Random things about me, and some quotes

So, this girl had tagged me some time ago to write 8 things about myself and 5 of my favourite quotes. I was looking for the perfect time to take up the tag, and it looks like that time has arrived.

Here we go.

8 random facts about myself:

1. I finally started reading Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, after having seen rave reviews about it all over blog world. I am just about 25% done with the book yet, and have loads still to go – it is a chunkster, after all! I am enjoying the book immensely, and want to take my own time with it. The writing is beautiful, simple and poetic, and I want to savour every bit of it. Plus, I want to take in all the many layers of information that the book packs in, at my own pace.

2. In a fit of inspiration, I painted my nails purple today morning, in spite of having several chores lined up for the day and being sure that I wouldn’t have enough time for all of it to dry up. As expected, the nail polish is all smudged and patchy now, but it did look pretty while it lasted. At least, I made an effort, eh?

3. I had ragi vermicelli for lunch today. Store-bought vermicelli cooked at home in 10 minutes flat. Healthy and delicious.

4. It’s time to unpack our little Christmas tree and set it up. I need the cheer and the lights and the romance of it all. However, I do need to buy some new ornaments – I am tired of unpacking the same box of decorations for the last 3 years and doing up the tree in exactly the same way. I need a change of scene!

5. I skipped my morning walk today, and the change was refreshing. And to think that I wrote about enjoying my morning walks so much just yesterday, on my blog!

6. I am loving the weather in Bangalore today, totally. It is cold and overcast, with not a hint of sun!

7. As part of my (home-grown) tradition to read something Christmas-sy during Christmas-time, I started reading David Baldacci’s The Christmas Train. My first Baldacci. Good in parts, cliched in parts, but I am not too far into the book to really make a judgement about it.

8. I really need to work on being less scattered, to quit trying to be here, there and everywhere at once. I need to re-learn to focus on one thing at a time, savour each moment before rushing on to the next. I am sucking at that, at the moment.

Now for the 5 quotes.

1. “I told my husband I was getting married for specific emotional and physical reasons. If I had to make a purely financial decision, it made more sense for me to stay single. If I chose to be a wife, I wanted to be treated as one. I wanted a husband who would look after me. I wasn’t about to write my own cheques and live like a flatmate. That too, a flatmate without equal rights and with a sexual duty to perform. Sorry. That wouldn’t have worked for me.”

– From Spouse – The Truth About Marriage by Shobhaa De

2. “If you take a book with you on a journey,” Mo had said when he put the first one in her box, “an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it… yes, books are like flypaper — memories cling to the printed page better than anything else.”

– From Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

3. “My daughter is seven, and some of the other second-grade parents complain that their children don’t read for pleasure. When I visit their homes, the children’s rooms are crammed with expensive books, but the parent’s rooms are empty. Those children do not see their parents reading, as I did every day of my childhood. By contrast, when I walk into an apartment with books on the shelves, books on the bedside tables, books on the floor, and books on the toilet tank, then I know what I would see if I opened the door that says ‘PRIVATE–GROWNUPS KEEP OUT’: a child sprawled on the bed, reading.”

– From Ex Libris: Confessions Of A Common Reader by Anne Fadiman

4. “If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.”

– From 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

5. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

– By H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Most of the bloggers I read have taken up this tag already, so I’m not tagging anyone. Feel free to take it up on your blog, if you feel like it!