A Really Bad (Good) Egg

Mike at Really Bad Eggs (http://black-vulmea.blogspot.ca/) mistakenly decided that this blog was worth a Kreativ Blogger Award, but his mistake is my gain, so thank you very much!  I tried to find the Kreativ Blogger rules using what turned out to be pretty poor Google-Fu in this particular case.  I hope, therefore, that I am doing this correctly.

(Really, though, thank you Mike.  I enjoy your blog, too!)

Seven Questions

1. What's your favourite song?

That changes a lot.  It’s been REM’s “Losing My Religion” and it’s been Crystal Gale singing “River Road”.  I suppose, right now, I’d have to pick either “Common People” (Pulp) or “The Log-Driver’s Waltz” (Canadian traditional, Mountain City Four rendition). 

2. What's your favourite dessert?

Usually some form of cheesecake.  But I am partial to vanilla ice cream with maple syrup poured over it.

3. What do you do when you're upset?

Go quiet.   Or fix the problem that made me upset.  Depending upon the cause.

4. Which is your favourite pet?

I have no pets at the moment, and I like both dogs and cats. 

5. Which do you prefer? Black or White?

Black.  It always looks good.

6. What is your biggest fear?

Another tough question!  I try to avoid being motivated by fear.  When my eldest was my only, and was going to school for the first time, I used to have nightmares about things happening to him.  When he got old enough to be near the end of his school days, I started to have nightmares about him doing something that would mess up his life…something he couldn’t fix.  Thankfully, neither one was founded in reality.

My biological father has cerebral ataxia, which is a genetic disorder, and I would have to say that, right now, my biggest fear is that I may carry that disorder.  Not only fear for me, but fear for what that might mean for my children.

7. What is your attitude mostly?

Cheeky, amused, calm.

Ten facts

      1.       Although I live in Toronto, listed a Canadian folksong as one of my favourite songs (at the moment), and enjoy vanilla ice cream with maple syrup, I was not born in Canada.  I am an American by birth.

      2.       I once had the misfortune to fall 35 feet, breaking my right calcaneus into four pieces (severing the Achilles tendon and requiring 4 screws to repair), my left subtalar, and vertebrae at L1, L2, L3, and L4.  It hurt a bit.

      3.       I have also had the bad misfortune of having a car door slammed on my head.  Twice in a row.  It hurt even more.

      4.       I have a terrible love of bad jokes, puns, and all manner of things that I think are funny, but that are pretty hit-and-miss (with an emphasis on the miss) as far as those around me are concerned.

      5.       The best compliment I ever received as a GM was from someone who had never played in a game I had run.  I was visiting the University of Madison, and was in the elevator overhearing a guy telling someone else about his new player and the fantastic DM he had played with previously.  From the details of the games I heard, I was able to identify the player, and when I casually asked who the DM was, and who the player was, I was right.  I said nothing, but it felt really, really good.

      6.       I know far, far too much about Doctor Who…from An Unearthly Child right through to Matt Smith’s latest outing.  I own a fez, which I was given as a Christmas present, and a 14-foot scarf, also a present, hand-knitted.  Both were given to me by my excellent brother-in-law, James.  The quest to have a Doctor Who rpg that actually does what I want it to do has led me from FASA to Time Lord to Cubicle 7 to home design…and I still don’t have one.

      7.       I used to own half of Golden City Comics in Scarborough, Ontario.

      8.       I have been to the Disney Compound in Florida and the Disney Compound in California.  I was living in Los Angeles before I moved to Toronto, and it seemed like something I should do before I left.  Later, I drove to Florida from Toronto with my ex-wife, son, and older daughter.  Both were a lot of fun, but I am far more a Warner Brothers guy than a Disney guy!

      9.       I strongly believe that it is better to tilt at windmills than to meekly resign oneself to supporting something one believes unethical.  This has sometimes been difficult to balance against needing a roof over my head and food on my plate.

      10.   Even as a child, I loved liver and onions, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts.  And I still do.

      11.   BONUS:  I think far too much about rules systems, both for games and the apparent background rules of fiction.  When my daughters were watching Dora the Explorer, I was trying to figure out the rules by which her world worked. 

Seven Awardees

In no specific order, here are some bloggers who write things I wish I’d thought of:

Grognardia (http://grognardia.blogspot.ca/):  I always find it interesting.  I recommend it to you.

Tenkar’s Tavern (http://www.tenkarstavern.com/):   Always insightful, and sometimes inciteful (Grumpy Dwarf, I’m looking at you!).

Yog-Blogsoth (http://yog-blogsoth.blogspot.ca/):  Because I love me some Cthulu, and the combination of quotes and illustrations is good stuff.

Gluten Free Chickie (http://www.glutenfreechickie.com/) :  Not a role-playing blog, but a good model to follow regardless of what you’re interested in. 

Eggplant Productions (http://eggplantproductions.com/?cat=21):  Because I cannot help but plug Raechel Henderson whenever possible.  She was the first person who ever paid me money (rather than contributor copies) for a piece of writing, and I wish all the best to her.

MilaNoelleFaulkner (http://milanoellefaulkner.blogspot.ca/):   Because I am also interested in poetry, and in people.

Dreams of Mythic Fantasy (http://dreamsofmythicfantasy.blogspot.ca/):  Because James is interesting, and has interesting things to say. 

Once again, thank you, Mike at Really Bad Eggs for this award!  I’ll have you know that your notifications about interesting movies have been useful to at least one person!