Liebster?

I have never heard of this thing before. I think someone made it up. But it looks like fun, and really, aren't all awards made up? Haha.

I wasn't intending to do a second blog today, but I was just sitting here, watching Grey's Anatomy online, and it needed to buffer, so I paused it and decided to check blogs. Then I see one that Kylee posted, and I've won an award! If you want to learn the specific details about it, you're just going to have to go to her page and read about it. Basically, it's a way to share blogs and find out more about the blogger. Someone nominates you, and you tell 11 random facts about yourself, then answer 11 questions that the person who nominated you asks, and then you nominate 11 other people. Because it's for small blogs, you're only supposed to pick people who have less than 200 followers.


So, let's begin with my random facts.

1- I want to write a story. I hope it turns out to be a trilogy, actually. It's got a solid plot, characters, titles, the whole deal. I'm just developing it a little more, and then I'll start writing it. I really think it could be a best seller; it's probably the best idea I've ever had for a story.

2- My top two favorite movies are 21 and Footloose (the new version, but I'd probably like the old one a lot, too). They both involve things I wish I could do with my life-- counting cards and dancing.

3- My top two favorite bands are Rise Against and the Flobots. I love the things they sing about, and I like thinking that I could make a difference in the world. I love that the lyrics to their songs mean something-- they aren't singing about glitter and partying and which seat to take. They actually believe they can change the world with their music. And you know, I believe they can, too.

4- I used to play Sims all the time, so now I constantly think in terms of Sims. If I'm not in a good mood, I think about the 10 basic needs (energy, hunger, hygiene...) I would have as a Sim and see which of them I currently have a low meter for. The more complicated Sims gets, the more I relate it to real life. So I recently decided that, if I were a Sim, my aspirations would center around knowledge (versus popularity, family, money, or romance). This development comes from Sims 2.

5- I love foreign languages. All of them. I wish I could study and be fluent in them all. Except Spanish-- I never got into that one, but I really think I should give it another try. I started off trying to learn to speak Italian, and then I moved on to French. After that I went to Chinese, and next semester I'm looking at ASL.

6- I love a good tragic ending to my books/movies. I actually wrote a paper my first semester of college about why tragic endings are better than happy endings. It's a really solid paper, too. Maybe I'll post it later.

7- Airplanes are actually not my favorite. I don't have a fear of heights or crashing or anything. But I do have a strong aversion to throwing up. I've never thrown up on an airplane, or in an airport, for that matter. In fact, I usually don't even feel like I'll be sick, except sometimes when the decent starts. But I hate that feeling so much that I would rather just avoid it completely and drive.

8- I love driving. Especially manuals. I like shifting from one gear to the next, and knowing how to work the clutch. I hated learning to drive, that was incredibly frustrating, but now, I'm proud that I learned to drive on a clutch, and a particularly tricky one, at that. I intend to torture my children and make them learn on a clutch as well.

9- When I was in 10th grade (which was the best year of my high school life), my math teacher was mentioned (outside of class) that if she were going to let her kids play a card game during math, it would definitely be poker because that's all about math. So for the next couple months, my and 3 of my best friends (who were all in my math class, and we all sat next to each other) would play poker... Strip poker. Haha. That was when I started wearing extra layers, and I also sometimes wore shorts underneath my pants, just so I could stand up and take off my pants in the middle of class. It sadly drew no attention. At all. Which was weird, we were in the middle of a lecture, and no one noticed. Not even the teacher.

10- I once thought it would be cool if I wrote in a journal, and then I'd give it to my kids when they turned a significant age. I think 17, actually, which was when I started writing in this journal. I actually got a really good beginning out of it, but then for one of the entries I was going to do this test thing from a book that's supposed to help you find out about yourself and what kind of person you are. There was this one question that I didn't want to think about at the time, so I set it aside, and I have never gone back. I would feel silly going back now-- it's been at least two years since I even looked at it last.

11- I love science. I like learning about the world and how it works. I like looking at the stars and having some idea of what they are and how far away they are. I like to look at plants and know that they're alive and made up of cells and what those cells look like. I like that these things have been discovered and that, as we try to learn more about life, we raise more questions than we could possibly answer, but our picture is still clearer today than it was yesterday. I really think science is one of the best things to have ever happened.
But I read a quote recently that I really hate. It said that if something terrible happened so that everything written suddenly were wiped from the world-- including electronically written things-- science would again be discovered. It would take a while, but we'd find out about elements and cells and atoms. We'd rediscover everything. Which is all fine and dandy. But then, the person speaking guaranteed that the "silly story about a talking snake" would never be remembered.
I'm LDS, and proud of it. In fact, one of my favorite things about science and my religion is that they aren't mutually exclusive. I think they go hand in hand, actually. I never leave any sort of science class or lecture and feel like I have less faith or like I'm not as close to God-- in fact it has the opposite effect. I don't expect everyone to believe what I do, but it bothers me when other people try to make me feel stupid or bad for believing in God and the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I mean, what am I hurting them by believing what I do? They can believe whatever they want, and it doesn't offend me, until they try to tell me I'm dumb because I don't think the exact same way they do.


