Liebster Award

A few weeks ago I got nominated for a Liebster Award by The Smitten Immigrant. I have to be honest: I'm terrible at these things. I'm pretty sure I've been nominated for one in the past and I'm not so sure I remembered to actually do the follow up/response post. (I'm sorry!) This post here is also more than a little belated, but I'm trying.

I'm supposed to:
1) Share eleven things about myself
2) Answer the eleven questions from the blogger who nominated me
and
3) Nominate eleven other small blogs.

Number three will be skipped here, because I figure if I can barely get it together enough to put this post together, others might feel the same. Or maybe that's just me projecting my laziness to others? Possibly.

So, eleven fun facts about me.

1. I'm more unplugged than most people realize. I removed email and social networking from my smartphone a year and a half ago and I'm so much happier without having all of that constantly at my fingertips.
2. If I'm not in a social mood, I am horrible to get a hold of. I won't respond to emails or text messages because I simply won't check my emails or text messages. I also as a general rule just don't answer the phone, so I can be difficult.
3. I vastly prefer film cameras to digital. I don't like the immediacy, and I'm not so sure how I feel about all the "sharing". I still have yet to put a single picture from my wedding on facebook. I'm a bad millenial. Can you see the theme here - I never embraced the digital age, or my generation's penchant for technology although I use plenty of it when necessary.
4. I hate my wedding video. Not because I disliked the ceremony, because our simple city hall elopement was perfect for me. But I dislike the presentation of it. My memory is this magic moment where my entire field of vision was Bunny, where I felt present in myself and I was hearing the Justice of the Peace. The video? Mostly dominated by my mother constantly walking in front of the camera and when she's not, it still presents something that feels very far removed from how I felt that day. I do love seeing Bunny's little cute moment at the end, though. Every time.
5. My favourite tv shows tend to be science fiction. Star Trek, Battlestar Gallactica, Farscape. Except I never like how they end.
6. I wear diamonds on a daily basis. Mostly because Bunny's given them to me and I just never take them off. Although the freak out I had when one of the earrings fell off was crazy.
7. Hazelnut is one of my favourite flavours. Chocolate and hazelnut, coffee and hazelnut. It goes so wonderfully with most of my indulgences.
8. I almost never match my socks.
9. In the winter I don't shave and/or wax my legs. It's getting kind of gross and I'll probably do something about it soon. I do it in the summer because it gets sweaty and uncomfortable. Plus, bare legs are pretty with all the skirts I like to wear.
10. I naturally write lefthanded, and backwards. Like mirror image. It makes reading numbers difficult because my mind tries to reverse them. I'm ambidexterous enough that I can actually write with both hands at once (and I've been required to prove this in the past).
11. Without my glasses I can't see past the end of my nose.

And the questions I've been asked:
1 What fantasy animal would you like as a pet and why? Probably a pegasus, because how awesome would it be to just ride a horse into the sky?
2 What is your favourite fictional universe? I can't choose a favourite! I'm always a fan of ones that open up from or are hidden from our own real universe, just based on that tiny possibility that yes, that could be real. It just takes stumbling upon.
3 If you could design your own body from scratch (no humanoid form is necessary), what would you look like? It would have wings, for sure. If I could design from scratch there would be the ability to fly. I'd also probably do something with a less stiff bone structure, more sinous. Maybe somewhat snakelike? I guess I'd be a dragon if I could design from scratch. Except I'm not so sure how the sex would work, and that's an important consideration.
4 What is your favourite mode of transport? I loved streetcars when I was in Toronto. Public transit for going within a city is so key, and I'm still grumpy that my town has a pooey system.
5 Name a personal triumph that was totally insignificant in the larger scheme of things, but made you feel _so very good_. Student body elections in university, when I ran and I lost one of the VP positions. It sucked so hard and I would have done so well in the role, but at the end of the day just the fact that I put myself out there and pushed so hard at something I wouldn't have trusted myself to do five years prior was a huge personal accomplishment.
6 What is your most unrealistic fear? That the world is going to end. Except maybe it will. Most of my fears are pretty well based in reality.
7 What is your opinion about the possibility of artificial intelligence as a vital element in future human society? It scares me. I don't think we understand enough about consciousness, intelligence and existence to properly create an artificial intelligence. We don't understand enough about the ethics of how we should treat people who are different from ourselves to have any real way to make educated decisions about how to integrate an artificial intelligence into our societies. I already think we over-rely on technology to begin with and the idea of artificial intelligence suggests that we are getting in over our heads in creating beings that will fundamentally change our world with no real understanding of the effects it could have and how to deal with those changes. Technology is great, but as a society we tend to plow forward without understanding the implications of our creations. Until we learn to slow down and think about what's we're creating and how it will impact the world as a whole and what it means for the creations themselves we don't have any business playing with artificial intelligence.
8 What kind of socks do you wear or buy? I love knee highs and brightly patterned socks, but I tend to buy cheap ones. They're just socks. I also don't tend to wear them matched.
9 Star Trek or Star Wars? Star Trek. I appreciate the original Star Wars trilogy, but Star Trek has greater appeal to me. The ability to evolve and recreate itself fascinates me, and I've always found the characters fascinating. Except for the Enterprise series. That one I just couldn't get into.
10 If you could recommend one thing to your readers (a book, a song, a dish a restaurant, whatevs), then what would it be? Ryan Adams. I'm not crazy about his most recent work, but that man sings to my soul and he reinvents himself musically constantly, although he's always best when he's sticking to his alt-country roots.
11 What is the best advice that you ever got from anyone (be they real or fictional)? Figure out what your priorities in life are and live according to them. It may be family, it may be hobbies, it may be career, but it has to matter to you. Don't chase dreams just because someone else thinks they're important: they have to matter to you.