Conditions in The Matticus Kingdom today: long periods of SUNSHINE

Julie Chicklitasaurus over at Julie’s Chick Lit nominated me for a Sunshine Award:

“The Sunshine Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers. The recipients of the Sunshine Award are: Bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere. The way the award works is this: Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them. Answer questions about yourself. Select 10 of your favorite bloggers, link their blogs to your post and let them know they have been awarded the Sunshine Award!”

Thank you very much for the nomination Julie.  We here in the kingdom really enjoy knowing that we are positively and creatively inspiring others throughout the blogosphere!  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

{QUESTIONS and ANSWERS}

What inspired you to start blogging?
I finally joined the blogging madness shortly after finding out I was going to be a father.  Initially the idea was to use the space as an archive for the journey towards becoming a parent and beyond, but…  well, the jester took over and now it is what it is.

How did you come up with the name to your blog?
The Matticus Kingdom – This is the name of a mix album I put together several years ago that spanned the various styles of my entire catalog of records: it started very low key with some progressive house, moved into some breakbeat, picked up the pace a bit with some trance (progressive, cyber, psy), and then finished off in a crescendo of furiously flying happy hardcore beats.  It encompassed who I was as a dj, and this blog encompasses who I am as a writer… it just makes sense.

What is your favorite blog you like to read?
What?!  What kind of question is that?  I’m not even sure I could narrow that down even if the question was more specific.  For example, even if the question was “What is your favorite blog from someone who lives in San Diego and has a son that went to the same college as you and has a husband who is a tugboat captain?” even as specific as that is, there are just too many wonderful choices to pick from.  Therefore, I’m declining to answer this question.

Tell about your dream job.
Writing novels.  Fantasy, mystery, westerns, comedies, yes, yes, yes, yes… getting paid to write the silliness that my mind comes up with.  That would be swell, thanks.  Why, can you hook that up for me?

Is your glass half empty or half full?
Half full.  However, it would be empty because I don’t leave glasses just lying around.  I’d either down what was left in it, or dump the contents down the drain and place the empty glass in the washer.  I don’t like leaving things around like that.

If you could go anywhere for a week’s vacation, where would you go?
Where I do go every summer: camping and/or backpacking in the Sierra.

What food can you absolutely not eat?
Mold.  I don’t have any food allergies, that I know of, yet.  However, I can absolutely not take mold based medicines.  Something about hallucinations and hives and just general unpleasantness.

Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?
Yes.  In copious amounts please.  *holding my hand out waiting patiently for the chocolatey goodness to be delivered*

How much time do you spend blogging?
Far too little and far too much.  I don’t get to read and comment as much on all the wonderful blogs out there as I’d like, but I also spend more time than I should scrolling through them, liking them, commenting, replying to comments, replying to replies, thinking of new posts, writing new posts, checking stats, etc…

Do you watch TV, and if so, what are some of your favorite shows?
Bones, Castle, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Simpsons…  those are the staples.  I thoroughly enjoyed Sopranos and Deadwood.  I also really enjoyed Dead Like Me.  I watch Dexter when I can but I’m a few seasons behind right now.  I will also watch Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and NCIS if they are on and there is nothing else competing with them.  CSI used to be in that rotation too, but I haven’t been catching it nearly as much as I used to.  Hmm, I think I might watch too much TV.

{NOMINATIONS}

Each of these bloggers has inspired me through their words, through their artwork, and through their creativity.  I think that fits the Sunshine Award bill perfectly:

Jonathan Hilton
Matrone Bell
The Imaginator
Steph Rogers
Jen Rosenberry
Jenn
Rutabaga
Revis Edgewater
Dave
Wiley Schmidt