I got tagged. Actually, I’ve been tagged a couple of times in the distant past and didn’t think I was interesting enough to respond. I don’t think of myself as sunny or particularly bright so responding to this has me scratching my head. If the truth is told, I can be depressing. I frequently present Too Much Information and sometimes publish Anatomically Correct Photos. This tag was from at MoeGamer. Thank you for the tag.
- Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog so that other people can visit them.
- Answer the 11 questions put to you by the nominator.
- Nominate 11 bloggers of your choosing and provide them with a new set of 11 questions to answer.
- Notify the nominees by commenting on one of their blog posts
- List the rules and display The Sunshine Blogger Award logo within your post or on your blog site.
Ok, now for the hard part.
- What’s your favorite piece of media (game, book, anime, etc) that you think goes underappreciated, and why do you like it so much?
There are so many! How about anything written or created before the normalization of the internet?
Recently I’ve been mad for Vampire Hunter D. Saw it in the late 80s with my wife at LOSCON in the Japanimation room. I have loved it ever since. It is the archetype for both the horror genre and the vampire genre and was produced before most of the woman of the anime world lost their nipples.
- How long have you been creating things online, and how did you start?
Started back in the early 90s with a web site about freehiking (aka nude hiking) in the deep wilderness. (Still one of life’s great pleasures for me!) Most of the other pages I found were porn pages (none of which interested me) and some organized naturist sites that were vaguely interesting but none of them specifically focused on solo freehiking. Registered the domain myself, wrote my own HTML, scanned in my own photos, rented space on a server. I still use it for my WordPress blog today: aunatural.org. “Au natural” is an Americanized version of “au naturel” which is French for “in the state of nature”. One interpretation of this is to be nude and another is the antonym of “artificial”.
- Do you share your creative work with your “real life” friends and family? If so, how do they respond? If not, why not?
I’ve tried. None of them are interested. Not even close family. That leaves me feeling alone.
- Social media: helpful or harmful? Why do you feel that way?
Well… It is the new reality. Reality is helpful for some and harmful to others. Social media marks the next stage in human social evolution. Maybe even human biological evolution as direct physical contact becomes less important.
I did a blog a while ago about how it appears that social media has resulted in a reduction of teen sex rates and that is probably a good thing. Sexting and easy porn access have become a substitute for two-party sex. Humans instinctively crave intimate physical contact yet I see human physicality on the wane.
Wonder how that will work out?
- You’re presenting an important meeting, and you feel a horrific, probably unavoidable fart brewing. What do you do?
Excuse me for a moment. I have a vital business call and I have to take it in private. Then I step out of the room. No further explanation will be forthcoming.
- Have you done anything that has taken you out of your “comfort zone” recently? How did you handle it?
Wow! I have a very broad comfort zone in areas where most people fear to tread. I even blog about them. OTOH, I am an “Aspie” so there are things outside my “comfort zone” that other people enjoy. Hitting my thumb with a hammer, densely crowded public events, social events with a lot of strangers, extremely noisy environments, all are roughly equivalent to me. I just walk away.
I guess the answer is, “No” but I am open to suggestions.
- How have your tastes in media changed from how they were as a child and/or teen… if they’ve changed at all?
Nope. I still enjoy the shows I enjoyed as a child. (That was 50+ years ago!) I have a completely different understanding of them today but I still enjoy watching Bugs Bunny or Have Gun Will Travel. Still like the same music, I’ve just added a half-century of additional great stuff to my list. I watch good movies all the way back to the earliest talkies. I have always had an appreciation of action/adventure, mysteries, speculative fiction, and historical fiction.
A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
- Surprise! You have a single “save game” slot, and you somehow managed to trigger it to save right before something from your life that you want to try again. What is the thing you want to try again, what would you do differently and how do you think that might change your current life, if at all?
I don’t know. My situation in life is because of who and what I am, not any one bad decision. That means very many decisions, almost on a daily basis, coaxed on by my “neural diversity”, raging hormones, personal anxiety, specific medical issues, and a closeted lifestyle.
Maybe: Do NOT use the leg press machine at the gym at the 750 lb setting? Tore something in my knee that has bedeviled me ever since.
