Liebster Award - four months after the fact...

As I said on Facebook, I'm in the middle of a two-week post-Praxis pre-semester break, and I'm attempting to fulfill four months worth of delayed promises and put-off projects in two weeks. This is one of those projects…

Back in September, Brother No. 2 (see here) handed me these questions as part of the Liebster Award. I'm pretty sure it's a fictional award built on a foundation of "let's come up with a random award, give it to folks nobody has ever heard of, and consider ourselves cool," but whatevs. I filled out the questions anyway!

This is what his blog says about it:

This is an award given to up-and-coming bloggers with under 200 followers.  You are nominated by a fellow blogger, and once you accept the award, you do the following in a post:

Answer the 11 questions that the nominator gives you.

Post 11 facts about yourself.

Nominate a few other bloggers for this award.

Make up 11 questions for those bloggers to answer.

Thank your nominator, and let your nominees know that they've been nominated by you.

This is what I'm actually going to do about it (i.e., answer the questions and let my 2 readers consider themselves nominated as well…)

Also, I'm posting this without editing it. Shocking, I know... I'll edit it later… maybe…

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I know children are supposed to dream about being a ballerina or a fireman, and believe me, I had those dreams, but my true desire—my one and only desire—was to be an astronaut. I loved the stars when I was younger, and I still love them now. I'll wake up at 4 a.m. and watch meteor showers. I'll dance around in childlike glee if I see a shooting star. I drove across the boonies of Utah a few days ago and almost cried because I was so happy to see the stars. I think they're the most beautiful things God ever created.

So naturally, you combine my love of stars with my love of Star Wars and the like (Space Camp remains one of my favorite—albeit thoroughly romanticized—memories of my 27 years here), and becoming an astronaut is the obvious choice. But when I told my mom I wanted to be an astronaut, she said, "You can't be an astronaut because I don't want you to get blown up." And then when I realized that astronauts need to understand math, I thought, "Hmmm… better not…"

Mayo or Miracle Whip?

I know people get all fired up about this subject, but I truly don't know the difference between them. I could taste one or the other and be like, "This is Mayo. No, wait, this is Miracle Whip. No, hold on…" Just stick whichever on my sandwich or in my tuna fish—as long as somebody else is cooking, I'm happy to eat anything.

If you were a ninja and the ninja suit company was out of black ninja suit fabric, what color would your ninja suit be?

I'd like to come up with a clever color or something here, but my entire closet is blue, so let's be honest—the suit would definitely be blue. Practical? Probably not. But it's just a fact.

What is your favorite quote? Why?

I've got a number of them that I pull out at appropriate times. The one I use most often is courtesy of Tom Clancy: "If you don't write it down, it never happened." That applies to story ideas, my things-to-do list, important memories, and about a million other things.

Other quotes:

Jeremy Clarkson: "Small talk's really easy, Hammond. You just be interested in somebody else."

Richard Hammond: "That's where it falls down, you see."

Ah, the truth that is disseminated on the BBC's "Top Gear"… And that's why I say that despite being a car program, "Top Gear" is still one of the best shows ever created.

John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

This was my go-to comfort when I was cowering under my covers during many a thunderstorm as a child.

D&C 6:34 - "Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail."

Sometimes I look around at the world and think, "How can I bring children into this awful place? How can I convince them to follow the standards of the gospel when so many things will be attacking them for it?" This is my comfort scripture.

"Stand here and look big" - Grandma H.

It comes from our days herding cows at the farm, but I also see it as another way of saying, "Fake it 'til you make it."

"Don't take yourself out" - Mom

I was told this back in my high school drill team days when I would purposely take myself out of the drill down competition. I hated having all those eyes on me, and I would drop out of the competition despite not having made any mistakes. In my first drill down competition after I decided to follow this advice, I won. A couple of weeks later, I became the 3A state drill down champion. Good advice, Mom!

Favorite TV show of all time? Why?

Of all time? That's a hard question… "Sherlock"? "Top Gear"? "Chuck"? "I Dream of Jeannie"? "Sabrina the Teenage Witch"? "Person of Interest"? "Being Human"? "White Collar"? "Ghost Hunters"?

TV shows all come and they go, but "Hogan's Heroes" holds a special place in my heart. My college roommates laughed and laughed at me for it, but that 1960s show was serious, funny, charming, witty, historical, unhistorical, clean, and enjoyable all at the same time. Dad got the DVD for Christmas a few years ago, and it wasn't long before I had watched them all, and then purchased all the sets for myself.

Also, the episodes are only half an hour long. Does anybody else mourn the loss of the 30-minute TV show?

Did you read "Choose Your Own Adventure" books as a child? If so, did your adventure always end up with you dying?

Didn't read them, probably because they weren't worth any Accelerated Reader points… My entire middle school experience was spent reading AR books, because (1) I want to win the bike or stereo at the end of the school year for having the most points, and (2) I wanted to hold the school records for having the most points in 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade. I managed to do just that, by the way… Bam! Take that, other students!

Accelerated Reader really was a fantastic program, though, because it meant that I read a lot of classic novels I wouldn't have read otherwise.

What is your favorite book?

"The Ordinary Princess." See here!

Favorite way to waste time?

Depends on how much time I have to waste… I tend to get sucked into YouTube pretty darn easily—sometimes it disgusts me how easily, really… Wasting time for me equals watching movies in the background while I sculpt, or make jewelry, or clean, or do some other sort of craft project. I also enjoy sleeping. A lot.

Favorite Disney princess?

Belle, no question. I always loved Belle because she felt like she didn't fit in, and in my childhood, (when I obviously did fit in and dramatically thought that I didn't), I felt like she and I had a lot in common. Also, that's one of the most gorgeous Disney movies. Also, she loves to read, and I love to read, which connected us.

Biggest irrational fear of your childhood?

Being eaten by bears. Also, thunderstorms. But the bears thing… Ah, how seriously I took that…

Whenever we'd go camping, I'd be the one freaking out if I heard noises outside the camper or tent. I'd also freak out if food wasn't stored properly. I vaguely remember a trip to Yellowstone when Dad and some other folks went snowmobiling, and I was convinced—CONVINCED—that we'd never see them again because bears were standing outside and waiting to eat them.

They didn't get eaten, by the way...

Brother No. 4—now I can stop feeling guilty that I haven't done this after I promised I would! My conscience can finally rest easy about one more thing...

To quote "Ghost Hunters" — "On to the next!"