Hello festive friends!

I did skip yesterday, but I was feeling so congested and tired, and my body demanded rest. I’m still not at 100%, but I missed writing and I missed being here, so we’re gently hopping back in.

I realized that while you might know my reading habits, my comfort media, and my general internet chaos, you might still not actually know me very well yet.

So today’s post is a peek behind the curtain to the human behind Stories, Sips, and Shenanigans. The reader. The nerd. The cozy chaos gremlin with too many feelings and opinions about fictional characters. These questions are fun, a little random, occasionally deep, and a glimpse into how my brain works. So here’s the 60 Questions of Chaos.

Are you ready?

SECTION 1 – PERSONALITY (But Make It Fun)

1. Coffee, tea, or another emotional support beverage?

I love both coffee and tea. Weekdays are mostly for coffee and tea is for cozy weekends.

2. Are you a morning person, a night owl, or a permanently exhausted pigeon?

I was born to be a night owl. Unfortunately, I work in education, so I have to pretend to be a morning person five days a week. This is why coffee and I are in a committed relationship Monday through Friday.

3. What’s one personality trait you’re weirdly proud of?

My resilience. Life has tried it, and yet here I am. Still standing. Still soft. Still a little sarcastic.

4. What’s your toxic productivity habit?

Convincing myself I must complete just one more thing on my list before I’m allowed to rest, relax, or feel joy. Spoiler alert: the list is infinite.

5. What’s your comfort activity when your brain is fried?

Coloring. If I don’t even have the bandwidth to read or journal, I’ll whip out a coloring book and some markers or colored pencils and let my inner kindergartener thrive.

6. Introvert, extrovert, or ambivert?

Ambivert. I love people, conversation, and a good hang…but my alone time is non-negotiable. Social battery management is an art form.

7. What’s your most used emoji right now?

The side-eye emoji. Says everything I’m thinking without me having to say a word.

8. What’s a small thing that instantly improves your mood?

When a song hits just right at the moment you need it to.

9. What’s something people always misunderstand about you?

That softness equals weakness. I’m kind by choice, not because I can’t be anything else. Don’t confuse grace with a lack of backbone. I have one. It’s just wrapped in warmth. Don’t get it twisted.

10. What’s your current “era” called?

The Cozy Bookish Queen era. Soft blankets, strong opinions, romanticizing the little things, and choosing peace without apologizing for it.

11. What fictional character do you get compared to the most?

Janine from Abbott Elementary. I take that as both a compliment and a personal attack. She’s short, earnest, passionate, occasionally doing too much, and means well at times. You know what? Yeah. This tracks.

12. What’s your go-to outfit vibe?

Depends on the season. I’m cozy sweaters and sweatshirts in the fall and winter, and comfy graphic tees during the spring and summer.

13. What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Negative energy first thing in the morning. Please take your storm cloud elsewhere until at least 11 AM.

14. What’s something your trying to unlearn?

Thinking I need to have everything figured out right now. I don’t. I’m allowed to be a beautiful work in progress.

15. What’s one word that describes your year?

Whew boy…transformative. I shed old versions of myself and walked into new chapters softer, stronger, and maybe slightly more unhinged – but in a good way.

SECTION 2 – CHILDHOOD

16. What was your favorite childhood TV show?

Oh, there were sooooooo many. Gullah Gullah Island, Rugrats, All That, That’s So Raven, Hey Arnold, Kenan and Kel, Goosebumps…even my niche faves like Mystery Hunters and Flight 29 Down.

Edit: My cousin scolded me for leaving Barney off of this list lmao. So, Barney was definitely one of my favorites.

17. What did you want to be when you grew up?

Little me was an overachiever – I wanted to be a writer, a singer, a teacher, an actress, a doctor (until I realized I don’t like the sight of blood), and a princess.

18. What’s a smell that instantly takes you back to childhood?

The smell of pies or cookies baking. My grandma baked a lot during the holidays and there was always some sort of baked good in the oven or being prepped.

