I’ve been awarded!

Posted On July 4, 2009

Amanda at The Urban Homesteader and Kate at Wading Thru My Head have both awarded me with the Honest Scrap Award! Woohoo! Thank you, friends! Apparently, I now need to divulge ten honest things about myself and then pass the award on to "a fellow blogger whose blog’s content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”

Here goes.

1. I used to be painfully shy- to the point of fantasizing about being unexpectedly hospitalized in lieu of giving a speech that day… This no longer affects me the way that it used to, and has been a constant source of gratitude for some time. I still get nervous, but I no longer let it stop me, and I always survive. I have since realized that I even have some good things to share, if I let myself open up and share them. I have theories as to why this has changed, but mostly I chalk it up to a good diet, a spiritual life, and the belief that while I know I’m important, I’m not really that important. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it has helped me.

2. Big department and grocery stores make my brain feel like it’s frying. My tolerance for florescent wonderlands has only gone down since becoming a never-buy-new/locavore/urban farmer, and it’s actually kind of amazing how crazy I’ll feel if I have to go to one of those stores now. I tend to wander around, forgetting what I wanted in the first place, and usually buying something random and unnecessary (like Pringles or a frozen lasagna). Perhaps this is how most people feel.

3. I’ve always considered myself the "real" middle child of my family. There are four of us, and the other middle child is the only boy. I have never minded being the middle child, but it’s always seemed significant in some way for me. I believe that birth order has a lot to do with family dynamic, and that certainly helped shape who I am today.

4. I believe in radical nonviolence. Basically, this idea is rooted in the philosophy that all violence is interwoven, and that to allow for some allows for all. Violence, under this definition, includes things like poverty and inaction, etc., and even things like killing in self-defense. This, believe it or not, has been the basis for many unsolicited arguments between myself and some of my friends/acquaintances. I think what bothers them is that they consider themselves to be nonviolent, but will make exceptions for many of these things in their non-violent philosophies. I make no judgment, do not wish to restrict choices, and do not pretend to be a nonviolent person. However, the longer I maintain this belief system, the more true I have found it to be, and the more I hold myself to that ideal.

5. I have become a bit of a social anarchist, and am eager to meet others with similar belief systems. I believe that small, self-sufficient, free communities have as more of a chance for peace than what we have now. This is coupled with my belief that people are generally good when they have not been afflicted by violence (i.e. poverty and neglect, amongst the more obvious forms).

6. I used to hang upside down as a kid. A lot. My mom would frequently turn to me at the dinner table only to find my feet flailing in the air. I still occasionally really like to flip around on the couch and hang, although I now refrain from doing it at the table. I don’t know. I just like it.

7. I have a terrible time finishing books. I love to read, and will usually have my nose in 4 or 5 books at a time. This contributes to my never finishing one- by the time I make it around to the first book again I’ve forgotten a bunch and I have to read whole sections of it over again and… it’s just silly. I know this about myself, and yet I can’t seem to just COMMIT. I’ve considered forming a book club, because I think that becoming accountable to other people will actually get me to finish some books!

8. Giving birth was one of the best experiences of my life. I can’t help but be excited to do it again. It was very hard, but it freed me from the idea that pain has to be a bad thing or has to limit me in some way. This opened the gates to experiencing elation and utter joy in the midst of one of the most challenging and painful experiences of my life. It really brought to life Kahlil Gibran’s words on pain. I will always be grateful to have been able to do that, and I really wish that more women could hear that it can be that way.

9. I make up ridiculous songs, all the time. Jeff is really the only person who is a witness to this, as I’m too self-concious to come up with them in other settings. At home, though, I dance through the house singing about this and that, making up words and tunes. My own little jingles to life. I’m pretty sure this is a genetic trait that I inherited from my dad, who all through my childhood would make up little wordless songs- kind of like skatting.

10. I used to play guitar and write songs. I stopped playing about 4 years ago, just because life happened and I got distracted, and I really wish that I could get the gumption to get back into it. I plan to do this soon, and to learn to play the banjo and mandolin. I want my kids to grow up with music all around them, and to have fond memories of their parents singing in harmony. This will happen!

Alright. So I get to choose a few of my bloggy friends. I know so many interesting bloggers, so I’m just going to randomly select a few.

 
 
 
 
Tisha at Finding Inspiration in the Everyday
 

 

 
 
 

 

Okay, I better stop there. All of my friends are great to read about, and should do this regardless!

I’d really be interested in anyone who’d like to write this, so consider yourself awarded by me!