#houndstoothhero

[nocturnalflare]

GOT TAGGED BY SHARNI 2000 YEARS AGO

1. Do you speak any languages other than your first? If so, what are they?

I do! My first language is English ( which I’m pretty good at, if I do say so myself ), but I also speak Gaeilge ( the Irish language ) and Spanish ( not as well as I can speak Gaeilge ) .

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2. Favourite thing to do when you’re alone?

When I’m alone? I suppose I just like to hide away in my room and spend time on the Internet. Sometimes, drawing. Music.. it really depends on what I’m in the mood for.. that’s a pretty boring answer, huh.

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3. 5 favourite driving songs?

I don’t drive ( yet )! Still, if I’m travelling, I usually cycle through my favourite songs on my iPod, or listen to albums I hadn’t gotten around to yet. To avoid being boring again, here are 5 of the songs I listened to on this week’s trip up to my college:

Sunlight - Anathema

Blood Sugar - Pendulum

Theme of Professor Layton - Tomohito Nishiura

To Glory - Two Steps From Hell

Speak to Angels - 009 Sound System

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4. Favourite thing to do when it’s raining?

Look out the window and say “Jesus, it’s pouring out there”, the standard Irish reaction to rain. Next question.

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5. Think of where you were 3 years ago. Is life better or worse now?

3 years ago, huh.. that would have been back in late 2011 ( if my questionable maths knowledge serves me correctly ).

At that point in time, I was kind of in a neutral zone. Not extremely happy, but not extremely sad either. I had my share of issues, but nothing unmanageable! It was preceding a time where my life suddenly got really great, and then got really terrible.

Now? I still have a few problems, a few ups and downs. But, I’m in a really good place now. I’ve learned from my terrible mistakes and actions, and I’ve become a far better person for it.

I have great friends, I’m studying what I love and I’m constantly learning more about life and myself, as well as experiencing new things.

Overall, life is pretty good. B-)

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6. Best advice you have received from your parents?

Both of my parents have given me lots of good advice over the years. Dad is usually the one who advises me, and his advice is always of the calming and reassuring type. He’s helped me through some seriously bad times with his advice. Primarily, he believes that you should always try and be nice to people, and treat then with respect, which is something I now try my best to do. Mom is better at the “snap you out of it” and grounding advice, which is often equally valuable to have. Some advice she gave me recently has stuck with me: “Everything passes” “Be brave” Aw shucks, this is making me sentimental :’)

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7. Best advice you have received from a friend?

Weirdly enough, my two best buds Nora and Claire fit quite neatly into the two advice categories of my parents??

Nora tends to be the calming and soothing type who really listens to you and gives you advice that just makes you feel more at ease, about either your problem or yourself.

Claire then usually doles out the grounding advice. She’s a lot tougher than I am, well able to be sympathetic, yet will generally advise you in a rational and logical way. Sometimes, that’s just what you need!

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8. Favourite lame joke?

I’ve never really been one for puns or jokes..

Here’s one that my dad says to me ridiculously frequently: “Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft, and I’ll show you A flat minor.” ( MUSIC JOKE )

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9. Are you a writer or a drawer?

Drawer, no question! I am decent enough at writing, but wouldn’t do it of my own volition.

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10. Favourite scent?

Generally food smells. Oriental foods in particular!

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There ya have it! An unnecessarily long response. I’m too tired to think up any cool questions, or tag people, so I’m just gonna go ahead and tag BRIGID001 ( how goddamn predictable of me ) to do the same questions I just answered!

[serza5]

houndstoothhero replied to your post:My mum’s making Mac and Cheese with beef mince...

I’ve never heard of adding beef mince before. Does that taste good?

It's our first time trying it as well actually. I suggested it on holiday because I figured it'd be like lasagne in a way.

[nocturnalflare]

Tagged by Sharni

Tagged by: houndstoothhero ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What are 3 TV shows you enjoyed as a child?
 Hmm.. when I was very young, I remember loving this show called "Little Bear"! It was basically about the main character "Little Bear" and his adventures with his family and his friends of various different species. I now nostalgically remember a part of the intro where Little Bear and his friends float off into space for some reason. Cinematic genius. When I was a bit older, I loved a whole lot more shows, but I remember watching "The Wild Thornberrys" a good bit. I always liked the show for what it was about, I thought communicating with animals was really really cool. As far as I know, the father character, Nigel Thornberry, has now reached meme status, god bless. I have to mention "The Simpsons" here. I absolutely loved this show, and still do ( though not the newer episodes ). I remember watching it at my Nan's, engrossed, as well as downloading every episode from season 1 to season 21 onto my dad's iPod, and watching every single one late into the night ( rewatching several many times ). It's a show very close to my heart, and I find it to be as hard-hitting and sometimes educational as it is entertaining. When knowing some random trivia or fact, my friends would ask me "how did you know that??" to which I'd sheepishly reply "I saw it on 'The Simpsons'.." 2. Did your family emigrate to the country you currently live in? If so, where are your bloodlines? I'm Irish, born and raised, but so are my family - in other words, we didn't emigrate. We're wholly Irish on both sides of my family, going back several generations! Judging by the last name of my dad's side of the family though, I'd say it's origins are not actually Irish, though the name has been in Ireland for hundreds of years. 
3. Favourite colour?
 Tough one. I can't pick a favourite!! B-/ Some of the ones I like are black, orange, teal, neon blue.. 4. Favourite fashion designer?
 It speaks volumes about my interest and aptitude in all things fashionable that I struggled to even name a fashion designer, much less remember their style of clothing. 5. Favourite idiom? After googling "idioms" ( as I couldn't think of a specific one myself ) I found one "rode hard and put away wet", I have no idea what it means but fuck it, sounds too incredible to pass up 
6. Least favourite food? SMOKED MACKEREL, GET THAT AWFUL STUFF AWAY FROM ME I also dislike salmon and stew. 
7. Least favourite season?
 Mmm.. spring, I suppose. Not even that I dislike the aesthetic or anything, but in Ireland, our winter weather likes to come late. We pass through November, December and January with some bad, cold and rainy weather, but nothing too serious.. so we relax and think "sure jaysus that wasn't so bad at all like" but then spring comes along and FUCKS US UP 8. Favourite scents?
 Food smells. Something delicious cooking or baking? The best ever. I like tropical scents too, particularly coconut. 9. Are you where you thought you would be at this point 5 years ago?
 I don't think I really HAD any expectations for this point in my life when I was younger. Too busy playing my DS, probably. I probably expected my teenage years to be without any romance and without suffering and pain, boy was I wrong on both counts (particularly the latter). But, I always did hope that I'd have good friends, and a pretty enjoyable life when I was older. I think it's safe to say I have both of those and I'm in a good place now. I have a lot to be thankful for! B') 10. A quote you think is stupid and why? "Nobody makes you angry.. you just decide to use anger as a response." Random quote I found when I googled "positive quotes". ( how exactly is this positive ) You can't rationally decide emotions??? You don't just sit there while someone insults you and just think "hm. This is indeed quite demeaning. I think I will be angry" like that's just not.. how it works.. 
11. Favourite alcoholic beverage I don't drink! I have almost zero interest in it. But, that said, the few times I've taken a sip of an alcoholic beverage, I've found beers like Millers or Bulmers to be far more tolerable than wine. -------------------------------------------------------------------- I won't tag anyone this time, THE CYCLE ENDS HERE

