The Sunshine Blogger Award Tag

 

Greetings.

I have been tagged with the Sunshine Blogger blog tag, tagged as "blog tags", as you can see below this post in my blog's tags. Thank you kindly, Ariel, for passing it my way once more. I award you the award for awarding people with awards.

Tag Rules:

~ Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog. 

~ Answer all the eleven questions sent by the person who nominated you. 

~ Nominate eleven new blogs to receive the award and write them eleven new questions. 

~ List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your blog post. (I cannot be bothered for the latter presently. I will hopefully update this post some day and add the graphic.)

Questions from Ariel

What's your favorite song at the moment? Why do you like it?

It would likely be shanty "The Wellerman Come," as I've listened to many a cover of it and find myself singing it constantly. 

As for why do I like it, I'm always fond of a ballad. Songs to covey emotion are great, but songs that tell a story are my favorite. And this one always has a strong and free attitude to its sound which pairs with its story very nicely. 

Favorite book at the moment?

I don't know what I would've answered literal moments ago, but having just peeked at my older posts I found my one regarding The Last Dragon/The Last Elf by Silvana de Mari. And once again, my adoration and affection has been claimed by that darling book. 

It is perhaps my all-time favorite book. There's so much to love about it, and I miss reading it dearly (for I have lost my copy). 

If you were sucked into the world of your current WIP, what would you do? How would you make a living? Which characters would you get to know?

Ah, Ariel's slipping in world building into a tag, isn't she? XD 

If I were sucked into the world of "Roslyn," I would probably find my hope sinking faster than an anvil in water. Assuming, that is, that I would be sucked into the world as it is during my WIP and not before or after. Aside from that, the only other thing I think I would do is [spoiler] and stalk my characters as they go on their adventure.

To make a living, I would have to heavily rely on my knowledge of this world and the people within it to coax my way into odd jobs here and there. That wouldn't work often, but it would so that I could survive. Possible. Likely not. But there's a chance. 

For what characters I would get to know, probably my antagonist. He's a curious fellow, and strangely he and I are in agreement on some things. It would be very interesting to interact with him and see him actually doing the things that he does. 

What book is top on your TBR right now and why?

I have many fighting for that place at present, and unfortunately none of them are the ones I own. 

The Dragon Within by Melody Jackson and Mirage by Miranda Marie hold sentimental priority, as those authors are two of my favorites and those books mentioned are the only books of either that I haven't read yet. 

Sing To Me Of Rain by E.B. Dawson holds the top of my TBR for anticipated releases because it sounds and looks like an amazing book. 

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini is top for books that I already own because it's huge and seeing the giant stack of books sitting on top of my desk every night as I fall asleep, knowing they are unread, is intimidating. I am currently reading Eragon and not making great progress, but it is my hope that as the books progress, I get more engrossed with them. 

What subjects are you fascinated with these days? What's the latest fun fact you've learned on that topic?

I've been looking at sword stuff (though that's not really anything new) and author stuff, and learned that a sword Brandon Sanderson uses in one of his books is inaccurately made as a long sword, and more important that Sanderson new it was inaccurate but that his agent or editor (I forget which) made him change it because apparently using words that readers know is more important than being accurate.

If you could go to any three places in the world, where would you go and in what order? What activities would be on your "must-do" list?

Assuming I get to stay for a while, Ireland is priority. There I would volunteer to work at Mossy Bottom for a time, expose the countryside, and though I'm not at all a fan of alcohol, I'd have to spend some time in a pub (it's Ireland, after all). Not drinking, but sitting in a dark corner and observing everything like I'm Aragorn in the Prancing Pony, until the loud noises scare me away. 

Next would be Egypt, but not just anywhere in Egypt. You said "anywhere in the world," so I'm going in and under the Sphinx, exploring the covered place before its paws and slipping under the holes along its sides, and getting to see inside the figure itself without breaking that seal on its head. I want to know what's in it, and by use of this strange magic that is letting me go anywhere, I will just poof inside and poof back out once I'm done. 

Now for the last one I'm torn between Peru and Mexico for other archaeological reasons, and will thus instead choose neither because I can't decide. So instead I choose the underwater forest of somewhere. I don't know where it is, but it's beautiful and I want to see it by myself (with the proper equipment, lest I drown). 

If you could do anything with your hair for a day and have it go back to normal the next day, what would you do?

Well I'd have it turn into a fish and walk about freaking people out, of course. Or perhaps I'd turn it to water, still connected to my head of course, that stays in one form and floats around and all. That would be cool. Oh oh oh, it would also be cool to have all of my hair replaces with flowers, styled in a bob with the buds and blossoms all facing outwards. 

However, if you want me to choose something possible, I would make my hair as long as Rapunzel's and braid it up like hers and see if, by use of many braids and tugging and tightening, I can make it the same length she had it when she'd gotten it braided. 

Once that experiment was done, I suppose I'd just cut it all off and donate it, assuming that the hair on my head goes back to normal the next day, and the seventy-something feet of hair that I've cut off will not cease to exist. 

What's your favorite tea? (Or coffee, if you're a weirdo who likes that bitter bean water.) 

Oh dear, are you trying to offend the Americans and Ethiopians? Tsk tsk. 

But to answer your question, it depends entierly on the type of tea. 

For black, Twinning's Irish Breakfast is my favorite. 

For white, passionfruit is my favorite.

For herbal, peppermint. 

For fruit, lemon ginger or peace ginger. Apple cinnamon is also could, but I must use heaps of sugar for that one so I usually reserve it for special fall nights. 

If you were to grow one type of plant, what plant would you choose?

Oh, I do not like this question. There are very many good and important plants. Hm. To answer this, allow me to tell you a story which took place three years back. 

