Museum of Gratitude: The Kreativ Blogger Award!

Here it is! Thank you, thank you. The little brackets around
the word "award" are kinda funny, though. Like it wasn't
clear it was an award and they had to add the word to clarify.

Gosh, guys, I got a blog award. Before I thank the lovely person who gave it to me, I gotta thank the folks who created the A-Z Blogging Challenge - because participating in that is what made me the wonderful blog-friend who presented me with said award, and if I hadn't been part of the challenge this blog would still be sorely lacking in readers. (I mean, it's not like I'm overwhelmed by the millions, here. But SOME people read it. Like, more than three.) Especially readers who give me shiny things! Although in all honesty this award is not shiny. It is gray. As The Deathwriter said when she presented it, "It looks a little shabby and should probably be redesigned, but it's my precious, so who cares?  Looks aren't everything."  My thoughts exactly. Somebody thinks my blog is cool! Or "Kreativ," anyway. That's certainly an, um, creative spelling. I'm not usually a big fan of words-that-should-properly-begin-with-c-being-cutely-misspelled-with-a-k, but I then I totally love Krazy Kat, so who am I kidding, here?

To accept the award, In order to accept this award, there are four steps. You could totally stop reading right now, because I'm just gonna talk about myself and stuff, except the fourth step is nominating seven other bloggers and maybe you are one of them! (Look, I won't blame you if you skim. I hate chain emails and all that crap, I'm just doing it because I WANT THE AWARD and it would be cheating not to follow the steps. Although I guess I could get "kreativ" with my acceptance and, um, not do it. No, no, that's not fair.)  So if you don't have a blog, listen, you can go check your facebook now, or go outside, or something. But if you do have a blog, you should be reading with bated breath!

Part 1.  Thank & link back to the person who nominated you.

She interviewed Mary Roach! How cool is
that? Wait, you don't know who that is? You
should rectify that. Photo via The Deathwriter.

Thank you to The Deathwriter! I've linked to her twice in this post already, but she is excellent, so I'll do it again. Her blog is amazing. It's all about death, but not in a creepy morbid way - in an honest, thoughtful, let's-talk-about-the-hard-stuff way. She is a really warm-hearted writer ,and, far from making death scary and dramatic, her  posts are all about finding ways to integrate the reality of death into our lives in a meaningful way. I think what she is doing is super important and more people should have the wisdom and the courage to write what she writes, because it really helps.

Part 2.  Answer the ten questions.
These are dumb. I'm sorry, blog award creators, but they are. They have nothing to do with my writing or the content of my blog. I'll try and make them about that, but there's only so much you can do.

#1: What's your favorite song?
I don't do this whole "favorite song/book/album/movie/food" thing. Okay, lies, I do have a favorite book, but only out of sentiment and also because it is the book closest to my soul, and there are approximately a hundred and seventy-two songs that make the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I don't understand why this is important. (Grumble, grumble.) Klezmer music, a version of Erik Satie's Gnossienne #1 by a Lebanese violinist, Mozart's Requiem, The Kronos Quartet playing Philip Glass, my father's version of "Summertime," Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir," Gogol freaking Bordello - it depends, doesn't it?

#2: What's your favorite desert?

Doesn't it look luscious? The exact opposite of a
desert, actually. I don't think they have crème
brûlée in the desert. It would wilt, or
something. Via the Herb Companion.

Yes, that's how it was spelled in the original question, and yes, it was already pointed out that it was probably not the intended spelling, but that only proves that in all honesty these questions are kind of stupid. I don't have a favorite desert, but if I did, it might be one somewhere in New Mexico. Also, I just wrote about a book about the desert, and even if it's not my favorite desert he's writing about, I'm pretty sure it's my favorite WRITING about the desert. As for what was probably meant by this question, I'd say the best dessert I've ever eaten was a lemon verbena crème brûlée I once ate at the Foreign Cinema in San Francisco. It was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. Do people who eat stuff like that every day actually keep appreciating how amazing it is? I'm gonna pretend that they don't so I can feel awesome about my poverty.

#3: What do you do when you're upset?
This is actually an interesting question that might (gasp) actually reveal something about the person answering! When I'm upset, which is not all that often, I try to go somewhere to stew for a while until I can talk myself out of the worst of it. I don't know about you all, but there's this part of me, when I get upset, that really wants to stay upset and will give me all kinds of elaborate justifications for why I should continue to feel bad. (But you've been wronged! it whispers. Don't let it go! Then you wouldn't win!) I have learned over the years that this part of me leads to the worst behavior and the ugliest feelings, and that it will try and trick me into thinking that nothing good could possibly happen if I don't listen to its miserable little insidious whine. I have gotten better and better at taking a deep breath and letting it go. This doesn't mean I allow myself to be walked on; it just means that I try and face what upset me with compassionate, calm, and an open heart. This generally ends in my favor.

Me 'n' Gravlax, at the shop where I found him.

#4: Which is your favorite pet?
Um, of all the pets I don't have? My stuffed crow, Gravlax, I guess. I still snuggle him when my best beloved isn't around.

#5: Which do you prefer, black or white?
Really? This is a question? I am boycotting this question.

#6: What is your biggest fear?
People I love dying. Not me dying; I'm okay with that. The hole in the world left by someone's absence. Not being able to make sense of pain and suffering. Also, I really don't like wasps.

