Real love

My mom and dad began dating 30 years ago today. Within a year they were married, and they still are, quite happily. This is what I want to find, because I think if theirs isn't real love, I don't know what is. Thirty years and going on strong. Wow.

I'll keep my eyes open tonight when we go to celebrate May Day. The day has a good vibe to it. ;) Although I don't have that much time for the scenery (heh) before we go to my friends' place where there will be four married couples and me. The quality of the company is without a doubt extremely high, there's just no chance for me to meet anyone new there. Oh well, I'd rather spend the evening with good friends than wander from full-packed bar to another tonight, anyhow. :)

In other words,

Hauskaa vappua kaikille!

It's done

Now I've done it. I've officially and finally taken the step towards separation from my dear car. I posted a "for sale" message in a Skoda enthusiasts' forum. Now I can only hope someone buys it and gives it a good home. *snif*


Here's my darling in front of our house in Nousiainen.

Oh, the times we've had together...

Frustration hits

Argh, argh, argh. No matter how much I try, I just cannot do everything all at once! I'm getting so frustrated.

Yes, I should be working on those Eximia course materials like crazy by now, but it's not happening. I'm not saying I haven't done anything, because I really have. Today, for example, I met the two tutors, who will be helping the students with their studies. We sat down and had a very good meeting, which actually cleared many things for me.

But wouldn't life be easy, if that'd be all that I have to do? Yep, it'd be too easy and quite frankly, not my life, either. :)

Luckily I'm still quite optimistic about having everything under control. I have a week and a half to plan most of the lessons for the Eximia course. I have a week to study for my Finnish dialects exam. I have no hope of touching anything that has to do with my thesis, though, for at least another three or so weeks. Frustrating.

And as the icing on the cake, we have Spin. I'm not exactly sure when the first number of the year is going to be done. It all depends on the printing company at the moment, so there's really nothing I can do about that. I'm hoping we'll get it out by the end of the week.

Which then brings me to the issue of deadlines. A word that makes my bloodpressure rocket skyhigh at the moment. The deadline for the second Spin of the year is on Friday, you see. But as it happens, the zine has had a very poor record of being published when it's supposed to in the recent past. Which is one of the reasons why I was asked to become the editor in the first place. Sort of. And now it seems I'm fighting against windmills and old relics of habits.

How am I ever supposed to get the zine back on track if people think I'm not serious about the deadlines? I'd like to scream out of sheer angst over some things that have been said to me lately. It's like I'm being treated like everything I say is a joke. It's not like I emailed everyone on the voluntary staff about all the deadlines for this year in friggin' January just so that they could shrug it off because the deadlines haven't been followed in the past either! And just because Spin 1/05 hasn't been delivered to everyone's door yet, it doesn't mean that I'm not already working on the second number and that the deadline shouldn't be followed by everyone else, too. *angst attack and utter frustration*

I know I'm a rookie. I know I'm also a young(ish) woman trying to be an editor. I know I'm a person who doesn't like to get mad at anyone and most of all, I know I absolutely HATE it when I'm not taken seriously when I actually mean to be serious (yes, I can be serious sometimes!). And I'd really, really like to have people listen to me in the matters of this zine I'm supposed to be the editor of. But as the case is, I'm mightily pissed off (excuse my language here) and angry about the attitude of some people.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. *sigh*

Bookish fun

Yay, Vierran45 passed this one to me, whee. :) Lemmesee, if I can do this...

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
Ursula Le Guin's The Wizard of Earthsea.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
I don't have to tell you how many times, now do I? :)

The last book you finished is?
On the non-fictional side it was William H. McNeill: Plagues and Peoples and from the wonderful world of fiction it was actually George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings (Finnish translation).

What are you currently reading?
At the moment only (!) three books at the same time, usually I have more...

Kristiina Kalleinen: "Isänmaani onni on kuulua Venäjälle" - Vapaaherra Lars Gabriel von Haartmanin elämä
Dorothy Dunnet: The Game of Kings
Guy Gavriel Kay: The Summer Tree (Finnish translation)

Five books you would take to a deserted island?
Oh dear, this is a tough one.

