About the webmistress

Eretria started reading at the tender age of 4, started singing even earlier, began writing stories when she was 10 or 12 and got her first camera when she was 13.

It all went down from then on. She never stopped reading, singing, writing or photographing.

So, there isn't all that much to say about me. I was born on an icy cold December 24th in 1978. Since then, a little time has passed, and I'm now 1,64 m, freckled and blue-eyed. I sing in two choirs, play classical Spanish guitar and spend too much time writing, cooking and photographing. Currently, I'm a junior barrister and am enjoying life in the wonderful city of Berlin.

 

Now, on to things you may or may not want to know:

 

What makes eretria tick

The negative:

1. Brutality and stupidity. It's all right when people aren't as smart as Einstein or Kant, but ignorance is something I cannot abide. Life is bigger than our own mind. We should embrace that thought and remember it whenever we can.

2. People who force their own opinions onto others. We all have our own views on the world. I see things differently than you do. Is that a reason to declare war? It's the variety of opinions that makes life interesting. What a boring place would this earth be if everyone had the same opinion! I shudder to think about it.

3. Arrogance. "I'm so much better than you are." Sorry, but no. You may be different than the person next to you, but that doesn't mean you're better.

4. Preaching. I am Christian already. What I dislike are people trying to convert me even though I'm already on their side. Even more so, forcefully trying to convert people of other religions to join yours is an insult to their beliefs. Just don't.

 

The positive:

1. Friends and parents. The most wonderful beings ever to walk the earth. Sometimes you want to shake them and yell at them, but those are always passing, fleeting moments. What you remember about them is one thing, first and foremost: How grateful you are that they are there, how blessed you feel that they are yours, how much you love them. And I do.

2. Music. Couldn't live without. Music is part of my life, the universal language, something everyone can understand, because it comes directly from the heart, speaks to regions of our brain we don't consciously access often. And only music manages to send shivers up and down your spine with such a frightening speed and make you feel good so quickly.

3. Books. Another thing I couldn't live without. Worlds open up, you glimpse into them, you live in them, just for a short while, and if the book was good, you bring something with you, and you weave it into your own life. What better thing to happen?

4. Tea. Wisdom of thousands of years, but one simple cup of tea can bring you back your calm and your good mood. As I've learned on many occasions: A real good cup of tea - as strange as this may sound - can act like a force-field against the rush and unrest of the world. You and your cup of tea form a bubble of calm in a mad world.

5. Scotland: Spent all in all 5 weeks in Caledonia and it were some of the greatest times I've ever had. I've completely lost my heart to those Scots and their beautiful country and their warm hearts. It is such a wonderful place to be and to dream. It's like your soul suddenly realises that it had never breathed before, and right there, among the low-hanging clouds of the wide Scottish sky, it does for the very first time. And once you've experienced that, you'll never want to leave.

6. Chocolate. Is chocolate is chocolate is chocolate. Ambrosia, soul-food, soother, good-for-every-mood. 'nuff said. :o)

You came this far? Congratulations. There is no real price here, though. But I could offer a cup of tea...