SamCyberCat

It's not Friday here yet, but since this week's thefridayfive list is already up and I have time, I might as well go ahead and fill it in:

1. Do you enjoy reading?
Yes! I love reading! I spent most of my childhood and teenage years reading, but then in my twenties fell into the trap of casting it to the wayside in favour of other hobbies, though I always kept up reading comics at the very minimum for all that time. Then after moving house about three years back I decided to reclaim reading for myself and have been enjoying it again ever since.

2. What is the first book you remember reading?
I wish I could remember that in any satisfying answer. My mam told me that in nursery, the only complaint she had about me was that I'd get angry at the other kids when they damaged books, but I don't remember specifically the ones that I read. Although I sadly can't remember the title, the first book that I still have some memories of was a one filled with Christmas-themed short-stories about woodland animals.

3. Who is your favourite author?
Terry Pratchett, now and forever. I actually discovered his work via a point-and-click video game when I was somewhere in the range of 8-10 years old and once I realised that there were also books about Discworld, there was no going back. I started reading his work at an age that might be considered "too young" but he taught me so much compassion and humour through his work that I'd never change this.

4. What is your favourite book?
To this day, I cannot pick a favourite Discworld book. At some point I'd like to reread the whole series (if my current reading list ever thins out!) and then I might actually be able to answer this question.

5. What is the last book you read and the first you'll read next?
It's funny how my previous entry on this blog also answered this question, but the last book I read was Mythos by Stephen Fry. I am now currently reading the 40th Animorphs book and after that I'll be reading the 4th Megamorphs book, as well as selecting a new book to casually read while my niece is around, which will probably be another book that a relative gifted me for Christmas, so I don't seem unappreciative.

For the last few days obviously stuff has happened, but not particularly anything worth writing about (unless you want to hear about how my mam and I ended up escorting home a couple of escaped neighbourhood dogs who were running about on the road as we were heading out food shopping, but that's really the extent of that story), so I'm glad that thefridayfive has given me some more topics to cover instead:

1. How often do you hear live music?
Very infrequently. I don't live near anywhere where live music is performed and I don't particularly seek it out. I can count the number of live music events that I've attended on one finger, though through the power of unfortunate timing, I'll be able to add two more to that number by the end of this year (one of them by the end of next month).

2. What was your favorite live musical performance ever?
Coming in from the previous question, I guess that means the only answer I can give to this is the single one I went to, which was last year when my brother asked me to go with him to an orchestra who were performing songs from Avatar: The Last Airbender in Edinburgh. The orchestra were wonderful and everyone had a sing-along to "Secret Tunnel" at the end, but I was sick as a dog at the time, which marred the experience. Which is a shame, because going to Edinburgh is always wonderful. My brother enjoyed it so much that he has invited our mam and myself to see the same performance in York during autumn this year, so I'm hoping that my health will be better then, so I can properly appreciate their work.

...But okay, I have to confess that I'm much more excited for next month, when I'll be going to London to listen to live music be performed from Hades & Hades II! I usually don't do things like this, but I knew it could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so I did end up booking tickets when they became available and even though I'm not a fan of London (it has been a long time since I've gone there though, over a decade), I'll brave it for Ashley Barrett & Darren Korb's performances.

3. Do you play an instrument, or sing?
I don't play an instrument, I've sadly never been able to make my brain figure out how to make an instrument work, but I sing as much as the next person. I love singing, it makes me happy.

4. Have you ever performed music onstage?
Surpringly, yes. Waaay back in middle school I was one half of a duet for the vocals in a school performance. I was told back then that I could sing well, but I don't believe this has endured. These days, I can sing high, but not well. Regardless, I have fun, so what else matters?

5. Who is your favorite musician?
These kind of questions make me nervous. I always feel like there are loaded guns around the room when people ask about music preferences. But I grew up on a steady diet of Fleetwood Mac, Meat Loaf, Queen, generally 80s music and Mika as the outlier on that list, so that's really where my interests lie. I just like songs that feel like they're telling me a story or asking me to come up with one myself.