Answering The Liebster [Not The Lobster] Award Questions

/ Ally Bean
Introduction
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Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest.

I feel like a bit of a fraud accepting this award by answering these questions.  The point of this award is to showcase new up-and-coming bloggers to your readers.

And if there is one thing I am not, it is a new blogger. [Read more here.]

However, be that as it may, I like to do blogging memes like this one because they challenge me to think differently about my life.  And because I’m alway honored to be included.

So when charming delightful DearLilyJune nominated me for the Liebster Award [which my spellcheck insists on changing to Lobster], I thought to myself:

Sure. Why not? It’ll be fun. 

# # #

The Rules, Or As I Choose To Think Of Them, The Guidelines

Here are the rules for the Liebster Award.  If you’re nominated and choose to accept it – you:

  • answer 11 questions given to you by your nominator;
  • leave a link back to the person who nominated you;
  • nominate up to 11 blogs that are relatively new (usually less than 200 followers);
  • notify your nominees; and
  • create 11 questions for the nominees.

# # #

Here are DearLilyJune’s questions with my answers

1) Here’s the Lorelai question, posed to her daughter Rory every year on her birthday: What do you think of your life so far?

I like my life so far.  Living in suburbia this far out of the city is not where I thought I’d end up, but I’ve come to accept it and enjoy it.  Life is quieter here than in the city, and allows me to center myself in nature, write when I want to without distractions, and pursue my love of design.  I’m comfortable being a low-key suburban person who watches the parade go by and cheers on those who need to march in it.

2) What’s the cruelest thing you could do to another human being?

Cause them pain, physical &/or emotional.

3) How do you avoid doing #2?

Pay attention to your behavior, know why you do the things that you do, make a conscious decision to play nice– and remember the golden rule.

4) What’s the kindest thing you could do for other human beings?

Support other people in their dreams, listening and guiding them to make good choices, helping them understand that you can only control the process.  The results will be what they will be.

5) How do you get motivated, or motivate others, to do more of #4?

I used to think that modeling the behavior you wanted to see in other people was the answer to that question.  But now, older & wiser, I’m not so sure that kindness happens that way.  Meaning, I don’t have an answer to this question.  Do you?

6) What do you dream about at night?

I rarely remember my dreams at night.  The little tidbits that I do remember revolve around houses or dorms or hotels– being safe, seeing friends, getting rooms.

7) What do you daydream about during the day?

My daydreams are pretty benign.  Walking on a beach.  Being in a city park, enjoying nature.  Traveling to other countries with friends.

8) If you could go back and choose it, what would your first word be?

Neato.

9) If there were anything you could remember about your life as a baby, what would be your chosen memory?

My grandmother died before I was 1 y.o.  I have a photo of her holding me, but I’d like to have met her when I was more aware.  They tell me that she was kindness personified.

10) Why are we so quick to pose questions, and so slow to listen for the answers?

In a word, screens.  Our society brainwashes people into thinking that distractions via screens, such as social media, TV, movies and video games, are more important than real interpersonal relationships.  So waiting to hear a real person answer a question becomes irritating, irrelevant– and not worth wasting your time away from the precious screen.

11) If you had to ask yourself one question each day to take stock of your life, what would that question be?

What have I done today to help my spirit grow?

# # #

Care to play along? Here Are my 11 questions, or writing prompts, for you

1.  Which day is your favorite day of the week?  And why?

2.  What color do you find the most annoying?

3.  You’re going on a short drive to run errands around town.  What will it be: radio OR personal tunes OR silence?

4.  What novel has had the most influence on how you express yourself?

5.  Do you like the traditional Thanksgiving feast?  If so, what in particular do you like?  If not, what do you think is a better meal?

6.  When asked to do something that you do not want to do, what do you do?

7.  You have a favorite TV show, right?  Tell me about it.  

8.  Is the TSA the most over-rated, self-important, inept government agency around?  If not, what is?  

9.  Guacamole is ________ .  

10.  To what are you allergic?

11.  How much do you love my questions for you? 

# # #

Conclusion
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Once again Linus, of Peanuts fame, sums it up perfectly.

If you’ve made it this far down on the post, I applaud you.  You are a true bloggy friend.  Meaning that if you want to do this meme, please feel free to do it.

  • Do it like the “rules” say you should.
  • Do it like I did, in the spirit of the thing, using the rules as guidelines.
  • Do pieces of it as writing prompts for your blog.
  • Do it but never publish it.

All I ask of you is that when you choose to do this, please make sure you’re saying to yourself:

Sure. Why not? It’ll be fun. 

# # #

24 thoughts on “Answering The Liebster [Not The Lobster] Award Questions”

  2. The Liebster award brought back old memories. Like you, I’ve been around a while. The first time I was “nominated” I was blogging for like 3 months and to me it was like a Pulitzer. Affirmation is so important for new bloggers. For us old timers we can enjoy the ride!

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    • Kate, I agree. I’m less interested in the award than I am in the opportunity to talk about my life from a different point of view. Answering someone else’s questions is a great way to do that. Makes you think different, as the Apple ads say.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Great questions!

