The Sunday Roast

Why Mimi We Had No Idea You Could Make All That Noise!

We thought you were a quiet girl . . . and no need to hide . . . . we can see you . . . "blowing your own French Horn again!" LOL

Doe, Ray, Mimi, Fa, So, La, Te, Doe

No wonder you are all 'puffed out' and hiding behind those shades!

GET ON WITH THE ROAST, EDDIE, WE'RE STARVING!

OK

Now wait a minute . . . . now we recognise you, and I just love the smell of lavender . . . .

This week's interview is with Mimi,
who writes the blog, MimiinDublin

Thank you for the interview, Mimi

A very warm welcome to you and your followers

Here's the first of the standard questions. Why do you blog?

Cos it massages my ego!

Well, sort of...I love connecting with people and reading comments, both on my own blog and on other people’s.

Sometimes, I write a post, and after hitting publish, think “that was rubbish, nobody will want to read it”. Then some lovely comments come in, and you think “yea, this is why blogging is good”.

(It's really great when that happens, isn't it?)

What's the story behind your blog name?

I started blogging to write about my journey back to music, but quickly found that connecting with people was what it was all about, for me.

I had this blog called beginner musician, but then I lost it- I know very little about the techie side of blogging! So I started another, and blogger suggested the name mimi-mimi’s world, and I took it. For a long time, I felt it was narcissistic, and wanted to change it, but didn’t know how.

With the thoughts of this Roast going live, I was motivated to get help and change!!

And, because I’m proud of being Irish, and of Dublin, my home town, the name now is mimiindublin.

What is the best thing about being a blogger?

It’s the “connecting with people” thing again - you can make friends all over the world, you can read and comment on posts at any hour without disturbing people. I’m a late-night owl, and most people don’t like getting texts or phone calls at 1 or 2 am!

So I lost all my friends, and had to make new ones by blogging! Lol

(I cannot believe you could lose any friends . . . . unless of course you give them a blast with your French Horn!)

What key advice would you give to a newbie blogger?

I’m not really qualified to give people advice, but just enjoy yourself and don’t insult anyone!

(Actually that is some of the best advice I have seen from a 'roastee' to date)

What is the most significant blog post you've ever read?

That’s a hard question, Eddie, I’m sizzling now on your Roast, so I’ll tell you 3 and hope you’ll turn down the heat on this spit.

(There we go again - I ask for two and you give me three! Do you ladies feel there should be a permanent special BOGOFF promotion? LOL. Only kidding!)

David Mc Mahon’s farewell (and I’m still hoping that he’ll return some day).

I was fairly new to blogging, and really enjoyed reading David’s posts and looking at his wonderful photography. The day I logged on and saw the words “that’s it Folks” I just couldn’t believe it!

Because I had only just discovered his blog, I felt as though I had arrived at a fantastic party just as everyone was leaving! I left him a comment to that effect. And I have checked back regularly, just in case he’s back and my “blogs I’m following” thingy is not working.

(Yes, Mimi, we ALL miss David who helped so many bloggers. For those who do not know I did a special roast edition for David to celebrate the 100th Sunday Roast. In this he expands the reasons for his decision to quit blogging. We all hope he will return one day. Well worth a read - for those who missed it press HERE)

My second choice is Maggie May’s post, Back Today, after her first lot of chemo just cut through my heart.

(Mine too, Mimi, because as you know she is my big sister and I love her to bits)

I suppose cancer is a big fear for us all, and thinking of a friend going through this was terrible. Maggie’s posts, detailing the chemo, have all been significant for me; even though we’ve never met, I feel a connection to her, and I have learned a lot from her experience. I hope and pray for a long and healthy life for Maggie from now on.

(Thank you, Mimi, let's hope our prayers are answered - many people in Blogland are helping in this way)

My third choice is this post called Home by Amy at She Writes.

There is something so beautiful, so hopeful in it, and the accompanying photographs are the icing on the cake. I could read Amy’s writing forever.

What is the most significant blog post you've ever written?

I’m not much of a writer, I think I just rattle on, post a few photos of Ireland, and connect with people. (there’s the” connect “ word again!).

(Well it's a very appropriate word - very true)

However, there is one post that I thought about a lot before I hit the publish button:

The blog post was called Letter To My Mother/ If I could Get A Plane To Heaven . It was a big decision to share those feelings with the world of blogging, and the response I got was fantastic- so sensitive, so understanding.

(I am looking forward to reading it, Mimi)

If you were to suggest two blogs for roasting who would you pick, and why?

Eddie, there are two problems here:

A lot of the bloggers that I follow have already been roasted by you or David, and it’s hard to select two, so here are a few that I enjoy having a ceili to - if you know what I mean? I hope they won’t shun me forever for putting them through this agony, ouch! But if I don’t give you the information you’re looking for, you’ll probably just turn up the heat!

(That's right! I am turning up the heat anyway . . . . because I am a nasty cruel interviewer! But wait - I ask for two and she gives me five!! Oh I see! In the instructions I say add more than two if you wish. Actually, thank you for these - I will contact them. And you are quite right that most of the people we visit have been roasted and that makes finding new people even harder - so everyone please keep your suggestions coming)

Hookin', Knittin' & Livin' because Stephanie is good fun and she posts really interesting stuff.

The B in Subtle. Nancy writes in a beautiful way about her Sonshine and her life as a Mom.

That Ridiculous Girl. She has some hilarious stories of life in an American classroom, and some serious ones of a summer doing volunteer work in Africa.

