Birthday and 16000 views!

Time sure flies, huh? So, while I'm still trying to figure out what happened to everything since early December, my birthday has snuck up and bowled me over! I'm 21, and still not sure when I got past 19
Thanks so much for all of you who wished me well today, including SkyPirateMadness, Miluiel-the-Friendly, WhisperanzaRose, BlakGarde, fexus, ShiGaHoshii, and danielhudson560

For loot and good things this year, I came away with:
-Hugs and snuggles and birthday kisses from SkyPirateMadness, along with 21 good qualities she feels define me
-A phone call and good wishes from Miluiel-the-Friendly
-More good wishes and  this beautiful piece of artwork from WhisperanzaRose (Eeeeee~!)
-A Lego set, new belt pouch, a book in the Ender's Game series, two chocolate bars (dark chocolate lemon-ginger and extra dark chocolate!), tube of M&Ms, and a check for $2150 from my family (the check was paying back what I had lent the family to cover bills, groceries, fuel, and so forth, but still nice)
-Good wishes from all you folks
-More probably to come when the extended family has our gathering for Birthday Week (My cousin's on the 11th, me on the 13th, and my little bro on the 15th--Birthday Week! Or as mom likes to call it, "Let them eat cake week")
Thanks a bunch! It's been a great day, and a great year! (Even though I misplaced at least a third of it, can't figure out where it went)

That reminds me: my mom's super awesome, and she made popcorn cake (think a rice krispie treat, but replace the rice krispies with popcorn, throw in jellybeans and M&Ms, and make it into a cake), and lemon cake with lime glaze (because I'm a citrus fiend)--delicious! I'm gonna enjoy those for a good while yet. (Mostly the lime cake, because the popcorn cake is all gone)

Moving right along! I've ALMOST got 16,000 pageviews under the belt, which is impressive! I was planning to post a tag meme from WhisperanzaRose when I hit that 16k, but I figure my birthday is good enough of an occasion, especially as I'm posting a journal anyway.
EDIT: 16000 pageviews! Oorah!

Rules:

1. You must post these rules 
2. Each person has to share 10 facts about themselves
3. Answer the 10 questions asked by the person who tagged you and make up 10 questions for 10 you tag
4. Choose 10 people and put their icons in your journal 
5. Go to their page and inform them that they have been tagged by you  
6. Not something like "You are tagged if you read that"
7. You have to legitimately tag 10 people
8. No tag-backs
9. You can't say that you don't do tags
10. You MUST make a journal entry

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10 Random Facts About Me:

1. I used to drive my preschool teachers crazy by swapping which hand I wrote with every letter or word. I eventually settled on being lefty
2. I have an electromagnetic field which interferes with everything from campfires and combo locks to certain brands of technology--notably Windows Phones and anything made by Apple.
3. I've always had a love of theatre and storytelling, though for a long time I didn't like writing or acting in front of anyone.
4. I have several stuffed critters who keep me company--Nanook, a polar bear; Ruffles, an owl with Canada's maple leaf on one foot; Snow, a dog; Kiki, a Beanie Babies purple dragon who's joined me for a few acting adventures; and Elmo.
5. I'm a cat person; dogs love me, and I would much rather they stayed out of licking range. This doesn't change the fact that I've got WAAAAAY more anthro canines in my stories than felines--an alternate dimension me even adopted a dog-girl. (See Alternate Merc  , if you haven't already) WEIRD.
6. I'm really interested in future technology, from personal gadgetry to city and global infrastructure and ideas. One of the future technologies that I'm quite interested in is liquid fluorine thorium reactors (LFTR, said like "lifter")--a new method of using nuclear power that's more efficient, safe, and versatile than current nuclear energy--and WAY better than fossil fuels! Look it up, get informed, and spread the word to make a clean nuclear fueled world a reality! (I have a lot of links and discussions I've found about this, if you're interested)
7. While I don't play a very broad spectrum of videogames, there are several that I really like, and I play those whenever I have the time--which is a bit of a squeeze when I'm trying to get in work, writing, chatting with friends, and goofing off on the internet.
8. I name my electronic devices--currently, I have my good ol' laptop, Pavelow, my 2-in-1 Android tablet, Jazzy, and my Android smartphone, Hitch.
9. I'm afraid of heights, I get somewhat nauseous anytime I'm near some place I could fall--I also tend to get really vivid visions of myself falling, and the aftermath of me in a bloody or badly injured heap on the ground. Even with all that, I've wanted a flying board ever since I read Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" series.
X. I don't think in English, or in any language--my thoughts are pure concepts that then have to get plugged into a linguistic filter before I can communicate them. Because of this, I frequently use the phrase "Merc to English not working!" When I can't readily translate a concept into language.

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Rainewhisper's Questions:

1. If you had to pick one genre of music to embody the essence of your soul, what would it be? Probably epic instrumental and Christian
2. What is a movie that holds a special place in your heart? Gahhh, too many to choose from...in no particular order, Secondhand Lions, Summer Wars, and most anything by Disney &/ Pixar
3. How would you react if you woke up in a world where everything was inside a fantasy MMORPG and all the people had to follow a strict class and alignment system? What would your class and alignment be (i.e. Lawful Neutral Rogue)? Oooh! Probably Lawful Good Mage or Tinkerer (like a mad scientist)
4. What mythological creature do you identify with, and why? Probably krakens and dragons--kraken because I like squid and that's a big mythological ship-eating squid/octopus, and dragons because come on--dragons!
5. Name three of your favorite smells. Fresh brewed coffee (even though I don't drink it), rain, and dessert or bread baking in the oven.
   
6. You are suddenly bestowed with the ability to read minds. What are your plans for how to use this power? All those people where I'm just left baffled "What were you thinking?!" Well, now I'll know. And that's just the start! Soon, I will rule the world!
7. Have you ever been hospitalized? If so, what for? Well, I've never had to stay overnight in the hospital, but I did manage a pretty spectacular bike crash. Tore up the right half of my face and filled it with mud, but the guys at the ER were more worried about the 7 inch yellow and red bruise on my side where the handlebar had hit me--they saw that and immediately whisked me off for a CAT scan to make sure I hadn't ruptured any organs.
8. If you got a time capsule that allowed you to write down one piece of advice and send it to your past self, what would you say? "Hey past me, I'm your future self. Doppelganger protocol, [blocked password]. Stay in shape, get lots of Lego X-Pods while they're still around, don't procrastinate. Oh, and back up your computer(s ) regularly, we manage to cause a lot of crashes." Hmmm. That's a lot of advice...Still, it's one "piece" of paper!
9. Would you rather become famous after death, or famous in life but forgotten after death? Eh, probably posthumous fame since that's more likely to last longer...But at the same time, I want to at least be recognized for what I've done while I'm alive.
10. What would you say your 'trademark' is (in either appearance or personality)? Boisterous, cheerful, and bearded.

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My questions for those I tag:

1. What do you like on your pizza? (Or other favorite food, if you can't stand pizza)
2. What super or magical power would you like?
3. What was your favorite childhood toy, and do you still have and-or play with it?
4. Any stuffed animals you keep around?
5. If you could have any piece of future technology, however sci-fi it is, what would you want and why?
6. Given a magic wand, what would be the first thing you changed about the world? (It doesn't have to be an improvement)
7. Where do you feel most connected with your creative side?
8. Are you happy with who you and what you are, or would you change something? What? (Go ahead, get crazy, be a space alien or something)
9. What's the most exciting or crazy thing that ever happened to you?
10. Are you tired of these tag memes that keep cycling around DA?