Well, let's begin with the obvious and see what else is there...
J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
Gabriel García Márquez: Hundred Years of Solitude (my old favourite ever since mom gave it to me when I was leaving to the States for a year - I'm not quite sure she didn't intend the pun...)
Väinö Linna: Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier)
Mika Waltari: Sinuhe egyptiläinen (The Egyptian)
Ursula Le Guin: The Earthsea -series

I'd probably want to take quite a lot more of books with me, like for instance the complete Sandman-series, but these would keep me busy for a while.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Tytti.
Aino.
Kaisa.

Well, because these ladies visit my blog and have a blog or lj of their own to post this to in their turn. In addition, I would've liked to say Robert, but his blog concentrates on different matters... Hey, Rob, if you want to take the challenge anyway, post your answers as comments to my blog! :)

It's just a drill...

Lately I've felt like I live on a construction site. There's an excavation in the front yard, which has effectively blocked the front door for a week or so (there was some plumbing or whatever that had to be fixed, so first they dug up the old pipes, put in the new ones and now they're filling the hole, so I'm hoping I can use the front door on Monday again...), there were the nice guys who came in yesterday to check the ventilation in my apartment (and all the other apartments, too - yet another project going on around here) and then there is my upstairs neighbour, who is apparently renovating the newly bought apartment before moving in, which is understandable.

Plus, in a week or so, there's going to be a code lock system installed to our front door, which is very nifty. I won't have to drop my keys to my friends from the balcony anymore. Although it was somehow nicely Shakespearean to come out to the balcony to greet a friend who would come by later in the evening when the front door was already locked...

So what's the downside? We're obviously going to have more effective plumbing in the building, since the new pipes won't have tree roots in them (that was the problem with the old one, we're told) and the air in our apartments is going to be cleaner. And our friends can get in by just punching in the right code. Just great.

And in a way I'm also happy for my neighbour, who's going to have a nice renovated apartment to move in to. Good for him / her / them.

Unfortunately the new neighbour hasn't impressed me much. Woken me up a lot, though. Which is the topic of my complaining today.

Why oh why is it mandatory to use any / all powertools ridiculously early in the morning? Like before 8 a.m.? It must be some kind of rule of renovating. "If you need to use your drill / powertool for 15 minutes during the whole day, be sure you use it before 8 a.m." Seriously. This guy has woken me up at least on four mornings already, just about 10 minutes before my alarm goes off at 8 o'clock. It annoys the heck out of me to have to wake up to the roaaaarrr or screeeeech of a powertool - why can't he wait till, say, 8.30 a.m.? And honestly, after he's used the drill for (at the most) half an hour, he doesn't pick it up once during the rest of the day. Argh. I need and want all the minutes of sleep I can get! *sigh* I so want to live in a house of my own...

I promised I'd post a few more pictures of the show today, so here you go.


This is Mansikki, the Dreadful Dragon, chilling in my livingroom before the performance.


Here's our magnificent trio, Sharifa (Heli), Gamila (Satu) and Fikriya (yours truly), off to save the glassbowl of light...

(Nour-il-Omri, the Light of Life, was actually a glassbowl with blue Christmas lights in it. Very stylish, as the lights could be turned on/off from a switch in the base of the whole thing. The bowl was upside down, you see. In a tinfoil wrapping. Ah, I think you needed to see the thing to understand, hehe.)


The feast in the Magical Forest, our opening scene.

So there. Now I'm off to watch some tv. And read some more about Lars Gabriel von Haartman, who is a very notable figure in Finnish history during the time of autonomy. He was a busy man, that fellow.

Meet Fikriya...

Here are two pictures of me in full costume for last Saturday's performance (thanks to Satu for taking them). Not too bad, even though I say so myself. ;) I think I should spend some time in the gym doing something to my "wobbly bits" (as Bridget Jones so nicely put it) around my tummy, but there's still time before the bikini season begins, right? :P


See all those beads and sequins? Those are the ones that kept me awake for six nights...


And some more beads and sequins...

I'll post more pictures tomorrow, now I'm too tired... Nighty night.

My inner European

Vierran45 had this little meme in her lj, so naturally I snitched it from her.

Your Inner European is Italian!

Passionate and colorful. You show the world what culture really is.

Who's Your Inner European?

