Joy of Six, right?

Preeti (PS) has tagged me on this and this is my reply.

The Rules:

- Link to the person that tagged you.

- Post the rules on your blog.

- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

- Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

- Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

So after Miscellaneous, here's Random. Oh there's nothing like not following a certain road.

1) Starting from the beginning - I don't know the place where I was born. Isn't it odd? I only lived there for half a year and obviously I don't remember anything. Since then I never went back. I feel like I belong here where I live but, in fact, I don't.

2) Apart from my obsession with notebooks, I have another one - beauty kits. You know, those little bags with lots of little products that are basically useless apart from being really fun to look at and bringing some variety into bath time. Little soaps, little flasks, little boxes aaaah

3) My material obsessions end there basically, but I have others. Like men's jawlines and eyebrows. (sigh) Wait, is that material too?!

4) You'd be confused if you met me. I can be laughing and saying childish things in one minute and retreat to my shell and be completely serious and grumpy in the next.

5) I was reminded of this when Preeti mentioned loving animals. Nature shows are so interesting and beautiful but I've realized I can't watch certain documentaries because I feel bad for the lost, suffering, dying animals and end up crying and depressed.

6) I laugh histerically and very loudly. People stare sometimes. Oh and I don't write well under-pressure, since I had to come up with this complete random fact to end the tag. :P

I'm tagging:

- Kimananda because she's posting every day and she needs some creative support, as anyone doing Blog365 does :)

- Cathy because she's just written a post called "For lack of anything better to blog" - sounds like a cry for help ;)

- FB because I sense a complete blogger-comeback these last few days and I'd like to contribute.

- Mahima, simply to read what she has to say and read more posts from her.

- Violet because I'm always curious to know more.

- Scholiast because she's otherwise too lazy to blog ;))

5 questions Meme

A while ago...Kimananda had a personalized meme with 5 questions. The rules are simple: you reply to the questions and then the readers may request you to ask them 5 different questions.

Here are the five questions she sent me today:

1) It's been a joy to see your interest in astrology blossom in your blog and now your new business. What I want to know is about the early days. How did you first get into astrology and what has helped you maintain your interest over time?

As many things in our lives, Astrology was a transmitted disease. My mother always enjoyed it, so the subject was never too far away from home. She had some books that I read and, even though it wasn't a constant concern of hers, it made me accept Astrology as something to explore and not look at it as nonsense. I remember always being very interested on astrologers that came up on TV and absorbing everything they said.

I guess what keeps us interested in anything is the hope that we can get more out of it than we have already. It is the case with Astrology, there was always more to read, to explore, to observe, that's why I got even more into it lately. Above all Astrology responded to my need to understand things about myself and try to deal a little better with them.

2) Speaking of new businesses, what are your hopes and dreams for your Astrology blog? Where would you like it to go, and what would you like to get out of this exciting endeavor?

I'm keeping my feet on the ground on this one, which is a first! I hope it works and this includes that people take it seriously, take me seriously and, if they decide to request my services, that they are pleasantly surprised with them, not disappointed. My goal would be to keep busy doing something I like and feeling that what I do is worth something to people - does that sound too perfect? Well, work should be like that, in my opinion.

3) Along with great thoughts on the connection between the stars and ourselves, you also accompany your posts with beautiful photographs. How would you characterize a good blog visual, and how do you decide which visuals go best with which posts?

Wow, Kim, you're not shy on the compliments ;) That's a difficult question. I think the decision about the photographs is mostly intuitive. Generally, I don't post a image that I find ugly or disturbing, even if my post is ugly or disturbing. I try to find something that is fitting to the general theme but there was a time when I always posted an image and that made it more difficult to always follow the rule.

A good blog design is pleasant to the eye (I don't mean beautiful, but easy to read), personalized and simple - too many words, links, images, stickers make it look like a very old suitcase (those are lovely but not to read in them).

4) It's clear from what you write that music is extremely important to you. What sorts of music are you longing for at this stage in your life, and why?

Oh music! :) I'm more connected to roots at this stage, folk, regional music. For example, this fantastic band from Napoli called Spaccanapoli. I love Arab music. Music with different instruments, different languages preferably, different atmospheres. And tango because I dream of Argentina. I literally daydream about it - the other day I was walking in the street and almost got caught by a car thinking about Buenos Aires. That's not me. Not me at all.

