Nyan and Meow! I was nyaminated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by Biblio Nyan whose excellent blog can be found right here, meow. Thank you meowch, Biblio Nyan! I like being tagged in posts like this. It’s a lot of fun, nyan! It is quite cloudy where I am right nyaow, but this experience you let me in on brings me meowtaphorical sunshine! 🙂

Here are the Rules!
-Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog so others can visit them.
-Answer eleven questions asked by the nominator.
-Nominate eleven bloggers of your choosing and provide ask them eleven questions of your own.
-Notify the nominees by commenting on one of their blog posts.
-List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post or on your blog site.

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 –Biblio Nyan’s Questions–

1. What are two things that bring you comfort on a bad day?

Well, this may not be original, but two I use very often are anime and my cat. You can take anything too far, but generally, anime is great for my mental health. If I’m feeling unmotivated or anxious I’ll watch something that inspires me like Kill la Kill or other shows with badass women who do what they want. If I’m sad or angry, I’ll watch something funny like Nichijou, Saiki K, or Arakawa under the Bridge, which are certain to make me laugh. A deep or psychological show makes me feel better when I have feelings of emptiness and apathy.

As for my cat, he has been my constant companion and basically my therapy animal for five years, which is surprising because he only became “my” cat when someone left him with me. I didn’t think he’d come to like a new owner in the middle of his life. My cat is such a sweet old boy. He likes or at least tolerates people more than any other cat I’ve taken care of. Even when he gets impatient or perturbed because I’m petting him and snuggling him too much, he doesn’t scratch or bite. He just thrashes his tail or gives a dissatisfied little huff to let me know to back off.

2. What is your favourite dish or dessert?

This is a pretty weird answer, but here goes. I believe my favorite dish is my family’s oyster soup we make every Thanksgiving. It’s easy to make. You sauté the fresh oysters in butter and a small amount of the natural liquid from the jars. Then you add them to a pot of warm, rich milk, add a sh*t ton of garlic and salt, and if desired, more butter. The soup turns a nice golden color. You can eat it as is or load it with dry crackers that soak up the creamy background. Mmm!! Some of the picky eaters in the family just enjoy enjoy the soup part and avoid the oysters, but not me. I eat way too many of the oysters. They’re the best part!

3. Do you have an anime, book, or film that inspires you when you’re feeling down?

Yes, I do. My go-to comfort book is The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. It’s an important story to me, with relevance to my life, and it makes me feel more hopeful and cheerful.

4. Do you like video games? If so, what are you currently playing, or what did you play last?

Well, I think people who say they don’t like video games have really just never found one that spoke to them. I loved video games– the few I was allowed to play– growing up and in my late teens. In college and in the years afterwards, I played hardly any games at all, mostly because I don’t have a gaming console and they’re expensive, but also because I suck at video games. One can, after all, like video games and still suck at them. I don’t consider myself a gamer or a game otaku because I haven’t played anything seriously in years, and if I really were an enthusiast, I’d have saved up for a PS4 long ago.

The last game I played was part of Fallout 4, when my best friend let me borrow his PS4 last year. That’s not my usual style of games at all, and the only thing I did was collect materials for my settlement. I was too awful at navigating and aiming to do any fighting or quests.

5. If you could give one piece of advice to a person that feels stuck in life, what would it be?

Well, I myself have been sort of stuck in life for a while. What I have to remind myself of, and what I’d like to tell other people is something like, “Take your time. As long as you’re alive, you’re winning.” I mean, seriously. After 4 straight years of wanting to die every day and hurting myself a lot, it’s sooo good to wake up and not want to die. It’s good to be alive, too. There are so many things to enjoy, even if you’re highly introverted like me. I love good food, and my bed and comforter, and anime, and writing, and reading. If you’re dead, you can’t experience any of that. People who are stuck, if they’re anything like me, probably feel like they’re wasting time, or losing at life. But I say, no, that’s not really true. Your life is successful as long as you are alive.