I like the boots, anyway. :)

And then I found this. My Celtic horoscope from the same site the meme above was originally taken. Nice.

You Are A Maple Tree

There's not anyone in this world quite like you. You are full of imagination, ambition, and originality. Shy but confident, you hunger for new experiences. You have a good memory and learn easily. You are sometimes nervous and always complex (especially in love).

What is Your Celtic Horoscope?

Complex? Who, me? ;)

Habemus papam!

Turns out I was more of a pessimist rather than an optimist when I thought the cardinals might need one more day to find a new supreme pontiff, as the catholic world now has a new pope, the German born Joseph Ratzinger, who chose as his papal name Benedict XVI.

It'll take a while to learn to say that, since for all my life the title of the pope has seemed to be "pope John Paul II" (in Finnish it sounds more like a single title - paavi Johannes Paavali - especially if it's said quickly) and all the Benedicts were just names from the past.

What is interesting, is that the cardinals in their conclave decided to choose Ratzinger, who now became the oldest pope chosen in a century or so. His papacy will not, I think I'll be safe to assume, be nearly as long as his predecessor's, since he is already 78 years old. Maybe he was chosen, because the church doesn't want a second consecutive papacy as long as John Paul's was. But they do seem to want the conservative line to continue, since Ratzinger is known to support the late pope's principals in many ways.

Time will tell, I suppose.

(I missed the white smoke by probably just a minute or so, as I was flipping back and forth from BBC's coverage to other programs, darn it. But I did get tuned in on BBC before it was confirmed that the smoke was indeed white and before the bells of St. Peter's began tolling. And I did catch the Latin declaration of "Habemus papam!" Yay. That's tv-entertainment.)

Chimney watch

Good grief. Who would've thought that watching a tiny chimney on tv could be so exciting? Will there be smoke tonight? Probably, because there hasn't been an announcement telling the world that the college of cardinals has left the building... (Haha.)

I'm sitting glued to my sofa (except for now, of course - and damn it, if the puff of smoke arises while I sit here!) and watching BBC World's live coverage from the Vatican. The cardinals in the Sistine Chapel are voting away behind locked doors and people all around the world are watching that chimney. Any bets on when the college of cardinals will arrive at a result and the Catholic world will have a new pope? I'm thinking Wednesday, third ballot? :) That could be a bit optimistic, because that would mean only eight rounds of voting (one tonight, four per day from tomorrow on), but hey, I'm an optimistic person. And I'm thinking they might select an Italian pope again. A wild guess.

Btw, I'm not going to bet my money on any of this. Not one cent. So that you know and there are no misunderstandings. You can bet anything you want, I'm just playing with the thought. :)

Edit about 10 minutes later: Well, there was smoke. And also an oddly intense moment, when the BBC reporter pondered: "That does look white to me..." Gasp! But after a while, it was clearly black smoke. Quite a bit of it, too. I wouldn't have thought 115 ballot cards on a string would've made the chimney huff and puff for so long. I wonder what chemicals they use to secure the color of the smoke? Hmm.

Eek! My eyelashes are falling!

It's showtime. Or was, yesterday. And as you can see, I'm still alive!

I've been performing so much over the past 10 or so years that I don't usually fret about it much anymore. Only a few small butterflies in my tummy, which is absolutely necessary for everything to go well. I quite like being on stage. I don't like to watch myself on video afterwards, but at least most people tell me I look decent enough when I perform.

Yesterday's show was a bit different. I had to be on stage through the whole thing with Satu and Heli, since we were supposed to be the trio that saves the day along Nour-il-Omri, the Light of Life. As much as I wanted to be an actress when I was a kid (after seeing 1000 and 1 Nights in the local theatre), I don't think I was meant to be one. I don't think I'd have the talent for it, which is one of the reasons I was pretty nervous before the curtains opened. Am I going to look like a statue of salt or like an idiotic clown when prancing around not dancing?

I was also very uncertain about my solo dance, since I had to hassle with the huge velvet cloak, which eventually led to me improvising the final parts of the dance. I felt like I had two left feet and absolutely no sense of balance or control over what I was doing. I don't think the audience noticed it, but I felt somewhat dissatisfied afterwards. And I couldn't even go backstage to grumble about it, darn it. Oh well.

