Sunshine Blogger Award

Nevena Pascaleva nominated me

Me outdoors on a cloudy day. Photo by author.

I like the title of the prompt, Sunshine Blogger Award.

This city (San Antonio) could use a lot of sunshine. We’ve been bombarded with cloudy weather/rain/storms for about two months now. We’re good on this type of weather.

Give us some sunshine again, pretty please!

My nominator nominated me last week in her enjoyable read. Thanks, Nevena Pascaleva, for nominating me for this prompt. She dropped nothing but golden questions, and her answers made me want to give it a shot.

[embed]Sunshine Blogger Award LGWare, The Black Lens nominated memedium.com

Here goes!

1. Do you like your name? Would you change it, and why?

Yes…I…do.

It took a while for me to really like it. I never disliked my name, but to me, it was just a name. The last name was more interesting to me because of the historical weight it has in the U.S. I don’t think that fact really sank in for me until I got a little older.

Sometimes, I’m still stunned that I share a last name with historical American figures such as George Washington, George Washington Carver, and Booker T. Washington.

I even heard when I was a kid (from my family) that I could be related to George Washington. I don’t know how true that is, or if it is true, or just hearsay?

I appreciate my name (particularly, my first name) more than I did when I was younger.

There would have to be a really catchy name for me to want to change it, although I’ve seen plenty of interesting names from people all over the world.

2. If you could write one book in your life, what would it be about?

There’s a book idea that’s been on my mind for a while. Before that, I had the fantasy of making a movie about it.

I want to write a book about a Carthaginian civilian who becomes a great soldier and leads a Carthaginian unit that helps fight the Romans during the 2nd Punic War. I can’t wait to get on this idea — later down the line. But first, I gotta free these other writing ideas that I have in my mind that’re ahead of that one.

3. Who is the person you feel most comfortable with?

This one was so hard because there are a few of y’all here that I feel very comfortable with, as well as in my non-writing world.

Yeah, I’m gonna chicken out on this one, and I stand by my chickening!

4. Who is the person who makes you feel appreciated as a writer?

You, Nevena Pascaleva.

You… TzeLin Sam

You…Defiant Joy

You… Lu Skerdoo

You… Brian Lageose

You…Praise Frank

You…LC Lynch

You… Mika Oka

Lisa Osborne

And…a few others.

Yeah, I’m chickening out on this one, too. I couldn’t do it!

5. If a person who doesn’t like you could describe you, what would they say about you?

They would probably say that I’m too much (in a bad way), too eccentric, too quiet, too slow, too indecisive, too soft-spoken.

I overthink too much. I’m — too not like them…things like that.

There’s probably more, but those are the things that came to mind first.

6. If a person who likes you could describe you, what would they say about you?

They would say that I’m silly. That I’m kind. That I don’t cause trouble. That I love the NBA. I love history.

As long as my company is a positive rather than a negative, I’m good with that.

7. Do you still have dreams? What are they?

I haven’t had dreams in a minute. The last couple of dreams I remember were me flowing out of my body and into space.

If we’re talking about the other kind of dreams, one of them is that I have a decent financial cushion (sooner or… sooner) so that I wouldn’t have to worry about money ever again.

Another dream of mine is me giving hope to others, rather than kill their drive to something they really want to do. The last thing I want to be is a dreamkiller, because I’ve had too many of them in my life so far.

8. Do you think people lived better in the past, and if so, why?

Lately, I’ve been feeling like people definitely lived much better in the past. If not better, they lived simpler lives than now.

We have technology and gadgets that the people of the past probably couldn’t have dreamed of (except for the visionaries). I’m sure the travelers of the past who had to travel in brutally cold climates would have loved a heater to keep them warm.

But on the flip side, I’m sure they would be glad they didn’t have to worry about student loan debt, the cost of living increasing by the day, having bills that didn’t have to worry about in the past, or whether it’s worth it to go to the hospital because the hospital bill will be through the roof once they’re finished taking care of you.

These complex times we live in (at least in America) have bombarded and confused many. I’m sure people in the past had to deal with change that was hard to function through, but not at the relentless pace of today’s world.

The unleashing of AI on the world has compounded the complexity of the times (good and bad).

The more I thought about this question, the tougher it was for me to come up with a clear answer. It made me ponder even harder.

I guess it all comes down to which era/century/time period is worth living in to you, or would you rather stay in the present?

9. What is the belief you will never shake, under any circumstances?

I believe that when all men die and have their funerals, the last thing anyone will say at our funerals is that — we had really big balls.

I can’t imagine someone saying at a funeral:

‘‘You know, Ron was a kind soul, but do you know what I really like about Ron is that he had big balls, and those big balls inspired me to have big balls too and show off my exaggerated bravado and courage…24/7.’’

I just don’t see it, but I’ve been surprised before, so you never know.

I’ve been meaning to get this off my chest for a while, but I didn’t have the right blog, poem, or fiction post to put this opinion in…until now.

Whew…that felt good!

10. What would you change in your appearance if you could?

I would have my face shrink a little. It’s starting to get a little too big for my liking. I would also have my lips shrink a little, too, just a little.

11. Is Medium your only writing place, and if there are others, what are they?

Nope, if it were, though, I would be good with it.

I also write on Substack (The Sub). Substack is the only place I write with almost the same consistency as Medium.

I used to write on WordPress, Booksie, Simily, Vocal, and The Unsealed a lot, but not anymore. I’ll drop a post now and then on some of those sites, but not with the same gusto as I do on Medium and Substack.

Thanks again, Nevena Pascaleva, for tagging me for this fun exercise and clearing up my clustered mind.

I nominate Lu Skerdoo, Defiant Joy, Praise Frank, Brian Lageose, TzeLin Sam, and LC Lynch

Here are my eleven questions I would like my nominated people to answer (if they so desire):

1. What’s your favorite color?

2. Who’s your favorite author, and why?

3. What is your favorite genre of music?

4. What’s your favorite musical album?

5. What book spoke to you the most?

6. If you could see a planet up close in this solar system, which one would it be?

7. What’s been your favorite year in your life thus far? My answer: For me, 2004 was a great year.

8. Which century (other than the ones you’ve lived in) would you live in if you had the chance to?

9. If you could talk to a writer/author (in the past or present), who would it be?

10. What’s a book/article that you believe deserves more love than it has?

11. What motivates you to get up every day and live life?

As always, thanks for reading!