Sunday, September 19, 2010

Awards Lead to Truths & Lies

I was going to bring out the tux to present a couple of awards but realized I've been wearing it a lot recently and left it at the cleaners last week. You'll have to make do with me as I am...warts and all (don't ask).

I'd like to thank Bernard S. Jansen, one of my favourite Aussies, for bestowing upon me the Versatile Blogger Award. He can be found lurking at his blog How to Get Published. I am now a two-time winner of this award (if you really care and must know all my sordid truths, you can link to my previous list of truths here) but I will present the ground rules just in case you missed them the last time...


The Rules for The Versatile Blogger Award:

  1. Thank and link back to the person that gave you the award.

  2. Share seven things about yourself.

  3. Pass the award to fifteen bloggers that you think deserve it.

  4. Lastly, contact all of the bloggers that you’ve picked for the award.

Hmmm...what 7 things can I share about myself that have not already been inflicted upon revealed to the faithful readers of Land's Edge? I shall give it the old college try...and most of it will be true...

  • I occasionally worked shirtless in the basement of my downtown Vancouver office building as I sawed through rock and drill core samples for a mining company.

  • I once fell off a donkey while visiting the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

  • Also while living in Vancouver...a fellow YMCA-dweller and myself went to a nearby drinking establishment for a beer and discovered it was a gay bar. I refused to leave until I had finished my beer.

  • I badly sprained my ankle when I was 20 while rock climbing in Victoria, BC.

  • I believe in ghosts.

  • I dropped out of university with poor grades at the end of my third year, but returned to college three years later and maintained an 'A' average for a two year program.

  • I played the violin for three years as a child but can't read sheet music.

Now, I'm supposed to pass this along to 15 people (which is about the size of many of the small villages here in Newfoundland). I'm thinking that since I live in a small shed with no electricity or plumbing, and hence have no friends, I can't pass this along at all...however, if you are a follower of Land's Edge I automatically consider you a friend and you can consider yourself tagged with this fine award. Yes, I want to hear your truths...

Moving on, the other award bestowed upon me was the "Creative Writer" blogger award. This gem was passsed along to me by the very talented Erin Cole (via that Bernard guy in Oz). Erin, or as I prefer to call her 'The Grand Mistress of Horror' is beginning to take in submissions for the 2010 edition of the 13 Days of Horror at her blog, Listen to the voices. I wish to thank her for the honour and will do my best to lie. A lot.


With accepting this sparkling award, I am expected to:


  1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link to them.

  2. Add the award to your blog.
  3. Tell six outrageous lies about yourself and one truth. (Another variant: Tell six truths and one outrageous lie. YOU get to guess which variant I chose – and which statements are true, as well as which are lies.)

  4. Nominate six creative liars/writers and post links to them.
    Let your nominees know that they have been nominated.


I'm thinking that since I spilled so many true things about myself earlier it will be easier to make up six lies about myself and give only one truth...

  • As a young man I was an avid paintball competitor.
  • As a young man I was hit in the eye with a projectile and temporarily blinded.
  • I have been dragged out to ballroom dancing classes several times by my wife.
  • I was once arrested for disturbing the peace.
  • I got my first fez at the tender age of 13.
  • I wore a white suit and pink shirt to my high school grad dance.
  • I once ballooned up to 250 lbs in weight.

So there's the selection, ladies and gents. Which is the truth in that list? This award blog thingy has gotten a bit long-winded (yeah, I know...big surprise) so I'll finish up here.

I'm supposed to pass this along to somebody...hmmm...same lack of friends in my life is again a problem. My dad once told me that when I was a boy he had to tie a pork chop around my neck with a string just to get the neighbourhood dogs to play with me...

But you know what? I'll pick one of my longest blog followers, Natalie L. Sin. of Written by Sin, as the recipient of the fine "Creative Writer-Liar Thingy" because I know that she'll make up some cool stuff. Some of it may even be readable by kids...well, maybe not...)

