• Just how quick are you?

Heh, the highest velocity I’ve ever had on just my own force (with the help of gravity) was 82 km/h (51 mph) while going down a hill in Southern Germany on roller blades.

• What’s the last item of clothing you bought?

Volleyball shorts… I’m going to play volleyball this year, and I didn’t really have a suitbale shorts…

• What three things would you take with you to a deserted island?

Hmm… I’ve been watching Lost - Season One the last couple of days… Very nice series :). Now… what would I want to have with me on that island? Well, I’d want to have a picture with me of my loved ones, I’d want a pocket PC with a few hundred novels on it, and I’d want to have my binoculars with me to watch the stars…

• Do you vote?

Yes. Complaining about stuff when you didn’t do the effort of voting for somebody you think could make the world a better place, is lame… no?

• Have you ever tasted sour sheep balls (as in testicles)?

Erm… no… And I don’t think I want to :P.

• Have you broken any of the bones in your body? If yes, which one?

No, I had a crack once in one of the little bones in my foot from gymnastics, but that’s it. I eat corn flakes with half a liter of milk every morning, so I think I have a pretty large supply of calcium in my body ;).

• If you could choose any one place in the universe, where would you want to live and why?

Here on Earth. I’m a very curious person and I want to know what’s out there, but there’s no place like home. I’m not brave enough to go to the Space Station or to move anywhere else. And really… At the moment we haven’t found any place in the universe yet where it would be better to live then here on Earth, and I doubt we ever will, for the simple reason that evolution evolved us into the people we are. We are made for Earth. Going somewhere else would offset that balance between species and environment. Do you want to live on a 300ºC planet with a red sun and an atmosphere of methan? Anyway… you get my point :P.

• If you were female, which female would you be?

Lol… interesting. Never thought about that. Every person is different and I’m not the most normal person alive, I think. I guess I would most closely resemble my mother. We have the same kind of music taste, we’re both pretty smart **cough cough** :P, we both worry a little too much, and we’re both progressive in our thinking… I like my mom :).

• Have you been in a car accident?

Yes, unfortunately. About seven years ago, we were driving on the left lane of the highway in France towards our holiday destination. My mom was driving, my dad had been sleeping in the passenger seat next to the drivers seat and me and my sister were sleeping in the back on a mattress. My dad had woken up and was getting something from between his feet, I don’t remember. And then tragedy started… Another driver on the second lane was drifting to the left, about to hit our car. In response, my mom jerked the car to the left, but when she saw she was driving towards the median strip/central reservation (middenberm), she turned the steering wheel back to the right, but then she saw other cars coming on the right, so she jerked it back to the left, and that’s when she lost control… We hit the median strip at about 100 km/h I guess, flipping our car around… I’ll never forget the scream of my mom when she realized she was going to die… Luckily she didn’t. My mom had a bad head injury, but my dad, my sister and me were all fine except for some minor bruises and scratches. It took about a year before her head was completely healed, unfortunately nerves don’t heal very well, so there’s still a pretty large area on which she doesn’t feel anything… But in the end we were all ok :). Seeing the blood on my mom’s head has crippled my ability to withstand the sight of blood and injuries on relatives though. I’m fine with my own blood, but every time my mom cuts in her finger in the kitchen my stomach protests… :|

• Your house is burning! You can save four things. What are they?

Depends on which house you mean :P. In my dorm, I’d try to save my keys since they hold a key chain I got from a special person, as well as the mug I got from another special person, as well as my Asterix comic books, and my pictures. In my home in Belgium, I’d again try to save my pictures, my love letters :P, and my mom and my sister of course :).

• Do you read newspapers?

No, I read a couple of news sites (especially related to science), but no news papers.

• Does your belly button stick out or look more like a hole? :D

My belly button is more like a hole ;).

• Do you talk/walk in your sleep?

As far as I know, I don’t. When I still lived at my parent’s house and my mom came into my room to put some clothes away or something like that when I was already sleeping then I sometimes would say something, of which I wouldn’t remember anything the next morning, but I don’t think I talk or walk while sleeping when there’s no stimulus from outside ;).

• What’s your favorite food?

Hmm… I don’t really have any particular dish that stand above the rest, but in general I love French and Italian food. A few dishes I really like are frog legs à la Provençale, chicken à la Carribean, etc…

• Do you smile to strangers?

Heh, I try to :).

• What, in your opinion, is the world’s greatest problem today and how would you fix it? ;)

I think the world’s greatest problem is the lack of respect for other people’s beliefs and religions. Unfortunately I don’t know how to fix it. I’m just a scientist ;). However, I hope that with my openness and the way I write on my blog, I can learn some people to be open themselves, as well as be open-minded for other cultures, customs and beliefs. I’m not a saint in that regard, I still have to learn a lot myself… :)

• If you were an animal, which animal would you be?

I think I’d want to be a bird… Everybody wants to be able to fly, no? Maybe an eagle… or an owl. An owl, that’d be cool! Oh wait… owls don’t see very well, do they? Don’t they hunt on sounds? I wanna be able to fly and see all the stars… So maybe an eagle is a better idea.

