The Other World

Okay, this is really long so feel free to skip it. I wasn't too fond of writing it either but since I couldn't come up with anything else for the Meme...

The questionnaire is from http://eleanin.blogspot.com/2007/01/pitk-meemi.html.

The first piercing/tattoo: About four hundred days ago.
The first credit card: Don’t have one.
The first enemy: The first person I consciously labelled as an enemy… one Heidi.
The first concert: Apart from the obligatory religious concerts at school… Nightwish 26.12.2005.
The first artist you remember hearing at home: I’m not sure it was the first… Turo’s Hevi Gee or something similar it was.

The latest long road trip: Two hours in a car exercising my patience as I had to listen to Yölintu the entire time. The longest two hours I’ve spent in a car.
The latest kiss: I’ve been kissed, but *I* never wanted to kiss any of them.
The latest library book you read: Collected prose of Kate Chopin.
The latest movie you’ve seen: I just watched Amelie, again.
The latest phone call: Can’t remember. I suppose it was last Thursday.
The latest CD you played: I’m listening to Metallitotuus by Teräsbetoni.
The latest thing to annoy you: The ‘vulgate’ mistake in the exam keeps bugging me.
The latest substance you’ve drunken: I’m drinking my mix of Sprite and Pepsi Max.
The latest nagging: There’s been lately a lot of complaining and pure anger towards me but no nagging.
The latest website you’ve visited: The worm game for girls; I wanted to check whether I’m still on top of the list (I am… =D).

I am: pretty happy with my life in general at the time being.
I want: good grades and a summer job.
I have: Tipu/Tweetie on my desk.
I hope: I get what I want. And world peace. *waving*
I hate: drunken people.
I hear: “taivas lyö tulta yläpuolellamme/ kaikuu kallioilla äänii totuuden/ verivalan taika on aina suojanamme/ tuo merkki metallisen veljeydeeeeeeeeeen…”
I’m thinking: of going to bed.
I love: …I’m going to regret this… Wanderer.
I am hurt: because someone I care about is being mistreated by her colleagues.
I’m always: a little out of it.
I’m not: very patient at times.
I dance: when I know I have a tolerable summer job.
I sing: “sydän vahva kuin metalli…”
I cry: out of sorrow and out of joy.
I’m not always: normal even in the broad sense of the word.
I write: prose and blog entries.
I win: rarely (although this is a point-of-view question).
I loose: See the previous answer.
I’m confused: by myself at times.
I need: someone to confide in perfectly.
I should: have a friend.

Do you keep a diary? Blog is a diary, so yes (more or less regularly, anyway; I’m like a spree killer when it comes to adding blog entries…).
Do you think cooking is fun? Cooking? No. No satisfaction.
Do you have a secret you’ve never told anybody? Don’t we all. Although I have to admit that the number of secrets has decreased for I met Wanderer. Now there only are the really dark ones.
Have you kissed someone of the opposite sex? Reluctantly. With passion? Never.
Do you like being photographed? No. You should have seen the photographer's numerous attempts to make me smile when he was taking my confirmation picture. Well, if it’s any consolation, they make me smile now.
Have you climbed a tree within the last three months? Alas, no.
Have you ever inhaled helium from a balloon to get to speak in a funny voice? No, I haven’t. I like my voice the way it is.
Do you have a crush? I suppose you could count Her as a crush.
Do you want to get married? Hopefully some day.
Do you have a tendency of sickness while travelling? No.
Are you a health enthusiast? Not exactly… =)
Do you get along with your parents? We can share a living space for a few days if no one annoys another on purpose (and a certain person isn’t drunk).
Do you like thunder storms? They’re beautiful!
The current colour of you hair? Dyed black, my own brown colour visible on top of my head.
Where were you born? 62°47'25'';N, 22°50'25''E

Your favourite …

Number? Five.
Colour: Black.
Day: Monday.
Month: September through March.
Season: Late autumn, winter and early spring. See how they're parallel?
Drink: Cold Pepsi Max, possibly with ice cubes.
Tree: All the big ones are especially nice.

Which one…

Being soooo cute or making out? Being serious (this is so me; make me choose between A and B and I choose C).
Cold or hot coco: Hot coco.
Milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate: C) The combination in Kinder eggs.
Vanilla or chocolate: C) Mint with chocolate flakes and mint jelly. That’s what keeps me from hibernating through summers.
Strawberry or rasberry: Strawberries, a little icy, covered in sugar, please.
Potatoes, rice or pasta: Pasta.
Sunrise or sunset: Sunrise has some special magic due to the fact I rarely see it.
Stars or the Moon: C) Both.

During the last 24 hours, have you…

Cried? No.
Helped someone? Helped a co-student at the IT class.
Bought something? Groceries.
Been sick? I have actually; something came and went yesterday.
Been to movies? No.
Eaten out? No.
Said ”I love you”? Unfortunately, no.
Written a real letter? No. I really should exercise that long-forgotten art of using a pen.
Spoken to an ex? No.
Missed an ex? No.
Written a diary? Yes, this blog.
Talked about something seriously? With Wanderer about the baby thing that started yesterday. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence but today it has seemed liked I’ve seen babies everywhere; in the library there was this cute toddler dressed like a Michelin man staring at me as I walked down the stairs and he stared at my feet (???) as I walked past him. Okay, got side-tracked again, sorry.
Missed someone? Yes.
Hugged someone? Alas, no. I wish I had.
Had a row with a friend? No.

Could you ever… (ed. note: “could” meaning I would do it WITHOUT resistance)

Kiss someone of the same sex? Naturally.
Go bungee jumping? Sure. The Bloukrans river, again.
Skydive? Would be interesting. The courses are pretty expensive, though.
Kill anyone? Yes, to protect myself or those I love.
Walk on steaming pieces of cole? There was a possibility to so that here last autumn. I regret I didn’t go there although it was, too, quite expensive.
Be a vegetarist/vegetarian? No.
Punch a stranger? If I had a reason to; again, to protect myself or those I care about.
Sing karaoke? No.
Get completely wasted? No, I don’t drink alcohol.
Shop lift? I have, actually.
Watch porn? Not at the moment; in general, yes.
Dye your hair blue? I actually have black-and-blue stripes in my hear.
Take part in Suuri Seikkailu/Survivors etc.? No.
Walk in public with make-up? Not if I only can avoid it.
Walk in public without make-up? 24/7 365 days a year.
Cheat in an exam? I have, actually, in seventh grade. The alternative wasn’t particularly appealing.
Make someone cry? Yes.
Stay up all night? I’m a nocturnal being. Last summer I was usually up to see the sunrise, and went to bed as the rest of the country woke up.

- - -

I found this particular Victoria Frances painting by accident. I fell for it right away.

They really are. School has started again, I can go to the library whenever I want, all the hours are as they are supposed to be. I really do like routines, any holidays mixing them are treated with utmost negativity.

As I went to the IT class today to type in that exam it appeared I wasn't alone cursing the deadline date. But after all, it went just fine. If not, I'll go to the retake. I mentioned about one of the three absent things to Wanderer today as I returned the exam; it just so happens that she didn't mean to put it there. Ah well, let's look at the mitigating factors; she's an inspiring, yet absent-minded professor with vast knowledge not only about linguistics but other fields as well. Not to mention that her heart is gold.

- - -

Do you believe in karma? That the things you do come back to you, both good and bad deeds? I was just wondering that amidst all the complains and meanness I must have done something right to have such a content life at the moment (yeah, I chatted with Wanderer today, I admit ... ;D). Or maybe Fate the Bitch has decided to make me happy just to have the opportunity to make me fall harder and higher? Well, if this is the case I will have something negative happening to me in future; today as I was paying my groceries the cashier put two items through with a lower price than I know them to be, but I said nothing. I'm a bad person.

I am at this very moment on top of the entire high scores list with 5057 points. I'm the only one to pass 5000 points (albeit barely). I rule!

Nice to know all those hours I spent between classes in junior high school playing that worm game in my cell phone were not in vain after all.

Remember the worm game I put as the MOTD last Friday. Yours truly got herself in the all-time (for the time being, anyway) high score list with 3121 points she got before crushing the wormie straight to the wall. Well, now as I'm writing this entry I'm fourth on the list. Not bad from someone who got over the thousand border earlier the same day.

- - -

For some reason I have some kind of a baby fever going on. The whole day I've been thinking of having a child, and during the evening I ended up reading through several web sites about pregnancy, childbirth and the actual care after the child is born. I have now decided that if everything goes well my wish is to have a water birth with epidural. I even have the name of the child (who I constantly keep visualising as a daughter) thought through; I'm just not sure whether the Finnish law allows such a name. Well, we'll see when the time comes. Unlike someone might think it's not now or anywhere near future (that's the advantage of being a lesbian; you are highy unlikely to have any surprise pregnancies), I just want to think about it. And because artificial insemination is expensive, I need to have all the basics worked out: a regular job, a house or an apartment (my own would be the best) and some kind of a social network to support me throughout the whole thing, starting from pregnancy to the time when the child grows up. All this is still far away.

