Category Archives: Expat Life

Perfume Tag

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I guess it was bound to happen one day… I’m tagged by my friend Wen, a fellow blogger and expat living in beautiful Malta. I must admit I’ve tried to stay away from the tagging thing that seemed to be a hype in the blogosphere at some point. I’ve managed so far but when I read her request on her blog I simply couldn’t refuse *hehe*. I’m just very aware of the fact that this is a book tag and the one book I’m still reading at the moment is the one that I’ve mentioned in my previous posts already. So I’m gonna bend the rules slightly or else it’ll become a bit of a drag to read.

The rules are:

1. Pick up the nearest book.

2. Open to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

I also won’t tag five people… Why? Because most of my readers are in hiding mode and probably too shy to take part in this, leave a comment or they simply don’t have a blog of their own. So I’m not gonna bother them unless they want to [then feel free to let me know!]. I have a slight dilemma though because rule number one tells me to pick up the nearest book. My desk is right next to my bookcase so I guess that leaves me with plenty of books to choose from. I will behave and skip my seventeen technical Bibles: PHP, Actionscripting, Flash and all the -vintage by now- Mac OS troubleshooting ones that I used back when I was a sysop.

My choice is one of the most hilarious books that I’ve ever read years ago. I will read it again once I’ve finished my other book because I’m in need of a good laugh. I wonder what’s on page 123 because some might be offended but I’ll warn you, I’m really not gonna take responsibility for the sentences that I’m about to copy below. So stop reading while you can… here goes:

‘For miles around the mountain, there lived not one human being, nor even a respectable mammal -at best a few bats and a few beetles and adders. No one had scaled the peak for decades. Grenouille reached the mountain one August night in the year 1756.’

This an excerpt taken from the book: ‘Perfume‘ -the story of a murderer, by Patrick Süskind. And lucky me it wasn’t that bad at all *hehe*

The cover from my copy of this book, old and worn…

Well, that was today’s tag… The other bit of my life is less exciting at the moment, just much of the same ol’ same ol’. I’m dying to hear from a bunch of cool people about a role very close to where I live which involves education and a CMS called Drupal. They’ve checked my online web folio twice now so please keep your fingers crossed for me, I so want this role! I’m designing an invitation for my friend IvS. in Scotland who is going to throw a party in August: my flight is already booked. I’m really looking forward to seeing her, hubby and kids again because it feels like ages, although it was last year when they came to London for the Chelsea Flower show, it’s gonna be great. 120 people are invited to the party and they will receive the invitation so it might be a good idea to leave my mark somewhere…

I’m asked to redesign a B&B website for people up north in Scotland. I’ve designed their business cards a few years ago and another website recently in February this year. I’m also still busy working on the ‘hush-hush-project’ which is another website design for a real and a virtual shop. And in between I’m working on my own new project which involves fifties design and an online shop which for now is another ‘hush-hush-project’ until the launch of the website. It’s quite a lot of work so don’t expect anything soon, I’m still in the research phase: looking for proper software because I need to be able to adjust the look and feel of the shop, reading about online payment methods because I need to know how much they charge etc. and designing content in the meantime.

Lucky me MvdM. didn’t ask me yet about his business blog project, I will have to design the templates for the blog and start writing posts for him on a weekly basis once the blog is up and running. I won’t have time to do this at the moment. Talking about time, I really need to do something about time management, but that’s another post… If you have any suggestions?

My Manawee

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I’ve had many encounters with Bluebeard-like energies only to learn each time that I could not live up to their expectations, I was never good enough. I wasn’t perfect therefore not tolerated, but my flaws make me unique and only a true soul would be able to tell. I think I have finally come to understand this repeated past so I can leave it for what it is: the past… and just live in this moment.

Me: criatura

To you, my Manawee:

If women want men to know them, really know them, they have to teach them some of the deep knowing. Some women say they are tired, already have done too much in this area. I humbly suggest they have been trying to teach a man who does not care to learn. When men show that willingness, then is the time to reveal things; not just because, but because another soul has asked. To win the wildish woman’s heart, a mate would understand her natural duality through and through, the two powerful feminine forces within a single woman.

Anyone close to a wildish woman is in fact in the presence of two women; an outer being and an interior criatura, one who lives in the topside world, one who lives in the world not so easily seeable. The outer being lives by the light of day: is easily observed. She is often pragmatic, acculturated and very human. The criatura, however, often travels to the surface from far away, often appearing and then as quickly disappearing, yet always leaving behind a feeling: something surprising, original, knowing. Understanding this dual nature in women sometimes causes men and even women themselves, to close their eyes and hail heaven for help.

The Manawee man has his own dual nature: a human nature and a dog nature. His human nature, while sweet and loving, is not enough to win courtship. It is his dog nature, his instinctual nature, that learns to overcome superficial seductions and retain the most important knowings. Masculine forces can carry Bluebeard-like or murderous sorts of energy and thereby attempt to demolish the dual structure of women. That sort of suitor cannot tolerate duality and is looking for perfection, for the one truth, the one immovable, unchangeable feminina substancia, feminine substance, embodied in the one perfect woman.

Ai! If you meet this kind of person, run the other way as fast as you can. It is better to have a Manawee-type lover both within and without: he is a much better suitor, for he is intensely devoted to the idea of the Two. He wishes to touch this most ubiquitous but mysterious combination of soul-life woman, and he has a sovereignty all of his own. Since he is himself a wildish, natural man, he resonates to and has a taste for the wildish woman. There is a Manawee-like attitude, which finds and claims a woman’s duality, finding it valuable, courtable and desirable instead of devilish, ugly and to be disdained.

The most valued lover, friend, ‘wilder man’ is the one who wishes to learn. Those who are not delighted by learning, those who cannot be enticed into new ideas or experiences, cannot develop past the roadpost they rest at now. If there is but one force which feeds the root of pain, it is the refusal to learn beyond this moment. The creature Wild Man is seeking his own earthy woman, afraid or not, it is an act of deepest love to allow oneself to be stirred by the wildish soul of another. In a world where humans are so afraid of ‘losing’, there are far too many protective walls against being dissolved in the numinosity* of another human soul.

The mate for the wildish woman is the one who has a soulful tenacity and endurance, one who can send his own instinctual nature to peek under the tent of a woman’s soul-life and comprehend what he sees and hears there. The good match is the man who keeps returning to try to understand, who does not let himself be deterred. Not to misuse knowledge to seize power over her, but rather to apprehend and comprehend the numinous substance from which she is made, to let it wash over him, amaze him, shock him even spook him. And to stay with it. It will make her eyes shine. It will make his eyes shine.

*-Numinosity is the relationship between other people, places, and things and the individual.

Excerpt from the book, Woman who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés