meme & asks

Answers to Jo’s daily questions for November 16-31, 2022.

16. "Live hard, die young and leave a beautiful corpse" ~OR~ "Live long and prosper"?

Live long and prosper obviously - because Star Trek!

17. What are you most likely very wrong about?

I'm not sure. Probably something to do with Kokoomus on more than a few fronts. I keep getting surprised when they support things like womens' abortion rights because their views on economics, the unemployed and poverty are evil and cruel and I expect the same from them on everything else too.

18. If you were put into solitary confinement for six months, what would you do to stay sane?

Can you get a tv there? Paper and pen? Books to read? Music to listen? If so, I'd watch tv, write a journal, read books and listen to music. I don't know if solitary confinement for that long is even possible here in Finland.

19. Can you list three good things that happened this week?

No, no I can't. My weeks are usually just "okay" and this past week has been resoundingly "okay".

20. Are child-proof containers becoming increasingly adult-proof?

Donno about child-proof, but milk containers that were easy to open before, then were redesigned to be even easier to open by the elderly with bad fingers have certainly became harder to open in reality!

21. Does your morning "getting ready" routine vary much between work days and weekends (or other days off if you work weekends)?

I don't work so my morning routine doesn't change usually. It changes if I have a very short hair and need to go outside for things like grocery shopping, a library visit or to pick up a parcel or something like that. When I have a very short hair, on those mornings I wash it because otherwise it just sticks up greasily in a hundred directions and refuses to settle down and looks dirty even if I just washed it the night before. Otherwise my routine is the same every day.

22. Does stress cause to you eat more or does it kill your appetite?

Neither. It causes migraines, and when I was a child my atopic skin rashes would also get worse. That occasionally still happens too. But usually migraines. It doesn't have any effect on my appetite.

23. If, in a multi-story building, you only have to go up or down one or two flights, would you prefer to use the stairs rather than an elevator?

Elevator to go up, and stairs to go down.

24. Is there some old family belief, practice, routine or tradition that you know is nonsensical, but you still catch yourself doing it anyway?

Using things until they fall apart. Like towels etc.

25. What makes you feel terrible while you’re doing it but great when you’re done?

Baking, these days. Cleaning, always.

26. How's your sleep been this week?

I've slept okay, but wake up a lot like once an hour or every 1,5 hours.

27. What is the purpose of art in society? You can define "art" as broadly as you like.

To give you pleasure and lift up your spirits. Both creating it, and seeing/listening/reading it. To help you grow as a human being, to open you up to new experiences and points-of-views.

28. November 28 is "Red Planet Day". Do you think humans will ever get to Mars? Is this an endeavour that we should be devoting resources toward or would the money be better spent here on earth?

Space nut in me says "Yes, let's all go to Mars ASAP!!!" but the poor in me says to first we need to make things better for poor people, and to fix the planet.

29. If everything else about your life stayed the same, how well could you get by living homeless for a year?

I don't know. They say that all/most people who live on the streets here in Finland is because they choose it over the homeless homes. So maybe I would be a place in one of those homeless homes or I'd be helped to get an apartment by the social services. I don't think I could manage well otherwise - the fall and winter is cold so I'd need somewhere warm to stay. And I need meds every day to keep my Crohn's in check and the meds need to be store in a stable environment, not subjected to humidity or cold and warm randomly. They also say that in the homeless homes your things often get stolen etc. so it'd be hard. I hope I never become homeless but it's not very many steps away - if a certain set of bad circumstances all happen at the same time and don't get solved speedily, I can see it happening to me.

30. What in your residence is approaching its last days?

Bathroom. The apartment complex did a humidity measurement for all the bathrooms in our appartments a few weeks ago, and while my bathroom is good as far as that goes, they also said that my bathroom (which is original, 24 years old) is coming up on end of life. So looks like a bathroom renovation is coming up in not too distant future. Not sure if I'm to do it, or if it'll be done collectively for all apartments needing it.

Also, probably my fridge and couch.

Answers to Jo's daily questions for November 1-15, 2022.

1. What immature behavior have you displayed recently?

Nothing irl, but so much just in general in online fandom, always to do with shipping.

