MY MYSTERY BLOGGER AWARD!

First of all, I’d like to say a massive THANK YOU to Of All the Books in All the Libraries for nominating me. I was so overwhelming happy when the notification came through so thank you very much. This award has given me even more enjoyment and confidence when writing my blog!☺️

About the award:

“Mystery Blogger Award” is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging; and they do it with so much love and passion.

– Okoto Enigma

 The rules assigned to this award:

• Put the award/logo image on your blog

• List the rules

• Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog

• Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well

• Tell your readers 3 things about yourself and answer the questions provided by your nominator

• Nominate 10-20 people for the award

• Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog

• Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice, with 1 weird or funny question (specify)

• Share a link to your best post(s)

The Mystery Blogger award was created by Okoto Enigma.

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 So let’s begin with the fun bit…

 For those who don’t already know, my name is Bethany and I am a Year 12 College student with a passion for English Literature. You can find out more about me on my about page. Instead of writing about the little details of my life, I am going to write three relatively fun facts about myself.

1.) My snow globe collection.

If you read my blog, you may know that I love to travel. Each time I visit a new country, I collect a snow globe with a meaningful decoration which reflects my memories of the place. I have exactly twenty snow globes and have been collecting them since I was seven years old. When on holiday, I take great time and care in choosing the perfect snowglobe as there are many features that I have grown to prefer. First of all, it must be clearly representative of the place I bought it from and should contain many tiny pieces of delicate white snow (a little glitter is always an extra perk). I prefer the material to be glass and the base to portray the name of the place. Despite all of these little picky aspects, the size of the snow globe does not matter. After all, as long as it’s pretty and is special to me, it earns a place on my specially assigned snow globe shelf! Every single snow globe on this shelf has its own story and precious memories which are preserved within a glass globe.

2.) I have a serious phobia of needles.

Whenever I tell someone that I have a phobia of needles, I can almost guarantee that they will reply with an agonising comment of ‘me too’ or ‘everyone’s scared of needles’. No. I mean I am completely and utterly petrified of needles! Hysterical crying, hyperventilating, gagging and fainting are all the some of the joys that I face at each injection and blood test. Trypanophobia is medically defined fear of needles during blood tests or injections. However, I can never accurately remember or even pronounce this term well enough to use it without sounding like I’m seeking unnecessary attention. My worst experience with needles of on my thirteenth, unlucky for some, birthday. It was in history class and I was unfortunate enough to be sat next to a girl discussing her most recent injection. Of course, she must have exaggerating the details, but it still made me feel queasy and lightheaded. It was when she pulled her blood stained plaster off that I had to leave the room and I did so without a word to my teacher. Once outside of the door I fainted causing a bang loud enough to alert all four classes which had the view of my body on the floor. I was wheeled away in a wheelchair and came back the next day with a dent in my head, three lovely bruises and lots of imaginative rumours of how different people had interpreted the reasons of my fall.

Although, I am proud to say that my needle phobia is getting better with time. I have to have frequent blood tests and so have started to adjust and adapt to the routine of rolling my sleeve up and having that horrid pain in my arm. After each needle that I experience, I have less of a reaction. Now I can pretty much have an injection or a blood test without crying. This is a massive achievement for me and I’m looking forward to a needle fear free future ☺️

3.) I LOVE elephants. 

Despite giraffes being my favourite animal, I also absolutely love elephants.  In my house I have 32 elephant items on display which I have gained mainly as souvenirs from travelling to India and Thailand. The area where I live is located close by to two popular zoos, Chester Zoo and Blackpool Zoo. Often, in the summer, we have family days out so that we can visit and learn about a variety of extraordinary  animals. However, this experience is greatly restricted by the distance of the animals and their metal cages.  There have been two amazing occasions during which I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity of seeing an elephant up close.

My first elephant experience was in Thailand at an elephant sanctuary and was so emotionally overwhelming that I had tears in my eyes. We spent a whole day feeding, bathing and washing the most beautiful and brave elephants which had been rescued from painful labour.  One elephant we met had an injured leg from standing on a land mine and another was partially blind as she had been whipped in the eye by an elephant rider. My favourite part of the day was standing with the elephants in a river and washing them with buckets. We were so close to them that you can see the beautiful detail in their eyes and their long lashes. This is something that is impossible to observe in a zoo environment, probably for both animal welfare and health and safety.

In India, I also had a close and personal experience with an elephant named Lakshmi which means ‘goddess of love and prosperity’. We fed her sugar canes and bathed her. Special experiences like these are memories that I will cherish for a lifetime. Below are some of my favourite pictures of the elephants that hold a place in my heart.

Elephant sanctuary in Thailand.

Bathing an elephant in Thailand.

Kate the elephant at Blackpool Zoo

Lakshmi the elephant in India.

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NOMINATED QUESTIONS 

1) Is there one movie (or TV) adaptation that you liked better than the book it was based on?

Yes, the film adaptation of Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín. When reading the book I found it to be very slow paced and quite placid, whereas the film seemed to speed up the events  and make it much more interesting. Plus, the main actress named Saoirse Ronan really brought the character of Eilis to life with a strong, independent attitude. The film was very gripping, yet I struggled to remain interested for the entirety of the book.

2) When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did it change? What is your dream job now?

I’ve never had my heart set on one particular job as I’ve always seemed to know what I don’t want to do rather than what I do want to do. The idea of a solicitor has crossed my mind, but I’m just not sure. I still have no major job aspirations and college are starting to put pressure on me to decide. First, I need to decide which university I want to go to and hopefully everything will start to fall into place… or is that too wishful thinking?

If you have any ideas of a job which encompasses English Literature, except from teaching, please let me know!

3) What are you most proud of? It can be anything, no matter how big or small. (Ex. Maybe you’re proud of winning a spelling bee in 2nd grade).

Recently, I have faced quite a few challenges which I am proud of achieving. I am incredibly proud of receiving six A*’s and three A’s in my GCSE’s as well as travelling on my own to France and managing to control and handle my needle phobia whilst in hospital for two weeks.

4) What book world you would love to live in (besides the wizarding world of Harry Potter lol) ?

This is a difficult question as many of the books that I have thouroughly enjoyed contain an intense and eerie setting. For example, Property by Valerie Martin and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys are based upon a world of slavery; The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O-Farrell contain murder; and I would never want to live in a world of Dracula by Bram Stoker or The Little Stranger by Sarah Walters as a world of vampires and ghosts would not suit me well at all.

I suppose that it would be interesting to be part of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and attend many of Gatsby’s glamorous 1920 parties.

5) (Weird/Funny Question) What would you want your rapper name to be?

Hmm, I suppose it would have to be DJ Dixon as Dixon is my last name.

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MY TEN NOMINEES

twobrownfeet

When Women Inspire

Bookidote

Anikka Perry’s Writing Blog

Keeper of Pages

Globetrotter Momma

Midnight Wanderer

Adventures of a Bibliophile

Words and Herbs

Thrifty Bibliophile

MY QUESTIONS FOR MY NOMINEES

1.) Which book has had the biggest emotional impact on your life?

2.) Who are your top three favourite authors and a short summary of why?

3.) Is there any genre of book that would refuse to read?

4.) Are there any characters within a novel that have greatly inspired you?

5.)My spirit animal would have to be a giraffe. Which animal would yours be?

I hope you all enjoy making a post in response to this reward, but remember there is no pressure to participate!

Once again thank you to Of All the Books in All the Libraries for my nomination.

Congratulations to all the nominated bloggers!