Daisy Award: A Special Award for the Brave of Heart, & Not so Brave.

Before I go into thanking Marilyn over at Serendipity for nominating me for this award, I need to tell where how it got started. I will bow humbly to Marilyn’s apt description of the award and its inception by Subtle Kate – “It is on rare occasion that a connection is available to the creator of an award. This time the beginning link in a chain of unknown number of recipients is Subtle Kate.

In Kate’s own words on June 28, 2012, “I would like to start a new award. It’s called the Daisy Award.  Daisy’s are very sweet flowers, but they are stealth with hardiness. They’ll come up anywhere and beat the frost.  This award is for the brave.”

End of description.

To say that I am thrilled at being nominated for this is perhaps the biggest understatement in history. Sort of akin to Custer’s last words, “Wow, there sure are a lot of Indians over there.” I will apologise to any of Custer’s remaining family, but, I am a Native American descendant and I find the remark both amusing and apropos. Sorry.

The rules for the “new” award are simple, there are but three and they are, like most of these awards, easy to do and not too labour intensive. So here they are:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you.

  2. Tell your readers seven unusual things about yourself.

  3. Nominate several worthy Bloggers.

And that’s it, just three little actions that do not require any type of perspiration to perform; just the kind of award that I like to receive.

Now for the first part; the thanking part: I have to thank Marilyn over at Serendipity for including my in this list of brave folks. I have met some truly wonderful folks in the blogging community and Marilyn and her other half (is that still okay to say?) Gary have been special and supportive and damned inspirational to me. For folks I’ve never actually met in person, they have easily become what I consider to be friends. So thank you Marilyn!

Now for the second part: This is the hard one. I have done so many of these “7 things you didn’t know about me” lists, I think I’ll be hard pressed to come up with that many, but here goes.

  1. I am a natural-born pessimist. I expect the worst and if I get anything less than the worst, I am pleasantly surprised.
  2. My great great grandmother (or grandfather, I am a bit hazy on this one) was found by the Trail of Tears by a Calvary patrol as an abandoned papoose (baby). Since his or her parents had obviously died on the trail as so many others did, one of the Calvary patrol riders took him or her in. His name was Sallee and he was French.
  3. My great-grandmother lived to be 93 years old; her daughter (my grandmother) lived to be 101. I’m kind of hoping that longevity is a gene that has been passed on to me.
  4. My father almost died from a tick-bite; he was misdiagnosed and it’s a miracle he is still around.
  5. I have more than 13 scars on my body. I’ve only just discovered another one from when a .22 calibre cartridge exploded while I was (stupidly) trying to force it into a chamber. The copper cartridge case became shrapnel and one bit piece (about a quarter of an inch long) went under my left nipple. While looking at my “new” scars I found where the shrapnel went. The scar is about a quarter to a half-inch long.
  6. Since I have quit smoking – last cigarette on 30 August 2012 – I dream smoke every night.
  7. I’m not really all that brave.

Now for the third part: This was is the impossibly hard one. I would of course nominate Marilyn from Serendipity (and will still mention this fact) although she did not mention any restrictions on nominating the person who nominated you, but this lady has gone through the wars and still has an optimism and outlook that is to be envied. I wish I had her strength. I really do.

I would also nominate the lovely Lorna over at Gin & Lemonade take a look at her site and you’ll see why I think she’s one of the brave. She made a list and she’s checking it more than twice to see if she’s accomplishing any of the landmarks she set herself. She writes a mean blog and I don’t visit often enough. I hope this makes up for my lack of visits, Lorna.

I would also like to nominate Chris over at True Mister Six who started his blog while he was looking for work. He now has work but continues to write his blog as well as being a husband and father. Another blogger that I don’t visit enough; stop on by and have a look, say I sent you.

That’s it for now, I would nominate more but, as I’ve said in the past I’m lazy. All kidding aside, I have accepted the award in the spirit in which it was given and I thank anyone who thinks I am brave.

I do joke a lot about my life and the direction it has veered off into. But that jokey laughing narrative feels to me a little like whistling past the graveyard. It has the tendency to, sometimes, feel like the edge of it is blurring into another feeling altogether. Still, as a wise man once said, “And if I laugh at any mortal thing, tis that I may not weep.” By Byron I think, it was part of a radio spot I did about a million lifetimes ago for a high school play I was in.

The play was The Curious Savage and I played the only straight-man in a play full of lunatics. Kind of how I feel now, the straight-man waiting for the punch line that will conclude my situation and trying to make sure I’ve got the timing right. Because in comedy, like life, timing is everything.

Humour has helped me throughout my entire life. My comic influences in no particular order are: ~George Carlin, The Marx Brothers (especially Groucho), Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Chris Rock… Hell, too damn many for me to list, though I will make sure I get Billy Crystal on the list, because damn it, I just have to. Besides, he looks MAHVELLOUS!

And since I lacked the cojones to actually do stand up comedy, I’ve settled with being able to see the funny side of life.

I also have to add another “thank you” to Serendipity for nominating me for the Blog of the Year 2012. Like I said…I’m lazy!

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Author: Michael Knox-Smith

Former Actor, Former Writer, Former Journalist, USAF Veteran, Former Member Nevada Film Critics Society (As Michael Smith)

11 thoughts on “Daisy Award: A Special Award for the Brave of Heart, & Not so Brave.”

  1. Pingback: Super Sweet Blogging Award | Sunday Night Blog
  2. Pingback: The Fourth Star on my Blog of the Year 2012 Award and Gifts for All! | MikesFilmTalk

  4. Thanks, Mike! Lovely to see this after my kinda hiatus. It’s good to back, and I always appreciate your stuff.

  6. You were actually the first person I thought of. I think that the fact that you had the focus to start blogging during what is essentially a devastating time for anyone who has had to job hunt and be a contributing member of a family. You are very welcome, you’ve earned it. Cheers mate! 😀

  7. Dude, to be nominated for an award that is about being ‘brave’ is incredible! It’s a great honour to receive another nomination and I’m hugely grateful for your continued support – you’ve been an important part of making me feel included in this blogging community and I sincerely thank you.

    As to being brave – I don’t think I compare to the experiences of other bloggers, yourself included, I just blogged to stay sane & occupied during a time of unemployment. It’s incredible to me that you thought of me for this award – thank you ever so much.

  11. Laughing when you’d rather cry is perhaps the only remaining acta of bravery in the face of a relentless karma that pursues us through days and dreaming nights. I always wonder what I did in some previous incarnation. If this is my reward, I’d had to be punished. I’m sure you know what I mean!

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