2. What are some very salty foods you enjoy?

Potato chips. Mettwurst.

3. What are some major global events that have occurred during your lifetime?

Well, the COVID-19 pandemic, obviously.
Internet.
Mobile and then smart phones.
Russia's attack in Ukraine.
The fall of Berlin Wall.
Chernobyl.
9/11
Several recessions

4. The restaurant is out of your favorite salad dressing. What do you order instead?

Salad dressing isn't a factor in my choice on what to order - I don't even think about it. I don't have a favorite salad dressing because I almost never use it (we didn't use them when I was a kid and I've never learned). I decide the hot dish, and then side dish is whatever.

5. What do you imagine people see when they look at you?

A fat woman.

6. Are there any bridges you don't regret burning?

Not sure how to answer this... I don't think I've ever burned a single bridge. I've just picked other paths.

7. Have you been stung by a stinging critter?

Insects? Sure! Other stinging things? Don't think so!

8. Of all the famous artifacts/exhibits you've seen in museums or art galleries, which was the most disappointing when you saw it in real life?

I don't think I've seen any famous ones. If it's not Mona Lisa level famous, I'm not sure I'd know it's famous? There was this time in 1998 when my then best friend and I were in London, and went to see this comics exhibition in British Museum (I think it was British Museum?) and first we had trouble finding it because it was so unnotable that we went right past it, and then when we realized that that is the comics exhibition our reaction was "is that it? it is! it's so... insignificant" we were both so disappointed because frankly our own collections were more impressive. Or maybe we never really did find it! Or maybe we just never recognized the importance of the items on display! The British Museum was otherwise fabulous, and the comics exhibit wasn't the reason we went there so we were otherwise very impressed!

9. What’s a snack item you have difficulty eating in moderation?

My snacks are things like candy, chocolate, cookies, potato chips, cheese... And oh, all of them! Literally. It's what I struggle with, eating fewer snacks and more proper (hot) meals! I don't feel hunger and got no real appetite, have never really liked hot food and eating proper meals feels like a work (literally, while I'm chewing it it feels like work) and often tastes like cardboard. So to make myself eat something I have a bad habit of eating too many snacks because when I don't I tend not to eat anything and then get nauseous. Crohn's Disease apparently also causes lack of hunger and appetite. I'm working on this but there's setbacks whenever I get this certain level exhausted because then I don't want to eat anything, even snacks, and real food is totally unppealing even more so than normally so I eat something quick and usually unhealthy just to get something in my belly.

10. You're an extraterrestrial scout sent to assess if it's worth making contact with Earthlings. What are your main observations and recommendations?

Earthlings are violent and self-destructive. Stay far away and check back in in 1000 years, by which time Earthlings have either learned to live with themselves and their environment, or killed themselves off.

11. Today is Remembrance Day/Veterans Day. Do you know anyone, or have a distant relative, who died in a war?

Our Veteran's Day is actually in April. And I actually don't know, my family never talked about the war. I know my grand-parents didn't die on either side, and that some of my father's siblings were send to Sweden to be safe during the Winter and Continuation War and stayed there in those families after and never came back except for short visits as adults. But other than that, I don't know. Finland hasn't been a party in a war since the Continuation War except for some UN peacekeeping.

12. What’s a good song about freedom or being free? It can be a single line or the entire song.

Nina Simone's Feeling Good.

13. Do you have a charity you regularly give to?

No, I don't have enough money to do that. If I did that I'd have to go to a breadline to get free, donated food myself.

14. Is there one particular decision/choice you made in your life that is largely responsible for where you are now?

No. Health problems are my main thing now, and I could not have stopped/avoided/prevented Crohn's Disease no matter what I did. Anemia, iron defiency, chronic migraine - I might have been able to avoid or lessen them if I had had the money *and* the knowledge to go see a good doctor in time to get them treated them well and properly before they became dire.

I sort of regret that I moved back to my home town after the library studies - I probably could have gotten jobs easier if I stayed in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. But I also think that I'd have had to move away from there anyway even if I had gotten a full time job because the cost of living and the rents and everything is so high there that I couldn't have afforded to live there on a librarian's salary as a single.

