Pets (past, present and future)[edit]

One of my main interests in life are animals. I had an endless list of pets when I was growing up (turtles, hamsters, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, parrots, mice, canaries, parakeets, guppies-you name it- I've probably smothered one of those to death). The only pet I wanted and never got was a boa; I think I'll get one of those in the next few years, an albino preferably.

This User LOVES Parakeets.

This user loves Great Danes.

That's Bono, my beloved late dane (April 7th, 2003— June 16th, 2010). He was a very rare blue-eyed harlequim great dane and I loved him as a first-born child. Apart from eating a couple of australian parakeets when growing up and biting a hairdresser's butt, he was peaceful, playful and obedient. All dogs go to heaven, haven't you heard?

Testy Tests[edit]

How now, my headstrong! where have you been gadding?

Know Thyself[edit]

This test you can take here was quite accurate about my personality type, which is Introverted (I) iNtuitive(N) Feeling (F) Perceiving (P).

INFP: "Questor". These people are idealistic, self-sacrificing, and somewhat cool or reserved. They are very family and home oriented, but don't relax well. High capacity for caring. High sense of honor derived from internal values. 1% of the total population.

In essence, I need lots of time alone and I'm scared to death of speaking up at meetings (I'm rarely on time for them anyways-time is relative). I'm also a very girly girl, and I'm very caring about others but easily hurt, so beware cause I often take things too personally. Nonetheless, I easily forgive people (cause nothing in human relationships is final, least of all decisions taken or words said during a heated discussion) and most of the times I will not be concerned about "what was said" during an argument but about "how it was said".

Nobody loves a woman because she is handsome or ugly, stupid or intelligent. We love because we love.[edit]

This IQ Test is fun! It not only tells you your numerical intelligence quotient (if such a thing even exists) but also tells you a bit about your reasoning pattern.
I scored as a Facts Curator...ah, "sweet, syrupy vanity" as some may say...

Like a meticulous collector, you've fed your brain a unique set of facts and figures over the years and this makes you a Facts Curator. Whether or not you intend to absorb every piece of information that comes your way, your mind is a sponge for knowledge.

The words in your head could almost fill a dictionary, and you're equally adept at manipulating numbers and detecting important patterns in number sequences.

This means I'm quite good at memorizing foolish random stuff (some of which I don't know how or why I remember)...for example, did you know Mata Hari's real name was Gertrude Zelle? or that John Milton wrote Aeropagitica in 1644? I do, and I'm not even familiar with Milton's work for crying out loud...

Oh, L'amour[edit]

I just love these silly tests you can find all over the net...here's one of my favorites called, "Who's Your Type?", which supposedly tells you who's the perfect guy/girl for you...

This user is a Renaissance man; Poor hygiene, bad teeth, and a life expectancy of 35.

My result is the Renaissance man?!...and I'm a Facts Curator? Then,"Quick! to the Museum..." ;D
This man is extremely passionate about everything you can think of. His interests run the gamut, from football scores to Dutch art, and he delves into all of his interests enthusiastically. Your man will do anything and go anywhere and most likely have a smile on his face the whole time. You'll constantly be mesmerised by how much information he soaks up and retains. Whether it's because he's extremely well cultured or due to his romantic nature, you can't help yourself falling for this bloke. Although he has a plethora of redeeming qualities, this great catch can be somewhat dotty. He can sometimes lose sight of reality and wind up living happily in the clouds. But when it comes down to it, that's exactly where this man will put you - on cloud nine.

Knowledge of other people's beliefs and ways of thinking must be used to build bridges, not to create conflicts...[edit]

This user believes truth is adaequatio intellectus et rei, or something like that.

This user is interested in the Brights movement.

I think this test result tells a bit more about myself. I found it in someone's user page here at Wikipedia (I don't recall whom..oh, wait, I do, it's someone nicknamed "The Minister of War" (love?) lol). You may take it here

More about me in Userbox Format[edit]

:-] This user is polite and expects others to act accordingly.	32 This user is 32 years old.	This user is a child at heart. They might have grown older, but they'll never grow up.
C2H6O-1 This user drinks relatively infrequently.	This user does not smoke.	This user is not a biological parent.
This user is an art lover.	This user is a bibliophile.	This user is evil, and frequently says mwhahaha!
This user has a sense of humour and shows it on their userpage.	This user is monoamorous and expects his or her partner to be likewise.	♂♀ This user supports gender equality.
This user is heterosexual but not homophobic.	X This user does not believe in the existence of human races, except as a social construct. X	HRC This user supports the Human Rights Campaign.
This user enjoys cooking.	This user exercises regularly and drinks a lot of water to stay hydrated.

Walk the Plank, ye Filthy Foolish Fiend![edit]

This user is a Pirate. Arrr!

