Friday 5 for April 7: Assimilasian
Categories Blog Memes & Asks Personal

Friday 5 for April 7: Assimilasian

This week’s questions over at f.riday5.com

1. What’s your best karaoke song? If you have never participated in karaoke, what would you sing first if you were forced to?

I’ve never participated in karaoke and don’t want to, but if a loaded gun is held to my head… Eläköön elämä by Sonja Lumme.

2. How extensive is your ramen experience?

Nonexistent.

3. What are your five most-used emojis? If you aren’t an emoji-user, which emojis do you see in mainstream communication the most?

I use the emojis from https://emojipedia.org and I think I use these the most: 🥰🔥😍 ❤️ ✨

4. How do you feel about sudoku puzzles?

I don’t. Word puzzles stump me; sudoku puzzle especially so.

5. When did you last consume soy sauce or tofu?

Tofu – I think the only tofu thing I’ve ever tasted is tofu ice cream. That was probably at least 15 years ago if not more? I didn’t hate it or even dislike it, but I also didn’t care for it. More of a “meh” experience.

Soy souce – whenever was the last time I made meatballs. It was during this winter, but I think back on the 2022 side of it. I can’t remember exactly.

Random Thoughts – Finnish Politics
Categories Blog Personal Rant

Random Thoughts – Finnish Politics

Finland becomes a Member of NATO tomorrow, Tuesday April 4, 2023.

I was against joining NATO my entire life, life most Finns, until Russia invaded Ukraine. That changed my mind in a single week. But, I appreciate being a peace builder and unallied country – which we won’t be anymore starting tomorrow – and so now I’m feeling conflicted. I’m glad we’re joining NATO, but kinda not.

So many things have happened in the last three years that I never thought I’d see in my life time.

I’m won’t be making more posts about Finnish politics and this won’t turn into a political blog, never fear… but I have to say this.

Finland had general election yesterday, and two right-wing parties won and centre-left social-democratic party became third. (More behind the cut). Continue reading Random Thoughts – Finnish Politics

The Friday Five for March 31, 2023 – Greeting Cards
Categories Blog Memes & Asks Personal

The Friday Five for March 31, 2023 – Greeting Cards

Answers to this week’s question at thefridayfive@Livejournal – https://thefridayfive.livejournal.com/212901.html

1. How often do you send greeting cards?

I never send them physically via mail. And I only buy physical ones for my Mom… but I bring it with me when I visit on the celebrations. Sometimes if for some reason she’s not having a birthday celebration, like once when they had had to book their holiday trip abroad for that time due to various things, I also sent her an e-card on her birthday, and then gave the physical card when the celebration was actually had later on.

There’s a few other people I send e-cards to on appropriate days. And even more people who I send text messages or a WhatsApp message.

In fact, text messages took over the physical cards in my circles a lot starting around 2005.

I’ve never believed in sending cards to people/family I never see except randomly maybe once or twice a year while visiting a friend or family just because it used to be a custom to do that. I remember when I was a kid, our family would get like 70-100 Christmas cards not just from close or distant family but also from almost random people – people Mom had worked with a decade earlier or had gone to school with even more time ago and had seen maybe twice since. When we’d visit my cousins or our family friends, they’d all similar amount of cards from people they had no contact with other than those Christmas cards. So was very much the custom to send Christmas cards back and forth in the dozens back then. I never saw the point in that. And to be honest – it got expensive sending like 50 Christmas cards in December when you were a student or unemployed or temping/part time. So I very quickly pared it down to people I actually interact with regularly. And then text messages and e-cards came along quickly after that.

2. What is the most creative card you’ve ever received?

I don’t remember. I usually get typical cards that can be bought on any store; sometimes they’re decorated with stickers but that’s about it.

3. What is the most creative card you’ve ever sent?

The cards I used to make with one parent when it was for the other parent, or the cards we made in school. This was about 40 years ago and I have no recollection at all of what I made, other than I made some!

I sometimes do make a card in Photoshop if I’m feeling like it, using clipart, stock photography, pretty fonts, gradients etc. but it’s not something that I do often.

I’ve been thinking that I would like to/should try and make a watercolor card some time for Christmas – there’s some designs that look easy enough that I should be able to make them! But it hard to time it because of my health issues – so far I haven’t been up for it near the end of a year, so I’d have to paint it whenever I can… be that March or July! It’s just that I never think about Christmas and Christmas cards until about late November earliest.

