Liebster Award

I have been given the Liebster award from not one but two of my AtoZ blogger buddies, Bradley @ Pass the Sour Cream and Bethie @ Creating Wordlenik. Thanks, you guys!

The origins of this award is somewhat unclear, but Liebster is apparently German for sweetheart or favorite. The rules of this award:

If you are nominated to receive the award you nominate 11 other bloggers (with fewer than 200 followers) and ask them 11 questions, as well as post 11 random facts about yourself and finally, answer the 11 questions asked by the person that nominated you.

See, that’s the reason why I only got around to “accepting” the award. It takes work; but it’s fun work. It makes me feel like a celebrity being interviewed. Haha!

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. Whenever I notice that the time is 11:11, I make a wish. Last 11/11/11, I made a wish at 11:11 pm which came true just a couple of hours later. The wish didn’t last though, I should’ve been more specific. LOL.
2. I’m a chocoholic.
3. I have migraine. My worst incident had me checking myself into a hospital emergency room at midnight and meds had to be injected into my veins. 
4. I am scared of blood. I once fainted after my blood was taken during a pre-employment medical exam. 
5. I have small veins on the inside of my elbow, so most of the time, people have a hard time getting blood from there and have to resort to getting it from the veins on the back of my hands. I tried to donate blood once (I swallowed my fear for a good cause) but got rejected because I had small veins. 
6. I love to collect accessories even though I’m allergic to metals. Sometimes my skin reacts to them.
7. People like coming to me for advice or when they want to talk about their problems, even people who are not really that close to me suddenly open up to me. Not sure why that is. Once back in high school, someone actually called me at home and started with this line: “I called you because my friend ____ told me that you give good advice and recommended that I talk to you about my problem.” Err. Okay.
8. I like sitcoms and mystery (or sort of) shows. I don’t like to follow drama shows because they stress me out. My current favorites: How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Sherlock, Suits, White Collar.
9. I am an Apple fan girl because of Steve Jobs. I really admire the guy and his philosophy. His biography is one of my favorite books. Too bad he died. 
10. I adore accents. Especially British. That’s why I love to watch Sherlock and Doctor Who.
11. I wish I could have a flashforward of my future and have a short glimpse of what my life would be like for me 10 years from now. Would I ever get married? Would I still be in finance? In what country will I be living?

Here are Bradley’s questions. My answers are in blue.

1. What’s the most annoying thing on your To Do List? Why haven’t you done it? Cleaning up my room. Because I hate cleaning. Oops.
2. Who’s your best friend? Gelle. Read about her here.
3. Where do you find inspiration for creativity? (A place, a person, an activity, etc.) I get this question all the time – “Where do you get your ideas?” And my answer – I have no idea! It just comes to me from everywhere. 
4. What single project or task would you consider the most significant accomplishment in your career so far? Please, let’s not talk about work on my blog. Haha.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud? Oh no!!!! – I shouted this at the TV while watching Iron Man 2. I had already seen that movie before, so I don’t know why I was so worried when I knew how it was going to end. Haha.
6. Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you? My mom. She taught me a lot of things, but the most important thing is probably on not giving up easily. Whenever I wanted to quit, she did not mollycoddle me and told me to press on. She only gave me permission to quit when it was absolutely necessary.
7. Your car just went off the cliff (sorry). You’re mid-air but you were visiting the Grand Canyon so you have a few extra seconds before it’s all over. Who did you wish you last kissed? What might you have said to them had you known about your unfortunate Cliff Diving While Driving experience? (tip: go say that to them today) Nobody in the romantic vein, sorry. So I guess I’d have to say, my mom. I’d tell her how much I loved her and appreciated everything she ever did for me.
8. What did you invent that you thought would be a great invention until you found out it was already done? The pensieve. Well technically it hasn’t been invented in reality, but I always wished I could go through my memories much like the Harry Potter characters do in the pensieve.
9. What’s your favorite sound? The sound of the ocean waves. It’s so relaxing.  
10. How would you like to be remembered? I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference in the world. 
11. What question above was your favorite? The one before this. It made me think. I am not ready to die yet. I need to work on being remembered that way.

1. What did you do on your favorite birthday? On my 25th birthday, I was so touched when my friends came up with a surprise for me – they asked 22 different guys to hand me 25 long-stemmed red roses, one by one, in my cubicle. You can read all about it here.
2. If you were held captive, what kind of Duct tape would you want to be taped up with? I didn’t know there were different kinds. But umm… the flimsy ones, I guess, so I can easily break them?
3. What is your favorite city or town? Why? Makati City, Philippines. I fell in love at first sight with that place, and vowed to work there, which I managed to do. I have so many happy memories there. It’s the place where my dreams first came true.
4. If it were possible, would you be taller or shorter than you are now? Taller, please! I’m practically a midget now. 
5. Do you prefer tennis shoes or heels? Heels. I rarely wear tennis shoes. 
6. Which of Neil Gaimen’s Endless do you most relate to? See The Endless for details if needed. This is my first time to hear about this series, so based on what little info I know, I guess I’ll pick… ummm… Delirium?
7. If you could be a color which would it be? Why? Purple. Because it’s my favorite color and because it’s the color of royalty.
8. Espresso or regular roast coffee? Regular. Espresso is too strong for my taste.
9. You’re a white collar criminal. What is your crime? I accidentally stole Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night Over the Rhone painting. I was just admiring it because it was so beautiful, and I was going to put it back, promise, but me being a Dory (someone with short term memory problems), I plum forgot. 
10. What fictional character would be a good leader for your country? Why? Ummm… Harry Potter? Because he can do magic. And that’s just cool, that’s all. 
11. In a spouse–whether you’re married or not–what trait is most important to you? Compatibility. I wish for a spouse who will be, first and foremost, a friend. Because romance and passion fizzles after a while, but friendship lasts forever.

Here are my questions:

1. What was your first ever memory?
2. Who is your idol and why?
3. What is your favorite year and why? (For example: mine is 2005 and it is because it’s the year my dreams first came true.)
4. What is the title of your favorite book or movie?
5. If you could be somebody else for a day, who would you pick? It can be anyone alive or dead, real or fictitious.
6. Can you point me to the best blog you ever wrote, or at least one that you think I should read?
7. What was the best birthday present you ever received?
8. Name three things you can’t live without.
9. If you could turn back time, what would you do differently?
10. If a genie appeared in front of you and asked you to make one wish, what would it be?
11. Who is your biggest celebrity crush?

And the nominees for this award… is everyone who reads my blog! So if you’re reading this, tagged, you’re it. 🙂

I really am interested to know your answers to my questions. Please let me know in the comments if you have blogged about it or you can just answer the questions directly in the comments if you don’t have time for all the other stuff. 🙂