1 – Second Half of the Year Day: How would you rate the first half of this year? Are there things you could change going forward to make the second half of the year better?

I’d rate it as okay-ish? Maybe? Compared to the previous decade+? It’s firmly not good but also as firmly not bad.

I’m disappointed that I haven’t made more wallpapers in Photoshop – one one (1) as I write this on July 1, 2023, and that only in April and only because it was embarrasing not have done at least one!

As always, not being so poor and not being so chronically in pain (chronic migraine and Crohn’s Disease make a sad combination) would make the second half of the year better. But it’s very unlikely to happen – I never win in Lotto, can’t work and both me and my doctors figure that my illnesses as about as good as we can get them. So better won’t happen. I’ll be glad of the okay-ish that front, and hope it’ll continue!

I always want to do more physical creative things, like paint. I never do as much as I’d like. Too lazy, or just can’t muster the energy. I could paint more with alcohol inks, or watercolors, or acrylics and that would make rest of the year a lot better! It’s just starting is always so hard! So I’m hoping the second half will be better in that regard 🙂

2 – I Forgot Day: Are you forgetful? Do you have trouble remembering holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, doctors’ appointments, etc.? Do you have any tricks or aids to help you remember important dates?

I kind of am, ever since all these chronic illnesses. I put all meetings etc. on my diary/calendar, most of them both on paper and Google Calendar, and some of the other stuff on Rainlendar which lives on my desktop. Mostly Rainlendar has various reminders of things I need to do or check or remember (like that Mom and her SO are on the cruise Monday and Tuesday so that I won’t try to call Mom those days) or that reserved library books need to be picked by X date, stuff like that. Electronic stuff everything also have alerts/reminders turned on for everything. So I don’t forget deadlines or important dates like doctor’s appointments. I didn’t use to have to put anything anywhere – I remembered everything, but on the other hand, I never had as many deadlines, labs, appointments, important dates etc. back when I was healthy as I do now so I guess it makes sense to need to have them on a Calendar and have alerts?

On the other hand, I do forget other things. Even things that are out of the ordinary – as an example, one time my Mom and her SO turned up on my birthday or name day (I forget which – just that it wasn’t just a random visit) bringing these two big plastic things you put under the dishwasher and fridge-freezer so that if there’s a leak, the water spills out forward to the kitchen floor instead hiding under the machine and causing problems. I was stunned and asked them why were they brining me these things? My Mom told me that I had told them that my apartment building had sent letters to all inhabitants that these things need to be installed… I had no memory, and still have no memory, of that letter! But when I looked at my letters from the maintenance, there it was, sent about two months earlier, and I had even written on it that my Mom’s SO would take care of it (he knows right away which ones to buy etc. & I didnt have a car anymore at that point, and the things are akward to transport by bus so that’s why he’d take care of it). Even seeing my own note, I had no memory of it at all! I still don’t.

I also had to make it into a habit it check that my stove is off whenever I finish using it. Because several times I left it on accidentally, and it’s only luck that I didn’t go to sleep or leave for shopping or something and leave the stove on. That actually scared me so I made it into a habit.

So sometimes I forget things, and I don’t remember even when reminded. So far it’s never been anything terribly important except for the stove thing, or time sensitive or anything like that. Just forgetting random stuff. This only started to happen about 7 years ago, when I had been suffering with my chronic illnesses and daily pain for as many years.

3 – International Plastic Bag Free Day: Some localities are banning the use of plastic bags or charging a small amount for each one used. Is this an initiative where you live? Have you taken steps to reduce or eliminate the number of plastic bags that you use? Is there something for which you use plastic bags that you can’t think of anything else that you could use for that purpose?