But as a whole - no single decision/choice I made could have made it so that I'm not chronically ill the rest of my life with Crohn's Disease and probably with chronic migraine. Those are genetic things.

15. Pick up the nearest book (magazine or any available printed material will do). Turn to page 24 (or the closest to it). Go to the 7th line. What is it?

"Äitiä ja isää painoi jo ennestään syyllisyys. Henryn vuoksi." It's from a Rebecca Martinsson novel called "Isien pahat teot" (original title: Fädernas missgärningar) by Åsa Larsson.

Image from Pixabay. Because pretty.

I totally forgot to answer to Jo’s weekly September questions So here's the whole month in one go!

1. How important is it to you that people remember, spell, and pronounce your name correctly? Why?

Very important! Because one is my name, the other is not to quote Data from TNG.

My real first name (Piia) is spelled with two "i" letters, and all through my school years I had to specify that, because it can also be spelled with one "i" and all the teachers tended to assume that the one "i" was the correct form for me too, not the two "i"s one. To confuse the matter further, another girl in my class had very nearly the same name and that name (Mia) could also be spelled with either one or two "i"s... but her name was spelled with one "i". So we both had that problem, just in reverse! Teachers were always confused about our names! My parents apologized so many times for giving me such a troublesome name - it hadn't even occurred to them that the one "i" spelling would be also an option and often assumed. Probably because the one "i" version is a foreign/Swedish version, and the two "i"s version is the Finnish one. But both spellings are probably both used as much so one isn't more common than the other.

Even now, when I have to give out my name for a new doctor or a nurse, if they don't have my information on their systems yet, I have to make sure they catch it's with two "i"s, not one!

Pronouncing is always correct because no matter if it was one or two "i"s, it is the same.

2. Are you a hugger or a non-hugger? Why?

When I was growing up hugging wasn't really a thing in except in the immediate family (so children and parents, sometimes grandma), at least in my family, and I've lived alone since I was 17 so I've never got used to hugging most people. My friends, cousins and I don't ever hug, it's just not something we do except in exceptional circumstances like when somebody died or something like that. I don't see them hugging their friends when we meet as a group, only their kids and SOs and parents. I do sometimes miss hugging/physical closeness with someone while living alone like I do.

That said, I have liked the "stranger" hugs I've received when my Dad died so I'm not categorically opposed to it or anything. It's just not something my circles normally do. I normally only hug my Mom. And my Mom's best friend and I sort of half-hug each other these days. It's nice.

3. Are you more likely to avoid conflict or engage in it head-on? Why?

I don't experience conflict much as an adult, because I live alone and my family and friends usually get along when we meet. I usually avoid it because I don't care what some random person who comes into my life for five minutes thinks, I just keep doing my thing and depending on the issue, give it a thought quietly or ignore it. Back when I was in school, I avoided conflict because I didn't care about my class mates enough to care what they thought about any given thing. They were just people I was forced to spend the day with. When I argue with friends, which happens rarely, I don't avoid it but I only care up to a certain point which varies by the thing which we're arquing about. Once I reach that point, I disengage from the topic. I don't enjoy debate.

4. What was the most recent compliment you received and savored?

I don't remember. Compliments aren't much of a thing in my circles and never have been. Say like in school, you rarely got complimented about anything - mostly you got "nicely done" in an more-or-less-it's-my- duty-to-say-this voice. I hope teachers are taught better now! And parents too! I'm sure my parents complimented me, but I don't really remember any from my childhood - I do remember them being pleased but more like knowing it from their tone of voice and general manner that they were pleased, rather than outright words.

I remember when a co-worker, who was originally from Estonia, one complimented my hair - it was in a bun, and she said it suited me well. I didn't know what to say because I'd never been complimented except by my Mom. This was 20 years ago, but it still stands out as unsual but nice!

I do remember a few years ago some official/clerk saying that despite my illnesses, pain and exhaustion I've done well jumping through bureaucratic hoops in a timely manner - I know it was a compliment from their tone of voice that I had taken care of things I needed to and that I'd done it without help or delay because a lot of people can't or do with a lot of delays even with help, but it doesn't really feel like a compliment because what else was I going to do? I didn't have a choice! So getting it done in as effectively as I could was the best of bad options simply to manage my stress!

