The Thinking Blogger Award

When a notification arrived in my Inbox with respect to the conferment of the abovementioned award, I felt both stunned and privileged by NJ’s nomination. A popular blogger in her right, NJ’s kind words and encouragement further aid in bolstering my confidence and reinforcing my commitment to the blogosphere.

If my memory (i.e., my tracking of this latest, novel meme) serves me right, I think it was the formidable Ms Sharon a.k.a. Bibliobuli who first started giving out this award on the Malaysia front. As I had intimated in one of my blogging comments, the timing for the award couldn’t be more apropos on the back of ‘all-women-bloggers-are-liars’ controversy. Since a majority of bloggers out there are women, it is most logical that the ‘fairer sex’ makes up all (if not, almost all) of the recipients for this Award.

Even though I had started blogging since November 2005, it was only October last year that I’d found a host of ‘blogging community’. My interest to write online was sparked in part by the knowledge that I’d be spending a year overseas to accompany my husband for his Masters programme. Also, my erstwhile pregnancy yearned for an instanteous outlet to vent out my fears, frustrations and other emotional rollercoaster (blame it on my whacked out progesterone level – an easy cop-out!) that were de rigueur during the nine-month ride.

Oddly enough, Malaysia’s extensive blogging network was accidentally discovered when my husband and I were looking for ayam golek recipe on the Internet. One of google results gave Kak Teh’s blogsite, detailing the ingredients and direction for this poultry dish. Upon reading that and her other heartfelt entries, I was hooked. From there, I found out about Sentraal Station and ferreted a diverse selection of blogworthy reads.

This interactive facet in blogging also coincides with my taking a more active part in participating in the Multiply community – a personalised webspace, not unlike MySpace, with various user-friendly sections (blog, review, recipe, music, video) to share with other Multiply members.

By delving into the fascinating array of blogs (or ‘pseudo-blogs’ in the case of Multiply), I have a daily dose of funny stories, gripping anecdotes, poignant tales of the heart and a slew of other snippets, both topical and informative in nature. In short, a keen insight into the human soul has never been this infinite, this powerful, and this heartrending.

On that note, I would like to bestow this timely award to those who have lent their voices to the downtrodden, whose compelling lives set a number of examples to follow, whose interesting activities I live vicariously through and whose quirky and incisive take on everyday issues makes me laugh and think.

As expected, some fellow bloggers, who have thus far caught my attention and garnered my respect, are already chosen as recipients of the award. Fortunately, I’ve found some other favourites who greatly deserve the Award. I do hope though at the time of this writing, the following five names have yet to be tagged. They are, in no particular order:

(1) Venny
Venny is a Multiply friend whose impressive writings on various subject matters, ranging from politics, book reviews, recipes to travels, captures my attention and compels me to ponder on her point of views. She can be blunt in one issue and tongue-in-cheek in another. She highlights and pontificates over a news piece which in turn leads me to reassess my stance on certain matters. At times, I may not necessarily subscribe to her opinions but I must give credit where credit is due. This spunky lady is not one to mince her words. In short, her ramblings are food for thought! ;-)

(2) Ms. Blabs
I discovered Ms Blabs from my reading of her comments left at various blogsites and was intrigued by her witty and oddball persona (oops, I’m not a stalker!). Her blog entries cover a gamut of interests too, running from her museum commentaries, ‘blasts from the past’, sports (although I’m not much of a sportsperson), politics to felines galore (love them Tigger poses!). Also, her eclectic choice of words is an inspiration for me to write half as well as she does.

(3) Tita
Besides sharing the same namesake (obvious bias :) ), Tita’s inborn artistic talent speaks for itself in the form of a long-running series of comics. Recently obtained a Doctorate from TUDelft, she and her small family moved back to Bandung for her lecturing post last January. To me, the hand-drawn cartoons are reminiscent of Lat’s style and influence. They’re both laughter-inducing and thought-provoking. Her real-life bubbly personality permeates through the other Multiply posts, causing an avid reader to constantly cheer her on!

(4) Aliya
Another blogger whom I stumbled upon while bloghopping, Aliya’s lighthearted and serious blogs carry resonance through the candid ‘talk’ of her concerns and by pinpointing the crux of a specific problem respectively. She walks you through her life as if you’re a close friend and her friendliness shines through each time! Training to become a doctor in Melbourne, Aliya is also a mother to her son, Layth whose birthday falls on the same day as mine! Another reason for my impartiality, aside from her signature, humorous writings, that is. :)

(5) Mak Andeh
A classic all-time favourite with the blogging crowd, the single mother that is Mak Andeh weaves wonderful tales – fictional or otherwise – for a captive audience. Sometime funny, sometime sad, it is ALWAYS a refreshing read one blog after another. Her perseverance and strength in single-handedly raising three children is testament to an iron-willed personality that always looks at the bright side of life. She is a (blog) force to reckon with!

There you go! My five choices for The Thinking Blogger Award. Please hop on to their places and enjoy this bunch of colourful characters. They’re my cup of tea (or more likely, coffee!), not too sweet nor too bitter – just perfect to sit with on my faded yet cozy armchair.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the rules for the Award, which originated from here:

Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging. The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think;
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme;
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.


Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking!