Jo’s daily questions for November!
1 – Extra Mile Day: When was the last time you went the extra mile for someone, or someone went the extra mile for you? Tell us about it.
I’m not sure. Does it count if my Mom came shopping with me a few months ago when I needed to buy some storage boxes? It would’ve been incredibly cumbersome get them home by two busses because of their sizes? They have a car and she was happy to go with me. I think the last time I did was when Mom was still recovering from hip surgery and her SO had to go away for a few days. I stayed with Mom those days just in case although she thought she’d do fine by herself but we all thought better safe than sorry.
2 – Stress Awareness Day: How stressful is your everyday life? How well do you deal with stress? Do you have any tried-and-true strategies for handling stress?
I have chronic stress about money and my health situation. I’m not sure how well I deal with it – I think pretty well, but then it always occurs to me that just maybe my migraine situation wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have that stress. I read a lot of fiction that distracts me my issues. Sometimes if it’s very bad, I sleep too much because of the stress and to make the time pass faster. I also try to remind myself that I’ve been trhough bad stuff before and I’ve always survived it. And if there’s a stressfull thing with a definite end date (such as a colonoscopy), I strongly remind myself that by this time tomorrw/next week/next year that particular stress will be solved. One way, or another, but it will be solved.
3 – Sandwich Day: Do you like sandwiches? What’s your favourite sandwich filling?
Cheese.
Cold sandwhiches with cheese and lunch meats never taste as great as I imagine they will when I see them/read about someone eating one. I’m always mildly disappointed! But it’s still my favorite!
Hot sandwhich: toast bread, tomato puree, lunch meat, blue cheese, pineapple and cover it all with lots of grated pizza cheese and heat in the oven until the grated pizza cheese has melted, puffed up and is golden with just a hint of brown.
4 – Candy Day: Do you have a sweet tooth? What’s your favourite candy?
I have a huge sweet tooth! It’s a problem. Is chocolate candy? In anycase, my favorite candy is chocolate but the products varies as to which one is number one at a time. Some of my forever loves are the traditional, basic chocolate by Fazer which is Fazerin Sininen (and is the most popular chocolate in Finland). Fazerina is another love, and Pätkis, and Fazermint, and Wiener Nougat. They’re all by Fazer. Fazer makes the best chocolate, is a Finnish company and I love many of their chocolates!
There are a number of chocolates available only before Christmas – Budapest is my favorite of those, but there are others too.
Non-Fazer products that I love is After Eight. I’m not sure who makes that.
5 – Zero Tasking Day: The extra hour we get when daylight savings times change is often heralded as an opportunity for extra productivity, activity and ‘doing’. However, given that we’re all already ‘owed’ an hour every other time it changes, it seems a little unfair to expect us to work through it – as such, Zero Tasking Day is designed to dedicate this hour to ‘me time’, encouraging rest, relaxation and a distinct lack of work. How will you spend (or did you spend if you changed your clocks before this weekend), your extra hour? If you live somewhere that doesn’t observe daylight savings time, what would you do if you had an extra hour of ‘me time’?
Daylight saving time can go die in a fire. It’s ridiculous keep summer time until the last Sunday of October when it’s been dark out at night for like two and a half months already. And start summer time when it’s still almost winter here. Just die a fiery death already. EU was supposed to end this stupid thing but it got stuck somewhere, in the bureacracy I guess, when COVID-19 started.
Anyway, since the clocks are changed at 4am, I use that one hour like any normal human being – by sleeping! And in March, by feeling sleep deprived.
6 – Job Action Day: It is often suggested that people should focus on finding a job that they love. Today it is suggested that you should take your passions and bring them to the job you have, i.e. find a way to instill your love and passion for a particular career into any work you come into. Do you think this is good advice?
