Thursday, November 15, 2007

Seven (Random?) Things About Me

John Eaton was very kind (or not?!) to think of me for this meme. These are the rules, copied from his blog:

1.Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
4. Tag seven random [?] people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.


Hmmm, suddenly I find it very difficult to come up with one let alone seven things about me. But here we go:

1. When I was about four years old and had just learned how to write in capitals, I heard on the radio about a woman who spoke thirty languages. How wonderful that seemed to me. I immediately started making a list - in my huge, clumsy letters - of all the languages I wanted to learn. Regrettably, I’m very far from getting anywhere on it, beyond the first (very) few.

2. Another scene that stuck to my mind happened at a party. I don’t think I was older than five or six and we used to have these family parties, for various occasions, with relatives gathered around a bountiful table. Oh, I liked them so much, I was all eyes, and ears, and taste buds! There was this uncle by marriage who had a beautiful voice and used to sing these beautiful songs, but they were all very sad, very melancholic. I remember listening to him while huge tears were rolling down on my cheeks. Well, years have gone by, he’s moved to Germany, and – for no particular reason, just life - I haven’t seen him or talked to him in more than twenty years. But just a few weeks ago, an acquaintance of mine has met him in Europe, at a baptism, and he wanted her to give me this message; he said he was still sorry for having made me cry with his song at that party of such a long time ago…

3. One of my earliest memories is the following: I was probably three or four years old and my grandmother was taking me to a lady who ran a sort of morning German day care/school in her home. Auntie Flora, I was calling her. I was walking with my grannie on the street and, as always, I had my head full of the stories and the fairy tales that she was telling me. At some point I said, “What if I were a white peahen…” The gentleman who was walking in front of us turned and looked at me. I was so embarrassed, I guess, that this moment forever remains imprinted upon my mind.

4. I much prefer salted or sour things to sweet things, when it comes to food.

5. I like to cook and I’m good at it – no false modesty here. I like to experiment and I’m not afraid to try new exotic ingredients. Unfortunately my family is rather conservative as far as food is concerned, so I’ll just keep the octopus salad for myself.

6. One of my favourite painters is Hieronymus Bosch. His bizarre infernal visions go intriguingly well with the labyrinths of my mind.

7. I love perfumes. I wear them according to my mood, my colours, and the colours of weather. My favourites, right now and in no particular order, are Bvlgari by Bvlgari, Rock’n’Rose by Valentino, Pure Poison by Christian Dior, and Sicily by Dolce & Gabbana. I was shocked to find out that they’re not making Sicily anymore. I have one unopened bottle and probably will be very reluctant to open it when its time comes.

Now it’s my turn to tag a few people:

1. Bernita
2. Colleen
3. Jeff
4. Minx
5. Pearl
6. Shameless
7. Taffiny (when you have the time)

I have to run and hide now...

20 comments:

John Eaton said...

C'est magnifique, Vesper. :)

Anonymous said...

Here's five: http://www.looseleafnotes.com/notes/2006/08/weird_confessions.html
And here's 100: http://www.looseleafnotes.com/notes/100_things_about_me/
I'll allow the possibility that there might be seven more. Thanks for thinking of me.

SzélsőFa said...

You and your readers can be ever so glad that the gentleman on fact #3 did NOT deter you from expressing yourself the way you wish and/or from writing at all.

Vesper said...

Merci, John!

Colleen, I was thinking of that when I was reading your latest Thursday's 13... Any of these could in fact be part of the Seven... Sorry.... :-)

Thank you, Szelsofa, you're so very very very kind.

SzélsőFa said...

Oh, no, I just loathe when a kid's fantasy is suffocated by some big-headed adult.
And I'm glad it did not happen to you.

Jeff said...

Thanks for tag, Vesper. I haven't done one of these in a while. I accept. Give me a couple of days, and I'll try to come up with seven random things about myself that hopefully won't bore you and others to tears. :)

Bernita said...

These are very sweet, Vesper, and lovely to read.

Taffiny said...

Very nice.

Who would ever hide, over such a list?

What is embarrassing about a white peahen? Is that not what a white female peacock is called? The lady should indeed have had one, very pretty. He was just interested as he had no hope of seeing one wherever it was he was going that day. But you no doubt did see one, for you carried one with you, tucked inside your soul.

Thanks for the tag, I will do it (soon-ish). First I have to think of what they will be. Strange, you would think random things would come more easily.

Jeff said...

I forgot to mention I enjoyed reading your list of random things. Thanks for sharing.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

What a great list! I love learning little tidbits about other people. It's so fascinating! And I have to tell you I was so sad to find out that Origins stopped making my favorite perfume Gloom Away. I only have a little left and I am trying to eke it out for as long as possible!

Pearl said...

Thanks for the tag. Perhaps I'll rub 7 together for tomorrow.

Unknown said...

I also prefer salty things.
Ropi= salty/pretzel sticks

Anonymous said...

ooooo.... i did this meme over a year ago ..... it is now front and center of my soon to be ex's case against me in divorce case .....

He and his lawyer forget that writers DO have the right to dissemble ...

i like sweet and salty combined: chocolate covered pretzels come to mind!

;)

red

Anonymous said...

Like yr first 2 memories there.

Jeff said...

Vesper- Last year Joanne from "Writing after Dark" tagged me for a meme to list five things about myself few people know. I decided instead of listing seven random things here, I would offer a link to that post from my blog here for anyone who might be interested. I hope that's okay. :)
Five things about Jeff.

S. Kearney said...

Interesting list! I really must sit down now and think about mine. I did one a while ago .. I may cheat and resurrect that! :-)

Vesper said...

Szelsofa, yes, I'm very glad about that. I don't know about the readers... :-)

Thank you, Jeff! Five things are just as good as seven... :-)

Thank you very much, Bernita!

Thanks, Taffiny. I kind of dread talking about myself... :-)

Ello, thank you. Yeah, why would they discontinue a perfume? Gloom Away - I like the name. :-)

Thank you, Pearl!

Emperor Ropi, oooh, I had no idea! :-) Mmmm, crunch, crunch... Nice!:-)

Oh, Red, I'm so sorry! It's disgusting!
Chocolate covered pretzels are delicious. :-)

Now, Seamus, don't cheat... :-)

Travis Erwin said...

I did this one myself this week. Some insightful answers you posted.

Vesper said...

Thank you, Travis, you're very kind.

Unknown said...

Sorry, Vesper, missed this completely. I am hopeless!