meme mem meh

[martasfic]

scfrankles tagged me with the letter "B." Fitting. :-)

Something I hate: Boredom. If the "B" isn't cliched among Sherlockians, complaining of boredom, but if I don't have something to occupy my mind, it can get physically painful.

Something I love: I like big books, and I cannot lie. Also: Brahms, bagels, birdwatching, big band, and Belgian chocolate.

Somewhere I've been: Britain heads the list. I've been to Berlin but it's hardly my favorite part of that country (Munich tops the list). I have a strange, almost inexplicable fondness for Baltimore - I've loved it every time I visited. Bern was nice, as was Boston, though I must confess I've never been there in the fall.

(ETA: I now have it on good authority that I've not really seen Berlin, at least as it needs to be seen. So there's that.)

Somewhere I'd like to go: Bree. What, that's not an option?

Fine then: Beijing. It's just so different, I'd love to poke around some of the Buddhist temples.

Someone I know: Branwyn (lady_branwyn), who I met up with more than once when we lived in the same city a while aback - a lovely woman with a real sense of humor and just a delight to spend time with. Also dreamflower02, one of the kindest and most devoted members of the Tolkien fandom I've been privileged to know over the years.

A film I liked: Bell, Book and Candle. What can I say? I like old things.

*****************************

Let me know if anyone would like a letter of their own.

Comments

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I agree about Lady Branwyn and Dreamflower, both very special ladies.

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

Indeed! Love them both. (And lots of people whose name doesn't begin with 'B', of course.)

[dreamflower]

*blushes* Thank you, dear! I feel the same way about you.

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! I meant every word. :-)

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Beijing is a *fascinating* place. Highly recommend anyone adding it to their bucket list. :)

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

I don't think it always was, but it definitely is these days. One of the side-effects of my job search. I was applying for an executive assistant position and as a trial project they asked me to plan a family trip to China with some business networking components, so I got to research all the fun things you could do in and around Beijing. And I was smitten! It really does look like a nice place to visit.

Btw, if anyone wants to check out my work on this (which includes a list of attractions I would have sent this imaginary executive and his family to), here it is.

[shirebound]

Bagels, yum. Anywhere, anytime.

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

I'm a New Yorker. Of course I lvoe bagels. Even the cheap ones are delicious. I've switched out pizza for toasted "everything" bagels (onions, sesame seeds, some other stuff too) toasted with cheese and a bit of pizza sauce and bacon bits, and it's simply wonderful.

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

If... probably less than healthy. Maybe no worse than actual pizza, though.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for having a go ^^ And I greatly enjoyed reading it. What an unusual range of interests you have ^_^

You know, I haven't seen "Bell, Book and Candle" since I was a child and it was on TV. Must try and track it down...

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

I'm really not that varied - just a child of two fandoms and two continents. It's no more noteworthy than if you lived in London and had a grandmother with whom you spent the occasional summer outside Manchester, only in my case it's the Carolinas [in the U.S.] and Trier, Germany. So it looks like I've had this exciting life, but really it's just... life.

I'm glad to give you a window into my background, though. This kind of thing is always fun.

[vaysh]

*lol* I bet if you were raised in Germany you'd love Berlin much more than snotty Munich. :)

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

For me, Berlin is very much a pass-through city. I flew into it half the time, but I usually only saw the stretch from the airport to the train and only when I was worn out after a transatlantic flight. I did go there once for a show a friend of the family was in, and the show was nice because of that but the city struck me as being rainy and cold, grimy and more or less interchangeable with other cities I'd been in.

Of course one overnight stay does not an experience make. I suspect if I'd spent enough time there to know it as a local, or seen it as a tourist (rather than just "this place you're passing through") I'd feel very differently!

[vaysh]

and more or less interchangeable with other cities I'd been in.
The mind boggles. You definitely have not seen Berlin. ;) If ever you make it back to the city, please allow me to be your guide.

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

I don't doubt it. A friend from Cleveland was in New York for a conference (I was out of the country at my own conference so we missed each other) and she said when I talked to her later that New York was nothing special, just another Chicago. I was a bit taken aback, and when I repeated the story to a friend who's actually from Chicago, that friend thought it was a first-rate compliment to be likened to Chicago, whereas for me Chicago just seems grey and covered in permanent slush. (She may have also said something about the superior quality of their pizza, but for the sake of our friendship I didn't push the matter. Clearly she was wrong.)

But I'll take your word that I missed a city worth seeing. If I'm ever back, I'll definitely take you up on it.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

I love Baltimore. It's a fantastic city.

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

I took the train down once to meet up with family, and it really was lovely: great museums, great city center to walk around, and I met some really neat strangers. I also know from people who live there that it has more than its share of problems with poverty and racism and crime and the like. I suspect a lot of these places depend on how you experience them, what parts of them you see.

But the parts of Baltimore I saw, I loved. I have a seafood allergy so I didn't enjoy that part, but my sister swore by the ... crab? lobster? Something we had at a small restaurant south of the city proper.