Maybe. It’s nice if you can do it, but work is work not passion. I got to do that for a bit at one of my jobs. I love tinkering with computers and I got to do all the troubleshooting and installing and everything I wanted in that library job, and found out that after doing nothing else for a week, I didn’t want to do it for a living. It was too isolated from other people so I started to feel lonely. And after spending majority of my day troubleshooting a program or something, I didn’t want to do anything on a computer at home – which meant no editing my fanfic, or playing and making wallpapers in Photoshop. So it can be a bad thing!
There’s also lots of jobs that I can’t imagine anyone would genuinely consider their dream job or passion, but that are incredibly important and must be done. It’s more than okay to not feel passionate about your job and have your passions as hobbies, or a side career.
7 – Hug a Bear Day: How do you feel about stuffed toys? Did you have a favourite teddy bear or other stuffed toy as a child? Do you have one now?
I never think of them. I didn’t, and I don’t.
8 – Eating Healthy Day: How do you define eating healthily? Do you consider your diet to be healthy?
Unappetizing and nope.
9 – British Pudding Day: Have you ever had British pudding? What is your favourite type of pudding?
I haven’t. We almost never bought them when I was growing up, and I don’t usually think to try them out and haven’t found one I truly love. I think I’ve only ever eaten the type of pudding that’s sort of like jogurt but not runny. I don’t usually buy puddings but when I do, it’s usually the Jacky Makupala dark chocolate one.
10 – November is National Novel Writing Month: Have you ever taken part in National Novel Writing Month? How did it go?
Once, and I ended up pissed off with the whole concept because I felt like I saw nothing but posts about the fucking National Novel Writing Month everywhere I went. I’ve had the tags blocked for years now so I don’t see it around much now. And I was too pissed off to write the thing I thought I would during.
11 – Origami Day: Have you ever done origami?
Nope.
12 – International Tongue Twister Day: Are you good at tongue twisters? What’s your favourite tongue twister? And to take a different meaning of tongue twister, can you literally twist or crinkle the edge your tongue?
In my mother tongue I’m pretty good in some of them. In English, nope. Dunno. Nope.
13 – World Kindness Day: What was the last kind thing someone did for you? What was the last kind thing you did for someone else?
A nonny on FFA gifted me with a bluray of Star Trek SNW and a Paperblanks notebook. The notebook is absolutely gorgeous (even more than I thought it would be!) and seems to be suitable for fountain pens too judging by my quick test today! I’m so happy and think of the gifting nonny whenever I see the bluray or the notebook.
14 – Loosen Up Lighten Up Day: Do you need to loosen up or lighten up?
I don’t think so? I’m not particularly serious and I can see the funny in many things, even if I don’t share with acquitances/strangers.
15 – Recycling Day: Do you recycle?
Everything but the bio trash. So: plastic, cardboard, paper, metal, glass and bio all have separate collection bins on my apartment building grounds. I also recycle batteries, small appliances (such as electric toothbrushes) and I’m trying to do better with textile waste (still-usable clothes as well as non-usable textiles) which I have to take to collection points (usually my local grocery shop).
16 – Button Day: Do you have a stash of buttons? Does or did someone in your family have such a collection?
I don’t but my Mom at least used to have. Don’t know if she still does.
17 – Take a Hike Day: When was the last time you took a hike?
I don’t remember the year, but it was with our Beagle Caro when she was still alive – so in 2004 or earlier. I’ve never seen the point of a hike without a dog!
18 – Princess Day: What is your opinion of Disney princesses? How do you feel about real life princesses?
I don’t have opinions on Disney princesses, I don’t even remember them. As for real life princesses: they exist.
19 – Play Monopoly Day: Have you ever played Monopoly? Did you enjoy it?
I don’t remember whether I have or not. If I did, it was when I was a kid. I’ve never cared for anykind of games.
20 – Name Your PC Day: Does your PC (or laptop) have a name?
Laptop, and nope. But my external hard drives all have names!
21 – World Television Day: Did you watch TV as a child? Do you still watch TV? How much TV do you watch per week on average?
