Mr. DeMille, I’m Ready for My Close-up [Goddammit, Not That Close]

Posted by stressingoutstudent

It’s week 9 here of spring term. Just two weeks from finals. And like all my fellow college students at the end of their rope, I’m… well, at the end of my rope.

Yep, all creativity has been sucked from my little Asian soul. [I have no idea what being Asian has to do with my soul.]

Anywho, because I’m lazy and feeling uncreative, but have the urge to write and come back to you, my lovely lovely readers – and not to mention, I need some kind of pick-me-up that doesn’t involve caffeine or re-runs of Parks and Recreation – this has become a run-on sentence.

Awards! People like me! Yippee, my existence has been validated!

Over the past couple months, I’ve been nominated for a few different awards. Not wanting to annoyingly post about each one of them separately, I decided to bundle them up into one awesome post [a.k.a. This post]. All right, let’s all crack our knuckles and limber up for some major self-indulgence (in the new technicolor chronological order)!

First up is the beautiful and talented Si02, who bestowed upon me the Versatile Blogger Award. And recently, the Cabbage Patch rocker plainawkwardgirl decided I was versatile as well.

Nextly is the mentally scintillating DrFrood with the Liebster Award. [Say it in an uber-exaggerated German-ish accent: “Das Leeebshtuh Avort”.]

Award numero tres is from the delightfully awkward blogger Project Southsea with the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! Who knew 500 mg doses of sarcasm and a daily cup of stress could be so inspiring?

And lastly, oh-so-not-leastly is the supersaccharine misssamanthajill with – here’s a cute one – The Super Sweet Blogger Award. It’s amazing how supportive bloggers can be of their blogging community. I’ve never been sweet in my life. If you mean I’m like, totally sweet, dude brah, you’d probably be more accurate. Not that I’m criticizing your judgment of my character. I totes appreciate this.

Here are the rules for each one:

Versatile Blogger Award

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 bloggers for this award.
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination by linking to one of their specific posts so that they get notified by ping back.

Liebster Award

1. The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to bloggers who have less than 200 followers.
2. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
3. Each blogger should answer the 11 questions given to you.
4. Choose 11 new bloggers to pass the award on to and link them in your post.
5. Create 11 new questions for the chosen bloggers.
6. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
7. No tag backs.

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

1. Display the award logo.
2. Link back to the person who gave you this award nomination.
3. State seven pieces of information about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers, post links to their page and drop them a comment to let them know.

Super Sweet Blogger Award

1. Thank the Super Sweet Blogger that nominated them
2. Answer five super sweet questions and five of your own
3. Include the Super Sweet Blogging award image in your blog post
4. Nominate a baker’s dozen (13) other bloggers
5. Notify your nominees on their blog

Now that we’ve gotten the crapload of different rules down, let’s get to the nitty gritty. Since, as I’ve told you before, I’m lazy and not out of my mind (yet), I’m not going to be state a bajillion things about myself nor am I going to nominate a bajillion people. Five each, that’s all I have energy and the attention span for.

Nominees (in no particular order):

To the nominees, pick any award you’d like. You deserve any and all of them. Pick one and pass it on according to the rules. I don’t mind which one you pick, just join in the fun and give it to your fellow awesome bloggers. Or don’t. It’s all the same to me. Hey, and if you’re passing by this post and feel like picking up an award – because you, too, deserve it – feel free to snatch one. I’m not the awards police. It doesn’t matter. Grab an award, follow the instructions, and pass it on! (Or don’t. It’s all the same to me.)

5 Things You Didn’t Know You Wanted to Know About S.O.S.

I have a cat named Cat-Cat.
My pinkie toes are a little funny. As in they’re little and funny.
I like striped shirts. And cardigan sweaters. Professorial hipster coming through. [Edit: Wait, what the eff do striped shirts have to do with being hipster? Whatever, too tired to change it.]
I know all the lyrics from the musical The Phantom of the Opera. [Not really, just the main numbers].
Because I have a flat Asian nose, I can do this thing where I can block air coming into my nose by upturning my upper lip. It’s hella attractive, yo. [Really though, it’s super helpful when swimming and not getting water all up in my nostrils.]

Oh, and I Guess I Have To Ask Questions, Too

Paper or plastic?
Hobbes or Rousseau?
What’s the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
To Snuggie or not to Snuggie?
And, er… what’s your favorite day of the year?

And that’s a wrap! Thanks again to the wonderful bloggers who nominated me for these awards – it truly warms my heart to know that there are those out there who do like this blog. Check out all the bloggers linked in this post. They’re sweet, inspiring, versatile, and liebster-ly. And you there Dear Reader, take one, pass it on – it’s as easy as one, dos, trois!

