POST FROM THE DEVIL ORDERS TAKEOUT

Three Blogging Awards

The incomparable Heather Hufford from Sometimes I'm A Story nominated me for three blogging awards, so first of all, a HUGE thank you to Heather! Go check out her blog, where her updates are frequent, insightful, and incredibly helpful.

The Rules:
♥ Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
♥ List the rules and display the award.
♥ Add 7 facts about yourself.
♥ Nominate 15 other bloggers.
♥ Follow on blogger the person who nominated you

Facts about me:
  1. I sleep at 9:30. Failing that, 10 pm. Failing that, I'm obviously on Twitter or Tumblr.
  2. I've burnt my fringe in a Bunsen burner before.
  3. I'm taking English Literature, Chinese Language & Literature, Maths (sigh), Economics, Chemistry, and Biology in my preparatory year for IB. (Hey, they didn't have to be interesting facts.)
  4. I'm from Hong Kong and detest that in Hollywood, we're either a centre for mafia or triad operations, or just smashed up (re: Transformers).
  5. I hate maths.
  6. I listen to very, very few songs; I generally prefer instrumentals. But I'm on 8tracks and trying to change that.
  7. I'm an aspiring novelist, writing on Figment and currently working on a project you can glimpse here :D 

Best Blogging Buddies Award

The Rules:
☼You must make a post to show your award on your main blog.
☼You must tag the person who nominated you in your post.
☼You must nominate all of your best buddies, and those whom you want to become best buddies with, who, to your knowledge, have not been nominated for this award.
☼You must ask your buddies at least 15 questions in your post.
☼You must answer all of the questions your buddies ask you on your post.

Who is your favorite author?

Oh my goodness. This is hard. Right now, probably George R. R. Martin, because A Song of Ice and Fire is pure divine awesomeness. Politics and conspiracy and DRAGONS and ice zombies and prophesies, what more can you ask?

If you could meet three people (dead, alive, fictional, etc.) who would you meet?

Future me, which I'll assume is categorised under "etc." I'm really curious how I'll turn out, and I'm willing to kill the cat. Because I'm not a cat. Then Christina from fairy skeletons, who was probably the first internet friend to encourage my writing and blogging, and I'd really love to meet her in real life. And I'd really, really love to meet all the interviewees from World War Z, but if I had to pick one, I'd go with Sensei Tomonaga Ijiro, the blind Japanese ... uh, awesome sensei. Really, I can't define him better than that because he is sheer perfection. "We might be facing 50 million monsters, but those monsters would be facing the gods."

Have you ever written a book?

Yes! I haven't published it, granted, but I've finished Shadowplay, a novel about a politician's rise to dictatorship against a backdrop of civil war and betrayal and intrigue and assassins. Okay, one assassin. But still. And I'm now working on Winner Takes All, a novel about how a peasant girl makes the climb to queen regnant in a world segregated by social convention more than blood. A sneak peek is available here, and I'm still looking for beta readers, so do let me know if you're interested!

What are your top five favorite blogs?

Um, Heather, you know you're on that list, right? Anyways: Heather @ SIAS, Christina @ fairy skeletons, Sam @ Her Inklings, Topaz Winters, and Rona @ It's Rona. Actually, there are like so many more, but these five come to mind straightaway.

Would you rather read an eBook or a paper book?

Paper! Nothing beats the feel of the edges or the smell of ink and paper. That said, I have a Kindle and am not conservative with my purchases.

Do you spend more time reading or writing?

I spend more time doing homework, but within this week probably more reading. But since for Sept-Oct I was chugging away at my WIP one hour per day, every day, for that period it would be more writing. Really depends on what I'm working on. 

Has a book ever made you cry?

... No. I can haz all teh FEELS, but tears don't come to me easily.

Have you ever read a book in another language (other than your mother tongue)?

Haha, I'm bilingual (English and Chinese), so I can immediately say yes since I feel English is my mother tongue and Chinese teachers adore pillow-thick novels.

What is your least favorite fairy tale?

... That's so hard. Um. Ummmmm. Probably Red Riding Hood. The entire story felt really weird to me for some reason. But it's still fun to play with.

Have you ever broken a bone?

My own? No. Other people's? ... I reserve the right to remain silent.

Do you see yourself blogging in the future?

How do you define future? I've got blog posts lined up till the New Year. (On a more serious note, definitely. Blogging's become so much more fun in this year, since I'm learning how to actually connect with readers and other bloggers.)

Who used to read you books when you were little?

... No one? My mum isn't very good at English, and I only liked English books, and my dad worked late at the hostpital, so I read myself books? Or listened to cassette tapes?

Do you belong to any fandoms?

YES! Sherlock, Star Wars, A Song of Ice and Fire, Marvel, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings.

How many books are you reading right now? What are they?

I normally actually read books one at a time. I'm reading the Silmarillion right now, and I really really really want a Christopher Lee voiceover. It's amazing read out but I don't really have the voice for grand, majestic prose.

To whom do you recommend your favorite books?

... I don't recommend favourite books normally? Although I do review books occasionally at Literoses.

Questions for nominees:
  1. Imagine a door. Any door. Describe it?
  2. Pick up the book nearest to you and read the fifth sentence on page seventy-six.
  3. What's your favourite colour? What's the nearest object to you that is this colour?
  4. Which is your favourite literary character?
  5. Subject you're taking that you hate most?
  6. When did you sleep last night?
  7. The most amazing thing that's happened to you in the last week?
  8. Who's in your profile photo? If it's yourself, what's special about this photo?
  9. Favourite OTP ever?
  10. Which fandom are you not in but you admire a lot?
  11. Favourite fairytale from a country your parents/grandparents/known ancestors were from?
  12. What do you find lacking in your life?
  13. What are you going to do in the next five minutes, other than answering these questions?
  14. What's the one thing you want to change in the world?
  15. Freeform — tell us anything you want to say.

