Thanks very much to JT, who blogs at Food4thoughtFood4life, http://food4thoughtfood4life.wordpress.com/, for presenting me with the Versatile Blogger Award.  (Queue up the sound track of applause and cries of, “Speech,” “Speech,” which I modestly decline).

The thing about this award is, there’s homework.  Luckily, it’s fun homework.  Section one is multiple choice:  I pass on the award to other bloggers.  I’ve chosen blogs that, (1) I follow and read on a regular basis, and (2)  do not already display the Versatile Blogger Award.  Check them out:

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Reviews and Ramblings:  http://blizzerd03.wordpress.com/
“Book reviews and whatever else I feel like talking about,” says Adam of his blog. He’s a voracious reader with a bent toward fantasy novels, but when he ventures off topic, you find he is articulate and learned in a host of different subjects.

Lily Wight: http://lilywight.com/
A blog I have just started to follow, by an author with a great depth of knowledge of old fairy lore and contemporary retellings.  The artwork on her blog alone is worth a visit.

Albert Bert’s Unsanity Files: http://unsanityfiles.wordpress.com/
A lot of flash fiction and bizarro book and movie reviews, and sometimes some real zingers. One of Albert’s posts caught me right where I was last December, and helped shift some attitudes and priorities significantly.  I haven’t posted about it yet, but I will.

Jayde Scott: http://jayde-scott.blogspot.com/
A fun blog on fantasy by Jayde Scott, an indie author in London whose work I have reviewed here.  Check out the YA novels Jayde has written in between college classes.

Simone Benedict’s Blog: http://simonebenedict.wordpress.com/
This is a fun and quirky blog I have also just recently started to follow. Simone lives in the wilds of Kansas, 3/4 of a tank of gas from the Prairie Library (pronounced “perry liberry”).  Her town has a feral burro, and Simone wants to race in the Iditarod.

therootsystems: http://therootsystems.wordpress.com/
Lois says, “My posts here at therootsystems touch on the idea of roots of and within history, both personal and universal; of how the past lives among us.” A thoughtful and inspiring blog.

Living In the Now: http://livinginthenow.net/
James is a man with a mission and a blogger with a mission statement: “In order to explore the journey of life, and living life to the fullest, this site will explore topics and techniques involving: spirituality, self development, stress reduction, and even the occasional how-to and current events discussion.”  He does what he says he is going to do.  Good stuff!

Barbara Kloss: http://scribblesnjots.blogspot.com/
Barbara is an ex-Sacramento resident and author of Gaia’s Secret, a YA fantasy novel I reviewed here. Her blog has book reviews, articles on writing, and fun/quirky posts, most recently about a 107 room, “authentic” medieval castle, recently built in California’s Napa Valley. Barbara says she found plot inspiration in the torture chamber. Better stay tuned to her blog.

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Homework Part 2.  In this section, I will tell you seven things you may not know about me.

1)  I was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, a distinction I share with one celebrity, Ed Wood (1924-1978), the cross-dressing director of Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), in which aliens attempt to use zombies to stop earthlings from creating a doomsday weapon.

Clearly Wood was ahead of his time!  He gained a cult following after being named the “Worst Film Director of All Time.” Johnny Depp stared in the biopic, Ed Wood, 1994.

2)  Because my family moved around a lot, I went to four high schools in four years.  That set me firmly in the mindset of an “outsider.”  This caused problems in academia, workplaces, and in general, places with party lines and sacred cows that are not to be questioned.  The few organizations in which I fit are quirky and tend to attract oddballs.

3)  I commuted by steam train to the second of those four high schools.  My father took a two year assignment in the south of France, so I attended a bilingual school in Cannes.  We lived about 15 km. away, so my sister and I rode between two stops on the morning and afternoon Paris trains, which were pulled by steam engines.  This only lasted through the second semester of 9th grade.  Over the summer, the English headmaster absconded with the funds, so the school did not reopen.

4) When I was 15, I attended the Cannes Film Festival.  That’s because the history teacher at the school I mentioned in #3 scored half a dozen tickets and took the high school class.  The festival was only six blocks away from the school, so we walked over after lunch one day.  The movie was Romanian with French subtitles, so I understood nothing, but I still came away with bragging rights.

5) I’ve always loved funky roadside attractions like the giant oranges that used to dot Hwy. 99 in central California.

Most of them are gone now.  A Facebook friend who drives a truck assures me the giant brontosaurus still stands in the desert near Riverside, but the gentrification of our highways has swept most of the others away.

6) Ever since an overnight field trip to the Mojave when I was a kid, I’ve loved deserts of all kinds, from the saguaro deserts of southern Arizona to Death Valley and the high deserts of eastern Oregon and northern Arizona.  Saying “deserts” is like saying “forests.”  Each has its own character, but for me, they have something in common that has to do with the light of fall and winter (it’s not so nice to visit in mid-July!).  There’s a clarity in the air and the colors that always raises my spirits.

That’s only six facts, but I think this post is long enough, so I’ll owe you one.  Thanks again to JT, and please be sure to look at the blogs I listed.