Disability & Sunshine Blogger Awards

Rather than finish the year with a dull post about a scam email, I actually wanted to do a quick post to tie up a couple of loose ends, before I get on to doing my Christmas Favourites and a general look back at the year gone by to kickstart 2020.

As many of you know, people in the blogging community often nominate each other for “awards”, which is an opportunity to promote other bloggers that you like and ask them questions. And I was very kindly nominated for two of these awards back in October, but didn’t get around to responding at the time. So I wanted to acknowledge them and answer the questions that were put to me.

If you want to answer these questions yourself, then please feel free to do so. I always nominate everyone on my long lists of bloggers by default, as I always find it difficult to narrow it down to a select few!

Contents

• Disability Blogger Award
• Sunshine Blogger Award

Disability Blogger Award

This award was originally created by Georgina Banks. Thank you to Jazmin Ruiz from A Different Kind Of Vision for the nomination. She asked:

1. What inspired you to start your blog?
   I was exploring social media as a way to see what was going on, and perhaps make some connections when preparing to move to London, and I came across the many visually impaired and disabled bloggers and Youtubers that are out there. So I decided to get involved as a bit of a hobby, both for fun and to help raise awareness. I never expected it to last as long as it has, or that it would lead to so many exciting opportunities and new experiences, but it’s really been worth it. I’ve written about it in more detail in my response to the Disabled Blogger Tag.
2. What is your favourite piece of technology you own?
   My iPhone. I can do so much with it wherever I am, because of all the accessibility  features built into it, including navigation, travel, shopping, banking, social media, web browsing, emails, games, etc.
3. What is your favourite book?
   I don’t read or listen to many books, and I should put more time aside for it, I know. But I love the Harry Potter series best. Lord Of The Rings is great too, if much heavier going.
4. What do you enjoy doing for fun?
   Going to the theatre (especially musicals and comedies), exploring museums (often with audio described tours), going for walks, socialising, ten-pin bowling, blogging, listening to music, and watching TV and films.
5. What advice do you have for someone that wants to start a blog?
   Do it. Don’t just copy everyone else – write about the things that you’re personally keen to share with the world, that you feel knowledgeable and passionate about. And only write when you feel you want to, don’t force yourself to write just for the sake of it. Your writing will be much more natural and genuine that way, and you’ll improve the more you do it. And don’t worry about the number of views or likes you’re getting, as it will take a while to get yourself noticed and established. Just stick with it and share your work on social media, and you’ll gradually come to more and more people’s attention. And you never know what opportunities that could lead to.

Sunshine Blogger Award

This is the second time I’ve been nominated for this award after last year. Thank you to Amanda Gene for nominating me this time around. These questions are much more quick-fire in nature, as I can only give short answers for them.

1. Do you have any pets? Nope. I once had a goldfish when I was a kid, and that’s it.
2. Who was the last person you called or texted? I last called my mother during a trip away prior to Christmas, to let her know I’d arrived safely.
3. What time do you go to bed? On weeknights it can be any time between midnight and 1am, depending on what I’m watching and how tired I feel. At weekends it can be an hour or two later than that if I plan to have a bit of a lie-in the next day.
4. What is your favourite food? Anything involving chicken or chocolate is usually a winner with me. But I also enjoy other meats like beef, pork and lamb, plus meals like fish and chips, pizza, lasagne, etc. I eat quite a variety of things, and London has given me the opportunity to broaden my palate a bit.
5. What is your favourite colour? Blue. No particular reason, I just like it.
6. What is your least favourite drink? I’ve never liked tea or coffee. I know, I’m weird. I like hot chocolate though.
7. What is your worst habit? I can try to be a bit too independent sometimes and not ask for help when it would probably make things a bit quicker and easier. I just like to do things for myself when possible, even if it takes a bit longer.
8. What is your best quality? I have a positive attitude and a good sense of humour about things.
9. What is your favourite piece of technology? My iPhone, as discussed above.
10. What was the last thing you ordered on Amazon? The soundtrack album for the Only Fools And Horses musical.
11. What is your favourite show on TV? Oh, so many to choose from. But current favourites include Doctor Who, Taskmaster and The Last Leg, as a few examples.

Conclusion

And that’s it, those are all the questions I was asked. I hope you found my brief answers interesting. Thank you to Jazmin Ruiz and Amanda Gene for nominating me. I’m always open to answering questions if people are curious about anything, so feel free to comment and get in touch if there’s anything you want to know. And look out for my Christmas Favourites and 2019 review coming very soon!