Mama(e) in Translation

Wow, memes are so last decade, but I still wanted to do this one, inspired by Geeky Mom. It's a fun time killer that you get by typing each letter of the alphabet into the browser address bar. I used both Chrome & Firefox. Would have loved to have done Safari too, but I'm on my pc desktop right now. Chrome is lame having nothing for a bunch of letters...

Chrome  /  Firefox

A: Amazon.com   /  American Express (with Amazon cart second)
B: blogger    (both)
C: catalog (university #1 library)   /    c_ _ _  : teaching platform at U#2
D: drmamaesq.com   /   dooce.com
E: exchange [outlook email from U#1]    for both
F: facebook.com  for both
G: gmail.com   for both
H: htttps://facebook.com --> That's not right!   /   heatherarmstrong.com
I:  imdb.com   /   impeafro.org.br
J: (nothing -- google search)   /  johnclarkmatthews.com/*
K: knie.ch (because of my last post)   /   kris.shaffermusic.com/  (got this link from my friend Jeannette a while back)
L: learnsecurity (training security site of U#1)   /   live.ccmunited.com/  (oh boy! a live music show I watched a few months ago)
M: mail (from universtiy #2)   /    mamaintranslation.blogspot.com/  :-)
N: nytimes.com  (!)   /   newsadventist.org   (my church's official news site)
O: (nothing -- google search)   /   office.microsoft.com
P: plus.google.com (not surprising! I never go there!)   /   pc-sda.client.renweb.com (kids' school grades site)
Q: (nothing -- google search)   /   quinntopia.blogspot.com/ (model train site my kids used to visit a lot)
R:  (nothing -- google search)   /   renweb.com (kids grades, this is getting boring!)
S: significados.com.br (great dictionary site, for teaching Portuguese!)   /    sites (university #1)
T: twitter.com   / tripadvisor.com
U: (nothing -- google search)   /   united.com
V: vimeo.com   / can't say
W: www.facebook.com   / weather.com
X: (nothing -- google search)   /   xs.gy -- what is that? (afraid to click)
Y: youtube.com    for both
Z: (nothing -- google search)   /   nothing

*wow, that was random! This guy made some hilarious stop motion animation adaptation of children's books that I once bought for my kids -- including Curious George goes to the Hospital. Mouse Soup and others -- and I googled him once a while back.

HA!
That is really funny!

I hadn't done a "Meme" in a really long time, but this (What Would I Say?) is positively HILARIOUS! It's an app that scans your fb account and comes up with possible status updates that sound like you.

Thanks for the heads up, Jamie! (I was so tickled to find the many references to breastfeeding in your Bot updates!). I have a couple in Portuguese and it's so interesting to see lots of things that I've really said jumbled up together! (I'm alternating "quotation style" with plain, I hope it looks goo!)

we've moved to the street finished it with us in New Zealand, he had a business trip goes smoothly, including security at the airport, my nephew who just so we have a fifth nephew or, finally, a niece.
-L'sBot

I'm very relieved and thankful that made the semester Two exams next week, a delay of over seven years ago yesterday 03/09...
-L'sBot

I'm very relieved and thankful that while the boys will be working to fully empty the day teaching earlier update, but on my update, but it with his four sons and SIX years away from the HUGE parties we've thrown in Providence, RI for five days.
-L'sBot

mas vai embora com as letras do seu nome com e 9 meses, então tá ok, né?
-L'sBot

My aunt was optimistic when she talked on the proper equipment, it would be just so nice to see you that detect, I guess the tables were in Brazil, so we don't want everybody else to be our first significant snow this to Portuguese [class]. Last, but I cannot bring myself to be moving to [New State] K[] will be online, my sons and a split second, there...
-L'sBot

mas vai pra fazer um abraço! Depois dos metais fazerem a introducao! A gente conversa mais, tenho q ir preparar prova, desculpe. ;
-L'sBot

You guys have yet And see my hopes up.
-L'sBot

I have a little today.
-L'sBot

I really like the next to last one. Yeah, hope, I love hope! ;-)

Prompted by Dooce's post from today, I had to find out which Madonna era I was and I wasn't one bit disappointed! I'm "Mid-80s Madonna," so precise!

Because "Crazy for You" was the soundtrack of my 14th year of life and I loved "True Blue" and "Live to Tell." Oh and I thought I didn't know "Borderline" (posted by Heather), but it just turns out I didn't know the title of the song, since I don't think it was top 40 in Brazil like it was here. I really don't know much of anything about the 90s on Madonna, I'm stuck back in the 80s!

I hadn't pasted one of these cheesy quizzes in my blog for ages, but here you go!

Your results:
You are Mid-80's Madonna

Mid-80's Madonna 76% Political Madonna 75% Madge 69% 80's Madonna 50% Rocker Madonna 50% Disco Madonna 44% Blonde Ambition Madonna 38% Movie-Star Madonna 32% Veronica Electronica 25% Cause-Celeb Madonna 25% Cowgirl Madonna 19%

You are willing to Open your Heart and Live to Tell what's on your mind. Although you are maturing your Papa still Preaches to you. You are responsible, you have made up your mind and you are Keepin your baby. You love to vacation. . . in La Isla Bonita!

Click here to take the "Which Madonna Era are you?" quiz...

I'd seen this on facebook, but I got it from Dawn's.

♥ What are your middle names?
Our middle names are our mothers' last names (maiden names), that's the way it is in Brazil. I kept all my names, so I have three last names (or, if you prefer, two middle names, my mom's and dad's and one last name -- my husband's). I won't share "last names" on the blog.

♥ How long have you been together?
April 7th, 1990. (only 6 days after Dawn and Brett! ;-)

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
A week. (just like Dawn again!)

♥ Who asked who out?

K asked me. That's how it used to be in Brazil, not anymore, apparently.

♥Who said I love you first?
Me! I wrote it on a little card and gave it to him while we were at the bus stop waiting for him to go back to his uncle's house. He responded after he saw an "I love you" sticker on a bus and he said something like "he did too..."

