Tag Archives: Question

Grill Me!

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Sunday I was over at ‘Petty Pieces’ by ‘Bitter Chocolate’, to read her latest post. I rarely accept ‘memes’ or ‘tags’ or anything similar but this one seems different and I actually really like it. I think because you have to come up with questions for the person who’s interested in being interviewed, so if you want to you can really grill someone *kidding*.

Bitter Chocolate has been kind to me though, you can find her questions and my answers below. Please read the rules if you would like ‘a challenge’ as well.

Rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1) What was the most awkward date you’ve ever been on?

*LOL* I guess that must have been the one where I went to this famous Dutch place called ‘de Keukenhof’ with a Moroccan guy who was nine years older, I must have been seventeen. I wanted to show him Dutch culture. He wasn’t interested, I could tell by how quickly he walked through the park in search for the exit *hehe*. He couldn’t wait to get back to his car…

We sat in the car for a while talking, deciding what to do next while I, in a subtle way, tried to reject his unwelcome advances. He took me to The Hague where he owned a business that he wanted to show me but I wasn’t allowed to go in. Culture clash supreme. Obviously he’d had other plans on his mind but I wasn’t thát ignorant. Most boring and cringing date.

2) What personal accomplishment in your life are you most proud of?

Passing for my driver license exam on my first try. I’d been taking lessons on and off for a while and had to stop several times unexpectedly for different reasons: I had surgery which took six months to recover, I had a back injury etc. In the Lowlands lessons are extremely expensive and the exams seem to be the toughest ones. Less than 40% pass their exams annually and each year the tests seem to get more and more difficult.

Also, you’re not allowed to rent a car in the Lowlands in the first two years, they want you to get experience first. So two weeks after my exam, I was at Gatwick Airport and the other person had forgotten the second part of the UK driver’s license and guess what… I had to drive for an hour and half while it was pitch black, in pissing down rain, on bendy narrow country roads and on the left side of the road [who invented that?]. That was a very deep end.

3) Can music make you cry?

It most certainly can. I have a few CDs that I used to listen to when I went through some rough periods in my life and even today when I listen to them again they can evoke strong emotions.

4) Do you have a pretty handwriting?

If I try my best and don’t rush I think it is [see picture below], I have been writing in capitals ever since I can remember because my dad used to write in capitals and I thought that was pretty cool. I was once told by a graphologist that my handwriting clearly shows my creativity.

5) Do you prefer trains or buses?

That depends on the country… in London I’d prefer buses because of the obvious: most are double-deckers and you have an amazing view from the front seats on the top level! It was something I really enjoyed when I first got here and I still enjoy the view from the bus these days, it’s relaxing in a way [though not in rush hour!].

In the Lowlands I’d prefer buses outside Amsterdam, the staff of the public transport in Amsterdam are the grumpiest lot I’ve ever had to deal with. Only a few really enjoy their job but they’re rare, you can recognise them by the friendly smile on their face when you get on the bus, tram etc.

It’s readable… if I’m not in a rush ;)

Rooted

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At times I can be utterly surprised about nature’s wonders and how it seems to have a will of its own. A few weeks ago I bought some lucky bamboo and when I took them out of their plastic flower tubes I had to cut the plastic caps so I wouldn’t damage the fragile roots. I bought them at my favourite love-hate store which is a risk basically, since they don’t seem to care about any living organism in general and particularly those that use photosynthesis.

So of course when I took them out of their tubes it started to reek of hydrogen sulphide because the water had not been changed in days [wouldn’t surprise me if that would be weeks actually]. Some of the roots didn’t look well, as in rotten or disintegrated, and I was wondering if the bamboo would even survive this traumatic experience of extreme neglect. I wasn’t willing to give up, so I planted them as I intended to do: in a glass vase filled with small stones.

I was extremely careful handling the roots but I could see most damage was already done and I just had to be patient to see what would happen over the next few days. I filled the vase with a small amount of water, just enough to keep the stems covered in about 5cm. To my surprise I noticed the stems started to grow new roots. It’s amazing to see how they slowly seem to find their way through the gaps between the stones, extending each day and carefully growing in any possible direction.

Over the last couple of days the water level started to come down and one tiny new root basically ended up above water level, so I kept an eye on it, curious to see what would happen. It could start to dry out so I would have to top up the water to keep it alive. To my surprise the root had a growth spurt all of a sudden and while the water level was going down the root was growing almost twice as fast to keep its tip in contact with the surface of the water.

I wish I hadn’t watched it because now I’m stuck with these questions in my head, I already seem to have a reputation for coming up with odd and weird questions. But it’s stuff I wonder about like: how does it ‘know’ where to find water? Why is the root growing; in search of what?

Nature’s wonders…

Snippet:

According to Feng Shui masters, having Lucky Bamboo in the home or office will help to ensure good fortune. In Asia, bamboo is a symbol of health and wellbeing, while in India it is a symbol of friendship.

In several Asian cultures, it is believed that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem. In the Philippine creation myth, legend tells that the first man and the first woman were split open from a bamboo stem that emerged on an island created after the battle of the elemental forces. In Malaysian legends a similar story includes a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant; he wakes up and breaks the bamboo stem, discovering the woman inside. In Japan, a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evils.

In Chinese culture, the bamboo, along with the plum blossom, orchids, and chrysanthemums are all held in high esteem and are collectively referred as “the four of great nobility”, with one representing each of the seasons.

Source: Flower Encyclopedia