A Japanese dinner will fix it all

I'm still recovering, my back still hurts, and this is making me very slow and full of confusion... I hate to not be able to take a walk. Only now I realize how much I love to walk around the city!
So, to cheer me up and to celebrate the good result of my last exam, I had a Japanese dinner with my boyfriend. At home, of course, because I can't go out for now... but it was fun. I hope I'll taste the real Japanese food soon. For now, I can only taste what they sell here. Do you think it's the same? I guess it is, in a way... but, I still think that, to taste a country's food, you should go there. (but I love Japanese food anyway!)

This is Daifuku, made of... glue. XD No, not really, but it looks like that... It was the first time for me, and I found it a bit weird... I hope that the "real" mochi is better!

Well, the only cultural aspect that could give me "cultural shock" is food, I always say that. Ehy, I live in Italy! Food is the only thing we really know about! XD

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Still here

My back still hurts, so I'm very slow... in everything. But I'm writing letters, reading books, and recovering. :)

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Pratiche della formazione

PROGRESS: 32/50

To all my pals - please read

I won't be on Internet in the next days... I don't know for how long. I'm writing this post to ask you to be patient for a while, because yesterday I've got a problem with my back and I'm not sure how long I'll have to stay in bed!! I could have spinal disc herniation. I still don't know, for now I'm trying to rest and to heal.
Now I'm on the pc because of the medications that allow me to move... but most of the time I just can't. My back is totally screwed and it hurts so much!!!
So, please don't be mad at me. I'll reply as soon as I can - and to lay in bed all day is boring, so thank you all because I have your letters to write! ^^

If you are still writing a reply to me, please remember to send it to my "old" address, not the mailbox one! (I mean, send it to the Siracusa address). My mailbox will expire on the end of July! So, please remember that, I don't want to lose anything! :)

Anyway, don't worry too much for me. My boyfriend is taking good care of me, I'm not alone and I'll make it through this too! :D I'll get up very soon, I'm sure!

The Gabrielle of my Xena

A post just to say "hey, I'm still alive!".
Until July 14th, the day of my exam... I'm not here. :)

...but I'm here now, so I could show you some movies I'm watching. About Xena. Yes, my obsession for Xena and Gabrielle never dies... it can't. I love them too much.
And actually, I'm not lesbian. I say that, because usually people think only the "gay" community loves gay characters. I don't even think they're gay and, to tell the truth, I don't really care. I admire their connection, I'm not obsessed with their sexual life...

A day in Palermo

So, yesterday I finally made it to Palermo!
It's a very interesting city to visit, but the most interesting thing to see there is, for sure, the Capuchin catacombs. If you plan to visit Sicily, you can't skip that place!

It's nice too, to walk around the center of the city. It has a lot of monumental buildings, it's very full of turists and souvenirs shops, very chaotic... but nice.

... and of course, like every city in Sicily, there is a lot of veeeeeeeery good food!!

(That was the best Setteveli in the world!!)

I won't post pictures of mummies because not everyone would be happy to see them, but if you want to know more about the mummies of Palermo you should google "Palermo cappuccini mummie" or something similar. And, if you can understand Italian, you can take a look at the official website.

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And... something I recenly sent!





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Progress: 24/50

You can't reread a phone call

Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company.
Lord Byron

And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
W.H. Auden

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call.
Liz Carpenter

I consider it a good rule for letter-writing to leave unmentioned what the recipient already knows, and instead tell him something new.
Sigmund Freud

Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Politeness is as much concerned in answering letters within a reasonable time, as it is in returning a bow, immediately.
Lord Chesterfield

In an age like ours, which is not given to letter-writing, we forget what an important part it used to play in people's lives.
Anatole Broyard

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If you love LONG letters and you'd like to become a long-letters-writer, you could start by reading Joana's advices. The first part, and the second.
You can join the discussion in comments, or even here.

What's interesting, is the sort of "war" that seems to exist between long and short letters writers. I don't really like that. We don't have to fight. We all just have different ideas, tastes, requests. Penpalling is great because there isn't just a way to see it, but many. The thing is, the amount of people who can write a long letter is becoming smaller and smaller. Why?
Maybe our life pushes us to write less? We use cellphones, Facebook (well, I don't), Twitter, and everything around us is fast, we have to be fast too and use language in this rush. Not anymore to express our feelings, to open our minds... but just to update our status, to say where we are right now, to a world that doesn't really care.
Why, all around the world, young people seem to forget how to write in their mothertongue? Do we really need to be always so quick? What is the purpose of language, of writing, of penpalling?
Oh, no, I'm not against modernity... I love it. But I think that being smart means... to be able to keep the good from the past, and to use the better from the present. Don't you think?

Why, nowadays, everytime I say I keep a journal, they look at me like I was an alien? Is that so crazy? To indulge a bit, day by day, wondering about what I've done, what I lived... Yes, for sure we don't have a lot of free time now, and we have Internet, TV, and stuff. But I love Internet and still... I keep a journal.

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If you'd like to link my blog with a banner, you can use these:

(Do you need more sizes? Let me know!)

Still breathing

Do you like Lush? If you do, you should consider Lush UK. It's the cheapest online shop they have, and my first order went very smooth (with the Italian online shop, I always had weird problems!). Of course I've bought too much, but I loved Lemony Flutter and I'm very happy to have it! I love to feel all idratate and flavoured!

And, because UK is the best, there is another website you want to know: Bookdepository!
Without shipping cost, you can buy a lot of books (in English, of course) for very very cheap prices! I wonder if in UK it's normal to have such prices for books... If yes, I should live there. And, the site sells too some stationery. Labels, postcards, notebooks... you just have to search a bit. The "search system" is very messy I think, but not so bad.

I bought Anne Taintor's postcards! They're amazing!