The Rules:
♥ Thank the person who nominated you.
♥ Leave a link to their page.
♥ Give a brief story about how you started blogging, and share some tips.
♥ Nominate 15 other bloggers
♥ Notify your nominees by email or comment

How I started blogging:

It's ... sort of embarrassing, but also very brief. Essentially, I started to write, and thought, "Well, a blog's good for that, right?" After a while, I realised that wasn't working and started to share tidbits of my life. Since I'm a generally snarky person, this means a lot of my blog series are snark-based. And then I met a lot of awesome people — whom I'm not naming here but instead nominating in a moment — and this thing started to work. Yeah. That's it. My life is not very scintillating.

Tips
  • Remove the Captcha function from comments! It's really annoying to do that, and I've received only a couple of spam comments ever since I disabled it.
  • Don't just ramble, have some sort of point you're driving towards. Lists are great for this.
  • Reach out into social media with your blog! Twitter, Tumblr, or even other blog memes are great for this. Participation is central!
  • Don't just be a blogger — be a reader. 
Okay, and now drumroll please for these amazing people I nominate for all three of these awards:
Not quite fifteen, I know, but these people are all incomparably lovely and you should check them out. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on my answers; I reply to all comments and would love to start chatting!

8 comments:

  1. I love all your answers. Especially the ones about fandom material, because apparently we share quite a few fictional loves. XD But, seriously, I love these because we get to see an interesting side of you we might not otherwise see... Also, watching people in other countries on the Internet is fun.

    (I mean that in a completely non-creepy way.)

    (And watching is a strong word. Maybe 'observing' is a better one.)

    Also, thanks for the shout out! It's always gratifying to know people enjoy what I write. :D

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    1. *checks walls for hidden cameras* I totally know what you mean though. Especially since Thanksgiving just happened, and I'm just looking at turkeys and sales and being confused. And of course I enjoy your blog posts -- they're super interesting and informative!

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  2. Okay, before I say anything, can I please just ask: WHY AM I NOT RECEIVING EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS WHEN YOU POST?! Seriously, I knew I was bad at technology, but I think your blog hates me. I've signed up for your mailing list three times now and it still isn't working. Grrrr. :P

    But anyway, on a slightly happier note: thank you so, so much for your lovely words! I'm blown away that I'm one of your favourite blogs because gahhh, you're a ridiculously incredible writer and I kind of get really excited whenever you leave a comment. (I tend to go on fangirling sprees and read them to my dog, but that's only because he can't protest. ;))

    I actually don't do blogging awards - I stopped a couple of months ago because they started completely taking over my life - but thank you for the nominations! It means the world. Also, if you want to talk about Sherlock sometime, I am all ears. :D

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    Replies
    1. Oh my goodness, really? So sorry about that - I'll try figuring it out ASAP. Did you receive the confirmation email? If not, try using this link (https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=RandomMorbidInsanity)- I tested it just now and the confirmation email should come through. I should probably get around to getting Bloglovin' sometime. Until I win the battle with Blogger and HTML, though, I normally post every Saturday at 12:30 GMT unless there are special posts. Thanks so much for letting me know!

      You're very welcome! You're a great blogger and writer, and you totally deserve it. You have no idea how hard I was grinning when I saw this comment. (The above problem aside - sorry again for that!) And Sherlock! Are you planning to watch The Imitation Game? Also stars Benedict Cumberbatch :)

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  3. OMG, Shadowplay sounds amazing. *grabby hands* And I'm totally cringing for you: re: the Bunsen burner. Also, while I'm at it, just math in general. (I HATE MATH.)

    Thank you sooo much for the nomination! You are the best!

    --John

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! The Bunsen burner incident was fairly amusing at the time, actually, and my friend repeated it within the same lab session. But since we were doing extra research in a uni lab instead of under the eyes of high school teachers, the prof just waved it off. And MATH. The bane of my existence.

      You're very welcome! Can't wait to see what answers you come up with :)

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  4. Okay, first off, I've just got to say a massive THANK YOU for nominating me! *hugs* And those are such awesome questions you've come up with, I love them. I don't usually do a lot of blog awards, but if I need something to post about I'll definitely be thinking of this!

    Anyway! I love your tips for new bloggers, and I'm with you in the going-to-bed-early thing; I usually go to sleep between 9:30 and 10:30, which is so early compared to so many teens I know, haha. Always fun to find someone else who values sleep! ;) Also, I am always incredibly impressed by those who are bilingual; I think it's absolutely amazing to be able to speak and understand two different languages, especially since all I've got up my sleeve is English and some rudimentary Spanish. Basically, this is a cool post and it was fun to get to know you a little bit better--and again, thanks so much for the nomination!

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    Replies
    1. You're very welcome! Sleep is very important - one of my classmates told me on Friday she only had 24 hours of sleep total for this week. Howwwww. And as for bilingualism -- ehehe. I was listening to this talk by an English professor the other day and he said that while all HK people are by default trilingual (English, Cantonese, Mandarin), we end up with three languages we suck at equally. Quite true, unfortunately -- or in my case, one language I don't suck at and two I normally flunk.

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IMPORTANT: Please use Name/URL instead of Wordpress/OpenID to comment, otherwise Blogger hobbits will eat your words. So sorry about this. Thanks!

I respond to all comments and would love to check out your blog if you leave a link :D Unless it's spam. Then I'll delete the comment and put you on the takeout blacklist, what a shame!