The Mystery Liebster Blogger Award

Carrie @ Cat on the Bookshelf tagged me for the Mystery Blogger Award. The Mystery Blogger Award was started by Okoto Enigma as a way to discover new blogs. Bookish Owlette tagged me for the Liebster Award. I’ve done both of these tags before, so instead of being repetitive, I’m going to combine them and just answer the questions that Carrie and Bookish Owlette asked. The random questions are the best part of tags, right? Here we go: 

Carrie’s questions:

Besides what you normally blog about, what is one other thing you are passionate about?

Dogs. I love them. The majority of my Twitter feed is just photos of random dogs.

If all expenses were taken care of, where in the world would you want to go?

Europe. I know that’s a very nonspecific answer, but I want to see everything in Europe. I can’t pick one place.

Would you rather be a dragon or have a dragon?

Be a dragon. Dragons seem like terrible pets. They’re huge; they eat people; and they start fires. Also, who’s going to clean up the dragon poop? I’d rather be a giant pooping arsonist than clean up after one.

If you could speak a language other than the one(s) you know, which would it be and why?

Spanish. I live in a state that used to be part of Mexico, so there’s a large Spanish-speaking population here. I studied Spanish for 7 years in school, but I was hopeless at it. Being fluent in Spanish would be really helpful.

What chance encounter changed your life forever?

My 12^th grade creative writing teacher inadvertently convinced me to apply to college. I wrote about that here.

Bookish Owlette’s questions:

Have you ever met an author or celebrity in real life? Who and what happened!?

Pretty much everyone I know is an author or a wannabe author. That’s what happens when you spend 11 years studying literature in college. You meet a lot of authors. I’ve never met anyone too famous or well-known. Just average-famous authors.

What inspires your blog content and design?

Books inspire the content. The design is inspired by a lot of things. I’m a hipster who likes vintage stuff. I review “old” backlist books instead of ARCs. I’m eagerly awaiting the day that top hats come back in fashion . . .

Which Hogwarts House are you in?

Would you do this, get $100,000 every week = marry the one person you hate, and loathe.

I guess that depends on how “married” we’d have to be. Can we get married, take the money, and go our separate ways? Or, do we have to live together and pretend to love each other? If we could get married and then never see each other again, I’d totally do it.

What is the story behind your blog name?

Way back in 2011, I named my TBR pile "All The Things." As in “There are all the things I have to read.”

Time Machine and Magic Wand in hand, if you could be any person in the world, who would you be and why?

This is hard! I’d probably be one of the astronauts who walked on the moon. I’d love to go to space, but I’m panicky and prone to motion sickness. No sane person would allow me near a rocket.

What’s your dream job?

Wealthy philanthropist. I want to wear a ridiculous ball gown and hand out money like it’s candy at a Halloween party.

What is the main obstacle you face in your blog?

Myself. Depression and perfectionism make it hard to get stuff done sometimes. Luckily, I binge blog and schedule posts when I’m feeling good. That way, you guys don’t notice when I disappear for a few days.

Most embarrassing moment?

I don’t think anything too mortifying has ever happened to me, but here are two embarrassing moments from teenagehood:

In 7^th grade science class, we were watching a film. Suddenly, the kid sitting next to me smacked me on the back of the head really hard. When I touched the place he’d smacked, I found a bumper sticker. He’d stuck a massive bumper sticker to the back of my head. Everyone in the class noticed except for the teacher. I spent the rest of science class trying to de-sticker my head without ripping out all my hair. I probably should have gone to the bathroom to do this, but I wasn’t that smart. I did it in class with everybody watching. 

In 9^th grade math class, I sat next to this boy called Heavy C. Heavy C liked to draw penises. On everything. During class, he’d rip up notebook paper, draw a dick on each scrap, and then fling the scraps at me like confetti. It’s astounding how many dicks one kid can draw and throw during a 60-minute math class. I was constantly terrified that the teacher would walk past my desk and notice that it was surrounded by itty bitty dick pics. My classmates sure noticed. It’s really hard to concentrate on algebra when it’s raining men in the classroom. No matter how many times I asked him to stop, Heavy C wouldn’t quit his penis deluge, so I eventually asked the teacher if I could change desks. I didn’t tell her what was going on, but she moved me out of dick-flinging range.

If you could be a supernatural being, what would you be?

I don’t know much about supernatural creatures. I’d probably want to be something that can fly and is hard to kill.

Which fictional character would you marry?

One who can do magic. Wouldn’t it be awesome if your spouse could clean the house by waving a wand? No more housework for us!

Tell me about one of your embarrassing moments . . .