♥ How old are each of you?
Both of us are going to be 38 this year, he on May 26, me on July 7.

♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most?
His because mine I only see "every two years for two days" (OK, for about a week) since he moved first to China and then to New Zealand. We're at his brother's house right now.

♥ Do you have any children together?
Yep, two lovely boys.

♥ What about pets?
We have a cat named Blues, we got him when we bought our first home back in 2001.

♥ Did you go to the same schools?
Same university (University of São Paulo in Brazil) and same graduate school institution.

♥ Are you from the same hometown?
No way! Not even the same state. His family is from the Brazilian Northeast and mine from the South.

♥ Who is the smartest?
I think we're equally smart.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
I am much more sensitive. He's become more nervous/ stressed out after kids came along and I became calmer, though.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We hardly ever eat out. We sometimes go with the family to chain places such as Olive Garden, but once in a while we go to Indian restaurants, which we love.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
We've traveled a lot. The further South was the southernmost state in Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, the further West, California (LA area), the further North -- Berlin and Hanover in Germany/ Amsterdam in Holland (perhaps Quebec city is almost as far North?), the further east... maybe Austria (Salzburg)?

♥ Who has the worst temper?
I have the worst one, I think. I get super annoying with something he does something I'm unhappy with. And I tend to be "explosive" at times.

♥ Who does the cooking?
I do. It's his only deffect -- the not cooking. I like to joke that otherwise, he's perfect ;-)

♥Who is the most social?
Both of us are very social. We're slightly shy on the surface and take a while to warm up to new people. I think he's more outgoing only because he really enjoys (and is very good at) asking questions to people we just met and finding out about their lives. I just can't even get myself to start talking to them.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Neither of us, but poor K learned to take care of his stuff in boarding school when he had a neat freak roomate (still his best friend). So, poor him, having to put up with his messy, disorganized life. I'm improving, little by little. He's much better at tidying up than I am.

♥ Who is the most stubborn?
I think I am. Yeah, he's much more flexible.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
K does because he has a long commute to work. He'd sleep past 8 with me if he didn't have to get up and if we didn't have to bring Kelvin to school. Poor Brett.

♥ Where was your first date?
Hmm, we were going to see a movie at college where my parents worked, but they weren't showing one, so we went back to my house and we listend to music (my favorite tapes) and talked.

♥Who has the bigger family?
Immediate family, he does -- his parents had four sons, mine only two, my brother and me. Our extended families are about the same size, lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. His are younger than mine, since my mom is the youngest of 5.

♥Do you get flowers often?
Not that often, much less (hardly ever) in our early years of marriage, but more often now. I loved when he got flowers for me when I got back from Brazil once and also after my dissertation defense.

♥ Who do you spend the holidays with?
More often with his family.

♥Who does/did the laundry?
I do the laundry. I enjoy it.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
He is (he can program, even), but I type faster ;-).

♥ Who drives when you are together?
He usually drives the most, but I pity him because we both dislike driving. He's more experienced, so I just let him do it on long trips (I kind of take advantage of him in this). I do it sometimes, though, particularly when he's tired and needs to sleep for a bit.

♥ Who picks where you go to dinner?
We hardly ever do, so it's easy, anywhere is a big treat.

♥ Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?
I think we both admit it, but he's better about it. I do it, but I get so frustrated about it that (sigh) Usually him. He’s like a thousand times nicer than I am.

♥ Who named your pet?
We named him together.

♥ Who wears the pants in the relationship?
(I didn't know this expression, but I think I get it). He does, but we do decide most things together.

♥ Who has more tattoos?
We both have a horror of tattoos.

♥ Who eats more sweets?
He does, but I love chocolate and I eat a lot too.

♥ Who cries more?
I cry much more, but he's cried several times too since we met.

♥ Are you still together?
Sure!! Why would anyone be doing this meme if they weren't?

As seen at This Woman's Work, thanks Dawn! And Happy New Year, everyone!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
I got a PhD, does that count?
Became an official immigrant, a resident of this country!!

2. Did you keep your New Years’ Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Hmm, I kept some of them, not that they were actual "resolutions," I wish I'd been able to do more. I think I will make an exception and and make more more next year (sigh).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! My youngest nephew was born on my birthday and my favorite cousin and his wife had a baby daughter, but I haven't met the baby yet.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Yes, my grandma, on Dec. 23. just last week.

5. What countries did you visit?

Brazil (as usual :)

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Like Dawn, more money, that I earn with my own work too.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

The day we submitted my dissertation only five minutes before the deadline, April 30. It was very unreal, having been up for so many hours, stressing out like never before in my life, and finally having suceeded, literally at the last minute. yikes.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

The PhD? Getting the greencard wasn't a real "achievement," but it still was something incredibly significant.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Hmmm... so far failing in the online teaching gig for being late with feedback. Hopefully I'll come around.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No, but K had an appendectomy!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I don't know...

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
not mine! ;-). K, I think, who delivered a big surprise for our anniversary and is always so patient with me.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The McCain campaign.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Home renovations (not my money, "ours," i.e. my husband earned it, I wasn't working yet... :-( ).

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The home renovations? (although the expenses take an edge off the excitement).

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
I really don't know.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Hmmm... happier overall, less worried about the future.
ii. thinner or fatter? Same, maybe a tiny bit fatter 'cause I'm on vacation now ;).
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer, but hopeful.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercising.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
I don't know!

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Home with in-laws, brother-in-law's family, K's cousin and his wife.

21. What LJ users did you meet?
I’ll amend this to other bloggers. No new ones in 2008, unfortunately, but I hope that in 2009 this will change.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I fall in love with K again all the time.

23. How many one-night stands?
[I'll second Dawn on this one:] This is for the younger blogging set, isn’t it?

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Saturday Night Live and portions of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report that K would show me online.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nah, I don't think so. I don't really hate anybody.

26. What was the best book you read?
I read so few! Most were books that publishers sent me for review. I liked The Self-Esteem Trap (I've wanted to blog about it for a while).

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
?

