Liebster Award

Mina Lobo at Some Dark Romantic,  lillian888, and  Julia Stevenson all tagged me for the Liebster Award.  The rules are simple. 

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to the blogger who presented this award to you.
2. Answer the 11 questions from the nominator, list 11 random facts about yourself and create 11 questions for your nominees.
3. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen. (No tag backs.)
4. Upload the Liebster Award image to your blog.

I'll start with the 11 random facts about myself.  I've been tagged three times, but coming up with 33 facts seems a wee bit difficult.  So I'll just do the 11 and hope no one calls me a cheater.

1. I have a special love for British comedies.
2. I have a TARDIS.  It's only a bank, and it doesn't even hold that much spare change, but I love it anyway!
3. I would love to meet aliens, but somehow I doubt I'll ever get the chance.
4. Summer is my favorite season.
5. I look before I leap.  I used to be more spontaneous, but now I have kids, which motivates me to be a little more careful about things.
6. One of my favorite foods to make is chili.  Though I may be biased, I think I make pretty awesome chili, and it reheats really well.  I think it tastes better as a leftover than it does fresh, and I love that quality in a food.
7. I can never find matching socks.  I think my sock drawer contains a portal to another dimension.
8. Book shopping is way better than shoe shopping!
9. I have a BA in writing and philosophy, so I'm good at arguing.
10. As I write this, my kids are plotting something.  I'm not sure what it is, but it can't be good.
11. I'm a bit of a recluse.  I love travelling and things like that, but I also value the time I can spend by myself.  That's when my best writing gets done.

Now, it's time to answer 33 questions posed to me by three awesome bloggers.  I'll start with Mina's questions.

1. Some movies I love are: Harry Potter (the entire series), Star Trek: First Contact, Contact, Deep Impact, Clerks, and Clerks 2.  There are a lot of movies I enjoy, but this is a small sampling of them.

2. As for music, I groove to: Rock music, be it soft rock or metal or anything in between.  I also enjoy classical music.

3. I rarely miss these TV shows:  Right now, I watch Game of Thrones, Arrow, How I Met Your Mother, and Revolution.  I also need to get caught up on The Big Bang Theory.

4. I hated these foods when I was a kid, but now I heart them: pickles, corn

5. I like to celebrate my loved ones by: Spending time together over a good meal, or going for a good walk together.  The simplest things can be some of the best.

6. Some authors whose every work I will read without fail are:  Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling

7. These colors make me feel great when I wear them: blue, purple, black

8. I'm always up for a game of: Trivial Pursuit

9. My fave treats from that special someone are: Chocolates and coffee.  He knows exactly what kind to get.  Years of practice, I guess.

10. I think it'd be fun to try out this job for a day: Motivational speaker.  I like the idea of inspiring someone.

11. I really liebe: Writing.  That's my main passion in life other than my family.  I also love stargazing.

Now I'll answer the questions given to me by lillian888

What do you like best about blogging?  I love the sense of community.  People can be so supportive.

What’s your happiest memory?  That's a tough one.  The day I married my husband and the days I gave birth to each of our children all stand out.  I also loved my first day of college.  That day felt special because I had the sense that I could do anything.

Where do you want to be in five years? I want to be a successful published author, and I want my family to be happy and healthy.

Favorite animal?  The wombat.  Why?  It has a cool name.  But if we're speaking of domestic animals, I'd have to say I like dogs.

Favorite dessert? Lemon bars.  I love lemon!

Is there anything or anyone you hate?  If yes, why?  If no, why not?  I try not to hate people.  Hatred can be a nasty thing that only wastes precious energy.  One thing I do hate though is the human tendency to look for scapegoats.  When we're worried that things aren't going right, someone always seems to step up to the mantle to blame a certain group of people for everything.  I hate hearing people say "Oh if only we didn't have Muslims" or "The gays are ruining everything" or anything along those lines.  It's mean, shortsighted, and only serves as a distraction so the real issues can go on unsolved.  Yes, each community of people has its bad apples, but each community also has many more who simply want to live their lives with dignity.

