I’m sorry it took so long for me to reply! So very, very sorry. I’ve been (purposefully) away from blogging and commenting. Just needed a break to concentrate on other stuff in my offline life. I was getting… ehrm, dizzy.

I’m so thankful you nominated me. I’ve just been recently checking all the previous incoming links (pingback/trackbacks) to my blog that I haven’t checked for (eeek) the past 50 days during my hiatus.

Anyway, this was a pleasant surprise. No wonder I got incoming traffic from the Bloggies site… I think the judges were checking out my site.

Strangely, bizzarely, oddly, WTF… I just followed another incoming link last night… which landed me on an entry written by someone who thought the recent Bloggies was a joke (because of… I suppose… the low quality blog entered on the site)… AND I WAS SO SURPRISED to find out that my blog was one of 30 blogs nominated for “Best Design” or something. Huh?

WTF? That is so funny… I’m flattered, but what I did recently… and I fully admit it… is not exactly “design”. More like hack and modify, hehe. In any case, I think I got voted because of people like you… or perhaps completely because of you and your entry. Maybe people read it and hopped over to my site… who knows… My current layout reflects my personality a little bit more (or rather, it reflect my real nickname in life given to me by my parents… which is the name of a color).

To be honest, even though I’ve been blogging for over 1 year and a half, I still consider myself new to blogging… and I’ve never heard of the Bloggies… because I never used to surf blogs AT ALL before I started blogging. Honestly.

Anyway, thank you so much. And sorry… for being a stranger to your blog… I’ll be back when you update.

Mari’s no stranger to being revealed to be unwitty herself *points to a few posts back*.

Yeah, some categories Mari left blank, but Mari was pleasantly surprised to find that not too many of them were left blank. Hooray for RSS readers’ abilities to expand the blog-reading horizons!

You’re also very welcome and very deserving to the nomination.

Mari’s been meaning to begin commenting on every post she really likes (there are only 200 of them sitting around in the Starred items part of Google Reader…), but unfortunately, sometimes the blog Mari’s reading is of such a higher rank than Mari’s that Mari is actually afraid to leave her email, even, let alone her URL.

You’re very welcome to it and very deserving of it!

(Just in an offhand manner, the comment email responder plugin in use here: annoying or beneficial to discussion?)

I have been meaning to comment on some of your other posts but by the time I’ve decided on something witty or insightful to add

Or, if you’re me, the better the blog entry the less likely you are to respond because you’re too frightened that it’s not funny at all! There’s nothing worse than trying to be witty and failing hopelessly. It’s like being the Grandpa at a party, showing off your ‘moves’.

I’ve voted and verified but I just couldn’t think of bloggers in all the different places across the globe. I want to see if I can edit them to add more.

Thank you for the nomination!

Thank you for the nomination btw!