Versatilely Inspiring? Inspiringly Versatile? Uh, Adverb-Adjectives Galore.

Posted by stressingoutstudent

Huh. Versatile and inspiring are rather ugly as adverbs.

But that’s not a reflection of the beautiful bloggers, Rebecca Fraser-Thill and olivethepeople for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award and the Very Inspiring Blog Award, respectively! Despite my best efforts, these gals think I’m versatile and/or inspiring (as the titles suggest). But I kid. I love these tag-you’re-it awards. So to do my part in spreading the love, here we go.

Rules of the Versatile Blogger Award:

Display the award logo on your website.
Write a gratitude-filled post and link to whoever presented your award. [“You like me! You like me!”]
Nominate 15 deserving bloggers [Deserving? Observe my Godlike powers!]
Be sure to notify the bloggers you’ve nominated. [Or leave them in the dark. To each their own.]
Post 7 interesting things about yourself. [Does being able to sleep for 14 hours straight count as “interesting?”]

Rules of the Very Inspiring Blog Award:

[Copy and paste the above rules.]

Since the protocols for receiving each of these highly esteemed accolades are pretty much the same [Read: exactly the same], I’m just going to mash them together because I am not going to nominate 30 bloggers and write 14 semi-interesting things about myself. Hey, I’m not lazy. I’m just skillfully un-razzmatazzmic. [Fun words are fun.] Also, because I’m skillfully un-razzmatazzmic, I’ll nominate 7 because I don’t want to just list 15 bloggers and leave it at that. I want to tell you why you should check out each of these bloggers in salaciously intimate detail.

So all premature joculation aside, here are 7 bloggers in no particular order who are either versatile or inspiring (or both):

Queen Celery – Personal, funny, and – as shown by her tagline – humorously awkward (in the best of ways, of course). dandoona1999 is honest with herself and her readers, having admitted to over-confidence, sappiness, sensitivity, and a bit of perfection. And she watches ZeFrank on YouTube. Awesome taste in creative, intelligent people. Plus, if you don’t know what a Quokka is, visit her about page. Don’t forget to thank her for it.
Kismet’s Oubliette – Awareness! Learning! Exploring! That’s what D. Thomas is doing with her blog. She seeks out the realities of the world around her – or rather the realities of herself, a piece of the universe of which she is a part. Read bits of news and musings about the climate of our world, physical and social. And if you seek growth (and good book recommendations, D. Thomas has a wonderfully open mind (and mental collection of books).
leastfavoritepersonoftheday – Maybe it’s because I tend to be a grumpy pessimist or maybe it’s because I have a sarcasm/tough humor fetish (did I just use the word “fetish?” Guess I did), or maybe it’s because reading about other people’s aggravations makes me feel fortunate not to be in their shoes. Actually, it’s probably because such aggravations are so relatable that I feel a curmudgeony kinship to the aggravatee (recipient of aggravation?). vibrantval, true to the title of her blog, relates her daily tales of aggravation, focusing on one individual or group in particular with each post. They’re pretty hilarious – stuff you just can’t help shake your head at in familiarity.
a photo and some words – Each post is a photo and some words. Plain and simple – and yet, pleasant to read. According to his About page, mrcoteybucket is doing a 365-day long project of blogging a photo (from an actual camera with the allowance of one phone shot a week) accompanied by – you guessed it – some words. He posts every single freakin’ day. That takes admirable dedication and the words that he places beneath his photos aren’t just gibberish. Actually read them and ponder, ponder away…
The Average Girl’s “How To” Guide – Quick, digestible morsels of advice are actually quite satiating, especially when loading with self-aware humor and sass. Him & Her delivers. Relate, chuckle, lather, repeat. And these tidbits aren’t all just for those of the female persuasion. Fellas, read up; you might learn something.
The Thought Buffet – College and the early 20s kind of blows. And yet, it’s kind of fun. Even though he lives across the pond and across a large landmass from where I’m situated, his musings hit pretty close to home. Explorative, funny, and honestly horny (not that I’m trying to encompass his whole being within those three skimpy descriptors), Seb is much like the rest of us young adults trying to figure stuff out maybe steps or leaps at a time. And thank God he has a sense of humor about it all.
Awkward Turtle World – As you can probably tell, I like blogs that are awkward and/or humorous. This is because – here’s another theme – they’re so damn relatable! Painfully so, sometimes. zucchinipi creates funny comics kind of reminiscent of Cyanide and Happiness (if C&H were friendlier and less cynical). The tagline is “comics written by and for the awkward” – sums this blog up very nicely. And there’s also a tutorial on making Munchers. That’s totes legit. Check it out.

