The rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and answer the questions they’ve written for you.
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs and provide new questions to answer.

I think I took care of the first part above!  I suppose since Sublime Game Reviews nominated me first, I will start with those questions!

1. Why did you decide to start your blog?

   I started this blog after having an absolutely surreal experience in retro game hunting when my boyfriend and I doubled our video collection in a single day for a few hundred dollars (read here and here, and here).  After telling a few people about it and having them nod and smile politely at me, I felt deflated.  I had the urge to share this experience and eventually connect with other people that might actually care, but truthfully, I started this blog for myself to have a place to chronicle my retro game hunting efforts after that.  Some folks spontaneously stumbled upon my retro game hunting adventures, and here I am 8 months later still doing it.

2. What is your favorite hobby and how long have you been doing it?

   Apart from my addicting hobby of retro game hunting/collecting, I can honestly say that I love gardening and plants in general.  When I moved into an apartment, I had five houseplants.  That number has slowly increased to 36 since moving into a home, and my boyfriend and I also keep flowerbeds and a vegetable garden during the summer months.  I like low maintenance gardening, so perennials and a few hardy vegetable plants are perfect for me!  My tulips are my absolute favourite thing.  Seeing them poke up after a long winter warms my heart.

3. Do you remember what your first rated R movie was?

   If my memory serves me correctly, it might have been the first Terminator movie.  I remember being sick and home from school as a little kid and my mom was watching it while she thought I was asleep on the couch.  I coughed through lots of it.  I was shushed a lot.

4. What video game that you have played had the best story?

   I definitely adored the story in Undertale.  I should also mention my first point-and-click adventure games: The Curse of Monkey Island, King’s Quest VI and Fable (a PC game from 1996, not the XBox games).  Those were some of the earliest experiences I had with story-driven gaming, and they have a place close to my heart as well.

5. What is the perfect way to spend your weekend? Exclude favorite hobby mentioned earlier.

   I like to spend my weekends relaxing.  My job is pretty high stress, so downtime is really important to me.  I spend a lot of my weekends doing things I enjoy like travelling to different places in search of flea markets and thrift stores during the summer months when the driving is good up here in Canada, but in the winter months I thoroughly enjoy curling up and having pajama days.

Now to get to the questions posed by I Heart Old Games!

1. Pitch your dream movie. Actors, directors, plot, whatever.

   Oh wow.  This is a tough question because I’m not big into movies at all.  I don’t know many actors or directors, but I’d love to see a good comedy movie.  Today’s movies seem to have jokes spelled out for you.  I miss subtle humour from the 80s and 90s.  I have not seen a single new comedy movie and enjoyed it.  I am not a very funny person, so it might not be a good idea for me to be giving advice on plot!

2. Most/least favourite movie.

   The movies I go back to the most and like a lot are Mean Girls and the original trilogy Star Wars movies.  I could watch them every day and never feel tired of them.  For a movie I like the least, I once watched a movie with Bill Murray in it, and he was an angry fisherman seeking some sort of vengeance?  I don’t remember much from it, but it was probably the worst movie I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  I usually love Bill Murray, so it was an incredibly sad day for me.

3. Most/least favourite game.

   I have a long list of favourite games, and they’re all your regular suspects.  Near the top are Faxanadu, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and Super Mario Bros. 2.  I also love FFIX and FFIV a lot.  My least favourite games have to include most fighting games.  I’ve never been able to get into them.

4. Most/least favourite band.

   My favourite band is The Offspring.  I have all their CDs and have had the pleasure of seeing them live once.  My music tastes are fairly diverse, and I don’t have an issue with most music.  If I can classify them as bands, Nelly Furtado and Cheryl Crow are just the worst.  And ACDC.  I don’t even know how to classify their lead singer’s voice, but it’s grating and I hate it.  The rock station in town plays ACDC every five minutes, and that’s why I don’t listen to that station!

5. How, or why, did you get into blogging? And what are your favourite aspects of it?

   I mentioned above why I got into blogging, but I can say that my favourite aspect of it is the connectivity it brings.  I’ve never felt more a part of a community than I do now here on WP with all you wonderful people.

6. Last crime you committed?

   I accidentally stole a pen from a hotel.  I considered taking their pillows on purpose (so comfy!), but the pen was entirely an accident.

7. Favourite book?

   I really enjoyed books I read in highschool/university and had a chance to study.  One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and To Kill a Mockingbird are great stories that I truly got a chance to understand.  I tend to skim when I read novels, so being forced to study a book and its themes really makes me appreciate it more.  I haven’t read a good book in a long time, so if anyone has any suggestions, I’d love some!

8. Favourite hobbies beside blogging and doing what you blog about?

   I already mentioned gardening above, but one of the things I also love doing in my spare time is streaming games.  I’m starting to get into the habit of playing through games casually while streaming, and following up with a proper playthrough that gets uploaded to YouTube.  I have no intention of “making it big” as a streamer or as a YouTuber, but I think the accountability to others that comes from those activities is something I need.  I have so many games that I need to play, and playing them purposefully is a good thing!  I’m also a little obsessed with making thumbnails for videos on YT as well.

That about wraps up the questions.  They were truly a pleasure to answer.  I am going to pull a Shameful Narcissist and nominate everyone that reads this entry for this award.  I’ve nominated many folks in the past with previous award posts, so I’d truly like to acknowledge all the people who take the time to read my stuff regularly.  Please reply in the comments if you don’t feel like making your own post!

Here are some questions for you all.  Please don’t feel the need to answer them all, but even answering one will be fun to read!

1. What is your favourite piece of music from a video game?
2. Where is the most exciting place you’ve ever travelled to?
3. Do you have something from your past that you gave/threw away that you wish you’d kept?
4. If you celebrate, what is your favourite tradition for the holidays?
5. What is your favourite kind of tree?
6. What’s a hobby or interest you had in childhood that you wish you would’ve pursued further?
7. What is the thing you’re the proudest of building/making?

That’s all I can muster!  Thanks again to my nominators!  I will be making a separate post for the PANDA award soon.  Thank you to all of you that have spoken so kindly about me and my blog 🙂  I will return the favour in due time!

Thanks for reading!

-GG