There's a lot of talk of how work well done is just business-as-usual and you don't get complimented for it in Finland. If you get feedback, it's about thing not done well. My experience matches this - as long as you don't hear anything from teachers/managers/the boss, things are good. I don't know if the younger generations are changing this culture, but this is my experience both in personal and work life.

5. In what situations are you most likely to procrastinate?

When I need to do something I don't like to do or want to do, or I know will be a lot of effort (mental) or work (physical) even if I like doing it.

6. How often do you interrupt others while they are talking?

Never or at least try not to unless it's truly necessary. I hate when people do that. It's rude!

7. What’s your most and least preferred forms of exercise? Explain.

Most: swimming. Because I like water and I won't get sweaty and you get to go to a sauna while at it and it's plain fun! Least: everything else. Because it's sports.

8. What’s your favorite quote? Why is it special to you?

I don't have a favorite or a special quote... but I've had this one up on my DW for years now: I will walk the earth forever, and my hunger shall know no bounds. It's from Torchwood and I like the mood it ewokes.

9. As you fall asleep, do you prefer to be flat on your back, curled on your side, or on your stomach? What position are you in when you wake up?

Anything but flat on my back. I feel unnatural when laying flat on my back, and if I accidentally fall asleep so because I was so tired I fell asleep before I could decide which side to turn on, when I wake my whole back is stiff and moving is uncomfortable for pretty much the whole day. I can fall asleep curled on my side or flat on my stomach, either is good. I also wake up in either of those two positions. I've been like this as far back as I can remember.

10. What’s your preference: cruise ship, powerboat, sailboat, rowboat, canoe, kayak, or inner tube?

I don't know what inner tube is, but of these I've only been on a cruise ship and rowboat. Of those two, I prefer the cruise ship.

11. Who was your best friend in high school, and where is he or she now?

I quit high school after three months, after skipping most of that three months. So I'm going to answer for the library school: my house mate. She went to a different school, then went back to her home town when her studies ended as I did too. We lost touch for about 16 years, but the last few years we've been e-mailing each other every few months :D She went back to school for a bit, and works various temp jobs. Like many of my age, she's never had a stable job, only temp ones but has been working steadily just not in what she studied for.

12. What’s your most memorable (good or bad) airplane flight?

I've flown only twice (well, four times them being return trips) so that I remember (meaning I was an adult, not a tiny kid) and there's nothing memorable about the flights other than "Wow! I'm on an airplane!" general experience.

13. September 13 is "Positive Thinking Day". What negative thought could you turn around today?

Donno... Maybe remembering that I'm still able to learn new things despite having been chronically sick and unemployed for so long and also now being firmly in middle age and feeling like I mental sharpness is gone. And that I got proof of that when I was in the rehabilitation's on-the-job training back in 2017. And that despite that my body wasn't up to finishing the second or third on-the-job training, my mind was to it.

14. Growing up, for which holidays did your family decorate the house?

Christmas was the only one we'd fully decorate. We'd also grow rairuoho (ryegrass, apparently) for Easter and melt down tin and drop it in cold water on the New Year to seek omens for the coming year and eat seasonal foods on each holiday, but we didn't decorate for other than Christmas.

15. Have you ever served on jury duty? If so, what was the case about? If not, would you like to be on a jury in the future?

There's no jury or jury duty in Finland so this question doesn't apply to me.

16. What's worse: laundry or dishes?

Back when I didn't have a dishwasher (25 years ago), dishes. But now that I have both a dishwasher and washing machine and both are new ones at that, both are good! I actually like doing both! Who would have thought?! I sure never did! But I sort of hated it when I had to do dishes by hand, and would still hate it if I had to do them again by hand.

17. Do you have a favourite movie soundtrack?

TV but so many! I can't decide which is the favorite: Star Trek Amok Time, The Last Of The Mohicans, The Leftovers are the top three but lots of other tv and movie soundtracks too!

18. If you were offered free cosmetic surgery by the best plastic surgeons in the world, would you take it?

Yes! Lop off at least 2/3 of my boobs!

19. If you could rid the world of one evil, which one would it be?

Poverty.

