Another Blog Award! This Time, the Mystery Blogger Award

As my readers can tell by the title of today’s post, I was nominated for another blogging award!

This time, I was nominated for the Mystery Blogger Award! In the words of the creator of the award, Okoto Enigma, it’s “an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging; and they do it with so much love and passion.” I thank Okoto for starting the award, as it’s a great way to spread the word on others’ blogs. For more details on the award, as well as Okoto’s blog, you can click here.

I also want to thank Jordyn at The Chronically Unimaginable (link: https://thechronicallyunimaginable.blog/) for nominating me! Her blog, which focuses on chronic illness, mental health, and disability, is consistently eye-opening and awesome, so I encourage my readers to check her blog out!

In order to accept the nomination, there are a few things I should do:

• Put the award logo/image on your blog.
• List the rules.
• Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
• Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
• Nominate 10 – 20 bloggers.
• Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
• Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify).
• Share a link to your best post(s).

I’ve already done the first four on this list, so I’m off to a good start! Now to three things about myself:

1. I went to a Catholic high school seminary. That’s because, at one point, I was discerning for the Catholic priesthood! It took me until a couple years into my college career to realize that I wasn’t called to the priesthood, but it’s an important part of my life.
2. Back when I was in high school, I was on my school’s speech and debate team, in a category called extemporaneous speaking. In that category, I had to make a 7-minute speech on a current events question I draw at random…and had to make that speech within 30 minutes of receiving the question. So, if you need someone to make a speech on the fly, I’m your guy!
3. In spite of being pretty successful on my speech and debate team, I sometimes trip over my own words. For example, one time my late grandpa offered “butterscotch ripple” as an ice cream flavor option, and I said that I wanted “butterscotch scripple.” Oops.

As for my favorite posts, it’s difficult to select a few posts because I’ve done over 100 of them at this point! However, here are three of my favorites, in date order (mentioning in bold why it’s one of my favorites):

1. “The #MeToo Campaign” (https://blindinjusticeblog.com/2017/10/17/the-metoo-campaign/): It was a difficult topic for me to write on, but what makes this among my favorites was the fact that so many people were helped and touched by it.
2. “Self-Care is Not Selfish” (https://blindinjusticeblog.com/2018/11/20/self-care-is-not-selfish/): It’s a personal favorite because it represents a complete transformation for me, as far as my mental health was concerned—from not practicing self-care to practicing self-care, and then from practicing self-care to teaching others about self-care.
3. “Looking to Share Emotional Burdens with a Friend? Before Sharing, Let’s Seek Consent” (https://blindinjusticeblog.com/2020/01/16/looking-to-share-emotional-burdens-with-a-friend-before-sharing-lets-seek-consent/): Mostly, I really like this post because I brought to light an idea (emotional consent) that I think has the power to transform countless friendships, dating relationships, and even marriages.

Jordyn gave me a few questions to answer, so here are her questions, and my answers to them:

1. Why did you decide to start blogging? I felt that there were a ton of injustices that people (myself included) were blind to and/or blindly committed, and that those “bind injustices” should be talked about on a larger scale. So, I started to blog.
2. Have you ever been ticketed (or arrested) for anything before? My home got some $25 ticket years ago for a recycling violation, and I’m the main person in the family who deals with trash and recycling. So I guess that counts?
3. In 5 words or less, describe your greatest strength. Care for others.
4. Would you put pineapple on pizza? Yes! I love a good ham and pineapple pizza.
5. What is the strangest thing you did as a child? Oh gosh…there were so many strange things I did when I was a child. Echoing everything my brother said (to the point of annoying him) is probably somewhat high on that list.

My nominees (in no particular order) are:

• Girl vs World
• The Hidden Truths From a Disabled Girl
• Retrospective Lily
• BeingCharis
• Serendipitydodah
• Things Carla Loves
• Bookmark Chronicles
• Writing Radiation
• Love is Stronger
• The Bipolar Writer Collaborative Mental Health Blog

Here are my questions for the nominees:

1. Does your blog focus on a different topic (or set of topics) than you did when you started it? If so, what made you decide to change the focus of your blog?
2. What is the best piece of blogging advice you’ve received?
3. What’s your dream job?
4. What was the funniest fear you had when you were a child? (I guess that’s funny/weird.)
5. It is often asked whether you would rather travel forward or backward in a time machine, but do you even want a time machine in the first place? Why? (Well, make that two weird questions.)

Thanks for reading! This is different from what I usually write about, but hopefully you all learned a thing or two about me today! Also, hopefully people will be able to read my post, because WordPress was a bit glitchy when I originally put my draft on here!