I am Latvian...

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LATVIAN OR HAVE BEEN IN LATVIA TOO LONG, IF:

1. You get used to explain abroad where Latvia is. [True. Once there was a guy who thought that Latvia is in Latin America.]
2. You get shocked if somebody abroad does know where Latvia is. [Yup! But it happens rarely]
3. You are proud that Latvian Lat is the most expensive currency [Yes]
4. Ice hockey has become the most important thing in your life [Partly... I watch only Olympic or Championship games]
5. Half of your friends disappear to study or work in Ireland or UK and you think that’s normal [Kinda true...]
6. You’ve learned the hard way that a triangle means women’s toilet and a triangle upside down means men’s [False... I found it out as a kid in easy way]
7. Anything goes wrong you blame the Russians [I blame government]
8. You see someone smiling in public, you think: well, a bloody foreigner [Not always, but yea...]
9. You are afraid crossing a street, especially at zebra [Not really]
10. Everything 50m above sea-level seems like a mountain [Maaaaaybe...]
11. You love the Baltic Sea and go swimming there at nearly any temperature [Always!]
12. You consider Latvia the best and worst place on earth – at the same time [Partly, I know that Africa has it worse]
13. You put an “s” or “a” at the end of foreign names, so you can conjugate them [Tempting...]
14. Hugging is reserved for sexual foreplay [Kinda. Latvians aren't too found of too much skinship]
15. You sincerely believe that LAIMA is the best chocolate in the world. [Of course it is]
16. You think it’s normal to not pay income taxes and know what is to get salary in envelope. [No]
17. You know more than 50 Janis [guys name]. [Bit less]
18. You know more than 20 Ligas, Ilzes, (each!) [girls name] [Bit less]
19. You think metal doors are a necessity. [Yes!]
20. You can’t even imagine what is gallon, farenheits, inches or pound. [Those are confusing x.x]
21. You never smile in public when you’re alone [Mostly yes]
22. You laugh at Russian jokes. [Yes]
23. You actually get these jokes. [Yes]

Seems like I am not fully Latvian, but most of those points were true for me :)

Things I want to do...

It is written is stars, that I easily get interested in things and just as easily get distracted. Seriously! I ran some star reading utility with precise date and time of my birth and it was said there. I could make a huge list of things I want to do, have tried to do and have finished... ok... without the part about having it finished...

Actually I will make that list now!
1. To learn more about other country religions - Have read only first few pages of Koran.
2. Learn Japanese - I kinda know hiragana and understand few words. Nothing more. Have tried to learn 3 times
3. Get back my French knowledge - Je ne parle pas bien le français...
4. Write a story - Countless attempts, but I have never gotten past 20 A4 pages. I lose inspiration or get distracted
5. Organise my folders and files on PC - Chaos still rules over it. I have only 1/100th of all files well organised, around half - I know where to find what, but rest is like a black hole. What ever goes in, never comes out...
6. Be active on social media - How often did I post for the last year? What about Twitter? And my Facebook is for playing games... Haven't been in draugiem.lv for months as well
7. Keep my spendings and income in check - I could do it only for 1.5months
8. Get fit - *eats a cookie*
9. Finish the list - This list is endless.....
10.

A separate list for my handcrafting attempts:
1. Weaving - finished a pouch for phone for goddaughter and got the weaving frame... and I have weaved enough material for 1/4 of bag I wanted to make
2. Knitting - Leg warmers for me and a scarf for goddaughter. Still haven't finished the hat for her...
3. Embroidery - Made a pouch for phone for myself. Pouch for sunglasses still unfinished
4. Cross-stitch embroidery - Made a decorative pillow for a friend, started to make a pouch for phone for myself... unfinished
5. Beading - made a small braclete for myself, necklece still needs to be finished. Wasted a lot of money for different beads...
6. Other crafts - Made two keychains for friends, none for myself

My gems

At university, I was studying French and since then I have quite many useful links to French self-studying.

About.com - French Language - Got to say, that About.com has quite good self-studying guides, hints, tips. One way is to sign up for their weekly studying messages. They will keep sending you words to learn, grammar, texts, tasks, which will keep getting harder and harder. The site also has quite some useful "exams". One of my favorites, even though it was lacking in area of "listening". I have a bunch of different French learning pages bookmarked from About.com

Bonjour - If About.com was lacking on listening part, then this site is only about listening and repeating.

Bonjour de France - Bookmarked it because of the French tests they are offering. But I have a feeling that they have much more to offer.

Azurlingua - Another place to test your french skills. The rest of site is about learning French in paid lessons.

Favourite bookmarks and links

After reinstalling whole system, I almost lost all my bookmarks. Almost, as I forgot to save them before reinstalling, but I had a saved version which could be dated few months before it. So the lose was quite small. At that moment, I understood, how precious these links are to me and that I should save/share them in a way, so I couldn't lose them. Problem is that I have over 300 bookmarks... kinda unorganized ones... And between lot of useless sites, there are quite many gems as well!

So let me share my "gems" with you in a way I can't lose them anymore :)