Friday, January 6, 2017

The Sunshine Blogger Award

Thanks for tagging me, Lara! :) This looks like tons of fun. The rules are: 1. Answer the eleven questions and 2. Ask eleven questions for the people you tag to answer. The theme is sunshine and happiness, so obviously I have to jump in, because who doesn't love sunshine and happiness?


1. Who's your least favourite character EVER? Describe - in detail - what it is that makes you hate them so much. "They're just the worst" or something similar is not acceptable (What? I thought you guys already knew about my bossiness!)

Holden Caulfield.

He drives me crazy.

The worst part is he's not even someone I can hate. He's not a villain. He's not even particularly despicable. So I can't love to hate him. But I can't love him, either. So I just had to read The Catcher in the Rye in its entirety and grind my teeth the whole time. Holden complained way too much. He was whiny and apathetic about almost everything. Anytime an opportunity was presented to him or he was offered help in some way, he turned it down. If he had truly been in a terrible situation that he couldn't fix, I would've been fine with the complaining. But he had options! I'm fine with a little teenage angst in any book, but he personified the kind of angst I can't stand.

2. Do you have any yellow/orange books? What do you want to tell me about them?

I thought I would own more yellow books seeing as my favorite color is yellow, my room is yellow, and pretty much anything that is primarily yellow jumps out at me. But I only own two orange books.


They're not even my favorite covers, but looking at any of my favorite books makes me warm and fuzzy.

3. What does reading smell like to you?

Hot chocolate and the pages of a mass market paperback book.

4. How often do you have doubts about being a blogger?

I don't think I've ever had doubts about being a blogger. It's just a part of who I am now. Doubts about the content I put on my blog is a different story, though. I choose carefully what parts of my writing I share, especially when I'm sharing something from a first draft. But I think that's normal for any blogger to have doubts about something.

5. Where would a book have to be set for you to pick it up immediately, no questions asked?

Hogwarts. ;)

But anything set in London, Paris, or someplace like a library is usually really interesting. Fantasy worlds are always fun, too.

6. What's your reading speed? Do you like it that way, or would you rather it was faster/slower?

It always depends on the book and what else is happening in my life, but I'm pretty average when it comes to reading speeds. I can get a 300-400 page book done in about a week. When it's a shorter book and I really love it, I'll get it done even faster. Sometimes the length doesn't matter because I want to savor a book rather than blaze through it. I guess it all really depends. In general I wish I were even faster because that would mean I could read more books in a shorter amount of time, but I'm okay where I am.

7. Tell me about a quote you can write down almost word for word without looking it up (almost everyone's got one, I reckon). What does it mean to you? What's made you remember it so clearly?

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." It's nothing grand and it's probably not even the best opening line ever, but I love it. I've heard it so many times when listening to the audio that when I remember it, I hear it with Jim Dale's exact inflection. Every Harry Potter quote feels like home to me.

8. At what time of year are you happiest?

April (around my birthday,) summertime (especially during my writer's camps), November (during NaNoWriMo), and December (pretty much all month with Christmas excitement).

9. What childhood toy do you have the fondest memories of?

This one's easy. I have a stuffed cat named Menedy (rhymes with Kennedy) that used to be white but is now gray, used to be able to hold her head up on her own but now flops around, and used to be fluffy but now feels like fuzzy socks that have gotten washed too many times. She's really old. Probably thirteen or fourteen-years-old now. Menedy went with me everywhere I went for years. One time I left her at the library and cried the whole way we drove back because I was scared someone was going to pick up that ratty cat and keep her for themselves. Pick up any Calvin and Hobbes comic and that was me at six-years-old with Menedy, only with a little less mischief and a little more reading.

10. How do you feel about school? What is/was it like for you? Love it or hate it?

I love school! I'm homeschooled, so I've never had the normal classroom experience (except for recently with my college classes, but that's nowhere near the same as middle school or high school), but I've always loved learning. Well, I tolerate math and science, but I love history and English and reading and homework. I like getting good grades and scores on tests. I like writing essays. What else would you expect from a Ravenclaw?