Truth be told, I think the show went well. Some small technical problems (with the sound on the stage, with the lighting and such, nothing catastrophic, though) for sure, but over all the dances looked like they went well for everyone. Ilkka, our young guest star, performed an amazing "Forging the Sword" -dance in the style of Riverdance. He got the loudest cheers, which was no surprise. I think the dance world will hear of this young man yet. He's so talented and obviously very motivated. It's wonderful to see such enthusiasm in a 15-year old.

You know that old saying of rolling stones and moss? I was thinking I'd be happy to gather a bit of green growth after this show was over. I suppose I should've known better... Anu and Heli are already planning on taking this same performance "on tour", to be performed for school kids or at least once more on stage in Uusikaupunki. Honestly, it would be dumb not to do that, since there was quite a lot of work done for the show and for what - only one performance? Not really worth it, I guess. But at the same time I'm so glad they're talking about schedules for next spring, and not like in two months time. Anyhow, at least I already have an embroidered dress for any future showings of "The Light of the Magical Woods". I'll post a few pictures later next week when I get them on cd. (My computer lacks a usb-card or somethingrather.)

Before I do that, you can go here and see the article Turun Sanomat wrote about our group and show. In the picture you'll see Ilkka and Anu showing their skills. (Omg, the jumps that kid is able to do! Gosh, they'd have to haul me up with a helicopter to get me that high...)

After the show was over, all the excessive make-up was washed away (the glitter, false eyelashes, little crystal stickers and so on), we were ready for a good meal in Harald, a local viking themed restaurant. Food was delicious, although a bit expensive, as usual. If you're ever in Turku thinking about where to eat, the place is well worth considering. (This as a piece of touristy information for my foreign friends who've never visited me in Turku...)

My night, however, wasn't over until I had called an ambulance for the first time in my life. Satu and Heli had hopped on a bus to go home and I decided I'd walk, since I really didn't have that long a way home at all. On my way I noticed a middle aged drunkard curled up in a corner, moaning about pain in his chest. I honestly don't know if the situation was real or if the guy was just unbelievably wasted, but somehow I think I was right to call the ambulance, anyway. At least the paramedics were able to check if the heart problems were real. I'd hate to think I was a person who would just pass by, when someone seemed to be in need of help. I do admit I kept my distance to the guy, since I was alone, after all, but I did stay with him till the ambulance came. I hope I was able to be of help to the poor sod. He was in such awful state that it was probably for the best for someone to come and see him anyway. If the paramedics didn't take him to the hospital, I'm sure he was taken somewhere to sober up a bit.

After that, I thought I had had enough of excitement for one day. Walked home, went to bed and slept like a log and when I woke up, I couldn't even remember what day it was...

(About the topic of the post - if there's anything I hate, it's the feeling of false eyelashes falling off when they're not supposed to. Yesterday I had surprisingly good luck with the accursed things and they stayed where they were supposed to during the performance. It'd be less than attractive to have the lashes hanging on your cheek or something while you're on stage. Take my word for it.)

Let there be work!

Aieee! Whee! Squeee! *jumps up and down in excitement*

I got work! Tralalalalaa!

Not a summerjob, but a teacher's job for next year!!! Yay!! I'm SOOOO excited! (Do you think I've used enough exclamation points to prove that yet?)

I'm going to be teaching Finnish (and hopefully history, too) in Nousiainen. Finnish in the senior high and history in the junior high. This is just perfect for me and my plans. I'm only going to have four (or max. 5) courses of Finnish and if I can get those history courses, I think I could take about 2 or 3 of them for the whole year. All in all it means that I'll have somewhere around 5-15 hours of teaching per week during the first semester. It's just so perfect I could cry. Or laugh out loud like a maniac. I can't quite make up my mind.

It's enough work to pay the rent and the bills (and hopefully put something aside for a new car or a trip to Malta or London or something) and yet there isn't too much of work for me to effectively study / finish up my thesis at the same time.

I can't believe I'm going to be a real teacher and not just a substitute anymore! It's going to be so much fun! YAY! (Now I only need a summerjob to keep me fed till mid-August...)

I'm so glad, now that I got these news, that I've decided to quit the dance teaching stuff for a while. It'll give me more of the ever so precious "free" time during the week, whether it'll be for marking exams and essays or planning lessons. Great timing.

