I'd Like To Thank The Academy...

 

...Or more precisely, Rhiann Wynn-Nolet, who nominated me for this.  Against her better judgement, I have no doubt.

Like most things in life, this award comes with a few responsibilities ("rules" is such an ugly word).  Here they are:

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate up to 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.

I'm not even sure there are seven interesting things about me.  Even if there are, most people can only take about three before their eyeballs explode.  But for the courageous of you out there, here's what I've managed to come up with:

1)  When I was 10, my mother and I went on a mission trip to a Russian orphanage.  We lived there for 2 weeks and put on a summer camp for the kids.  I had never seen what real hardship looked like before that, and it totally changed my worldview.  Not to mention my life.  

2)  I was adopted at birth.  I met my birth family for the first time almost two years ago now, all except for my birth mother, who died in 2001.  My sister was the matron-of-honor at my wedding.

3)  I love long-distance swimming.  In the water, I can pretend I'm graceful. 

4)  I don't believe in God, but I'm also not militant enough about it to call myself an "atheist".

5)  Since finishing my novel and starting on the self-pub process, I have developed an eye twitch.  I like to think it's one of the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.

6)  For Christmas a few years ago, my grandmother gave me her old metal hip replacement joint.  I still use it as a paperweight.   

7)  I sing.  Lots of things, but mostly jazz, blues, and indie rock.  And I actually don't suck.

Embarrassingly, I don't have as many people as Rhiann to nominate for this.  I'm new to this scene, okay?  But here are a couple people who have caught my eye so far:

Rose D'Andrea
Jeff McGown