I'll post some doggy pictures during the week from our recent visit to the anual Greyhound Picnic here in St. John's. Oooo, Aaaaaah!

18 comments:

kathryn said...

I'm going with the white suit and pink shirt for the dance ensemble. And if it's true, that means there's a photo out there somewhere....

"Hello? Alan W. Davidson's mom? Yeah, could you scan that for me? Thanks."

kathryn said...

Oh and congrats on your double-awards, my friend! No-one deserves them more!

Kara McElhinny said...

Congrats on your awards, Alan!!!

Falling off a donkey would have made water squirt out of my nose if I was drinking it at the time... ah, fabulous. Thanks for sharing your past with us!

Have a great day!
happy writing
kara

EC said...

Congrats on all your recognitions! Well deserved.

...let's see...I was kind of hoping you had a stamp somewhere. I don't see you as the pink shirt wearing, ballroom dancing type, persuaded or dragged, so I'm going to guess the projectile blindness—that one seems more odd than the rest.

Laura Eno said...

Congrats on the awards! I'm just going to believe that every one of your statements is true. ;)

Unknown said...

Man, those are hard... Wouldn't know which one to guess... They are seem true -- especially the one about the fez.

K.C. Shaw said...

I'm going with the fez. If that's true, I want photographic evidence. :)

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

Disturbing the peace!
It was the 60s and you were protesting stuff and your fez was at the cleaner's.

Bernard said...

You're very welcome.

I think the first one is a lie. Paintball; don't make me laugh.

Fox Lee said...

Huzzah!

A Daft Scots Lass said...

Congrats on the awards.

Cate Gardner said...

"I once fell off a donkey." Ha!

I'm determined to believe the Fez story.

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Congrats on the awards. As for the true/false statements : life can be so turnabout that most anything can happen to us these days.

Thanks for dropping by my blog and commenting. It meant a lot. Oh, and if you read my blog, I believe in ghosts, too ... at night.

Alan W. Davidson said...

FYI- for anyone that ventured back for the reveal...the truth in that list was the fact I was blinded in my left eye for three days after doing something stupid at the age of 15...

Kathryn- Nice try, but my mum doesn't even know that I keep a blog. Yep, man of mystery...

Kara- Glad to hear that you avoided that nasty water-squirting incident. I hate when that happens.

Erin- Thanks. That's funny, I was hoping you had a stamp somewhere as well! You guessed correctly, by the way.

Laura- I'll add the 6 lies to my 'bucket list'.

Ant- Yep, back in those days it was a 'Jr. men's size fez'...who am I kidding, it was a tough Jr. High and I would have gotten the S&*% kicked out of me if I wore a fez to school.

KC- Sorry, no dice. Though you do see my 'adult fez' here on the blog once in a while.

Cathy- Close, but no. I always hung out with a 'good bunch' of people.

Bernard- True, the first one is a lie but there are 6 lies in that list. I'm thinking of trying it out in the geezer version of paintball.

Natalie- I see your huzzah! and raise it by a Right On!

Gillian- Thank you kindly.

Cate- You keep wishing that. The donkey thing really hurt, by the way...

Roland- Very true statement, sir. I wouldn't have thought any of that list of truths would have happened when I was a child. I shall be dropping into your blog more often.

Katey said...

Oh Alan, I love a good lie almost as much as a good truth!

...fell off a donkey. Somehow that is awesome. I can't explain. It just is.

Karen from Mentor said...

While I was reading I connected the working shirtless with the gay bar visit in my head. I think had *you* combined the two you wouldn't have had to buy your own pint.

Entre Nous said...

Oh Whoa, you have nbeen to Egypt. Be still me heart, it is on my wish list, Serious Travel Envy going on in this corner today... :}

Alan W. Davidson said...

Katey- I think a little more than my pride was hurt in the fall...

Karen- Who said that I had to pay for my drink?

Joni- Yes, three weeks. I even got to snorkel in the Red Sea.