My dance students were very nice to me this week, as the last dance classes were on Wednesday and Thursday. I got a beautiful plant&flower arrangement from the ladies in Parainen and a gift certificate to a local dance equipment shop from the ladies in Lieto. It was very thoughtful of them - they probably had noticed how my dance slippers had holes in them and how I wore the same tops every week... So today I went and bought new slippers and a very relaxed top for rehearsals. Very good.

Oh, how I wish this good mood will last till tomorrow and the recital/show/performance/whatever goes nicely. At least I'm pretty happy with my dress now, as I finished up with the beads and sequins last night. Tonight I can go to bed early, which'll be refreshing. Quite literally.

Old photos again

Remember how I told you about a sixties party I went to some time ago, before Christmas? Well, here's finally a picture of the sixties version of me. And Tytti. Aren't we chic? ;) My dress is pure vintage, it was made by my grandma for my mom. What I still can't believe is that it fit me! Mom had a good taste in colors already back then, this is the colorscheme I would've picked, too.

It's all about the sixties here.

I'm hoping I'll be able to post a bit more recent pictures next week, since I'm borrowing mom's digicamera on Saturday. I'll be able to take some shots of the dance recital and so on. Hopefully. :)

Ok, now it's back to the studies. I've been loitering by the computer way too long already.

Stress management

Phew. When this week is over, I'm going to be so happy to have survived again.

Everything always piles up. Work, studies, sequins, stuff on my desk... It's really annoying. This week is once again one of those incredibly hectic ones, even though I sit at home most of the time. To reduce the stress and strain a bit at least I already had to cancel the politics exam I was planning on taking on Friday. I just cannot effectively study 1200 pages of politics, concentrate on the materials for the history prep course and embroider my dress for Saturday's recital at the same time. I haven't got the hours in my day. And I'm already staying up till 1 a.m. with the sequins and itty-bitty beads...

Which actually lead to something strange today. I never make coffee for just myself when I'm at home. I like coffee, but I'm trying not to get hopelessly addicted to it by drinking it at home, too. Addiction-schmaddiction, says I today. I just had to have a lot of coffee to keep me studying the history of plague and other interesting diseases, since I've been sewing those darned beads onto that dress for two nights now. (On a happier and related note, though, I must say I'm so incredibly proud of myself for actually being able to put that dress together from scrap all by myself! And the thing fits me, too. That's just unreal.)

Plague and other diseases, you wonder, huh? One of the books that are required reading for the entrance exam of the history department this year, is called Plagues and Peoples by William H. McNeill. It seems (and is) fascinating, but isn't able to keep me awake (without caffeine helping) after two late nights in a row. Thank god for coffee.

I'm not exactly sure how the grand show on Saturday is going to go. I'm so afraid there isn't going to be that many people in the audience at all (even mom and dad canceled, since they were invited to visit dad's younger brother & his family in Tuusula) and that the whole thing is going to be a flop. I'll look ridiculous trying to snitch "the fire" from the dragon (yes, to see me skulking in the shadows / go bump in the dark, come and see it for yourself on Saturday) and boring when dancing my solo. I'm supposed to be Fikriya, the Wise Lady (the previous being some kind of Arabic translation of the latter), but I feel more like the Fool. Don't know what that'd be in Arabic. Maybe I'll feel better about all of this on Saturday morning, when the performance is getting closer. Then again, maybe not. I'm feeling decidedly pessimistic now.

This week will also see one of my nearly permanent causes of stress disappear. Whee! It's time for my last dance classes in Lieto and Parainen. It'll be a relief, but also sort of sad. The ladies in all my groups are very nice and it's not their fault that I don't have the energy to teach them anymore. Satu will take good care of the ladies in Lieto, but I still have to try and find a replacement for the group in Parainen.

Hrmpf. The beads are calling me again.

Domestic chores, a beginning of an end and some serious depths

Go me. Since I got so energized by Satu's moving, I've been a good little girl and done some spring cleaning at home, too. Namely washed the windows in my bedroom and kitchen. Now there are only the windows in my study and the livingroom left. It's really remarkable how the view from a window becomes clearer when you wash off about a year's worth of dust... Suddenly the sky's a brighter blue and the view is somehow sharper in general. :)

In a few weeks time, I'm pretty sure, a very important era in my life is going to be ending. I'm very seriously thinking about selling my car. I'll be done with the dance classes in two weeks' time and after that I thought I might put the Old Faithful for sale.

