The Liebster Award

I’ve been nominated for a thing!

Today’s thing I have been nominated for is The Liebster Award! It is the first time I have been nominated for this and I am so grateful. Thank you so much to Maggie of Maggie Writes Stuff (love the blog name) for my post T for Transition as part of the A-Z Challenge. I am honoured to have made it to your list of 5! Thank you again, and I hope my reply here is appreciated!

As part of the award, if you decide to accept it (as I am), you have certain guidelines to keep it going.
1. Display an image of the award and write about your nomination

2. Thank and link the person who nominated you for this award

3. Answer the 11 questions prepared for you by the blogger who nominated you

4. Nominate 5-11 awesome bloggers who you think deserve this award, and create 11 questions of your own for your nominees to answer
5. List these guidelines in your blog post

Here are my answers to Maggie’s questions!
1. What fictional character would you most like to be? Why?

Hmm, this is a difficult one. Personally I think I would love to be like Sirius Black. Yes he was rough around the edges, he wasn’t the most moral of men growing up, but when he was older, he saw the good. He knew how to have a laugh but still did the right thing. He died fighting for his family, for a just cause, he died remembering his best friend, next to his Godson, and I think that is beautiful. I’d love to be like Sirius.

If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” Sirius Black

2. Who has had the greatest influence on you?

My mother has had probably the greatest impact on a personal level, followed only by Pandora Ellis, my old youth worker and someone I consider my second mum. I haven’t seen her in so long though, and that really needs to change. Both of these women taught me a lot, my mum showed me that I didn’t need a partner to be strong, I could do it all on my own, regardless of gender. She taught me that no matter what the battle, you can fight it. It is important. Pandora showed me that I had to be the person I knew I was inside. She helped me to learn that sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do it. It was Pandora who convinced me to get my hair cut like this for example!

The first time I got my hair cut really short, in Italy!

3. What TV show or movie do you quote most often?

For my regular readers I doubt this will come as a shock (or anyone who read my first answer). Harry Potter is the place I quote from most often. I would say it is the book I quote more, but I think it counts for this. J.K.Rowling is a phenomenal writer, and yes, her stuff may not be perfect, but it was perfect for me. Especially since it is the book series that made me fall in love with the written word!

4. How do you like to decompress?

I like to write for this blog! That is one of my main things I do. Riding my bike is another that I don’t get to do nearly as much as I would like. Also, the other thing I really enjoy is listening to music. My tastes are really quite varied, but as long as I have a tune I am enjoying at the time I will listen at least once a day, and almost always during my commute.

5. What’s your favourite movie theatre snack?

Popcorn! I know it is quite a standard one but I am boring in that way. I love popcorn, and my favourite is butterkist toffee! It is just beautiful, and so sweet that I know with each bite that I really shouldn’t eat it, but you just can’t stop.

6. If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Probably being invisible. I’d love to be a fly on the wall. That or teleportation. I love to travel and would adore being able to see all of my friends across the globe. Hell I could even teleport myself to another place entirely!

7. What is your most vivid memory?

I am sorry but I can’t think of one for this question. Forgive me, but I can not think of an answer.

8. How do you define family?
Family to me is not just what you are born into, it is the people who mould you. The people you would die for. My mum, my brother, my niece, they are my close blood relatives, even my uncle and his family, but my father? He is not family to me. He is just someone who helped to create my physical self. Family are those who help to create your mental self, your internal sense of self, for the good.

I have a queer family, my partner, my friends, people I have worked with over the years. I have others I consider family (see question 2), they are all people who have helped to mould me to who I am today. Family is important to me but it isn’t defined purely by blood.

9. What are your favourite and least favourite words?

I love the word phenomenal. I don’t know what it is but I have always enjoyed the word. In terms of a word I dislike, I don’t have a lot, and off the top of my head I can’t think of it. I appreciate words so much I struggle to think of a negative one in my mind.

10. If you were made supreme ruler of the universe, what would you do first?

Ensure everyone was fed and watered, and had shelter. Basically I would make sure the key element of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs were completed for all. It is key that everyone has those basic needs fulfilled in my mind, and if I was in a position to do that it would be the very first thing I would do.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

11. Wonderland or Oz?

Wonderland! I mean, it just sounds better too! Honestly I know a lot more about it, and though that is not a lot, I feel that it would be a lot more interesting to explore.

Now onto the nominations and the questions!

I am nominating the following blogs for the Liebster Award, I think they are all utterly fantastic and deserve it!

1. Tyler Charles Austen. I am sure this will come as no surprise to most, but I am nominating Tyler as he has done so many great posts, but most recently his post ‘My Genitals Are Not News Worthy‘ was really fantastic, and really worth a read.
2. My Least Favourite Child. I know this is a fairly popular blog but I think his posts are marvellous. For those that don’t know, this is run by a guy who writes about things that happen in his life, and at the end does a tally of which child has been his least favourite the most since they were born (he has twin boys). One of my favourite posts of his was ‘Gambling and Losing. That wasn’t just a fart!‘ It had me in stitches!
3. The Tudors Make Me Tic, a blog written by Oliver, a guy I was lucky enough to meet last month. He has some wonderful posts on his blog, but one of my personal favourites recently was his post ‘A letter to my brain‘.
4. Drifting Through My Open Mind was a blog I found recently and I loved their posts. The one that made me find them was their post on ‘Your Silence Is Deafening: An Open Letter To The Target Boycotters‘ (as usual with popular posts like these though, please only read the comments if you are in a good headspace… a few of them are quite horrible in their wording).
5. Aspergers and Me is another I found a while ago, I haven’t read all of the posts on there, but those that I have, I’ve really enjoyed. The post that lead me to them was called ‘Can we please have a conversation on this?‘ but I really like their most recent one, ‘How Do I Adult: Large Tasks‘.

I am only nominating these five at present, however at some point I may add to this post or not, I don’t know at the moment.

Now for the questions for these five blogs to answer (if they wish to, after all, it is entirely optional).

1. What made you want to start blogging?

2. Do you have a favourite post you have written? What is it and why?

3. Tell me the story behind your blog name (if there is one)

4. Favourite book/TV show/movie? Why?

5. What is your greatest achievement in life so far?

6. Do you have anywhere in the world you would love to visit?

7. What are the top three things on your bucket list?

8. Favourite pizza toppings?

9. Best dream you ever had?

10. Do you have any regrets in life?

11. Finally, if you could be a fruit, what fruit would you be and why?

Thank you again to Maggie for nominating me, it means so much, and I hope you will enjoy my future posts too! See you all soon!