Shhh! Can You Keep a Secret? It's My Birthday

Candles spell out the traditional English birthday greeting (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

      I don't want this getting out all over the place so I'm only telling you--today's my birthday.

      I'm keeping this a secret so don't be spreading this all around, you know like sharing it on social media. I mean I'd hate to get a barrage of FaceBook birthday greetings or have the link to this post all over Twitter. I keep a low profile, you know, and don't like to be promoting or marketing my brand or my blog or having my name Arlee Bird broadcast all over the internet. It's not like I'm trying to build a platform or anything like that. I'm just a quiet guy who wants to remain invisible.

     Well, that is, except for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. You can blurt that all over the place. Sign-ups can be found here or here or at the many sites of the A to Z Team of Co-hosts. So I guess for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge cause I'll forsake my anonymity and give you permission to send this post everywhere. All over the world even. Don't forget to tell your family, friends, neighbors, and anyone you see passing on the street.

      So since the word is out anyway I guess if you want to send me presents you can.  Gift cards are fine.  Cash is preferred.   No bills under twenties please...

        Sorry didn't mean to get out of hand there...

         Instead, to celebrate my birthday I'm going to do the unthinkable and accept a couple of awards in my own unorthodox rule-breaking method.


Very Inspiring Blogger Award

       I normally don't do the awards on my site anymore so I rarely get them offered to me, however Chrys Fey presented me with this Very Inspiring Blogger Award and how can I turn down an award with that kind of title it being my birthday as well as opening week of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge sign-ups. 

The Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you, and link to their blog. (see above)
2. Display the award logo. (it's up there too)
3. Nominate 15 other bloggers (more or less) and provide a link where they may be found. (here's where I break a rule--if you've signed up for A to Z then the award is yours)
4. Go to their blog, leave a comment to let them know they have been nominated. (I'm telling you now)
5. Mention three things that inspired you the most during the past few weeks.  (see below)

Three things that have inspired me recently:

1.  Getting up this morning (and every morning)

2.   The great response to A to Z sign-ups for the opening week.

3.   The beauty of God's creation and His infinite mercy.

     Thank you, Chrys for thinking of me for this award!


The Liebster Award

       This Liebster Award has been sitting in my post files for some time now so I could use it for a post like this one.  This award appeared on A to Z co-host John Holton's blog The Sound of One Hand Typing and he offered it to anyone with under 3000 followers, which unfortunately is a category I still fall into, but that fortunately allows me to accept the award to be able to blab about me since it's Me Day being my birthday and all.   I just answer questions about me and give the award to whomever I like.   If you're an A to Z participant feel free to accept this award on my behalf.

         Here is a mix of questions asked by John as well as some questions asked by previous award presenters:

