it.
   

   Ticka-ticka-ticka-tick…tick……tick….. did you mean pigeon?

3. I study best with sitcoms playing in the background
   When I was studying for my Diploma in Library and Information Services, the worst thing for my concentration, ironically enough was a silent study room or library. The thing I found really kept me going was having one of my favourite sitcoms (preferably one where I’d seen every episode of multiple times and didn’t normally require much attention anyway) playing at a low volume in the background. I found this also worked really well when I was doing bouts of creative writing too and I use to confuse the guy at Civic Video by borrowing a whole bunch of Charmed, Gilmore Girls or Friends DVDs and then trying to explain that they helped me write. During my studies my fall-back series was Scrubs, mainly because in my last semester I had just bought most of the DVDs from an op-shop for 1 dollar a piece (!!!!!!!) so I finally had all 9 seasons, but earlier on I also used Gilmore Girls, Friends, Charmed, the IT Crowd, and How I Met Your Mother.
   

   These guys got me through a lot of hours writing long and boring reports!

4. I can’t sleep in total silence
   This one is similar to the above one – I just can’t relax and get the job done if it’s eerily silent! My main problem with total silence is it’s never totally silent. When there isn’t that lovely white noise I can clearly hear every little tick of the clock, or whistle of the wind outside, or snuffle that my blissfully sleeping dogs make, or that one insane bird that decides to sing at 2 in the morning. While sitcoms work for study, the way I get to sleep is with music, podcasts or audio books at a low-level. For sleeping the level has to be just right – too loud and I’ll just be struck listening to it and won’t sleep, and too quiet and I’ll be straining to hear what was just said and so won’t sleep. In fact I’ve found that over the years listening to audio books or podcasts that I actually want to hear and remember doesn’t work because I’ll either be enthralled and stay awake, or it will lull me to sleep and I won’t remember a damn thing. I’ve found the best sound is chilled out blues, jazz or roots music, or in summer whatever is on the radio (always tuned to Triple j) with the fan on, muffling it slightly 🙂
   

   AHH! Why won’t you stop your incessant ticking! Are you some kind of sadist?!

5. Despite being 26 and born/raised in Australia, I often speak like a British Grandmother
   Regular readings may have already noticed that I often use old-fashioned phrasing (I.e. cad) instead of the hip young-person lingo that I should be spouting (saying “hip young-person lingo” doesn’t help matters). When I like something I may say it’s “cool” or “awesome” but more often than not I’ll say it’s “ace”, “neat” or “nifty”. On more than one occasion my friends have teased me for calling soft drinks “pop” (this may not be odd to my American Bookbaggers, but in Australia we don’t say “soda”, “pop” or “soda pop”, it’s always “soft drink” or sometimes “fizzy drink” or just the brand itself). I often catch myself saying someone is “a lovely young man”, or that someone’s “a smart dresser”. So far none of this is particularly British – that part comes from my nana, who is a bona fide British Grandmother (even after 40 odd years living in Australia) and can be pinpointed to two words: Oh dear. I’m pretty sure I’ve been saying “oh dear” in a very composed, British way ever since I was little and heard my nana (one of my favourite people in the universe) say it, and I will be a proud “oh dear” utterer until the day I die!
   

   I want one!….even though I don’t qualify for either of those categories…

6. When I was a child I had an imaginary zoo
   As I said above (and can be easily gleaned if you know me or follow my odd ramblings) i wasn’t a particularly normal child.
   While many normal children had 1 imaginary friend, or even a couple that took shifts I was determined to have and be so much more, so invented a complete menagerie which I would talk to, and pretend to feed and care for, often when I was in public. When I was at school the zoo resided in a little area of grass with a huge peppermint tree next to the toilet block, which no one seemed to utilize for some reason. I would visit during recess and lunch and “feed” all the animals with fallen leaves and the blossoms off the peppermint tree, pretend to water down the elephant and other large animals, and have meetings with the zoo keepers (which were two man-shaped cats – one black and white and one ginger – who despite also being animals, could talk and wore clothing). I also use to speak with the cat zoo keepers (the black and white one was called Mr Mistoffelees  – after the cat from T. S. Elliot‘s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and the musical Cats – or Mister for short, and I’m pretty sure the ginger one was called Archimedes – after the owl in The Sword in the Stone – or Archie for short) when I was on the toilet because they were right there and in my head it was perfectly normal to have a staff meeting in which the boss is doing entirely different business.
   