19. Were you a rule follower or a chaos gremlin?

I was usually a rule follower but I did have chaos gremlin tendencies. I was sneaky.

20. What was your favorite book as a kid?

Only one? Rude. I’m going to cheat and pick an entire book series. The Babysitters’ Club.

21. Did you have an imaginary friend or just…thoughts?

I did have an imaginary friend and her name was Lucille…mainly it was because I was way younger than all of my cousins and way older than my little brother and thus had no one to play with. Yes, I’d play Uno by myself and then play as her too. Life was rough for a 6 year old.

22. What was your go-to childhood snack?

Dunkaroos!

23. What’s a hobby you abandoned but lowkey miss?

Actually, I still do a lot of my main hobbies: reading, writing, playing the piano…I’d say playing the clarinet but I HATED it…

24. Were you a “go outside” kid or a “leave me alone with my books” kid?

I was both! I loved being outside, but of course, I also lived for my books. Balanced child energy: sunshine and escapism. I would even combine the two and ride my bike to the library.

25. What’s a childhood fear you absolutely had?

Clowns. I still hate them. They don’t need to smile that much.

26. What’s a childhood memory that still makes you laugh?

When I was 4, I full on bawled over the Thanksgiving turkey. For at least an hour, I kept going, “Thomas…Thomas the turkey….” over and over again like I was mourning a comrade fallen in battle. Why was I crying over the turkey? No idea, but I’m sure I almost became a vegetarian. This memory is funny now, but probably not to 4 year old me. I was probably traumatized.

SECTION 3 – BOOKISH

27. What’s your reading flavor of choice?

I’ll read anything that fits my vibe at the moment but my favorite genres are romance, fantasy, and historical fiction.

28. What’s a book that fundamentally rewired your personality?

I read Dear America: Voyage on the Titanic when I was in elementary school. It awakened my historical-fiction obsession and my Titanic era (that never ended). To this day, I still have a love of learning historical facts.

29. Which fictional character would you absolutely be besties with?

Morrigan from A Court of Thorns and Roses series. No hesitation. I’d be out here thriving under her chaotic-but-loyal bestie energy, drinking whatever the fantasy equivalent of tequila is, and letting her hype me up.

30. Which character would you have beef with on sight?

Tamlin from the same series. Also Gale from The Hunger Games. He knows what he did and I will not be accepting apologies at this time.

31. A trope that you will read every single time, no questions asked?

It’s a tie between enemies to lovers and slow burn. If the characters start off beefing and end up yearning? I’m already down bad. If the tension simmers for 400 pages and finally snaps? Inject it directly into my bloodstream.

32. A trope you’d fight in the parking lot?

Bully romance. Some of the books with this trope are fine, but others? Some of y’all are writing crimes with a kissy-face emoji. If I see one more “he bullied me so hard I fell in love,” I will throw the whole trope into the sun.

33. What’s a book you refuse to shut up about?

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury. I did a review of this duology in an earlier post but it’s still one of my top favorite duologies of all time. Cyberpunk witches, messy family dynamics, moral dilemmas, and my indecisive Afro-Caribbean twin, Voya? Yeah, I’ll yell about this series forever.

34. Do you annotate? If yes, how chaotic is your system on a scale from 1 to feral?

Feral. I have a different system for every genre. Wrote those systems down and then threw out the notebook they were written in. Needless to say, I haven’t annotated anything in a while.

35. What’s your favorite reading vibe?

A cozy blanket, hot tea or hot chocolate, posted up on my couch. I can’t listen to music with lyrics when I read so I’ll even put on instrumental music that fits the vibe of the book. Classical if historical fiction/non fiction, epic instrumentals if it’s fantasy, and so on.

36. What book world would you survive in…realistically?

The world of Fourth Wing. I would NOT step one toe in the Riders Quadrant. Absolutely not. I will be a Scribe. I will live to 97 because I minded my business and avoided dragons who treat humans like popcorn.

