Blog Award Nominations - pass it on!

I'm really very pleased to get a nomination - thanks very much to Ross, whose Battle Game of the Month blog is compulsory reading for me – the new stuff and the comments. Until yesterday, I was unaware that this sort of award thing went on, but am very pleased if someone finds my burblings interesting.

As I understand it, a nominee who accepts is obliged to do a number of things:



(1) Thank the nominating blog(s) and link back to it/them
(2) Share seven things about myself
(3) Nominate more blogs which you think deserve it
(4) Tell the people you nominate (and explain what it means!)

There is definite uncertainty about point (3). The number varies a lot - I've seen 4, 5, 7 and even 15. I'm nervous of chain-letter arithmetic - if we really go for 15, everyone on the planet will have several awards by mid-May, so I've gone for seven, which seems more than enough. I tried to go for blogs which I read regularly, and to avoid those which have obviously been nominated elsewhere. To the people I forgot to include, as well as those I included who may not appreciate it, my apologies.

As part of my research I found myself briefly in the world of chic-lit blogs, hair products blogs, lip gloss blogs, kids' parties blogs, pet grooming blogs, and weight loss club blogs. Wow. Interesting, but a bit too much like bl--dy Facebook for me - a lot of this stuff is terminally cute - as one who gets a nominal 1/2-meg of rural broadband when the wind is in the right direction, I am left gasping at the time and effort involved. However - pots and kettles...

Seven things about myself:

(1) I was born in Liverpool, but have lived most of my life in Scotland. I attended the same grammar school in Liverpool as John Lennon (though he was long gone before I got there).
(2) Between leaving university and taking early retirement a few years ago, I worked for just one firm. It may not sound very exciting, but it’s OK when they are working out the redundancy packages!
(3) I have 4 sons - my 3 sons from my first marriage are grown up now, and my youngest son is 8. Correction – he tells me he is 8½, and that ½ is significant when you're 8. Sorry, 8½.
(4) For many years I’ve been a semi-pro musician – mostly blues and jazz groups (though I’m less busy in that area these days) – and I’ve been lucky enough to travel fairly widely through music. One of my older sons plays professionally – he is currently touring Europe with North Atlantic Oscillation, who are worth checking out (skip the ad at the start of the YouTube clip).
(5) I live on a farm about 40 miles east of Edinburgh, right on the coast. No, I am not a farmer – they have to get up too early and work far too hard for me.
(6) I am appalled by how uninteresting these things seem as I type them. Somebody (Woody Allen?) once said that he was terrified of drowning, because he knew that as his life passed before him he would realise how boring it was. That rings a bell. Would it be all right if I wrote about someone else?
(7) In addition to being a soldier collector and wargamer who has become disenchanted with painting, I am also a keen hill-walker, though I am terrified of heights. Is it possible to get counselling on choice of hobbies?

My victims/nominees – this is difficult – I’ve excluded blogs which I know have already been nominated, so if you’re not listed here, there’s no stigma! There’s no implied order here:

(1) I’m very partial to Unfashionably Shiny, largely because it’s a good, no-nonsense blog with plenty of good pictures of great soldiers.
(2) The same is true of Stryker’s excellent Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargame Figures
(3) I thought seriously of nominating two of Clive’s blogs, but since that seemed a bit like victimisation I opted for The Hinton Hunter because it is such a valuable resource, such a terrific labour of love. This, to me, is an example of blogs at their most useful. Clive also has told me that he tries to keep his opinions out of the blog, to keep it factual. I am so impressed by this, and so completely unable to do the same, that this in itself may be worth the nomination.
(4) Small Scale World – always something different, and it’s an interesting presentation of a subject area I know very little about. And the rants are always good value, too.
(5) Miguel Angel Martin Mas’ blog – because it’s invariably interesting, and he keeps the posts short enough to give me a chance to try out my vestigial grasp of Spanish
(6) Project Leipzig (1813) – great blog, Rafa – so many good things and so much information
(7) Illustration Art – something completely different – beautiful and informative – always interesting and entertaining

I’ll set about sending comments to all these, to give them the good news...

My sincere thanks to the authors of these, and all the many other blogs I enjoy; I came into this blogging business pretty cynical, and it has been a revelation. Thanks, guys.