17 – World Baking Day: Do you bake or are you more of a fan of watching others baking, for example, watching the Great British Bake Off or other shows of that type? If you do bake, what are some of your favourite things to bake?

I love baking! But I don’t watch baking shows except very occasionally while bored & channel surfing. The last time I watched some was years ago. I did once make a point of watching a Nigella Lawson baking show episodes if I was at home at the time, but that was like 15 years ago I think.

The last few years I’ve been making bread a lot, and even more recently, bread rolls and teeleipä (thin, flat scones? not sweet!). Back when I was healthy my favorite thing to bake was layer cake, with lots of whipped cream to top it off. But it’s too much these day, and all the creams have become bad and weird – they don’t make good whipped cream anymore and it just melts in a few hours. This isn’t just me – it’s a common topic in the Facebook baking groups – the hunt for a good whippable cream! So I don’t make layer cakes much anymore because of the cream thing.

I also love baking fruit and berry pies and chocolate cake.

18 – International Museum Day: When was the last time you visited a museum? Which one was it, and what was your favourite exhibit?

Museums are one of the things I can’t afford to buy tickets to. I don’t think I’ve been to a museum since our London trip in 2008 when we went to the Natural History Museum there. The Natural History Museum is always cool (I think – I’ve only been to twice!) but my all time favorite exhibit was from my first visit there in 1997 with my best friend. There was this huge full sized dinosaur skeleton in a hall which was simply awesome, and then there was this department with prehistoric like Stone Age scenes of animals, humans, villages and life that looked so real!

19 – World Meditation Day: Do you meditate? If yes, describe your usual practice. If not, is meditation something you’d consider trying?

I do mindfullness but I don’t meditate. And nope.

20 – Weights And Measures Day: Imperial or Metric or a combo of the two depending on what you’re weighing/measuring?

Metric all the way! Never learned anything else.

21 – International Tea Day: Do you like tea (proper tea, not those herbal infusions [tisanes])? What is your favourite type of tea and how to you take it (black, or with milk and/or sugar/honey, etc.)? Do you use an actual teapot to make your tea, or are you a “tea bag in a cup” person?

I like Rooibos teas (flavouring) but I think they don’t count according to this question?

I sometimes drink black tea with flavoring (I don’t know if that’s tisane? I don’t know the terms and what their Finnish versions are) like this one: https://nordqvist.fi/collections/pussiteet/products/teetaivas-pussitee

These I take with milk and sometimes honey.

Always with tea bag in a cup, regardless whether it’s Rooibos or something else.

I honestly don’t know if either of the above count as “proper tea”….

22 – Solitaire Day: Remember when solitaire was a default thing on Windows PCs (along with Minesweeper)? Do you play solitaire, either with real playing cards or on your computer/phone?

I do remember, and no! I used to uninstall all the games first thing from my computers back when computers weren’t as powerful as they are now and removing them meant more space for things I actually liked. They’re all a waste of space as far as I’m concerned.

23 – Title Track Day: Title tracks, or the songs after which an album is named, are often the greatest singles/best tracks on the album. Do you have a favourite title track? Or can you name a title track that is definitely NOT the best track on the album? Is the concept of a title track a thing of the past given how most people listen to music now?

Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game is absolutely the best song on the album of the same name. That’s actually the only album name I can readily name from any artist – I’ve never paid attention to album names and most of my songs I’ve never heard the full album they’re from. Because most songs come to me via tv episodes and movies or radio. As an example, I discovered Chris Isaak from the tv series Private Eye in 1990 (apparently this is how it happened to a lot of his fans) because several of Chris Isaak’s songs were used in a two-parter episode about a tragic rockabilly star who “performed” them on the episodes. All my dearest Chris Isaak songs come from that episode! Funny thing is – I can’t remember whether Wicked Game itself was featured in the episode or not! Just that it was a huge hit here a tiny bit later (in 1991, according to google) and was on the radio all the time.

Fun fact: the album Wicked Game was the first CD I ever bought with my own money! I already owned the LP but when my Mom bought me a stereo tower (= LP player, 5 CD player, cassette tape player and radio) for my 16th birthday, I just had to have it on CD too.

24 – Brother’s Day: Do you have a brother? If you don’t, or if you don’t get along with your actual brother(s), do you have someone else in your life who is like a brother to you?