28. What did you want and get?
The PhD? ;-D , a job, even if low paying and part time.

29. What did you want and not get?
The fellowship.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Once -- although it's a film from 2007 I only saw it this year, at the eeriest of situations: on the car, at night, while we were driving up to MA for my commencement.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
The day itself was low-key, I was at my BIL's house and we came back home that night. In the following weekend I threw a big party (celebrating my graduation too).

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Hmmm... having mor money so we didn't have debt now.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Same as usual, cute, comfortable, clothes that 'look like me.'

34. What kept you sane?

My ability to relax and disconnect from the stress.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Barack Obama!

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
All issues during the election.

37. Who did you miss?
My brother. I always miss him because I only see him every two years now that he became a globe-trotter.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Our friends Keyla and Paulo. I'm just so glad they moved here from CA!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Try to have a positive attitude, work harder (I still really haven't learned it, but I'm trying too -- online thing).

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

If I find out, I'll add it later.

I saw this first at M, but then also at Prof. Mama and Libby's. What surprised me was that this quiz couldn't be more spot on! (and it only has two questions!)

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Doris!

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

I saw this in Susan's blog, and I was curious to try it. Now I have to remember what's the other quiz I did recently that I thought was fun. Meanwhile, I guess you already know what kind of punctuation I am! :)

You Are An Exclamation Point

You are a bundle of... well, something. You're often a bundle of joy, passion, or drama. You're loud, brash, and outgoing. If you think it, you say it. Definitely not the quiet type, you really don't keep a lot to yourself. You're lively and inspiring. People love to be around your energy. (But they do secretly worry that you'll spill their secrets without even realizing it.) You excel in: Public speaking You get along best with: the Dash

Edited to change #23 and 24. I had forgotten to change Susan's responses! [No, I didn't find lice in my child's hair! :D]

I saw this a while back at Susan's and other bloggers and thought it would be fun to do. I feel a bit embarrassed doing this meme because I have a long backlog of memes I've been tagged with, but never responded. Maybe this one will get me started!

1. Spell my name as it sounds: in Brazil - Leeleean, here Lillian (?)

2. Am I a worrier? A little bit, used to be more.

3. What’s my favorite CD? I have too many favorites... It varies. Right now it's my husband's second cousin's Leo Gonçalves' latest CD.

4. Favorite colour(s)? For wearing: brown, light beige, navy blue, red, black, colorful pastels. Colors: pink, blue, aqua green -- all pastel.

5. Does my home have an attic? Yes, several, in fact. One in the garage, another above the living room floor and the one above the bedrooms (this third one cannot be used for storage)

6. Have I ever been to Canada? Yes, I was there in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2004.

7. Have I ever gone fishing? Nope, never.

8. Have I ever seen a celebrity? Hmmm, a few Brazilian celebrities, nobody here that you know of.

9. Have I ever been on a motorcycle? No way!

10. How much money do I have on me right now? On me nothing, in my wallet, $15.

11. How many cars have I owned? Four, and it's "we," I never had a car on my own.

12. How many jobs have I had? With "official" paychecks only two.

13. How tall am I? 5′4″ (I think) -- same as Susan.

14. Last person to call me: My husband.

15. Last thing I yelled out loud: Probably "Come here NOW!"

16. Last person I was in a car with: My sons.

17. Last time I ate at McDonald’s: HA! I never go there, but two weeks ago I had to take my son with his schoolmates and I had fries...

18. Last thing I bought: A $5 gallon of "OOPS" (rejected) paint at Home Depot -- which my husband is using to paint the guest bedroom right now.

19. Last person I saw: My youngest son.

20. Last time I cried: I got choked up while reading a blog post yesterday, but I cannot remember when I last cried.

21. Last time I laughed: Today with the boys.

22. What is the temperature outside? About 65.3F -- warm, huh?

23. What time of the day did I get married? At noon, it was scheduled for 11 am, but I was late, a little bit more than "fashionably late." :) (if I ever get to write the post about my wedding that I've been trying to for over a year, you'll know more about that).

24. What did I do two nights ago? Prepped guest bedroom for painting.

25. WHOSE [I had to correct that "Who's"!] birthday is coming up next? My oldest son, in March.

26. What time did I go to bed last night? Around 1:30 a.m. (very common for me)

27. What was the first thing I thought this morning? I need to email my advisor.

28. What are my plans for this weekend? Return Christmas presents. Get ready to go to NYC next week.

29. Lemonade or iced tea? Lemonade.

30. What do I dislike at this moment? Not having finished my dissertation yet and the fact I'm not working on it as I should.

31. What did I dream about last night? Cannot remember.

32. What’s the last TV show I watched? I guess it may not count as TV show, but it was Masterpiece Classic - Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.

33. What is my favorite piece of jewelry? Wedding ring (copied from Susan -- it's the only thing I wear).

34. Am I a dancer? No, but I wish I was.

35. Have I ever cut my own hair? No, but I cut my husband's and sometimes my sons'.

36. What is my favorite treat? I love treats... chocolate, jelly beans, reading peacefully while eating anything yummy...

37. How many piercings/tattoos do I have? None.

38. Where’s my favorite place to be? In front of the computer? Hmmm, that won't do. Anywhere with my family?

39. Is there someone I haven’t seen in a while and miss? My friends from Brazil.

40. Who was the last text I sent to? I don't ever text.

41. Do I care what strangers think about me? I think I do, but I know I shouldn't.

42. Last person I talked to on Instant Messenger: My mom, on Skype.

43. Last person to make me cry: I don’t remember.

44. Who can I tell anything to? My husband.

45. What am I doing tomorrow? Teaching a piano lesson, cleaning and organizing the house.

46. Do I have alcohol in my home? Nope.

47. Do I like ketchup? No!

48. Do I think I will be on a vacation this summer? Most probably.

49. What colour is my master bathroom? White

50. Do I wear a bikini at the beach? Yes, I do! I love bikinis and look awful in bathing suits b/c I'm flat chested.

51. Have I ever been to the Grand Canyon? Yes, I have. I loved it and want to go back!

52. What is my favorite fruit? Strawberries.

53. What did I really want to do today? Eat out.

54. Am I always cold? I'm prone to being cold, yes, but haven't been much lately.

55. Does it annoy me when someone says they’ll call or text, but don’t? No, not really, unless they say, “I’ll call you back in five minutes!” and then don’t [copied from Susan!! but really what I feel] . I don't do texting...

