These quizzes are rampant in all the weblogs and they are not my idea of ambitious blogging. However, a stomach bug has changed my plans for tonight so I'll let this meme reflect the uttermost boredom of my New Year's Eve.
1. What did you do in 2007 that you had never done before?
I asked a man's opinion about a piece of furniture (the new sofa).
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolution, and will you make more for 2008?
My resolution was not to subscribe to women's magazines, and I kept it. Next year I'll try to save electricity and keep more in touch with my friends.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Hello, I'm 33 years old?! Just ask me how many.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not really really close, but my father's godmother died. She didn't have children of her own and she was quite close to my family, especially when us "kids" were small.
5. Which countries did you visit?
Sweden, Spain (Tenerife), Indonesia, Singapore.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you didn't have in 2007?
I would like Mapenzi* to move in with me.
7. Are there any dates from the year 2007 that you will always remember and why?
At least a couple of wedding dates: 5.5. and 4.8. People very close to me got married and those dates meant a lot to me. The birthday of my godson, 31.10.
8. What was your greatest accomplishment this year?
I managed to pay off half of my extra taxes!
9. Your greatest failure?
I screwed up my tax planning... or is that year 2006? I failed to be there for a friend whose life changed radically. Our relationship will never be the same again.
10. Did you suffer from any illnesses or injuries?
Luckily, no.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My dress for Sarah's wedding! By far!
12. Whose behaviour made you laugh?
Simba's and Nala's. Every day.
13. Whose behaviour depressed you?
Nobody depressed me, but there are a few people whose behaviour does my head in.
14. Where did the most of your money go?
To my flat. Too much money went into eating out, I've had to cut back since the extra taxes and I've realised how much I've spent there.
15. Were you really, really excited about something?
In the beginning of the year, I was really excited about my new job. That always fades away. :) I'm also always very excited to see Mapenzi. That doesn't seem to change.
16. What song will always remind you of the year 2007?
I can't believe this is the only song I can name but it has to be "Aamuaurinkoon" or something by Katri Ylander. I borrowed a car from Mom for the summer, and when you drive all over Finland, Radio Nova is the only one you can hear no matter where you are. They played that song at least once in an hour.
17. Compared to last year, are you
a) happier or more sad?
I don't know! I guess just as happy.
b) skinnier or fatter?
About the same (damn).
c)richer or poorer?
My income is about the same, but now it comes from a permanent job, with perks, so I'll have to say richer.
18. Is there something you wish you would have done more?
I should have spent more time with some important children in my life.
19. Is there something you wish you would have done less?
Bitched about coworkers behind their backs.
20. How did you celebrate Christmas?
Just me and Mapenzi on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas day I saw my sister and brother and their spouses. We also celebrated my sister's getting engaged.
21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Over and over again, with the same guy.
22. How many one night stands?
Obviously none!
23. What was your favourite tv show?
Grey's Anatomy.
24. Do you now hate anybody you didn't hate last year?
I don't think I've actually ever hated anyone. Except Thomas when he kicked me out from his flat in Dresden in 1998, but that, too, passed.
25. What was the best book you read?
I didn't read that much this year... La sombra del viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafón was well written. I also liked What I loved by Siri Hustvedt, but it couldn't hold up to the promises it made in the beginning.
26. What was your biggest musical find?
I'm so out of this scene these days. I don't even think I bought one cd. I'll have to say my biggest musical find was to take my mp3 player with me when I go jogging, because I'd never jogged before!
27. What did you want and got?
I was hoping to get to rent a summer cottage sponsored by my trade union, and I did! (They do a draw.)
28. What did you want but didn't get?
Well, some advances in my relationship would have been welcomed...
29. What was your favourite movie this year?
I didn't see so many movies. The Simpson's movie comes to mind.
30. What did you do for your birthday and how old were you?
This is how you know you're old! I don't remember what I did! But I'm 33 years old.
31. Name a single thing that would have made your year significantly more satisfying?
A win in the lottery (should probably start playing). Money is the only thing we argue about with Mapenzi.
32. How would you describe your style in 2007?
Casual, but increasingly feminine, thanks to weight loss. :)
33. What kept you sane?
If I'm sane, it's thanks to my love, who's always down to earth and full of one-liners with great wisdom!
34. What political issue caught most of your attention?
Many! The parliamentary elections of course, then the nurses' fight for a better salary, to mention a few.
35. Whom did you miss?
A lot of friends who live abroad.
36. Who was the best new person you met?
"The best" is a weird characterisation, but I really enjoyed meeting some new people through my work. I'll have to say Sirpa Save from the Wood Workers' union!
*my love in Swahili
Monday, December 31, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
A Christmas Memory
Today I went to buy one of the (very) few Christmas presents on my shopping list, for my godson who's 4. I was going to drop it off at his dad's working place so it had to be wrapped right away.
The wrapping service was available from noon and it was 10 am, so I got to wrap the present myself. I always prefer to do it myself anyway. As I was adding a few finishing touches, an elderly woman came there to organise her shopping bags and said "what a lovely present you have wrapped". I thanked her and explained that when I was young, I worked in a department store, at the kitchen department, just before Christmas. "Oh, that's why. I can really see that you know how to do that", the lady said.
The chat, although brief, returned those two weeks in my mind instantly. Those days, 9th graders did two weeks of what was called "introduction to working life" in a working place of their choosing.
I don't know why I chose a department store. If anything terrifies me it's having to sell stuff to people. Probably I just went where all my friends went, plus that department store was very happening in the 80's, and I didn't have a clue of what I wanted to do after high school anyway so it didn't really matter (some kids were clever enough to choose a place close to their dream job, because they had one).
