Thinking bloggers

WOO HOO! I WON SOMETHING!!!
In a manner of speaking.
What can I say? I'm thrilled that the deeply ponderous and deliciously wicked Chitty considers me one who thinks.
ahahaha my Ma would be proud :-D

What am I on about? The Thinking Blogger award. For me. You can read all about its origins here - it's not very long and is quite easy to read so really, take a look.

And having a somewhat compulsive nature I cannot pass up a tag. So now the trick is to tell you about 5 blogs that I find thought-provoking.

I'm also obliged to include the rules, so here they are:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that tickle your grey matter,
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 (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

Now onto the meat of the matter...

1. The Clarity of Night - This is where I go to find a bit of peace in the world. He may be a lawyer by trade but if you ask me, he missed his calling. An immensely talented writer, his words, often combined with photographs, soothe the soul... or make your hair stand on end, depending on the subject, mood and genre of his current post / vignette / series. In between the fiction he also manages to occasionally run short fiction contests; and it would be remiss of me not to mention the poignant posts focussed around his fascination with old and beautiful gravestones.

2. Reluctant Nomad - You just never know what to expect from this blog. An informative post on quantum physics or a laugh-out-loud re-telling of a night in the life of a gay South African in England or, since his latest move, Amsterdam. Reluctant Nomad not only entertains, but he also does a lot of the thinking for us, always a bonus, in my opinion.

3. Angel's Mind - Angel is a single mother in South Africa whose teenage son has ADD. Her blog is a mix of normal everyday working mom stuff and passionate, heart-felt musings about life as a single mother, things that have been or will be, and life in general. And then there are the short stories about dragons...

4. Dawn Unplugged - Now I know this is the second tag in a row for Dawn but she really deserves this award. Yet another South African ex-pat, she lives in the USA with her husband and children. Sometimes her thinking posts are SO much deeper than I am, that no matter what comment I leave, it sounds trivial, yet I can't help returning because the warmth of her personality transcends the cables and static that is the Internet.

5. OK I'm going to cheat here and not do a 5th one. I read a handful of blogs - OK, maybe 2 or 3 handfulls (handsfull?) - regularly for various reasons and each of them gives me something, be it emotional support, entertainment, or deep thinking stuff. [Is it even possible that someone who uses the term "deep thinking stuff" was awarded The Thinking Blogger Award???]
So choosing a 5th is just not working for me now - sorry!

...

Wow, will ya look at that? I broke the rules. Maybe I can think for myself after all... or maybe the OCD is wearing off at last hahahahaha!