To those nominated, pick either one of the awards – whichever one you most identify with. Don’t be shy or overly modest. Take one (or hell, if you’re that audacious, pick both. I’m not the awards police. Just remember to recognize your fellow awesome bloggers.) In addition, if I got your gender wrong, I very deeply apologize. Please berate me with an anti-ignorance shtick.

And now, the uber self-involved portion of this awards post, 7 semi-interesting facts about me:

The only thing funnier than awkward humor is sarcastic humor, which is why George Carlin is one of my idols. What a comedic genius – and just a genius in general. Watch his “Modern Man” routine here. Pure. Genius.
I may or may not have cried as a 12 year old after reading the Sherlock Holmes tale “The Final Problem,” where he plummets to his death with his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. My mother may or may not have then told me he would return in the next tale. I may or may not have looked it up. (Yeah, he comes back to life in “The Empty House.”) And I may or may not have proceeded to cry out of embarrassment under my covers in my room. Yep. May or may not have happened.
I don’t care what your religious beliefs are. As long as you’re not being a douche canoe and harming others, I just don’t care. Want to discuss religion mutually? Fine, I’m down with that. Want to shove your beliefs down my throat? This girl ain’t swallowing.
How have I not discovered Tim Minchin before? I’ve watched/listened to him perform “The Pope Song” about a dozen times in the past couple days. In fact, it was one of the songs I listened to while writing this. [Warning: Some “complicated” language.]
Don’t recite purpley poetry to me. Blow my freakin’ mind with some reality-bending ideas and then we can negotiate some terms.
I love depressing books and movies. The depressing aspect isn’t the draw – the fact that a book/movie has the ability to make me feel such intense emotion is what gets me. Damn you, McCarthy and your stupid bleak road. *sniffle* Damn you.
After watching Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk about “The Art of Asking” and watching her “Do It With A Rockstar” and “The Killing Type”, I think I may be in love. Free, femininely masculine, and intelligent. Oh yeah, total crushing action going on.

And there you have it! Go ahead and check out those blogs and spread the awesomeness.

Cheers,

SOS

The Liebster Award: A Foreign Language, So It Must Be Important

Posted by stressingoutstudent

Foreign words – AKA “non-English words” for us ‘Mericans – automatically make a subject more prominent and formidable-sounding.

“When I suffer from ennui and have beaucoup time on mis manos, I sit around watching The Real Attention Whores of Miami with a cup of non-alcoholic apple champagne.

In other words: They make the verby stuff comin’ outta’ my mouth sound totes legit.

And in a roundabout way, I’m saying I’ve been nominated for a Liebster Award by Keeping A Thought. According to Google Translate, the world “liebster” means “dearest” in German. (Not “body of Rochester,” as I first thought when I dyselxically typed in “leibster.”)

… Like Jane Eyre’s Mr. Rochester? Or…

The Liebster Award is for “up and coming bloggers with 200 followers or fewer.” When nominated, the blogosphere powers that be say to do as follows:

Post 11 things about yourself. (Oh boy)
Answer 11 questions from your nominator. (Oh double boy)
Choose 11 people and link them in your post. Please tell them that you’ve nominated them, too. (Someone seems to have an “11” fetish)
No tag backs! We wouldn’t want people to get double nominations. Too much work for them anyways. (Spread the Liebe).

Firstly, I’m going to switch the order of this a little bit because the most important part is the nominated blogs. If you want to read about me talking about myself and asking you silly questions, keep scrolling down at your own masochistic risk. So without further ado, here are some blogs (in no particular order) that I’ve found funny, honest, captivating, insightful, and/or all around enjoyable to read. Check them out!

11 Things About My Lovely Self

I dislike lists about myself.
I like root beer floats. If you don’t like root beer floats, GTFO. (Just kidding. Not really.)
I watched all 4 season of Parks and Recreation on Netflix over the course of about 2 weeks. (Maybe 1 week, but who’s counting?)
When no one else is home, I like to belt out The Phantom of the Opera songs. (The neighbors love me).
Sleeping in too much makes me feel guilty as hell and makes me more tired than I would have been had I woken up before dinner time.
I think Starbucks is a ripoff. But I keep going back anyway like a desperate, smitten lover.
At Starbucks, don’t try selling me your newest caramel maraschino frappemachiatto. I only ever order a “Grande Chai, no water.” Done.
I think I’m suddenly hating the number 11.
My quietude often comes across as arrogance and/or apathy. I often don’t notice this until wa-a-a-ay after the fact, when the damage has already been done. And I’m pretty sure there are times when I never notice. Sorry, everyone I’ve ever unintentionally offended. (Not-so-sorry, to those I intentionally have).
I’m trying out a new motto: “Just be.” Plain and simple. Existence is enough.
I don’t know what I want out of life. And that’s a-okay.

