At some point in the not-too-distant past (in fact, let's be candid: it was Once Upon A Time, as in all the best fairy tales!), Almirena was born. Or presumably so… as she declares that she does not recall the event clearly. There are some fractured memories of that time – seemingly there was a doctor or some such person who objected to being told how to go about the whole doctor-helping-birth-along process by some new-born infant…
At any rate, bells rang, citizens cheered, tra-la, tra-la… for they knew that Almirena had been born (and also her father King Za'ha-oudin gave everyone a free pardon. What had they done? Oh, a variety of crimes – failing to cheer loudly enough when he appeared, failing to breathe separate air, failing to … you get the idea…).
And so this remarkable infant grew, as infants have the habit of doing, into a young child, then a teenager, and then a young woman. She fell in love with books as soon as she encountered them, and with music as soon as she was taken to see the opera "Tosca" at age 5. She exhibited a delight in creating stories, in leading others into mischief, and specialised in looking innocent so that no-one could possibly suspect she'd been the ring-leader.
From the first, she'd had a God-given voice, and as soon as she was able, she began to have it trained in classical singing. As a lyric/dramatic coloratura, there are many roles available to her (all the mad ones – and don't say what you're planning to say! ), but she longs to sing things which she'll never be permitted to sing. Roles such as Turandot…
Ah well… Almirena soothes her desire to sing huge dramatic roles by acting them instead. She's performed in such classic roles as Lady Macbeth, Salomè, and Sadie (from Rain). Her favourite singing roles are Violetta (La Traviata), Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Lakmè (Lakmè) … and – hold on! If we include every role she loves, this page will be far too long! Okay, that's it… no more…
As a voracious reader, Almirena will read almost everything… including classic literature, poetry, science fiction, fantasy, humour, mysteries, thrillers, general fiction, plays, romances, historical fiction and non-fiction, and so on… with favourites such as Pratchett, Doug Adams, Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, Susan Cooper, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, George MacDonald, Ngaio Marsh… (oh-oh, we're onto the endless lists again! Stop it right now! )
She has a huge CD collection of opera and classical vocal music, which spans early mediæval to early 20th century repertoire, and enjoys composers as diverse as Guillaume de Machaut, Handel, Mozart, R. Strauss, Verdi, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Monteverdi, Massenet, Pu- (she's doing it again! The list goes on, and on, and on…)
Apart from those two interests, Almirena also enjoys horse-riding, archery, tennis (if she's playing with a really bad opponent who can make her look good ), art (looking at it, not painting – believe me, you don't want to see her painting), writing both stories and poetry, watching old classic movies, theatre, dancing, creating stunning dishes (French, Italian and German cuisine, especially) and rock-climbing (if the rocks are small). At some point, she might do spelunking…
Almirena's also a devotee of certain computer games – namely the adventure games by Sierra, including Quest for Glory, King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Freddy Pharkas – and Monkey Island (the list stops here. Right here. For now).
Almirena balances deep beliefs with a burning quest to know more, and she sees life as a journey in which more can always be learned, where perfection is in the pursuit of good, and God is the light of that pursuit. She continues to devote time to reading philosophical works, thinking about them, making up her own mind, but always learning… She speaks several languages, and wants to learn more…
I don't suppose you want to know that her great weakness is Belgian chocolate, hmmm? That she is a slave to coffee (freshly ground, rich dark beans, of course!) and to taste-seducing Normandy-style Brie? Or that she cries when she listens to superbly-performed Mozart? That she quotes from her favourite poets rather too much? That she loves the tango? That she's an incessant list-maker and her posts are always too long? No… let her keep a few secrets…