1. What is your ideal vacation?   The answer involves many variables for me, but if I exclude my typical vacation of visiting family then an ideal vacation is one that requires minimal investment for me with the value of learning the most and gaining the most good memories.  It also would be a vacation shared with those I love or people who will enrich me with their presence.
2. If you had to live somewhere else, where would you move?  I've often somewhat jokingly said that I'd like to live in Grand Island, Nebraska.  I don't know why I'm so intrigued by the place, but it just always seemed kind of hometown U.S.A. to me.   I'm fairly adaptable and there are many places that might attract me and it's hard to beat the weather here in Southern California, but East Tennessee or somewhere near that has the greatest lure for me.
3. What was your first job?  The first job that I got on my own efforts was in Knoxville, Tennessee working at a wholesale carnival supply company by the name of Acme Premium Supply.  Everyone always makes the Wiley Coyote connection and no, this is not the company where he got his doo-dads, but it's kind of like that one.  We mostly sold stuffed animals and other carnival game prizes.
4. If you’re a writer, what genre do you write? What would you like to write?  Like I write on Tossing It Out, my other writing tends to be fairly eclectic.  I like to experiment with different styles and explore many topics.  My favorite thing to write is anything memoir related.  You can find some of that at my other blog Wrote By Rote.
5. What is your claim to fame?  If you Google Arlee Bird you'll mostly find links related to my blogs with a larger number of links talking about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge which I started in 2010.  So I guess that's my biggest claim to fame in recent years.   If you want to sign up for this April's Challenge, visit a-to-zchallenge.com or click on the related tab at the top of this page.
6. What type of music do you like?   Maybe it's easier to tell what kinds of music I don't like.  I love music as might be indicated with my focus on the Battle of the Bands posts that I do on the 1st and 15th of each month.  The next Battle of the Bands post will appear here on this blog this coming Sunday February 1st.  Oh, and if I were to pick one predominate favorite music genre that would be Classical--primarily from the 1700's to mid 1900's.   
7. What motivates you to post on your blog?  All the stuff that's in my brain overflows into the pages of this blog and my brain is constantly filling up with new thoughts.   I'm also building my platform you might say.   Why I'm building that platform will hopefully become more clear in the future sometime.   
8. What’s your favorite holiday, and why?   Thanksgiving has remained a big favorite in my adult years and even as a child.  Some of my best memories stem from Thanksgiving.  It's a mostly relaxing time with food that I enjoy.   I love that Thanksgiving dinner!  And these days I'm usually the one who cooks most of it.
9. Did you believe in Santa Claus when you were a child?  I believed until I was about nine years old.  Then until about age 12 I played along with the concept so I'd be sure to get presents. After that I became an agent for Santa as I helped my mother shop for presents for my younger brothers and sisters and wrapped presents and assembled stuff on Christmas Eve so the younger kids would have a great time--and I still got presents myself.  That's when Christmas became the most fun and it was a win-win situation for me and my parents.
10. Who is your favorite writer?   The writer I immediately name is Flannery O'Connor, but I'm also a big fan of Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner.  Hmm--I guess I have a preference for Southern Literature.
11. What would be your dream job?   My dream job is similar to the touring stage production job I had back in the 70's and 80's.   The job would involve plenty of travel to places I wanted to go, meeting the public, and doing something related to performing music and/or promoting my books.  Oh, so I guess that dream job would involve a lot of writing as well.  Yeah, I could live with that kind of a job.

Guessing Games

       I can't believe that from the clues I offered in my Wednesday post that no one guessed what song I'll be using in my Battle of the Bands post coming up this Sunday February 1st. I actually named the song and part of the name of the artists who originally recorded it.  It was right there!  Maybe that goes to show how closely posts are actually read, but I understand that based on how I read many posts.

         While we're bringing up guessing games I wonder if anyone can guess how old I am today?  While you're thinking about that I'll leave you with a cover version of a song that came out when I was in high school.   This is not part of my Battle of the Bands, but maybe I should have used this song since there are some pretty fine cover versions of it.  Play the song if you like and scroll down while you're listening for some more thoughts on game playing.

          Remember--the song versions  I'll be using on my next Battle of the Bands post will be covers and not the version by the original artist. Or maybe you don't want to guess.   It's donned on me that some of you all might have had your phil of guessing games!   I can hear some of you saying, "How 'bout saying 'bye-bye' to the guessing games!  I don't want any more of them--ever Lee!"

         Please stop by on Super Bowl Sunday or the following couple of days so you can find out what song I've chosen and you can vote for your favorite version.

           Did you guess the Battle of the Bands song I'll be using?   Did you guess my age?   Do you like guessing games?  Can you guess why I have these guessing games in some of my posts?

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Time To Open My Christmas Presents

         The world didn't end but 2012 is about to quietly fade into the past and welcome another year.  What will 2013 bring us?   Over all the past year has been a good year, but odd in many ways.  For me there was so much left undone in a year that seemed to fly so swiftly by.  But it was a good year.  If every year were as good as 2012 has been then I'd be okay with that.

         Normally I wouldn't be acknowledging any awards on this blog.  But it's Christmas and I'm going to recognize a couple that came my way recently.  It's time to have fun.  Time to open presents.

