An Award and a Mini Interview

I have been sent this award by the lovely and inspiring Technobabe. I rather love the picture, but that is not really the point. The point is that Technobabe gave it to me. I'm chuffed because she is - in my opinion - a very fine blogger. Although I have never met her (she lives somewhere in middle America) we have over the last few months developed the sort of unique connection that comes from reading and commenting regularly on someone elses blog and having them do the same on yours. Funny, isn't it, how you can never have met someone and yet feel you in some way know them.... Anyway, the first post of hers that I ever read was this one. I was blown away by it and I think it's fairly safe to say that I was hooked from that point on. Go and check it out. It will make you laugh and cry simultaneously, which is a rare thing.

Along with the award also came a set of questions - a mini interview if you like. Here they are complete with my answers for anyone who's interested:


Q.1: If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing it that way? If you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

A: My blog is anonymous(ish.) I was completely anonymous when I started - and still the vast majority of my friends and family do not know that I write a blog. A few people know that I write one but do not know where to find it, which leaves just two people in my life who have read it - one with my permission - one without. I much prefer anonymity. I've heard other bloggers say that it's best to write as if everyone you know was reading, but if I did that I'd never write a thing!

Q.2: Describe one incident that shows your stubborn side.

A: I don't really think that I am particularly stubborn (although I am now imagining my mother shouting, "Ooh Gappy, may you be forgiven!" at her computer screen.) I was fairly recalcitrant as a child by all accounts, but I think that I have mellowed and become far more given to compromise as I've got older. I don't know - I suppose you'd have to ask the people who actually have to deal with me on a regular basis!

Q.3: What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

A: Bloody hell. I'm going to have to take this question literally I think, because any other way just makes my brain hurt. Um... o.k. Well... I see a youngish looking woman with long wavy reddish hair, fair skin and grey eyes. She's slim and about 5foot 4inches tall, and is often sporting a slightly dishevelled, tired look. I call it the 'Vaguely Harassed Mum of Three.'

Q.4: What is your favourite summer cold drink?

A: Anything fizzy. I like to mix fruit juice with sparkling mineral water, or sometimes I buy Schloer which is kind of a poor womans Aqua Libra. I love Aqua Libra but can never seem to find it anymore. Does that make me sound a bit Waitrose?

Q.5: When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

A: I blog. Blogging is my 'me' thing. I also like to read novels although I have done far less of that since I discovered blogging, which for some reason makes me feel slightly guilty. About four times a year I go to a place called Hay-on-Wye for the day. It is the second hand bookshop capital of the world and you could safely say that it was my special place - my Mecca if you like. I wrote a post about it complete with photos a while back. You can find it here.

Q.6: Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

A: This one's easy. My goal at the moment is financial independence. Independence from the state and independence from any future potential partner. I want to have a job that earns enough that I can support myself and my family reasonably comfortably and that ideally allows us to move to a house that is big enough for our needs (at the moment, my daughter and I have to share a bedroom.)

Q.7: When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the class shy person, or always ditching school? Describe who you were if you were not one of these.

A: I think it would probably be fair to say that I was an underachiever. I was academically very able, but ultimately did not put the work in. By the time I was fourteen or so, I was a chronic and persistent truant. I'll never forget the feeling of elation that went with the realisation that nobody could actually make me go to school. I used to leave the house in the morning wearing my school uniform, but with my normal clothes in my school bag instead of my books. I'd walk to my friends house, get changed, and we'd spend the day smoking packets of ten Silk Cut under the underpass near her house. Happy days.

Q.8: If you close your eyes and want to visualise a very poignant moment in your life, what do you see?

A: I see green hills all around. I am standing beneath an Ash tree with my feet feeling as though they had taken root in the ground. Enormous contractions are sweeping through my body. I am giving birth to my second son.

Q.9: Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

A: Being anonymous certainly makes it easier for me to share more of my true self in my blog, although I tend to write a mixture of different kinds of posts. I have found that what I write about chops and changes a lot. When I first started blogging, my posts were mostly a mixture of what I hoped were humorous anecdotes about my life and my children, and more serious pieces about being a mother. But I have also found through blogging that I enjoy writing social commentary and I think that a lot of my posts now have that element, often with a feminist slant. I suppose that lately though, my blog has tended towards the more confessional. The really personal posts can be harder to write I find, but they are certainly very cathartic to get out there. I would never want the personal stuff to become the sole focus though - I like to mix it up a bit.

Q.10: If you had the choice to sit and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

A: That would depend totally on my mood. I have one friend in particular who I tend to spend at least an hour on the phone to - although I do tend to multi-task whilst on the phone, even sometimes idly surfing the net whilst talking (naughty I know.) But then again I do love to curl up with a good book too. Could this question be interpreted as one that was really asking whether someone was an extrovert or an introvert? I'm an extrovert with introverted tendencies I think. Although I could be an introvert with extrovert tendencies.... Sigh. Self obsessed? Moi?


Next I have to pass on the award to five other bloggers. So here goes...

Jana from An Attitude Adjustment
Ellie from One Crafty Mother
Jo from Slummy Single Mummy
Liz from But Then I Had Kids

And my mate Victoria aka MODERN DILEMMA

Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to answer these ten questions about yourselves:

Q.1. Inspired by Technobabes last question: Would you describe yourself as an introvert or an extrovert?
Q.2. What is your opinion on reality television?
Q.3. Do you have any phobias?
Q.4. What first attracted you to blogging?
Q.5. Can you name a famous person that you despise and say why?
Q.6. What is your most treasured possession?
Q.7. If you could have any skill in the world, what would it be?
Q.8. What is your favourite novel?
Q.9. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Q.10. Which is your favourite season and why?

Happy blogging. x