11 Answers for the Lovely Nominator, Keeping A Thought

1. What genre of music do you dislike the most, if any?
Bad music.

2. What is one skill or talent that you would want the most?
The ability to enjoy answering questions.

3. Who is your role model, if any, and why?
Psy. Because oppa Gangnam Style.

4. What’s your reason for starting a blog?
To vent some stress in a way that wouldn’t result in breaking things or ending up in jail.

5. What is your current favorite song?
Flight of the Valkyries. Wagner, like a boss.

6. What irritates you the most?
Small talk.

7. Do you have any irrational fears? What are they (if you’re willing to say)?
Fear of being rational.

8. Would you be willing to jump off an airplane (with a parachute)? Why or why not?
Of course. Mama needs the adrenaline rush.

9. What was your weirdest dream?
It probably involved aliens, swimming in lava, and some high school teachers.

10. If there was a zombie apocalypse (which I highly doubt, I hope), what three items would you want the most to survive and defend yourself against these moving corpses?
Don’t joke about the zombie apocalypse. (But I’d bring a Swiss army knife, a Twinkie, and Daryl from The Walking Dead).

11. Did any of these questions irritate you, honestly?
They reminded me of those quizzes friends would forward you in middle school. So yeah.

11 Questions for the Lovely Nominees (No, I’m not going to stalk each of you to make sure you’ve answered these, so don’t sweat it.)

Harry Potter or Twilight?
Would you rather be a super hero or a super villain?
What would your super name be?
Why did you start a blog?
What is one goal you’d like to achieve by the end of next week?
What’s your opinion on unicorns?
Is sarcasm the lowest form of humor?
Who’s your favorite comedian?
What’s your catch phrase or favorite saying?
What’s the meaning of life?
Who’s on first?

So there you have it, a bunch of 11’s and some redonkulous questions. Have fun, check out those blogs, and spread the love!

Cheers,
Stressed Out Student

Very Inspiring Blogger Award: Frankly, My Dear…

Posted by stressingoutstudent

Shut your Southern drawling trap, Rhett Butler, because I do give a damn.

A Mr. pikeknight has been kind enough to nominate me and 14 other bloggers for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!

According to the powers that be, in accepting this award, I must:

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
6. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.
7. Realize there is no #4 on the list. And no, this is not part of the actual requirements. I’m just kind of an ass. And desperate to be creative. So someone please stop me while I’m ahead or else I’ll keep rambling vainly and endlessly about how wonderfully witty and sarcastic I am and…

Did someone mentally slap me in the face? Thank you. Now moving on from the above shenanigans:

Thank you, Mr. pikeknight, for the nomination. I feel it would be too histrionic and eye-roll-worthy if I were to break out into a Sally Fields Oscar-winning moment, so I’ll just let a hearty “thank you” suffice. So- here are 7 things about my fascinating self and the awesome bloggers that deserve this award (Note: The words following “fascinating self” in that sentence are not sarcastic. I promise. These bloggers really are awesome and you need to check them out).

1. Starting off with something basic: My favorite book is The Picture of Dorian Gray by [King of the Aesthetes and witty comebacks] Oscar Wilde. Poetic, dark, and ever-so-quotable.

2. Something nostalgic: I sucked on my thumb until I was 7 years old. My parents tried rubbing lemon on my stubby digit as a deterrent. It worked – for a little while. Today, I like eating lemons as if they’re oranges.

3. Something wishful: I love to travel. My grandparents took my sister and I on great road trips cross country and out of the country. I’d like to see and explore as much of this wide world as I can before age catches up to me.

4. Something musical: I like music, but I’m terrible with lyrics, titles, and artist names. If you want to know if I’ve heard a song, you’ll have to hum the chorus to me.

5. Something scary: Even though my ancestry (as far as I know) is Chinese, I was born in the U.S. And even though I learned Mandarin before I learned English, my Mandarin is now worse than that of a Chinese 101 student.

6. Something whimsical: My favorite sound in the world is the laughter of little children. (That sounded less creepy in my head).

7. Something I live by: Moderation is key. Logic is good. However, everything in moderation – even moderation. And never let Logic make you forget that you’re a fleshy, feeling human being.

Very Inspiring Bloggers (in no particular order)