THE LIEBSTER AWARD




          From Jeffrey Beesler at World of the Scribe I was bestowed another one of these Liebster Blog awards.   I'm not only not going to follow the "rules", I'm not even going to list them. You can click on the link to Jeffrey's blog if you really want to know about this award.  Besides you should click on the link anyway and go visit Jeffrey.

         Since Jeffrey's a friend and former A to Z Team mate, and I kind of like answering questions, I'll play along with the part where he asked eleven questions.  After all, it's Christmas and we don't want to get too heavy-laden with deep thinking.

My Questions from Jeffrey:

1. What kind of food do you enjoy most?  Do you want the long or short answer?  I love just about all food.  Of course, it depends on what I'm in the mood for, but I can almost always go for Thai.  Pizza is a definite all-around favorite.  Let's phrase this question in a better way:  What kind of food don't I like?  Let's head to the buffet!

2. What is your favorite color?  Blue,  kind of like the font in the question.

3. What drove you to first write?  School--they made me learn.  But I was trying even before that.  I've always been fascinated by books and wanted to write them.

4. What genre do you like to read most?  Probably whatever I'm enjoying at the present time.  I'm an eclectic reader with an inclination towards speculative, Southern, or spiritual/philosophic literature.  I like books that get me to think, but not by weighing down my thoughts.

5. What genre do you like to read least?   If we're talking fiction, then I'll say romance and fantasy are my least favorite genres.  I want to read things that I can believe or that make me think.  Wait! I think I already said that. 

6. If you could have a super power, which one would you most like to have?   Ability to fly would be very nice.   Invisibility might be even better since I could sneak onto aircraft and fly places, but also be able to do other very cool things.   Hmmm--that makes me sound kind of sneaky.

7. If you could challenge one fictional character to a duel, which one would you choose?  Dueling is not something I want to be doing.  If I absolutely had to I guess I'll go with the weird kid in the movie Deliverance.   If you saw the movie you'll remember the kid that plays the banjo.  Since it's a fictional scene I'd be playing the banjo too and we'd be doing the "Dueling Banjos".    That way no one gets hurt unless I decide to go rafting down that river.  Great movie by the way.

8. Will you ever stop writing?   Assuming that one day I'll no longer be living I think I'd have to say that I'll stop writing when that day comes.  

9. What’s more fun, watching paint dry or watching grass grow?  Watching the grass grow is much more fun if it's the kind you can smoke later. 

10. Print or E-Books: What’s your favorite, and why?  So far for me it's definitely print books because I still don't have an e-reader and reading on my computer is tedious.   Also, I love the feel and all of the sensory experiences that accompany a real book.

11.What was the number one song playing the year you completed high school?   "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine" by the Fifth Dimension was a big hit at the time of my graduation.  This was a song from the cutting edge hippie musical Hair.    "In the Year 2525" was also climbing the charts.  This song was an interesting look at what the future might hold for for the human race if they survive--the predictions aren't so far-fetched, but perhaps projected a bit far into the future.

         I thank you Jeffrey for thinking of your old buddy.   Have a Merry Christmas and much success in the year to come.

2012 BLOG OF THE YEAR

           I was very honored to be named as a 2012 Blog of the Year by the incomparable Ninja Captain and master blogger Alex J. Cavanaugh.   What an honor to be passed this award by the man who is a friend to most of you and my A to Z co-hort from the beginning.  Thank you, Alex.

          Another wonderful blogger also passed this award to me and I in my abhorrent state of disarray cannot find who that other blogger is.   I offer my profuse apologies.  I will continue to try to find this source so I can acknowledge her on this post.  I humbly apologize and just want to crawl into a place to hide.

      So that's what I'll do.  It's late as I write this and I'm getting blurry eyed.

      My thanks to all of my readers and especially those who leave comments.  You are all Bloggers of the Year in my book.

        HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

          

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