What's in a name...

Some people ask me what "cathar maiden" means. Well, when I first posted on the Iron Maiden BB, I had to think of a nick to use. At that time, Dance of Death had just come out and my favourite song was Montsegur. I've always found history and philosophy fascinating subjects, so I took quite a fancy to the story of the cathars. My name can be seen as an allusion to both the song Montsegur and Iron Maiden. But as a second reading, one might consider that in Old Greek, "cathar" means "pure". So you could also read my name to mean: "pure girl" or "pure Maiden fan". Depending on how philosophical you want to get, really.

One thing that my nick certainly does NOT mean, is that I am a cathar. The cathars were deeply religious people living in Medieval southern France. They defended their beliefs, for moral but also for political and economical reasons, against the Catholics and were eventually massacred by the established Church. Their story is fascinating, but I do not consider myself a disciple of catharism, nor of any other religion, for that matter. I'm happy to be just me. So if you want to find out more about me, just read on ...

What I like ...

music-wise: Iron Maiden (HA! you wouldn't have guessed that, huh?), everything Bruce Dickinson has done so far (actually, I should have put that before Iron Maiden, but never mind), 80s metal (Queensryche, Aerosmith, Guns N'Roses, Cinderella, Mötley Crüe) ... and Monty Python, their songs, series, movies, books, musical ... they're clever, witty, funny, sarcastic, simply wonderful.

culture-wise: ancient sites, Medieval architecture, Renaissance plays, enlightened ideas, Romantic poems and Victorian novels. Some stuff from other periods, too. Lots of other stuff, actually. I love to roam through English abbeys ... and English bookstores.

food-wise: Chinese cuisine, Indian cuisine, Thai cuisine, Italian pizzas, all kinds of fruit, chocolate, chips and burgers

drink-wise: coke, beer and I love to try anything new

life-style wise: travelling to new places, wearing comfy clothes, sleeping till late (make that VERY late), meeting open-minded people, hard beds, water that comes out of ONE tap not TWO, short-clipped nails and a glass half full

oh, and ... basically anything that amazes and intrigues me

What I don't like ...

music-wise: anything annoying (techno or whatever that sort of noise is called)

food-wise: beans, broccoli ... anything that makes me gag when I have it in my mouth

drink-wise: wine and very strong booze (unless I've drunken enough before, that is)

life-style wise: daily routines, wearing high-heels, having to get up early (like, before 11 AM), racists, sexists, fanatics of all sorts and generally all those who think they got it right and other people got it wrong, cigarette smoke, soft beds, one tap for hot water and another one for cold, unclipped nails and a glass half empty

oh, and ... basically anything that annoys or bores me

Ok, enough of me. Why don't you go and have a look at my creative ramblings instead ...