Kicking off #ArmchairBEA: Introductions First!

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? 
2. Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures. 
3. Have you previously participated in Armchair BEA? What brought you back for another year? If you have not previously participated, what drew you to the event? 
4. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013? 
5. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you. 
6. Name your favorite blog(s) and explain why they are your favorite(s). 
7. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read? 
8. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why? 
9. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why? 
10. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? 
11. Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

1) My name is Melissa.  The name of my blog comes from my middle name.  I have been blogging since about 2005, when I first joined LiveJournal.  I intially got into blogging because some people I knew on a fan board for a TV show were blogging over there and I thought it was a great way of connecting with people that liked the show and it grew from there.  I have been blogging here for about 3 years.

2) I am blogging from the southwestern corner of BC in an area that is commonly referred to the Lower Mainland and more specifically from a region called the Fraser Valley.  The major centre near where I live is named after Captain George Vancouver and has one of the largest city parks in the world and is more than 10% larger than Central Park.

3) I participated last year and what brought me back this year was because I enjoy participating in it last year.

4) I am currently reading a number of books and am really enjoying the classics that I am reading at the moment.

5) I am a big Vancouver Canucks fan (NHL team from Vancouver) and like to read while watching various sporting events.

6) I have a number of favourite blogs, but I would say that its probably The True Book Addict and its my favourite because she has had a number of readathon events that I have attended.  I also like BookJourney because she not only shares her love for books but also the love that she has for her family and friends and Shelia seems like somebody I could have a cup of coffee with.

7) My favourite post would be the one I did on the fascination with the 1960s.

8) I would love to have dinner with Bridget Jones because she seems the sort of character that I could identify with and if I had to pick an author, I would probably choose Jane Austen as I would love to know what made her write the books she did and what were her influences.

9) The literary location that I would love to visit would probably be the house that was used for Pemberly in the 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice.

10) My favourite thing about the book blogging community is the fact the friendships that are formed through various blogs and that our book blogs are really just an extension of our lives and that we feel each others pain and experience each others joys and sorrows and that really we are there for each other, despite the distances between us and the differences in genres that we read.  What connects us is our love for reading and bookish things.

11) I don't know what I would like to see change in the next five years.