Mystery Blogger Award!

Awesome blogger Art of Redress nominated me for another blogging award, this time the Mystery Blogger Award! As far as what the Mystery Blogger Award is… I’m stealing a quote from a quote that was already stolen. Woo!

*The award was created by Okoto Enigma*

“Mystery Blogger Award”  is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging; and they do it with so much love and passion.

With that being said, here’s all the rules:

THE RULES:

• Display the award logo on your blog.
• List the rules.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
  
• Tell your readers three things about yourself.
• Answer five questions from the nominator.
• Nominate from 10 to 20 bloggers.
• Notify the bloggers by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice, including one weird or funny question.
• Share the link to your best post.

So let’s get started! 🙂

Three facts about myself!

1. It’s taking me a long time to come up with three interesting facts. Seriously. I don’t know what my problem is, but I must be really boring or something, because I can’t think of anything interesting to say about myself.

2. I love horror movies, but I don’t ever really get scared. I mean, I’ve been a bit unsettled at times, but I know everything is fake, so I don’t get worked up. In fact, a lot of time when the big scary demon/ monster/ psycho killer is revealed or is in action, it makes me laugh. Maybe there’s something wrong with me.

3. I could live off of french fries and potato chips. I realize that’s not the healthiest of diets, but some days, I just don’t care 😉

And now, here’s the five questions I was asked!

1. Do you follow a sports team? (I’m an Everton fan, though my interest has waned of late!)

I’m not big into sports, so I don’t follow a particular team or anything. I have to say that I really love watching gymnastics though! I’ve always harbored a secret desire to be a gymnast- I even took lessons when I was younger, until the trainer moved away and my mom wouldn’t drive me to their new location because it was too far away! If an adult gymnastics class ever opens up near me, I’m in- I’ll probably kill myself, but it would sure be fun to try!

2. Do you have any tattoos? If not, what tattoo would you get? (I haven’t got any, though I’d love to get one…just not sure what to get)

I have 10 tattoos right now… I LOVE tattoos! I think they are so beautiful and a great form of expression. Surprisingly only one of my tats is video game related, but every single one of them is meaningful to me. I do have at least one other tattoo planned- a phoenix of some sort. I just keep putting it off, and now it’s almost time to swim, which means I won’t get it done until maybe the fall! (I like to get a tattoo when it’s cooler, that way it has more time to heal before I subject it to sun and water!)

3. If you could share an apartment with any video game/film/TV character, who would it be and why? (I reckon Max Payne would be pretty quiet and there would always be painkillers available)

Hmmm… this is a tough one, as I don’t like sharing my space with people (excluding my husband of course)! I think almost any character would get on my nerves at some point. Yes, even Kirby- come on, he’d eat all my damn food and not feel bad about it! Maybe I’d go ahead and pick Snorlax. Yeah, he’s huge and eats a lot, but he would sleep most of the day away, and he’s super squishy and cuddly. I could live with that!

4. What’s the saddest song you’ve ever heard? (Nutshell by Alice in Chains for me, especially the Unplugged version)

There’s a couple songs that could probably answer this question for me, but I’m going to go with “Ashes of Eden” by Breaking Benjamin. Not gonna lie, this song literally made me cry every time I heard it after my grandfather passed away last year. (only in my car, not ever actually in front of anybody GEEZ!) I normally don’t go all mushy, but something about this song brings out the sadness. Here’s a snippet of the lyrics:

Are you with me after all…
Why can’t I hear you?
Are you with me through it all…
Then why can’t I feel you?
Stay with me, don’t let me go…
Because there’s nothing left at all…
Stay with me, don’t let me go…
Until the Ashes of Eden fall.

If you feel like crying, go listen to that song.

5. What would the title of your autobiography be? (Mine would just be ‘Redression’ with a picture of me made from copies of Dynamite Dux)

Plot twist: my autobiography wouldn’t have a name. The cover of the book would be all black, just like my soul. And the inside would contain a bunch of random blurbs and pictures of animals. It wouldn’t make much sense, much like I don’t make sense in real life.