20. What is the difference between knowing a lot of facts about a person and knowing someone personally?

Facts don't tell you how how a person "feels" to you and whether you'll like them or not. And knowing someone personally doesn't mean you know all the facts about them!

21. What’s more important, a healthy mind or a healthy body? Why?

As a chronically ill person I can't say I think either one is more important than the other. Not when it goes beyond a certain point. If you have trouble with either one, it can be miserable and getting help or finding working help for either can be very, very hard or impossible.

22. What’s one thing you know for sure?

That I'm going to treat myself with a bit of fresh smoked salmon tonight! It was on sale in the grocery today, and being horribly expensive normally, I haven't had it for since February. Fresh smoked salmon is my favorite fish so it's a REAL treat!!

23. When was the last time you listened to the sound of your own breathing?

Last night while waiting to see if sleep would happen.

24. Do you ask enough questions or do you settle for what you know?

Both, depending on the issue.

25. An app mysteriously appears on your phone that does something amazing. What does it do?

Removes my poverty.

26. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

I don't understand this question... I'd still be as old as I am. Or is the thought that I could choose how old I would be? If so, I'd keep my mentality the same because I'm so much more comfortable in my own skin now than when I was younger, but physically I'd switch to being 25. Youth really is wasted on the young! Or is the thought how old I feel? Then I'd be somewhere in very early 20s I guess - I don't feel like a kid/teenager but not entirely a fully mature adult either so about 20 seems right.

27. How have you recently kept yourself in check?

By being rational about the whole bloody weak adoption thing and being one of my bio father's heirs. There's only so much I can do right now, and I'm doing that; the rest will happen/be revealed in time, before the end of the year as far as the inheritance goes.

28. What’s the closest thing to a castle you’ve been in?

I've actually been to many castles! Turku Castle the most often over my lifetime as it's located in my hometown. But also Häme Castle and Hampton Court just to name a few. Castles are a favorite thing of mine!

29. What were the circumstances the last time you were hoarse?

It was so long ago that I don't remember, but presumably a flu. At least I don't remember ever being hoarse for any other reason.

30. For what will you likely pay a king’s ransom in the near future?

Nothing like a house or anything like that but... Buying a bra certainly always feels like it! No matter whether it's a normal bra (at least 60 euros) or a sports bra (80 euros). It's a curse brought on by having abnormally large boobs and having little choice in bras/shops. And a bra only lasts for a year or two in okayish condition so mostly it's just feels like wasting good money.

Image from Pixabay. Because pretty.

Answer’s to Jo’s weekly questions over at Dreamwidth.

18. Using only one word per person, what was your first impression of each person present with you now?

I'm alone so can't answer this.

19. What books on your shelf are begging to be read?

Two books from the library: the crime novel by Anna Jansson I'm a little more than half-way through right now, and another crime novel by Elle Griffiths, because they're new enough that other people are waiting for them and am likely unable to renew them!

20. What do you do if you can’t sleep at night? Do you count sheep, toss and turn, or get up and try to do something productive?

I suffer from insomnia and bad quality/short sleep; I'm always sleep deprived and tired. I usually try to rest anyway, to get myself quiet and peaceful because I've noticed that even if I can't sleep, I function better the next day if I can rest.

21. Which do you do more often: hum or whistle?

I can't whistle so humming wins... but I rarely do that either.

22. When you’re alone at home, do you wear shoes, socks, slippers, or go barefoot?

Barefoot if it's summer, socks if it's winter. Indoor shoes aren't a thing here: it's considered the epitome of rude to wear shoes inside and everyone automatically takes them off right after stepping through the front door, even people like plumbers unless you specifically tell them that they can keep their shoes on. Some people, usually grandmas and grandpas, wear slippers.

23. Who’s the biggest “pack rat” you know?

Myself, I think. Only with certain types of items of which books is the most common. I can't go to book stores or book fairs because they're much too dangerous places to me - I always want to BUY ALL THE BOOKS!!!! and I don't have enough physical space anymore to buy new ones.

