I'm freaking out! My friend ostia2006 is an awesome, wonderful, unbelievably kind and thoughtful person! I just got my birthday present from her in the mail today and I cannot express how much I ADORE IT!

( Check Out My Awesome Gift! )

Tags: birthday, ostia
Currently Feeling: touched

For your listening and viewing pleasure I am posting this awesome video clip of the legendary performance by Santana at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. I actually really like the whole Woodstock show, I watched it many times. It is a great window into what was a momentous American era. And the music is phenomenal and timeless.

This performance by Santana is one of my favorites. Actually I love Santana period, not just this performance. They were extraordinary musicians, they had great synergy. This Woodstock performance is Soul Sacrifice. I particularly love Michael Schrieve on the drums and of course Carlos!

I said that I am posting this for your listening and viewing pleasure because just watching them play is mesmerizing. The raw energy that they put into their performance and the facial expressions that they make is almost orgasmic. You almost feel like you just had a vigorous sexual bout after you watch it. LOLZ!

Tags: santana, soul sacrifice, woodstock
Currently Feeling: enthralled

I used to be excited about birthdays but now I'm coming to the age where I actually get disappointed when my birthday comes around. Thank you to everyone for all your good wishes, I so appreciate it. But ugh, I turned 39 today. I'm almost 40! I know it sounds silly but time goes too fast, I feel old. Of course I'm not old in the sense of "grandma with grey hair sitting in a rocking chair" old, but this is the last year of my thirties...my youth is gone.

Thankfully I don't look like I'm 39. People are always surprised when they find out my age, I get told that I still look like I'm in my twenties. And I feel that way too. You're supposed to become mature as you reach your forties but Lord knows that hasn't happened for me. I'm still just a silly thing.


On a lighter note, my lovely ostia2006 sent me this for my birthday along with a beautiful card:

Ahhhh now that makes it all better. Ok now I don't feel so bad. And actually we're the same age...well I'm 8 months younger than him but from now until October we're both 39 and I definitely don't think of him as being old. But I think it's worse for women. Men are like fine wine, they get better looking as they get older wheareas we women just get older.

Tags: birthday
Currently Feeling: silly

One of the annoying things about the summer months is that waterbugs wander up into my apartment. These are those Oriental cockroaches, those huge black shiny ones. They really do freak me out especially when they run crazy fast. I do occasionally come across one that has fallen into my cat's water dish and is drowning. As much as I find them creepy, I feel bad watching them struggle as they're drowning. So I actually take whatever I can find, like a piece of cardboard or something and I fish them out of the dish and release them outside.

So last night I went into the kitchen to feed my cat and as soon as I turned on the light I saw two waterbugs that were literally face to face. They didn't scamper away when I turned the light on, they just remained there face to face. It looked like they were kissing. I happen to know that the females are oval and have short wings and the males are thinner and have long wings. These two were definitely a male and a female, so I thought that they might have been doing some kind of a weird mating ritual. I thought I was going to witness two waterbugs getting their freak on in my kitchen. For God's sake if you're going to do that, go behind the refrigerator or something for some privacy, have some decency. lol.

But as I got a closer look I realized that they were actually eating a tiny piece of cat food that had fallen from my cat's dish which was near them. They were both sharing this tiny piece, it was so small I could barely see it. Haaaaa this was a dinner date. What a gentlemanly waterbug, he was treating his girl to dinner first, and after they finished he was probably going to take her behind the stove and give it to her good. lolzzzz.

Seriously though I couldn't help thinking that it looked really cute. Even though I think they're horrid and creepy looking, they did look freakishly cute sharing a little piece of food together. So I actually didn't want to disturb them. My cat was totally disinterested in them so she didn't chase them away. She wanted to get fed so she was staring at me with her "please feed me" look. So I tried to slowly bend down and reach for her dish without disturbing the waterbug dinner date but I guess they have really strong sensors because they immediately ran away behind the stove. Uh-oh I totally ruined their date. lol.

Ok I do realize how pathetic I am. I mean what kind of an idiot must I have looked like trying to slowly reach for my cat's food dish so I don't disturb two nasty, icky waterbugs!

Tags: personal post, waterbugs
Currently Feeling: dorky

I got this fun meme from morlockiness and want to participate.

YOU'RE ON MY FRIENDS LIST, I want to know 28 things about you. I don't care if we've never talked, never really clicked, or if we already know everything about each other. I really don't. You are obviously on my flist, so let me know with whom I'm friends!

1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!)
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

Tags: friends meme
Currently Feeling: silly

I uploaded a cute video to my Youtube. It's actually pretty old, it was shot 14 years ago on a video cassette and I only recently had it transferred to dvd and uploaded it to Youtube. My brother-in-law filmed it, that's his voice that you hear briefly. It shows 2 of my sister's pets. One of them is her adorable pug Buster, he was a puppy then. He's a little old man now but he's still just as cute. The other one is a pigeon that she rescued, she found him in the street when he was a baby, he was injured and abandoned so she took him home and nursed him back to health and he grew very attached to her and never wanted to leave so she kept him. His name is Huey, he is still alive too, a little old man like Buster. lol.

The video shows baby Huey and baby Buster having a little spat. It's so cute and funny to watch, especially how spunky Huey was, even though he was so young.