6. If you could conquer any fear in a single moment, what would that be?

The fear of my fear, or more like, the fear of my conditions, which include anxiety, mood swings, and loss of interest. I often don’t do important things, and I have ended up where I am now, mostly being taken care of by others, because I’m afraid. Afraid of how my conditions will ruin anything I invest in seriously. I just never know how or when my crazy feelings or my anxiety will manifest. I want to be self-sufficient and work full-time, but after so many bad experiences of anxiety or mood swings messing up the jobs I’ve had in place, I’m just… stuck.

(I know, most people don’t make themselves this vulnerable in a public post, but I have always been very open and don’t mind writing about it a bit. I think it helps encourage others to share their experiences with psych disorders and the like.)

7. What’s an obscure or unpopular anime, book, or film that you wish more people had read/seen?

There are a lot of obscure anime I wish people had seen. For example, there’s the one I wrote about recently, Mouryou no Hako or Goblin’s Box. Some other choices would be Serial Experiments Lain and Ergo Proxy, but I feel like those at least have a “cult following,” whereas nobody has ever heard of Mouryou no Hako. Same with Shigofumi and Eccentric Family.

8. If you could have any animal companion, real or fantasy, what would it be?

My two favorite kinds of animals are Gray Wolves and Least Weasels. I wouldnt want to take a highly sociable wolf away from its pack, though. So I’d like to have a weasel companion, ideally one that would live at least 7 years. I won’t say these animals don’t deserve to be called little bastards, but being reviled by the entire western culture is a little much in my opinion. Least weasels are just so awesome. They have one of the strongest bite force quotients of carnivorous mammals, up there with mountain lions and coyotes. They can kill prey 4 times their size and nine times their weight. It’s a good thing they are so freaking tiny. A Least Weasel can fit through a hole with the diameter of an American quarter, 25 cent coin.

Weasels are smart and agile. It’s so much fun to watch them. I’ve only encountered one so far in reality, and it was busy hunting and paid me no attention. But there are some great videos of bigger weasels like stoats playing and jumping and pouncing. Even though most people can’t stand the skunky way they smell, it’s never bothered me much. I used to have pet ferrets, and they have that same skunky odor, but I really don’t mind. I should stop talking about weasels now before I write an entire essay.

9. You magically get transported to another world with a sidekick. Who’s your sidekick?

I have no idea what would be the best choice, but for some reason the first character that popped into my head was Yuki Nagato from Haruhi Suzumiya. Hey, if she kept her powers even after appearing in another world, I’d have nothing to worry about. She’s basically a god.

10. Imagine that you’re living in your dream country right now. Which country is it?

Denmark. Or else New Zealand? I don’t really feel too patriotic about the U.S.

11. What’s your favourite feel-good quote?

Hmm, that’s a tough one because I’m generally not into those sappy inspirational quotes, haha. But one that I’ve always liked is the Dr. Seuss quote, “Be who you are and say how you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

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—Nominations!—

Keiko
Mallow
Fan of a Certain Age
DJJazzyJae
4msbipolarmom
Takuto’s Anime Cafe
Merlin
Roger Pocock
Ya Boy Jack
Fiddletwix
Ryder Krystal Rose

It’s totally ok if you don’t have time for this or aren’t interested. No pressure!

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–New Questions–

1. What is your favorite color and is there any particular reason why?
2. Do you have a favorite kind of wild plant, tree, or flower?
3. Have you taken a Myers-Briggs test before, and if so what type are you?
4. What is one of your fondest or most memorable childhood memories?
5. What is a scent that you like? It could be a food-related scent, anything floral, or something like the smell of cut grass, pencils, or books.
6. What is your current favorite anime or your current favorite book?
7. Do you like adventure outdoors, like occasional camping or light hiking?
8. Do you have a psych or a developmental disorder, and has it affected your life? (No need to reveal what it is unless you’re comfortable.)
9. What kind of insect or arachnid scares you or annoys you the most?
10. What is your favorite OST from an an anime or other TV series?
11. What are you most grateful for? You can mention several if needed.