From Kamtchatka to Cape Town with one toe longer than the other

Seraphine has tagged me. I used to find the tagging thing a bit strange but I'm happy to comply because Sera is so cool. The rules are: I must list one fact that is somehow relevant to my life for each letter of my middle name. My middle name is Maria, so here we go:

M is for My second toe is longer than my first one. I've got a couple of friends who think this is some kind of a birth defect and makes me a freak. I'll happily admit that I'm a freak, but for entirely different reasons. I had a few arguments with those friends about whether God intended for the second toe to be longer (which clearly he did). So I was obviously delighted when I read that Manolo Blahnik, who undoubtetly is the king of shoes (if not the God of shoes) and would know better than unqualified sillies like my friends, said that in his humble opinion, the second toe should be slightly longer than the big one. Which proves once again that I'm simply always right. So stop arguing with me, kids.

A is for Around the world. I consider myself a citizen of the world and I'm grateful for it. I love travelling and living in different countries and I love meeting people from all over the world. I miss my family and old friends like hell sometimes but I believe that the distance from one heart to another is more important than the geographical distance. Travelling is possibly the coolest thing ever invented. On my next few trips I want to travel accross Mongolia on horse back (ok, pony back), I want to see Georgia and Armenia and I would love to travel down to the tip of the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka plus I always wanted to do a trip from Marocco all the way down to Cape Town. Mhhh... so much to see. Maybe I should attempt to become a travel writer after all, so I can get paid to travel. (Fantastic idea- bet nobody else has thought of that one yet.)

R is for Ready to Rock n' Roll. Which is relevant to my life because I'm always ready to rock n' roll and consider it an important virtue. I love a good boogie and will dance even if I'm the only one in the whole night club. I'm over propertionately proud of the fact that nine out of ten times I'm the last one standing on the dance floor. I can almost not be danced off the floor, unless I have a really bad day or have lost a leg or something.

I is for Insanity is better than dullness. I don't dig boring people. And by boring I don't mean quiet or introverted. By boring I mean people who have no opinions and no passions. People like that bore the living daylight out of me. What makes a person interesting and attractive to me is when they like who they are, have an opinion of their own and embrace their own uniqueness. I love hearing someone talk about their passion and see their eyes light up- even if it's something weird like collecting miniature cats or being a fan of Ricky Martin. I like people who have peace in themselves and dare to be different without having to rub it in. And just to clarify, I use the term insanity very loosley here. I mean a touch of craziness rather than serial killer insanity. I don't dig that.

A is for Anybody can be happy if they choose to. Yeah, don't think you get out of here so easily without a dose of Bettina wisdom! So sit down and get a load of my insightful thoughts. I actually get in trouble for this one a lot by people who choose to be miserable because it pisses them off when I say that most pain and misery is selfinflicted. I do believe this, although I'm not saying you choose to have darkness enter your life. But when it does, there are different ways to deal with it. And the more you believe that you are cursed and that bad things always happen to you, the more they will. Your brain gets used to a certain way of thinking and a peaceful, optimistic person will be more likely to have good things happen to them. Ok, now all the negative people can come out and shoot me and tell me that obviously nothing bad has ever happened to me. Not true though. I just choose to be happy anyway.

You have to admit I gave that tag a serious run for its money. The rules request that I tag more people but because I'm a little rule breaker, I won't.

Have a happy day everyone. If you choose to.