I am very flattered to have been nominated for a Liebster Award this year by the wonderful obscura at Ancient Armitage. Thanks, obscura! My ego is feeling properly warm and fuzzy, just the way I like to close out a year.
The Liebster Award is a form of blogger-to-blogger recognition for blogs with fewer than 1000 followers. Or 200. Or 3000. The specific rules seem to be different depending on where you look, but the point is that it’s a way for one blogger to show some love to another and hopefully drive a little traffic to some excellent blogs you may not have discovered yet. As obscura is the one who nominated me, it seems sensible to go by her rules:
- Thank the person who nominated you and link their blog into your post.
- Answer 11 questions which you have been asked by the nominating blogger.
- Nominate 5 to 11 other bloggers who have less than 1.000 followers.
- Add a new list of 11 questions for the nominated bloggers.
- Paste these rules into your post.
- Make sure your nominees know about your post and their nomination.
These are obscura’s questions to me, and my answers:
- As an homage to my home state: What is your favorite dairy product (or non dairy version for the lactose intolerant/vegan)
I. love. cheese. I don’t know if it’s the lurking influence of my French ancestry, but I love any all cheeses (well, with the exception of blue cheeses. I just can’t do the mold thing.) The smellier, the better. Big fan of the creamy cheeses like Brie and Camembert. I had an absolutely amazing chêvre recently with a sort of blueberry compote on top. Swiss is best for sandwiches, I think. Sharp Irish Cheddar, yum. Ricotta – magic cheese. But my favorite has to be Comté. The first time I had it was in the city of Montbéliard in Franche-Comté, at a farmer’s stand in the Christmas market, surrounded by snow and carols and the spirit of the season. It doesn’t get any better than that.
The only problem is… in adulthood I’ve developed an allergy to casein, the protein in dairy. So these days I have to make my cheese-consumption decisions very carefully, with the consequences in mind.
- Richard Armitage: Beard, Stubble, Freshly Shaven???
Freshly-shaven, which I know is not his natural state. 😉 Failing that, the stubble is nice to look at. I just wouldn’t want it against my face, if you know what I’m saying.
- For the writers and readers…how do you take your fan fiction? Sweet and fluffy, hot and spicy or all points in between?
Weeeeeeell, I’m not a big fanfic person. On the infrequent occasions when I do read/write it, it’s usually to fill in any gaps left by the source material, which means genfic and also means I don’t have any need for it at all if the source media wrapped things up satisfactorily. There was only one thing ever that really sent me down the fanfiction rabbit hole of needing to imagine everything more about the universe. So what I’m saying is that I don’t typically read for stories that are either sweet and fluffy or hot and spicy, because I’m not usually reading for romance.
But there have been exceptions when I’ve read/written all kinds. It depends on what kind of story feels right for the character/s, I suppose.
- If you could live anywhere in the world (supporting yourself being a given) where would you choose? Why?
I would very much like to live abroad, at least for a while. I’d love to give Bretagne a try – and it would make me have to relearn all the French I’ve forgotten since school. Somewhere in Ireland for a bit, for sure. I think I’d also enjoy the U.S. East Coast. Boston, perhaps. Eventually, I’m nearly 100% certain that I would like to settle down in Portland.
- What is your favorite artistic genre (medium?)…Favorite piece therein?
Going to have to be boring and say that I love all artistic genres/ media. It’s really truly the truth, though. I’ve always been – well, it would probably be a little pretentious to claim to be a Renaissance Woman, but I have always aspired to that and I’m a dabbler in as many arts as I can get my hands on. I love seeing other people explore the art they have to share, love seeing the world reflected back by other visions that are different to mine. I just freaking love art and all products of human creativity.
- What film remake would you really love to see Richard Armitage star in?
To Kill a Mockingbird. Richard as Atticus Finch – need I say more?
- What’s your favorite way to spend an unexpected free day?
Doing absolutely nothing. Preferably in a stunning, cool, forested, outdoor setting next to some moving water, though that’s not really possible where I live.
- Richard Armitage recently tweeted that eating (cheesy potato dish I can’t remember the name of at the moment) will change your life. What is your life changing food?
The best thing I ever ate wasn’t a single dish, it was an entire meal at a French wedding in 2007 that opened my eyes to the limitations of my American culinary upbringing. We Americans have a very guilt-based relationship with food; in France, food is simply a no-nonsense element of daily life but also a source of unmitigated joy. They love food: love talking about it, love planning it, love acquiring ingredients for it, love executing it with the utmost care, and above all they love eating it. Love was in everything I ate at that dinner, and it was mind-blowing.
- Beer, wine or “I never touch the stuff”?
I never touch the stuff.
- What is your guiltiest guilty pleasure (outside of fandom…I’m not sure I want to classify that as a *guilty* pleasure 🙂 )
This is a tough one because I’ve been trying to cultivate a healthier attitude lately about allowing myself the things that give me pleasure, instead of feeling guilty about them. Because actually I’ve spent most of my adulthood feeling like any time I’m enjoying myself, it’s probably at the cost of something I should be doing, and let’s be real, that’s a horrible way to go through life. (And I think a lot of women do.)
But just so I don’t leave a non-answer, I will confess that I laugh when bad things happen to people I don’t like. That’s a pleasure I should feel guilty about. But I laugh first. 😉
- What musical instruments do you play? (Kazoo *is* an instrument!)
These old pipes of mine *gesturing vaguely at vocal cords* and, very inexpertly, the piano. I tried my hand at the viola for a few years when I was much younger, but I was kind of terrible. Couldn’t get the hang of vibrato. One day I think I’d really love to pick up the alto sax. I have this fantasy of playing at a late night jazz club. Or maybe lounging across a piano while singing at a late night jazz club. Basically I have this rich inner life where I’m actually 1000% cooler than I am in my real life and hang out with people who are 1000% even cooler than that.
Thank you again for the nod, obscura. I certainly look forward to continuing to read your blog in the new year.
My Liebster nominees (and really I just wanted to tell you that I love reading your blogs; no pressure to get in on this if it isn’t your thing):
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to answer these questions:
- What is your favorite book, and why do you love it?
- What book did you chuck across the room (or want to chuck across the room) because it was so terrible?
- What common word or expression drives you up the wall every time you hear it?
- If you could live with any kind of pet, assuming as given all of the necessary permits, supplies, housing, training, cleaning crew, etc. to make it happen, what animal would that be?
- Ideal vacation: go.
- Where do you come down on the all-important chocolate vs. vanilla question?
- What musical instruments do you, or would you like to play?
- Do you think dolls are cute or creepy?
- What particular smell never fails to evoke a specific fond memory for you?
- Have you ever cosplayed, or would you ever? As what?
- Do you think you would have made a dashing pirate, and what would your pirate name have been?
Autistic Wordpainter 
Thanks so much for the nomination! I was actually already nominated once, but I’m humbled by this. Many thanks 😀
I have learned such interesting things about some of the people I’ve come to admire! As to “inappropro” laughter…my sister! When my bestie took a tumble down some stairs on a trip I was laughing so hard I could hardly ask if she was ok (she dislocated her thumb and broke a rib!) I felt horrible the whole time, but I just couldn’t stop…then she started too – what a pair!!
I’m very flattered by the nomination, but I decline, with regrets. (If I’d have accepted anyone’s nomination, though, it would have been yours. I really am flattered.) My favorite book in English, however, is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, with Pedro Páramo (Spanish) probably my favorite book in Spanish. If I’d have known that a historical novel could be the amazing reflection on time, memory and death that Wolf Hall is, I’d never have gone to grad school.