As ridicilous as it sounds, it's going to be tough to part from it. I get so attached to things. Besides, this is my other grandpa's old car and I've always thought he follows me where ever I drive his (my) Skoda. Nobody really thought that the car would still be running (well, at least running every once and a while...) ten years after grandpa's death. So now I'm trying to contact some Skoda enthusiast, who would buy it and take good care of it. I'm such a sentimentalist. Who would've thought I'd have any second thoughts about selling the car after complaining so much about it lately? Well, I've never said I was logical in every way... :)

It's going to be funny to be without a car. I've gotten so used to it, even though I don't need it daily. It's a four-wheel-set of freedom. Not having to worry about bus schedules (or other people's schedules for that matter) is wonderful. But I suppose I'll cope. And since dad keeps battering me about graduating (his reason being that we can go car shopping when I get a job), I guess my carless times won't last forever. And in case my graduation is delayed (I can't think of a reason why...krhm), he promised I could maybe borrow his VW Beetle sometimes. The one we bought him as a birthday present for his 50th birthday. It's bright yellow and it's going to be cute as a button, when he fixes it up. It already is very nice, but he's planning on all kinds of original chrome parts and so on. It's his summer project.We'll see.

On to other, more important, things. This coming week (and next week, too) is going to be very interesting. We're going to see living history. I'm referring to the situation in the Vatican, of course. Since I was only a year old baby when pope John Paul II was elected, I've never known any other pope and haven't had the possibility to follow the procedure of electing a new pope. I think I'd like to be able to be in the Vatican when the white smoke arises to announce that a new supreme pontiff has been chosen.

Not being a religious person (and certainly not a Catholic), I do have to admit my interest in all of this is purely scientific. The papal office has, no doubt, one of the world's most fascinating histories behind it. Because of the central role of church in history, the papacy is no stranger to controversy, power politics or even scandals and mysteries. My personal favourite is, naturally, the story of the pope named Johanna. :)

Of John Paul II a lot can be said, for sure. First and foremost I'm happy he passed away and doesn't have to suffer anymore. In the past year or so it's been heartbreakingly sad to watch him in his duties, an old sick man, trembling. I felt such pity for him. The tradition of a lifelong papacy without a retirement (although technically he could've resigned, but he chose not to) is certainly a remnant of times when people didn't live as long as they do nowadays. Therefore I'm glad I can say this now, to a man that lived a long life. Requiescat in pace, Karol Wojtyla.

There is talk of naming him pope John Paul the Great. Or at least some specialist speculated on it on Saturday evening, as I watched BBC World right after the official announcement of the death of the pope had been given. Sure, he was a very strong opposer of war and did, there's no doubt of that, a lot of good during his papacy.

But not all of it was good, from my point of view as a Western liberal non-Catholic woman. The misery and suffering he, whether directly or indirectly, caused for millions of women for instance, shouldn't be forgotten. His conservative views on birth control and such were just unbelievable in a modern world. Preventing the spreading of AIDS without using condoms? Not going to happen. Telling women in war-torn countries in the Balkan that they shouldn't perform abortions even if the pregnancies had begun with violent raping? Unnecessary suffering for the women.

I know the pope was very strictly "pro life", which is an honorable principle to follow, but honestly, who in this world believes that it would be possible to solve the global problems of AIDS and on the other hand overpopulation just by telling people not to have pre-marital sex and to be faithful once married? I may be a cynic of the worst kind, but I just don't see that happening. Ever. People are too hedonistic/selfish/idiotic to suddenly change. Some people will, no doubt, follow the advice of the late pope, but I'm pretty sure that the majority of people on this Earth won't.

Once again this comes to the question of faith. Faith I simply don't have in that sense. I believe that humanity is facing problems which cannot be solved by religion - any religion. I'm not saying religions are bad per se, because they aren't, but in some ways I think people should rise above religions in some matters. I mean, it's important to save the planet for the humanity, not for Christians or Moslems or Jews or Hindus. And saving the planet is going to mean solving some serious global problems that require more than just sermons of morality.

