Category: by Barbie-dull

Posts originally in Dullicious, where I blogged as Barbie-dull between 2005 and 2008.

paper–

I hate paper. I love books. It’s the one waste of paper that I agree with. But I really dislike paper letters (except for love letters, of course), pamphlets, brochures, junkmail and so on.

In May 2004, I think, I stopped opening my personal mail. It piled. I sorted it by sender or categories. I trashed what was junk every now and then. At the end of the year I moved. I brought my piles of mail with me. I got more mail and I stored it. Later I moved. I brought my piles with me. I sorted again. Every now and then I needed something that had been sent to me. I spent a fair share looking in boxes and piles, or suitcases for that very pile of mail I thought I’d find what I was looking for. I lost documents, naturally.

Since I stopped opening my mail, I have moved 6 or 7 times. My piles always followed me. Piles in a box, more piles bundled in files, others in plastic bags, and of course some piles are in plastic bags that are bundled in files that are in boxes. If only I remembered where these were…

One of these days I will do like I said: find them, open them, sort them, be a good girl. Then, I’ll have to open them as they come.

My company is fortunate I’m a good girl when I treat business mail.

visited 17 countries (7%)

[This post originally appeared in Dullicious, where I blogged as Barbie-dull for several years.]

map of countries, the one I visited coloured in red

Since my post about visited countries last April and since I travelled during my June vacation, I decided to update my own map.

17 countries visited, 7%.

In the fore-seeable future (the end of 2007), there is no perspective of increase of those numbers. Unless I take a vacation someplace new, of course. My next travels will bring me again to California, Japan, and perhaps Canada and Massachusetts.
I found out also that I visited 8 states (15%) in the USA (I didn’t include the airport in Salt Lake City and Chicago). It’s peculiar how the very south-west and very north-east are red and how the rest is so white.

Penguins

Sign cautioning against penguins
Sign cautioning against penguins

Today I learnt a few things about penguins.

My dad watched a documentary on them and here is what he said:

The male penguin looks for a rock to bring to every female penguins until one accepts it. This is the ‘go ahead’ and they make out. Then the male penguin goes to look for more rocks and builds a nest.

He said that female penguins live for about 12 years, that they start reproducing at the age of 6 and that they lay 2 eggs per year. Then he described the rock bringing little dance he saw:

He walked with his wings spread out, a penguin walk, really. And the rock was in beak. None of the female penguins accepted his rock. The little guy will have to wait till next year.

Then my dad laughed and explained:

He even brought a rock to the photographer!

No cap, no hood at the pool

[This post originally appeared in Dullicious, where I blogged as Barbie-dull for several years.]

A couple days ago, I learnt a reason why people are not allowed to wear hats, caps or hoods at this billiards place I go to sometimes.

They could tend to hide faces in the video surveillance system, said the bouncer at the entrance.
Aaah…

Yes they have a bouncer; this is set in a trouble-prone neighborhood. Yes I was tipsy after drinking a third of my beer and yet I won more than I lost games.