Well, you're welcome to do this if you feel like it, let me know if you do so (if you haven't already) I can check it out.

I saw this quiz at Scrivenings and just had to play. It's been a long time since I've done a quiz too.

The results were soooo predictable! :) And so entirely true because I've been in love with Impressionism (not only in painting, but also in music and the equivalent literary school, Symbolism) since I was a young girl. What art movement are you?

You Are Impressionism

You think the world is quite beautiful, especially if you look at it in new and interesting ways. You tend to focus on color and movement in art. For you, seeing the big picture is much more important than recording every little detail. You can find inspiration anywhere... especially from nature.

I know I owe you photos and whatnot, but I had to start somewhere and my online friend and fellow ABD mom M of Separation of Spheres tagged me for a meme ages ago on August 30 and I feel bad that I didn't even see it, so here you go:

4 Jobs I've had
-- Private English tutor to two teenage boys
-- English teacher for grades 2-4 of Elementary school and in a language school in Brazil
-- House cleaner in my first two years here in the U.S.
-- Teaching assistant (and "associate" -- with my own class) for 6 years

4 places I've lived
-- in France as a baby (until I was 18 months)
-- in Brazil: Apucarana, Curitiba, and Maringá in the state of Paraná; city of São Paulo
-- Massachusetts
-- Philadelphia area now

4 favorite foods
-- Potatoes (home fries, baked with herbs and seasonings, in any way...)
-- Artichokes and dishes with artichoke in them (particularly Trader Joe's artichoke tortellini)
-- Brazilian pastel (like a Hispanic empanada, but much crispier, not soggy at all)
-- Argentine (or should it be Argentinean) alfajores -- "sandwiched" honey biscuit with dulce-de-leche filling and dipped in chocolate.

4 places I'd rather be
-- in Brazil with my friends and family
-- in Italy, particularly Florence
-- anywhere in Europe
-- at any good beach anywhere in the world

4 movies I can watch over and over
-- Cinema Paradiso
-- Jane Austen adaptations, particularly Persuasion and A&E/BBC Pride and Prejudice (not a movie, I know)
-- Back to the Future trilogy (my husband and his brothers are HUGE fans and I caught on)
-- The Sound of Music

4 TV shows I like to watch (I don't watch TV at all, but when I used to watch or in the brief periods we had cable I liked these):
-- Sex and the City (I only saw the whole last season after it had ended on Comcast On Demand)
-- TLC's A Baby Story (and sometimes A Wedding Story and others)
-- TLC's Trading Spaces
-- TLC's While You Were Out

4 websites I view daily
-- blogs in my blogroll

4 computers I've owned
-- a Gateway desktop purchased in in 1998 (just like M) when we both started grad school (my mom has it now)
-- a Gateway laptop in 2003 (we sold it to our friend in Brazil)
-- another (cheap) Gateway desktop in 2004 -- we have this one, but nothing works (the CD/DVD drive, the card readers, it's a pain)
-- a Toshiba laptop

4 people to tag

I think most people in my blogroll have done this, but I tag my friend Keiko, who blogs in Portuguese.

The fabulous British mom and "famous" blogger Emily, tagged me (a week ago -- sorry about that!) for this meme, so now I'll try to share 8 random things about me (if I can think of 8 since I've already previously done a post on "6 weird things about me" and another voluntary random things post, a fairly long one too, the first two items in my list below are there, sorry about that...).

1. I generally prefer salty/savory foods to sweets.

2. I'm a bookworm, but I have read hardly anything for fun since Kelvin was born 5 years ago and particularly after I started working on the dissertation. I have this feeling I'll never be able to read as much as I used to again... (going to graduate school and working as a T.A. also dampened my reading considerably, I really haven't been much of a bookworm for almost 10 years now :( )

3. There wasn't a phone in my house growing up with two exceptions -- a short period between 5-8 years old and then when I was almost 19 and in college. That's why I generally don't like to call people I don't know on the phone (I do talk to friends OK) -- it's kind of a strange "phone phobia" that I have. My husband teases me about it all the time.

4. I lived at home with my parents and younger brother until I got married, at 23.5 (I decided not to go to a boarding academy for high school as my parents wanted and I went to college in a university in the city where I lived -- that's very common in Brazil, most people live at home while going to college. And besides, the Universidade de São Paulo is the largest and best university in the whole country, some say it's the best in all of Latin America -- why would I have gone anywhere else?).

5. I got my driver's license when I was 24.5 years old, a few months before I came to the U.S. I never drove in Brazil before then, only took public transportation or went out with my parents. Cars are quite expensive in Brazil, only rich kids have their own cars. (Oh, and in Brazil one can only have a driver's license at 18, but one can vote at 16 -- I think that makes lots of sense!!).

6. I'm a really messy person. I guess I have some kind of selective "ADD" -- I just can't concentrate when it comes to picking things up from the floor, putting things away, organizing a messy desk, etc. I like cleaning, but I don't like tidying up. Luckily my husband is really good with that :)

7. I usually don't do blog "memes," but I like to create memes. So far I've created only two, but I'm working on another one :)

8. I really cannot think of anything else that might be even slightly interesting... OK, I'm a night person. If I could I'd sleep in until 11 or 12 every morning and stay up until really really late. I've actually been doing that quite often in the past few years because I've had my parents helping out (but I get up at 10, generally, or 9 when we're by ourselves and my husband lets me -- thanks, hon!).

I don't feel like tagging anyone, particularly since my tags just don't seem to ever work. OK, just a few "random" people :) Keiko, Jennie, WWWMama, M. Only do it if you feel like it, though, OK?

