A Meme

Taffiny has tagged me for this meme of various things. I’m giving it a try but I’m afraid my answers won’t be too interesting.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

My memory is weird, so much that sometimes it would scare me if I would allow myself to think about it. On one hand I can’t forget a thing - I never write down birthdays for instance - on the other hand there are in it huge gaps that I can’t account for.

I really do not know what I was doing ten years ago. Living. Working. A trip to Germany. Dreaming. Writing. Nothing significant enough, obviously, to be singled out as an event. Only some scenes, and mostly feelings, engraved in memory.

Breakfast in Frankfurt, on a rainy Sunday morning, watching the wet cars on the wet street and listening to classical music… The wonder of German pastries in a little snack bar in Düsseldorf – appreciated with famished senses… Melancholy and beauty on the Rhine, thinking of Heinrich Heine’s poem, “Die Lorelei”…

And, yes, I think we were just starting to look into buying our house.


Five things on your to-do list for today

- Pick-up my daughter from school (it’s the last day before the summer holidays) and my other daughter from day care;
- Organise the last details for my older daughter’s birthday party, which – as we did last year – we are celebrating one month in advance for fear that all the friends and schoolmates she wanted to invite would be away in July;
- Spend time in the garden, not working, just enjoying it;
- Watch the second Harry Potter movie with the kids – and hope they won’t get too caught into the action;
- Write (maybe).


What would you do if you were a billionaire?

This is one of my favourite daydreams…

After helping all that I could possibly help, people and animals, within reason obviously, I would:

- Write, write, write, write, write…
- Buy a house on the beach and one in Manhattan;
- Travel to all the earthly places I’ve ever wanted to visit;
- Buy a trip to the International Space Station.

Being a millionaire wouldn’t be that bad either…

What are three of your bad habits?

- Speeding;
- Daydreaming (although not while speeding);
- Procrastination.

What are some snacks you enjoy?

- pistachios, almonds, peanuts;
- dried figs;
- sesame sticks or pretzels.

What were the last five books you read?

This one’s easy. I have a habit of keeping track of all the books I read by writing down the author and the title in a beautiful, silk-bound, old notebook.

- The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony Di Terlizzi (my seven-year old is reading this the second time);
- The Thanatonauts by Bernard Werber (think “astronauts” on the continent of the dead…);
- My Laugh Comes Last by James Hadley Chase;
- Play Now… Kill Later and
- Die Anytime, After Tuesday! both by Carter Brown.

I don’t know if you are familiar with Chase and Brown, or even heard of them.

James Hadley Chase (René Brabazon Raymond) was a British writer, highly influenced by the American crime and gangster writers. He was hailed as “the thriller maestro of the generation”. He died in 1985.

Carter Brown is the pseudonym of the British-Australian author of crime fiction Alan Geoffrey Yates. He started writing full time at 30, in 1953, and wrote about 150 crime stories that sold tens of millions of copies. He died in 1985.

Obviously this is very light literature, with no profound thoughts or feelings, but entertaining. Something I’m not embarrassed to admit that I need and seek every now and then.

What are five jobs you have had?

My actual job plus all the work at home as a mother and a wife.

What are five places where you have lived?

Europe
Canada

I know the answers to the last two questions are not real answers, but that’s all I can offer for now…

And now it’s my turn to tag five people:

Akasha
Ello
Jon
Lisa
Sarah

Good luck!