The WordPress community is certainly not shy when it comes to sending around good vibes, and I was recently nominated for the Mystery Blogger Award – twice!

Now I’m generally not great at receiving these kinds of things so please forgive me if it’s taken me a while to get a good response together. Truth be told, I don’t take compliments very well and I find these tough to respond to while still sounding genuine. It’s truly flattering! So I hope I do this right.

A big thank you to Scott from Insert Memory Card and Megan from Dragon’s Tea Party (whose name I just learned from the linked post!), two terrific bloggers who put out some consistently wonderful content! We all seem to have a lot in common, as Scott likes to reminisce about snowy levels from classic games, and Megan has a soft spot for nostalgia just like me. And those kinds of things, well, we dig that here.

Let’s get down to it.

Rules

• Put the award logo/image on your blog. (it’s up top)
• List the rules. (you’re reading them!)
• Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
• Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
• You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.
• Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
• Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny
• Share a link to your best post(s).

Ok.. continuing forward in bullet point order. Three things about myself.

Three Things About Myself

1. I’m a gym rat! Lifting weights changed my life and I encourage everyone to at least try it. I went from feeling lazy and miserable all the time to barely being able to sit still because I have so much energy and am constantly motivated. The physical and mental health benefits are insane from working out. Do it!
2. I’m a metalhead. I love all types of music but metal always hit a spot with me. Death metal, progressive metal, grindcore, thrash metal, you name it. Mastodon, Animals as Leaders, Soilwork, 3 Inches of Blood, and Uneven Structure are what I’ve been listening to a lot lately. It also helps with the lifting!
3. A few months ago I started my first woodworking project – a 28 bottle wine rack made of solid oak. My wife got me a huge DeWalt set of cordless power tools with everything imaginable for my birthday. I also inherited a ton of tools from my late grandfather. I figured, “hey, I’ll say thank you by making a cool wine rack!” I designed it in CAD and bought materials, etc. It’s been a total nightmare and I can’t wait to finish it so I don’t have to look at the pieces of wood in my garage. Nothing about woodworking is straightforward and I’ll probably never do anything like this again.

My Best Post

My best performing post has consistently been Gaming: It’s Not a Lifestyle, It’s a Hobby. It seemed to resonate with folks, although it’s probably one of my least favorite posts because it doesn’t have the vibe that Nostalgia Trigger is all about. I wrote it out of frustration and never got to the point – the whole thing was written towards my younger self, but I never figured out how to write that into a conclusion.

My favorite post is probably when I found my old video game manuals and spent two hours taking photos with amiibo and writing about them. THAT’S what Nostalgia Trigger is all about!

Answering Questions from Scott

• What was the video game that first hooked you into gaming?

A Link to the Past was my first experience with adventuring in a video game. I don’t know if it really “hooked” me into gaming, I just really enjoyed it and played it over and over again. To this day I really don’t enjoy most games that come out, they need to be just perfect. A Link to the Past, for me, is perfect. The irony is not lost on me that I spend a ton of time writing on two gaming blogs yet dislike 95% of games that are out there.

• What would your “last meal on earth” be?

A prime rib with mashed potatoes from a specific non-franchise restaurant a few miles from my mom’s house. Also, the bacon-wrapped turkey meatloaf I prepped for lunch this week with my wife was absolutely fantastic. Out of this world. 30 minutes till lunch and I can’t wait!



• If you could be anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Woo, tough question. I’d have to say somewhere in the south, though. North Carolina is the kind of place a person like me could live. Great places to ride dirt bikes, mountain bikes, relaxed atmosphere, affordable houses and taxes, basically the exact opposite of New Jersey.

Oh, anywhere in the world? Assuming I could come back, I would go to Austria and tour the KTM factory, then take a ride in the gorgeous Austrian environment!

• What is your favourite era of pop culture (including gaming, TV, movies, etc.)? For example, ’90s cartoons, XBox 360/PS3-era gaming, and so on.

American pop culture in the mid to late-90s. VH1 Pop-Up Video, TRL, Beavis and Butthead, Ren & Stimpy. Incredible time to be a teenager.

• If you could delete the work of one musical artist or group from everyone’s collective consciousness, who would it be?

The Black Eyed Peas. Their music is an atrocity and a full frontal assault with bayonets on humankind. We’re all worse for ever having heard it. It burns me on all six senses – that’s right, not only does it bother all of my regular human senses, but it bothers me on a level I can’t even comprehend yet.

Answering Questions from Megan

• If you could wear any video game/Movie characters’ outfit for a day (male or female) whose would you choose and why?

I’ll be honest – cosplay is not my thing. I’ll go with Kratos because I prefer to be shirtless, particularly when I’m around my wife, usually after lifting.

• Which song would play during the credits in a movie about your life?

Symphony X – The Odyssey. Not because I’m anything like Odysseus, but the tone of the different sections of the song could represent different parts of my life. Plus, the song is 24 minutes long which is a great length of time for a movie about my life.

• Which scene in a movie/tv show always makes you laugh?

When Michael Scott declares bankruptcy.

• What did you get for Christmas?

My wife got me a new blogging machine! I needed a small tablet and she got me an ASUS Transformer Mini. Super cool little tablet with a keyboard.

• (weird question) Do you have any weird talents?

I do this thing where I tap my fingers on my leg (or mouse, or keyboard, or table, steering wheel, etc) to whatever music I’m listening to, with pinpoint accuracy. Like I can easily recreate any beat, be it on drums, guitar, whatever, with my fingers. It’s think it’s some weird “tick” I developed accidentally from playing too much Guitar Hero back in college. To this day, I roll and tap my fingers in a way that would follow the buttons on the guitar from Guitar Hero. I saw someone post a video of themselves doing this a few months back but I can’t seem to find it – the only “tapping” videos are of people actually tapping on guitars.

My Questions

1. What animal would you come back as in your next life?
2. Favorite music album to listen to, straight through?
3. What dish is your favorite to cook?
4. Fondest memory of your younger years?
5. What triggers your nostalgia?

My Nominees

I sure hope I don’t pick anyone who has already been nominated for this, but if I do, count it as even more flattery!

The 3rd Player – Fun looks back of classic games from NES and SNES, as well as takes on modern games.

Home Button – Lots of cool content including Photo Mode posts which play out like photography posts, but from in-game photo mode systems.

Not Quite Reviews – Excellent reads on modern gaming and technology. He’s also on a similar journey as me – stopping to play the games he already owns!

AlunaRL – Hailing from the Netherlands, this guy writes about games across all genres, and also has an awesome Twitch channel.

---

Thanks again Scott and Megan! Nominees, have fun!