Two Three weeks ago my lovely friend Corey, founder of the great site Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network and who blogs at An American Between Words, nominated/tagged me for a Thinking Blogger Award. I was absolutely elated since I saw this award/meme going around and I felt that I wasn't "thoughtful" enough to deserve it :) Oh, and I also happened to see it during that time when I was feeling down about blogging, etc, so it was excellent timing!

Corey wrote some delightful words about me:

Lilian is always full of insights and inspiration. She is a literature major from head to toe and you can tell. She doesn't let life go uncontemplated and delights us with her ability to look at it from yet a new perspective and to speak her mind!

Thank you!

These are the directions:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ badge* with a link to the post that you wrote.
* the "original site" has a link to a silver badge if you don't like the golden one or it doesn't fit your blog.

So now I nominate/tag 5 other bloggers:

Dawn at This Woman's Work
Dawn's blog is one of the first blogs I ever read, back in the late summer of 2004. As I've written here before, I have learned a great deal from her. She's always extremely honest and courageous in sharing her life and feelings with her readers and while she does not shy away from discussing extremely tough issues, she does so with such a clarity and thoughtfulness that enable very enriching discussions. She always makes me think. Deeply. And besides, reading her blog made me find the next two bloggers in this list, and many more!

Kateri at Wet Feet
I started reading Kateri's blog after Dawn mentioned an unfortunate argument in the "infertile women's" (large) slice of blogosphere. After I read Kateri's post, I did what I generally do (as a good scholar), I went to her archives to find our her reasons for being so critical of a particular situation. Wow! What I read there was raw and well written and just broke my heart. I learned so much from her (and from the many blogs I started to read after I found hers, such as Manuela's [Thin Pink Line] and others) that I can firmly say that the fact that she shared her experience as a birthmother changed my perspective on many many things, particularly adoption. Later I was able to meet her in person, which was a great treat! Her writing still makes me think and I particularly love her style -- she doesn't use many words sometimes, but they convey so much depth and feeling, it's just amazing.

chicago mama
The moment I found her blog (after Dawn posted a lullaby for her) I was immediately captivated by her amazing pregnancy story (her URL refers to it too: incarcerated uterus) and all her (almost ferocious) snark! In addition to a new baby, she was also adopting a lovely girl from China. Chicago Mama is always very bold in sharing her thoughts with everyone and her writing definitely makes me think (that short post about honesty, Cmama, and the comments people posted, had me thinking for days! To be perfectly honest, I'm still thinking about it!).

Jo at Leery Polyp
Jo's another mother I "met" (both online and in person) because of Kateri and, consequently [actually it would be causality here, not consequence, but I don't know what word to use, by proxy?] Dawn. She's extremely articulate and just incredibly funny. Her posts leading to and then following her daughter's Sophia's birth were just amazing and made me think hard about the birth experience. Oh, and her posts about plastic and other toxic things around the home!! Basically scholarly writing! It's just such a pleasure to know her in person, and I'm even happier that she's recently decided she's going to continue blogging -- so hopefully she'll respond to the meme! ;)

C. Delia Scarpitti at Left-Handed Trees: Writing From the Roots
I started reading Delia's wonderfully poetic and profound blog after we missed being introduced to each other as bloggers at the first and only Mother Talk Salon that I attended. I can't wait to see her in person again sometime since her writing is just so amazing and thoughtful! (thoughtful is actually a shallow word to describe her writings... that's for sure! I just don't have enough words to do it).

So there you go! Now for the second round, since I was nominated twice and I'm thrilled to share the love, or would it be the thoughtfulness?, with five more people!

I saw this at sandy cove trail.

I decided to post it mainly because I truly enjoyed taking the quiz. It was long (e.g. I hate those quizzes with just 5 questions), the questions were enjoyable to think about and answer and the results fairly interesting. Oh, yes, and for almost every question there was the answer I would have given if it were not a multiple choice quiz. That's not generally the case with most of these internet quizzes.

I am a Daffodil What Flower Are You?

"You have a sunny disposition and are normally one of the first to show up for the party. You don't need too much attention from the host once you get there as you are more than capable of making yourself seen and heard."

Daffodils are definitely not one of my favorite flowers although I love to see them since they're one of the first to show up in Spring, but I guess the description is not that far from who I am. It's just kind of strange that they would have such a short and superficial description with so many questions!!

Hey, what is it that you're saying? That I'm over analyzing things?

Who, me? Oh, come on... I'm not like that? ;)

Does it look like I'm writing a dissertation? :)

I've seen this quiz a lot lately, and thought I'd give it a try. Good thing I'm just one step further from "well-adjusted" (see other categories below). I think the description kind of fits me too, it just makes me laugh because unfortunately I'm not really a neat-freak and I wish I were. Of course I'm a perfectionist, and I do enjoy cleaning after a party and helping out... so some characteristics do fit me. (Oh, and I did it last week on 1/31, but only got to post it today, just so I get to post something, you know...).

Well, so here's the result. I didn't have the time to edit it (I would have had to deal with the html) so it has a lot of spaces, particularly at the end. I did get to move the picture up, but couldn't bring the parts close together. One thing I did manage to do, make the text boxes narrower so the text fit and could at least be read. Phew!

You scored 45 anxiety, 37 awkwardness, and 64 neuroticism!

You exhibit neurotic behaviors without the underlying anxieties, and you manage fine socially while balancing compulsive urges...so you must be The Neat Freak! You are happy, well-adjusted, and...organize obsessively. Your friends call you OCD, but you're not: you just love to tidy and categorize! Your low anxiety score implies that you are able to relax, can enjoy the here and now, and have a healthy amount of self-confidence. Your low awkwardness score implies that you are socially capable, are personable and charming, and probably go to parties and have fun (especially cleaning up afterwards!). Your high neuroticism score implies that you exhibit neurotic behaviors--probably cleaning, organization, perfectionism, and other orderly compulsions. __ See the other results! Well-Adjusted The Neat Freak The Dork The Geek Phobic Obsessive-Compulsive The Subtle Neurotic The True Neurotic My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on anxiety You scored higher than 99% on awkwardness You scored higher than 99% on neuroticism Link: The Neurotic Test written by littlelostsnail on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

*Edited to Add*
- (2/5/07) This seemed fun, but the My heritage site simply pulled out the photos for some reason, so you can no longer see them. Not fun!
- (10/30/07) - I went to their site, did #1 and #2 again and figured out a way to save them to my computer so I can post them as an image which will be here "forever."#3 was already saved in my computer and I added a bonus one at the end. And I don't even know why I'm wasting time on this.