    1. Sunday – because that is the day the hubby makes something truly spectacular to eat while we sit as a family and reflect on the past week. Its almost like mediation for me, but with great food and less “oms”
    2. Yellow. Sure a little looks nice here and there as an accent color, but give it too much space and it completely overpowers the senses like a bully.
    3. Whatever what already set. It takes me awhile to embrace change.
    4. I apologize for the humble brag moment, but my own. I didn’t realize how much I was bottling up until I started writing with the intent to publish.
    5. Yes. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. Turkey, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole all the way.
    6. Assuming you mean something that I don’t want to do for reasons other than morals or ethics. If I don’t have a choice, then I grumble, but I get it done. Eventually. However if I am offered the opportunity to suggest an alternative, I will.
    7. Walking Dead. Excellent writing.
    8. That’s a post in an of itself.
    9. Delicious if made at home or right in front of you. Suspicious if made otherwise
    10. Bee stings.
    11. Little Nut Brown hare stretched his arms wide. “I love these questions as far as I can reach.”

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    • Allie P., your answers are wonderful. Thank you for sharing them here. I agree about yellow, too much is off-putting. I, too, am big on the power of a good grumble while getting something done. I’m right there with you about guac. Hadn’t thought about Little Nut Brown in years!

      Liked by 1 person

  4. I love this, especially getting to read peoples’ answers to 8 & 9. And the irony of your answer to 10 being posted on a blog isn’t lost on me, though I’m inclined to agree with you! Thanks for humoring me, you veteran blogger you!

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    • dearlilyjune, this was fun to do. I sometimes feel like I get too stuck in my own head when writing here. I know that this is a personal blog, so that’s where you’d think that I’d want to be, but questions like yours make for great writing prompts. Thank you.

      [And yes, about question 10: a bit of irony does a person good, imho.]

      Liked by 1 person

  5. “Play nice.” True classics never go out of style, do they?

    As to your questions? #7 — Buffy the Vampire Slayer. BtVS. That Vampire Slayer show. Buffinator and the Scoobies. “I want my vicarious smoochies!” Buffybuffybuffybuffy.

    Yeah. That about sums it up.

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  6. I read the post that you linked to. You’ve been blogging 12 years?!!? That’s awesome! I bow to you in deference. I’ve only been blogging 10 years. Until know I hadn’t found anyone blogging as long as me. Has your blog always been on WordPress and had the same name?

    Like

    • Phil, thank you. This is probably more than you want to know but…

      My original blog was on Blogger, then on Typepad. I never share its name publicly because I made a huge mistake when I moved it from Blogger to TP by not keeping the original url.

      A deceitful person [or persons?] in Korea took my abandoned url, copied all of my posts, stole my photos from Flickr and recreated the blog for his [or their] personal financial gain.

      At the time I talked with a lawyer who specialized in copyright law and cyber crimes, she told me there was nothing I could do to get the blog back… because, in a word, Korea.

      So I stopped blogging, pouted for about a year, then started this blog here on WP with fewer expectations– and no connections to the first blog, which still exists out there, bringing pennies to the thief [or thieves] whenever anyone clicks on it. *growl*

      Liked by 1 person

  7. 1. Which day is your favorite day of the week? And why? Sunday – a chance to regroup, relax and spend time with the Love of My Life.

    2. What color do you find the most annoying? Pink, at least this month.

    3. You’re going on a short drive to run errands around town. What will it be: radio OR personal tunes OR silence? Mostly silence, but an occasional tune is nice.

    4. What novel has had the most influence on how you express yourself? I keep going back to Susan Cain’s book about Introverts. It was so well purposed and so powrful. Reminds me that it is OK for me to be who I am and to not fake a personality.

    5. Do you like the traditional Thanksgiving feast? If so, what in particular do you like? If not, what do you think is a better meal? No. A quiet meal away from home with my Sweetie is much nicer that a noisy meal with many I do not know or are not realted to in any way.

    6. When asked to do something that you do not want to do, what do you do? Eat, which is the thing I don’t want to do the most.

    7. You have a favorite TV show, right? Tell me about it. Not really, but “Firefly,” “Dr. Who” and “House of Card” are cool beans.

    8. Is the TSA the most over-rated, self-important, inept government agency around? If not, what is? Hard to choose from so many possibilities, so why not TSA?

    9. Guacamole is ________ . . . . yours to eat.

    10. To what are you allergic? Shrimp and iodine.

    11. How much do you love my questions for you? Completely love them.

    Like

  8. Zen-Den, thank you for answering my questions. I agree completely with you about pink, Introverts by Susan Cain, Thanksgiving dinner and TV shows. Lovely answers, well done.

    [Slow Monday morning at work, dear?]

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  9. I’m not sure how I missed this! I really enjoyed your answers. They were both thoughtful and meaningful. I wish more people thought and acted the way you describe.

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    • Zazzy, thank you! I enjoyed doing these questions. Made me think about different things than the usual flapdoodle and twaddle that circulates around my brain.

      Like

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