Almost late!
1 – International Day of Older Persons: David Bowie once said that ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been. Do you agree?
I think I do! I certainly am much more comfortable in my own skin now in my late 40s than ever before.
2 – World Architecture Day: Are you a keen observer of architecture, or do you mostly notice it when you see architectural oddities, e.g. a particularly ugly building, or a very unusual house design — that sort of thing?
I do notice architecture a lot! Even if a lot of my notice is on the “Oh my that’s ugly!” or “Or that’s very (old &) pretty!” side. I find modern architechture unattractive, and a lot of historical buildings a lot nicer to look at. I do appreciate it when TPTB do try to make a newly built building more attractive, usually with lively colors – mostly it feels like everything’s made of either gray concrete elements here or gray glass and metal elements, so buildings that are painted with actual colors, sometimes several of them that go together, is great.
I’m also known to pause movies and tv shows to google building blueprints because I’ve gotten stuck on the thought “what the hell kind of floor plan is that” or “the carage being there and opening into the ktichen the way it does doesn’t make any sense”. Friends and The Golden Girls just to name two. When I rewatched The Tudors a few years ago, I googled the manors and castles featured in the show a lot.
3 – Virus Appreciation Day: OK, so it’s been almost three years since Covid rocked the world. Is there ANYTHING you appreciate about that particular virus — well, maybe not the virus itself, but the impact it had on workplace arrangements, or social norms, etc.?
I’m glad that healthy people got some taste of what it’s like to be chronically ill and severely limited in what you can do and what it’s like when you spend most of your time at home. Too bad most people seem to have forgotten it already! Same with being unemployed and how the very basic unemployment benefits are really small.
We seem to have to gone back to what was before COVID-19 as far as work goes and forgotten all the lessons. Or so it seems to me looking in from the outside. I guess my circles do take a little bit more notice of things like the flu and not visiting each other when one very clearly in in the middle of it.
4 – Improve Your Office Day: Whether it’s your home office or your at-the-office office, what changes would improve your office experience?
I would love to have a room to be an office at home! I live in an apartment that has a bedroom + living room/kitchen/office room. My “office” is about 1,5 meter length of wall where my office desk and chair is and if I had to use it for work, I’d be in fucking trouble because there’s no room for my stuff and work’s stuff in my apartment.
5 – Global James Bond Day: Are you a Bond fan (either books or films or both)? Who is your favourite Bond actor? Do you have a favourite Bond theme song?
I’m not a Bond fan. I like Daniel Craig because he’s rough and totally different from the other Bonds who always came across as smarmy to me, and his movies and action scenes remind me of the Jason Bourne movies which I enjoy a lot. I headcanon that James Bond is actually a cover identity held by many different men over the decades, and Daniel Craig’s character is just the latest one. When I watch his Bonds when can imagine most of the time that he’s not Bond actually, but some other random secret agent. Craig’s Bonds feel that different from the earlier Bonds to me and that makes me happy.
My favorite theme song is The Living Daylights by A-Ha, and I think it’s a great song just on its own.
6 – Mad Hatter Day: Mad Hatter Day celebrates the Mad Hatter, from Alice In Wonderland and is the perfect opportunity for you to bring out your daft side. Do you have a silly side? Is there anything or anyone who always manages to get you acting silly?
Most people probably consider me being an active fan of various properties and of Star Trek in particular to be daft. I just call it being a nerd and fannish no more dafter than being a sports fan. I don’t usually act silly.
7 – World Space Week: October 4-10 is World Space Week. How does the exploration of space benefit society? Do you think the money spent on space exploration could be better spent on the myriad problems here on Earth?
Space exploration can and will lead to new technonologies and scientific discoveries.
I think it could be spent better on the problems here on Earth, but I don’t believe it would be. There’s enough money to solve all the world’s problems such as poverty or climate crisis – it’s just that the people who have the money and power, don’t have to will.
8 – International Podiatry Day: Do you try to reguarly take care of your feet, or do you tend to neglect them until something crops up — dry, cracked heels, ingrown toenails, blisters, corns, etc.? Have you ever been to a podiatrist (or chiropodist depending on where you live)? Do you get pedicures regularly?
I clip my toe nails regularly. My feet are too dry and I should use lotion on them more often, but usually I can’t be bothered. There’s a inconvenient bit of skin that hardens on my left foot on the side at the top towards the pinky toe that hardens no matter what I do, so I have to deal with that all the bloody time. I think my left foot posture is incorrect because the hardening comes back in about two weeks if I manage to get rid of it. I’ve been to a pedicure/podiatrist once when I received a gift card and she got rid of the hardening a lot easier than I ever do. But otherwise I don’t have the money.