37. What book world would you absolutely not survive in but would enter anyway?

Ketterdam from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I’d last eight minutes there but those eight minutes would be iconic.

38. If you could unread a book just to read it again for the first time, which one?

The Diviners by Libba Bray. Another one of my top favorite books of all time. The atmosphere of 1920s New York City, the mystery, the found family, the writing…I’d love to experience that magic again with fresh eyes.

39. Favorite bookish villain?

I don’t have a particular favorite but I love villains who are morally complex, charismatic, spooky, and who actually makes the protagonist sweat.

40. What book do you think about at 3 a.m. for no reason?

Honestly there’s a lot. My brain’s pretty much a rotating door.

41. What book has been on your TBR for a long time?

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. That book is like 1000 pages long and I have it in hardcover. I want to read it. I intend to read it. But every time I pick it up my wrists say, “Girl, be serious.”

SECTION 4: NERDY (MOVIES & VIDEO GAMES)

42. What movie can you quote from memory?

The Lion King. I can quote the entire movie word for word from beginning to end.

43. What TV show do you rewatch when life is giving “boss fight”?

I’ll rewatch Bridgerton. Nothing says “my life is chaos” like returning to a world where the only problems are secrets, string quartets, and incredibly tense eye contact.

44. Your comfort cartoon?

Hey Arnold.

45. What movie scene lives in your head rent-free?

That scene from Love & Basketball where Quincy and Monica play for his heart. As a child/teen, swoon-worthy. Romantic. As an adult, Monica, ma’am, release him. Growth is realizing this scene hits very different after 25.

46. What’s your favorite video game of all time?

Red Dead Redemption 2. A game that ruined me emotionally, spiritually, and probably morally.

47. A video game character you’d absolutely risk it all for?

Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2, aka my emotional support cowboy.

48. A show cancellation you’re still mad about?

Anne with an E, Sense8, The Babysitters’ Club, Julie and the Phantoms – Netflix, you owe me emotional reparations, credit, a handwritten apology, and maybe a fruit basket…

49. Your favorite television show of all time?

I have two: A Different World (forever iconic) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the template for my personality tbh).

50. A current show you’re watching?

I just started Stranger Things. Yes, I’m about a decade late. Yes, everyone keeps giving me the “OMG FINALLY” look. No, I don’t understand why everyone’s worried about Steve. It took me a while okay?

SECTION 5: MUSIC

51. What song is basically your autobiography?

What It Sounds Like from K-Pop Demon Hunters

52. Your “go-to” karaoke song?

If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys or Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. Two certified bops.

53. Which musician shaped your entire personality arc?

Honestly, it’s actually a three way tie: Beyonce (my confidence), Pink (my rebellion), and Demi Lovato (my emotional arc).

54. Most recent concert?

The Jonas Brothers…featuring Jesse McCartney…AND Demi Lovato. For a couple hours, I was a teen again and happily ignoring adult responsibilities. Definitely a core memory during the Year of Absolute Shenanigans.

55. What’s your most played genre this year?

I went into this on my Spotify Wrapped reaction, but it was Soft Pop.

SECTION 6: THIS OR THAT

56. Forest or ocean?

Ocean.

57. Sunrise or sunset?

Sunset

58. Slow burn or instalove?

Slow burn.

59. Cozy night in or spontaneous adventure?

As much as I love my cozy nights in, I could always go for a spontaneous adventure.

60. Sweet snacks or salty snacks?

Sweet. I definitely have a sweet tooth.

Thanks for Surviving My Chaos

If you made it through all 60 questions, you now know me better than half the people who claim they do. Honestly? This was weirdly therapeutic. I loved answering every messy, nostalgic, unfiltered question and even got some ideas for future blog posts.

Come back tomorrow for Day 14, where I will continue being dramatic for your entertainment.

Stay warm, stay sparkly, and may your night be peaceful as your holiday shopping cart is full and chaotic.