To Love and to Leibster

First of all, if you see a lot of random font sizing and styles, it's because Blogger is possessed. I tried to fix it, I really did...

Recently, my fellow special needs mom blogger Joy at icansaymama nominated me for a Liebster Award. Joy writes about the ups and downs of figuring out life with a special needs kiddo. If you haven't checked her out, do! 

As proof of just how out of touch I am, and how maybe I'm not cut out for fame and fortune in an electronic medium, I had no idea what the Liebster Award was. The Great-and-All-Knowing Interwebs tell me that The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than [   ] (insert number here--some places say 200 some say 3000, either way, I qualify) followers.  Apparently Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.  I don't speak German, so that could be a bold-faced lie. The rules vary widely (something I plan to totally take advantage of), but Joy tells me that I should:

1. Answer 11 questions posed by the blogger bestowing the honor

2. Post 11 random facts about yourself
3. Pass the award along to 11 additional fellow bloggers
4. Pose a set of 11 questions to those bloggers

1. Which is the first song on your playlist? It depends on the day. Lately it's "Good Riddance" by Green Day.  Not a bad song for big changes. And, yes, I know I'm old. I teach college kids, so you don't need to remind me.

2. Do you like to shop online or do you prefer to shop "offline"? I like to shop online. Beats shopping with three kids any day. Though, if I am being totally honest, the problem isn't the kids. It's the fact that my spouse looks at every purchase as a potentially life-altering decision that must be approached with the utmost care and consideration. Try dealing with that with three kids in tow. 

3. Are you a talented singer?  Emphatically, no. At least according to my kids who desperately beg politely ask me to stop.

4. Do you like sports? If so, what do you enjoy watching or doing the most? I like playing sports--basketball and tennis are my favorite though I am much older and slower than I used to be, and I'm pretty sure the college kids in the gym expect me to shake my cane at them at any moment.

5. Who is your favourite actor/actress and why? Hmmmm...Proof again that I am lame and not terribly in touch with that new-fangled moving picture thing.

6. Which is your favourite drink? Diet coke. Sorry.

7. Are you superstitious? Nope. Though when I was a high school athlete we all were. 

8. Name something you are really bad at. Anything remotely artistic and balancing the check book (does anyone even do this anymore?).

9. Name something you are really good at.  There must be something, but all I can think of is "writing a dissertation," which, face it, is not a terribly transferrable skill. Besides, I'm not actually good at it. I just don't have to do it anymore, which gives me the same warm and fuzzy feeling I used to have when I was actually good at things.

10. What is your favourite thing about blogging? Being able to write creatively and to tell all the stories that have been rattling around in my head.

11. What is your worst habit? See number 6.

And 11 random facts:

1. People often assume I'm part Japanese due to my hair color and affinity for Japanese culture. I'm not, but I purposely took my husband's name to confuse nosy-bodies.

2. I once rode a bike 50 miles through the mountains for pizza.

3. As a kid, I thought my middle name was Lid instead of Lynn. I argued at length with my mom when she tried to correct me. Lid made perfect sense since I loved jelly and jelly had a lid. Lynn was ridiculous. I mean, come on, that doesn't mean anything.

4. I have no idea what I am doing.

5. I once locked my brother and his unsuspecting college roommate in the storage shed in a totally (I swear) unpremeditated act of revenge for the until-that-very-moment-suppressed memory of him locking me in the bathroom 10 years before while he ate my portion of the pizza just outside the door.

6. I'm the youngest of four, which may explain a lot.

7. My husband and I met at a hospital in rural Japan. We were both patients (so don't get all Grey's Anatomy on me).

8. I swore I'd never marry a Japanese man.

9. The first time I went to Japan as a high school student, I was so homesick, I cried everyday. To help me feel "more at home," my host mom woke me up at the crack of dawn, so I could listen to the English lesson on the radio. This did nothing to help my homesickness, but even today, I can remember the key phrase that was repeated on the show each morning: "It's winter now in New Zealand, you know?"

10. I feel very ambivalent about blogging. I mean, I really want you to read my stories, but I'm mortified to think people might actually try to glean practical advice from my posts.

11.  I miss bread and ice cream, but since the kids are GFCF, I don't have the heart to eat that stuff (at least not at home).

11 7 Bloggers (that's more than half of 11 and two more than five, which is what the other rules I read said)

Punchdrunkmom 

Abstract Lucas
Slimegreen.me

It Takes Wisdom to Know the Difference
Don't Chew on the Dinner Table
Woman on Pause
Ken, In a Tractor

1. What's your favorite TV show?
2. Which app do you wish existed but doesn't?
3. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
4. With which cartoon character do you most identify?
5. Which is worse, cooking or cleaning?
6.  What's your favorite book?
7. What's your earliest memory?
8. Do you like roller coasters (literally, not figuratively)?
9. Are you good in math?
10. What is your pet peeve?
11. Why do you blog?

Please put a link to your response in the comments! Thanks.