- - -

The Meme of the Day:
I watched "Small Potatoes" earlier today which, to educate the x-philicly unenlightened, is an X-Files episode. Anyway, in it Mulder asks Scully whose life she would want to lead for one day if she could. Scully wanted to be Eleanor Roosevelt (for reasons remaining veiled). What would you want to be if you could have that possibility? And, although Mulder said that the object should be alive, let's allow the dead enter the competition as well.

I would like to, for one day, dwell inside Her mind. Preferably so that She would be She but I would just observe Her thoughts somewhere in the background for that day. One of my motivations is, being so damn narcissistic, would be to know what She really thinks about me? Which reminds me... I once read a book that listed questions for one Ethics Game. One of the questions side-tracked the Meme: if you had the choice would you want to know what other people really, genuinely, and brutally honestly thought of you?

Damn it! I've been working on my linguistics take-home exam since Thursday, and since Thursday I've been using the essential Finnish vocabulary because there are three things in the exam that are NOT even mentioned in the book or in the exercises that are based on the book. Seven bloody points so close falling into oblivion! Okay, I could find a reliable source on the web for one of them but now I have to wait 'till Tuesday (which, as it so happens, is also the damn deadline) to get to the library. Who the hell was the first one to propose the deadline to be right after Easter, anyway? Damnn you! At least I have an excellent idea for the structure of the required essay. Even if the facts are not always exactly correct I get extra points for writing an unusual, even humorous essay on a generally speaking not-so-enticing subject. Speaking of which... now that I've done the rest of the exam I can (...) I could write the first draft of the essay so I can re-write it tomorrow and re-write it again as I type it in on Tuesday (after tracking down the missing definitions, that is).

- - -

I have two job interviews scheduled for next week. Let us hope I'll do better in those than in the previous one. How much can you bend the meanings of words until it's classified as lying? Or are white lies allowed in job interviews (after all, everyone does it as far as I know)?

- - -

The Meme of the Day:
A quiz that makes hasty people seem closet blondes.
http://www.arppe.fi/test/oletko_fiksu.htm

According to this I am a Homo Sapiens with an average intelligence. My advice... pay attention. As a linguist I should have known better.

HE WON! ARI WON! YEEHAAA!

Beware Tony Kakko, Ari sang Full moon as well as you do. The Black holed sun was a nice catch, too. Didn't hear the third one, and the fourth (the one to be released as his first single)... didn't light my fire. Ari's voice is excellent but I'm not willing to buy that kind of music. I think the Finnish word "mitäänsanomaton" covers all my feelings towards the song. I'm slightly disappointed.

Let us hope he'll get to do the kind of music he wants to even though his record deal is, as far as I know, pop music that's written to him.

- - -

The Meme of the Day:
A new version of the classical worm game in cell phones: http://www.dickshouse.com/games/donger/donger.htm

My straight sister send it to me via email. The message was titled "A worm game for girls" so boys, it may require you some sense of humour.

Why, why do I have to go and visit my parents for the entire Easter? Four days away from my life; nothing but me, and my Zen player and reading. Any other time of the year that would go, but right now I would have so much to do. And who the hell is responsible for putting the deadline for an essay right after Easter. Hello, people, the library is *closed* during the holidays; no access to the books you need, but which cannot be taken from the library. Choke on your Easter eggs! Which reminds me... I have an Easter egg of my own. I think I'll open it on Sunday night after BodyCombat.

I suppose my malevolent attitude is due to the four days ahead of me. I have to remember to go get Kate Chopin's The Awakening from the library tomorrow on my way to the bus station. At least I then have some kind of a link to my life here.

- - -

The Meme of the Day:
I decided to gather a collection of poems, songs and book excerpts that remind me of Her. Among one of the poems I found the following by Tommy Taberman.

Kun sinä hyväilet
ei puukoniskulla
ja hyväilyllä
ole mitään eroa
Kun sinä hyväilet
tahdon kuolla siihen paikkaan
ja elää ikuisesti
Sylikkäin me muodostamme
ihmiskilven
hyväilyjen suojaksi

I want Her so much!

I saw a documentary of plastic surgery today. I have a vague memory of, at some point, saying that if I were a doctor I would like to be a pathologist. At that time I thought its opposite would be to be a gynaecologist (the idea doesn’t attract me at all, against all the lesbian stereotypes). Now I can say from the bottom of my heart that being a plastic surgeon… when I was a kid I once saw some clip on TV in which some guy’s head was cut open and his brain was tampered with as he was awake. It left me a mark of feeling slight disgust towards moving pictures or close-ups of the brains, but this feeling of disgust is nothing compared to the physical reaction seeing that plastic surgeon in action. There was a time when I thought of going under the blade if I ever got enough money, but that is now and forevermore forgotten and buried. Never will I be part of something like that. Whoever I have sex with will just have to tolerate my not-so-perfect body if the alternative is that.

