It Also Means Favourite!

Back in the olden days when I first started blogging, I was a little baffled and generally fascinated by the concept of Blogger nominations. It took me a while to realize that these where simply casual tags that bloggers gave each other as a sign of recognition and appreciation and not some formal obligation. This knowledge made them even more attractive to me. I mean imagine if someone just walked up to you some day and said, Dude, I think you’re cool and I want to get to know you better, here’s 11 random questions for you… Ok wait, that sounds kinda creepy. Thant’s not what it’s like.

It’s like someone you hang out with once in a while who tells you, you know we always have a good time together, we should go for a coffee some time. That’s a good feeling! And that’s where I was going with this, nomination/tag posts to me always felt like a casual invitation to hang out with friends and I longed to be part of the gang. When Shoka gave me my first chance to answer one of these, it felt like some concrete confirmation that I was not alone in the bloggerverse. Maybe some of you don’t attach quite the same importance to these – I’m a pretty big dweeb. I always love receiving tags and I make an effort to tag people who I think will appreciate them as much as I do. When in doubt, of course, just tag Shoka.

This said, they can get a bit out of hand pretty quickly. I know that I somehow managed to get a huge backlog without even realizing it. I feel terribly guilty about not having gotten to them yet. I can understand why certain bloggers prefer not to take part, I generally try to respect that and not tag them. Except of course for Shoka.

But enough about Shoka….

 

As difficult as it may be for me to keep up with the tag posts, I know for a fact that for every nomination I get, Karandi gets 10. I suspect she may actually be getting 20 but I don’t have the mad WordPress skills some of you do to spot them all. Kind as she is, Karandi still takes the time to answer questions in the comments but I know she simply doesn’t have the time to edit a complete post every time so when she goes out of her way to not only do so but also tag me, I really have no choice but to respond. Besides, I just wanna.

I usually like to let you guys know a bit about the folks who are kind enough to nominate me but I have a feeling you already know Karandi. Unless this is the very first aniblog post you’ve ever read because it’s your first day in the aniblogging community, but even then. You already know that Karandi manages to post several times every single day and somehow all those posts are incisive and well written. You’ve noticed that following her episodic reviews is just as fun (occasionally more fun) than watching the anime fore yourselves and a great way to keep up with the season even if you can’t watch every single show. You probably saw her countdown announcement a few weeks ago, if you haven’t gotten you copy of the book – now’s your chance. And you know that if you’ve missed one of her posts, you really should remedy that now...

 

RULES

1. Display Award (Official site here)

I did it!!!

2. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.Try to include a little promotion for the person who nominated you.

Didn’t need to, Karandi needs no introduction!!!

3. Answer the 11 questions they’ve written for you.

I will!

4. Nominate 5 – 11 bloggers.

I’ll try!

The Questions:

1.      What is the best place you have travelled to in the last five years and why?

Hmm, I travel a lot for work which means that I get to visit a lot of hotel lobbies and conference halls… Keeping that in mind I would say Amsterdam because there was this tiny restaurant across the street from my Hotel that had this amazing cool atmosphere. Under normal circumstances I may have been a little intimidated to go in there, but I was to pressed for time to go anywhere else and too exhausted to be self-conscious.

I ended up in this artistically lit little room with mismatched furniture, sitting on a green velvet grandma style armchair listening to a live band which was composed of a bass player, a violinist and a flutist, while an unfairly gorgeous and impressively tattooed waiter brought me delicious if difficult to identify veggy dishes of the chef’s choosing. It was fun.

2.      What has been your favourite meal in the last month?

I made some adorably kitty onigiris which I painted with soy sauce. I love a good onigiri and although it’s a very simple meal, I had a blast sharing and eating those cute little cats. It brought a ton of fun to the meal.

3.      Do you cook or do you eat out or does someone cook for you?

I enjoy cooking and do so whenever I can. I am the only one that cooks at home for everyone (including Buddy). This said I do like to treat my sweetheart to a good restaurant once a week . It’s nice to have an evening out and there are some foods I’m not as skilled in preparing. Steak for instance…

4.      What character would you name a pet after?

Izaya for Durarara. Not only do my pets tend to end up with that personality – I bring out the troll in people, but I also think it would be easy to scream when they destroy something!