So there you have it! Five random questions that were super fun to answer! 🙂 Oh and as for a link to my best post…. I dunno, you pick one and pretend I gave a link to it! Thanks again to Art of Redress for nominating me 😉 If anyone wants to answer these questions, please feel free!

My Animal Crossing Collection Part 1: Games!

I thought it might be fun to share some pictures of my obsessive crazy collection of Animal Crossing stuff! I was originally going to make this one long post, but I figured it might be better to split it up into a couple different ones. Anyway, as many of you know, I have been a huge fan of Animal Crossing ever since it was announced for North American release back in late 2001/ early 2002, and since then I have amassed a humble collection of games and other crap that makes my little black heart happy! This first post will show all of my games, along with their respective game guides. I don’t have guides for Happy Home Designer or amiibo Festival, because they were only released in Japan and I don’t have the Japanese versions of these games. Enjoy!

**Games are listed in order of release date**

1. どうぶつの森 (Doubutsu no Mori)- Nintendo 64

Doubutsu no Mori was released in Japan in April 2001. I finally acquired this game back in 2015 and it was one of my happiest days ever, because I was so thrilled to finally own the game that started one of my all time favorite series!

2. どうぶつの森+ (Doubutsu no Mori +)- Nintendo GameCube

Doubutsu no Mori + was released in Japan December 2001. I originally held off on purchasing this game because I erroneously thought it was the same as the North American version of Animal Crossing. After realizing it was a different game, I bought it! Now if I can EVER find time to mod my extra GameCube to play Japanese games, I can actually play it! I’m happy just to own it, though.

3. Animal Crossing- Nintendo GameCube

Animal Crossing was released in North America in September 2002, and was the first Animal Crossing game I ever played. And it was love at first sight! I spent countless hours befriending villagers, hunting down every last bug, fossil and fish, and decorating- and re-decorating!- my house. I also got many of my friends addicted to this game- sorry for that, guys! 😉

4. どうぶつの森 e+ (Doubutsu no Mori e+)- Nintendo GameCube

Doubutsu no Mori e+ was released in Japan in June 2003. Like Doubutsu no Mori +, I thought this was pretty much the same thing as the North American version of Animal Crossing, maybe with a small update. After realizing there were some differences, I bought it, and now I’m just waiting to play it once I mod my extra GameCube!

5. Animal Crossing: Wild World- Nintendo DS

Animal Crossing: Wild World was released in North America in November 2005. I was so excited for this game, I pre-ordered it, which is something I don’t do very often! I remember thinking how awesome it was to be able to play a portable Animal Crossing game. I was a little bummed that they took all the holidays away, but it is still a fantastic game!

6. Animal Crossing: City Folk- Nintendo Wii

Animal Crossing: City Folk was released in North America in November 2008. I was super excited for this game because it took all the fun stuff Wild World had to offer and added the holidays back in, which was cool! However, I was slightly disappointed that City Folk seemed to be pretty much a port of Wild World- even the music was the same! Also, the grass wear irritated the shit out of me. Don’t get me wrong, I still love this game though!

7. Animal Crossing: New Leaf- Nintendo 3DS

Animal Crossing: New Leaf was released in North America in June 2013. Aside from Animal Crossing on the GameCube, this is my favorite game in the series! I had so much fun with all the new features, and I really loved how the holidays were done. The inclusion of the island was awesome too!

8. Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer- Nintendo 3DS

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer was released in North America in September 2015. This game really allowed for creative freedom as you got to design homes for all of the villagers! I thought it was neat that you could scan in amiibo cards to get whatever villager you wanted. Curiously, you could never design your own home 😦

9. Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival- Nintendo 3DS

See above picture 😉

Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival was released in North America in November 2015. I’ll be honest, there isn’t much to this game at all. It’s like a Mario Party- lite game: a board game without any of the mini games. It got crappy reviews, but I still like this game anyway. It’s kind of relaxing in a way, plus it does have other modes that you can unlock if you don’t want to play the board game part of it.

10. Animal Crossing: Wild World VC- Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console

Animal Crossing: Wild World was re-released for the Wii U VC in North America in October 2016. I wasn’t aware of this for almost 2 months and I hurriedly downloaded it when I realized it was available! Yes, it’s the same game as the DS, but I don’t care. I was happy to start a new little village and re-experience the game all over again!

