A long post about me.me

YT is not a big fan of memes, but this one that’s been making the rounds in the blogsphere kind of has me intrigued. I first saw it over on V’s blog, then on Rozanne’s, and when she offered to craft questions for anyone who was interested, I raised my proverbial hand and went, ‘mememememe!’

1. How did you meet EPI? And was it love at first sight?

I was first introduced to EPI in the kitchen of the publishing house where I was working. He was the new employee and had just started that day. I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight, but there was a definite sense of kinship there. You know – when you meet someone and just know you’re on the same page? We had a really similar sense of humor and we used to laugh ourselves silly during coffee breaks. It took a few months, but suddenly we had to come to terms with the fact that we were dealing with something a lot bigger than ‘just friends’. And it wasn’t exactly convenient timing. I’ll say no more.

2. If you were showing a visitor (such as myself, for example) around Reykjavik, what five sights/sites would you consider to be must-sees and why?

Well, if the visitor was you Rozanne, I’d have to take you hiking! First stop would definitely be Mt. Esja across the bay [I think it officially belongs to Reykjavík, but I’m not entirely sure – it’s the Greater Reykjavík Area, in any case] where we could marvel at the excellent view.

Second, horribly touristy but nonetheless a must, is Perlan, for its panoramic view of Reykjavík and surroundings. From there my visitor and I would stroll down to the man-made geyser right near it on Öskjuhlíð, and then on through the forest path to the man-made beach at Nauthólsvík, where we could flop in the sun or swim in the [geothermally-heated] sea.

Third, out to Grótta to see a sunset and for a stroll around the golf course. With any luck we’d see a seal or two.

Fourth, down to the small-boats harbour in Reykjavík for coffee at the refreshingly unpretentious Kaffivagninn, which serves traditional Icelandic food and where the sailors hang out, swap stories, and look out on their vessels bobbing outside the window.

Fifth, to an open-air swimming pool to soak in the hot pot. However, if my visitor had any qualms about getting naked I’d have an alternate plan: buying a soft ice cream cone and hanging out on Austurvöllur, where Reykjavikians flop on the grass in hoardes on sunny days.

It goes without saying that the weather would be absolutely perfect the entire time.

3. What is the most popular blog post you've ever written and what do you think accounts for its popularity?

This one. Need I say more? [There’s a link to it on Wikipedia under the Smáralind entry, but I think the photo is the main attraction.] It’s closely followed by this one, which gets all the dodgy ‘iceland women promiscious’ googlies – and all possible variations thereof. Ew!

4. Iceland is sometimes called the "Land of Fire and Ice." What's your favorite fire-related aspect of Iceland and your favorite ice-related aspect of Iceland?

Very straightforward: my favorite fire-related aspect are the volcanos and ice-related aspect are the glaciers. I should point out that I’ve never seen a volcanic eruption but I really really want to [from afar]. I’ve been on a glacier once and that was fun; however, I’m always awed by their beauty when viewed from a distance. They have such a mystical aura.

5. At one time in your life you were studying to be an actress. What was it about that profession that appealed to you and are you ever tempted to audition for local amateur productions of plays?

Gah! The ‘actress’ years. I was never any good. I think I auditioned for theatre school because some of my best childhood memories were associated with the theatre. My mother and father were both in the theatre, and my grandfather worked for the National Theatre, so I saw a lot of productions and hung out at rehearsals and to me it was magic. Plus all the theatre people were so nice and so much fun. However, as most of us discover sooner or later, a retreat into the past is not an option, and to my disappointment I found the theatre very different as an adult than I did as a child. I got into one of the best theatre schools in Canada, but I was acutely miserable and left after just one year. So – no, I am never tempted to audition for local amateur productions [not that there are that many here in Reykjavík]. I’m totally over that.

Okay then! Anyone want to have a go? If you’d like me to craft some questions for you, leave me a comment and I’ll be happy to oblige.

OUR WEATHER IS VERY WARM [FOR US] AND VERY WINDY
It’s actually warmed up to 17°C but it started to blow hard around noon and so we have this dusty, messy wind. I’m having a hard time accessing web pages [it’s driving me bonkers quite frankly – for some reason I can only access pages sporadically on my [Windows] laptop whereas my Mac is fine – and yes, I know Macs are superior to everything, I know I know] – so I don’t have access to the super-duper info on Yahoo weather, which would allow me to give you the degrees in Farenheit, plus the sunrise sunset times. Very very frustrating. Any guesses as to what’s happening? Anyone? It sometimes takes me many tries to access a single page – while some pages load trouble-free. It’s not the connection, I’ve already spoke to my ISP, and like I said the Mac desktop works fine. Not that the sunrise/sunset times matter anyway because it never gets dark these days.