   I was way ahead of my time when it came to imaginary zoos!

7. I constantly have 2 or 3 little stories that I make up and work through in my head
   This probably is an offshoot of my imaginary zoo making. Ever since I was little I’ve always made up little stories in my head – kind of like continuing daydreams I guess – which I play through when I’m in a quiet boring situation (again, when I’m on the toilet or sometimes before I fall asleep). The stories are usually along the same themes – there’s the one where I’m a princess with a secret garden that I get to through a series of hidden doorways and tunnels, and I have lots of unique pets; and the variations of fantasy based one such as a magic school; a magical chosen one or ones etc. Why do I do this? Well it may just be because my brain has been wired that way so it always has to be occupied with something, and I’d rather tell myself stories than go over and over my to-do list (which I do still do a fair bit), or maybe it’s my inner novelist getting a workout, since I’ve lost the time and drive to actually write down my stories; or perhaps I’m a tad cuckoo…or all three! 😀
   

   “But who are you? And how did you get into my secret garden?” The mysterious stranger said nothing, and with an elegant swish of their cloak they were gone, leaving behind a single red rose…”

And now for my nominees:

1. Angelique (AKA angelicreader) from Why I Can’t Stop Reading
   Because just like my previous award posts, I believe a nomination deserves one back 🙂 plus I have only recently discovered  Why I Can’t Stop Reading  and have found it to be a lovely little book blog with nice, clear reviews and a bright future 🙂 
2. Billie (AKA Vasiliki) from Books, Owls & Tea
   Because I have also just discovered her lovely blog (through Why I Can’t Stop Reading in fact) and have found many beautiful delights in the form of three of my favourite things: books, owls and tea 😀 her review style is also very clear and readable and I love the idea of Tea on Tuesday
3. Neely from NEELYWANG Photography + Design
   Because the most beautiful posts in my Reader are usually from this gorgeous photography blog. I know I already nominated NEELYWANG Photography + Design for an award in the past (as I have with some of the others on this list) but it is well deserved 🙂
4. Crafting With Words
   Another former award recipient, but when I think about beautiful blogs, this one with its lovely, inspiring concept came to mind 🙂
5. Aleksandra from Aleksandra’s Corner
   A book blog I found really recently while looking for pics of The Night Circus‘ cover art, and I have been very impressed with her clear reviews (and the sheer number of reviews she does on a regular basis!) as well as the challenges she participates in and posts she does on upcoming books
   
6. Christie from bibliophiliacs
   Because my previous nomination of bibliophiliacs was as a thank you for her nomination of Book Polygamist and I thought she deserved another on its own 🙂 Now your blog/you have been dubbed versatile and beautiful Christie
7. Shivani from My Owl Barn
   I’ve shown my love of this treasure trove of owl stuff before, but some (ok, most if not all) the artwork she posts about is so stunning, she definitely deserves this award!

I’ll end with a short plug 😀 there’s been a flurry of activity on here lately such as two new features – Adventures in Etymology and Collective Nounitude – as well as a new page to quickly get to any of my regular (or not so regular) features; I’ll also be putting up another new page after this post which lists my awards (*blush*) as well as the awards I’ve given (the Top 10 Reads of this year and last year, as well as the Annual Book Polygamist Awards); and the other big news is Book Polygamist finally has a Facebook page and an email address! So if you’re a face on the Book of Faces you can like Book Polygamist by going to its page, or simply us the like widget, and if you want to email me the address is now on my About page 🙂

For now, and always I wish all my Bookbaggers and future Bookbaggers:

Happy Reading! And I hope you all have a look-see at the excellent blogs I’ve nominated 😀