Mystery Blogger Award! Is it spoopy, is it mysterious? No, it’s mostly a chain mail thingy

The last time I did one of these chain mail-majingies was in December when I did the whole b/w-challenge (7 black and white photos in seven days without any people as motives) on Facebook which was actually quite fun.

Before that, it has been at least 3 years because I remember that I did that one questionnaire on my blog to intrigue and amuse my then very new boyfriend (spoiler alert: it worked).

So, since then, because relationships and 9-to-5-jobs suck out every ounce of time I had before to waste on this blog, it has been a little less social on here. But then Muriel did the thing and not in the murdery sense like that one chain letter horror novel I once read and which cannot be googled because all you get is Christopher Pike and that’s not the story I am thinking of, argh! Wait, where was I? Ah yes …

No, he invited me to yet another blogger award which still is a thing if you can believe it.

So, let’s get this started (as enthusiastically as I am when that Black eyed Peas-song of the same name starts which is not very):

1. Put the award logo/image on your blog.

At some point in this chain, this image will have the worst resolution and be just three pixels with a mysterious file name, so it fits the theme, I guess.

2. List the rules.

(How is this #2 on this list and not #1?)

3. Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

Yeah, thanks Muriel, thanks a lot!

4. Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.

You know what, that blog looks airy, light and pretty, I will actually check that out, haven’t been on good pretty blogs in a while: okoto enigma

5. Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.

• I think I am naturally uncool and real life cool people make me really nervous because I know that I simply can’t measure up to them.
• I love to read and have a lot of great books at home and generally, I love all sorts of genres but most of the time, I will pick a horror novel instead of that really amazing sad novel by that young German writer because I love to be spooped.  
• I usually play games on the easy mode and only sometimes on the normal mode because I hate dying in games (like, I really hate it, it stresses me out). I will rather cower behind a box for twenty minutes to stealth kill an enemy instead of trying out a bold move. 

6. You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.

This is … look, I am 33, I have the aforementioned boyfriend, I have a job, I apparently play video games and struggle on easy mode and I have a few other embarrassing hobbies I will keep secret for now. How in the world can I know 10-20 blogs that I read regularly?

Ok, so here it goes: dear fellow bloggers, you don’t have to do this and if you don’t, I will not spam you or be mad because I really get it. So I mainly put you in this list because I truly enjoy your blogs and want others to enjoy them as well.

Spoiler Alert: all of these are mainly in German, sorry, not sorry.

Fluegge: this lovely lady writes about journeys, “Fernweh” but also about other things and she is just an amazing human being (as far as I know, who knows what deep dark secrets she will reveal, muahaha). And I guess because these awards are also here to extend readerships, I simply have to nominate her.

JHubner: my music blog is a sorry excuse of a blog compared to Mr. Hubners amazing trove of alternative and indie music, musings and pop culture tidbits. If I have the time and want to discover something new, I can just randomly pick a review of his and it will be at least a 8/10. He also makes his own (good) music, so it’s a given that I will totally recommend him.

Loosy Says: because she did the thing back then and helped me to be charming for my new boyfriend. I recommend Loosy for everyone who loves food and cat pictures which on my account is at least 99% of the internet.

That’s it, my fourth choice would have been Muriel but he already did the deed, I told you I don’t read blogs. Gosh dammit, should I start again? Is it even worth it? This award really got super depressing …

7. Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.

I will … I did. 

8. Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify)

Urgh.

1. Which song reminds you most of your hometown and why (second part doesn’t need to be answered if too personal)
2. What’s the one place you always wanted to travel to but haven’t gotten to yet?
3. What’s the weirdest thing you ever ate and did it taste good?
4. If Steve Buscemi had to play a main character in a hot new remake of “Mean Girls” who would he play?
5. What movie always makes you happy, no matter what?

9. Share a link to your best post(s)

It should be that one about the boobs-playlist but to be honest, one of my favorite posts is my apocalypse-playlist because – without really planning it – it veered into crazy territory.  

And I guess to get a glimpse into my writing about music, this “defense of pop” is a nice entry.