Ahoy, me hearties! Before I be loaded to the gunwales let me spin you a merry yarn or two o' me sweet trade as a mighty buccanneer thar on board me furner, o' booty o'doubloons so grand no Jolly Roger squadron has e'er e'en layn eyes upon a fortieth share and o' legendary corsairs that now be feastin' with grog on Fiddlers Green. So brin'ye peg leg and ye parrot hither and let's partake some pretty grub until, By the Powers!, we must weigh anchor, hoist the mizzen and part to arms me lads.

This user agrees that Pirates are better than Ninjas. Y'arr!

But I do beseech thee, for this lass is none of ye flirt-gills and can go swashbucklin' like any regular gentlemen o' fortune so don't come hither in ye fine ninja breeches you lily-livered landlubbers unless ya care to taste the cold steel of my hook or feel my cat o' nine tails on your mangy cur's anatomy, for I'll lay the black spot on ye swifter than yee can say,"Skuttle me Skippers!". So avast yer gob afore I keelhaul ye an' string yer bones from the crow's nest for I don't know as I recall askin' ye for yer thoughts, ye bilge-drinkin' scurvy scallywags. ARRRRR!

Other things I'm interested in, besides pirates...[edit]

Then, Éowyn of Rohan, I say to you that you are beautiful. In the valleys of your hills there are flowers fair and bright, and maidens fairer still; but neither maiden nor lady have I seen till now in Gondor so lovely, and so sorrowful. It may be that only a few days are left ere darkness falls upon our world, and when it comes I hope to face it steadily; but it would ease my heart, if while the Sun yet shines, I could see you still. For you and I have both passed under the wings of the Shadow, and the same hand drew us back.

This user believes that "all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players".

Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree:

IL Divo[edit]

My first and most beloved contribution to Wikipedia is the article about Il Divo, my favorite operatic pop band, including each of the divos' biographies. I was appalled when I tried to search for them at Wikipedia and I came up with a stub!

I also created the IL DIVO Barnstar, awarded in recognition of an individual's special interest or contributions to Il Divo related articles. It was introduced by me on March 12, 2006. List of users that have received this barnstar: Danielle, Peruvianllama, user 68.39.174.238, Noli, user 200.52.176.142, Monique Wuttunee, AzaToth, Vivaitalia57, Jay, Rellon and myself.

Thanks to AzaToth for creating the Il Divo Ribbon.

My First Award![edit]

Wikiworks[edit]

My second contribution to Wikipedia is the article on the Vallenato Legend Festival. This is the most important festival of its genre in the world since vallenato music is native to Colombia. When I first read it, I found it was an awkward stub that had been directly copied from the official spanish website. I'm not a fan of this particular type of music but it's so popular here that it wasn't difficult to come up with something better.

This user drinks orange juice.

Ahhh, sweet and colorful orange juice...my third minor contribution is also my favorite drink.

This user enjoys Jelly Beans.

(drool) yummy Jelly Beans (except for the black one yuck!) ... a delicious contribution.

I've just recently become aware of the imperative need of translations in Wikipedia. Having Spanish as my native language, I've joined the list of translators at Wikipedia:Babel. My first contribution has been the translation of verses III to XI of Colombia's National Anthem, ¡Oh Gloria Inmarcesible!.

This user loves userboxes.

I've been spending some time with userboxes. I've joined the Wikipedia:WikiProject Userboxes. I've also designed a few userboxes, organized others that weren't labelled correctly, edited one or two, even created a Userbox Barnstar Award to congratulate those userbox contributors whose creations I particularly like.

This user has been awarded the Userbox Star Award for creating a particularly notable userbox.

It was introduced by me on March 23, 2006. List of users to whom I have given this barnstar (if you click on their user names here you will see the userbox that won them the award): Blarneytherinosaur, Grutness, Aquarius Rising, Check-Six, JustPhil, Velho and Nouly.

Enrico Pace[edit]

I created an article on this fabulous italian piano player. I saw his performance of Liszt's Totentanz and wow...I mean...wow...he deserved an article at Wikipedia. I can't thank Louise enough for her translations from Dutch for this article.

Armando Manzanero[edit]

This user is a member of WikiProject Music.

I created the page on the Latin American musician Armando Manzanero. He is VERY famous in Latin America, a bit of an old timer...maybe that explains why he didn't have a proper page before. I'm really proud of this page as it's a personal milestone for me, it's the first page I've written using proper references and language usage. (Unlike Il Divo's articles where everything seems to be in a mess as I didn't follow many of the guidelines being a newbie editor). I just love how I've been able to work in this page without discussions or vandalism interference. It seems not many English-speaking youngsters are interested in Mr. Manzanero's work, which in this case is a good thing as that usually doesn't mean there will be more contributors to the page but more vandals instead.

This user comes from Colombia.