5.      If you could summon any fictional character into existence (with some hope that they would be loyal to you and that you could somewhat control them and they won’t kill you), who would you summon?

 

Yato….I mean A) god B) cheap date C) knows how to enjoy a drink D)Yato! 

 

6.      What is the best movie you have seen in the last 12 months 

Wow guys – I really.. I don’t know. I need to go to the movies more.

7.      Is there a blog post topic you’ve always wanted to cover but haven’t because you were worried about the reader reaction? 

Ooohhh yeah…. Just to name a couple:

Why is masochism considered the worst/least desirable perversion in anime? It seems to always be associated with the most morally bankrupt characters while much more predatory behavior is freely flaunted in characters that are supposed to be heroes.

Also, when/why did stupid/helpless become attractive instead of pathetic and possessive/aggressive become desirable instead of lame?

8.      Assuming blonde, brown, black, and gray are all off the table, what colour would you dye your hair if forced to change your look

If I can keep the pink I have at the tips, I would go for a rainbow gradient. Otherwise, solid royal blue.

 

9.      What is your favourite Keanu Reeves movie (yeah, weird question, just go with it)?

The Lakehouse because of this:

A tremendously underrated comedy.

10.  If you had the option of being on the first colonising space ship sent to another planet (assuming we knew human life could survive on said planet), would you go?

No. The world we have no is simply wonderful and I have yet to explore all the marvels within! I want you to send pics though.

11.  Who were the last 5 people who commented on one of your posts?

•  Lizzo and I agreed on Canary’s awesomeness!
  
•  Mistress of Yaoi was saddened by the state of the world
• Alexander has mixed feeling about Japanese .cinema
• shaddowcat99 and I tried to figure out different reviewer behavior
• marthaurion confirm I had some tastes in anime

As for my own nominees. Listen, it’s ok if you don’t have the time for this, I will still liebster you but if you want to play!!!

But I would just like to take this post that thank the first five people to follow me who still seem to read my blog from time to time (or even regularly!). You guys have been with me the entire time and I am still here because of that. I’ve thanked you before and really all my thank you posts are for you as well but I would just like to thank you by name this time!

• Lita Kino – Yes that Lita, she was there on day 1 and I am so lucky to have gotten to know her a little.
• Artemis – Started following me a few days later and was my first commenter as such the only indication I had anyone was actually reading anything…
• Karandi – Yup, same Karandi that tagged me, so that’s two more things I have to thank her for!
• Pasta – Sadly Plain Pasta and Plain Rice hasn’t been around lately but until not that long ago I still got likes and comments.
• D – D went off to grad school not so long after I started blogging which makes me happy but also a little sad cause D has an awesome blog. I hope D starts posting again some day.
• Ayano – Kawaii Paper Pandas is still one of my favourite blog names out there and the blog certainly lives up to it!
• Mel– The fact that this blog allowed me to meet Mel has made it more than worth the experience. If you get the chance to speak with Mel – take it.
• TPAB– Apparently The Pantsless Anime Blogger hates his name. I love it. We don’t agree on much. That’s why his blog is so great. That and the fantastic writing of course.
• And last….you guessed it: Shokamoka – no for realz… Thank you Shoka for still putting up with my unrelenting pestering! I only tease because I’m jealous of your talent!
  

Of course you don’t actually have to answer these. It’s symbolic but if you want, I did actually put together some questions. Some of you may have noticed my weird interests lately so these questions won’t surprise you too much.

1.  What the weirdest/best/your favorite search term that led to your blog?
2. What’s the most common tag Suggestions in your WordPress reader? (mine is Sharks???!!??, seriously, Every Single Day)
3. Don’t think about it –  just quick: ship someone
4. Who is the top commenter on your blog (I bet it’s Raistlin)
5. Which anime character would you consider a role model?
6. Why?
7. What do you think is going to happen next week on Yuru Camp, Grancrest and Sanrio boys? (you can just DM me your answer on this one)
8. What is your favorite snack?
9. What’s your favorite drink and can I have the recipe? (no it doesn’t have to be alcoholic, yes you will get extra points if it is, yes I am keeping score!)
10. Do you have any strong feelings on bangs as a hair statement?
11. What color would you like your eyes to be – why?

And now we play the waiting game