The Liebster Award Again~ In Which We Sorta Discuss Aliens And Weird Accents

Hullo, friends!

The lovely Elisha has tagged me for the Liebster Award (thank you muchly, Elisha)! Which I thought I had done a bunch of times but apparently I’ve only done it once…? (Back in 2017, guys, when this blog was nothing but a wee babe).

Huh. Memory doesn’t always work, you know. I should try to remember that.

There were probably rules to this tag at some time or other…at this point all I know is that I am supposed to answer the questions that Elisha provided for me, so that is what I aim to do.

What’s something that made you happy today?

What a good question.

One thing that made me happy today was taking a walk with my sister to the store to get hamburger buns. For one thing, because it was raining, and I like walking in the rain. For another, because of the prospect of eating hamburgers for dinner. And thirdly, because we were talking about writing and our possibly psychotic characters (and probably The Silver Eye, if we’re being honest here), which are pleasing topics.

What books have you re-read the most?

Hm, it’s difficult to keep track…but among them are certainly The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis, and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

The former has been my “official” favorite Narnia book for ages, and the latter was something I greatly enjoyed reading aloud to my siblings back in the day. I read it to them so many times. Oi. So many. We still regularly quote the thing (it’s so quotable, though). The nostalgia is strong with that one.

Do you think aliens exist?

Hm…well, I’m not going to say no?

But I’m not going to say yes either.

I am not a terribly decisive person.

There is so much we don’t know about the universe that God created, and I wouldn’t be too quick to disregard the possibility, I guess?

I just finished reading the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis, and there are a lot of really fascinating concepts in there surrounding this idea. It’s all fantasy, certainly. But fantasy and reality are often more closely linked than we realize. And whether or not aliens exist, they give us something to ponder.

I do think that we have a tendency to put what we think of as ‘realistic’ into a box that it doesn’t actually fit in very well at all. There are things we just assume we know about the world, and it’s so easy to forget that these things are just that: assumptions. Common sense and truth and don’t necessarily line up as often as we imagine that they do.

When it comes to aliens, I guess I don’t really have much of an opinion, except that if they do exist, they are not what anyone is expecting.

(Also, when you say “aliens” I’m assuming you mean “creatures from outer space” rather than, like…foreigners. Because I do think that foreigners exist.)

If you had to travel back in time and permanently live there, what time period would you choose and why?

Um…I don’t want to? I like being right where I am with all my modern comforts and the prospect of leaving all of it behind is somewhat perturbing…

But if I had to, I think I would pick somewhere sort of ancient for some reason? That is rather vague. But honestly I think I would like to live in the time when the Christian church was a new thing. (Who doesn’t want to get eaten by lions, am I right…?)

…On second thought, the printing press hadn’t been invented yet at that point, which is a rather mortifying thought.

Maybe I’d go late 1860s…after the Civil War. But before the World Wars. Yeah. I can maybe have books then, right?

(Questions like these always reveal how woefully ignorant I am about history…and also how shallow I am, hehe. I just want books.)

What are some of the main qualities you value in a good book?

CHARACTERS.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

Always. I need the characters to be compelling and have complicated relationships and usually angst. Whether or not the characters are relatable, I want them to feel like actual humans (or just be delightfully witty and whimsical, that can work too).

I need stories to accurately reflect some portion of reality…you know, just…embody truth (AND YES, THIS APPLIES TO FANTASY DON’T YOU DARE TRY TO TELL ME THAT FANTASY IS NOT TRUE, SON).

Good writing is kind of a big deal for me most of the time. Awkward prose is so painful to struggle through (IT IS TORTURE, I TELL YE).

Endings are also a big deal. They need to be hopeful (or at least leave room for hope). Not necessarily happy. Bittersweet endings are kind of the best, in my opinion.

Charm plays a significant role as well. The feel (or I guess the aesthetic?) of a story is important to me. I like good settings/scenarios/world-building.

Eh, and I guess well-crafted plot should be on here too.

Yeah…um…really I just want the books to be good, and I don’t exactly know how to explain that.

Would you rather be extremely short or extremely tall?

Short, obviously. I am a hobbit, and that is all need be said on the matter.

(But also tall people tend to struggle with back pain? NO THANK YOU. I know tall people, y’all, it’s not joke.)

What motivates you to get out of bed every morning?

Um…the suffocating fear of Failing Life and Proving I’m a Loser by not getting to work on time?? (This is Health, yes?)

What is a unique quality or quirk about you that not many people know about?

Everyone knows everything about me.

I guess one thing is that when I am feeling uncomfortable in a social situation (which is pretty much always) I sometimes inadvertently start talking with some kind of an accent? British, or Southern drawl, or some quasi-Russian/Swedish disaster. I don’t know why this happens? I didn’t even used to notice it until someone pointed it out to me.

Yeah…it kind of just makes things feel more awkward.

Is it OK to ask the genie for infinite wishes?

(No? That’s cheating?)

I mean, sure, I guess it’s OK- but you’re just asking for further Pain and Suffering, that’s all I’m saying. You think you’re going to make really stupendous wishes, DON’T you?? (HA)

I feel like I should get all deep and philosophical here…

But no. It’s not happening today.

What is your favorite kind of weather?

Misting rain with sun peaking through the clouds, after it’s just rained pretty hard. Like when it’s not quite raining but it feels like rain and smells like rain and the light gives everything a magical quality like you’ve stumbled into a fairy world.

*sighs contentedly*

If you could have tea and biscuits with any fictional character, who would it be and why?

I adore fictional characters, but me actually talking to one probably wouldn’t’ go well. Because me talking to people is…a nerve-wracking scenario.

Part of me wants to say someone enigmatic like Attolia from the Queen’s Thief series or wise like Elrond from The Lord of the Rings, so that I might glean understanding and such…but this is me we’re talking about here and characters such as these put me way out of my depth.

It would need to be someone who is not likely to suddenly decide to kill me. Someone friendly and the opposite of intimidating. Someone who loves to talk so that I don’t have to.

Let’s go with Kate Wetherall from The Mysterious Benedict Society. Having tea and biscuits with her would be a blast.

Epilogue

And there you have it. I’m pretty sure at this point I’m supposed to come up with questions and tag people?

But you know me better than that.

(Actually, if you want an adventure, you can track down the questions I came up with in my OG Liebster Award post and answer those for me, because that might be fun.)

Thanks again to Elisha from the tag! I hope my answers were satisfactory. 🙂

What do you think about aliens? Is there a particular time in history you’d like to visit? Have you ever heard someone speak with a quasi-Russian/Swedish accent? I’d love to hear your answers to any of the questions in the comments!