5) I couldn't help but notice the Magician in your blog header, which of course reminds me that tarot is also one of your interests. Do you have a particular card that most resonates with you? If so, why? If not, would you like to have one?

Yes, I do! How do you know? It's the High Priestess from the Mythic Tarot (seen above). This deck mixes the cards with Ancient Myths and the H.P. is Persephone. I don't know exactly why I identify with her but she looks a bit like me physically and it's a card about the unconscious, the under world. How it contains both darkness and creative potential. She is the part of us that knows the secrets of our inner world, but she never tells. I like it.

Thanks for the questions, Kim! Now does anyone desire to be questioned? I'll be glad to.

a hoopla to end the holiday season

this isn't a hoopla!

Kimananda tagged me to do this meme, or the new word for meme: a hoopla about the holidays. I have to be honest and say that I'm completely fed up with holidays and all the glitter everywhere. I'm very happy that we've entered the sober month of January - it even started raining, just to remind us that it's serious, January is for real!

But officially the holiday season only ends on the 6th of January, Kings' Day, so lets state 12 facts about the holidays over here in Portugal. The Hoopla had rules but since Kimananda changed them, I'll change them too. And I won't tag anyone, as I'm sure you're over the holidays just like I am.

1) Just like in Denmark, Christmas over here it's more about the 24th than the 25th, as the most important part of Christmas is DINNER.

2) There are a few selected dishes for Christmas dinner, but the most common is bacalhau cozido com todos - which means boiled salted-cod with lots of vegetables and plenty of olive oil. It's pretty good. Other dishes include: turkey or octopus, it depends from the region you live in and your family traditions.

3) Ah, don't forget to include red wine in the shopping list! After dinner, it's common to drink a glass of port wine.

4) For desserts, they're all pretty disgusting, if you ask me. LOL I don't like most of them. There's rabanadas (similar to french toast with cinnamon), some sweets made with pumpkins, bolo-rei (a cake with lots of dried and sugary fruit - pictured above), aletria (which is something equally disgusting I don't like to talk about). There's plenty of almonds, nuts, hazelnuts to nibble.

5) The king cake (bolo-rei) had two kinds of special objects inside: if you got one it meant that you had to pay for the cake next year, I think the other one meant good luck to you. Nowadays some of the cakes don't contain these anymore.

6) Christmas is all about the kids over here too. At least, in my family, everything is done for their enjoyment...even the wait until midnight to deliver the presents - it's all for their pleasure ;)

7) My family has grown quite considerably since I was little and now we only buy presents for the little kids, as getting stupid, useless things for more than 25 people seems silly.

8) On Christmas Day there is Christmas lunch, of course - it's still important and, as the day goes by, people just want to forget Christmas and move on. Or is it just me? ;)

9) Even though our climate is moderate compared to other European countries, people usually stay inside for the New Year's Eve. More recently, with the increase of fireworks shows all over, there are more crowds on the street.

10) Since the 31st is São Silvestre's day, there are special athletics races in the major towns. They always look like very slippery races to me because it is usually raining and our floors are slippery. lol

11) Usually people eat 12 raisins and ask for 12 wishes, one for each month of the coming year. And we drink bubbly, of course.

12) Superstitions include: standing on the top of a chair, jumping with your right foot forward, the raisins, many toasts and, of course, wear something blue (or at least something new) on the 1st day of the year.

And that's it. The holidays are over. Don't come back 'til December, okay?

Happy New Year

Here's a fantastic end of the year Meme I found on Novel Nymph's blog. It's fantastic if you want to recap on the year that ends today. Let's do this, people!

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
I wrote a film script, I learnt Tarot, I did readings for people...that was odd.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No, never!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not this year.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My sweet dog died.