What inspires you?  As a writer, I'm open to inspiration from any source.  Still, I find the stars are an infinite source of inspiration for me.

Where is your favorite place in the whole world?  I have a special love for Stonehenge in England, though I've never been there.  I may have to make it a point to go sometime.

What’s more important, justice or mercy? Why?  Wow.  This is a deeply philosophical question, which is just fine with me.  For me, I think justice must by necessity have mercy included in it.  We all make mistakes, and when it comes to the smaller slip ups in life, we should be forgiving.  Life is too short to dwell on bitterness.  (That doesn't mean you should leave yourself open to someone who continually hurts you, though.)  When it comes to the legal system, I don't like the death penalty.  Never have.  My main reason, other than the fact it seems hypocritical to me to say you can't kill someone then have the state do it as punishment,  is that our system is imperfect.  We know innocent people have been executed, and that isn't a mistake you can take back.  A person who spent 20 years in prison can't get those years back either, but if we learn they were wrongly convicted, we can release them and give them a chance at putting their lives back together.

Name three people, living or dead, you’d like to meet.  Neil Gaiman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Carl Sagan.

What is the best thing about being a human being, vs. and animal or an object? The ability to think rationally about the world around us while still being able to unleash our creative side.  I think those two parts of ourselves work well together and create amazing things.

And finally, here are the questions given to me by Julia Stevenson, along with my answers.

1. Are you a coffee drinker or a tea drinker?  Both.  I have to have my morning coffee, and late afternoon coffee.  When I drink tea, it's usually later on in the evening when I'm trying to relax.
2. Do you have any pets?  If so, what?  Not at the moment.  We had lots of pets when I was a kid though.  Mostly dogs and cats.  Even had fish until one of the cats decided to go fishing.
3. How long have you been blogging?  Since January 2012.
4. If you were a super hero, who would you be and why? I would be the The Diplomat.  My super power would be to speak words that would inspire people to strive for peace.  It may sound silly, but I think our world could use a superpower like that. 
5. Name one book/magazine you’ve read lately that really inspired you to do something.  I read an article in a local publication called Toons.  In it, someone wrote a column about becoming a writer.  I found it so inspiring I cut it out and framed it.  HERE's a copy of it available online.
6. If you found a magic lamp and had ONLY three wishes, what would they be?  To become a successful author, to keep my entire family healthy and happy, and to be able to contribute to the general well-being of the world.  Of course, from what I've read of people making three wishes, they always seem to backfire somehow.  I think genies have a wicked sense of humor. Maybe spending an eternity trapped in a lamp makes them desperate for entertainment.
7. Have you ever visited another country?  If so, where?  When I was 17, I got to be a student ambassador.  Over the course of three weeks, I visited Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and France. It was an amazing trip, and I'd love to travel abroad again!
8. Name something that is unusual about you.  My red hair is unusual.  Well, there's a lot unusual about me, but that's one of my more visually apparent oddities, and it's also one that I happen to love!  I just wish my hair would cooperate when I try to do something with it that isn't a ponytail.
9. If you could spend the night in a haunted house, would you?  I'm skeptical about those things, so I would do it in the interest of science.
10. Do you believe in reincarnation?  No, but I think it's a fun idea to play around with in fiction.  I also love that when we die, our bodies break down and the materials that once came together to build us go on to create new things.  I guess that's a form of reincarnation, but certainly not one that maintains a continuation of self.
11. What’s your favorite thing to eat?  A really good spinach and garden green salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, green peppers, and grilled chicken (or ham, or bacon).  A plethora of other vegetables on top would also be acceptable.  Dang it, I'm making myself hungry just writing about it!

Now we get to the point where you truly can call me a cheater.  I'm exhausted after doing all this, so I'm not going to take the time to tag certain people.  If you could, though, take the time to answer one, or several, of the questions in the comments below.  I'd love to learn more about all of you!