50 good questions you should ask yourself

 

I am jumping on the 50-questions bandwagon.
**as seen on rukristin

Here we go:

1. What are your nicknames? What do you prefer to be called?
My nicknames are Nien, Niene or Nientje. I prefer to just be called Janine. But many people pronounce it as “Jeanine”

2. What books on your shelf are begging to be read?
Since I joined the liberary I pretty much stopped buying books. I only buy books I know I really love. I feel that, when I pay 20 + euro for a book, I have to finish it. Even if it doesn’t capitvate me.  But when I go to the library I try out new things.
At the moment the “to read” stack includes a spice-cookbook, “crocheting for cool girls”, sophie dahl seasons cookbook and Nigella Lawson “how to eat”

3. How often do you doodle? What do your doodles look like?
I mostly doodle whilst on the phone. Usually geometric patterns but sometimes I end up with what is called a “zentagle”.
At the moment I’m also taking part in “Doodle-a-day-….”.
It’s a list on Instagram of doodle-challenges. One for each day that month.

4. What do you do if you can’t sleep at night? Do you count sheep? Toss and Turn? Try to get up and do something productive?
I am a terrible sleeper. And I have always been. Sometimes 1001 ideas shoot through my mind and I can’t get them to stop. A trick a psychologist once told me: “try to relax your toes” I don’t exactly know how it works, but it works.
I don’t get up because I don’t want to wake my boyfriend.. So I usually just toss and turn until I finally fall asleep. Which leads to me having a nap the next afternoon..

 5. How many days could you last in solitary confinement? How would you do it?
It depends mostly on what I’ve got to work with.
Are there books? Music? Tv? Pens and paper? Then I could last quite some time..
But with only myself? I think I would drive myself nuts within one day!

6. Do you save old greeting cards and letters? Throw them away?
It depends on the occasion, type of card and person who send it. I still have the card that where send when my boyfriend and I moved in together. But I don’t keep all birthday cards. They are on display for several days and after a while end up in the recycling bin. I do keep all of the postcards I receive from Postcrossing.

7. Who is the biggest pack rat you know?
the people I work for as a domestic aid. Maybe it’s a generation thing? All things that might come in handy one day are kept and stored for that one day they might need it..

8. When making an entrance in to a party, do you make your presence known? Do you slip in and look for someone you know? Do you sneak in quietly and find a safe spot to roost?
I slip in. Greet the host and then find people I know. Then after observing how the party “flows” I either head home early or try to join interesting conversations..

9. What is your strongest sense? If you had to give one up, which would it be?
My strongest sense.. uhm.. my hearing..
but that is also the one I would give up. Sound quickly bothers me..

10. How many times a day do you look at yourself in the mirror?
if there is a mirror there I will look at it quickly. Just to check if everything is where it’s supposed to be..

11. What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
I was a very smart kid. And my mom always explaned everything to us in a matter that we could understand.

12. What is one guilty pleasure you enjoy too much to give up?
Unhealthy food.. I should but I can’t..

13. Who performs the most random acts of kindness out of everyone you know?
Can I name myself? I just recently gave a random stranger 20 cents because he was short 20 cents for coffee..

14. How often do you read the newspaper? Which paper? Which sections?
 I don’t read a newspaper. I sometimes skim through one of those free newspapers you find on the train. Mostly to check my horoscope. I do try to watch the news once a day.
When I was small we had a newspaper at home. I used to read the back and some articles that interested me.
When I’m on vacation abroad I try to find a Dutch newspaper. It’s part of the holiday feeling. Then I read every little article and cut out interesting little thing to past in my travel journal. I recently found an article about a cow falling from the sky and crushing a car.

15. Which animals scare you most? Why?
I am not really scared of animals. I am more careful with some though.. like snakes, tarantula’s and stuff like that..

16. Are you more likely to avoid conflict or engage it head-on? It depends on the person I am having a conflict with. And what the conflict is about. I am not very good at having conflicts. Especially with people I know..

 17. What was the most recent compliment you’ve received and savoured?I left a comment on the nerd nest blog and got a lovely reply from Megan.(I can’t find it so you’ll have to believe  me ;-) )

18. What is something about yourself that you hope will change, but probably never will?
My perfectionism..

19. Are you a creature of habit? Explain.
yes. It always takes me a while to adjust to changes. And during that adjustment time I am really not a happy bunny…

20. Are you high maintenance? Explain.
yes. *slightly ashamed to day* I can do without luxury but *need* certain things; like breakfast, a certain type of shampoo, handcream, hot tea... And I need space, quiet time to catch my breath and just be.

21. When was the last time you really pushed yourself to your physical limits?
Because I suffer from Fybomyalgia my physical limits are not that high. So I think it would be 2 weeks ago; I had a crochet-marathon. I really wanted to finish that one project. And I did. But it left me with painfull hands for days..

22. Do you have a whole lot of acquaintances or just a few very close friends? Why?
On social media I have lot of acquaintances. In real life I have a few close friends. I have a hard time letting people in.

23. Are you more inclined to “build your own empire” or unleash the potential of others?
What day are we talking about? I am more likely to help others. That’s my perfectionism kicking in again. I’m afraid my own project will not be good enough.

24. What’s a strange occurrence you’ve experienced but have never (or rarely) shared with anyone?
I love to talk with people about anything and everything. But something I rarely talk about is the fact that I’m very prone to getting depressed..

25. What do you think about more than anything else?What if I fail??

That's it for today.
Stay tuned for part II....