[nocturnalflare]

Tagged to answer some questions

Rule 1: Post the rules 
Rule 2: Answer the question the tagger asked you and make 11 new ones
 Rule 3: Tag 11 people and link them to your post 
Rule 4: Let them know you have tagged them

Tagged by: brigid001

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1) Any summer plans?

I’ve actually got a good bit planned, nothing too extravagant, though. Mostly just art projects as well as some organising jobs. I also have to learn how to drive and get stuff ready for starting college, etc. Of course, spending time with friends is also a must ( I’ll be seeing you plenty over the summer ;) )

2) Favourite song?

Shoooooot. There’s too many, and I like different songs at different times.. I’m still working on a playlist of my top 50 songs though, that’s coming along nicely.

I suppose

“Leaving Tonight” by The Birthday Massacre

“Sounds of Life” by Pendulum

“Fear of a Blank Planet” by Porcupine Tree

“Living Mice” by C418

“Tragedy” by Celldweller 

would all rank very highly in the aforementioned list!

3) What would you consider your best talent?

Even if it’s not of a fantastic standard, drawing and art in general remains my best talent.

I’m pretty good at English too, though.

4) Are you a fan of any sports?

Not really. I played basketball for a year or two when I was younger, did Taekwondo for 2.5 years when i was younger again whenand played Gaelic football when I was even younger still.

But really, don’t care much for sports. Soccer is fun to play, though.

5) Favourite anime?

I like a lot, but in terms of rewatchability and sheer entertainment value, I’d have to go for Nichijou and Yuru Yuri! If we’re talking animes of sheer art and beauty, I’d say Spirited Away and Madoka Magica. And even though I’ve kind of exited my Shingeki no Kyojin phase ( tho still keep up with the manga, despite it’s terribleness right now ) I still think the anime was fantastic.

6) Favourite manga?

Let’s be real here, 95% of manga I read is yuri.

My favourite yuri manga are Girl Friends, Strawberry Shake Sweet and Sasameki Koto, but there’s so many more. ( yuri manga recommendation post coming eventually ) If we’re talking non-yuri, hmmm. I really do enjoy Koe no Katachi, Watamote and Yuru Yuri ( very light on the yuri, don’t worry )

Manga with style I really love would be ones like Again!!, Oyasumi Punpun and Aku no Hana.

7) What’s your biggest fear?

Death, which is probably a pretty common fear. Not just of myself though, but also death of my family or my friends, the people closest to my heart.

I also fear dying without having accomplished anything.. wow, death, death, death up in here

8) If you could ask your future self one question what would it be?

"Are you happy? No wait, don’t answer that, don’t spoil me, I’d hate to know that I’ll definitely be unhappy in the future or something… uhh, uhh.." *goes back in the time machine-*

9) Are you a good judge of character?

Mostly! I have some fantastic and trustworthy friends as a result. Sometimes I get it wrong though, very wrong.

10) What was the last book you read?

"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. The message was seriously thought-provoking, but the book itself was fairly boring..

11) Do you like poetry?

I do! Well, when it’s been deciphered for me by my English teacher, that is. Poetry can be very powerful, and I’ve even seen some great poetry here on tumblr.

My favourite poets would have to be Emily Dickinson and Philip Larkin! Their poetry is amazing.

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My questions:

1) Your favourite band(s)? 2) What’s your best trait? 3) What’s your favourite dish? 4) What’s your best friend like? 5) You have the means to travel to three places in the world. Where would you go? 6) What’s your favourite videogame? 7) What are your dreams/aspirations for the future? 8) Who is your favourite artist? 9) Do you like where you live? 10) What are your hobbies? 11) What’s your favourite candy?

No way am I tagging 11 people. I’ll tag 6 to do it, if they feel so inclined :

brigid001 ( HA ), kxohyeah, fishorks, houndstoothhero, mindful-owls and sleepy-tanuki!