Sunday, March 20, 2011

To All Things Versatile

Posted by A Great Liar

This post is about receiving the Versatile Blogger Award, and as per the rules, offering special thanks to the one who honored you with the award, passing the award to the bloggers you hold in high esteem, (or the ones you have the hots for!), and lastly, sharing seven things about yourself with utmost honesty.

So first thing first.

Dear AL, thank you so much for the award, and for being an avid reader, simply can’t express in words how much it meant to me.

Mind you guys, AL writes at Let Me Whine! (http://al-whodoesntntgiveashit.blogspot.com/), and reading her stuff will shake all the traditionalist bones in your body, if you have any that is. Do pay her a visit.

Now moving on.

And now here are the bloggers with awards, in no particular order mind you.


- Freebird: http://alkagurha.blogspot.com/

- Spoken And Heard: http://aseelahaque.blogspot.com/

- Rolling Stone: http://ridsabs.blogspot.com/

- ApniBoli: http://irfanurs.blogspot.com/

- Thinking: http://thinking-lifeandyou.blogspot.com/

- Ye life hai....take it lightly!:  http://sadiyamerchant.blogspot.com/

- The Oddity Express: http://abeerj.blogspot.com/

- Calories in half a cup of tea: http://caloriesinhalfacupoftea.blogspot.com/

- Life as i know it: http://maryam-malik.blogspot.com/

- Hamza-The Philosophaster: http://hamza-the-philosophaster.blogspot.com/
 

All I ask you guys is to follow the rules, and pay it forward.

It’s a pity that the rules imply that the award can only be forwarded to as many as ten bloggers, since the above list leaves out couple of bloggers I thought were also deserving of an award.
But surely next time.

And making that list out wasn’t easy, because when it comes to stuffing their blogs with widgets and images, the word discretion is out of the window for most bloggers around. Surfing such blogs is like driving a bike with trunk full of George Foremans hung on the back.

So a big no to them, and surely a big no to blogs that merge dark backgrounds with equally dark colored text, as if no one is supposed to read it. And my personal favorite is the ones with highly italicized fonts, like in one of those ancient sea scrolls. Phew!

A blog is there to be read. Period. It doesn’t have to be over the top, should be decent enough and convenient. Without too many distractions. And if you continue to provide interesting enough content over a period of time, you will be read. 

And now here are the things I really don’t want to talk about.

(1) I am an avid reader of both contemporary and literary genre. Ranging from writers like Joyce, McCarthy, Pynchon, Delillo to Dan Brown and Stephen King. To be honest, I don’t buy much of Contemporary vs. Literary debate. Like movies, all books are an art form, some good and rest downright horrible.

(2) I probably unfollow as many blogs around the week as I follow. For obvious reasons, of course. Ranging from hideous ducklings who can’t think above the belt to lame Beep Beeps, I have unfollowed just about every goddamn thing that ever walked or crawled upon this earth.

(3) I am an avid unbeliever of things. I hate people with taken for granted convictions or social stereotypes. In all fairness, I can’t stand most people and the usual hickory dickory of absolute rubbish they talk about. And if normalcy was a stuff of clay, I would happily reduce it to ashes.  
All of it doesn’t necessarily make me the most likeable fella ever, but who cares.

(4) Besides being a writer, I am also a software engineer by profession, being good in Mathematics and all. And no, I ain’t boasting, being good with numbers and formulas is almost like a curse. You can reduce just about anything to mere numbers, algebra and calculus etc. It’s an exercise into soullessness. Mathematics has no essence, no soul or any other flavors of life that we associate with living.
 
(5) I am currently working on my first novel, ‘The Liar’s Lobe’. The backdrop is a small American town in New England. Chosen because I am more at ease with American dialectics, especially the way small town folks talk and all, and also because I know pretty much next to nothing about people from my own homeland. Not because I have always been aboard or something, but because during all my years spent in this wasteland of a country, I have never been quite here, if you catch the drift. In my own Oz so to speak.
I did make couple of attempts at starting something based on Pakistan, but gave up, realizing how little I know of them, and this lack of insight discouraged me to continue further. The characters and the dialogues didn’t sound too believable.

(6) I am twenty six, and still suffering from illusions of grandeur. So much so for it being a teenage phenomena. And I wouldn’t want it to end, to be honest. It’s just too much fun.

(7) I absolutely detest being told what to do. Tell me what to do, and rest assured I would do the exact opposite of it.

I hate talking about myself.

34 comments:

  1. Shukriyaa Janaab.... i will do my best to post about it soon as per the laid norms.... :)

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  2. that's a great insight..congratulations on the award and all the very best for the novel:-)

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  3. congrats on the award and good luck for your novel : )

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  4. Hey, Thank you so much!! :)

    Congrats for the award of course, and yes I agree with the bit about the over-the-top blogs, especially those ones with the animated widgets and blink and talk to you and follow you around the screen.

    Ah, so you are a math whiz,eh? Would never have guessed it, but it is an admirable quality.

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  5. hahahaha nerd-o :P

    Awwww how sweet :D

    Even i hate talking about myself. :(

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  6. Thanks for the inclusion in your esteemed list.
    I am in awe... I barely passed in maths.. I hope all the equations in your life add up and you come up with a great novel. Its hard work considering you are a working pro.
    Best of luck.

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  7. Awwwwww..Thanks a Gazillion.
    I'll be surely posting about this,according to the rules,v.v soon.

    Thanks again..:)

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  8. congratulations! :D
    and your 2nd fact was quite.. controversial. :O
    I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT YOUR NOVEL! is Stephen King your inspiration?

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  9. and thanks for not unfollowing me haha

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  10. well i for one do believe that u deserve recognition and acknowledgment.. if that is what the award gives u then congrats :)

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  11. STEPHEN KING? Me too.

    Thanks a lot for the award. (: And I can't believe you haven't unfollowed me yet. Haha. Also, math? Really? I hate math.

    I'm curious about your novel. When will you get done with it?

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  12. hmm...thanks alot for giving me such honor.

    I don't know how to go about it...well...will think about it soon...

    hmm...Are you still following me?

    I don't even know when you start following me exactly...I thought you never did...well...I went back just now and checked...thanks God...you are there...lol...

    Ok...once again...thanks for giving me such honor...this is the first time someone has acknowledge my blog existence...

    Thanks again.

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  13. @Sadiya Merchant: You are welcome. :)

    @IRFANUDDIN: You are most welcome. Sure. Looking forward to it.

    @suruchi: Thank you so much for all the encouragement.

    @Kiran Ashraf: Thanks :)

    @Smokey_Cat: You are most welcome. And yes, I am kinda good with numbers and all, makes me feel like a nerd!

    @AL: You are welcome, AL.

    @Alka Gurha: You are most welcome, Alka. And yes, it is hard working on a novel while holding onto a job. Seriously :(

    @Hamza Bin Ladin: You are welcome, kiddo. Sure, at your convenience.

    @Furree Katt: Hey there Furree, thanks a lot. And at last, someone took the cue from the '2nd point'. Controversial? Absolutely, I am just hoping that somebody drops a word to 'them' and they get to read it. Hehe.
    And u bet King's my inspiration, I literally worship the guy.
    And dont say that, come now, you are a very good blogger, girl :)

    @mahlaqa: Thanks a lot. :) Recognition? Hmm ... well yea kind of, I guess.

    @Aseela Haque: You are most welcome.

    Yo' a King fan too, my my!

    Like I said, I literally worship the guy, reading him since I was in 8th grade. (How is that for a creepy comin' of age!)

    Unfollow you? Well, just do another one of those vintage Rebecca songs and I just might do it :/

    Well, the novel progress is pretty slow, with job and all, so I am planning end of this year, the final draft that is.