That's the main reason why I have ceased to actively contribute to Colombia's article; it's just constantly under attack. Besides, most of the so called "contributors" basically copy-paste any information they find on the web without citing their source and without even caring for the style of the article as a whole or of what previous contributors have written. Thus, information is awkwardly repeated, percentages rarely sum up to 100% and I've even seen some major stupidity like claiming that Colombia has a festival for every day of the year.

Antonio Ricaurte[edit]

That doesn't mean I won't contribute with anything else that's related to Colombia of course. I created the bio on this romantic martyr of the Colombian Independence War. Antonio Ricaurte, a captain of Bolivar's army who blew himself up in a Spanish stronghold at the San Mateo battle to weaken the enemy. His courageous action gained him immortal fame and is remembered in the last stanzas of the National Anthem, "...in atoms flying "Duty before life!" in flames he wrote!"... "in atoms flying"...now there's a figure of speech for "being blown to smithereens"...

On 9 May, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Antonio Ricaurte, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

Naming Conventions[edit]

I've also worked a bit on changing naming conventions at Wikipedia, particularly this little phrase, "article naming should prefer to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize". I've discussed this at lenght in Talk: Waldemar Matuška and Talk:Mario López. The main reasons why I think it's necessary for Wikipedia to start the process of allowing native spellings in articles and redirecting any English users who search for an article using us-ascii to the article with the native spelling are the following:

• First, an encyclopaedia's purpose is to enlighten about subjects foreign to us, like foreign cultures and how they manifest themselves differently to our own culture, like through the use of a different language. Therefore, not using the native name constitutes a loss of information for all of us.

• Second, it's an issue of respect. By its very own nature, an encyclopaedia values foreign cultures, that's why it's interested in knowing about them (when you don't value something there's no reason to study and research it). Part of having esteem for a foreing culture is to respect its people's native name and not change it because it's difficult for you to pronounce it. The perfect example for this is one of Mr. Mandela's childhood anecdotes on how a teacher at his school changed his name from "Rolihlahla" to "Nelson" in apartheid time in South Africa.

• Third, it creates confussion unnecessarily. For example, wouldn't it be easier if all of us had to call the Deutsch language, people and their country by the same name? How come in English it is "German", in Spanish "Alemán" and in German "Deutsch"? Having to learn all of those variants is just a big waste of time and it makes it difficult for us to communicate with foreigners who as a rule are not (and shouldn't be) familiar with local terms.

• Finally, this does not constitute a "revolution in language", it's standard practice in other languages like Spanish for example (I only use it as an example because it's the only other language I profoundly know about, not because I want the English language to adapt to the Spanish language). Until a generation ago the Spanish language "Hispanised" foreign names so we had for example Benito Espinoza and Pepino el Breve (which was quite akward as "pepino" means "cucumber" in Spanish lol). This has changed since and now native spellings are recognized as desirable spellings, even if the process of adapting all "Hispanised" words is painfully slow and there's still a long, long, long way to go. At the end though, it's inevitable, as we will be forced to be more and more in contact with foreign cultures in the near future.

Currently working on...[edit]

I was on wikibreak for four long years and my interests have widely varied— one might even say I'm a very different person now. I don't even know whether it's wise for me to become an active wikiuser again. While I give this matter some thought, I've done a bit of translation from the spanish Wikipedia. Also editing a couple of pages of Colombian political figures Gustavo Petro and Antonio Navarro Wolff which apparently have been hijacked by blind supporters.

Wiki Hell[edit]

I hereby condemn user 82.108.132.146 to burn in the eternal seas of fire of Wiki-Hell for adding external links to more than twenty articles pertaining to famous musical soloists and bands for the sole purpose of advertising sites where ringtones of each of the musical artists' songs were sold. This user is not only a spamvertiser but is also trying to use Wikipedia for fraudulent purposes as these sites claim to be "official", which is untrue. On April 3, 2006, I single-handedly reverted all of this user's "contributions" to a total of twenty-three musical groups' articles including Il Divo, Pink, Oasis, McFly and Westlife.

Defender of the Wiki Barnstar I, The Halo, hereby give you this Defender of the Wiki Barnstar, in recognition of your hard work keeping musical artist's articles free from commercial links.Yours, The Halo (talk) 11:42, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Tired of Wikipedia? Get help![edit]

I hereby award Rosa the Esperanza Barnstar for such great work in the Barnstar Brigade! NauticaShades^(talk) 19:30, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

This user was a member of the Esperanza Barnstar Brigade.

Hey, feeling stressed out by all the nonsense going on with other wikipedians? After a heated discussion it's best to have a nice cup of tea and a sit down. It's really helpful and relaxing. You may also join Esperanza and meet some fabulously nice people who will help you unwind. Adiós, Rosa

		The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
		For your great work in the Barnstar Brigade giving out lots of awards to many deserving people, I proudly award you this barnstar! Jam01 02:41, 28 October 2006 (UTC)