24. What is your most unusual nighttime or morning ritual?

I don't have a morning ritual, but my nighttime ritual is that I must read fiction for at least 10 minutes before turning out the lights. Sometimes this is very hard when I'm so tired my eyes have trouble staying open, but if I don't read for at least ten minutes, even a book I've read a hundred times times already, I'll feel out of kilter all day the next day.

25. How do you get rid of pesky phone calls from telemarketers/scam callers?

My country has this Robinson list that you can put your number on, and reputable telemarketers respect it and don't call. The telemarketer calls really slowed down when I added my number about a decade ago: now I only get about two or three calls a year.

A new phenomenon is scam callers from abroad - they speak really, really bad English so it's easy to know they're scammers immediately: because no service I use calls me in English especially not without me agreeing to it beforehand and knowing to expect the call on a certain day at the certain hour. And domestic services call me only in Finnish. Foreing services I use contact me via e-mail. So I hang up right away when somebody starts to talk bad English on the other end. The first few I got said they're calling from Microsoft and have I noticed my Windows has been hijacked. I got these scammer calls four or five times last year, or was it the year before, but haven't gotten them now for a long while. The scam was in the news here and warned about everywhere.

26. Have you ever square-danced or line-danced? When was the last time you did any sort of dancing (not counting when alone in your home!)?

Nope and nope. In school. I don't care the sort of places and/or events where dancing happens because they're too crowded and LOUD and I'm always uncomfortable when forced to go into one and only want to go home.

27. When you leave a room, do you turn the lights off behind you or keep the lights on throughout your house most of the time?

The kitchen has the light on all the time when I'm up (except when I'm having a migraine attack that's when all the lights are off) - the kitchen and living room is one long room, and the light in kitchen lights the living room portion as well just right for me because I can't handle full on brightness of lights (I have very light sensitive eyes, always have had; it's probably to do with the migraine). I do have a light in the living room as well but the only time it's on is when I'm dusting and/or vacuuming. I also usually keep my night light on in the bedroom because I often go read in the bed during the day and don't feel like turning it on and off all the time. This last one I'm actively trying to change as of two weeks ago to putting the light out every time I'm not there to save on the electricity bill because the price of electricity is going up so much.

When I'm staying at my Mom's, whose apartment has more separate rooms and a clear difference between the kitchen and the living room unlike I do, I do turn off lights if I don't go back to the room immediately after just fetching something from somewhere else or something like that. Because that's how they do things there, and guess I've just picked up their habits while I'm there.

28. How frequently do you purchase lottery tickets?

Really randomly and rarely. I haven't bought any for the last 12+ months. I usually transfer 10 euros to Veikkaus account, and then buy from that over several months until it runs out. Then the next time I do it might be a year or two later. I'm not really interested in lottery, I forget it exists and also I don't have the money usually to waste money like that. But it's nice to dream about not having money problems so very occasionally I do like to buy some lottery tickets because that's the most likely way for that to happen to me.

29. Have you ever been an audience member for any television shows? Which ones? If you haven't, would you like to be? For which shows?

Nope and nope.

30. When was the last time you sat on a park bench for more than ten minutes? Describe the occasion.

I can't remember. I'm not a park person these days and there aren't any "park" parks near me and to go to a proper park, I'd have to make an effort and a special trip. So before I got ill back in 2008. I'm in too much pain and too tired to make a trip to a park, walk + spend time around in the park, and then to make another trip back and also, such a trip would take out all my energy for 2-3 days after. So no parks for me! Back when I was healthy, I wasn't much of a park person then either - I wouldn't go to a park just to spend time, I'd be walking through it on the way somewhere. Usually with my best friend. But we would sit on the benches if time allowed and the sun wasn't too hot. But yeah, parks haven't ever really been a feature in my life.

Now sitting on a bench while going out for a little stroll on a little walking path on the field or the woods five minutes from my home? Sign me up! No particular occasion but it was in the spring before the temperatures got too hot. I try take take 2-3 stroll outside every week in the fall/winter/spring and a lot of the walking paths around here have benches along them every now and then. I like to sit on one, drink from my water bottle and watch the dogs that hopefully go by! Sitting a spell also lets me make a little longer stroll, if I have to walk without rest, it'd have to be a shorter walk to avoid wiping me out for for the rest of the day.

