Saturday 23 August 2014

11 things


The lovely Suzy nominated me for a Liebster this week, which was perfect timing as I've been really struggling with writer's block recently, so writing nothing more challenging than a list of facts was the perfect excuse to sit down at my laptop.

So, the rules of the award are:
- List 11 random facts about yourself
- Answer 11 questions given to you by the nominator
- Set 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate
- Tag your chosen bloggers and wait to read their answers

11 Random Facts About Me
1. I think that One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful is the best pop song of a generation.  Closely followed by Kiss You by, yep, One Direction.
2. I need everything on the coffee table to be at right angles, otherwise I feel uncomfortable.
3. Pertaining to #2, The Boy wooed me by putting the beer mats at right angles to the table when we were on our second date.  I have subsequently been disappointed that this did not point to an equally obsessive tidiness around the house.
4. My guilty pleasure is reading trashy mags when I get my hair cut.
5. My Twitter & blog handle comes from a Jungle Brothers song: 90s hip hop rules!
6. I'm terrified of heights.  Or, more precisely, I'm terrified of falling from a height.
7. My mum is deaf, so I have basic BSL (British Sign Language) skills.
8. I'm naturally blonde but have been dying my hair for 20 years.
9. My current most over-used word is "idiot".
10. My middle name is Elizabeth.  I much prefer it to my first name.
11. I hate orange sweets and love red ones.  My perfect match would, in theory, be someone who loves the orange ones and hates the red, but I couldn't ever truly respect someone who's so wrong about life.

Suzy asked me 11 questions, which were...

1) If you could only choose to do one item from your bucket list, which would it be?
This one is easy-peasy -  I'd go back to university to study for an MA in Gender Studies followed by a PhD.
2) What makes a good blog, in your opinion?
Writing about real life, both the good and the bad.  Very little, or no, sponsored content.  Pretty photos.  
3) Where is your favourite place to be on a rainy, Sunday afternoon?
In bed, under the duvet, in a nest of pillows and surrounded by books, with a cup of tea, some cake and The Boy curled up next to me.  Oh, and 6 Music on the radio (I miss Huey on Sunday afternoons though, Saturday morning is always too manic for me to listen to the whole show).
4) If you could meet up with any blogger, who would it be and why?
I feel really lucky that in the past year I've met most of the bloggers who I was really keen to get to know.  Can I cheat and say I'd like to meet Sarah again?  She lives in Aberdeen, basically as far as you can get from Leicester and still be in the UK, so all we've managed so far is 2 hours in Glasgow.  But I also feel like I'd have a lot to chat about with Andrea and with Suzy, so them too.
5) Best book you’ve ever read?
That's an utterly impossible question to answer!  The closest I've got was narrowing it down to 32(!) for a recent #52lists post.  But as I missed I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith off the list, I'll go with that.
6) Are you a gambler or a take the money kind of person?
Definitely not a gambler, I'm massively risk-averse.
7) Which actor would play you in a biopic of your life?
Oh crikey, I dunno.  She's not an actress, but The Boy says comedian Issy Suttie reminds him of me (I don't see it myself), and my step-mum used to say that Dani Harmer (she played Tracey Beaker on CBBC) looked like me, but I don't see that either!
8) What do you get up to when nobody is around/when nobody’s watching?
I talk to myself.
9) If you could choose one talent to possess that you don’t already have, what would it be?
I'd love to be able to draw, if only to stop my pupils laughing at my terrible attempts when I demonstrate something on the whiteboard.
10) What is an interesting fact about the town/city you live in?
We had a king buried under a car park for 600 years, and no-one knew.  Well, ok, it wasn't a car park for most of those 600 years, but still...
11) What is the last thing you do before you go to sleep at night?
I take the medication that stops me clenching my jaw, say goodnight and slaap lekker to The Boy, then pop my earplugs in.

I was going to nominate Amy of Fluffy Owl's Adventures, but she's just today put up a Liebster post.  So instead, I'll throw these over to some of the people who appear in the Blogs I Love tab at the top of the page: Sarah, Laura, E & B, The Girl, Louise and Elise.

My questions are:
1. Why did you start blogging?
2. What post are you most proud of?
3. What's your favourite thing about blogging?
4. And a least favourite?
5. Important matters now: what's your favourite colour of sweet?
4. And what's your least favourite?
5. What is your favourite flower?
6. Did you have a favourite dressing up outfit as a child (or, indeed, as an adult)?
7. Zayn or Harry?
8. What was your best holiday, and why?
9. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
10. What's your favourite Christmas tradition?
11. Do you have a nickname?