Last but not least, one of my newer features which is a collection of horror movies featuring mermaids.

And here’s the five questions asked by Muriel (I gotta say, though, it’s pretty difficult to decide which one is the weird one …)

Do you like meat?

I do. I like it less than I did, I noticed, but sometimes I turn into a ravenous beast and then I eat a lot of it. I don’t like all kinds of meat and usually try to get the ethically less horrible version but yeah, I like it.

Do you think you’d write for Springer if they offered enough? For the purpose of this question, we will suppose that they might be generous, but the perspective should be in the realm of possibility, so if you’re going to say „Sure, for 500,000,000€ a day I might consider it“, please don’t. Or actually: Go ahead. You can just name a price. I guess that would be a good measure of your willingness to write for Springer, or lack of same.

(For the international readers: Springer is a publisher who publishes stuff like the US FOX news or British the Sun – some of it is really bad and badly written, some is okay but still ethically dubious because there is a lot of sexist, racist shit with blaming all problems on poor people, migrants and other minorities and they also show a crass disregard for privacy rights of individuals)

Here’s the thing: I already sold out when I entered the marketing world right after I got my degree and I even worked in boulevard journalism for a while, so obviously I have no soul and would work for Springer in a heartbeat. 

BUT! I am at a point in my life where I actually enjoy writing for a company and would rather look for that kind of job than being a journalist. I also – at least now (knock on wood) – am not the kind of person who needs that much money to enjoy her life, so it wouldn’t really be about the amount of money that made me do it. I am quite happy with what I have, and of course I know how horribly cheesy that sounds.

So, I guess my answer is: no. But I really get why others would and definitely wouldn’t fault anyone for it (I would only fault people if they write actually ethically dubious stuff for Springer). And maybe at some point I have to make a decision like that. But it wouldn’t be about “how much are they willing to pay” and more like “do I not have other options, are they paying much more than literally anyone else for an amazing job and working atmosphere?” 

Sorry, to be so lame with this answer, I know I should have been super witty and sarcastic with this one but …meh.

What’s your favorite post of mine?

I really enjoyed your/Muriel’s writing experiment for “Bright Outlook.” which is – sorry, dear English speaking readers – in German. It’s a psychological experiment-thriller kind of story (something I really love) and I am so amazed that he basically put his story as a work in progress out there to let us – me included – comment and criticize away. It’s also a fun read. Also, I am technically cheating because this is not one but about a gazillion posts but if this was about movies and I would say “Godfather Trilogy” – or rather, in my case, “Lord of the Rings”, no one would bat an eye.

If you were caught in a different time stream than your own and had to kill Christian Weirich for a chance to return to your own, which kind of weapon would you use, if any?

Who is Christian Weirich? What kind of time stream is it? Are the people I know in that time stream as well? Do you know that I am against the death penalty and therefore could never kill someone, so what kind of sadistic shit is this, Muriel?

Is this some kind of insider joke and I get drawn into it, naively, innocently? Am I part of bullying a friend or foe of yours?

Also: do they still have the Szechuan Sauce from McDonalds in that timeline? Because if so, I would totally stay (I’m kidding, all McDonalds sauces are gross).

How do you feel about being nominated for this? Please be very honest and very extensive in your answer, especially if your feelings run in the general direction of „Was this really necessary I HATE those things!“

Well, I actually like questionnaires but I always feel horrible when it comes to the nominating part. Like, why would I want to be someone who forwards a chain letter. Didn’t we learn back in school that you can never win with chain letters?

I also always think that surely no one can read this and think ‘oh, this is interesting, she plays video games on easy-mode!’ – I know that this is some boring-ass shit and that it’s super egocentric and banal. 

However, to fully answer this question, I think it’s nice that I got nominated because it’s nice that there’s at least one (and probably not more than two) person out there that reads my blog. So, thank you, Muriel (this time without the sarcasm). 

I’ll play myself out with the iconic song by the Blood Red Shoes: “it’s getting boring by the blogging award entry”