More generally, be much kinder to my knees, take it easier exercising and wear sunscreen on my forearms and calves. They have been getting massive amounts of sun since a young child (as opposed to the rest of my body which only gets full UV occasionally). These things mess you up when you are older.
- What are some things you feel comfortable talking about now that you wouldn’t have been able to discuss when you were younger?
Drugs, death, suicide, depression, alienation. Sexuality. Enjoying nakedness. A lot of bad things and a few good things.
The problem is that the person you would talk to is almost never truly comfortable with those topics. Including a blog audience.
- Someone online writes something that you think is irredeemably stupid, and you’re pretty sure you have the specialist knowledge required to dismantle their argument comprehensively and grind it into dust. What do you do? Be honest!
Probably ignore it. You can’t fix stupid. If it is irredeemably stupid, other people with intelligence will see it as well. If it is something that might get you killed, like really bad advice for a life-threatening situation, I’ll ignore the stupid in the post and make a reply simply containing the truth as I understand it.
- Regrettably, the fart escaped before you were able to leave the meeting room, regardless of your intentions. It was a right old noisy ripper and it stinks. How do you handle the situation?
“Oops!” Let the laughter fade, have some ventilation kick in if possible, and keep moving on. Might have to declare a short break.
I suppose I must now ask 11 questions.
- What is your guiltiest pleasure?
- Do you have a favorite pet species? Cats or dogs or ????
- Last anime you watched to the end and wished you hadn’t. Why?
- You are invited to a party and cosplay is encouraged but not required. What are you likely to wear?
- You’ve been made responsible for the entertainment. It will be a 12-hour marathon of anime. What do you select?
- You’ve been elected to handle intoxicating refreshments for 20 people for all night and they give you a blank check to do it. You don’t get to keep the extra. (Inebriated people will NOT be allowed to drive home. And it is Calfornia so, in theory, cannabis-related stuff is possible.) What do you get?
- Are you a designated driver or will you need to use a designated driver?
- A very large cake is delivered anonymously. It sounds like there is someone inside. Nobody running the party had any notice of this. The top has Happy surprise birthday John! (or Jane) written on it with flowers and gifts on the side. The card says “Hugs and kisses, Mary Ann.” There is no Mary Ann at the party. There is a John or Jane at the party who might (?) be having a birthday today. The delivery guy is waiting for a signature and the buck gets passed to you. What do you do?
- Oh sh*t! the internet and cable just went down! What do you do now?
- The party is getting kind of wild. You notice discarded costume pieces and undies laying about, people in the yard and pool who didn’t bring swimwear and there’s a police officer at the door with a noise complaint. What do you do?
- How bad is your hangover the next day?
Having dug my own grave with those questions, I need to victimize eleven more suckers bloggers. I don’t know who all has been selected before, so if you’ve been double selected, no sweat.
August 3, 2019 at 05:27
Congratulations Fred!
July 29, 2019 at 16:33
I understand your pain about the people close to you not being interested in your blog. Although, sometimes with my content, I think that’s a good thing. 😂😂 I LOVE Vampire Hunter D and you made me want to go back and watch it again! It’s been ages!
Thanks for the nomination!! I can’t wait to answer these! Lmao!!
July 29, 2019 at 14:18
Oh, wow! Thanks for the nomination! ^-^
You have some interesting questions to answer… I can’t wait to write this post!
July 29, 2019 at 08:23
Thanks for responding!
You’re too hard on yourself, Fred — although as a fellow Aspie, I know what it can be like sometimes in terms of self-esteem and self-reflection. Sometimes it’s easy to focus on the negative… and then feel worse because you’re aware of the fact that you’re focusing on the negative. The important thing to remember — and I have to tell myself this frequently — is that people looking at you from the outside probably don’t feel the same way as you feel about yourself. Sometimes it can be surprisingly different!
So speaking from the outside of your head, then: I nominated you because I find your honesty and openness inspirational. There are things that you love and believe in, and you’re not afraid to talk about them — regardless of what anyone might think. Everyone could learn something from that, I think; there should be no shame in being yourself.
And if that’s no good… well, then, a lot of your freehiking seems to take place in sunny conditions, so just say that’s where the Sunshine bit came from 🙂
July 29, 2019 at 05:47
Thanks for the nomination.