My country has charged some cents for plastic shopping bags for my entire adult life, I think. So 25 years or there abouts. I don’t know about the banning, I don’t remember. The shops do have also long-term paper or plastic bags which last for years to choose from at the till in addition to those one-use plastic bags so a lot of people pick those instead. Although it’s my understanding that the one-use plastic bags aren’t really a problem here Finland – majority of people who buy them then use them as trash bags and so they get burned for energy I think? I myself only buy the rolls of trash bags made from recycled plastic which is much cheaper and nature friendlier than buying those single-use ones at the till. For shopping, I use fabric shopping bags that last for a decade or more. Sometimes I buy small plastic bags for ice cream and other frozen foods to avoid melting and messing up the other groceries and the shopping bag, and those small plastic bags I re-use for freezing self-baked things.

4 – Alice in Wonderland Day: Have you read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and/or Through the Looking Glass? What about the various film adaptations — have you seen any of those?

I read both when I was a kid, and have also seen at least two tv/movie adaptions.

5 – Mechanical Pencil Day: Mechanical pencils are inherently superior to regular pencils if only for one reason: you don’t have to sharpen them. Do you, or did you, use mechanical pencils at school or on the job, or just out of personal preference?

I used to use them in school! I remember having to buy a lot of fills because I’d go through them so quickly. I also remember the very thin leads breaking a lot and being frustrated by that a lot! I don’t use them anymore, since around finishing school when I was in my 20s. I don’t think I own any anymore.

6 – Fried Chicken Day: Do you like fried chicken? Do you make your own, or do you prefer take-out? What’s your favourite place to get fried chicken?

I do! I buy the common ones sold by literally all shops here that are made by the major food manufactures like Kariniemen and are very common here. I also occasionally bake chicken breasts in the oven in those oven roasting bags. Fried chicken is a staple of my diet. I never buy an entire chicken though because it’s too big just for one person, nor chicken legs or wings.

7 – Tell the Truth Day: What would happen if everyone on earth spoke only the 100% truth today — no sugar-coating or lying by omission?

Chaos, slaughter and disaster all around.

8 – SCUD Day: SCUD Day stands for “Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama” Day, and encourages those of us whose lives might have a touch too much drama to step back, relax, and enjoy the funnier side of life. Is there too much drama in your life right now? Even if there isn’t, what would you do to turn the drama down a bit and enjoy a good laugh instead?

Not too much right now, no. Just the same old same old.

When there’s too much drama, the best way to deal with is to find the humor in it and laugh at it. Sometimes that’s the only thing you can do to make it easier. I’ve done it more than a few times since getting chronic illnesses.

9 – Dimples Day: Only 20-30% of the entire world population has dimples. Are you one of these rare individuals? What type of dimple do you have — dimple on both cheeks, chin dimple, one-sided cheek dimple, corner of the mouth dimple?

I had to go check in the mirror! Turns out I maybe have tiny dimples… so tiny I’m not sure they’re actual dimples?

10 – Don’t Step on a Bee Day: is an important reminder that the fate of the common bee lies in the balance – with bee numbers in some countries having halved in the last decade with no apparent cause. Some localities are taking measures to help the bee population, for example, planting wildflowers by the side of roads/on road medians or encouraging residents to move away from a manicured lawn to a yard full of flowers. Are you aware of any such measures where you live? Do you agree that if bees disappear, life would change significantly for humans (and not in a good way)?

I’m not, no but it’s not something I go looking for so it’d need be a huge big news for me to hear about it. So there very well could be. In fact, I’d say it’s likely there is.

I’ve been hearing that about bees since the 1990s and The X Files or that’s where I think I heard it from – I guess I believe it?

11 – World Population Day: World Population Day comes along each year to remind us that our present rate of population growth is unsustainable, and the present social and logistical issues we are experiencing to meet the demand of that population will only get worse if we don’t do something. What can be done to slow population growth? Can we effectively fight climate change without addressing the global population issue?

I think it’s kind of funny that Finnish politician are so worried about the declining birth rate here in Finland and keep saying women and young families must make more babies. But at the same time the world is over populated.

I think poverty must be ended everywhere if we are to slow or stop population growth. So that people don’t see having children as the way to secure their old age, and so that all people have to ability to not have children they don’t want. Also religious people, organisations and political parties need to stop meddling with abortion rights and birth control and let people make their own decisions. Birth control and family planning education must be made available, free and easy to all.

