Un altro questionario?!?!

Interestingly enough, I've been tagged again! This time, by Amit. The questions are quite interesting, so I'll start answering right away... and there are a lot!!

1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
An Italian movie called 'Una vita davanti' ('A life ahead, literally) about people working in a call-center. Really good, eye-opening on the reality of those types of super-temporary jobs, plus, it was fun and had very interesting life stories that I really enjoyed.

2. What book are you reading?
'Conosci la strada dell'amore?' (I'm reading it in Italian, but it's actually English: 'Unconditional love', by John Powell). Now, I am not sure why I am reading this book about love in this moment, but it is a good and interesting one.

3. Favorite board game?
Scrabble.

4. Favorite magazine?
Not a big connoisseur. I receive Newsweek and I like it.

5. Favorite smells?
Bread being baked in the oven. Or also a cake being baked. Or when they just come out of the oven. Smell of newborn babies. The sea.

6. Favorite sounds?
Waterfalls. Or wind in the trees. Or human voices singing a cappella in a rose garden (I just had this amazing experience, the singers came out of nowhere, it was really touching).

7. Worst feeling in the world?
Somebody you love making you understand he/she doesn't love you anymore.

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
"I'm sleepy!!!"

9. Favorite fast food place?
I don't like fast food. I guess the only sort of fast food place I go is a sandwich place that makes good grilled sandwiches on campus.

10. Future child’s name?
Too far away to have any idea. :)

11. Finish this statement. “If I had lot of money I’d….?
Go for a trip around the world, and figure out what's the best way I could use it to improve the life of people. Maybe I would then change my life and go live in this place of the world where I'd decide to invest my money in order to build something that can be useful. For example, it would be pretty cool to use it to build a research center, and places where people could eat and be healed and sleep, and feel at home and in peace. Like a wonderful community where people's needs would be addressed, and at the same time, new things could be discovered through science, and bright people could work at these discoveries.

12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
I must admit: I recently started to.

13. Storms - cool or scary?
Cool!!!!

14. Favorite drinks?
A glass of really good red wine.

15. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”?
Read more, spend more time with friends, travel more, visit my family and friends who are far away, play guitar and piano more seriously.

16. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
Of course, who would be so crazy not to??

17. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
Somebody told me I should try 'lowlights' - I had never heard of that term before, but I guess at some point I'll try just for fun.

18. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in?
Torino (Italy), Gainesville (Florida), Raleigh (North Carolina), Berkeley (California)

19. Favorite sports to watch?
I hate watching sports. I fell asleep during the final soccer match when Italy won the world cup a few years ago. I guess I can watch some of the winter sports like figure skating during the Olympics.

20. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you?
He writes two really cool blogs: a very thoughtful one, and one with a lot of interesting movie reviews. And he nicely gave me a list of his favorite Bollywood movies!

21. What’s under your bed?
Nothing.

22. Would you like to be born as yourself again?
Of course. As long as I didn't know what was going to happen.

23. Morning person, or night owl?
I used to prefer mornings. Since I'm in this new apartment, I became more and more of a night owl, but I'd like to go back to an earlier schedule - let's say, start work at 9 instead of 10.... :)

24. Over easy, or sunny side up?
Sunny side up.

25. Favorite places to relax?
The rose park in Berkeley, the balcony of the new apartment, the marina. More in general: parks, and places close to the water.

26. Favorite pie?
I prefer sweet tarts to sweet pies. So I guess I'll choose a savory pie, something with cheese and any type of vegetables in it.

27. Favorite ice cream flavor?
This is too hard! Maybe a really good strawberry ice cream.

28. Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first?
Not sure.. we shall see. :)

So here are the lucky tagged people: Simona, Amanda, Maryann, and Nupur! I hope you all have fun! Amit, I must admit it was fun for me :)

Sei cose a caso

I've been tagged for a meme! How neat, thanks Simona! I'm supposed to write six random things about myself. As Simona pointed out, it's kind of hard to just write 'random things'.. I guess I'll try :)
1) I love both wild nature and human-made buildings, streets and parks. I choose where to go for a walk depending on my mood: sometimes I prefer the quiet and meditation that nature allows for, other times I want to see the colors and noises and confusion that go together with the smiles of the people strolling downtown.
2) When I was a child, I wanted to become a novelist, a painter and a biker. I still like to write and do it often, to bike, but do it very rarely, whereas I haven't painted or drawn anything in years!
3) I'm really not a good Italian: I hate fashion, buying shoes, and really don't care about soccer!
4) My favorite color is definitely blue. I knew this since I was a child, then at some point I thought I would try to expand my horizons.. but now that I recently had to choose colors of new blankets, earrings, clothing and so, I noticed that I have always chosen blue!
5) Part of me thinks that sleeping is a pleasure, but in the end, I hate having to sleep. If I could, I'd sleep 5 hours a night. But if I do that, I cannot function.. so I settle down on 6 to 8 during weekdays, and if I'm very tired, I'll try to sleep a little longer on Saturdays.
6) I hate television! I haven't watched television as my decision in years. I watch only movies that I rent or borrow. Vice versa, I love NPR (National Public Radio), and try to listen to it whenever I can, so that I can still know what happens in the world..

Yeah, I wrote six things! Hopefully they were of some interest. :) Now, I have to tag 6 more bloggers!! Here are the names: Amit at '..for the first time', Katie at 'Thyme for cooking', Asha at Aroma!, Rosa at 'Rosa's Yummy Yums', Amanda at Mrs. W's kitchen, and Sunita at 'Sunita's world'! Looking forward to reading some more random things :)

Well, to conclude this post, I decided I'd add a completely random picture. Here is myself with a bunch of people at the social dinner of a conference that I attended in Sardinia something like 6 years ago. Do you recognize me? I look like a baby!