I saw this yesterday at Emily's blog and I like her post title: "If only..." Yeah, if only I did actually look like these people. Of course I had to try it, so I went ahead and uploaded three photos. You can check out the results and do the same if you like. This site's genealogy services seem to be amazing, I may go back and try to work on my family tree there.
NOTE: too bad the photos don't really fit my template. I fixed them by changing the height and width in the HTML, but I didn't want to make them much smaller so they wouldn't look too fuzzy.

1st try:
Here I used a relatively recent photo from August 2006 - spontaneous, taken by my son.I was really flattered to be thought to look alike Kelly Preston. Hmmm... I really don't think so, though. Holly Hunter was a nice surprise -- I really like her. I don't know the next four people, but... WOW, Sophie Marceau? I'd really like to look like her. But, wait a minute -- Tori Spelling? I always thought she was really ugly... oh well.

2nd try:
February 2006 photo, also taken by my son:
I only know three of these women and was flattered by the far away resemblance (66% is the highest -- see, I don't really look like them!!). But Holly Hunter and Sophie Marceau - again! - and Sarah Michelle Gellar -- wow. They even include this gorgeous Russian woman (Vodianova), who looks like she's 13.

3rd try:
Older photo, from April 2005, posed, and taken in the sun by my husband, so I'm squinting:
Surprisingly, this is the only photo that turned up the only celebrity that I have been told repeatedly by one of my dissertation committee members that I look alike: Andie MacDowell. Other than that -- Do I really look mostly like a man in that photo? I do think it's pretty cool to look like Richard Dreyfuss, John Stewart, and Gene Kelly, among others, but I thought it was pretty strange that mostly men turned up!!! Good thing some of them are quite handsome, not Kirk Douglas (only perhaps young) and Rudy Giuliani!!

It's really funny to see how the angle of the face in the photo, as well as the facial expressions are the things that determine resemblance in their face recognition "engine."
----------
Edited in 10/30/07 to add this one which hadn't been included in the "original" post:
These results are a bit bizarre since I look the most like a Chinese man and also look like three African American artists, but they do include Andie MacDowell and Gabriel Byrne -- whose photo does look quite a bit like the one I used for me.

All right, a week or so ago Alice tagged me for a meme and because I'm tired from having written that humongous post yesterday two days ago, which I'm sure none of you will have the patience to read (you can look at the pictures, though :), I decided to do this fun meme. Oh, and I think this is my "timeliest" response to a meme ever :) Of course I kind of cheated because most of my responses feature various things grouped into categories, but I just couldn't think of just four things each time.

4 activities I've been paid for (and these are all the "jobs" I've ever had):
- teaching English to 2nd to 4th grade children for 45 minutes a week and for various groups (children, teens, adults) and in various settings. (my first and only job in Brazil: young [middle class] people hardly ever work there, one usually starts working when going to college, like in my case).
- cleaning peoples' houses (what I did here in the U.S. before being accepted to grad. school - I stopped after I started to teach.)
- pet-sitting 3 or 4 times a day for 2 1/2 weeks (4 dogs - one of the them slightly lame and blind, they stayed indoors and I had to clean up their messes as well as feed them). It was in one of the houses I cleaned and it coincided with my first weeks of graduate school and being a T.A. Crazy busy weeks.
- teaching undergraduate gen. ed. literature classes both as a T.A. and instructor with my own class.

4 splendid foods:
- I love pretty much anything with potatoes, especially well seasoned and crisply baked in the oven.
- Indian food in general, particularly aloo gobi (potatoes and cauliflower)
- (Can ice-cream be considered "food"?) Italian gelatto, particularly from Florence.
- Italian pasta with various sauces: with porcini mushroom and a creamy sauce; with a tomato based sauce and grilled artichokes; with grilled vegetables, garlic and olive oil, and many others)... yumm!

4 grand drinks:
- Brazilian fruit juices, particularly cupuaçu (heavenly), cajá, acerola (which is actually not a Brazilian fruit, but the West Indian "cherry"). I actually can make them here in the U.S. -- the Portuguese supermarket chain Seabra (there are many in New Jersey) sells the frozen pulps. YAY!
- Brazilian açaí [pronounced ah-sah-eeh] (not exactly a drink, the authentic thing is very thick and has to be eaten with a spoon, oh, and lots of sugar, at least for me -- I was tickled today to see a new tea by Celestial Seasonings, my favorite tea brand, featuring açaí).
- mango lassi (yogurt and mango Indian drink -- I make it at home too)
- homemade strawberry lemonade (with frozen whole strawberries, prepared in the blender)

4 Movies I saw over and over :
- Sound of Music (I know... old stuff, but I always loved it, know all the songs by heart)
- Back to the Future I, II and III (my husband and his brothers LOVE those, and I like them too)
- Pride and Prejudice (A&E series and recent movie) and other adaptation of Jane Austen's works, like Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma,
- A Room with a View (particularly with my girl friends as teenagers)

4 favorite TV shows: (I don't have cable, so I can't really watch those that are still on)
- Most Anything from TLC, particularly A Baby Story, Trading Spaces, While you were out, etc,
- Sex and the City (watched only the full 5th and last season on demand when we had cable for a few months after moving).
Used to like:
- Ally McBeal
- can't think of a fourth one. I don't really care much for TV.