11. Animal Crossing: New Leaf Welcome amiibo- Nintendo 3DS

Animal Crossing: New Leaf Welcome amiibo was released in North America in December 2016. A downloadable update was available from the eShop that added all the new features to your existing New Leaf game, but I wanted the physical copy of this game! It added a lot of cute features to New Leaf, including a campsite and daily goals.

12. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp- iPhone/ Android App

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp was released in North America in November 2017. This fun little mobile game has kept me entertained with new events, new animals, and new items to craft! It can be a little repetitive at times, but I really appreciate how the developers try to keep things fresh. In fact, I play this game every morning before I have to leave for work- it calms me down and gets me prepared for the day.

So there you have it! All the games in my Animal Crossing collection. Here’s a couple shots of everything all together:

And yes, the Wii U gamepad represents Animal Crossing: Wild World VC, and my old iPod represents Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. I’m a weirdo, I know! 🙂

The Unique Blogger Award!

Back in January, Retro Redress (now known as Art of Redress!) nominated me for The Unique Blogger Award! I really appreciate it! 😉 There’s a couple questions to answer, so let’s get to it!

1. What is the one game that you just can’t beat? A game that you enjoy playing and have devoted lots of time to, but just can never get to the end?

The game that comes to mind for me is Bust-A-Move for the SNES! I’ve had this game for a long time, and I’ve played the hell out of it. It’s probably one of my favorite puzzle games ever! Nevertheless, I cannot mark it as beaten, because I’ve always gotten stuck at level 99. There are 100 levels. I’m so damn close, but I just can’t beat level 99! I haven’t attempted to in several years, but I still get annoyed thinking about it.

2. What game do you think is underrated? A personal favorite that no-one appreciates?

I’m gonna go with a silly choice here. Back in 2012, my husband and I got our first smart phones and we were pretty excited about it, because it was a huge upgrade from our regular phones! I immediately went on the App Store and searched around for games that would be fun to play. One of them was called Kitten Sanctuary. It is essentially a match-3 puzzle type game, but it was really relaxing and fun to play! If you beat the level, you saved a kitten (from… aliens I think, haha). There were no stupid microtransactions and even the later levels were challenging but fair… literally no one I talk to has ever heard of this game, but it was one of my favorites! 🙂

3. What is the gaming challenge you would most like to complete? Is there one specific mission or collectible you want to get? Is it a personal thing that you always wanted to do, just to say you did it?

Listen, if I can beat a game and knock that number down on my backlog a little more, that’s challenge enough for me! 😉 I’m not one that needs to collect trophies or 100% every game. However, one thing I think would be neat for me to do is collect every piece of furniture in Animal Crossing for the GameCube. It’s a more attainable goal than in most of the other Animal Crossing games, since there is no DLC or region specific items to collect/ trade. I actually think I’m somewhat close to doing it, but I have to look back at my guide book and see! 🙂

So there you have it!! Thanks again for the award- I really appreciate it! 🙂 I have a couple other awards to get to as well, so hopefully I’ll be posting those soon!

How I Overcome Writer’s Block!

The Well-Red Mage loves to ask great questions every now and then, and I’ve answered a couple of them in previous blog entries! His 3rd question (he’s up to 6 now… one day I’ll answer them all!) was this: How do you overcome writer’s block?

Image borrowed from the Mage 😉

I’m by no means an expert on writing, but obviously I enjoy it. Writing is something I’ve done since I was a kid… I wrote my first story when I was 5 about a frog named Jimmy 🙂 I’ve got a whole collection of stories I’ve written since then, including many unfinished works. Plus I write blog entries of course 😉 But like everyone else, I occasionally have the dreaded “writer’s block.” So what do I do? My answer is actually pretty simple: I don’t write.

That may sound weird, but I am a firm believer in “you can’t go forcin’ something if it’s just not right.” (Thanks, Green Day!) I often solve my problems by not thinking about them. Sounds counterintuitive, but I feel like focusing on something else for a little while somehow provides me with my solution. So when I want to write but I’m having trouble, I put the pen/ keyboard away for a little while and do something else. Eventually inspiration will strike again! 🙂