- - -

A few days ago I learned of a short story competition here in Finland. I think I will take part in it. I’ve had this story and its structure dwelling in my mind since last autumn; I think it is time to let it out. Who knows, I may not even send it there but at least I would get it out of my system. Although I’m not sure if I *should* send it there; after all, it is based on my childhood and won’t present my parents in a particularly good light; if I were to get among the ten best (they’re published in an anthology next year), I would have to keep it to myself, despite the fact the stories are probably published using the nicknames, not real names. I don’t think my mother, let alone my father, will be too pleased of the literary accomplishment of their first-born if the text is an implicit statement why being a straight couple isn’t parallel to being excellent parents bringing up stable and productive members to this society.

- - -

The Meme of the Day:
I rediscovered the pleasure of the fine art of origami. It can be really painstaking and extremely frustrating when you’re just not getting something right but once you do… it’s like struggling with a difficult mathematical problem and suddenly you experience this moment of enlightenment. So, give it a go. It builds your character and patience, and quite possibly also the pile of crumpled paper with weird folds on your desk.

Here’s is a good site; the examples consist of coloured paper but mundane graph paper will do as well: http://www.origami-club.com/en/

After swearing, screaming, pounding the desk in frustration, crumpling up way too much paper and doing all of the above at once for about four hours, I managed to complete six origamis. On my desk I know have an almost perfect 2D star (I’m still not quite sure how it is possible to have a symmetrical star just by folding a piece of paper), a heart (I needed something simple to start with), a bat (couldn’t resist), one fluttering beast of doom (another simple one), a shuriken (my personal favourite of them all albeit I still prefer Xena’s chackram) and a clam (“Have you ever tasted a Whitstable oyster?”).

This particular origami dragon was folded by a 23-year-old Japanese named Satoshi Kamiya. It took him 40 hours spread over several months (for a reason, I think). I'm afraid to think how many steps it required.

In other words... The Infinitely Dum and Incapable of Own Thinking of South Carolina.

”The South Carolina legislature passed a measure today [22nd of March] that would force women planning on getting an abortion to see the ultrasound image of the fetus before the abortion may be performed. Although the measure has passed through the legislature, it must pass through one more time before it can officially become a law in the state.

According to lawmakers in South Carolina, the purpose of the law is to make women “think twice” before going through with an abortion. Some lawmakers, however, are not too happy with the law because they do not approve of making women do something they do not want to do. In addition, some have expressed concern that an amendment has not been added to the law that will make an exception for women that are victims of rape or incest.

Lawmakers in support of the law contend that the fetus has a right to life regardless of the way it is conceived. They further argue that women looking to have an abortion performed will simply claim to have been raped or to be the victim of incest in order to avoid having to see the fetus.

Despite the fact that more women fail to report a rape than make up one that never happened, the majority of South Carolina lawmakers are against adding an amendment to the bill. In fact, a proposal to grant an exception to this rule for rape victims for whom a judge has determined probably cause or has issued a warrant did not pass among the lawmakers.”

http://blogsbywomen.blogspot.com/2007/03/south-carolina-requiring-women-to-see.html

Despite the heavy generalisation... what the hell is wrong with those people in charge? What the hell is wrong with the people who let them be in charge?

I wrote my very first fan fiction short story a while ago and put in on the internet, in fanfiction.com. Now I received a review from a girl who said she found the story touching and very well written. Someone really read it and liked it enough to bother to tell me so. I am honoured! Who knows, I may be writing another one when my Potter fever reaches its boiling point; The Deadly Hallows isn't published until 21st of July this year. It's Saturday, though, so I may have to wait 'till Monday to get my pre-ordered copy of the book unless Suomalainen is open on that day. Well, we'll see.

The story, by the way, can be found at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3091705/1/ in case anyone's interested in reading Harry Potter fanfiction in Finnish.

- - -

The Meme of the Day:

The other of my two phonetics teachers once left in the class when we had a small break and he decided to ask us a question: what would we do if he gave us 60 000 euros right now? Most of my co-students, for some reason uncomprihensible to me, wanted a new car. My answer, amidst all those shiny Porsches, seemed to puzzle him a little; I would book a flight to South Africa. As I explained to him, I would want to go to the world's highest supervised bungee jumping location (216 metres, the bridge over the Bloukrans river). His reply made me smile a little: he's afraid of heights.