#7: What is your attitude mostly?
Jesus Christ on a popsicle stick, who came up with these? My attitude is mostly idiotically optimistic and brimming over with delight and glee, but these questions are making me into a snide-ass mother-lover. Okay, but really, I generally believe that everything we feel depends on perspective, and there's not much that's empirically "good" or "bad,"and choosing to see the negative isn't "more realistic" or any of that nonsense because it's neither more nor less accurate than looking at the positive. So whenever possible I give the positive more weight. (This may be because nothing really bad has ever happened to me.) Also, I have learned after many years that the Buddhist idea that you are not your feelings is true, right, and an incredibly powerful thing to experience. Being able to choose how you feel is the most empowering thing of all.

Wait, I thought there were ten questions? I only see seven, so I'm going to go ahead and not look for the other three. Geez, that was exhausting.

Part 3.  Share ten random facts/thoughts about yourself.
Oh, you thought we were done, didn't you? Ha ha. If only. Since I just shared what seems to me to be seven completely random facts/thoughts about myself, I will agree to do three more, just so it looks like I'm making an effort. But it is under duress, geez.

This is a hint! She was also a painter. I can't link you to the
image source because that would give it away and I know
you're all waiting with BATED BREATH to find out who it is,
but I'll do it tomorrow, I promise. A whole gallery, in fact.

#8: Gosh, now I'm stuck. Oooh, here's one. I feel guilty all the time because 93% of my favorite writers are male. Yeah, put that in your pipe and smoke it. Or just have two X chromosomes and write a book I love. (Tomorrow's What The F!#& Should I Read Friday has a lady writer, though! And she is awesome.)

#9: *Continues to grumble* Grrrr. Okay. I love coffee. I mean it's one of the things that gets me up in the morning. I have one cup a day and I make it myself, strong enough to eat spoons. I love it so much that when I first started drinking it I wrote an entire chapter of a novel-that-never-happened about a man who can't remember anything about himself sitting in an unknown town and seeing an eye open and shut in his cup of coffee. A whole chapter, guys. (I was seventeen, gimme a break.)

#10: My mother lives in Wales, in a beautiful stone house that's 250 years old or something awesome like that. I'm sitting in the window writing this because the house is the kind of old house that has three-foot-thick walls, i.e. awesome windowseatery. It's become a beautiful day, against all odds, and the maddened sheep that wouldn't shut up last night has finally stopped going "AaaaaaaEHHHHH" and sounding like it's being strangled. (Yes, I know. You thought sheep went "baaa." Well, you thought wrong, didn't you. Although, as sj has suggested, it might be an alien sheep.)

Part 4. Nominate seven worthy blogs for the Kreativ Blogger Award (Share the love like a chain letter!)
Oh, thank god. Now the cool part, that is to say, the sharing-the-love part. (Listen, guys: if you want to totally skip the questions and just nominate your deserving fellow bloggers, I am fine with it. What good is being Kreativ if you can't change things up?)

This is the kind of amazing thing you will
get to see on Snobbery. What is it, you say?
It's a dodisharkicorn, obviously.

1. Snobbery.  This is the book blog of the aforementioned sj. It is hilarious and also there are pictures. Special, wonderful, pictures. No, I'm not talking about smut, you horrible person.

2. Kevin Devaney. My partner's blog. He hardly ever posts on it, and this probably won't work much as an incentive because god knows if he's even going to SEE this, but what he has up right now is a really extraordinary poem that is partly about Hafiz, who is wonderful, and the poem is funny and beautiful and no I'm not just saying that because I am obviously disgustingly biased.

3. Lucy's Football. I am usually fairly uninterested in blogs that are just loose ramblings about somebody's life, but Amy is the kind of hilarious that makes me worry about peeing myself or snorting loudly in public places.

4. Rob on Writing. Rob writes mainly about indie publishing stuff, and I like him because he's not one of those self-published authors who rail totally against traditional publishing and because he writes interesting and thoughtful stuff about the future of publishing and the problems of the indie market and I think he is a smart and funny guy. Also, he is one of those people you can have a genuine debate with on the internet without it going down in disgusting flames of poison and hatred and poorly-quoted Wikipedia articles. This is rare, and special.

5. The Bellydance Paladin. This is the blog of Asharah, a self-described "modern tribal style" bellydancer I admire a lot. (If you don't know what "modern tribal style" is, suffice it to say that there are many, many styles of bellydance and it is a growing, changing, expanding dance form with sometimes confusing definitions. Also, it is mostly awesome.) Her writing is all about creativity and inspiration, though, not just bellydance, and is an awesome art resource.

6. My Creativity Blog. The blog of Terry Holliday, who just had three guest posts here at the Museum. She is an art teacher and artist and generally interesting person with some very neat ideas about creativity. Her posts on inspiration and teaching are especially neat.

Is this the face that launched a thousand
sheeps, and burned the topless towers
of...wait, wait. I am confused. Via
Animals Zoo Park (wait, is that name
literally just a google search term?
Yes. yes it is.)

7. Insatiable Booksluts. I am kind of in awe of them, but Amy from Lucy's Football writes for them and she is really nice, so maybe I shouldn't put them on a pedestal -- but I can't help it because even their name is enviably awesome. They don't need an award from me, because they win real awards and stuff, but I'd be lying if I said they weren't among my seven favorite blogs.

I'm done, I'm done. Really. I'm going outside to make faces at sheep.