Tags: funny video, pigeon, pug
Currently Feeling: amused

Blind Spot - Hitler's Secretary (Im Toten Winkel - Hitlers Sekretärin) is an engrossing documentary that focuses on the memoirs of Traudl (Gertraud) Junge. Adolf Hitler had a coterie of private secretaries that were by his side not only at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, they also traveled with him and stayed at the Berghof, his summer villa in the Bavarian Alps. Traudl Junge began working for him in 1942 and remained with him until the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945. She was with Hitler when he retreated into the underground Fuehrer bunker in the last months of the war, she typed his last will and testament, and was there to witness the events of his final days.

Junge survived the war and her subsequent captivity by the Soviets. For years she had kept silent about her memories and experiences of the war under the employment of one of history's most infamous men. She finally began to break her silence with small interviews in the 1990's. In 2001, she agreed to sit for full-length interviews by Austrian filmmaker Andre Heller. After 10 hours of footage, Heller and fellow filmmaker Othmar Schmiderer created Blind Spot - Hitler's Secretary.

( Continued Here... )

Tags: blind spot - hitler's secretary, gertraud junge
Currently Feeling: pensive

I saw the movie Music Box in the early 1990's. I really think it is a great movie, so much so that I decided I had to have it. I bought it, it is in VHS version because these were the days before DVDs. I had not watched it in a while, until the other night. Actually it was The Reader that reminded me of it because they both deal with some of the same themes. In Music Box, a lawyer, Ann Talbot (played by Jessica Lange), defends her elderly father, Michael Laszlo (played by Armin Mueller-Stahl), who is accused of committing war crimes as part of the Hungarian Arrow Cross in 1944-45. Like I said, it is a terrific movie, well worth seeing.

Anyway when I watched it the other night, it brought back a rather silly thing that I had been wondering ever since I saw it. It actually has nothing to do with the plot, like I said, it is something silly on my part that I am very curious about. Throughout the movie they show various black and white photos of a young Michael Laszlo from the 1940's and 1950's. When I first saw it I immediately assumed that they were actually photos of a the superimposed head of young Armin Mueller-Stahl because of the great resemblance. It really does look like a younger version of the actor. But now I am thinking it might be a different guy that happens to have a strong resemblance to Mueller-Stahl and that is why he was chosen to portray the younger version of the character. I searched but could not find anyone credited as the man in the young Michael Laszlo in the photos.

On the IMDB boards I was relieved to discover that I am not the only one that has been wondering about this. No one seems to know though. A few people think that the guy in the photos is actually a young Brad Pitt. Another person thinks he looks like Carey Elwes. I am actually going back and forth about whether it is really young Armin Mueller-Stahl or another guy. If it is another guy, I really do not see him looking like Brad Pitt, maybe a little like Carey Elwes but it is not him.

I decided to post the photos and see if anyone else can tell whether it is young Armin Mueller-Stahl or another person. If it is another person I wonder who it is and why he was not credited.


( Photos This Way... )

Tags: armin mueller-stahl, music box
Currently Feeling: curious

Christian Orthodox religion dedicates certain days throughout the year to the Saints. Every Saint has their own day dedicated to them. Also traditionally, Greeks name their children after the Saints, and the day that is dedicated to the particular Saint that the person is named after is considered to be their Name Day. Traditionally it is celebrated almost like a birthday, the person gets well wishes, gifts, and cakes or other desserts.

Anyway, today is my Name Day. All the "Dinas" and "Dinos" "Deans" and "Costas" celebrate their Name Day along with all the "Helens" too. May 21st is dedicated to St. Helen and St. Constantine (who is the one that I am named after).

I know it sounds pretty weird to non-Greeks about how you get "Dina" from "Constantine", but let me explain. It actually has to do with the fact that there is a different alphabet with different characters. In English, the female version of "Constantine" is "Constantina". In the Greek alphabet, when you have an "n" and a "t" next to each other, it combines to make the sound of a "d". Also, there is no letter "c" in the Greek alphabet, my name is spelled with a "k". So "Constantina" becomes "Konstadina", or just "Dina" for short. Guys are either "Dino", "Dean", or "Costas".

So Happy Name Day to my fellow Dinas, Dinos, and Helens!


But even though it's my Name Day and I should be celebrating, I'm feeling very crappy because I'm having a bad allergy attack. It's giving me a horrid headache and my nose is bleeding. OMG wait...a headache and a nosebleed?! I need Daniel Faraday!!! Am I going to be ok??? Please help me Daniel Faraday!!!

Tags: dina, name day
Currently Feeling: sick

I've been watching these funny videos by engineers Paul and TJ. They're really very cute, especially if you're a cat lover. And it's also nice and refreshing to see cat lovers who are guys. Usually I think guys are more into dogs rather than cats.

These videos remind me of my cat, she used to be very temperamental when she was younger. Now she has calmed down in her old age and will actually let me kiss her and hold her. But when she was younger she used to do the "yodeling" thing when I picked her up just like the cats in the video. The thing is that cats are cute even when they are annoyed and it made me want to kiss her even more. lol.

Watching these really made me laugh.

Tags: cats
Currently Feeling: amused