Technically, I have a brother and a few step-brothers. I’ve never met them, and I’m not sure I will. I don’t know that I want to. I don’t think I do.

I was adopted right after my birth, and while I’ve always known that, I never wanted to meet my bio family or know about them. But last year I learned that I’m one of my bio father’s heirs because of law that was changed and those affected weren’t informed. My existence became as a surprise to many of my bio siblings too after his death while handling the inheritance things. The inheritance thing is still unsolved because of legal assistance backlog. I’ve talked about this in earlier posts, if you want to read more about the situation. I HATE this whole situation and want it to be over.

I don’t have anyone who is a sibling like to me, and I’ve never wished for a sibling.

25 – Towel Day: According to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.” Do you agree with this statement? Are towels equally useful to those of us not engaging in interstellar travels?

Feels odd to me that a towel would be the most useful thing in interstellar travel… surely there’s something that’s even more useful??

There are many more useful things for non-insterstellar travel things, though!

26 – Paper Airplane Day: Can you make a paper airplane? Can you make one that actually flies more than a foot or two before crashing?

I don’t know… I haven’t tried since being a kid! I used to know how to make them, but I’ve never seen one that would fly more than a meter or two.

27 – Sunscreen Day: Do you use sunscreen regularly? Do you use it on its own, or do you buy other skin care products that include a sunscreen?

I try to remember and bother in the summer! But I don’t often remember, and just as often don’t bother although the last few years I’ve been making a point of using it much more often (I didn’t use it at all until my late 30s because I avoid being in the sun like the plague). I use it on its own when I do manage it; my other skin care products are for atopic skin (allergy/rashes), ordered by doctors and they don’t include sunscreen.

28 – Hamburger Day: Let’s face it, there isn’t anything in the world quite so delightful as your first bite of a rich, juicy hamburger. Do you love hamburgers (or veggie burgers)? What are your favourite toppings to put on your burger?

I can actually think of many, many more delightful things to bite into than a hamburger. They’re okay, but I don’t often feel like eating them. I don’t have favorite toppings – as long as it doesn’t have onions or anything bad-or-weird-as-defined-by-me, I’m good. I don’t get fast food often in general but when I do, I much prefer to get fries and chicken nuggets, or Karelian pies or munariisipiirakka (egg & rice pastry? the Finnish thing) which are even more to my liking.

29 – Paperclip Day: Paperclips are not just for holding papers together. There are many other things that you can do with them! What are some of the uses you’ve found for paperclips beyond holding papers together? Do you think Microsoft’s Windows 97 personal assistant “Clippy” did irreparable harm to the reputation of paperclips worldwide?

Oh I loathed Clippy! I’ve never wanted so violently to murder and destroy anything as I did Clippy! But Clippy had no impact on real paperclips one way or another. The two don’t connect in any way in my mind. Clippy is murderous rage and paper clips are useful tools.

I’ve used paperclips a lot to press on those tiny tiny holes on phones and other things etc. to reset the thing but otherwise I’ve just used them for papers.

30 – Loomis Day: Mahlon Loomis, a humble dentist, revolutionized the world when he created the “wireless telegram” in 1886. How different would your life be without wi-fi, TV, or radio?

It’d be unrecognizable! The only way to get news would be newspapers and word of mouth as an example. Writing and reading and communication by letters would flourish, I’d guess.

Huh. Apparently I assume that computers and smart phones and internet wouldn’t be a thing either…

31 – Web Designer Day: We all visit various websites every single day of the year. What are “features” on some websites that really annoy you? What features do you appreciate the most on well-designed websites?

Annoys: Ads! And those bloody pop-ups that beg you to subscribe to their newsletter before you’ve even had a chance to read one word on the site. Why would I subscribe when all I’ve seen is your header if that!?

Appreciate: a search function that actually works and finds what I’m looking for – instead of offering a million random results, or finds nothing no matter what terms and words I use and can actually see on a page, but still it doesn’t somehow find them. Another thing I appreciate very much is that current styling standards mostly have proper, comfortable font sizes for text. Not that many years ago there were sooo many sites with tiny, barely readable font for the body text. Now those illegible fonts are seen mostly on some Tumblrs anymore. I don’t bother reading those at all anymore. Also color schemes are better now!