Back then there was a popular quiz show in the TV called "Ruutuysi". Before Christmas, the department store organized an event and they got the presenter from the show to host it. Every
hour, on the hour, he would visit one department with his microphone, make short interviews and promote whatever was sold at that department.
Mind you, I was 15, and in average, at that age you're way more embarrassed about things than you should be - and more so than other people around you. So I was mortified when the host approached my counter just as I was trying to wrap a huge, impossibly-shaped frying pan (now who buys frying pans for Christmas?!). I had a nametag on my chest (see how the elements of embarrassment keep piling up?) and it said "trainee Anna". The presenter (his name is Jorma Pulkkinen, some Finnish people might remember him) had chosen me as his victim and said to his microphone: "and trainee Anna is wrapping a lovely present here..." "I'm really not", I said, as the microphone was pushed in front of me.
Thank goodness I'm better with receiving compliments these days. And thanks to those two weeks, frying pans and other funnily-shaped objects, I'm now very good at wrapping. It sounds like a lesser skill, but it comes in very handy sometimes.
With this story I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, with one more beautiful memory to think about afterwards!
The wrapping service was available from noon and it was 10 am, so I got to wrap the present myself. I always prefer to do it myself anyway. As I was adding a few finishing touches, an elderly woman came there to organise her shopping bags and said "what a lovely present you have wrapped". I thanked her and explained that when I was young, I worked in a department store, at the kitchen department, just before Christmas. "Oh, that's why. I can really see that you know how to do that", the lady said.
The chat, although brief, returned those two weeks in my mind instantly. Those days, 9th graders did two weeks of what was called "introduction to working life" in a working place of their choosing.
I don't know why I chose a department store. If anything terrifies me it's having to sell stuff to people. Probably I just went where all my friends went, plus that department store was very happening in the 80's, and I didn't have a clue of what I wanted to do after high school anyway so it didn't really matter (some kids were clever enough to choose a place close to their dream job, because they had one).
Back then there was a popular quiz show in the TV called "Ruutuysi". Before Christmas, the department store organized an event and they got the presenter from the show to host it. Every
hour, on the hour, he would visit one department with his microphone, make short interviews and promote whatever was sold at that department.
Mind you, I was 15, and in average, at that age you're way more embarrassed about things than you should be - and more so than other people around you. So I was mortified when the host approached my counter just as I was trying to wrap a huge, impossibly-shaped frying pan (now who buys frying pans for Christmas?!). I had a nametag on my chest (see how the elements of embarrassment keep piling up?) and it said "trainee Anna". The presenter (his name is Jorma Pulkkinen, some Finnish people might remember him) had chosen me as his victim and said to his microphone: "and trainee Anna is wrapping a lovely present here..." "I'm really not", I said, as the microphone was pushed in front of me.
Thank goodness I'm better with receiving compliments these days. And thanks to those two weeks, frying pans and other funnily-shaped objects, I'm now very good at wrapping. It sounds like a lesser skill, but it comes in very handy sometimes.
With this story I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, with one more beautiful memory to think about afterwards!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The Potential of Plastic
This week I had one of the most random conversations one can ever have in a textile shop. I had another very productive :) football meeting with Mira in Hakaniemi. Mira had some footballs at her office that I needed to send in the post but we didn't have a bag big enough to pick them up.
Not to worry, we'll go to the Swedish shop Hemtex and buy a big plastic bag! They sell everything from blankets and bedsheets to big pillows, so they'll have a bag that's big enough and it will cost like 15c. Perfect.
I thought my question was going to be weird - now who would purchase only a plastic bag - so I asked it kind of shyly. Turned out compared to the answer, my question made perfect sense. They couldn't sell me a plastic bag because of safety regulations.
I had to repeat myself a couple of times to make sure I'd heard right. "But if I would buy a really big pillow, then you would give me a big plastic bag?" "Yes, with the product of course, but if you're not buying anything, I can't give you one because of - " "SAFETY REGULATIONS, I get it".
The salespeople were two sweet young women who obviously just abided to company rules, so I didn't want to insist any more. We left wondering whether anyone had ever tried to kill themselves with a Hemtex plastic bag (maybe, someone with a really big head) or if it's these times we're living, the times of the war against terrorism. But if it's possible to prepare a plastic explosive using bags, surely every old lady buying Christmas curtains at Hemtex is a potential terrorist.
In Finland we always joke about how the Swedish society tries to protect its people from everything. They might want to rethink about their company strategies in Finland, where people prefer to kill themselves with firearms or by jumping under a train.
Not to worry, we'll go to the Swedish shop Hemtex and buy a big plastic bag! They sell everything from blankets and bedsheets to big pillows, so they'll have a bag that's big enough and it will cost like 15c. Perfect.
I thought my question was going to be weird - now who would purchase only a plastic bag - so I asked it kind of shyly. Turned out compared to the answer, my question made perfect sense. They couldn't sell me a plastic bag because of safety regulations.
I had to repeat myself a couple of times to make sure I'd heard right. "But if I would buy a really big pillow, then you would give me a big plastic bag?" "Yes, with the product of course, but if you're not buying anything, I can't give you one because of - " "SAFETY REGULATIONS, I get it".
The salespeople were two sweet young women who obviously just abided to company rules, so I didn't want to insist any more. We left wondering whether anyone had ever tried to kill themselves with a Hemtex plastic bag (maybe, someone with a really big head) or if it's these times we're living, the times of the war against terrorism. But if it's possible to prepare a plastic explosive using bags, surely every old lady buying Christmas curtains at Hemtex is a potential terrorist.
In Finland we always joke about how the Swedish society tries to protect its people from everything. They might want to rethink about their company strategies in Finland, where people prefer to kill themselves with firearms or by jumping under a train.
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