5. What countries did you visit?
Apart from my own, none. But do you mean physically? I went to a lot of places with the power of my imagination.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
So many things; a whole different mindset would be welcomed.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I remember the day we had to take my dog to go to sleep. It was the worst day of the year.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Coming up with a small career plan that I will implement in the New Year. Just the fact that I'm trying something new is quite the accomplishment.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I should've grown up a tad more.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No, I was fortunately really healthy.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Bank investments.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My football team Porto, for being champions once again.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
George W. Bush.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Books.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
A lot of things: dancing, music, writing, men...

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Three songs have marked my year: Tired of Being Sorry, by Ringside; Fools in Love by Inara George and Ojos Asi by Shakira.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer?
I'm definitely happier, probably fatter and richer ;)

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Simply different things, doesn't really matter which. My year was very homogenous in my activities.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Pondering obsessively about my inner issues, when it doesn't lead me anywhere.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Lots of family, food and a warm fireplace.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes, a few times. You mean "really" fall in love? No, but I should never lose hope of that happening.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
The Sopranos and all its brilliance.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Fortunately no. I think I'm being more mature about this stuff now.

24. What was the best book you read?
The book I enjoyed the most was called Sleep with me, by Joanna Briscoe.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Pink Martini - the best band EVER! Where were they before? Where was I? We were meant to be together forever.

26. What did you want and get?
My Zen mp3 player, which is very simple but makes me really happy. Thanks Dad ;)

27. What did you want and not get?
Oh the list I could make...but wanting is the devir of life (the devir is the force, the energy behind life, in portuguese at least!), it makes the world go 'round and if you got everything you wanted, the world would stop.


28. What was your favorite film of this year?
It was an argentinian film called Roma. It was stunning, I cried like a baby.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 24 and I had visitors and had tea and little cakes. And I watched a film called Puccini for beginners.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I had a personality transplant, my year would've been different...

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Comfy, leg-warmers in the winter, black velour trousers, my beautiful bikinis in the summer ;)

32. What kept you sane?
Blogging, Astrology and most of all...DANCING!

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Oh, my crushes are top secret....

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
World affairs in general, especially the ones connected to the environment and everything politics are NOT doing for us.

35. Who did you miss?
I miss my dog. I miss some friends that I lost contact with.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Finding someone who shares many interests with you and that you can talk to using a common language is very special. I've met special people this year.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
Things can get a whole lot better once you've slept through an entire night.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
The best New Year song is called Next Year Baby (Jamie Cullum)

Resolutions, baby, they come and go

Will I do any of these things?

The answers probably no

If there’s one thing I must do,

despite my greatest fears

I’m gonna say to you, how I felt all of these years

Next Year

Happy New Year blog friends :)

I'll be back next year with surprises. It's a promise.

A tag and a warning

I feel particularly chuffed to have been tagged to do a Writer's Meme by Phish. First of all because he writes magnificiently, in my opinion, and second of all it tells me I'm a writer and that feels strangely nice. I say strangely because being a writer never appealed to me, even though I've been one forever, like it or not. Now it's more pleasing, I think I'm more in touch to what it means to be a writer and more in touch with other writers. Of course, this term refers to all of us bloggers, we're all writers.

I'm supposed to mention the qualities of a good writer or good writing, so let me think.

What amazes me more about books is how close they can get to you. You're sitting there with a book in your hands and you read something that your mind has said so many times before, you yelp to yourself and you have to read it again, not believing anyone in the world could have thought the same thing as you. So a good writer has to have this ability to reach out to people and speak the same language as them. If you ask me, it's not that hard because even if you're the weirdest person on earth, there's bound to be someone else out there that thinks like you. ;)

I also need to understand what the writer is talking about. It can be an excelent writer, with lots of brilliant ideas and a wonderful skill with vocabulary, but if I don't understand the words or where they're heading I will drop the book. Life's too short to read something that doesn't mean anything to you.

Simplicity is often the best policy. Mastering the vocabulary and the structure is great, it really is, but if you reach the same conclusion, using simple words and the purest of sentences...then you are a great writer!

Originality is crucial. How awful is it when you open a book and feel like you've already read all that was written? The stories have all been told, the great writer tells them in a way that seems completely new and original to you. The ending is expected but the twists and turns in the middle make you laugh or gasp. There's humour, sometimes there's complete nonsense, a concept that looks completely out of place and makes you laugh.