Once again I've wandered to the deep end of the pool. I'm sure religion and other questions of this magnitude would deserve several hours of discussion (preferably over a glass of good wine) and not just a few scattered and random blogged thoughts. But since I'm sitting alone at home, this'll have to do. This is certainly a downside to blogging. There's always something that is left unsaid (or is misunderstood) and no matter how much I write, it'll never compensate for a real discussion with a real person, face to face. Never enough of those. But certainly enough blogging for one day. :)

Moving around

What a nice day it was. I'm feeling pretty good about life at the moment. And why? Because I was able to help a friend today.

Satu got the keys to her new apartment today, so it was time to scrub the place from top to bottom and then haul all her stuff from her old place to the new one. In one word, move. I know I must be really weirdly put together, but I actually enjoy it when people move and I can help. I only wish I had the same energy when cleaning up my own apartment!

I've lived in the same apartment now for six years already (my gosh, has it really been that long??) and I'm not about to move anywhere. At the moment my finances would crash, if I were to do that (it helps to have one's grandparents as the owners of the apartment, they don't mind if the rent is a bit late sometimes, you see...). So the closest thing to a nice new beginning I can get, is to see someone else move. :) Ok, so I really didn't enjoy scrubbing the toilet, but at least I helped Satu get her place germ free... The whole place ended up smelling like those older swimming pools, that still have chlorine in the water.

There's one thing I personally like about moving. It's the reorganizing part of the deal. In some odd way I was a bit envious of Satu, who was left in the middle of a huge mountain of furniture, boxes, bags, flotsam and jetsam - just because she's going to have such a good time (she might disagree on this one, though) reshaping her world again. This goes here, that has to be the place for this and so on. I enjoy that a lot.

It's the same as with reorganizing a bookshelf. I suppose it has to do with the sense of having one's life in order, when everything is in their right places. Which, come to think of it, might be one of the reasons I've felt a bit chaotic and un-organized lately... Heh. Which then might explain the itch I had to begin moving things around in my apartment too, when I came home from Satu's place. Suddenly my place seemed messy, boring and well, "been there, seen that". And the downside to this urge is that there isn't that much I can move around.

My livingroom, for instance. I now have almost a full wall of bookshelving (2,2 metres, to be exact, wahoo), which is built around my tv cabinet. Since there is only one cable-tv outlet in the room, my tv has to be in that one corner. Or it "has" to, because it's most convenient that way. The tv then dictates the placement of the couch, which then dictates where I can put my dining table. I suppose I could switch them around, but then there would, once again, be a problem with the outlets. (Way back in the late 60's or whatever, when this building was built, people had fewer electric devices...)

I suppose these are excuses, as would be the reason for not moving around the stuff in my study and my bedroom- it would be damned hard to move around heavy furniture (like my antique-ish dressing table with a big mirror) alone. One more thing I need a man for. ;)

No, just kidding. I don't think that'd be my first reason for dating someone. Picture this situation: "Oh, by the way, after the movie, can you come up to my place? Huh? Nothing of that sort, how dare you! I merely want you to carry around some heavy pieces of furniture with me!" I'm sure I'd be every guys dreamdate after that... :)

Anyhow, I hope Satu will enjoy her new flat. It's a bit smaller than her previous one, but I'm sure she'll make it feel like home. She's good at that stuff. Besides, she has her own sauna now, which makes her just about delirious with glee. And she lives closer to me again, which is also nice. I might be able to benefit from that sauna sometimes, too. :)

A quick declaration of amazement and suddenly found happiness will be the proper way for me to finish today's post. My car worked yesterday! In fact it worked amazingly well, as I was able to get it going on the FIRST try! That never happens. Or very nearly ever. I think Wednesday's problems were about the gas pump and the inadequate flow of gas to the engine when the tank is less than half full... Argh. But after having been very grumpy about the whole car business all day long, just waiting for the whole ordeal of biking or whatever to Uittamo again, you can imagine my sheer delight when the car actually started right away. Life is good sometimes. :)

And finally, none of this was an April fool's joke. It's all real here at the Pool. :)