9 – Canadian Thanksgiving Day: Canadian Thanksgiving is associated with the European tradition of harvest festivals. Does your country celebrate the yearly harvest with a festival or other form of commemoration?
It’s called kekri here, and no it isn’t a thing anymore. Kekri was celebrated in history; hundreds of years ago it was the most important celebration day of the year, and the year changed into a a new one in the fall instead of in December/January in the winter. Later in the 1900s kekri was merged with Christian All Saints’ Day and Christmas but many of our Christmas/New Year rituals and traditions trace back to the ancient kekri celebrations actually.
10 – Shift10 Day: SHIFT10 Day was created to encourage shoppers to shift 10% of their spending into their local economies to support local businesses, farmers’ markets, and other alternatives to big box stores. Do you try to shop locally as much as possible or do the ease and convenience of big box stores and online juggernauts like Amazon win out more often than not?
Amazon and foreign online shops wins a lot – a lot of my hobby stuff simply isn’t available to buy in Finland, or the price is astronomical compared to buying the thing from abroad.
But for things like bread, cheese and other food stuffs I try to buy local (which all domestic is considered local here in Finland) and not say, milk from Sweden. For certain treats, such as certain breads, I buy from a bakery from my town. But thing is – I’d like to shop in smaller shops but we don’t have them anymore. We have supermarkets and big box stores that belong to the three chains here (K-ryhmä, S-ryhmä ja LIdl). I shop in the smaller supermarkets the most. We don’t have mom & pop general stores anymore – not since maybe the 1990s. Just the three chains, and a few specialty shops such as bakery, meat shop, cheese shop. These specialty shops are a lot more expensive than the three chains so most people I’d guess buy treats from them and for special occasions and not for-daily-breakfast type shopping.
11 – International Post Card Week: Did you ever trade or collect postcards? When was the last time you received one? When was the last time you sent a post card to someone?
Nope. My Mom sends me an Easter and a Christmas cards by mail every year so that’s probably the Easter one I’ve gotten the latest. We do give (post) cards for events like birthdays but we don’t send those to each other by mail.
I’ve no idea when was the last time I sent a post card by mail! I have a feeling I might have done it in the 1990s the last time…
12 – World Sight Day: How good is your eyesight? When did you last have an eye exam? Would you ever consider lasik surgery to improve your vision?
It’s bad. I have glasses and I can’t see much of anything without them, just fuzzy blobs. I had an eye exam about 1,5 years ago, and will have another one next Monday. I have type 2 diabetes and it’s time to test my intraocular pressure because of that. After that is done, I’m going to get an appointment with an optician to check my eye sight. I think I may need prescription reading glasses now because my eyes get blurry after reading for a while and only sleeping seems to clear that. I love reading, but I’ve had to reduce the time I spend doing that and it’s a bummer. And I think maybe new regular glasses are not too far in the future either. But probably reading glasses first.
I would consider Lasik but for the lack of money. But on the other hand I also hate the idea and I’m squemish thinking of somebody touching my eyes. So I don’t know if I’d really go for it. On the other hand, my Mom had to had cataracts operated on on both her eyes. Before the cataracts, she had a really bad eye sight and very strong, thick prescription glasses. After the cararact operation her eyesight is almost normal – her vision improved so much! She does use glasses but doesn’t need them all the time. So that’s a great experience that gives me a positive look on eye surgery.
13 – Train Your Brain Day: Do you do any exercises aimed at (or claiming to) help keep your brain sharp and improve your memory?
Nope. Unless reading a lot of novels counts, or listening to music.
14 – Dessert Day! Who doesn’t love dessert? Is a dessert a regular part of your evening meal, or more of a special occasion sort of thing? Or do you mostly indulge in dessert when you eat out? Do you have a favourite dessert to make? Do you have a favourite dessert to order when eating out?
Desserts have never featured in my family’s meals. My parents’ idea of a dessert was a fruit – an apple or an orange, or maybe a handful of grapes. I wasn’t partial to fruits until later in life, so I usually skipped it. As still don’t eat dessert as a grown up. I, having a sweet tooth, usually have desserts such as chocolate or strawberry pudding as snacks between meals. But I love grapes and also the fresh fruit salad which has grapes, melon, honey melon, pear and pineapple in it that I buy from the supermarket. So I also snack on fruits although not as much as is recommended per day.
I’ve never been able to eat a dessert when dining out – the restaurant portions are so big that I always get full from just the main meal and stop there.