Finally, there's something that I was talking to Chrispito about. Why are there writers than you immediately feel connected to and others that you simply can't enjoy? Sometimes it's not about the technical details, nor the ideas in the plot. I wonder if there's a writing chemistry. I wonder if there's a bloggers chemistry. And if it can't really be chemistry because we're not physically in the same place, then it must be something else that unites us in ways that aren't visible to the human eye. This is the 'thing' responsible for making us experience emotion through books, it's the magic of the writer.

Almost forgot I had to tag people! I will be tagging people that haven't been blogging as much as they should ;) Call it a little stimulus. Whether they'll do it or not, it's completely up to them.

- FB

- Scholiast

- Kimananda

- Novel Nymph

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I also want to warn anyone who's interested that November is just round the corner and that means it's the month to write a novel. If you want to know more visit NaNoWriMo's site. I won't be participating but I will be writing nevertheless.

1983

Cathy had a fun meme in her blog. Another way to spend a few minutes browsing images. Here's how you do it: go to Google Images (believe it or not, they're not paying for me to say this, damn) and type your year of birth. Then select some images that portray some aspects of that year.

This was the Lusitano horse that won all the prizes in 1983 - cute!

Elvis Costello looks just the same! How does he do that?

Artistic photo by an artist called Tseng Kwong Chi, in my birthtown.

This was the year Yves Saint-Laurent launched Paris. How fitting.

The yatch on Miami Vice - ah!

This was the dress Queen Sylvia (from Sweden, I expect) wore to the Nobel Awards. How pretty and timeless!

These were the countries that participated on the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983. Luxemburg won with Corinne Hermès.


I'd like to think not all Canadian homes looked like this in the eighties but...this was hip then.


Oh my....

Here are a couple of members of a band called Alice. My Dad had a grey jacket just like that!

Lovely eighties design...


The Jubilee line in London's Underground. Very seventies.

The cover of Soaring Magazine in the month I was born. I love the grey, very eighties but I like it.

Aaah, the Rubik's Cube - I want one, I miss this non-tech gadget so much.

A group of Physics students from Ohio. Long live the short-shorts lol

Here's what a laptop looked like back then. It actually says portable computer and, believe it or not, that light is the screen!

Where would I be without tags?

Novel and Dharmabum had this tag on their blogs and they've suggested I did it too. I'm supposed to write nine things about myself, one of which is a lie. And you'll have to guess which one it is.
I honestly don't think I can come with 9 new things about me that you don't already know, but I'm making an effort.

1. I can't lie. I don't know why! I could, I really could. Lying is all about the detail, it's easy, I write a lot of stories. But there's something inside of me that aches when I try to lie, so I don't do it. (I have lied for the purpose of saving other people's feelings, but I still felt terrible).

2. I'm an anti-intellectual. I hate the whole bunch of them. Even though I am interested in books, literature, art and performance...I don't like these obvious people that go to the museum looking at the catalog, that visit shows just to say they were there, that take the newspaper and the Sunday sections and a bunch of trendy books to the cafe-shop to show the world how much they read.

3. I need to be alone several hours a day (and not just to sleep). It's the Greta Garbo syndrome - "I vant to be alone!" - I've investigated and I found out that she had a 12th house Moon like me, indicating this exact necessity of solitude. I like people, I do, but they just exhaust me so much that I need to be alone to be balanced again.

4. There are places far-away from where I live and which I've never visited, yet I feel like I know them and I can feel what it is like to live there, in the present and in previous eras. Is this vivid imagination, intuition, past-lives or lunacy? ;)

5. I promised a friend of mine that I would get a football shirt from Argentina if a certain player didn't leave our team. I hate promises but you don't kid around with them...

6. I signed in to Arts school in high school but I changed my inscription to another course before the classes even started. My Arts teacher had told me to join the area because of a single piece I had done at school, but she must've been blind if she thought I'd be any good at it.

7. I dream of having a little garden with a place to plant things and have breakfast beneath the sun in the morning.

8. I have a total cake-obsession. I can't walk past a pastry shop without trying something, chocolate things being my favourites, of course.

9. My head's been so busy with learning new things that hours fly by and I don't even notice. There's not enough hours in the day for me to absorb everything I want to absorb. I never want to stop learning and I especially don't want to think I have nothing else to learn.

