I’d like to thank the Academy.
And especially Nicole Davis, for nominating me for the Liebster Award. Her blog is a lovely, honest collection of posts about suffering through chronic illness, so check her out!
Here’s how the game works:
The Liebster Award is awarded to bloggers with under 200 followers to try to promote their blog a little and also bring together a community of bloggers. The rules of the competition are as follows:
- The nominated user must provide a link back to the person who nominated them.
- Provide 11 facts about yourself.
- Answer 11 questions set by the person who nominated you.
- Choose 11 more people and ask them 11 questions.
Now, get ready to learn a bit more than you wanted to about me…
11 Facts About Me
1. I have extreme anxiety around/fear of balloons. I don’t like them trying to shock me, and I think it hurts when they pop on me.
2. I started writing a fantasy book when I was a little kid. I thought it was going to change the world. But then Harry Potter books started coming out, and they were oddly similar to my stories. So I half-maintain that J.K. Rowling stole Harry Potter from me. I don’t know how she found my little first grader book without even a digital copy online or anywhere, but somehow she did.
3. My biggest goal in life is to make it to the Academy Awards someday. Ideally for a directing or writing nomination, but even just to be invited would feel like a huge accomplishment.
4. I hate having weekend plans. If I can look at the weekend and see no parties, no family get-togethers, no coffee meetups, and no fun, I think “Wa-hoo! I finally have time to get some work done!”
5. I have a crush on Alan Rickman. It’s inexplicable and irreversible. Especially Alan Rickman as Professor Snape. And that Die Hard movie he was in.
6. Chuck Palahniuk is my favorite author. Charlie Kaufman is my favorite screenwriter. Both of their influences together have hugely impacted the way I write, look at life, and see myself.
7. I’m in love with California. I’ve traveled to gazillions of cities in the world, but every time I end up in California it somehow feels like home. I hope to live there someday.
8. I don’t think Star Wars is that great.
9. I always want greasy Chinese food. Every second of every day.
10. I love to sleep. I would sleep 12 hours every day if I could.
11. The easiest way into my heart is expressing an interest in me. It doesn’t matter if you share none of the same values as me, seem like a creep, or whatever; if you ask questions about who I am and seem genuinely interested, I’m too flattered to not love you. This is definitely a curse of mine.
11 Questions for Me
1. What is your simple pleasure in life?
A cup of coffee. The way it tastes (especially if I splurge with a mocha), its warmth, and the hour it gives me of pure energy and clarity makes me happier than most things.
2. If you could talk to one dead person, who would it be? Why?
I would talk to John Lennon. I would ask as many questions as I could think of, and just listen to him. Even if I couldn’t think of questions to ask, I’d like to just sit by the dude for a while. He’s always been this major force in my life; maybe he’s a hero, or maybe just a fellow Libra. I just love him.
3. What is one thing you have lost that you wish you had back?
I lost my huge booklet full of Pokemon cards that I had as a kid. I have no idea where it went, and I wish I had it again. Not for any money value, but just so I could relive those glory days where my holographic Gyrados defined my worth as a human being.
4. If you were in your dream home, describe how the view from your back window would differ from your current view.
Definitely a beach. Preferably a public beach, but one that’s not too popular and only attracts maybe twenty people tops at a time. My view now is in the suburbs, which is all fine and good. But I’d rather be able to watch people during moments of their life that are different from the norm.
5. Do you share your blog with family/friends in real life?
I do not. I only share my posts with my boyfriend, and one friend of mine who is very clever with the Google and managed to find my blog on her own (you know who you are). I like to know that I can talk about what I want to talk about here freely.
6. Do you have any annoying habits?
The thing that my boyfriend hates the most about me is the way I eat finger foods. This only applies to finger foods that are “crumby,” such as chips, fries, and anything else with salt or other little particles. I can’t stand to have the stuff on my fingers for very long, so after every fry I take I’ll sprinkle my fingers over the basket to get the salt off. Then I’l take a drink. Repeat. He can’t stand that I have to sprinkle the salt back off after every fry. First world problems, am I right?
7. What habit do you find the most annoying in other people?
I have a real problem with sneezing. It all started when an old ex of mine used to sneeze like crazy after eating potatoes, sometimes to the point of throwing up his meal. Sneezing then became a stressful thing for both of us. Each sneeze was followed by cursing and anger. Now, every time I or someone else sneezes, all I experience is anger and stress. It’s kind of awful.
8. What is one life event you never saw coming?
My stepdad died really suddenly last summer. Besides losing a family member, it completely changed the way I had to treat my mom. She’s always been really strong, and was a single mom for a long time. But when she found my stepdad, we all thought that she had finally found happiness and could finally settle down. Now she’s alone and much more dependent on me and my brother. Since we aren’t the type of people to talk about our feelings much, it’s taken some adjusting to get back into the swing of that kind of a relationship. But overall its been positive for us.
9. At what age did you truly grow up?
I remember experiencing a really significant mental shift at age 12. I don’t remember the circumstances around that time, but I do remember that it was extremely dramatic. To the point where I spent a whole week essentially reevaluating my whole life and everything I’d learned up to that point. I would think “What do I know about the dentist? Yesterday, the dentist was scary and I hate that little drill thing they use. But now I just realized the importance of going to the dentist, and when I think about the consequences of not going, I’d much rather go.” It was like my logical sense suddenly kicked in. That same week I also remember looking at my collection of childhood books and feeling really sad. Like I had just left the time when those were my books. It was a strange time.
10. If you could go back and tell your younger self one thing, what would it be and why?
My younger self actually had a pretty impressive grip on what life was going to be like. If I said anything to my younger self, I would say “You’re right. Life is going to be really awesome.”
11. Tell us something that has made an impact on your life.
The story “The Nightmare Box” by Chuck Palahniuk. You’ll have to read it to know what I’m talking about.
11 Questions for My Nominees
1. Why do you write?
2. If you had to choose any movie to become the next hit Broadway musical, what would it be?
3. What method do you use to wake up on time in the mornings? Does it work?
4. Where is your favorite travel spot? Why would you recommend it to others?
5. Which Disney character that is NOT a prince or princess would you compare yourself to?
6. What is your deepest fear?
7. Describe your first kiss. (Or, your ideal first kiss.)
8. If your bucket list had to be narrowed down to one item, what would it be?
9. Which decade of the 20th century is the coolest?
10. If you had to write a screenplay to be produced, what would it be about? Who would the movie star?
11. What cheers you up, no matter what kind of mood you’re in?
And the 11 Nominees Are…
4. AnieKSteph
8. palinodiae
9. doubleinvert
10. The Rollercoaster Ride of a fairly Boring Life
Woot woot!
Life Lessons from Somebody Else 