Where I am a sheep.

[la_rainette]

"This is the problem with LJ; we all think we are so close, and we know nothing about each other. I'm going to rectify it. I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me, something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away."

Oh well. Not quite true, because I am quite open, and you know much about me already.

I am just amused to find out that -- as much as I'm happy to answer any question about me (cos isn't our LJ all about us?), I feel a little shy to go ask a question to soemone else (as in, uh, erm, Idon'tknowwhattoasksorry) *g* So don't feel obligated to ask anything, Just, if there's something you really wanna know... go for it. *g*

Comments

[cjk1701.livejournal.com]

A question no woman should ever ask another - do you dye your hair? What's the current/original hue? ;)

*ducks and runs*

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I've never truly died my hair -- when I went to a hair-salon in Canada for the first time, the stylist exclaimed over the quality of my hair, saying it was very healthy (no-one had never done anything major to it).

Now, I have greys, and thus, I have highlights *winces* So its a very light brown, with blond highlights. And I do see the difference, I do see it's damaging my hair, but well, it's that, or go prematurely grey.

[miscellanny.livejournal.com]

What would you have called the kidlets if they were boys?

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

Oh lord, I have no idea *g* It took us forever to agree on a girl's name, let alone two!!! (I think we did agree on Alexandre, though, at some time.)

The big joke between us was that we absolutely needed to know the kid's sex in advance, if only because finding two names that would suit both of us was just too complicated. *g*

[sir-gareth.livejournal.com]

I don't recall you ever talking about religion much. Tell me about your faith or lack of it. Please. Or at least link me to post where you address it if you are feeling lazy.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

Oh, now that's a good one. Faith or lack thereof. Hum.

No, I have never written religious post; and despite having an intensely religious family (and I do mean intensely: 2 of my aunts and one of my nieces are Catholic nuns), I am not yet baptized.

And I am saying not yet because I have recently decided to get baptized, and I am currently in the process of getting a religious education. No, I am not kidding. I have not yet mentioned it in LJ. This is a first. I wouldn't have volunteered this information if you hadn't asked me outright, but I find that I am ready to talk about it.

I have decided to get baptized because my reticence to do so earlier, I have found, was motivated by a powerful distrust of people and religion: I was prepared to believe in God, but the men who organized the worship, and their convictions, and their certitude to be bloody right all the time just didn't agree with me, and neither did all the decorum.

But when I mentioned this to my brother-in-law, he said "you have to look beyond that". And then I met people who did, on a regular basis. People like friede, whose thoughtful posts certainly made a difference, and like Patty bookwench31, and chaos_pocket. And I met this Priest, who spent most of his life in Africa, and who honestly admits to being no more than a go-between, a facilitator. And I am slowly coming to terms with faith.

It is not an easy way. It takes time, and often my rational, cartesian, French-bread mind rebells and stalls and I have to stop, and think, and breathe, and wait. Being a skeptic by nature, mine is not an easy way. But I have chosen to walk this path, and I am seeing light in the distance. I'm not yet sure exactly where I'm going, but I am walking with more confidence, and I trust I am on the right path.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_skye_/]

I would love to hear about your journey, if your up for it, in more posts. I think we all go through this, and all feel alone -- isn't that silly?

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm -- not sure yet. (But if I post on it, it'll probably be locked to a few people, and I'll put you in.)

[sir-gareth.livejournal.com]

Very nicely put. Thank you. Now, if I may be so bold as to venture a follow-up question... and I shall be... does your answer impact the girls' religious upbringing?

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*laughs* probably not, it was more the other way 'round... The girls were both baptized, and we chose to put them in a Catholic school because that was the closest and nicest school *g*. So they are getting a religious education via the school already.

That being said, I do believe in religious education, because 1) our entire culture is obviously Christian, 2) understanding the world goes through understanding religions, too. But by that, I mean that I want them not to be indoctrinated, but educated. Ultimately, I want them to have a modicum of knowledge and understanding about most religions.

[terrylj.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to ask either! Hold that thought.

In the meantime, I'm with _skye_, in that anything you feel comfortable sharing about your faith and your spiritual journey, I'd like to hear about. I love hearing people's thoughts and experiences about what they do or don't believe, and why.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*nods* I honestly don;t know if I am ready to share that yet. But if I decide to do so, I'll put you in the filter, too. (Cos that one's gonna be tightly locked ;) )

[notions.livejournal.com]

Alright, I have two. And a half.

Where were you born?
Do you have a middle name/what is it?

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

I was born in Mulhouse, in Alsace. that (http://www.ensitm.fr/pages-e/pages-e/haut/e-acces.html) was the best I could find, I'm afraid, to give you an idea of where it's located. It's very close to Switzerland and Germany, as you can see. Also, Alsace was swapped back and forth between France and Germany a few times, so its identity is a little -- complicated. We don't feel completely French, but we don't feel German either.

And no, I do not have a middle name. Which makes me kind of an oddity in Northern America, really :D. Most people have a middle name here. In France, people commonly have 2 middle names, actually, which are either names derived from their godparents', or their grandparents' first names (names of both grandfathers for boys, grandmothers for girls).

[notions.livejournal.com]

If in North America you generally get one middle name, and in France you get two, how'd you end up with none?

And I had never heard of Mulhouse, but - now I have! Did you grow up there?

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*laughs* well, ask my parents! God knows I did, whenever I was frustrated with being "different". I think the answer, from their point of view, was: "what for? Just for tradition's sake? Oh, come on, who cares?" :D My mom also has only one name, which isn't even a proper name! (Her first name is Heidi, and Heidi in German was only a diminutive for Adelheit or Heidemarie until Johanny Spiry wrote her "Heidi" series -- and that Heidi, incidentally, is actually called Adelheit -- and my grandma just loved the books too much. My mom never quite forgave her :D )

Both my girls have one middle name, BTW: their Godmothers' first name.

And yes, I did grow up in Mulhouse: a mid-sized provincial town with a bad temper (as far as a town can have a temper, this one had a bad temper that got better with time). The one thing I really loved was the climate: very continental (I like my winters cold and dry and sunny, which is why I feel so well in Toronto). Ohterwise -- well. It also has one the most beautiful car museums in the world, I think: curtesy of factory owners who underpaid their employees, and used company money to build themselves a private car collection. The day said employees stormed their location on a whim, during a strike, they found the many cars. It was reported that many of them, women especially, burst into tears at the sight.

The factory owners ran off to Switzerland and tried for several years to get their collection back. Considering the many embezzlements of funds and various other irregularities, they died without ever seeing their collection again. The collection is now a national museum, even if in some people's memories, is is still principally the schlumpf collection.

[notions.livejournal.com]

I do know others like that, but I like middle names, so my kids will have no such problems. I'll probably stick them with middle names they hate though :D

Having their Godmothers name is nice though, I think middle names are either where you honor the family or someone if you choose a first name that you like, or where you put the name that you like if you chose a family first name. Did that make sense?

And now I certainly have to go to Mulhouse ~ that's the most interesting story surrounding a museum that I've ever heard.

[levi.livejournal.com]

I'm not good at these either. I'm great at answering questions, but I never know what to ask.