11. If you could change one thing about your blog without having to do it yourself, what would it be?

Maybe the design. I've had the same background on my blog ever since I started it, but I'm too scared to mess with it. Anytime I try to do something tech-y I end up spending hours on it and inevitably I screw it up somehow and have to undo all of my messes. I wouldn't want to risk messing with anything on my blog that could accidentally delete important files or something like that. But it would be cool to change my look sometime.

I tag . . .

Nevillegirl
Boquinha
Dr. Mark
Siths and Jedis
Carly
Rain
Selena

Even if you weren't tagged, feel free to steal this tag for yourself!

My questions:

1. What song never fails to put you in a good mood? Do you have any memories associated with it?
2. What's your favorite comfort food?
3. What TV show (or a specific episode from a TV show) makes you laugh the hardest?
4. If you could only read books from one author for the rest of your life, which author would you choose?
5. Do you prefer to read when it's sunny out or raining/snowing?
6. Cats or dogs? Why?
7. Do you have any posters in your room? What are they?
8. What's your favorite audiobook?
9. What are your top three favorite colors and what do you associate them with?
10. What's one of your favorite diverse books?
11. Which animal perfectly (or as close to perfect as you can get) represents you and why?


8 comments:

Selena said...

I always love reading these tags because they're so fun and let you know a lot more about people.

Now that I think about it... yellow books don't seem to be all that common. They should be though because bright colors always grab my attention :) I didn't have any experience with public schooling either until I took some dual-enrollment classes at a community college so I completely feel your bigger workload. etc. It was a lot for me to get used to and handle. I'm glad you're liking it so much!

Thanks for the tag too! ^^ Your questions are so original and I haven't done a tag in aaages. Which needs to quickly be remedied because they're my favorite.

Jimmy said...


1. What song never fails to put you in a good mood? Do you have any memories associated with it? Man in the Mirror. Reminds me of my freshman year at BYU which was a lot of fun.
2. What's your favorite comfort food? I have so many. Probably chicken enchiladas with red chile from Frontier by UNM.
3. What TV show (or a specific episode from a TV show) makes you laugh the hardest? Lately American Housewife has been fun to watch with the family. I still watch reruns of Dharma and Greg and see that I have some Greg and some Dharma in me.
4. If you could only read books from one author for the rest of your life, which author would you choose? Philip Roth. Not all of his books are great, but they are all good. And his great ones--I can't stop thinking about them.
5. Do you prefer to read when it's sunny out or raining/snowing? Raining or snowing probably. If I can be active outdoors, I prefer that over reading.
6. Cats or dogs? Why? Dogs. Because I'm super allergic to cats. But I don't hate cats.
7. Do you have any posters in your room? What are they? Well I don't now. Through the years I've hung posters of the UNM Lobos football, basketball, and soccer teams in my office.
8. What's your favorite audiobook? I've listened to one audio book my entire life. Which is odd, because I love podcasts. But anyway, that one wasn't necessarily my favorite because I can't even remember the title.
9. What are your top three favorite colors and what do you associate them with? Yellow--May daughter Eva and energy and sunshine. Eva's favorite color is yellow and if you knew her spunky personality, you'd see why. Blue--because I love the ocean and the calm of blue. White. Hmm. I don't know. I just like white. It looks neat and clean.
10. What's one of your favorite diverse books? Diverse? I guess I'd have to go with The Orphan Master's Son. I learned so much about North Korea from that book. Am I thinking about diverse in the right way? Like diversity in cultures?
11. Which animal perfectly (or as close to perfect as you can get) represents you and why? Dolphins. They are playful and intelligent and fun and kind of show-offy sometimes.

The Magic Violinist said...

@Selena

Me, too! I'm a sucker for Q&A type posts.

They really aren't. I see lots of blues and browns and more neutral colors. How cool would it be to have more books with colors like yellow and lime green?

