Hi! I’m Valerie Anne! It’s my first time hosting a Friday Open Thread and I’m nervous but excited. I know some of you from over in my TV corner of this here website but mostly we just talk about whatever show I just recapped (which I love doing and I feel like we ~get~ each other, you know?) but it’s time to learn more about YOU. Because I am enchanted to meet you.
I’ll admit, the getting-to-know-you portion of any group activity stresses me out. Someone says the word “icebreaker” and it feels like I am literally on ice that broke and I’m about to fall to my icy doom. Okay that’s a bit dramatic but I DON’T LIKE THEM is what I’m saying. I hate talking about myself in large groups without a VERY SPECIFIC thing to say. Like name and pronouns? Great, done, easy, I know that answer. Hidden talent? I DON’T KNOW?! DO I HAVE ANY TALENTS? DO I HAVE ANY SKILLS? WHO AM I?! It’s a lot.
BUT I have been in ice breaker situations that don’t suck, and it has been the biggest relief. For example, once we were asked to talk to the person next to us and find something we had in common, then eventually we shared those with a group. I’m much better at talking in groups of two or three, and there was a clear mission, but that mission lead us to talk about tons of other things along the way. So even if our share-out ended up being that our moms had the same middle name, we also learned each other’s favorite books, where we were from, sports we played, and other things like that.
I also enjoy outside-the-box questions like, “What’s the weirdest fanfic pairing/AU/premise you’ve ever read or stumbled upon on the internet?”
So today my icebreaker is about icebreakers: Do you love ’em? Hate ’em? Have any examples of the best/worst icebreaker questions or “games”? (I put “games” in scare quotes because THEY’RE RARELY FUN.) Want to answer that question about fanfic? Also if you all wanted to find weird/odd/random things you have in common with each other right here in these very comments I wouldn’t be mad about it.
BONUS: If you have any pictures of you and yours doing some of those TRULY WILD icebreakers that involves physical activity (I still have nightmares about human knots from gym classes past) please, please, please share them.
How To Post A Photo In The Comments:
Find a photo on the web, right click (on a Mac, control+click), hit “Copy Image URL” and then…
code it in to your comment like so:
If you need to upload the photo you love from your computer, try using imgur. To learn more about posting photos, check out A. E.’s step-by-step guide.
How To Post A Video In The Comments, Too:
Find a video on YouTube, copy the URL, and paste the link on its own separate line in your comment. You no longer need to use the “embed” code!