    @Miss Hanif: Thanks a lot.

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  14. @Thinking: Well, you are most welcome. And dont worry, I aint unfollowing u any time soon, you are a good blogger :)

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  15. hahahaha i was thinking actually ke why hasn't anyone awarded you anything somedays back...

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  16. Lev
    u know watever u have said abt urslf in this post i wanted to say it earlier that this is how you sound to me like.. n then u said it all urself.
    i will only add that u will never be a good company to any one who shares ur life with u.. its js an analysis.. may or may not be true. idealistic ppl r better off with just themselves i feel :)
    js like i replied to ur Don Quixote query..

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  17. ur great mr greatliar. congratulations for getting the award.ur a very honest guy.keep blogging

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  18. @KWP: Thanks K. I always thought I was a bit too crazy for awards anyway. :)

    @latharanganath: Honest? Thank you so much. Never thought of myself from that angle. Now that I do, its kinda refreshing. Thank you :)

    @mahlaqa: Oh dear, never thought of myself as an open book, but I have been wrong before. Actually most of the time.

    How did u know all that?

    Perhaps if I come across someone as crazy as myself, who knows....Because loneliness is a ravenous beast in the woods.

    Arent you an idealistic yourself, I thought so.

    Mind you, I have never thought of myself as an idealist, but more like a dreamer.

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  19. i found an idealist in u and a dreamer is bound to be an idealist if he belongs to the quixote society.. that's what i blv in. n yes i m crazy to the very few around me who know me that is. otherwise i m a very good facade keeper. i never wanted to say it Lev in the first of our encounters. remember i said some days later?? but as n when u said it all for u most of which what i also thought u wd be.. so i was rather blunt n imprudent in saying it aloud. pardon me if u didn't like any.

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  20. and i wanted to add that u dont look terrible like u have said in ur comment to someone. u r fine.n now when we visit this eerie music is like a bonus :)

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  21. congratulations FOR GETTING THE AWARD

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  22. THANKYOU GREAT LIAR FOR GIVING REPLY

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  23. @mahlaqa: Oh its fine. No need to apologize, I am a pretty thick skinned fella, so hardly anything what ppl say gets under my skin.

    But wat u said kinda rings true, ppl in general I find disappointing.

    I may not be as good a facade keeper as urself, I honestly dont want to be, I am kinda open about my opinion to things.

    Thanks for the compliment regarding the pic.

    As for the music, I absolutely love this one. Just wanted to share it ...

    Its a main theme music from the movie 'Requiem for a Dream', by far the most sad and devastatingly disturbing/tragic movie I have ever seen. A lot similar in treatment to 'Clock Work Orange', but superior in a lot of ways.

    @NANAK HOTWANI: Thanks Nanak, very kind of you to say that :)

    @LATHA: U r welcome Lata, rest assured I reply to all the comments on this blog.

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  24. very worst blog wastage of time.

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  25. Oh My God,
    hahaha, look at the post above mine!!

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  26. @Smokey_Cat: Yes, and its testing my patience now. One thing I hate other than ppl not minding their own business, is ppl being repetitive!

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  27. Congrats on getting the award! :)

    I completely agree with 'reducing everything to numbers'. Being good with numbers is a curse...specially when you end up with a very complicated (and unsolvable) equation.

    P.S. I liked hearing about you. lol :)

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  28. Thankyooooou, i was on a blogger break, have to get back to reading all this stuff, I must say i missed this blog alot!

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  29. @Ice Princezz: Thanks, I totally agree. Deciphering things too much, and least of all in number isnt my cup of tea of either. I would rather leave everything the way they are.
    Well, liked hearing abt me, thanks. Becoz I assure u not everyone shares the same sentiments. :)

    @Ph_: Thanks a lot Ph_.

    @Maryam Malik: You are welcome, girl! :)

    @Aabi: My pleasure. Good to have u back, ... and thank you.

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