The Black Cat Blue Sea Award!

Such a cute blogger award picture! ❤ Picture from Jessica Bakkers

Whee, I got another blogger award nomination from Jessica Bakkers! 🎊🎉🎈🎊🎉🎈

It’s such a cute one (how many cats do you see at sea? 😆), and according to Jess’ blog (do check it out!): “This award is for bloggers who strive to write for everybody, and no matter how many viewers they get, make an impact on a reader. This award is an expression of gratitude to the nominee. It should be awarded to anybody that you choose deserves it, and it doesn’t mean that they must have hundreds of followers and likes.”

Wow, I feel so honoured! Thanks, Jess. ❤

How this award works:

1. Anybody nominated can nominate up to eight other bloggers
2. The nominee answers three questions posed by the nominator
3. The questions you ask while nominating can be any three questions

Without further ado, let’s start!

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My Answers

1. What would you like bloggers to do more of that they aren’t doing right now?

Okay, this might be a bit of a sore subject to some, but I’m going to write it anyway; it’s about republishing old posts… or rather, how it’s done.

Well, I do get why these people do it; who wouldn’t want more traffic on their old posts? Also, having only blogged here for six months, there are a lot of blogs I follow that have old posts I haven’t read, so it’s nice having to read these without digging the archive. So it’s not always a bad thing to republish old posts. 🙂

But here’s the thing; there are bloggers who republish their not-so-old posts quite frequently without adding anything significantly new. Often, I see 2 – 3 posts from the same blog that I just read last week. Then the next day, I see another 2 – 3 posts that I’ve already read last month. Every day I see different posts that I’ve already read not-so-long ago. And when a few weeks have passed, I see the same old post that was republished back then republished yet again!

I mean, come on, I follow your blogs because I want to read more of your stuff, but I don’t want to keep re-reading the same few old posts! It’s fine if you republish old posts with updates (I’ve seen a few done well, like a trip down the memory lane, what you did this time last year compared to this year, etc), just… not the same posts as is. 😔

2. Tell us 4 things about yourself, one of which is not true… and see if we can guess.

Oh, a guessing game? Hm, let’ see if I can make it difficult. 😆

1. In school, when it comes to selecting the Science stream (subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Additional Mathematics) or the Arts stream (subjects: Arts, Accounting, Macro and Micro Economics), I went for the Science stream!
2. In college, I graduated with a degree in IT, specifically called Informations Systems Engineering! (Does that make me an engineer? 😛)
3. At work, I have a certification for Telecom Expense Management!
4. At home, I code mini-programs and apps for fun!

Which of the above is untrue? 😛

3. Describe a perfect day that balances all the things you love.

On a beautiful cool weekend, I wake up pretty early but very refreshed. Even though my husband isn’t up yet, it’s fine; I’ll let him sleep in a bit more. I wash up, head to the kitchen to make a hot drink, and then, seated at the couch with a hot mug, I turn on my computer to catch up on my reading.

When my husband wakes up and washes up, we get ready and head out for brunch; a nicely filled omelette with some toast and jam on the side. We chat over brunch, laugh at random things.

At home, we get to do our own things in the afternoon – some writing for me and some reading for him – enjoying each other’s company in silence. When it is time for tea, we sit down and watch some TV while munching some biscuits, followed by a session of co-op video gaming.

Dinner is something simple at a nearby shop – Chinese-style rice, vegetables and meat – and once again we chat and laugh at random things. We head home, shower and have a chill-and-cuddle session in bed, until it’s time for an early bedtime.

Yep, it’s specific because I did have a day like that before! It was perfect, and hopefully we’ll get to do that this weekend. 😀

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My Nominations

As always, do note that this isn’t mandatory; do feel free to decline this nomination for any reason and I promise I won’t mind. 😀

While some of you may not be accepting blogger award nominations, I wanted to nominate you anyway because you have awesome blogs!

• Barb Caffrey @ Barb Caffrey’s Blog
• Dr. Andrea Dinardo @ Thriving Under Pressure
• Ipuna Black
• Manal a.k.a. iamthatgirl23 @ Sensible Nonsense
• Sadaf Siddiqi
• Samantha @ samanthamurdochblog
• Tajwar Fatma @ LifeAsWeHaveNeverKnownIt

Remember, this is not mandatory!

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My Questions

I’m going to cheat a bit here and re-use Jess’ questions for all my nominees! Hey, they’re good ones after all. 😛

1. What would you like bloggers to do more of that they aren’t doing right now?
2. Tell us 4 things about yourself, one of which is not true… and see if we can guess.
3. Describe a perfect day that balances all the things you love.

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Do let me know what you think in the comments below!

~Nicolle ❤

A Short Self-Compassionate Letter

Dear Self,

I’m glad you wrote your true view of republishing old posts, even though you felt uncomfortable at writing something not so nice. 🙂