4 places I've been to: (very hard to answer, I have traveled quite a lot, so I've grouped them)
- South of South America - Argentina (Buenos Aires, Bariloche) and Chile (Santiago and Southern Chile - Osorno volcano area) - car trip when I was 7. I remember it well, though.
- Brazilian Northeast: Salvador - my favorite city in that region, Recife, Natal, Fortaleza, and
São Luiz.
- Main cities of Western Europe: London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Venice
- 7 National Parks on Western U.S.A.: Grand Canyon, Carlsbad caverns, Rocky Mountains N.P., Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon. (Hey, I have digital photos of these, would you like me to post some to the blog?)

4 websites I use lots: (that's a hard one, I'm always online, but I don't really have specific sites)
- tons of blogs
- Gmail, Google, Google maps and image too
- Amazon (for research too!), Netflix, of course, various banks
- For research: Library of Congress catalog and other library catalogs and academic databases

Should I tag anyone? Well, feel free to do it if you want.

I waited until today to post this meme not only because I didn't have time to do it earlier, but because I thought it would be more fitting to do it as my last post of the year. I first saw it at Raising WEG, and then Laura, Kateri and Cloudscome did it too.

The meme asks one to post the first sentence of each month's post, but I'm also including the post title, as well as links to the whole month and the post.

January: "Here in Brazil #4 Quick Update or Travels, Birthdays, and Weddings"
"I’ve been very busy over here."

February: "Amazing T-Shirt Folding Technique!!"
"OK, since I mentioned t-shirts in the previous post, it seems fitting to link to a recent post by Andi (from Mother Shock) which is indeed a "gift" to anyone who hates to fold laundry as much as I do."

March: "Of Snow and Snowmen (and Exercise : )"
"This post is over three weeks too late, since the snowstorm was three Sundays ago (2/12)... but, better late than never, I guess!"

April: "Oh Jane, dear dear Jane..."
"I'm in a state of grace right now (and I hope this expression means the same in English as it does in Portuguese)."

May: "Random Notes (Bees, Teething, Arrivals et ali)"
"On Saturday I was stung by a bee right on my left tigh, can you believe it?"

June: "Festive Weekend and Family Internationalization"
"My brother and his wife arrived on Friday to visit us for a week before they head to China, where he's going to work for at least two years as a forest engineer for a Sweedish paper company."

July: "So, it's Over for Brazil"
"I'll post soon about my gorgeous newborn nephew, but I wanted to get to the bad news first..."

August: "Calling All Academic Mothers!! Mama Ph.D. Book"
"I know most people may have already heard of this and since my readership is quite limited, I may not help much, but I wanted to get the word out, because this proposed book is literally the materialization of some of my greatest wishes!!!"

September: "I'm Back!"
"We got back from Florida this afternoon and although I'm dying to post and catch up with other people's blogs I really can't because this house is a big mess!!"

October: "Answering Your Questions!"
"You asked, so I respond."

November: "Spoke Too Soon"
"My son seemed to be better during the day, in spite of a total lack of appetite."

December: "Blogging is Very Useful Sometimes..."
".... even though it's not a blue engine."

I can't see a unifying theme in these. Some are good summaries of important events, while others are a bit random. It's certainly a fun exercise.

My blogging friend Cloudscome added a new twist to the meme: choosing a favorite photo each month. This was interesting because it made me realize that even though I do post lots of photos, there were months I posted hardly any, and when I did I tended to pack many photos into one post. I think I'll start posting single photos like Cloudscome does.

January (my mom's house - the only photos available this month)
February (cake - only photos too)
March (flowers - this month has six posts with various photos it was hard to choose)
April (flowers again, only 2 posts w/ photos this month)
May
June
July
August
September
October - hard to decide: cranberries, flowers, Central Park.
November
December (Christmas trees - only post with photos)

Happy New Year!

I had planned to post this three weeks ago, but then I decided to write a 9/11 post. I guess this is a good time for this "meme" since I'm in a writing-things-about-myself phase here in the blog (not that it's not already all about me :) This post has been in the works for many months as you'll see below.

You know, it's the funniest thing -- I was absolutely sure I had been tagged by someone with the "Six weird things about me" meme but apparently I wasn't!! A looooong time ago (January or February 2006), I was tagged for a book meme by Kate at Expatmama, and a "four things" meme by Juliet at Dalian Moon. Oh, and more recently, Cloudscome from a wrung sponge tagged me for another great book meme that I really want to respond to. However, as far as I can tell, I wasn't tagged for this weird things one! :) If you did tag me and I forgot who you are, would you kindly let me know? I feel like I've completely lost my marbles right now...

Ever since this "phantom tagging" feeling took hold of me months ago I have been thinking about the weird things I'd list. Initially I had a hard time thinking of them --I guess I'm pretty "normal," even boring; but, eventually, I realized that there are a few quirky or "weird" things about me. Wanna check them out?

1. Hair Removal Issues
I can’t shave my legs, underams, bikini area, etc. (although I sometimes have to). For some reason, my body is allergic to shaving and any shaved parts itch like crazy, as if I had many bumpy mosquito bites. I need to wax them, or use an electric “depilatory” gadget (which is way too painful and I hardly ever have the courage). Problem is, I don’t have money to do professional wax in this country (in Brazil it’s very cheap as are getting a manicure, a pedicure, and a decent haircut), so sometimes I do a sugar wax at home (I can teach you how in the future if anyone is interested). Even waxing elicits a terrible reaction from my legs (or any other body part) – they become swollen and red, but this subsides in a couple of hours and – that’s key! – it doesn’t itch later and I also stay hairless much longer. I guess my body just rebels against hair removal. I should do what my SIL is doing and have them removed with laser (no money either for that, though :)

2.Leg Positions (not really weird, just quirky)
I love to have my legs (at least one of them) folded and up against my body when I'm sitting down and I can also squat for a long period of time. In addition, I sleep in a fetal position, with my legs as close as possible to my body. I can't breastfeed in a glider rocker or sofa without having a leg up supporting the baby (this helped a lot when I fell asleep nursing in the first months of my older son's life - that way he was supported and didn't fall off my lap, but I completely digress...). I thing this habit stems from my childhood history of acute asthma. I spent countless hours squatting down, since the legs against my chest made it the best position to breathe. I also slept many nights kneeling or "squating" on a pile of pillows, since it also helped me breathe. Therefore in spite of the fact that I haven't had any ashtma episodes in over 15 years, I still carry with me the habit of folding my leg(s) against my chest.

