Outstanding Blogger Award

Early last month, I received another award nomination from, guess who? Yes, Riddhi from Whispering Stories! I am so grateful that you see the value of my blog page and nominate me for these awards. I really do appreciate it. If you haven’t checked out Whispering Stories yet, please do. Riddhi covers a lot of ground in her bookish posts and discussions. Again, thank you Riddhi for the simple recognition.

Without more ado, here’s my Outstanding Blogger Award Post.

Rules

Provide the link to the creator’s original award post. (very important: see why in step 5)
Answer the questions provided.
Create 7 unique questions.
Nominate 10 bloggers. Ensure that they are aware of their nomination. Neither the award’s creator, nor the blogger that nominated you, can be nominated.
At the end of 2020, every blog that ping-backs the creator’s original post will be entered to win the 2020 Outstanding Blogger Award!

Riddhi’s Questions

1. What is the one thing you will never do?

~ Eat seafood! Haha. I really have no idea how to tackle this question so I came up with the easiest one, the first thing that came to my mind when I read the question. I was about to put something extreme like bungee jumping or skydiving but I will never know if I will jump at the opportunity of experiencing these thrilling activities.

2. One book you will protect with your life?

~ This is pretty challenging because there are a lot of wonderful and amazing books out there. My first choice was to protect Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. But then, upon reflection, I realized that many a reader would also protect the book. So I am choosing another book, Nick Joaquin’s The Woman Who Had Two Navels and Tales of the Tropical Gothic. It is, so far, the only short story collection I have read but more importantly, it was written by a Filipino. Nick Joaquin is a celebrated Filipino writer and is a National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.

3. The most tragic moment of your life? (If you do not mind sharing)

~ When I learned that I won’t earn as much in my profession as I expected I would. I was led to believe that as soon as I earn my license, I would earn a lot of many. Actually, everybody expects accountants to earn a lot, maybe because we “deal” with money but that is a big lie as I soon learned. They also said that we would earn thousands for each of our signature but we only ended up signing payment vouchers. It was never our money! Haha.

~ On a more serious note, I am blessed enough to be shielded from anything really tragic. Yes, there were some minor mishaps but I am thankful that my stars and my guardians are looking well after me for the past 30 years. I hope they keep it that way. And to those who have experienced tragic moments, I hope you are on your way to recovery and healing. 🙂

4. The one food that you will eat, even on a full stomach?

~ Desserts! I will always have room for desserts! The mere thought of coconut pie and cheese cake is making me drool. I do have sweet tooth. And yes, I’d have coffee with it.

5. One book that you can reread forever and not get bored?

~ I am not a big re-reader but if I have to pick one then I guess it would have to be the entire Harry Potter series. It is counted as one right? One series? Haha.

6. Which post that you have written is your favourite? Share the link as well.

~ I have said it then and I am going to reiterate it now. My favorite post is titled The Korean Ahjumma. It is about my experience during our 2017 South Korea Temple Stay. During our temple stay experience, a Korean ahjumma looked after me. When she noticed I was a little cold (it was autumn that time), she asked our tour guide to have me go back to our room and get a jacket or sweater. Even during our meal time, the Korean ahjummas looked after me and my friends. We were supposed to wash our dishes but they insisted to do it. We were a little embarrassed but thankful at the same time.

This experience, and some other displays of kindness during our stay in South Korea, really created a deep impression on me. Despite the language and cultural barriers, we are all bonded by an invisible thread. Kindness is everywhere. I personally enjoy writing profound posts like this but I rarely get the chance; or maybe I am a little too lazy.

7. What is the one thing you like about my blog? What is the one thing you don’t? (Don’t say nothing, we are past that)

~ I like that Whispering Stories is more than just a book blog. Yes, the book blog takes a big chunk of Riddhi’s page but it also explores other subjects, seminal and timely. I also get to see how a 15-year-old me would react to certain books; as a reader, I was a late bloomer. Whispering Stories is not only a blog or a review page, I also view it as a diary, something that Riddhi can look back to later on.

~ Something I don’t like about the page. I guess I’ve answered this way back? HAHA 🙂

Again, I had fun answering these questions. Although I had to expound my imagination to come out with great answers to equally great questions.

My Nominees

I want you all, not just my nominees, to know that you’ve all been amazing this year. You’ve all been outstanding. It has been a challenging and uncertain one but we all managed to survive and I am grateful that you kept me company (albeit virtually). I hope we all get to meet and share our stories over a cup of coffee. Having said this, I want to reiterate that none of you is under any obligation to do this tag unless you truly want to. This is no imposition and I totally understand if this is not your cup of tea. Happy blogging!

My Questions

1. If you were given the power and the opportunity to rewrite 2020, how would you rewrite it?
2. Which fictional subterranean world would you choose to be trapped in and why? It could be Murakami’s underworld, the Greek underworld, the labyrinth of Piranesi, or some other fictional world.
3. I have a varied and diverse taste in music. What song would you recommend for me?
4. What is something you are looking forward to in 2021? It could be a movie, a book, or a specific event.
5. Who is your biggest role model and what made him/her your personal hero?
6. You just won the lottery, what are three things you are going to buy first?
7. Give five fictional characters you would want to travel the world with.