let the answering begin!

A few days ago, I asked you what you would like to know about me so I could fill out the 8 things meme that JennieBoo tagged me with, and you responded. Big time.

Thanks! And now I will begin answering.

There ended up being (as of this writing) 21 questions, give or take, considering some had parts a/b/c/etc. Crafty questioners!

In my ongoing anal quest for order, I have grouped them somewhat by topic, and I’ve decided that today I’ll post the first part of the answers--the non-Italy or non-blog-focused ones, essentially.

More answers will be posted as the week continues, so stay tuned!

I truly hope this re-organization doesn't offend the early questioners, especially NYC/Caribbean ragazza who has been waiting quite a while already for her answer. Mi perdoni?

Here we go!

1. Erin, pulling out The Book of Questions (which, incidentally, I also have, and love, and had just packed away the day before), and asked "If you could have free, unlimited service for 5 years from an extremely good cook, chauffeur, housekeeper, masseuse, or personal secretary, which would you choose?"

Let me put them in order of my preference:

Housekeeper: Ding ding! We have a winner! This one I would *definitely* appreciate. Oh to never clean a toilet again!

Personal secretary: If this means I'd never have to see the inside of the post office, sign me up.

Masseuse: Mommy likey. Is Raoul Bova available?

Chauffeur: Would be nice, I suppose, but I don't drive anyway, so I'm not sure that it would make much of a difference in my daily life. Unless s/he is paying for gas, that is.

Cook: I actually enjoy cooking and so does P, so this would be the least useful to me, although someone to simply clean up after I or P cooks would be lovely (back to that housekeeper thing, eh?).

2. Giulia asked if I have a deep, dark secret, and if so, whether it eats at me that I can't spill it or whether it doesn't bother me to keep it in.

Interesting question. I have two secrets, I'd say, and to be honest, neither of them really eat at me on a daily basis. I'm actually quite good at keeping secrets, mine and others'--I kind of put them somewhere in a safe place in my psyche and forget about them. I think, indeed, sometimes I literally forget them. So, in other words, I'll never tell....

3. Giulia also asked what I thought of the Zapruder film, that of JFK assassination fame.

This one's easy. I wrote a little about my feelings on this whole thing here, but specifically on the Zapruder film? I think it clearly shows that Lee Harvey Oswald was not only *not* the lone gunman but also that he was not even the man whose bullet(s) killed President Kennedy.

From the direction JFK's body jerked after being hit (away from the grassy knoll, implying that a bullet came from that direction) to the "Umbrella Man," there really doesn't seem to be any doubt that there was more than one person involved in the actual shooting or its planning.

On a personal level, it makes me physically sick and teary-eyed every single time I see clips of the Zapruder film, for its gruesomeness, yes, but also for the fact that an American president was killed in the middle of the day in the middle of a city surrounded by Secret Service officers over 40 years ago, and we citizens still don't know the truth.

4. Wanderlust Scarlett asks a rather straightforward, easy-to-answer: "What next? Do you want to keep things as they are? Do you want to do anything more? What dreams do you have for the days to come?"

Personally, I'd like to get settled in our new house and then begin thinking more seriously about children--hopefully to arrive within the next 2-3 years. Up until that point, I'd like to travel around Italy and Europe a bit. I'd also like to better my Italian and learn another language, possibly French, learn to knit and crochet, further develop some other artistic talent (painting, drawing, journal-making), and learn to play the guitar.

Just to name a few things I have in mind.

Professionally, I'd like to develop a few more long-term relationships with clients in my freelance writing pursuits as well as publish something book-length, whether it's a novel or something non-fiction. Other business ideas (from internet café to raising rabbits) are floating around as well, although nothing is past the dreaming stage, so I'll refrain from boring you with the (lack of) details.

5. Jennie Boo (bless her heart) threw me a softball with "What's your favorite scent of shampoo?"

To be honest, now I use just about anything that's on sale, but the old Salon Selectives' apple scent will always hold fond memories of high school for me. I also really like Pantene.

6. Tui asked if my personal journal is paper or digital, and if it's digital, whether I use journaling software.

I keep a paper journal, although it's definitely been neglected since I started blogging. I don't know that I'd really get into doing a digital one, as I like to look back on my handwriting in the old journals as well--tells me a lot about how I was feeling when I wrote. If it was steady and smooth, for instance, I was probably calm, but where it's erratic, well, internally I probably was too. I also like to see how it's changed over the years, becoming, scarily more like my mother's every day.

Bonus factoid: I almost always use the same color pen (black) except for one SARK journal that I had in which I used every color pen and pencil imaginable. That was fun!

OK, that's all for today folks.

Now it's your turn--what are *your* answers to these questions? Don't be shy!