And these two for the photography:

A Little Piece Of Me. Kerri has a connection with nature that brightens my spirit every time I see one of her photographs.

Carletta's Captures. Carletta also posts some amazing photographs, and I love visiting her.

That concludes the formal aspect of the interview but it would be nice to get to know you a little better while you are slowly turning on the roasting spit. So while you are screaming in agony above the open fire here are a few more questions for you.

Pick three things you can't live without (no you cannot have ice cubes to cool you down)

Hubby and 3 kids. I don’t write much about them, cos they wouldn’t like that, but they are my world. I just love them to bits.

Chocolate - I have some lovely chocolate fridge magnets; one of my favourites is “I’d give up chocolate but I’m no quitter”. That sums me up- can’t imagine a day without chocolate!

Aromatherapy - just couldn’t imagine life without my beloved oils! Doing an Aromatherapy course was definitely one of the best decisions I ever made.

If we were to make a movie about blogland, what would it be and who would you cast in the leading roles?

Wouldn’t that be so much fun!!

Ok, I’m not great on movies, I usually fall asleep at them.!

But how about Mama Mia? You could have Pierce Brosnan’s role (see, I can’t even remember the character’s name!) and I’d let you pick everyone else!

(It's Sam Carmichael, lucky blighter! . . . . . and you're making me pick everyone else!! You lazy creature!! This casting I now have to do is way beyond the scope of this roast so I will have to do a post on it . . . . watch out for it on Eddie's blog. Crumbs another job I have to do! You're worse than Mrs Bluelights)

If you could live your life again who would you be, and why?

I would be myself, cos I’m happy with the deal that I got. Some of my life has been tough, but nobody sails through - we all get tough times, and it’s how we deal with it that counts. Having good friends to lean on is a great blessing that I’m always grateful for.

(Well spoken, Mimi. We all should settle for what we've got . . . . some of these celebrities could learn a lot from us)

You have been given a wonderful talent from above. This causes you to make your mark on humanity and be world famous. In which area would prefer: a best selling novelist, a brilliant artist, a gifted musician, a fantastic singer, a charismatic leader, anything you choose, and why?

All of them!

(You greedy thing! Oh I expect you'd love to play Mozart's Horn Concerto, wouldn't you? Which one? This one! LOL)



( . . . . . . . tell us, Mimi, have you pinched this chap's French Horn?
Sorry, I interrupted, please continue!)

Ok, stop this thing sizzling me and I’ll tell you one, OUCH!

The musician - I turned my back on music when I was 15, and only came back to playing 5 years ago. I just love it! So I think that to be a gifted musician and to give people so much pleasure would be fantastic. However, gifted musicians do practice a lot too - I recently went to see Leon Fleischer in concert. He developed Dystonia, which hits classical musicians and is, in some sense, the body’s reaction to all that practice. Leon lost, overnight, the use of 2 fingers on his right hand. He spent the next 40 years overcoming this condition, and it was magical to hear him play now, at age 82!

(Would be great to hear him)

If you were an ice cream cone, which flavour would you prefer and who would you most want to lick you?

I’d be chocolate cookie dough! And I think I’d just lick myself!

(Sensible answer to a silly question)

Describe in one sentence your perfect day

Breakfast of croissants sitting in the sun, picnic lunch on a walk in the mountains, with my lover reading poetry to me and holding my hand, evening in a superb concert hall in Vienna, with lots of champagne, knowing that the following day was going to be more or less the same! Perfect!

(Your imagination does you credit)

If you were a fictional writer which one would you be and why?

Charlotte Bronte - powerful, independent woman!

What was your most embarrassing moment?

There have been lots, but one that sticks out? As a teenager, being seen licking a plate (ice cream!) by my brother’s friend. Luckily, I didn’t fancy him, but I was afraid he’d tell everyone what he’d seen me doing!

(It's fun to recall these moments which at the time beckon you to crawl into the largest dark hole you can find. I'll tell you mine one day!)

And finally if you have answered all these questions I invite you to ask me one in return - it's the least I can do. OK fire away!

What was your worst moment as an ambulance driver? If it’s too gorey, then tell us your funniest moment.

It's not really gorey because I was in patient transport and not A&E where the really gorey work was, and I heard some very hair raising stories.

I have so many funny stories which I am dieing to post. One which comes to mind is during training when I was faced with what to do with a hyperthetical injured motor cyclist, played by a fellow student. She was wearing a skid lid (a crash helmet) and all the leathers and she was positioned right next to a fence, and when we entered the scene that is what we saw. A colleague and I had to make an assessment as to how to manage the situation. We decided that my colleague would hold her head still which is vital and I would take off her helmet, Then we planned fitting head restraints and strapping her to a board to keep her head still to prevent possible neck injuriy. I was carefully trying to ease the helmet off her head with little success when she opened her eyes and whispered between her teeth, "Undo the strap, Eddie, you're pulling my head off!" Fortunately the examiner did not notice this slight oversight LOL.

Thank you again Mimi - this was great fun and keep playing that horn!

I have posted a 'special' on my second blog, Plato's Procrastinations, featuring the gentlemen responsible for the French Horn on the You Tube. Press HERE to read about Michael Flanders and Donald Swann. Their other famous song is, "I'm a GNU, how do you do!"

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Today's Sunday Roast with Mimi is the 126th in a weekly
series of interviews with bloggers from around the world. ______________________________________________

This interview will feature in The Roll of Honour
for all published Roasts. To view press HERE
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