A Strange And Hazy Blog Award

At some point, after a certain length of time on the road, a weary traveler looks at an alarm clock, unable to understand the colorfully glowing numbers on the display in whatever hotel, in whatever city greets the day.  Invariably, middle of the night tossing and turning turns to fretting when the meaning of the hyroglyphs becomes lost.  Questions arise, such as; What is that infernal machine?  What purpose does it serve?  Why hasn't it done it's job yet?

And then, the weary traveler becomes aware, although not really, that the alarm clock has not failed, but inablity to distinguish meaning from gibberish has resulted from too many nights in strange beds, in strange cities.  This of course, lends to restless nights, spent worrying that in fact the alarm clock will fail and steps must be taken to avoid falling victim to technological fallibility.  Finally, exhausted from standing guard over the very device designed to prevent such worry, slumber takes hold.  The traveler falls deep, untethered to the waking world, enveloped in the boundless land of sleep.  Unencumbered dreaming begins with the most precious of...

And then the alarm rings.

Thus is my burden.  Worst of all, it happens, occasionally, when I am home.  There is no greater dread than to awaken in one's own bed, uncertain of where you are.  Last night was one such night.  I knew I was home, but awaited the alarm with absolute certainty that it would fail.  It was locked in my head that 4:04 AM would come and the radio would not turn on.  I knew, however, that something would happen.  I envisioned a breeze wafting up through the branches of trees, swirling the dust and leaves clinging to the ground, as I clung to the belief that too many recent trips to Haiti had infected my alarm with the technological failures of that poorest of nations.

Suffice it to say, I had a piss poor night.

Strange as it was, it is quite fitting that I have been awarded the Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits blog award.

Thank you to E.F. Collins over at Little Bits and Pieces.

In her own words, E.F is a writer of horror and dark fiction, with the occasional poem of the same darkish nature as her fiction.  You must agree that use of the word darkish qualifies as strange, so it is with great honor I accept this award as bestowed by E.F., or Effie, if you read her profile.

Despising blog rules as I do, I've copied them straight from Effie's blog.

1. Add the logo of the award to your blog post.


2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you (the strange ones will come after you if you don't...well, not really, but it sounds good).

3. Nominate seven other blogs telling us why you think the recipient is strange enough to deserve the award.

4. Leave a message for those nominated on their blogs.

5. And, if you email catephoenix(at)gmail(dot)com and tell her you've received the award for your strangeness, she'll enter you in the biggest kick-ass Strange Men competition ever. Details over at strangemeninpinstripesuits.com (click on the award link on the home page)

And the nominees are:

Bossy Betty, who once stopped following me because I didn't comment enough on her blog.  Do you realize the lengths it takes to stop following a blog?  Tremendous.  It would be far easier to simply stop reading it. Anyway, she came back because I complained.  Strange indeed!

Matt, over at Cynicus Sarcasmos.  How strange is Matt?  I was the second follower on his blog, which upset him, because he really, really wanted to keep it at one.  Matt is sarcastic, like me, only in Latin, I think.  I'm not certain.  It's all Greek to me.

Ted Cross, a diplomat who has written a fantasy novel that takes place in the future in a Tolkeinesque middle earth type world.  Huh?  Strange, right?

That Amy Saia.  She sings.  She writes.  She loves old adverts.  Strange.

Erica, at Laugh.Write.Play.  I don't actually find Erica strange.  I just dig her blog.  She always starts her posts with an enthusiastic and friendly greeting.  Actually, that is strange.  Nobody is that friendly all the time.

Dana, over at A Squirrel Amongst Lions.  Dig through her posts to discover how she named her blog.  If that's not strange enough, Dana used to go by Girl with One Eye.  Now she's Dana Elmendorf.

Finally, I always love bestowing awards on Travener, aka, the Big Litkowski.  Why?  Because I don't believe that even winning an award he did nothing to deserve could make Travener happy.  I find that strange.

Congratulations to all!