Ate nearly a kilo of mandarins today

Started my day at the gym again. I was able to read my fifty pages while using the exercise bike, so that was an hour well spent. This is definitely one of those things that I love about my job; how many other people are able to sit in the sauna at midday - or decide in the morning that I don't want to wake up yet or don't want to go to the office today. All possible with still getting everything done that you were supposed to.

I really will never be able to have a proper 9 to 5 job, am I? Completely spoiled now. (Don't take me wrong though, it's not always just a walk in the park, this job. Can be tremendously stressful sometimes, it can.)

Got my car back. And a present from Paris. Thank you, they're very pretty. And already put to good use. The "Praeludium 1" I haven't tried yet though. ;-) Hey, I can't even play Frère Jacques two-handedly.

Sun still shining

A good day today. I stayed home and fiddled with my dissertation. Now it looks far more sensible again and after I get all my notes inserted, I may just find out that I have written far more than I thought. Eeexcellent. Perhaps one now dares to go “back to the sources” and leave the writing for a little while, despite all my promises. One needs to adjust to the demands of the situation when the occasion so requires after all. Yup, I have to go through all the stuff that I already have and then pick up the phone and reserve a room from the guesthouse of the University of Vaasa once more. Have I mentioned that I really like that place.

I went and bought the headphones today and gave the keyboard a second try. I’m still having serious difficulties in getting right hand play one thing, and the left hand another. Neither have I yet quite mastered the half and quarter notes, and the songs tend to sound a bit unrecognisable. Fun though.

I am also very fond of my new ministereos , which I bought a couple of weeks ago. The sound is nowhere near perfect – big surprise since they were again the cheapest thing that could be found in the store – but so much better than playing cd’s on the computer. Couch, a book, a big cup of tea and something nice playing – is there anything much better than that. I have also to my horror discovered that I really like Coldplay and CMX. Damn, I’m feeling a little traitorous now (inside Rammstein joke, so don’t wonder if you didn’t get it).

Okay, let’s see if I can connect to blogger now.

Sunny Sunday

Beautiful, sunny day today. Couldn't be bothered to go out though. Sundays have definitely become days when I really ought to kick myself, at least if I were to hold myself to those promises I made during New Year's. Too much sitting at the computer and wasting the hours away playing games.

I gave a try to the keyboard today. I didn't manage to buy the headphones yet, so I didn't have a heart to play very long. I can remember how annoying it is when someone is playing, who doesn't know what they are doing. I'm too mindful of the neighbours, aren't I? This doesn't bode well for my "learning to be less nice" -policy.

A person on TV with disgustingly white teeth. Is that supposed to look good? Probably. Well, I guess I have a weird taste anyway when it comes to human beauty.

I am being terribly insightful today, aren't I?

Neglect

I've somehow gotten in the habit of neglecting my poor little blog. I blame the Sudoku. All those happy evenings that I used to spend in front of the TV writing the blog, I now clickety-click away at Sudoku. Hopefully it is really good for logical skills or something such like.

I love Saturdays. Possibly the best part about weekends is that one gets to sleep in. Hmmm, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. Alright, so not the best, but one of the best. That'll do. I love sleeping in.

So I slept in, fed the cat, checked the forum and eventually headed to town. We had a meeting of the Nordic Association, the secretary of which I am supposed to be. I've been a very bad secretary for the past year. Naughty me. I still haven't written some of the protocols of last year's meetings; on the other hand we hardly had any meetings to write protocols about. Now it remains to be seen whether we will get a new board for the association or whether it has reached the end of its short and happy life.

This hasn't been the best week when it comes to healthy life, so I tried to improve the score a little by going to the gym after the meeting. Not enough to counterbalance the doughnuts today and especially all that candy on Thursday. The local movie theatre celebrated their seventh year in business on Thursday and showed movies since 8 o'clock in the morning. Went to see both Casanova and Narnia - and the verdict: they sucked. I assumed that Casanova was going to be serious historical drama, but it turned out to be a romantic comedy with absolutely no sense of history. One of those "let's dress up and pretend that we are 21st century people in pretty historical settings". Narnia on the other hand was exactly what it was written out to be: a moralistic children's fairytale. I guess I just forgot that I am not a child anymore.

considered impromptu decisions

Ha-haa, I did it. Bought the keyboard - it's the cheapest, smallest, crummiest version I could find, but still it has all kinds of exciting functions. Weird tunes and rhythms and who knows what. I still need to buy head-phones so I can properly start to practise.

It's been a good day today. I went to work quite late, since I had to take the car to my sister's after she got back from work. Going to Imatra, she was. I got a number of things done in the morning that I had been putting off for a long time. Cleaning up the cobwebs, real and metaphorical, makes one a happy woman.

Yaaawwwwnn, tired again. I have to go to the shower now.

Byeee.

Go curling-team.