I was crammed in a vehicle with several peers as we were traveling. These peers were not people that I particularly liked or disliked. They were just other humans. 

One way or the author, someone was talking about aloe vera. It may have even been me. Then a lad kept asking questions about aloe vera, such as "can you eat aloe vera?" "can you drink aloe vera?" "can you swim in aloe vera?"

To which I, having knowledge of the plant, replied "yes but it's not going to do much good for you," "technically, you could, if you scrape out the goop," and "I do not know. I suppose you might be able to with enough goop and liquid from the plants." 

Then he and another boy began discussing ways of using aloe vera to end world hunger. Some scheme involving dropping cats strapped with the plants off an airplane (using grocery sacks of parachutes) over  Africa so that the cats would (I am assuming, this was not specified) deliver the plants to starving people once they landed. 

When you keep that all in mind, these lads raised some fair possibilities. Given that you can eat aloe vera, that it has medicinal purposes, that (being a plant) it retains liquid, and that it is a hearty plant which produces more plants rather quickly depending on how you care for it, I cannot think of a plant that would be better to have for practicality. 

Your thoughts on dancing?

It is a quaint activity, especially when done in ballrooms and when taking the form of a group dance, it is a wonderful way to bring a community of people together to have good fun which isn't related to any of the great offendable subjects, and it is well for encouraging affection, even if one's partner is barely tolerable. 

In other forms, such as ballet and various styles and performance types, it is an art and fun thing which I admire and would quite like to do, but alas, cannot. 

What's your favorite Summer activity?

Reading outside during sunset. Sitting in a tree. Reading while sitting in the tree during sunet. Complaining about the humidity. Gardening.  Camping and hiking are wonderful as well, but those I'd prefer to do in Spring and Fall. 

Oh, I also enjoy inflating the giant llama unicorn that sprays water and that is affectionately named "Gandalf" so that I may watch my nieces (and my nephew, once he is old enough) play in it. And perhaps play in it a little myself.  

Mostly, anything that I can do while sitting on my porch as the sunsets is a good activity.

Eleven new questions for those who I have tagged: 

~ What is an unpopular bookish opinion of yours?

~ How do you feel about receiving and sending hand written letters? 

~ If you could swap places with anyone in the book community (reviewers, bloggers, writers, authors, etc.) for a day who would it be with and why?

~ What is your most anticipated book release of this year?

~ If you could bring back any trend from the past and implement it in our culture for the present to the foreseeable future, what trend would it be? 

~ You have to pick one of your least favorite songs to play at your funeral. What song do you pick?

~ What blog have you been following the longest? 

~ Name a indie song, book, and/or movie that you enjoyed. 

~ Would you eat a live worm if it meant you would get an endless supply of gummy worms afterwards? 

~ What is one thing someone has dong "For The Aesthetic" that you was incredibly ridiculous? 

~ How do you organize your books? ("I don't" is a perfectly fine answer.)

Nominees:

Mary from Wild Writing Dreams 

Miranda from Virtual Paper

Julia from Julia's Creative Corner 

Julia from LitAflame 

Anyone who cares to participate 

((Yeah I'm not tagging all eleven people. And I'm not actually going to tell these people that I'm tagging them, either. Not because I'm lazy (though I am) but because bloggers get swamped with tags fairly often. If you are one of the bloggers that I tagged and you just so happened to see this post, congrats, you've been tagged!)) 

 Well, that's the end of it the tag. Now that that's done, have you ever noticed that the tags always refer to the tag-ees as nominees? And the tag is called an award? So you're nominated someone for an award, but how do you actually win the award? There's been thousands upon thousands of people "nominated", and some of us have been nominated several times, so do we stand a better chance than others of winning the actual award? What is the actual award? When will we know if we've won it? 

I imagine that at the end of the world, when all has turned dystopian and smoke randomly emits from the earth for aesthetic, everyone wears gas masks, modern electricity as we know it has ended and been destroyed yet we still have some technological advances, a voice will randomly say over a loudspeaker (there is a world-wide intercom system, you see) the name of the winner of the Sunshine, Liebster, and other such awards. Then the voice, distorted and monotone will say "your prize will be delivered to you within forty-eight hours."

The winner will wait in suspense. All gas-mask covered faces, all lifeless eyes, will turn to them. The world will hold its breath to see what the long-forgotten nominations they'd received throughout their internet life could have won them. Jealousy and curiosity will mingle, but no one will attempt to pry the award from this fortunate soul, whatever it may be. No, they have to much respect for the years and years of unknown anticipation. The great and terrible prize - whatever it may be - will be the victor's alone. 

An hour passes. Ten. Twenty. Forty-seven. 

The vvm-vvm-vvm-vm of a spinning helicopter - a rusted and ruined device barely managing to stay in the air - can be heard over the ignorant simplicity of radioactive birds' song. The helicopter comes to hover over the victor. A rope ladder - oh prehistoric wonders that remain even so far into the future - is dropped, uncoiling itself, reaching out to the victor. 

The victor tentatively closes their hand around it. They climb up a few of the twisting rungs. The ladder is lifted into the helicopter as unseen hands pull it in. All people watch, their necks craned upwards as the victor disappears inside. 

The flying vehicle sputters. It drops a bit. it lifts more. Then it turns, heading a distance off, higher and higher while all watch. And then? Then, my dear losing nominee, the helicopter self destructs, and we unfortunate losers of this award are left in the misery that is the future while the victor finally gets to rest. 

Or something like that. Who knows. 

Anyways. I hope you enjoyed the post despite the fact that I haven't bothered to edit it. Have a great day. Remember to come back on July 1st for a fantasy trilogy giveaway. 

    Regards,

                        - E.P.