The votes were tallied and our Week 8 Madness winner is Ssenlrak (Karl Gman)!!! Congrats to that handsome hubby of mine. I have to admit when I read his madness story I chortled quite a bit while swiveling back and forth in my padded computer chair. I hope you got a little chuckle out of it, too. Obviously many did because he won! 🙂

So, since not everyone knows Mr. Ssenlrak like I do, I couldn’t forego a lovely little interview. He did his best to avoid it, but I usually win. We’re all happier this way. 😉 j/k

So, Ssenlrak, I wonder if anyone realizes the significance of your screen name. I’m sure you tend to just look at it and roll your eyes, but I would say everyone has a little of their own “ness” they like to share.

We’d like to know . . .

1) When you decided to start writing stories, what prompted you to do it?

Writing stories ever, or writing stories for the #blogbattle? Really I began writing stories at the age of 4 when I started reading. I’ve always enjoyed reading, and I think a side-product of that is writing. I was always writing short stories when I was young, and then moved to poetry when I was in H.S. and into college. As for the #blogbattle writing, my crazy wife kept bugging me about some ridiculous “inner artist” that I had to let out. So, I finally gave in and started participating (and even started my own blog to keep them on)

That’s certainly a very loooong time to be a story-teller. It’s amazing to think how early in life one can find a passion, whether they realize it or not! And as far as I can tell, your wife *ahem* is one smart cookie. She can read people and has you pegged, sir. That inner artist, well, he needs to be an outer one. Your stories are a good indication of it. 🙂

2) You are married to a crazy woman who enjoys writing stories. How on earth do you put up with her? What do you do to keep from going crazy yourself?

That’s a loaded question if I ever did hear one. I’m going to answer the second question first (as it kind of lends itself to the first). How do I keep from going crazy, you ask? Well, the truth is that I’ve been crazy from the beginning. I was either dropped on my head way too many times as a baby, or my parents did or were around others who did various brain altering drugs when I was in utero (which would explain why I like the smell of skunks, I recently found out that skunks aren’t the only thing that cause that odor!) in any case I was crazy long before I even met my wife (who it turns out is much crazier than I (to even consider marrying such a freak as myself). That goes back to the first question I guess, as it’s easier to put up with crazy when you are crazy yourself. I just love seeing her doing something she enjoys so much (and it would be super great if someday it could make money too! 🙂 ) . It would be awesome in fact if everyone could find something to pursue that they are passionate about and that makes them happy. (and super great if they can make a living while doing it.)

Ahhhh, so crazy is as crazy does…Not quite Forrest Gump, but you know! 😉 It sounds like you’re perfectly content with the crazy at your house. It’s true about pursuing your passion and the hope of being able to make a living from it. Wouldn’t that be amazing!

3) As far as aliens go, this one is pretty nice. His name is Phil and he is from the planet Gonzolibre. Phil is willing to offer you the opportunity to change three points in history. The only thing you need to exchange for this ability is to give Phil all your happiest memories. Would you do it? Why?

Nope. There’s not a lot of happy memories in there to spare, so I’d rather not give any up. Also, I very much believe that events in history would find a way to happen anyway no matter how much we tried to change them. There seems to be an order in the chaos that always returns back to it’s determined line no matter how much we try to make it wiggle. Not that there aren’t some tragic events I’d like to change, but it’s best not to mess with history. Hence the reason Time-Travel is improbable and not likely to produce good results should it be used.

Well, traveling through time is always a fun thing to dream about. You make some very interesting observations, and I tend to agree. 🙂 I’m glad you want to keep those good memories, too! Hopefully Blog Battling is a part of them. *wink wink* 🙂

That was a fun interview! Thanks, Ssenlrak. We enjoyed getting to know you a little bit better, and congrats on your win! Don’t forget to attach the Blog Battle Badge to your post: