Stop! It’s Liebster Time!

I’m not usually one to participate in chain letters or “random things about you” memes in social media, but I really like the Liebster Award meme that is going around in blog circles, because it does allow us to learn a little more about people in our community. Zyngor recently got his Liebster nomination from Fredelas, and Zyngor in turn nominated Tomeoric and anybody else that wants to join in the Liebster fun. So I’m going to nominate a handful of blogs at the end of this post – read on to see if you were nominated!

First, 10 Factoids about me:

1. I love animals of all sorts. Growing up our family had 2 dogs, a cat, hamsters, and a rabbit, but I was always catching other critters in the woods behind our house: turtles, snakes, bugs, etc. The snakes were always fun, my mother wouldn’t let them in the house for obvious reasons. The biggest one that I ever handled was a black snake about 2 inches in diameter and 7 feet long. I was 9.
2. However, I’m deathly afraid of spiders. I will not touch a spider ever. Ever. I prefer to use blowtorches on them if at all possible. Or 2x4s. 😉
3. I was homeschooled for 12 years. The first day that I ever stepped foot in an actual classroom was my first day of college.
4. When I was 5 I won a bubble-gum blowing contest on-stage with Dolly Parton at Dollywood in East Tennessee. 15 years later I met Dolly Parton again while interning at Dollywood’s business office. She was a doll – she’s exactly as she comes across in the media. I still love blowing the biggest bubbles possible and popping them loud enough to rattle my brain.
5. The scariest movie I remember was Return to Oz. That was a freaky movie for a little kid. Seriously. A witch that can change heads and those crazy wheelers? I had nightmares for weeks. I love watching it for nostalgia purposes now.
6. Hidden Talents: Sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, floral design. My first job was at a fabric/craft store. I learned how to do pretty much everything and taught classes. My current retirement plan is to go back to teaching classes again.
7. I first learned to game when I was 3 and my aunt taught me how to play Pole Position on the Atari 2600 with a joystick. There are a LOT of girl gamers in our family, starting with my aunt and on to myself and several of my cousins. We’re already teaching the next generation of girls. 😉
8. I play the fiddle (badly) and the piano (badly). I tried to learn percussion for a while as well, at this point I’m pretty sure that I have zero instrumental talent.
9. But I can sing. My voice is a deep alto with a “blue-eyed soul” flair, like Adele or Joss Stone. Throw on some old-school bluesy or jazzy soul music and I can rock it. I’m painfully shy though, so I only ever sing to myself. Such is life.
10. I’m too sweet and nice and people tend to take advantage of that. I also have a wicked and sarcastic sense of humor that I usually keep a lid on. It always surprises people when I let it out because they have no idea that I think that way.

Now on to the questions that Zyngor posed!

1. Tell us a game (computer, console, board, outdoor) that almost always makes you happy while playing, regardless of outcome.

Animal Crossing. I’ve played each one since the original came out for the Nintendo Game Cube years ago. The gameplay isn’t super-deep, but it’s incredibly happy and the music is sooo relaxing. It always makes me happy to see all the little townsfolk trading shirts, catching bugs, and fishing.

2) If you had one choice of food to solely eat for the rest of your life, regardless of normal dietary needs, what would it be?

Good homemade lasagna. It’s my favorite thing ever.

3) Which piece of gaming equipment started off your hobby?

Technically my aunt’s Atari, but I think it’s also worth mentioning that about a year or so later, my parents bought a Commodore 64. We played games on that and I even started doing some rudimentary programming on that old system. Then another year or two later, we got an NES and that was my first “real” gaming system.

4) What is your favorite soda? Or, other drink?

For soda, I like a 50/50 mix of Coke and Diet Coke. My favorite drink though is a Starbucks Raspberry Mocha Frappucino.

5) If you were to travel across country, would you prefer to go by plane, train, or automobile? Steve Martin or John Candy?

I’d be open to any of the above, but train would be awesome. You’d get to see some of the country while relaxing the whole way. Steve Martin is funnier as far as stand up goes, but I bet John Candy would provide better conversation, so John Candy.

6) Right or left Twix?

Right. Always right.

7) Name a strength of yours that helps define your online persona.

Probably the aforementioned niceness with the wicked sense of humor. I’m typically looser with my thoughts (and tongue) on Twitter than I am in real life, so I guess who I am online is closer than the “real life” me, oddly enough.

8) Which two combined gaming genres strikes your fancy the most? Ie Action & RPG, FPS & Strategy… go wild.

Sandbox Survival and MMO. Now wait, I know you’re thinking that Sandbox Survival MMOs exist. And they do to an extent, but what I’m thinking of has only ever come to actual fruition in Wurm Online. A massively multiplayer persistent world where players get to stake their claim on an area and have to build/create everything needed to survive, but with far more depth than Minecraft. It’s a combo that doesn’t currently have a lot of options – either theoverly simplistic Minecraft or the overly punishing Wurm Online. I’d like something in the middle.
9) Do you even ranch, bro?

Ranch dressing? Sure. I guess?
10) If your life were a meme, what would the tagline read?

“Just be you. Everybody else is taken.”

11) Which movie character/hero would you like to be, and why?

Oh man… definitely Dylan Sanders from the 2000 movie Charlie’s Angels. This is why:

Now as for my nominations, I nominate Aywren, Gryph, Ysharros, and YOU! If you haven’t been specifically nominated but want to participate, absolutely go for it! My questions to you are:

1. What was the last movie you went to? What did you think?
2. What would you change about yourself if you could?
3. What would you sing at Karaoke night?
4. Who is your favorite author?
5. List two pet peeves.
6. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
7. What three items would you take with you on a deserted island?
8. What song would you say best sums you up?
9. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
10. What is the best gift you have been given?