It's definitely been a good lesson in not procrastinating and balancing fun with the work. But I've loved it. :) My new classes start this Tuesday.

You're welcome! Hopefully you have fun with it. I'm glad you're blogging more. I've missed you!

@Jimmy

Mmm, that sounds delicious. I rarely get sick of Mexican food.

I think I'd be pretty torn on reading weather, because it's nice to be outside and warm, but getting cozy with a blanket is fun, too. It could also depend on the kind of book you read.

Hehe, same here with cats and dogs. I wish I could've been allergic to frogs or something rather than cute, fluffy animals.

Audiobooks seem to be getting a lot better when it comes to quality. I've read a few great ones in the past couple years.

Yellow's my favorite, too! :) Ooh, I don't think I've ever seen white as one of someone's favorite colors. It is nice, though.

Yeah, I'd count (and most people usually do) diverse books as books with a protagonist (or a major character with their own point of view) who is in a minority of some kind (whether it's race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.). So that definitely counts! :)

Great answers!

Boquinha said...

I love your answer to #7. That gif at the end is kinda creepy. And it's funny how we keep noticing yellow books now (Cursed Child, Carry On, Secret Life of Bees, etc.).

I'm going to do your tag here in the comments. :)

1. What song never fails to put you in a good mood? Do you have any memories associated with it?

Nearly any pop 80's song can do this to me. I especially love the Go-Gos and Wilson Phillips and anything upbeat that reminds me of summertime.

2. What's your favorite comfort food?

Sushi. And Mexican food.

3. What TV show (or a specific episode from a TV show) makes you laugh the hardest?

Gilmore Girls, Friends, Freaks and Geeks all come to mind.

4. If you could only read books from one author for the rest of your life, which author would you choose?

Yikes. That's a rough question. Harumph. JK Rowling? Rainbow Rowell? Oooh. Oooh. I know. Kate Foley. :)

5. Do you prefer to read when it's sunny out or raining/snowing?

Rainy/snowy, I think.

6. Cats or dogs? Why? Dogs. I think they have way more personality and spunk than cats. Plus, I'm allergic to cats.

7. Do you have any posters in your room? What are they?

Yes, as a matter of fact. Okay, well maybe not posters in the traditional sense, but we have a lot of baseball stuff up in our room, which I think is super cool.

8. What's your favorite audiobook?

All the Harry Potter books. I'm also really enjoying "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah.

9. What are your top three favorite colors and what do you associate them with?

Blue, because it's my favorite - like Jimmy, I associate it with the ocean and calmness. Yellow, because it makes me think of sunshine and you. And purple makes me happy, too. It was my favorite color as a little girl and I even got to do my room in purple/lavender.

10. What's one of your favorite diverse books?

I've probably learned the most from "Nine Parts of Desire" - a non-fiction book about women and sexuality from all around the Middle East. Also, "Fun Home" and "Are You My Mother?" are definite stand-out books for me in this area.

11. Which animal perfectly (or as close to perfect as you can get) represents you and why?

I love Jimmy's answer for this, by the way. Um, I don't know if I can pick one. A puppy represents me when I'm all happy and spunky and energetic. A sloth represents me when I'm feeling chill and mellow (and I honestly wish I could be more like a sloth sometimes - more chill and less in a rush, you know? I've gotten better over the years). Elephants are so so sweet and I think I can be, too. And monkeys are kind of mischievous and I'm definitely that as well. Apparently, I'm a whole freaking zoo.

Boquinha said...

Oh! And add "squirrel" to the animal list. And take this added-on "oooh shiny" comment as evidence as to why.

Boquinha said...

Whole. Freaking. Zoo.

The Magic Violinist said...

@Boquinha

Hehe, I predicted a lot of these answers. I knew about purple being a color you liked, but I'd forgotten until you mentioned it again. Our top three colors are almost the same! I knew #4 would be a hard question. I'm sure it drives lots of bookworms crazy.

Yeah, I can definitely see a squirrel being a good answer for you. ;P Although a zoo is pretty good, too.

andrea chiu said...
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