I did! I’ve always loved watching tv, and tv shows. Technically I don’t watch tv anymore because I don’t own one – I’d love to have one, but don’t have enough money to buy one. And we don’t usually give expensive things like that as gifts. I could only ask for an expensive gift for a special birthday such as turning 50 and it’s a choice between a tv or a new laptop. And a new laptop is more sensible because my old one is 10 years old next year, and most things can’t easily be done without a computer anymore (such as banking, governmental bureacracy, social security benefits, etc.). So a computer/laptop is a necessity, a tv isn’t.
That said – I watch tv shows as much as ever! Just on my laptop. TV series are my preferred form of media. These days they tell the best stories and have most of the interesting character development.
I’m not sure how much per week – a few hours a day at least, anyway. I also rewatch old favorites such as Star Trek shows, or watch old shows such as Murder, She Wrote that I saw 20-40 years ago once or Tom Selleck’s Magnum, PI which I’ve never seen at all.
22 – Go For a Ride Day: Do you ride anything? e.g. horse, motorcycle, sled, etc. When was the last time you rode?
Nope. Probably a sled as a kid.
23 – Espresso Day: Do you drink coffee? How do you drink your coffee?
I don’t drink “coffee” coffee. Only those Frezza cold coffee drinks which have like 5% of coffee and 95% of milk and chocolate or vanilla.
24 – Flossing Day: Do you floss regularly?
Nope. Most of my teeth have wide enough gaps for it to be necessary, and the ones that don’t, I don’t remember to bother with.
25 – Shopping Reminder Day: Shopping Reminder Day falls roughly a month before Christmas, and as such it’s the perfect reminder to go ahead and get started on all of your holiday shopping. How do you feel about holiday shopping? Do you need a reminder to go shopping for holiday gifts?
Nope, no reminders needed. I remember anyway.
I don’t like holiday shopping. It always brings home anew that I’m poor and can’t buy myself or others what I would really like. That I always have to settle. And I can’t deal with huge crowds like Black Friday cause so I don’t like to do shopping in physical shops when sales are on. I’ve never had a panic attack but get close to one in crowds like that.
26 – Cake Day: Cake or pie? Or something else?
Cake! Pie is good but cake is rarer, especially whipped cream layer cake or Sacher cake or something fancier like that, then cake all the way!
27 – Pins and Needles Day: Can you sew, either by hand or by machine? What was the last thing you sewed?
Only if absolutely necessary, such as socks or little opened seams on otherwise still good underware or sew on a loose button. I’ve shortened my trousers once on my Mom’s sewing machine – I knew how to do it by hand, but hadn’t used a sewing machine in 25+ years (since school) so she had to show me how the thing worked. Can’t remember the last thing but it would’ve been a button most likely.
28 – French Toast Day: Do you like French toast?
I like the köyhät ritarit (poor knights) version of it which is topped with jam and whipped cream. I prefer strawberry jam, or better yet, my Mom’s home made apple jam.
29 – Throw Out Your Leftovers Day: How do you feel about leftovers? Are you happy to eat the same food more than once in a row, or do you crave variety in your diet? Do you take leftovers home from a restaurant when/if you eat out?
If I cook myself I prefer to make enough so that there’s leftovers for 4-5 days. Cooking is a necessary evil for me, so when I do it, I prefer to get more than one meal out of it. Casseroles are good for this. It’s also something I grew up with it so to me it’s just natural to plan to have leftovers.
I usually finish my plate when eating out – the portions are sized in a way very little, if anything, is left by most people, and it wouldn’t make sense to take them home. That’s not something commonly done here.
30 – Stay Home Because Your Well Day: Have you ever taken a mental health day from your job, or just decided not to go to work even though you weren’t sick, because you felt like staying home or for some other reason?
Back when I was working (15 years ago) mental health days weren’t a thing then, and I’m not sure how much they are now. I didn’t stay home unless I was sick because I had to take sick days for migraine often enough anyway.