Bloom Reviews

Thanks so much Rise From Ashes for nominating me for this lovely award. I’ve been on vacation for the past couple days, so it’s nice to sit down and have something simple to write about for the blog. I always enjoy doing these posts and award Q&A’s. A lot of you have some pretty interesting questions.

The Rules

1) Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog so others can visit them.
2) Answer eleven questions asked by the nominator.
3) Nominate eight (or is it eleven???) bloggers of your choosing and ask them eleven questions of your own.
4) Notify the nominees by commenting on one of their blog posts.
5) List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post or on your blog site.

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My Answers

1.Have you ever had a paranormal/ghost experience? If so, care to share? If no experience, do you believe in the paranormal/ghosts?

To be honest, I’m not sure. A few years ago I would’ve said yes, but the more I think about it, the more I think it might have just been a case of group panic. Back in my middle or high school days I went over to a friend’s house for a sleep-over. Back in those days, one of the popular games to play was manhunt, which was like hide-and-seek in the dark with flashlights. So we decided to play that in her basement. One of my friends was “it” and we all hid in various places around her basement.

After a few minutes of hiding, I hear a scream. I jumped up from my hiding place and went over to where they were. My friend had decided to hide on top of a table underneath a laundry basket. She claimed that something pushed the table over and she felt like she was going to fall off. Only the table was bolted to the floor. We all ran out of the house fairly freaked out and took a walk to calm down. I’m not sure what happened in the house, we all kind of got really intrigued by the paranormal and were looking into Wicca at that point. The one time I went back to that house, I was standing in front of her closet and felt a cold breeze pass behind me. I couldn’t for the life of me remember if the closet was open or not before I stood in front of it.

To this day I’m not quite sure what happened that night. I haven’t really had another experience since, but I do believe that there is some merit in believing in something after death. There’s way too many stories for there to be nothing going on.

2. What’s a food that your region is known for? (for example: Chicago is known for Chicago Style pizza).

Currently, I live in Boston, and I guess we’re known for our clam chowder and baked beans.

3. If you don’t mind, could you recommend me some new music? Singer/idol/band, anything is okay~

Sure! I’m currently obsessed with an indie pop band called Foxes, but I would also recommend HAIM, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Ben Howard. All of them are fairly indie with some pop, country, and rock influences.

4. What’s your favorite piece of fandom merchandise? Big or small, include a picture if you can!

My favorite piece of merchandise right now might be my Cardcaptors figurines or the enamel pins I’ve started to collect. It’s hard to really pinpoint one favorite piece though, so I’ll just include some pictures of the ones I have so far. I keep trying to limit myself to only buying cardcaptor’s figurines because I know it’ll become a slippery slope to buying way too much if I go past that. Enamel pins have become really fun to collect though and I find myself scrolling through Instagram a lot looking for new ones to add. I bought a cork board for my wall and I’ve been slowly trying to fill that up over time. I can’t resist buying them anytime I go to a convention, especially Cardcaptor themed ones.

5. Do you prefer reading hardback, or paperback books, or digitally?

I generally prefer reading in any form of print, but have no problem reading in digital if I have to. Especially for manga and comics, I love having physical copies to flip back and forth through the pages. It’s a lot easier when it’s a comic I plan to review on the blog as well since I can easily flip to a page I want to scan into the review.

However, digital copies can be really good for some things like saving space in your bookshelves and provide a good option for people who may be on a budget. Most ebooks are half the price of their print counterparts so it can be a good option for people who are short on money or are unsure if they will like a particular series since they’ll only have to pay between 6 and 8 dollars for a digital manga copy.

6. What’s the biggest takeaway you have from your personal blogging journey?

I would say the biggest takeaway I’ve gotten from starting a blog is to really enjoy yourself. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to step back and re-evaluate how and what you’re writing. Don’t be afraid to take breaks and make sure to take care of yourself. Your writing will suffer if you don’t feel like you’re into it.

7. Oddly specific, outside of blogging what kind of online content do you comment on? (example, youtube videos, reddit, etc)

I don’t usually comment on many other platforms, maybe Twitter and Reddit at times. I’ll occasionally comment on something on Instagram if I really like it. Most of the time though I’m just trying to avoid inadvertently saying something that would spark a comment war or argument.

8. Do you have any special talents/party tricks you can do?

Not really, unless you consider art being a special talent. I can draw but I don’t really have anything that I could take to a talent show.

9. Do you have a topic that despite it suiting your blog, you’ve decided not to write about?

I don’t usually like to write about ecchi, harem, or shonen romance. Mostly, I don’t usually like to write about things that don’t really interest me personally. After a while of running this blog I find that I have less time to devote to things that I’m not interested in, so I usually like to write about things that I don’t mind watching or things that I actually enjoy. I have less time to watch mediocre anime series or read less than good manga or comic series. I may do a review of the first volume once and awhile, but I usually don’t follow-through to any more volumes.

10. In a game of truth or dare, which do you pick?

Truth.

11. How do you feel about blog tags/being tagged?

I don’t mind honestly. I may not always have the time to do them, but they’re a fun diversion from the regular blogging schedule.

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My Nominees

(No pressure to anyone nominated below)

A Nerdy Perspective, The Anime Madhouse, Reasons to Anime, Confessions of an Overage Otaku, Rai’s Anime Blog, Otaku Orbit, Amanda.Actually, The Animanga Spellbook

My Questions

What was the scariest movie or show you’ve ever watched?

Are there certain genres of TV shows or books that you stay away from or hate reading? Why?

Who was your first celebrity/character crush and why?

What was one show your parents hated you watching but you watched anyways?

I’ve recently gotten addicted to podcasts, do you have any recommendations for podcasts or other talk shows you enjoy listening to?

I’m currently relaxing on vacation right now. What’s your favorite summertime or beach read?

It’s starting to get towards the end of summer. What’s one aspect of this season that you look forward to the most? Vacation? A certain event? Warmth?

Conversely, Fall is pretty much upon us. What’s one thing about the season you’re really looking forward to?

Tell me about the style of your blog and why you picked the color, banner, and subject matter that you did.

What about blogging drew you to make your own blog?

Is there anything about content creators in particular or contention creation in general that you find annoying or frustrating?

~~Thanks for Reading!~~

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