Who am I?

Layers like an onion?

I have noticed some new names and faces on my blog, and I am flattered. The connection and communication with follow boggers are wonderful. I do wonder did you connect with me after you had just read one of my silly sarcastic posts, or did you decide to read my future rants and vents after I just had blown off some steam -again?

If you are like me, then you won’t read my About page either. I do that later, after months of following a blogger -if I don’t forget -mostly I do.

So, I thought today I would introduce myself.

What’s there to say about me? My blog is called “The Happy Quitter” because I started out as a quit-smoking blog.  LADYBUG is my nickname, given to me once at a BBQ party when I was crying over the brutal and senseless murder of an innocent ladybug -yes, alcohol was involved. My real name is Bridget, most people call me Bridg.

I am in my very late 50s, and I have no idea how that happened. The number on paper and the number in my head don’t match, there seems to be a slight discrepancy of 10 or 15 years.

I am a first-generation immigrant.

I am married to a wonderful man, who makes me smile every day, and who can make me curse like a sailor. We have our moments; there are times when we could strangle each other, but we are happy. It’s his fault that I am here, he proposed and dragged me 5000 miles across the ocean.

I was born and raised right on the border between Austria and Italy. My native language is German (Italian) with a thick Austrian accent. We are childless because the universe decided so.

I don’t belong to a political party, nor do I belong to a religious organization or group. I am not a writer, but more of a storyteller, sometimes I even write a poem. I blog because it gives me a voice. I read because I like to learn. I share, vent and complain, praise and admire. I am all over the place.

I have learned to speak up. Once upon a time, when I was young and at the beginning of my career, I applied for a leadership position as a translator. My boss promoted a man, who was less qualified. That night I heard him say: “Women are people, second class.”

It left me speechless. From that day on I stood up for women’s rights.

My best friend called me a softie who can play hardball, and I suppose she nailed it with that statement. I am unpredictable, and I like it that way. I have various interests and strong opinions -even when I am wrong. I can admit when I am wrong. Being wrong first is part of getting it right in the end.

I am fearless, not ruthless. Fierce but not cruel, outspoken but also quiet. Sometimes I am in my own way.

I seem to see things clearer now, even my shortcomings and there are many. I have traveled for twenty years and sometimes I share my memories, opinions, the laughter and the tears, the nonsense, and the brutal reality. I am a very private person, but recently, I have opened up a bit.

Welcome to my blog!

Zodiac: Scorpio (not that I care)
Age: 58 (don’t care about that either)
Believe: Agnostic, SPNR (Spiritual, but not religious)

I love Sushi and dogs, gummy bears and elephants, marzipan, and classic music. I love with all my heart. I don’t hate.

I am a thinker, sometimes too much.

I sound like a donkey when I laugh. I snort when I laugh hard.

I cannot sing, can’t hold a tune if my life would depend on it, and had to lip-sync in school. A neighbor pushed me to take singing lessons.

Weaknesses: My husband, good chocolate, smoked salmon.

Strength: My husband. I hope I have some more -strengths, not husbands 🙂

Favorite Actresses: 1. Ingrid Bergman 2. Kathrine Hepburn 3. Romy Schneider (Austria)

Favorite Actors: 1. Spencer Tracy 2. Charlie Chaplin 3. Jack Lemon/Gary Grant

Six people dead or alive I would like to have dinner with: Anneliese Marie Frank + Sophie Scholl (because Anne Frank needs to know that young people were risking their lives to change what happened to her) Jesus + Socrates (because they sound alike) Indira Gandhi and Nelson Mandela (I think they might like each other and there is so much to learn.

Fears: Organized religion, guns, snakes, tornadoes, wars, and conspiracy theories.

Favorite Dishes: Roasted duck, with red cabbage and potato dumplings, sweet potato with pomegranates, dairy-free vanilla ice cream with hot raspberries.

Weirdness: I love chocolate, but don’t eat chocolate cake (not even when it’s gluten-free),

Favorite movies: 1. Out of Africa 2. The seventh cross 3. Indiscreet

Favorite TV series: 1. M*A*S*H 2. The Wire 3. The Americans

What I can’t stand: Ignorance, fanatism, racism, bigotry.

Favorite Artist: Gustav Klimt, Rembrandt, Salvador Dali, Frieda Kahlo

Favorite Books: Fortune’s Child (A Novel of Empress Theodora), Man’s search for meaning (Victor E Frankl), Out of Africa (Karen Blixen), The Four Agreements (Don Miguel Ruiz)

Favorite Songs: “I am from Austria (Rainhard Fendrich),  Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda Rod Stewart), Love of my Life (Freddy Mercury)

Hobbies: I don’t really have a hobby anymore but many interests.

Interests: Politics, designs with fabrics and colors, history, painting and drawing, woodworking, cooking with limits (lifestyles for my health), music, books, languages, cultures, rituals, and traditions worldwide, Zumba (sigh).

Fascinated by: Modern art, wizards and witches, white magic, power of the mind, and stupidity.

Favorite Countries: Italy, India, Greece, Spain, and Kenya

My least favorite countries: Switzerland and Israel

Favorite cities: Rome, London, Hamburg, Lindau

Dreams: An animal sanctuary, A soup kitchen that finances itself, changing the American news, to make a difference.

Every year I wonder if I am done with blogging, and then life around me makes me wonder and I have to write about it. 🙂

The only picture of my pearls! Taken 2009, a few months before we became houseless.