A UNIQUE GIFT: Half-Eaten Mind accepts the Unique Leaves Award

(c) Lim See Min via L.M. Reguly

Vijay Shah

For the first time in July, it’s that special occasion again. East London’s favourite blog (at least I hope so) has been nominated for the Unique Leaves Award by Lorraine Reguly. Ms. Reguly is also a blogger as well as a very accomplished writer. She has recently been nominated herself for four blogging awards including Unique Leaves (featured above). On her most recent article she dedicated this most unique of awards to people who have recently commented on her blog “Lorraine Reguly’s Life” and whom she has decided to recognise for their valiant and entertaining blogging efforts.

Lorraine, according to her bio on the blog, is a writer and teacher born in Thunder Bay in Canada’s Ontario Province. A mother of one son, Lorraine holds a teaching degree from Lakehead University. She graduated in 1999 and is qualified to teach mathematics and English subjects to any class of secondary school pupils in Canada. She managed to do all this while raising her son single-handedly as well as penning a book “The Life and Love of Canadian Poetry: An Interpretative View” for a university course which she is now in the process of readying for publishing.

Apart from appreciating the subtle artistry of Canadian poetry, Lorraine has also revealed an ambitious plan to produce an autobiography or a collection of memoirs as her ‘big project’ which she hopes to complete by next year. On top of that she also has two e-books in the pipeline and a day-job as freelance writer and editor, offering remote edits of prose via Skype and dual-screen tutorials/assistance. 

Despite having a troubled start to her early teenage years and suffering many traumas, Lorraine turned these painful negative experiences into a push to make a positive life full of grand possibilities for both her and her child. On her blog, she states simply that her ambition is to ‘improve the lives of others’.

Like most blogging awards, the Unique Leaves Award is made to be shared. Graphically reminiscent of a Japanese autumn, the award celebrates uniqueness in the blogosphere. Created by blogger and self-confessed ‘pretty girl’ Lim See Min, the award was made as she felt that every blogger has a unique way of expressing themselves in their blogs – and that this fact was worthy of celebration in a way not covered by existing peer awards. Each and every author was as she described it, a shimmering orb.

And just like many other such awards, Lim has established some rules to go with the nominees pack too. Courtesy of Lorraine Reguly, here they are:

Display the award logo in your blog,
Link back to the person who nominated you.
Tell us how unique you are and your blog.
What are your thoughts about being unique?
Nominate 10 others blogger for this award and link to them.
Notify those bloggers for the nomination.

I am unique as I am the only person exactly like me living in this world. I am unique in that I have (not officially diagnosed) borderline autism which is both a boon and a hindrance at the same time. My condition does give me a unique way of looking at the world and of how it works, but I can also feel like an outsider that does not fit well into any society. I can be a bit reclusive at times, socially inept even, but uniqueness for me is not trying to be a square peg forcing yourself into a round hole. It means not being a sheep that follows the flock – living a pitiful existence by wandering through life screaming behind the visage of life as yet another faceless, identikit trend-follower. I am unique, because I do my own thing, whether anyone else likes it or not. And some people don’t.

(c) Rob VanPuersem

I am unique in other ways too, too many to describe in this article. I am ethnically unique. I come from a mixed Indo-Mauritian/white English background. I even carry some Welsh (Celtic) and Scandinavian ancestry. Religiously, I am Hindu of Vaishnava branch but am completely open-minded towards other sects and trains of thought in my faith. However, I also have Muslim descent and relatives and my father was technically non-religious. So therefore I am also open-minded and highly accepting of other’s religious belief or lack of. We all bleed the same colour blood at the end of the day.

I have unique tastes in music, listening to a wide smorgasbord of melodic delights, ranging from old-school Panjabi bhangra and qawwali of the Sufi tradition, through to Romanian Gypsy manele, soca from the Caribbean, sega from Mauritius, pop, reggae, rock, UK garage etc. This diversity extends to my culinary tastes too.

As for the Half-Eaten Mind, whether it is truly unique or not, depends on your viewpoint. There are, after all, millions of blogs out there in cyberspace. I have seen at least a handful that are very similar to my own. Then again, my writing style is very unique, with all the different linguistic influences I have picked up over the years. You can observe that especially in my features, as with the news articles I generally follow traditional British reporting norms, but even these factual constructs of journalism are passed through HEM’s patented unique lenses. My blog’s appearance is certainly unique though, as well as its content. When was the last time you saw a blog with a bright baby blue background, carrying a header image of two unknown apartment blocks in a part of London few tourists care for, never mind visit?…and when was the last time you saw a blog that could change news angles from hyperlocal to international within one week on the calendar, where a feature about personalised number plates rubs shoulders with a serious piece on stateless people in the Balkans reclaiming their civic rights?

(c) V. Shah/HalfEatenMind/piZap

I would like to now nominate my ten bloggers for the Unique Leaves Award. These 10 lucky souls are:

1. Kavita Joshi – Talking Experiences:- http://talkingexperience.wordpress.com

2. Mazhar Ahmed Qureshi – Foreign Affairs Government of Pakistan:- http://mazharahmed.wordpress.com/

3. Tracie Louise – Tracie Louise Photography:- http://tracielouisephotography.net/

4. Bunny and Pork Belly:- http://bunnyandporkbelly.com/

5. Ross Ramsey – RestaurantBastards:- http://restaurantbastards.wordpress.com/

6. Adeena – (Viata, Prin Ochi de Femeie):- http://adeenat.wordpress.com/

7. Tanumoy Biswas – The Nomadic Soliloquist :- http://thenomadicsoliloquist.wordpress.com/

8. Rogier van de Laar – Everything Aussie: – http://everythingaussie.wordpress.com/

9.  Kaligrafi Nusantara :- http://kaligrafinusantaraonline.wordpress.com/

10. BeWithUs/ Clouds and Cups:- http://cncfashionaccessories.wordpress.com/

Lastly, but certainly not least, I take this opportunity to thank Lorraine for considering me for this award and wish her all the best in her writing ambitions. Cheers!!!

You can see her article on her awards right now here at this link:

http://lorrainemariereguly.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/my-wordpress-family-award-23-blogs-not-10-to-add-to-the-wordpress-family-awardee-list/#more-3828

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SOURCES:

“4 More Blogging Awards, A Total of 27 Blogs to Visit, An Awesome Video I Found + Tips On How To Accept An Award” – Lorraine Marie Reguly, Lorraine Reguly’s Life (14 July 2013) LINK 

“Bio”  – Lorraine Marie Reguly, Lorraine Reguly’s Life LINK 

“Unique Leaves Award” – Lim See Min, It’s ME (14 June 2013) LINK 

“Just me”  – Lim See Min, It’s ME LINK 

IMAGE CREDITS:

“4 More Blogging Awards, A Total of 27 Blogs to Visit, An Awesome Video I Found + Tips On How To Accept An Award” – Lorraine Marie Reguly, Lorraine Reguly’s Life (14 July 2013) LINK 

“Branding: What makes your company unique?” – Ron VanPeursem, Content Marketing & SEO (6 May 2013) LINK 

“PHOTO MOMENT: New Twitter header image” – Vijay Shah, HalfEatenMind (8 June 2013) LINK 

IMPORTANT UPDATE: As of 28 February 2014, Lorraine has moved her blogging works from “Lorraine Reguly’s Life” to a brand new blog named Wording Well. The URL is http://wordingwell.com/ 

(Amended 2/3/2014 by Vijay Shah)