Gardening Tagaholics: I've been tagged

Hear, hear ! The rumor has it that a strange disease has come over many of our dear garden bloggers. It's becoming more and more widespread as I write this. Otherwise known as GTA (Gardeners Tagaholics Anonymous, NOT Grand Theft Auto), it is a very contagious disease that includes the following symptoms:

• a strong need, or urge to tag someone (and who better than your fellow gardener)
• loss of control (not being able to stop tagging people once the disease has overpowered you)
• due to a strong feeling of commitment, one has a great need to post ten weird or random facts about oneself that most people don't know
• due to an emphasized feeling of social correctness, one has an even greater need to tag about five more bloggers and state why he/she/it tagged them
  
• if one feels repulsed by all the previously stated facts, one is not infected with GTA (google on for more weird diseases)

Is GTA a disease? Yes, it is a disease; the craving that the patient feels for tagging oneself as well as others can be as strong as the need for food or water, or even chocolate easter eggs. Is GTA inherited? Research shows that the risk for developing GTA does indeed run in families. The genes a person inherits partially explain this pattern, but lifestyle is also a factor (gardeners belong to a group that's particularly prone to this disease). How is GTA transmitted? Tagging, tagging and more tagging. Clinical prevention? None available.

Now that I've given a 'rather short' preliminary introduction, let me just mention that I have also been tagged and contaminated. The lovely Linda, better known to all of you as Garden girl, has tagged me. Why she did such a thing by infecting me on purpose, has been and still is beyond my understanding. I have now no other choice but to answer my inner craving and share some random facts about myself. Mind you, as my prime idol once said, I have nothing to declare but my genious. Nevertheless...

1. To start with the worst: I have one big phobia- arachnophobia. The spiders scare me shitless. No matter how good, clean or comfy the hotel seems, I will not sleep in my room if there's a single spider anywhere about. I'll either stay up all night working on my stiff neck, scanning the ceiling and the corners, the sheets and the side of my bed, or I'll go out and sleep in the car (at those times, it never occurs to me that it's quite possible that there's at least one spider somewhere in that car). I was once caught sleeping in the car somewhere among the beautifully scented pine forests of Croatian coast, when some vacuous copper (who obviously ran out of donuts) started grumbling about how sleeping in the car or anywhere else in the tourist area is forbidden if you don't pay for it. I showed him the room key and the finger.
2. Although born as a city child, I've been mesmerized by gardens and nature since I could remember. Visiting my nanna's countryside home always did make my day. I also used to save all the stray animals from the streets driving my folks crazy whenever I popped up with a new pet.
3. I now live in a former countryside gone all urbanized (just 15 minutes from the capital's centre), on my late nan's estate which remains one of the few green oasis in the concrete vicinity. I still live with my folks, 3 dogs, 2 cats, and all sorts of other creatures including my younger sister. ;-) I would never want to live anywhere else and I can be quite patriotic at times. I'm officially unemployed but I earn a decent amount of cash with part-time translating, and through betting (I have learned how to bridle my betting horses), and guess what, most of it ends up in the local nursery.
4. I was born with a musical gift, known as absolute or perfect pitch. My folks discovered it at my age of 5 because I would instantly start playing on my little piano whatever song I had heard on the radio. I went both to musical primary and musical high school at the same time as the normal school. Some of my piano tutors wanted me to pursue a career at a Russian conservatory, but hell no, I didn't like the idea of anyone telling me what to play and what not to play, and scolding me for all the garden dirt under my fingernails, or for my sprained fingers which were the result of my other childhood passions - handball and volleyball. Even though just a kid, I decided to play it my way. I kept tuning my friends' guitars without the help of any other instrument, or playing people's music wishes at different parties, including my prom. After 12 years of musical education, I didn't chose to go to the academy, but my love for music never faded, as it is one of a few things as relaxing for both my mind and soul in addition to gardening. I'm still a senior college student at the University of Zagreb (mind you, Croatia is one of those countries where you can be a student for quite a long period of time, lingering as a final year student) with majors in English and French language and literature, and with 'just' a few final exams standing in the way of my degree. My French language skills used to suck and for a while I was in doubt whether to end it all and choose another major. Instead, I have decided to take a temporary break (that lasted a few years) and in the meantime I earned a degree in audio/video editing. Nowadays I'm glad I pursued with my French, and hopefully on my next trip to Paris, I won't get that scornful look as when communicating in English.
   
5. My ex-boyfriend was English (and no, that's not how I learned the language, my English is still miles better than his, he'll confirm that anytime lol). It lasted for almost 5 years. And as wonderful and good a person he was, it was never meant to be. The distance made us drift further and further away. I guess it wasn't the real thing, but I'm glad I gained a friend for life. And fell in love with the Yorkshire countryside.
   
6. My favourite side dish: french fries and mayo. It's also my favourite main dish. Soup and pasta are probably the only food I don't eat with mayo. People often wonder how the hell I remain so slim ( that's why I loved my time in England, I ate fish&chips every single day, with tons of mayo).
7. I was born with a heart defect, ASD (Atrial Septal Defect). It was detected through my cardiac murmur. My mum had the misfortune to run into probably the most uncaring, arrogant, coarse, self-absorbed doctor in the world who ruthlessly announced to her that I'm going to die within weeks (I was a couple of months old) and thoroughly explained to her that bringing me to this world was same as beating a dead horse. I'm not going to comment on that as I hate saying 'pardon my French'. She soon found out that it is one of the most common congenital heart defects and can be successfully treated. In other words, I had a tiny hole in the wall separating the left atrium from the coronary sinus of my heart, which would lead to venous blood mixing with arterial. I had a successful surgery at the age of 7, and it never stopped me from being a cheeky, hyperactive menace that I was, and still am, apparently. During the surgery, I was clinically dead for a few moments, I didn't experience any light at the end of the tunnel, but I did see my tiny body surrounded by large blocks of ice and my chest wide open. Gruesome experience. I hate hospitals, I hate the smell of them, even a simple event like visiting my dentist unconsciously gives me a severe and unpleasant pain in my breastbone.
8. I don't go to church, nor do I think of the Church as an institution of God, but I do pray whenever I feel the need to. I find my religion in nature. For my religious taste, the Church has become way too commercialized and God has been over-trademarked. And whatever the religion, you'd still have good people doing good, and bad ones doing bad. I did visit a few sacred places in the world which radiate such unbelievable calm and peace. However, I'm one of those individuals who still think that lighthouses are more helpful than churches. Nevertheless, I have had the honour and privilege of meeting a priest in the purest and humblest meaning of that word, so I know there still exists a handful of priests-saints in this world. And I'll tell you more about it in one of my future posts.
9. I genuinely love Family guy
   
10. Some more and less trivial facts: I believe in reincarnation; my favourite actor of all time is Robert de Niro; unlike many, I totally love the new James Bond; I'm a big fan of HouseMD; I hate cigarettes; my eBay addiction has diminished through the years but it's still there; I love traveling the world with my best friend, MrCamcorder; I'm flat-footed and moderately allergic to tree nuts; I used to love snow so much I once poured washing powder all over the windowsills and waited for my folks to come back from work so I could tell them it's been snowing; too bad my neighbour beat me to it; I love to dance about when no one is watching; I love old bookstores, ones with cats in particular; I love the warmth of the sun on my face; and last but not the least, I love my life.

There you have it, it might have took me 'a bit more' than 10, but it could have been a lot more had my fingers not started to numb away... Now I have to tag 5 more people, I'll take a few moments for reminiscence of all the wonderful blogs I've come across lately and then decide where to spread this plague...