Last month I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Thank you so much Jacquie, founder & curator of the Toronto Vintage Society, for the kudos and recognition friend. I’m oh-so thrilled to know that the wee space I’ve carved out for myself in the blogosphere is actually being read, let alone being deemed as ‘inspiring’ and award-winning. I am truly humbled. Thank you 🙂
Upon receiving this blog award, I must now
share seven random facts about myself – dems da rules. So here I go…
FACT #1: Repeat. Play.
Sometimes I’ll discover/rediscover a song, and I will replay it – on repeat – for countless hours on end. Annoying, maybe. But I can’t help it. There are a few songs that are hauntingly beautiful. So beautiful, that listening to it once is just not enough. They NEED to be played and listened to over and over for hours…to truly be heard. Tracks that have this quality who have been on my constant repeat loop recently are:
FACT #2: I cannot
swim
Yup. I never learnt how and am somewhat afraid of the water. When I was little my Pops took me to the public pool and gave me one simple instruction: sit on the towel and wait for him to return from a lap. Naturally seeing him dive in so easily, I guess I figured I could too …
He returned to find me being revived by a young lifeguard. Needless to say we returned home where my mom gave him all kinds of sh!t. To this day whenever I feel water in my ears, I freak out just a bit. Now, this hasn’t stopped me from enjoying pools and oceans whist on vacay. I’m an excellent wader and have mad noodle-floating-skills. I’ve signed up for “learn to swim” workshops a few times at local community centres …however, the adult sessions have always gotten cancelled due to lack of interest & signups…and there is no way I’m going to join the 14-year-olds in the youth sessions. Nope. Not. Gonna. Happen.
FACT #3: Facebook Game Addict
You know those annoying Facebook alerts you get cuz someone is asking for lives for some silly online game to unlock that next level …. well, friends…..that’s me. I’m that girl. I’m the one playing those kinda games. Candy Crush. Farm Hero. Scrabble. Words With Friends. And my newest obsession: Cookie Crunch. This addiction has gotten so bad that for a little while I would wake up in the middle of the night to see if my ‘lives’ have been restored, so I could play some more. Gotta get to that next level. I just gotta. Sick right? I know. Shameful, guilty pleasures of my life.
FACT #4: I love punny jokes! (Ha! See what I did there…yup! I’m hilarious!)
Shameful, but true. Those “dad jokes” that most groan at…. I love-love-love oh-so-very much! Dunno what it is….but puns are great! Not sure when I became so nerdy with my love of corny jokes. I blame my day job. As a corporate trainer, I’ve got to build and keep rapport quickly and throughout the day, usually with a bunch of strangers I’ll only ever engage with during said training session. Sometimes I’m soooooo engaging as a facilitator that participants choose NOT to leave the room at designated breaks and lunchtime, leaving me to make chitchat conversation for a full 30-mins+. Talk about pressure! But with an arsenal of clean, cheesy, PUNNY jokes up my sleeve…I manage to fill the void of silence and get a chuckle or two out of nearly everyone. Pitty laughs totally count! After all, it’s all in the delivery – and yes, I’m well aware of the fact that there’s more to being funny than just funny looking. BA-DUM-BUMP! I’m here all week folks! Try the veal! Tip your servers! 🙂
FACT #5: Toastmasters
Believe it or not, I was shy. Shocking, I know 🙂 Standing in front of people to give a presentation made me sick to my stomach in grade school. Public speaking was still very difficult for me in high school, and in college my courage to present in front of groups of people only increased slightly. I remember asking my then boyfriend to leave the classroom, so that I wouldn’t have to look out and see him among the faces in the room staring back. In hindsight, having a smiling, supportive face there would have totally been a comfort … but what did I know, I was young and dumb. It wasn’t until I left school and began working full-time where I really began to be comfortable and confident in front of my peers and colleagues. I was an Executive Assistant reporting to a boss who gave me the opportunity to be seen and heard from more, I decided to needed to beef up my comfort level with public speaking. That’s when I joined Ryerson’s
Toastmasters.
Toastmasters is a learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a no-pressure atmosphere. There is no instructor in a Toastmasters meeting. Instead, members evaluate one another’s presentations. This feedback process is a key part of the program’s success. Meeting participants also give impromptu talks on assigned topics, conduct meetings and develop skills related to timekeeping and avoiding filler-words like “ummm”. I highly recommend finding a Toastmaster chapter that works for you, if you’re looking to build your self confidence and/or to get more comfortable speaking to groups of strangers – I am proof it works! And now speaking to groups of strangers regularly is what I do for a living. Cra-cra huh? 🙂
FACT #6: Sunflowers scare me!
There it is folks. I have an irrational fear of Sunflowers. I’ve been known to cross over to the other side of the street if I see a patch of these freighting blooms in someones yard all bunched creepily together. Even worse – are those SINGLE GIANT BLOOMS. eeeep!!! Particularly those ones with the dark centres and the pointy petals. {shiver}
FACT #7: Perfect 4.0 GPA
Remember those purple “Participation” ribbons they would give out during track and field? Yup … those were the ONLY ones I’d ever win, ever. All those school achievements – I never won a damn thing. I wasn’t particularly athletic and I wasn’t a ‘gifted’ student, so the typical awards to be won just weren’t in the cards for me. I’d have to bust my ass twice as hard as everyone else, it seemed, to even make it on the honour roll. The highest I ever got was 3rd on that list one semester in high school. Certainly not award worthy. Sigh…
Since my folks didn’t have the money to send me to university, instead of staying for OAC (grade 13), I found myself the only 17-year old sitting in my college classes. I completed that 3-year program top of my class, winning the scholarship award for being able to maintain a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout the program. That was the first award I’ve ever won! Seems not being able to join all my friends in the pub, as I was just wee… wasn’t all that bad a thing after all. 😉
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Ok. There you have it friends. 7 random facts about moi.
It’s time for me to pay-it-forward. As its name implies, this particular blog award is intended to be passed along to individuals and their blogs who inspire you in some capacity time and time again. Since this describes every last one of the blogs I follow (I likely wouldn’t be following them in the first place if they didn’t!), I’m nominating the following:
Should blog awards not exactly be your favourite thing, not to worry, you are under zero obligation to play along. These kinds of posts are intended to be nothing but lighthearted fun, and should they not feel that way to you, by all means bow out of taking part in this one. I adore blog awards, but fully understand that not everyone does.
If you would like to take part, then here are the rules:
- Whip up a post of your own about receiving The Very Inspiring Blogger Award in which you link back to this post, thanking the lovely someone for nominating you (aka…MOI) and then
- Share seven random facts about yourself, and lastly…
- Bestow the award on a few whose sites you find to be a continual source of inspiration.
Happy blogging. xo
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