12 – Simplicity Day: What steps could you take to declutter your life, both mentally and physically, and keep things simple?

My life mentally is pretty uncluttered already.

Physically, it’s pretty good now. I’ve gone through and recycled or thrown away a lot of things I don’t need in the last decade. But I could always use more room to store kitchen things and hobby things. I’d really need a bigger home with more shelf and closet space to accomplish that.

In the day to day, I strive to put things away instead letting them wait and clutter the kitchen table until I bother to put them away. Or put the dried laundry away immediately, instead of letting it wait on the rack. The kind of small maintenance stuff that takes like 20 seconds to accomplish but that I was very, very bad at when I was younger. My home is now much neater that I don’t let things get cluttered anymore and put them away immediately. I’m glad of that and I like it. It also helps that most mail is in electronic format now, instead of paper. So I actually have space to store it on my computer, and not run out of shelf space just because paper documents like I did when it was all on paper.

13 – Embrace your Geekness Day: A geek is someone who is completely obsessed with one or more subjects, and can speak fluently on it for hours, sounding like a walking encyclopedia of geeky facts. In what ways would you describe yourself as geeky?

I’m definitely a Star Trek geek – not in the sense that I can talk starships for hours, but I the ideas explored various episodes in example TNG or DS9, absolutely.

14 – Mac & Cheese Day: Macaroni and cheese is a comfort dish for many, an old childhood favourite. In Canada, it’s practically a national dish if you’re referring to good old KD — Kraft Dinner, or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner. Even upscale restaurants are featuring gourmet variations of this classic. Was mac & cheese something you ate as a kid? Do you still eat it regularly, or occasionally? If you’ve tried restaurant variations, what is the most interesting take on mac & cheese that you’ve come across?

Mac & Cheese isn’t really a thing here. Macaroni yes, but not with cheese.

The macaroni meal that was a thing here…. We used to make make macaroni, pan fried mince meat and brown sauce meals when I was a kid regularly and that was my one of most often prepared meals until well into my 30s. It was a common meal in families when I was growing up in the 1980s. I think various other pasta meals have taken it’s place now though with younger generations.

I’ve tried to make Mac & Cheese myself a couple of times in the last few years; it was okay but didn’t get into my regular round of meals to make. Could be I just haven’t found the right recipe because I do love macaroni and cheese both.

I’ve also bought those “pour in hot water and wait for 30 seconds” Mac & Cheese ready meals once or twice. It’s okay as a fast, easy food when you’re in too much pain or too tired to actually cook anything hot.

15 – Give Something Away Day: What is one thing of yours that you would consider giving away to someone in need?

If they’re genuinely in need, I’d give anything of mine that they need and I could. I’m poor, but I have enough things like shirts that I can spare a few and not feel deprived for it/immediately have go shopping for more for myself (because I don’t have the money to do that unplanned a few months before). I could give some mugs, glasses, utensils, plates. I also have lots of pens and notebooks that if they needed them, I could give away quite a few although I wouldn’t like re: notebooks. But nothing that costs lots of money such as a phone or a computer, because I wouldn’t have the money to replace those myself. I usually get expensive things like those as birthday gifts myself.

16 – Personal Chef Day: If you could afford it, would you like to have a personal chef? Would you have them cook all your meals, or only supper/dinner?

Oh yes! It’s one of my regular day dreams that if I win big enough in the lottery, I’d employ a cook and a cleaner. I don’t think I’d hire a chef – I think I’d prefer just a cook. Because in my mind chef makes those very pretty looking but tiny, fancy foods that you have to go get a hamburger after because you’re still hungry. While a cook makes the real, regular meals & home made food. And that’s what I want.

I’d make them cook breakfast, luch and dinner. And bake fresh bread. Maybe then eathing three proper meals a day regularly wouldn’t be such a struggle.