awarded awesome bloggings

Recently I learned that jectaspecta had been nominated a Liebster Award by The Glow Seeker's Kamina Nagel. Kamina even called me "the real deal". Oh blimey. There I was thinking I was rambling to myself.

Now for the Q&A.

In one sentence, tell us your mission. 
I'd love to leave this world a better place than when I arrived.

What does ‘bravery’ mean to you? 
Bravery is people around you saying you're either an absolute jewel or a nutcase and continuing to be you. Bravery is stepping in to a situation of ferocious vulnerability and standing tall while the knees secretly quiver (or going to an ashram and meditating on the dangerous stuff). Bravery is being 100% true to yourself even when the world might be trying to carve you in to something else. Bravery is waking up one day and realising that you've been putting off your dreams and deciding to finally make them happen. Bravery is facing your demons and loving the hell out of them. Bravery is letting go of everything and everyone you are afraid of losing. Bravery is surrendering to life.

What drives you, inspires you, makes you glow? 
The world and all the beautiful people who care enough to make it better. That and my Mum. She's awesome and when my glow fades, her presence in my life lifts me and reminds me to keep going (or insists I scrub the stink of India off me right away...).

I feel incredibly lucky to have people care deeply for me in this life, despite my galavants, their love inspires me.

If you had a magic wand, what is one piece of knowledge or wisdom you’d want everyone in the world to know with complete certainty? 
Make love not war.

What’s one thing your tribe may not know about you?
I still get homesick sometimes.

Thank you Kamina. You too are a groovy glowing digital rockstar - thanks for your inspirations and for putting me on the spot ;)

Now for my nominations:

Charles Frith // Punk Planning
I met Charles virtually a few years ago and spent about 3 hours on Skype to him getting my mind blown off by geo-political theory, astral beings and Terrence McKenna. He's incredibly intelligent and wonders on some serious issues that face the world today. If you're deeply curious about the big issues, his blog will certainly provide some fascinating and revealing insights.
Warning: Mind may get blown.

Zoe Scaman // Inspiration
Zoe is a notorious pocket rocket in the creative strategy world. I had the pleasure of working with her in years gone by but more so, being a good buddy. She helped me moving house. Big kudos. Personally she has been a grounding force in my life while also a wonderfully inspiring smart cookie with her eye on the future and a genuine care for it.

Rob Campbell // The Musings of an Opinionated Sod
Rob is another adland legend but that's not why I follow him. He's a Northerner who swears in front of his clients and wears rocker t-shirts and sandals. He writes about real things and some of the cultural madness that exists in the world. I would like to spend one day in his brain just to see what it feels like. At present this is the closest I'll get.

Elizabeth Sellers // Rosalilium
Liz and I went to school together and have shown the love for one another ever since. While the world has put a physical distance and time between us, its been really cool to stay in one another's loop via the interwebs. I love the fact that Liz has the courage to put herself out there on her blog sharing the things she cares about; travel, thrift chique and yummy recipes.

Rosie De Belgeonne // Foodoodle
Rosie was my old housemate in Sydney. She moved to NYC around the same time I was up a mountain in the lotus position working on my zen. While I grew hairy legs and got high on Indian curry, Rosie was exploring her new playground with a pen in her hand. She captures through her simple doodles the delicious edibles that grace her plates in her neighbourhood.

Questions for my Nominees: 

• If you only had a year to live - what would you spend it doing?
• Where in the world calls you and why?
• Who is your greatest inspiration?
• If anything were possible - what one thing would you do to make the world a better place?

Next steps, if you wish: 

1. Thank the person who nominated you (me!), and post a link to their blog on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog by including it in your post.
3. Answer the questions provided to you by your nominator.
5. Nominate blogs with less that you feel deserve the award.
6. Create a new list of questions for each nominee to answer.
7. Notify your selected bloggers that they’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award, and provide them with the link to your post.
8. List these rules in your post.

I hope you can keep it going and share what inspires you!

3 years & still not offended anyone.

Blimey. That went by fast. I fell asleep on the train and awoke a few stops further than I expected. It's been three years since the launch of jectaspecta. I feel on such an auspicious day perhaps something digitally celebratory should take place like, for example, writing a blog post...

Firstly, my purpose of blogging is really self-serving. I have an appetite for understanding new things, and as someone who learns through experience, have found that writing these learnings down not only serves my memory but also might be of some (if any) value to others. Of course, I'm sure its mostly not, but people seem to visit anyway lost in a back alley of the interwebs stumbling in to my random mumblings and tangents. And yet while that remains the case, there are some things I have learned about blogging which might be of interest. Doubtful. But may be.

The 'proverbial list' of three things I've learned about blogging:

1. Don't expect the posts you spend the most time on to garner the most attention.
That doesn't mean its not worth investing your time in writing about things you love or are genuinely interested in as I mentioned above.

For example a couple of writings I deliberated on for days are certainly not my big winners according to Mr. Google Analytics, but I enjoyed learning about them:
food for thought
philosophical about the interwebs

Sometimes however you can strike bloggerland gold; I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that "changing the perceptions of giving" had had over 1500 views and this post was actually one that I was keen to share with others.

2. Be yourself.  
Some blog as a way to bring to life a professional persona. Others to keep a virtual diary of their latest escapades. I think one needs to be true to themselves and their interests while being authentic. This is my personal point of view. I don't just write for an audience; I write for myself because I'm actually interested in articulating ideas, stories or random thoughts.

If you have a point of view, don't be afraid to express it whether political (who will occupy wall street?) or even a personal tale (my festival story).

3. Edit, edit and re-edit
I have a terrible habit of editing posts once they're published. I'd like to blame perfectionism but perhaps in one's haste to 'go live' a comma goes amiss or worse still, what should be a pointy sentence becomes an overstatement with too many words to even breathe through. Knowing people have shorter attention spans with content online, keep it direct, use videos and images.

One of my most popular posts has lots of pictures of Hunter S. Thompson and two sentences. And lets be honest, people visiting this post aren't interested in what I have to say, hell no, they want some entertaining shots that Google Images has thankfully ranked highly in their search page.

Nevertheless the point remains. Keep it pointy, yes I know I don't do that particularly well but, it seems to work.

And with that I am going to tuck in to a cuppa earl grey for a sense of nostalgia and amuse myself with my rather lame first posts written three years ago whinging to myself about the prospect of turning 24 while looking down the barrel of (gasp!) 25, as I am now, looking down the barrel of 30. A charming quote I wrote, very apt given I am now leaving Sydney:

"I say be inquisitive, relentlessly raise the bar, be charismatic, chat to strangers, pick minds and don't be afraid of change."

Doesn't time move fast?