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Progress: 22/50

I still haven't found my BOOK OF THE YEAR, I have to say. Maybe I should read more by Cioran.

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I loved to spend some time signing the places where I've been, on the Trip Advisor's map.
Well, the problem is... To look at this map makes me sad! I've seen so little of the world! I really need to travel more!
For now, I'm planning to visit Palermo and Roma. What next? Who knows...
(You can click on the map to enlarge it, and navigate it as you like!)

• View my profile


• Create your own travel map or travel blog


• Find vacation rentals at TripAdvisor

Tagged!

I did the Alice one! ^^

I was tagged by Joana to answer these questions:

1.When you were a child each band or singer was your favourite?
Oh my. I loved some pop, Italian bands, and that's a shame. XD I liked Laura Pausini, but just until I was like 12, and AQUA, and more.

2.If you could change your name, what would be the name you would pick?
I change my mind all the time about this. Today, I could say... Ginevra, or Rebecca, or Nadia. Or Lilith, or Zephyr. Who knows about tomorrow.

3.Mention five things that make you very upset.
Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. Mmh... and the lack of care from friends. I hate rudeness, often I'm SHOCKED about what people can say/do. I hate who does his/her work without even trying to smile. Aaand... another one... I HATE racism, any kind of it. To meet a racist person makes me very upset.

4.What do you do to protect Earth? (name a few things or just one)
I try, even if I'm not sure to really do something useful. I try to not waste energy or water. I don't leave my trashes around in natural areas (a lot of persons do that, on mount Etna!!), I try to use natural products.

5.Each book would you pick to go with you to other planet if life on Earth was in the end?
Wasted. :D (by Marya Hornbacher)

6.Are you terribly afraid of something?
To suffer and to die in boredoom. And robots, ah ah!

7.Name five people you would love to erase from Earth.
I don't think I could "erase" someone. There are some people I really don't like, maybe someone I hate, but I'm ok with their existence. I just would like them out of my way and, in case of very bad and "famous" people, I would like that Italy could not give so much attention to them. But not erase them, no.

8.Each one was the most beautiful moment of your life?
Mmmh, I guess it has to came yet.

I want to be British in my next life

I forgot how time works, and May just slipped through my fingers. I was busy, painting my nails red, listening songs, reading Dennett and messing up with my mind, watching the end of Lost, reading zines, walking in the bright sun of Catania.
But May is still here, so I could remain closed in my little mind for some more days... Then June will come, and I'll go out, into the world again. I promise.


And people say that I am being lazy
I've got the dreams but don't know where to go
You think if I could choose to live here at the station I would?
(Jose Vanders, Faces going places)

A lot of stuff

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I was tagged by Rondy to post a picture, so here it is:

The rules of the game:

The Tag game goes as follows:

Go to the 8th folder in which you store your photos

Select the 8th photo

Post it to your blog and tell the story behind it.

After following the above instructions, you are ‘supposed’ to tag 8 other bloggers.

Mh, well, I have only a single folder in which I store pictures... so I took just the 8th picture. That was the Easter day of this year, I was waiting for lunch, and Nera (who was alive, I swear, ah ah!) was sleeping near me. The couch (that is in the "good" room of my parents' house) was protected by a blanket because usually cats can't enter in that room, my parents let them enter just on special days!
Oh, feel free to feel tagged, if you'd like to try this game!

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I'VE GOT AN AWARD! :D

It comes from my friend Joana (thank you, my dear!), and there is a "game" about it too:

Rules:
1) post the picture below, 2) link back to the person who gave it to you, 3) nominate another ten blogs and 4) let them know by leaving a comment.

Who could I nominate? Uh, excuse me if someone of them was already nominated before, I just say:
> It's gonna be a lovely day
> Dolce vita
> Royal mail
> The crimson owl
> Lolly stravaganze
> Snail mail aficionado
> Creative corner

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My new favorite video ever:

Yawn...

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Giveaways!

> A lot of vintage and cute items (ends May 20th)

> For tea lovers (ends May 29th)

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The books challenge

Progress: 18/50

I'm very disappointed about Ballard, I don't like his style at all.
But I was moved and shocked to read the books by Diaryatou and Suad. The original language for them is French, but I guess you could find them in English too. Search for them, because you'll learn a lot from these books.

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And now I'll stop my study, my reading and writing letters... and I'll go outside in the sun.

I have fallen in love with a song

...and I'm listening to it over and over before to leave my home for the weekend, as always. I really should stop and run outside.

But there's no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on trying 'till you run out of cake.
And the science gets done,
and you make a neat gun
for the people who are
still alive.

(...)

Look at me, still talking when there's science to do!
When I look out there, it makes me glad I'm not you.
I've experiments to run,
there is research to be done
on the people who are
still alive.

("Still alive", Portal's credits)

Gosh, I always love the silliest songs...

Snail mail day

I love it when I return home, from my mailbox (that isn't in the building where I live... Well, that's a long story), with a bag full of envelopes and packages to open. I walk around the city smiling, my steps are quick, I need to run through stairs and finally I'm home, I can open them all.
I don't know how people can live without this.

The bad thing is that, walking home, I see so many bars (is there an English word for "bar"? I really don't know.) with sweets calling me. And they're so cheap, so nice, so tasty...

Well, this isn't good for my diet really, but... Sometimes I think, I prefer to be a bit chubby but to have things like this to eat. Because they make me happy...
(Ok, that's just an excuse, I'll eat just a salad this evening!!)

Old shoes, Spring, mail

I need more silly, strange and cheap shoes.
The air is already hot, here in Sicily. Summer is coming!

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Progress: 14/50

I've read a book by Ballard for the first time, and now I'm reading another one by him. I'm not sure I like his style... Maybe his books are a bit empty.