4. Do you believe the days of sending post cards are behind us?

I think as a general custom, yes. News keep telling me that the number of mailed cards has severely declined, along with other paper mail. I believe there’ll always be people who like to send/receive physical cards, or people who’ll like to make cards themselves, but I think a lot/mostly it’s moved on to text messages, WhatsApp and e-cards already and will do so in the future even more.

5. If you could get a post card from anywhere, where would it be?

I’ve always enjoyed receiving cards in the post when my friends or Mom are on a holiday abroad. Often the cards of a local attraction they visited and when they’re back home I love looking at the card along with the photos they took while they’re telling me what the thing was like in real life and what they liked and didn’t like about it. Never mind that usually the post card arrives after they’ve returned from the holiday already!

Categories Blog Fandom Memes & Asks

Snowflake Challenge #14 – Fandom Wrap

I’m bored and too tired to do anything, but have to stay up for another 1,5 hours… so have answers to [community profile] snowflake_challenge #14 – Fandom Wrap 😀


Challenge #14 –
https://snowflake-challenge.dreamwidth.org/66961.html

In your own space, do the Fandom Wrap Challenge. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

What were your top 5 fandoms for 2022 based on the amount of time you interacted with them?

1. Game of Thrones: Sandor Clegane and sansan
2. Zahn McClarnon fandom
3. Jeri Ryan fandom
4. The Last Kingdom
5.

There were others but they were only passing fancies of few weeks and right now I can’t think of what they were!

What were your top 5 fandom spaces (Discord, Twitter, etc.) you experienced fandom in terms of time spent?

1. A03
2. Tumblr
3. Dreamwidth
4. My various actor and tv fansites
5. Reddit

What are the top 5 things you did to contribute to fandom in terms of time? Did you write? Comment? Send positive energy into the universe? Create art?

1. Create wallpapers
2. Update and maintain several fansites
3. Screencapped tv shows and movies for my fansites
4. Helped AO3 Open Doors volunteers finish the import and merger of my two adopted Oded Fehr fanfic archives to AO3, and continue as admin of the resulting Weaver of Dreams collection
5. Leaving kudos and comments fanfics I read.

My biggest contribution time wise were as a fanfic archive admin and the owner/webmaster of several fansites. Spent probably a few hundred hours screencapping tv shows and movies, uploading stuff and doing website behind-the-scenes maintenance etc. Second biggest – I’d say making wallpapers ❤️ I kudos every fic I read that I’m glad that exists, and try to leave comments as much as I can. I’d have loved to have leave even more comments, but didn’t always have the spoons due to my chronic illnesses.

What were your top 5 most appreciated fandom contributions? (i.e. in terms of likes, kudos, reblogs, comments, etc.)

1. Zahn McClarnon fansite updates
2. Jeri Ryan screencaps & photos
3. My wallpapers
4. Keeping the Oded Fehr fanfic archives going, and making them safe for future by AO3 Open Doors import
5. Screencapping tutorial & helping people with it when asked

Special shout-out to Zahn McClarnon fans; they’re were really great and liked and commented the updates a lot every time! It was a pleasure to keep the fansite going when I had it because of the ample feedback they gave me 😀

Have a Top 5 List you’d like to share?? By all means!

Top 5 tv shows I watched last year:

1. The Last Kingdom
2. Star Trek Strange New Worlds
3. Bosch: Legacy
4. Foundation
5. The Lazarus Project

Star Trek: Picard 3.07 Part 7: Dominion Thoughts
Categories Star Trek TV & Movies

Star Trek: Picard 3.07 Part 7: Dominion Thoughts

I’m disappointed how little 7of9 has had screen time in S3 – I do like her personal plot this season and general personal arc in all through the three seasons of PIC very much, but she’s had so little to do this season! And a lot of it has been stuff any character could do. I feel like PIC has forgotten that she has a vast knowledge in science and scientific experience and PIC is mostly treating her as an action hero 😐 But the personal stuff she has had, has been good.

There’s a few spoilers behind the cut.

Continue reading Star Trek: Picard 3.07 Part 7: Dominion Thoughts