In addition to lifting my legs while seated, I also am addicted to crossing them. I know it's not good because it causes varicose veins (I am prone to them genetically too), but I just can't help it, I love to have them crossed, sometimes twice...

4. Shocking!
I hate touching things and getting shocks, but it happens quite often in cold weather when I'm getting out of the car, with the kids in the playground, and -- most annoying of all -- at the grocery store. I have learned to prevent it for the most part. My husband, the scientist, taught me how: when I get out of the car, I hold onto the metal part of the car key and touch the car with it. If I'm charged there's always a "zappy" noise, but no shock! Once I even had my older son hold a key while he played at the playground because the shocking was just awful that day (he doesn't like it either). I really hate getting shocked by simply touching my kids! Well, this dread has led to very strange behavior from my part whenm I'm getting out of the car and in the grocery store. I'm always hesitant to open the car door and the bins of refrigerated or frozen things and I usually touch it slightly, very afraid and jumpy, and then open it. I'm sure onlookers think that I'm nuts!! (Oh, one of my best friends in Brazil claims that he's the only person in the world he know who gets shocks by touching a plastic water bottle. Yikes!)

5. Phone Troubles
This is a pretty embarrasing problem and my husband always teases my about it. I didn't grow up, for the most part, with a phone in my house, so I hate to call people I don't know. I have gotten better and I generally do OK calling costumer service representatives and the phone, electric, and cable companies, for example. Once in a while, however, I just don't feel like calling and ask my husband to place the call. It's a relly strange dread.

6. "Dream Attacks"
So, this is the one really weird thing about me, something I worry about once in a while, since one of my greatest fears is the fear of serious mental health problems. The first time it happened is a post in itself, I'll try to write it soon. I was 17 and on that day I had received some disturbing letters, I was sitting in an assembly meeting with all students of my high school when all of a sudden I felt as if I were inside one of my dreams. It was a very strange feeling. I immediately felt nauseous and a burning hot sensation. I almost began to cry. My best friend left the meeting with me and I think I went home and took a nap and I felt better. It happened
several other times, always during stressful times. After a while I got used to it. I just knew it was coming and it was not so scary. It lasted just a minute or two and went away. It's very rare for me to have "dream attacks" now, but it still happens. I have no idea what they are and it's quite unsettling. I tend to remember my dreams pretty well, but sometimes what I "see" in my mind may not even be exactly a dream that I had, but it just feel like a dream. I can't even explain it, it as if all of a sudden I were living inside one of my old dreams. Yeah, creepy, isn't it?

I won't tag anyone, but if you're dying to reveal your inner weirdo, feel free to take up this meme too! :)

On Friday night, Aliki, from World of One Thousand Different Things tagged me for a couple of memes. I don't know if I'll be able to do the second one fully, but the first one sounds fun! Here it goes:

Meme #1

The instructions are:
-Grab the book closest to you
-Open to page 123
-Scroll down to the 5th sentence
-Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog
-Name of the book and the author
-Tag 3 people

Now I have to confess that I had two books close to me on top of my computer desk, I'll be participating of a blog book tour for one of them next week, though, so I decided to pass that one up (moreover, the subject of page 123 was very unappealing -- not to say that what I ended up with is more appealing :) . The other one is a book I recently purchased, which comes highly recommended by Mary McKinney, the Academic Coach. Here it goes:

While they might have put writing aside until things were taken care of or until an illness had passed, most of these writers resumed writing at the first practical opportunity. This pattern held in surprising cases, even where the death of someone close to a writter might have disrupted and even blocked writing; instead, these writers reported a stronger desire for activities like writing that distracted them from their losses.

All but one of the few cases of traumas associated with wrting problems might better be categorized with disillusionment or with lack of planfullness.

From Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing by Robert Boice. This book was on my wishlist since I saw the recommendation on the Academic Coach. I ordered it together with another book I needed to get at Amazon so I could get free shipping because I thought it might be helpful since I need to finish writing the dissertation. I find it very telling that I'd get this particular quotation. It's from a chapter titled "Dealing with Relapses" and one could say I have plenty of those in my dissertation writing. Of course my relapses are not caused by Traumas, which is the subject of the quote above, but it's surprising to see that people who actually suffered traumas continued writing and I quit for much more questionable reasons or no reason at all.

Meme #2

Name your top ten favorite TV characters.

OK, I have never watched much TV and I don't care for it much. Since my sons were born, I have watched even less. I just don't have time to "waste" on it and we don't even have cable. So... I'll try, but I probably won't come up with 10...

1. Samantha from Bewitched.

2. Ally from Ally McBeal.

3. John Cage from Ally McBeal. I thought he was hilarious.

4. Larry Paul (Robert Downey Jr.) from Ally McBeal -- yeah, I thought he was cute...

5. Joe from Friends. He was the one that annoyed me the least.

6. Carrie from Sex & the City. (all I watched was the full last season during the short month when we had cable and free on demand -- I really loved that show, someday I'll watch the whole thing)

7. Kramer from Seinfeld -- funny guy.

I really can't think of any more TV characters. I'll edit this if I remember any other.

I don't think I'm going to tag anyone, but feel free to take up any of them or both memes if you want to!

P.S. I'll try to do the book meme you tagged me for, cloudscome, OK?

Wow, Professing Mama did this quiz and thought it was scarily accurate except for the career paths. Well, in my case, even the career matches (research, at least)! And you may recall that I usually don't like these silly quizzes...

You Are Likely a First Born

At your darkest moments, you feel guilty. At work and school, you do best when you're researching. When you love someone, you tend to agree with them often. In friendship, you are considerate and compromising. Your ideal careers are: business, research, counseling, promotion, and speaking. You will leave your mark on the world with discoveries, new information, and teaching people to dream.