15 – Mushroom Day: Do you like mushrooms? Do you have a favourite type of mushroom? In what dishes are you most likely to use mushrooms?
No. I think they are very suspect. I’ve never tasted a mushroom and don’t intend to.
16 – Liqueur Day: Amaretto! Grand Marnier! Kahlua! Creme de Menthe! A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage made from a distilled spirit. Distillers flavor the spirit with fruit, cream, herbs, spices, flowers, or nuts. They may have fallen out of favour due to the increasingly broad selection of spirits available in seasonal, fragrant, and often curious flavors (vodkas and rums in particular), but they haven’t disappeared. Have you ever had a liqueur? Do you have a favourite?
I don’t alcohol so no. I’ve used some sherry and some chocolate liqueur in baking and puddings, but that’s it. I did like the chocolate liqueur I asked my Mom to bring from the cruises she and her SO take regularly – I think it was called Mozart? I used it a lot for baking and puddings. But even that I didn’t drink as-is, chocolate or no chocolate.
17 – Mulligan Day: Commonly used in games such as golf, the term ‘mulligan’ derives from the 1920s when Canadian golfer David Mulligan made a mistake during a game and retook his shot. Since then, to ‘call a mulligan’ means the chance to try again. Is there anything in your life you’d like a second chance at?
If I could, I’d choose to stay in the metropolitan area after I finished library school. That’s the only place in the country where library jobs regularly open and the chance to land a regular library job is the best. But honestly, with low library salary and if I lived alone, I probably would have had to move away from the metropolitan area at some point due to the high cost of living there.
18 – International Legging Day: Do you wear leggings? If yes, do you wear them mostly when exercising, or do you wear them outside of the gym?
I wear them under the trousers in winter. I think those too are called leggings these days here.
19 – Free Speech Week: There is a lot of talk about the so-called “cancelling” of individuals who are known for espousing controversial views. Would a better way of framing it be “accountability” rather than “cancelling”, with the emphasis being on the reality that free speech isn’t consequence-free?
Probably.
20 – Information Overload Day: We’ve all likely suffered from this at some point in time, if not almost daily. What do you do to limit the flow of information coming to you? Do you put your phone on “Do Not Disturb”? Log out of your email client? Avoid social media? Read a book or go for a walk instead of watching the news?
I’ve put disable the notifications for almost all the apps on my phone. Only left a few such as the package app so I see immediately when happens with packages on the way to me, and text messages because I don’t remember to check my text messages anymore because almost nobody sends them to me anymore instead of WhatsApp or e-mail. I hate it when social media or e-mail or news or shopping apps pop up reminders and notifictions all the fucking time so I disable that shit, and check when it suits me.
21 – International Walk to School Month: Did you walk to school as a child? Are parents today too over-protective to let their children walk to school?
I walked to my years 1-2 school, years 3-9 I took the bus as well as to the occupational school. To the library school I took the commuter train. On year 1 my Mom took the week the school started free from work and walked with me to the school in the morning, and came to fetch me when school was over. I think it was by day 3 I wanted to walk by myself because I’ve always been independent spirited! LOL I think she still did stay home all that week so she was there to receive me when I came home. Then after that, I’d go to the nanny who lived in the same apartment building (and looked after a handful of other kids of same age too) when I got home from school. By year 3, I didn’t want to spend time at the nanny anymore at home doing my home work so it was changed to me just checking in with the nanny when I was home and then going to my home to have a snack and do my home work. These are fond memories – I always felt safe, but not stifled because I was never forced to be alone, or not be alone.
In Finland, yes. But most kids do walk, or take the bus by themselves once they are familiar with the route. I don’t know the situation in other countries to say one way or another.
22 – Colour Day: National Colour Day focuses on the impact colour has on each of us. Beyond having a favourite colour, are there colours that evoke specific feelings or memories in you? Colours you avoid or dislike because they remind you of something you’d rather forget, or give off “bad vibes”? Is there a colour that immediately brightens your mood, or calms you? Do you decorate your home with lots of bright colours? How important is colour in your life?
Yellow. I don’t like yellow, I never have. It’s always felt too garish and too brutish. And tacky. Just nope all the way around.
The last several years getting color around me has become important to me. I made acrylic pour paintings and I’ve printed colorful art and hang it up on my walls. I never used to have anything on my walls – I lived inside my head so much I didn’t need it.
I used to hate pink – it was such a girly girl color and I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it! But now I LOVE it. Not the very pale shade, but a good proper pink – such as #FC6C85, #F88379, #DE5D83, #F64A8A, #E0115F … just to name a few! I still don’t like to wear it, but things like wallets, hair pins, pens, inks… give it all to me!
