What is your name?
Barbara (Cecilia Lucina Sofia Marta Anna Eloisa… these in brackets being the names I would have much preferred to bear, had I been consulted at the time)
- How old are you?
I'm 51 (was diagnosed type 1 at 22)
- Are you male or female?
Female. Yes. Most of the time.
- Which country are you from?
Italy, and I'm lucky to be born in a very mixed family.
- Which city/area do you live in?
Torino (it's in the north of Italy, near the French border). Don't like this city. I grew up in the country and can't wait to go back somewhere quieter, cleaner and more restful.
- Are you religious?
I believe in God, but in no religion whatever
- Pick three words to describe your personality.
Snappish, lazy, curious. If want to you call that a personality, be my guest…
- Do you have any pets?
Used to have a (beloved) she-cat, but now she lives with my sister-in-law as my husband developed allergy. I'm suffering horribly, of course. Husband says I must be a reincarnation of the whole ancient-Egyptian people, so devout a cat-worshipper I am.
- Microsoft or Apple?
Apple! After all I'm 'a daughter of Eve', as they say.
- Which sport(s) (if any) do you like/play?
None. I just like walking, dancing and riding my bike. (Then I do all the house chores, which I don't like at all but is still very effective in lowering my BG.) Can't stand sport, especially because so many people keep extolling it all the time. Really raise my hackles.
- Do you get angry easily?
Yes, a bit too much.
- Do you have any tattoos or piercings? If so, where?
No, I don't like permanent changes to my look and/or body. Better to let things flow as life goes on.
- List your five favourite musicians/bands.
Apart from Mozart I have none, or better, I don't know their names (I like above all folk music, where the original artists are generally unknown)
- What would you say your favourite music genre is?
Folk music, especially songs, as long as it is authentic stuff and not fake. I also like some ancient music (XVIth-XVIIth centuries)
- What is your favourite flag?
Why, the Jolly Roger…
- Ever gone camping?
Yes, when I was younger, and liked it a lot. I tried again recently as well, but what with eyeglasses, aching arms, thinning hair, insulin to be kept cool and what not, that wasn't exactly the fun it used to be.
- Ever been in love?
Once too many, it would seem: I got married some five years ago.
- Ever used fake tan?
No way! I was brought up in a century that prized a lily-white complexion (a country Italian village in the middle Sixties was really pre-Illuministic Europe)
- Which countries have you visited?
Uhm… Italy, France, Austria, Yugoslavia, England, Ireland, Scotland (does it count as a country by itself?), Switzerland, Hungary.
- Favourite city?
I don't like cities, only villages or small towns. Let's say, Banon in southern France. There's a good book where you can find it described, "Le commissaire dans la truffière", by Pierre Magnan.
- List your five favourite TV programmes.
I don't know if the English names will be the same… the Inspector (?) Barnaby series, E.R., Grey's Anatomy… can't say I watch TV much, actually.
- List your five favourite films.
In random order, though: Master and Commander - Vas sin y brat (by a Russian director called Suksin) - Tokyo travel (though I don't know if that is the right English title; it's by Y. Ozu) - Lady Killers (the one starring Alec Guinness) - The battle of the red cliffs (by J. Woo)
- Are you wealthy?
Not in the least! And I've just lost my job: anyone looking for the services of an editor/translator/commercial artist/secretary, out there?
- Do you work? If so, as what?
Ok. As I said above: just lost my job because the publishing house I was working for has closed down. I was an editor and a translator. Still am, actually; only I am working much less.
- List the subjects you study/have studied.
Mostly languages, not always modern (I loved latin and ancient greek too): Italian, English, French, a little Japanese, a little German. Then the usual subjects: chemistry, maths, philosophy, history, geography, a sprinkle of sociology. Mostly humanities, however.
- What do you like most about yourself?
My… uh… praiseworthy modesty, for sure.
- What do you like least about yourself?
Being so easily discouraged.