I Accept this Award...and Go Into Hiding

My pal Anthony Venutolo, manager and bouncer at Bukowski's Basement has bestowed upon me The Versatile Blogger Award. This means a lot coming from Ant as he and his blog are a class act. The basement is a top-notch mix of poetry, short fiction, facts about gritty writers (yes, such as Bukowski) and a plethora of other things. I was honoured to be given this award with fellow #fridayflash regulars: David Barber, Pamila Payne, Tomara Armstrong and Kat Del Rio.

I apparently have to reveal 10 things about myself. I have given this a lot of thought today (perhaps you could smell the wood burning from your location). I shall try not to copy from the list of 10 things I revealed when I received a different award back in January.

1. Although I am a fairly sedate home-body, I have engaged in such activities as: downhill skiing, snowshoeing, archery, snorkeling, rock climbing and have even fired a replica of a Kalashnikov automatic rifle (AK-47).


2. I am fairly grey now (duh!) and found my first grey hair at the tender age of 19.


3. In my mid 20's I applied to the police force but was turned down.


4. On the first official date with my now wife, I showed up at her apartment door not with flowers, but with a dozen brown eggs that a co-worker gave me for driving him to work for the week.


5. As a child I made it known that I wanted to visit China, Japan, India, Egypt and Nepal. So far I have made it to three of these countries.


6. My father had a boat when I was a teenager and we often got up a 3:30am on the weekends to go salmon fishing.


7. I have been employed as a structural steel draftsman for 18 years, but prior to that had an odd assortment of jobs such as: painter's helper, dog catcher, floor sweeper at K-mart, warehouse worker, geological clerk, and a doughnut baker/decorator/delivery guy.


8. I love going to live shows and have seen musical such as Phantom of the Opera, Cats, The Full Monty, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Fiddler on the Roof.


9. I have not been to a lot of live rock concerts but have seen acts such as Neil Young, Yes, Pink Floyd, AC/DC and even the Bay City Rollers (*hangs head in shame*)


10. I had not produced a display for a public school assembly on ancient civilizations, so I borrowed a cat suit from a class mate and dressed up as a Persian cat. Sorry, no photos!

I am choosing to make this award more valuable by only passing it along to 3 other people instead of the recomended 10 to avoid the mass proliferation that accompanies these treasures. I have been enjoying the blogs and writing of all three of these ladies and look forward to their #fridayflash contributions. Danielle La Paglia, Icy Sedgwick and Rachel Blackbirdsong are now recipients of this fine green shield thingy. Congratulations!

Umm...that's a rap. Yep, an odd assortment of shtuff there to comment on for sure. Speaking of comments...I shall be in isolation from Wednesday morning until Saturday night. A good friend told me that I should not mention that I will not have access to a computer and be unable to comment on what you folks say about this post. Personally, I think that numbers 4, 9 & 10 are very comment-worthy...I don't think it's a big deal because I know y'all will play nice and keep your comments kosher. Otherwise I will be back in the blogosphere on Sunday to give the evil ones a verbal spanking. Yes, Natalie, I used the word 'spanking'.