23 – iPod Day: Have you ever owned an iPod (or other portable media player)? Do you remember those first songs? Do you still listen to them? What have you become in the days that have past, and do you smile with nostalgia or cringe with embarrassment as you remember your favorites from ages gone by?
I never did own a portable media player! I never had the money to buy one myself, and wanted other things more as birthday gifts etc. such as books! My first smart phone was my first portable media player… I think I got it around 2009 or 2012? And yes, I remember the first songs I put on it – I still listen to them regularly because they’re among my favorites.
Sometimes I marvel that my music taste hasn’t really changed since I was a kid – I’ve just added more stuff I like to it, but I still love the same songs as I did when I was 10 in 1984. I don’t know – somehow I always thought I’d get boring and start to like “grown up” music… meaning the Finnish iskelmämusiikki grown ups were listening around me when I was growing up.
24 – United Nations Day: Is the UN still an important international player? Do you think the UN Security Council membership should be expanded?
Dunno. In theory, I think organisations where many nations work together for a common, positive goal is always a good thing. Whether it’s effective and usable in modern times, I don’t have the knowledge to say.
25 – International Artist Day: do you have any art in your home — paintings, sculptures, etc.? Do you ever visit art galleries? Do you dabble in any type of art yourself?
I don’t visit art galleries.
I have a tiny painting my Mom bought me as a birthday present ages ago, which is the only one I have that was bought from a physical store. I also have acrylic pour pour paintings that I myself have done, and I’ve printed some digital papers I’ve bought on Etsy and hung them up. I do fandom wallpapers in Photoshop as well as textures, and I used to make lots of icons. I also draw some, and do some watercolors. But it’s more like crafts than art, I’d say!
26 – Mincemeat Day: Have you ever tried mincemeat (pie, or tarts)? Do you like it? Do you have an old family mincemeat recipe that gets dragged out in time for the holidays season?
Nope. I had to google mincemeat ’cause I didn’t know what it was – fruit+meat fillings are not a thing here.
27 – Cranky Co-Workers Day: Do you have (or did you have if no longer working) any chronically cranky co-workers? Or maybe you were the cranky co-worker? When was the last thing you let yourself be cranky, and to voice your thoughts about something that annoyed you?
Back in mid-90s when I was doing the second on-the-job-traing which was required by the library school, one my of co-workers was noticeably cool and short with me. The training was for two months if I remember correctly, and I continued as a summer temp directly after. It was weird – while I was training, she was short and cool towards me, but when I was a summer temp, she was friendlier even though the only thing that changed was my title. Like Friday – still a trainee – cool and short. Two days later on Monday – started the summer temp job – friendlier. She was crankier than the others just in general, but that change in behaviour towards me from trainee/Friday to summer tem/Monday was almost funny. Maybe she didn’t like having trainees around although she had nothing to do with training me.
28 – International Animation Day: What is your favourite animated film or TV series?
Don’t have one. I do enjoy the old (like 1950s old) cartoons about the Pink Panther, the Road Runner etc. but generally I’m not into animated stuff.
29 – Internet Day and Cyber-security Awareness Month: Today is both national Internet day and Cyber-security Awareness Month. Are you, or do you try to be, fairly vigilant about how you use the internet, and keeping yourself safe online? Do you tend to use the same password across most sites? Have you ever suffered a malware infection?
I try to be safe and secure. I have both an antivirus and firewall softwares on all my devices, and I keep Windows and Android updated with latest updates. I use a password manager and use different, long passwords for all sites. I have had a malware infection but the last time was years ago.
30 – Haunted Refrigerator Night: Sometimes you forget about certain things that are in your fridge. And while you may have forgotten about them, they certainly haven’t forgotten about you. Instead, they sit lurking in the back of the refrigerator waiting for you to delve into its darkest corners and unleash the disgusting rotten mess that lurks within those Tupperware sarcophagi. Is there anything lurking in the deepest recesses of your fridge that you’re afraid to look at or deal with?
I don’t usually have mysterious disgusting tupperwares but I do have a few things in there like pickled cucumber that’s probably past its last use date, and jam jars with only a bit left like a two spoonfuls that aren’t enough for anything and I don’t eat jam as-is so I keep them in hopes I’ll bake something I can shove the jam remains into and then it just never happens.
31 – Magic Day: Have you ever seen magic performed live? Have you ever tried to learn a few tricks yourself?
I think we went to see some magic show when I was a kid in school? I have very faint memory that that happened? Magic tricks bore me so nope.