• What size shoes do you use?

In European sizes, I have a 43. That’s pretty normal I think for men. Certainly not big for Dutch standards.

• Are there any animals that scare you?

Hmm… I’m not really scared of spiders, but I won’t kill them or pick them up to bring them outside or anything. I much more prefer to just leave them be. I don’t mind if they walk around in my room, as long as they don’t share my bed. The only animal that I allow in my bed is our dorm cat Sylvester… Maybe with time I might allow a presently unknown female human being to share my bed as well, but that’s future-talk :P. For the rest, I don’t think I’m afraid of any animals, I just won’t touch everything.

• What do you like on a pizza?

I like my pizzas with lots of mozarella, peppers (both red and green), ham, olive oil, lots of spices, mushrooms…

• How many pairs of socks do you have? Pic please!

Heh, I probably have about 20 - 25 pairs of socks. Just enough to manage for 3 weeks in the Netherlands without having to do laundry. I know… it’s disgusting that I still don’t do my own laundry. But well… If I’m happy to carry my laundry back and forth and my mom’s happy to wash it for me…? Unfortunately no picture of this. I don’t have access to a digital camera at the moment. :(

• Do you drink coffee?

Coffee? Lol… no way. Susanne tried to have me drink coffee in Bordeaux last year… She added a lot of sugar and milk, but it still tasted awful. No coffee for me. Long live the hot chocolates ;).

• Do you own any scented candles?

Yes, I do. I have a bunch with cinammon at the moment. I don’t burn them that often though. Once or twice a month maybe while I’m watching a movie (with or without housemates).

• List all the countries you’ve been to

I’ve visited 13 countries: the United States, Egypt, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Hopefully there are lots more to come in the future ;).

• Name your favorite artist

As I mentioned before, my favourite artists are Jean Michel Jarre, Dj Tiësto, Mike Oldfield,… The order of which depends on the time of the year :P. At the moment I’m most into Jarre, but last year in fall I was mostly into Tiësto and in Spring two years ago, I was all crazy about Mike Oldfield. It depends on the way I feel I guess (on the longer term).

• How many Christmas presents do you give?

Normally I buy christmas presents for my mother, my sister and my father. So that makes three :).

• *panting* what do you have on? :D

At the moment I’m wearing grey Schiesser underwear, dark grey socks, black flexible modern jeans pants by Bikkenbergs (Italian brand), a dark blue underwear shirt by Schiesser, a black T-shirt upon which my sister painted the solar eclipse of 1999, and black shoes by Aldo which I bought in New York. Oh and… can’t forget my Theo glasses of course ;).

• Have you cried at the movies?

Yes, on multiple occasions. The last time I cried at the movies was after watching Million Dollar Baby. For about half an hour after the movie I was not approachable. The reason was that I had realized that I don’t want to lose my father in this way. I wouldn’t want somebody to write me a letter about who my dad really was, because we had never gotten along very well… I want to know who my father really is myself.

• Have you ever been arrested?

No, I never even had to pay a fine. I got one or two warnings for the light on my bike that wasn’t on, but that’s it.

• What makes you proud?

There are many things that make me proud. I’m proud of my sister if she does well at school. I’m proud of my country when we do well in sports. I’m proud of my friends when they do things I admire them for, like my housemate Femke going to Ghana for half a year, or my housemate Annemarie performing great in a play or Susanne playing gorgeous music :). I’m proud of myself when I achieve something I didn’t expect I could, like writing a 9.5/10 research paper, or becoming belgian champion at gymnastics. But I’ll confess that I also feel pride when people are impressed with my home theater for example. I put a lot of money and effort to get it together, so yes… I feel a certain pride when people like it ;).

• Do you take bubble baths?

Heh, it’s been ages since I was in a bubble bath. We have bubble baths in a swimming pool in our town in Kortrijk, but it’s been years since I’ve been there. And since I’ve never been in a bubble bath anywhere else, it’s been years since I’ve enjoyed a bubble bath. Anybody want to buy us one for our dorm? :P
Oh wait… I was just trying to find a picture of a bubble bath, but now I’m thinking a bubble bath means a bath with foam? Not a bath that has little holes on the bottom where air is bubbling out? If it’s a foam bath you’re talking about, then I loooooove bubble baths ;). I actually love reading in bath, especially a hot foamy bath… Mmmmmmm… I often get sleepy though, so I never get really far with reading… I’ve even fallen asleep a few times. Á bath like the one in the picture would be interesting… ;)

• Do you get your eyesight checked out regularly?

About once a year I think. I’m pretty picky about my eyesight and since it’s still getting worse I have it checked from time to time. At the moment I’m at around 7.25 and 7.75. I hope it’s not going to get worse a lot more… Maybe in a few years I’ll consider having laser surgery, but an article I recently read in Sky & Telescope warned me to think about this very hard before actually doing it. The risks are still real. I hope I’ll never have to do it, but if my eyesight keeps getting worse :(…

More questions tomorrow by Maija.