Kalju mies televisiossa

It's been forever since I've last written here. And I have a headache so I'm not going to do a full update now either - involves however seminars, birthday parties, concerts, massages, movies, new mini-stereos, moving furniture around, ups and downs of healthy life, conversations with Jehovah's witnesses and a realisation which I'm going to have to write to S about. Which reminds me that I still have to write nearly all those letters I was planning to write already during Christmas. And a number of other things I really should do. Like getting my tax card updated so I'll get a proper paycheck at least next month. And taking the bloody x'mas tree finally into the basement.

Damn. I keep postponing things again.

As a irrelevant side remark, I realised only a couple of weeks ago that writing x'mas for Christmas is not just being fashionable and "cool", but actually has a point. Replacing Christ with an X, the unknown factor. No longer celebrating something given, authoritative and religious, but something we have to question, something specific and subjective. Simple, yet clever. From now on I'm celebrating x'mas. But realisations aside, my x'mas tree is still standing in the corner and waiting for me to get off my lazy butt!

I am starting to thing that if I had money, I would hire a cleaning person. A personal secretary. A little green bunny-eared rose-smelling slave, who would scurry about and fetch me glistening stars and singing nyads.

Headache.

Cold fun gods

It's cold. Cold now, cold at work. I actually had to read with my gloves on today, which is a bit too much. Must remember to take an extra sweater to work tomorrow or a really big scarf or something.

I was to play squash today for the first time in my life and one can say without hesitation that at first I rather sucked. Eventually though I got the racket to connect with the ball and realised that squash is not a bad way to exercise. I've always thought that the game is about crashing into walls and running oneself breathless, but apparently that is only for pros. For beginners who are more into playing than winning points it is just plain fun.

The world is still going slightly mad and our oh so tolerant religions are proving their toleration to everyone. Is it really much wonder when one considers the origins of our monotheistic religions? Yahweh/Jahve, the god of Jews and Christians, was originally a god of war, Muslims' Allah may or may not be the same god (or perhaps a Moon god with three daughters). Islam is said to have originally meant the strength which characterized a desert warrior who - even when faced with impossible odds - would fight to the death for his tribe. Why wouldn't people with such gods value bloodshed?

Can gods change their minds? Or do people have to learn to think for themselves?

"Good lord! Is it not a silly sort of argument to reckon by the same works that one man is a god whilst his rivals are mere "sorcerers"?"
Celsus, c. 170 CE (Common Era, previously known as AD)

eeny, meeny, miney, mo

- Healthy life is more difficult in town because everyday someone is offering you chocolate or pastries or lunch at a Mexican place.
- If you haven't been to the gym to work out in a year or so, then you're arms are going to ache like a bitch still three days after you start again.
- Imre Kertész's "Kaddish for an Unborn Child" is a dizzying whirlwind of thoughts and mows its way to one's list of favourite books without losing a bit of its strength.
- The cat is much more talkative here than back at Imatra and keeps waking one up every night.
- As a result of aforementioned point and just generally sleeping badly one was too tired last Saturday to watch "Good bye Lenin", which is just generally a bummer.
- When you wish to see a movie and there are places left only in the first row, go watch something else.
- World is going slightly mad and people wish to annihilate each other because of lines on the paper, so never say that pictures or words can't kill.
- Know when it is time to leave the last apple on the tree.

Naked future

You remember when I claimed to be tired yesterday? Well, it turned out that I wasn't physically all that tired after all, since it was 2 o'clock before I went to bed. Yesterday, you see, was the first showing of Rammstein's new video "Mann gegen Mann" on German MTV and one just had to wait until someone posted a copy of it on the net. MGM is their gay-video (pro-gay of course) and most of them are playing naked on it, so...well, one just HAD to wait.

And I can say that it was definitely worth it.

On a totally different note I've realised today that if I actually wish to become a researcher, I have to change my attitude to doing things. I don't know if I have ever really truly hundred-percently believed that I could have a career in research, but now I suddenly do. My financing runs out at the end of this year and now this week there has been talk of couple of hypothetical - very, very hypothetical - options for the next few years. I am not going to tell you about them, since I believe that if you talk of things before they are certain they will never come to pass.

But possibly-never-occuring-hypothetical-options aren't an important thing in themselves. What is important is that they create a future, give person a reason to invest in this job, make it sensible and worthwile suddenly. It is also nice to notice that other people see it as kind of natural that you would and could continue and have faith in your capabilities. Very exciting all of this.

Back in town

I'm home again. Got back yesterday and in a wonderful time of 2 hours 57 minutes. And as always I will admit to speeding only under torture.

House was still in one piece and proper order - except for the fact that I had left the light on in the bathroom and the inevitable mountain of mail.

Today was a busyish day at work: in addition to the usual reading - and writing, which I was happy to get done - I did a thing or two for next week's seminar. Plus there was the board meeting of the institute and the meeting of the comparative circle. And the mail there of course.

I didn't wish to abandon my healthy life either, so I went to the gym for an hour to use the bike, which is why it was after eight before I got home. The cat was happy to see me. And apparently I am now too tired to write anything than morse-style three-word sentences, which is why it is better to put a stop to this asap.