22 comments:

  1. Ah, thanks for the nomination anyway! That's lovely to read. And YES to going back to university and undertaking a PhD - yesyesyes! I guess it's a matter of time, money, availability, work, life etc? Red sweets are the best sweets. Always. I love reading lists like this, it's great to find out more about people.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Time, money being the major ones! Thomas and I have a sort-of-agreement that when he becomes a highly paid academic (a contradiction in terms, I know!) then I can give up my job and go back to university.

      Delete
  2. I AM IN TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH FACT NUMBER ONE. I am regualry mocked for the fact that I listen to both of those songs (a bit too) regularly. X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I swear, nothing else makes me happy like they do. For all the 'cool' indie, rock and alternative music on my iPod, I'd really rather just listen to those two songs. So go on, Zayn or Harry?!

      Delete
  3. Love this, and completely agree with number 2. Getting really sick of reading blogs that are just lists of things they'd like companies to send them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know lots of people who bemoan the current state of blogging but who respond to it by saying, "maybe I won't bother with it any more". When actually, I'm desperate for people who actually write interesting, non-sponsored stuff to carry on. They're all the more important now. I'm so glad there's bloggers like you out there who write from-the-heart stuff, not just, "this is something I've been sent, innit nice?"

      Delete
  4. Hurray, I also need a kick start with my blogging so look forward to answering these!

    I Capture the Castle is brilliant. Also, I love Isy Suttie... and I never realised you were a natural blonde! (Like Claire Danes in fact, I watched Romeo + Juliet again last night and read that she wore a wig for it, how bizarre..sorry, gone off on a tangent!) x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fun fact: I dyed my hair red to emulate Claire Danes in My So Called Life. Worked for me when I was 16, working for me now I'm 36!

      Delete
  5. Yes, we definitely need to meet again - and let's bring Andrea along, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. YES, ME TOO!!! Still annoyed that I missed you all by 24 hours last time :/

      Delete
    2. Next time I'm up in Glagow I'll let you know in advance so we can all plan something. Looks like it will be early 2015 though, so long to wait!

      Delete
  6. Loved reading your answers to these. I also love to read trashy mags when I get my hair cut, and I talk to myself (or inanimate objects) when no one else is around. 'What Makes You Beautiful' is indeed a brilliant pop song but I always feel I shouldn't like it, which is really twattish - an attitude that's a throwback to the days when I was too cool for mainstream pop music. Guess I've never grown up in that respect :P

    You're right about the current state of blogging too, I've debated stopping many times because I don't want to be a part of that sponsored world. Until it occurred to me just to keep going as I am. I don't pull in hundreds of readers, but I'd rather have the faithful handful that I have, than hundreds who just follow me for vouchers or money off codes or whatever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, please don't stop blogging! Like you say, I like having my faithful gang of readers and proving that you can remain unsponsored and still write good content.

      Haha, it's funny how similar we are - that's why I named you as a blogger I want to meet, I'm sure we'd find plenty to talk about (even if it is just why What Makes You Beautiful is the perfect pop song!)

      Delete
  7. One Direction, finally someone who agrees! Their music is so much better than people think it is. And wow, you're a natural blonde? I did not expect that whatsoever! This colour looks so good on you (which you probably know yourself aswell, otherwise you would'nt dye it this colour..).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, and even after 20 years of dying it my mum still asks me when I'm going back to my natural colour!

      Delete
  8. Haha, noooo to One Direction! Everybody knows that the best pop song of our generation is Hit Me Baby One More Time ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you'd said Toxic, maybe we could have come to some agreement ;)

      Delete
  9. Zayn. I had hoped one day that I would find the reference to your blog handle, I don't know it but now at least I can look it up, yeaaah. Also " I have subsequently been disappointed that this did not point to an equally obsessive tidiness around the house." - heh.

    I really like blogs like these of people who I have been following for a while but don't know that much about. Even those who I have been following for yeeaars, it throws up new things, the kind of obvious points that someone who knows you might take for granted as a given, but you forget what people you've never met don't yet know. Good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right answer! I don't know if it's because he's a Bradford boy like me (well, I'm not a boy but you get my meaning) but there's just something about Zayn!

      Delete
  10. Thanks for entertaining my nomination of you :) Gender studies for the win by the way - it's never too late! Best thing I ever did haha. Ahhh I'd love to meet up with you, we'll have to sort out somewhere in the middle or something :) xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thomas and I have hatched a plan that, once he gets a highly paid academic job (ha!) then I can pack in teaching for a while and go back to uni. Now just to find him said highly paid academic job...!

      Delete
  11. Rudely forgot to say thankyou for your nomination! You might notice we've finally got round to responding...! See you soon, E&B x

    ReplyDelete