Woo. That last one was long. Sorry. Haha. Anyway, here's Kylee's 11 questions for me.

1- What do you do when no one else is around?
I usually play the piano and practice songs that I don't feel like I'm good enough at yet to play in public. I also sing and dance to the radio.

2- Favorite book?
I love Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card). That's been my favorite since March, 2008. But Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson) is up really high. One of those two would be my favorite. And then close after those would probably be His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman).

3- Do you have to put your socks and shoes on in a particular order?
Socks first, then shoes. Always. Ha, I'm so funny... No, usually I put my right sock or shoe on first, then left, but it's not something that freaks me out if I do the other order.

4- A recent embarrassing moment?
Hm. Honestly, the last embarrassing thing that I can remember is not even very recent. Nor is it that embarrassing. But I mean, I turned red haha. I was in gen chem lab, and we were sterilizing a crucible by heating it over a flame, and then we weren't allowed to touch it with our hands, or else we'd get oils on it. So when I went to move it (with tongs) over to the powder we were putting in it, I dropped it. It fell to the floor and shattered. Dr. Ball came over and he and my lab partner made fun of me a little for dropping it, and I felt really dumb. Thankfully, someone else dropped theirs when they were almost done with the experiment, so I felt better haha.

5- Do you still have any of your childhood toys, blankets, etc?
Nope, not so much. I don't really have a thing for keeping my old stuff. I donate it to Good Will or give it away to other people. I would probably throw away all those "About Me" papers from when I was in elementary school if they were in my possession. But they're not, and that's probably a good reason why.

6- Would you rather be in pictures or taking them?
I guess I'd rather be in them. I prefer the kind of picture that captures a memory (versus one that's trying to be artistic and of a flower or dragonfly), so I'd rather be a part of that memory, but I usually want whoever's behind the camera to be in the picture as well.

7- First kiss?
Haha. It's a sad story. I was sitting with this kid that I used to date, but he still liked me, and at the time, I thought I liked him again. We kissed, and it was probably the most terrible thing that I experienced up to that point in my life-- which is saying something because not two months earlier I had been in that ATV accident. I pretended like it was a good kiss, but it was just the one, and I left immediately afterward, and stopped talking to him for a good week after that. Yep. I actually stopped being that guy's friend at all about a year later.

8- If you could be the opposite gender for a day, what would you do?
I can't say this is something I've considered before... Pee standing? Dress up like a douche bag, but then walk around the Orchard holding open doors for people?

9- Why are there so many songs about rainbows?
To be able to feel a connection to rainbows. To feel the rainbow connection, if you will.

10- What's your perfect weather?
I love the snow. Nice wet snow, that you can use to make snowmen and igloos, and snowballs, and sled on! Then you go inside and drink hot chocolate and watch a movie. So our weather the past couple days has been pretty ideal.

11- Ever been stung by a bee/ wasp/ other creature?
Nope, sure haven't. And I've gone to great lengths to keep it that way. Once, while running away from a wasp, I accidentally pushed a friend closer to it. And this friend actually does have a bee allergy. Haha. I'm awesome.


Alrighty. So my 11 people:
MJ (faux-red)
Kate (kateandlukeswensen)
Mom (hidden-mouseketeer)
Hm. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's more of you I want to nominate, but I'm trying to be realistic as to who will actually do it. And I find my list as it is pretty sketchy.
But let's just say that if you're mentioned on this list or in my side list of Blogs of People Who Are Not Me, or if I've commented on your blog in the past two months, then I nominate you for the Liebster Award.

And my 11 questions for everyone to answer:
1- What is your favorite season?
2- Why did you choose the URL you have set for your blog?
3- What is the worst injury you've ever gotten?
4- If you were stuck on a desert island, what 5 books would you bring (no boat-building or survival books)?
5- What type of music do you listen to?
6- What do you think the most important quality in a friend is?
7- If you had the opportunity to leave Earth and travel to another habitable planet, would you?
8- If you had to quit the job you have now (or the job you've had most recently) and pick a new career path, what would you choose?
9- Which modern-day luxury (cell phone, computer, car, etc) would you choose to get rid of permanently?
10- What is your favorite fruit?
11- How many cars have you owned?