Now you!! Yes, you! I'll tell you about my false-truth later.

Tag à la Stephanie

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE? (and I sure need a soundtrack with this stormy weather outside)

Oh movies, I do a lot of those in my head. In fact, when I was a kid, I used to pretend my life was a sort of a movie/soap-opera...I was the main character and my life was the plot. (I was bored, you've guessed it - but, to tell you the truth, I wouldn't be such a fantasist today if I hadn't been so bored and I like being a silly dreamer).

Stephanie says the Tag works like this:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)

2. Put it on shuffle

3. Press play

4. For every question, type the song that's playing

5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

6. Don't lie

Opening Credits: How come you don't call me? (Alicia Keys) - needy!

Waking Up: Tree of Patience (Omar Faruk Tekbilek) - great song to wake up to!

First Day At School: I will be your friend (Sade - deephouse remix) - this remix is bad stuff!

Falling In Love: Beauty of You (Coldfinger) - now we're talking!

Fight Song: Seraphim Smile (Rachael Sage)

Breaking Up: Clouds (Rosie Brown)

Prom: Caruso (Lucio Dalla & Pavarotti) - if only the prom was in Italy...

[I HAVE TO SAY, THIS PLOT IS A PIECE OF S***, lol]

Life's Okay: Get Rhythm (Joaquin Phoenix) - ha!

Mental Breakdown: J'en connais (Carla Bruni)

Driving: Quelqu'un m'a dit (Carla Bruni) - my shuffle tends to mess me about.

Flashback: 1BR/1BA (Vienna Teng)

Getting Back Together: Let My Hair Down (Nelly Furtado)

Wedding: Let's Never Stop Falling in Love (Pink Martini) - I am not lying, it just happened!

Birth of Child: Who the Fuck is Alice? (Smokie) - LOL, I can't believe this. If you don't know this song...well, it's not brilliant but it's really funny.

Final Battle: Last Night (Jewel's version of Tracy Chapman's song)

Death Scene: Sou Frai (Marion Welter) - please, don't ask.

Funeral Song: Last Year's Song (Lisa Miskovsky)

End Credits: Don't Cry for Louie (Vaya Con Dios) - makes sense.

You are invited to do this tag, if you have nothing better to do. :) I think it went well.

random facts alert

Lovely Preeti, also known as PS, tagged me to write 8 random facts about myself. That is not new because, when I think of it, most of the things I write in this blog are random. It's not as if I make a lot of sense most of the time. But bear with me on this one and, who knows?, you might learn something useless.

#1 I love making CDs for people. Music is something that moves me so much that I can't keep it all to myself, so I need to share it. And sometimes people make CDs for me too, like the one I got today from DaybyDay with a fantastic personalized cover and CD art. Isn't that neat? I love it :)

#2 I've been a bad vegetarian since I was 15. I say bad because I never stopped eating fish altogether. I wanted to but people thought I was insane enough as it was, so I had to make a compromise. Otherwise I'd literally starve in any portuguese restaurant.

#3 As you know, I love books. I've been loving books forever. I remember having lunch while reading the Famous Five (those books made me really hungry - did that happen to you?) simply because I couldn't stop reading. I'm not so bookish anymore but I'm always reading something and when I know I'll be having a boring time, I count on books to entertain me. By the way, please suggest some books for my summer, okay? Please!

#4 The first boy I had a crush on (that started the long and endless list of crushes in my life) looked like a young, still mentally-sane Tom Cruise (these were the days of Top Gun). I wrote him a letter, which I believe he never read (thank God for that...). I remember he used to wear a really nice dark blue jacket.

#5 Hands are very important to me. They seem to have a life of their own when you're observing people, so I always notice them more than other things. My friend the Surfer Girl taught me that hands can reflect our sun sign too. For instance, Fire signs tend to make your hands look like flames, when your pinky finger is much shorter than the others and your middle finger bigger. As you can see, mine obbey that rule:

And so do Nelly Furtado's, who is a typical Sagittarius like me...haha (I know this isn't a random fact about me, but ...learn from it, I won't last forever ;)

#6 These hands that people call midwife's hands (because they're so narrow that they can help bring babies into the world) or pianist hands (because of the long fingers) went to piano lessons one day. The lessons were given by an old lady living in a tiny decrepit house with a red door. The hands first learnt a song without the musical notes; this song that, the old lady used to say, aaaalll her other students played much, much faster. And then the hands tried to be smart and learn all the other songs by ear, without having to look at the notes. When the fingers missed a note the old lady's hands would step in and cover the hands to guide them sloppily through the keys. I didn't last very long in my piano lessons.

#7 These hands were never good at drawing or painting, leaving the owner a little heartbroken since many members of her family were very artistic.

#8 My family is huge. For instance, today I was listening to some news on the radio and listened to a distant cousin being interviewed, out of nowhere. My family seems to be everywhere at all times, spread in various activities, having many stories to tell...I don't know what it is that they have.

Oh I was supposed to tag 8 people! I don't like to be bossy so I'll leave to you to decide if you want to do it or not.

Summer

Dharmabum tagged me to write about things I like about the Summer. I understand that our visions of Summer (from all of us) must be very different, considering we live in such distant parts of the world, that's the main interest of this tag...and also because it can trigger several nice memories.

Will I be able to find 8 things I like about the Summer?

1) First of all, the Summer gives me another opportunity to have an opinion different from most people around me. "Everybody" loves the Summer in Portugal, I'm not a fan. Being a very coastal country, we can say "our" favourite hobby is going to the beach, so at the first signs of a rising temperature...beaches around the cities get piled up with people soaking in the sun, traffic jams everywhere, children screaming all around you...what's not to like, really?

2) Summer is usually equated to holidays, meaning a break, the end of school, time to laze around and do very little. It's the most distinct time of the year, so it's a break from the yearly routine that I really appreciate. Not being in school this year, or any kind of work, I'm not sure how it'll be.

3) During the Summer there are a lot less people in the city, less traffic, less pollution, less noise...it's great for the people that stay (that's why I prefer to have my holidays in some other month that isn't August).

4) Going to the beach and always marvelling at the infinite length of the sea in front of me.

5) Plums, cherries, watermelon, figs, peaches!

6) In the Summer it's okay to eat ice cream everyday (it rhymes too)

7) Nights sitting in the dark outside and watching fallen stars across the big starry sky. There's not a Summer that goes by when I don't see several of them. But I always get so startled I hardly get to make wishes ;)

8) Already? I couldn't get away without writing about summer loves. What is it about them? Is it the heat? Is it the lack of clothes? Or is it the relaxation and a different attitude from the rest of the year? It is everything...and it fades as quickly as a suntan.

It wasn't so bad and there are some things I didn't even mention, like those nights when it's a little chilly and you get to wear a scarf over your shoulders, being able to read all day and devour books after books while eating sandwiches and drinking an icy can of coke :), fresh grilled fish everyday, smiling tourists, musical events at night, summer songs...

Ironically, today it's miserable outside, rain, rain, rain...

Are you excited about the Summer?

meme from Chloe

A meme came to rescue me from my lack of inspiration. Thanks to Chloe. None of the questions look particularly interesting to me, but that's the challenge - it's the answers that can make it fun.

1. The phone rings; whom do you want it to be? Someone from the phone company telling me my phone will be cut off, I hate phones.

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart? Mais oui! When there isn't a coin in there, there is a plastic piece in the shape of a coin that is always useful. What else was I supposed to do? Put the cart inside the car boot?

3. If you had to kiss again the last person you kissed, would you? Je ne regrette rien!! (pardon my french)

4. Do you take compliments well? What's cute? This old thing? I've had for years! It makes me look fat! Oh, my hair is a mess! Don't look at my pores...

5. Do you play Sudoku? I've been sober for almost a year now, but I was addicted. Time flies when you're playing and ironically I loved it more when I had tons of things to do.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive? I'd freak out, I might survive physically, but I would be a lunatic for the rest of my life, like little Victor in that Truffaut film, L'enfant Sauvage (here I go again!).

