When blogs are nominated for a community award, it’s standard practice for their authors to be asked a series of questions about themselves or their specialist subject in order to get to know them better. And as regular readers are probably aware, I usually choose to politely eschew from this standard format and instead focus on a single question as the subject for a full-length post dedicated to my kind nominator.

However, that’s pretty difficult when it comes to the Super Specific Sunshine Award from Matt at Normal Happenings. The conundrums he has created for his chosen bloggers are so specific and not-related-to-video-games that it’s impossible not to respond to them in a specific way. So what follows is a post consisting of my ten specific answers – along with a specific thank you to Matt for giving me a chuckle while writing this. Now that’s specific.

Some of the questions are a little lengthy so those below are shortened versions. Head over to Normal Happenings and take a look at this post for the full wording.

1. Text your best friend a potato emoji. What was their reply?

This seemed like the perfect excuse for a little experiment to get inside the minds of my blogger friends. I sent several people the potato and here are their responses, in order of time it took them to reply:

Ben: “?”

Pete: “Potato?”

Jake: “Potato?!”

Tim: “It may be that Kim was subconsciously telling us to put potatoes in our slow cooker as we’re making a stew – but no! We shall not! There’s no room for potatoes.”

Nathan: *several laughing emojis*

2. What should I name the album? Also, what is the name of my favourite band?

I had to defer this one to my stepson as I don’t really have a favourite band. And most of those I do like are from the 1980s and therefore so not cool enough to give as an answer to this question. Here’s what Ethan came up with: Clenched Fist by Looking Glass (the boy has even weirder musical tastes than I do).

3. You can tame any animal as you would a cat or a dog. Which animal will you tame?

What usually happens when I try to write a post on a Saturday morning. #damncat https://t.co/fzwYpjC22t

—
Later Levels (@LaterLevels) May 19, 2018

As boring as it seems, I’d stick with cats! They’re the right mixture of cute, independent and cuddly. Not that we’d want any more pets though because our fluffballs, Link and Zelda, can more than enough of a handful sometimes. In fact, I read a recent news article on mischievous felines and out turns out that domestic long- or shorthair black or black-and-white cats are the most naughty. Send help – we’ve got one of each.

4. Take one of your favorite quotes, then jumble up the words! Can anyone in your comments reassemble the quote?

I think this is a fairly obvious one but here goes: “All of us are pretty at it. We’re just all hiding some better, that’s bizarre.” Extra points if you know the source and year without looking it up on Google.

5. What happened in the last dream you can remember? Tell us all about it in excruciating detail.

This is a tough one because I don’t usually remember my dreams in any great detail – more just a fleeting memory as I wake up. I occasionally have a recurring dream where I’m trying to find an unknown object in a place full of rooms such as a museum or castle, while being hunted by a monster like a vampire or werewolf. It obviously means something important (perhaps that I’ve been playing video games for too long before bed-time).

6. What is a unique dish from your region, country, or culture I should try?

Saturdaes, the dessert I make for my stepson on a Saturday night if we’ve been good and eaten all our dinner (not sundaes on Sunday). The following recipe serves three greedy people:

Take a packet of Maltesers and bash lightly with a rolling-pin until they’re crushed

Deposit some Malteser-dust into the bottom of a dessert glass

Top with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, then some strawberry sauce and another dashing of Malteser-dust

Repeat so you have two lovely ice-cream / sauce / Malteser layers

Top with another scoop of ice-cream, some chocolate sauce (the kind that sets), sprinkles and half a Twirl stick

Eat as quickly as possible before it melts and end up with sticky hands

7. You get to incorporate a new Olympic sport! What’s your new sport, how will it work, and why?

Anyone up for the Overcooked Olympics? Counties would pick their most dexterous athletes to compete against each other to serve the most meals correctly in three minutes. Not only is it a real test of mental strength and character to rival any existing sport; it would also be hilarious to watch the competitors crack under the pressure, and try to stifle a swear-word or two as they realise they’re live on television across the world.

8. What is the most dangerous lyric in a pop song, if it is taken literally?

I’m almost certain it was a death-wish she had rather than a desire for a little-bit-of-loving when Joan Armatrading sang Drop The Pilot back in 1983 (see, I told you I like 80s music). Picture it: you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere without a pilot or plane falling on you. And then to top it all off, a monkey would land on your head – talk about making a bad day just that bit worse.

9. Which of Matt’s limited superpowers would choose and why?

I think I’d choose being able to freeze time for one minute. After a bit of practice, I could use my superpower during lengthy meetings with my boss and it would give me just enough of a chance to wind the clock in the room forward. He’d then think he was late for his next appointment and would need to leave quickly; and I’d actually be able to get some worthwhile work done, rather than listening to him go on about how important he is. Sorted.

10. Self-referential numerical value survey question: are my super specific questions weird?

I’d go for the seven to eight score – “Yeah, you’re getting up there on the weirdness scale.” Everyone has room in their lives for a little more strange, right?

Thank you to Matt once again – I hope that was specific enough for you! What would your super specific answers be?