7. Do you like nipple rings? Please, no! I don't like most piercings.

8. Did you ever go to camp as a kid? Please, I'm traumatized enough. lol

9. If a sexy person were pursuing you, but you knew he/she were married what would you do? Well, half of marriages end in divorce, right? hahaha No, I'm sorry. Marriage should be sacred, if a person isn't respecting those vows, I wouldn't want to marry him, which doesn't mean that I wouldn't listen to his reasons.

10. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you? Of course I could. I'm very open-minded about religion. As long as it didn't mean I'd have to wear a veil or never go out of the house - my personal freedom could never be compromised.

11. Do you like to pursue or be pursued? Isn't pursue a very strong word? I prefer stalking LOL But I definitely don't like being stalked.

12. Use three words to describe yourself at the moment: Sleepy, lazy, slow.

13. Do any songs make you cry? Could you rephrase that: what songs DON'T make you cry?

14. Are you continuing your education? I'd rather be dead than stop learning. Learning is my life - I'm a Sagittarius :)

15. Do you know how to shoot a gun? Why would I know that? I live in Portugal.

16. If your house were on fire, what would be the first thing you grabbed? Yes, Chloe, my computer would be my first thing too. But isn't it stupid? Why grab something digital? There is no smell or touch in the computer. It is useful but almost meaningless.

17. Who was the last person you shared a bed with? I can't remember. I don't like sharing beds with people, I'm afraid.

18. Whom do you text the most? My friend, the surfer girl, and you don't want to read those messages!

19. Favorite children’s books? The Malory Towers by Enid Blyton :) sweeet

20. What do you buy at the movies? I like chocolate.

21. Do you know how to play poker? I want to learn that!

22. Do you wear your seat belt? Are you insane? Of course!! It's not only safe, but it's cheaper when the police comes.

Feel free to consider yourself tagged!

Tag

Novel Nymph was tagged and tagged her own "readers" too. So, if you're not very inspired to write anything too original, you're tagged as well. That's how I'm feeling at the moment.

So what we have to do is go to Wikipedia and search for our birthday and month (not year) and then choose:

a) 3 events that happened that same day throughout history;

b) 2 significant birthdays;

c) 1 significant death;

d) 1 significant holiday or observances (if any);

e) then tag 5 bloggers.

Ok! December 14th

Events in the past:

- 1542 - Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland. (she is always presented in such a scary way by every film...)

- 1900 - Quantum Mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law. (Planck was the man!)

- 1955 - Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the United Nations. (wow!)

Birthdays (two is too little!):

- 1503 - Nostradamus, French astrologer (d. 1566)

- 1883 - Jane Cowl, American actress and playwright (d. 1950) (wow, she was born 100 years before me and has a name similar to mine...the dates actually differ in wikipedia, so I decided to keep the 1883)

- 1946 - Jane Birkin, British-born actress

Interesting - there is no one born in 1983 in the list - obviously they're waiting for me to become famous so they can add me! ;)

Death:

1591 - Saint John of the Cross, Spanish friar and poet (b. 1542) - this explains why this is the day of St. John of the Cross in the calendar!

Holiday:

R.C. Saints - Memorial of Saint John of the Cross - like I said...

Meme!

Well, first of all, I don't really know what Meme means but I know what it is...so I'm doing it. I found this on Novel Nymph's blog and thought it was perfect for today.

10 THINGS I DO WELL...

1. I'm good at sensing emotions - actually, I'm too good, which means whenever someone is feeling low around me, I get low too. In general, I'm good at understanding what other people are feeling, even before they say anything.

2. I'm good at observing things. I don't miss much of what is going on around me.

3. I'm a good listener. And this is related to the fact that I don't talk much, I prefer to listen, which makes it easier to both 1)sense emotions and 2)observe what goes on around me.

4. I'm good with languages and accents - and that is because I love them so much!

5. I'm good at memorizing lyrics - so good that sometimes they won't leave my mind for days...

6. I'm good at remembering details from things that happened many years ago.

7. I'm good at imagining things and daydreaming.

8. I'm good at dancing the night away. Well, I'm not a pro but I'm not totally useless either.

9. I'm good at making sarcastic and witty remarks ;)

10. I'm good at making nice rice!

If you want to lift your spirits do this meme yourself!