31. When something is funny, do you usually laugh raucously, hiss, snort, chuckle quietly to yourself, or smile and nudge the person next to you?

Chuckle quietly to myself because I'm usually alone. But if I'm with a friend or my Mom, I snort or laugh outloud - not raucously (it's rarely that funny) and depends on the kind of funny it is which reaction it is. I also nudge the other person if they haven't noticed it yet.

Snagged these language-related questions from annaserene@Livejournal

What would you consider your native language?

Finnish.

What was your first language learning experience?

We started learning Swedish (the second mother tongue here in Finland) in the third grade when I was nine. My memory of learning Swedish in the 3-6 grades is that all the lights were put out in the class room and as if the curtains were drawn to shut out the sun and like I would die of boredom. I remember this is not true, but the Swedish teacher made me feel this way - very sad, very dark... it was all about her manner of being. She wasn't bad, or nasty, or unfair or anything. Just that I wasn't into Swedish at all and then we had a complete and utter chemical failure between me and that particular teacher that made it so bad and boring.

What languages have you studied and why did you learn them?

Swedish for six years, starting with grade 3 when I was nine. It's a required subject, and is forced on students in school.

English for 3 years, starting with grade 6 when I was 12. It's a required subject, but I was very happy to start learning! All my fave tv shows were either English or US.

French for two years, starting with grade 8 when I was 13. It was a voluntary subject I wanted to take, because I've always been interested in mid-European history and particularly in French castles and palaces. German was also a voluntary subject that I wanted to take, but I only had room for two additional voluntary subjects and I also wanted computer science as a voluntary subject. So French it was.

How does your personality affect your language learning?

I was an obedient, if mostly mediocre pupil because I hated school and couldn't easily be motivated to put in effort beyond a certain point. But in certain subjects I was passionate about, I got better than good grades. English was one of them - I was serious about it, did all the homework assigned and even the extra ones that we didn't have to do but could if we wanted to. My first English teacher was very demanding, strict and fair and respected her a lot (she was generally hated because she took no shit from pupils and kept the classroom in order; I respected her for it). When she gave you a good grade, you know you had earned it (and vice versa). She taught me a good grammar base that was easy to build on and extend my vocabulary later on.

I LOVE reading and always have! When elementary school was over, and I started the library school, the biggest, best book store chain in the country had English language Star Trek tie-in novels on its shelves, and I dithered many months about buying one - I wanted to so badly, I wasn't sure my English was good enough. But finally I did buy one novel, and two days later went back for more! Reading novels became the major motivator for me to keep at it, especially after I finished all schooling. One of my favorite things to do was to curl up with a novel in English and a thick Finnish-English-Finnish dictionary, read and look up any English words in the dictionary I didn't know that the meaning of. I'm not at the point that I very rarely have to look up the meaning of a word in dictionary - mostly when it's something sciency, or medical.

Do you prefer learning a language in a class or on your own?

In a class! Over the years I've done a few attempts to better my Swedish and to continue my French lessons, but it's been half-hearted at best.

What are your favourite language learning materials?

Well, in school we had typical 1980s grammar books, and excercise books. My favorite though were the pronunciation and discussion practise lessons my French teacher gave us - she said it was very important to learn to pronounce French properly. I don't remember us having those things a lot in Swedish or English. English pronunciation I think I mostly learned from tv and movies, grammar and spelling in school.

How much time do you spend on language per day?

I read in Finnish and English every day, for hours and hours. I write at least a little in English and Finnish most days, and several days a week, I write a lot in English. Swedish very little, randomly and French not really at all, sadly. I've forgotten 99% of my French, honestly.

What are your short-term and long-term language goals?

I don't have really have language goals. I just want to keep reading and writing English and Finnish fluently.

Oh wait! I lie! I do have a goal - sometimes, often, I forget the Finnish word for a thing, and all I can think of is what it is called in English. I'd like that to happen less! So I guess I need to keep reading Finnish widely going forward!

What is your favourite language?

English just because fanfic in my fandoms, or for my fave characters, doesn't exist in Finnish. And the availability of certain published book genres is much wider in English than Finnish, and yet other book genres practically non-existant in Finnish.

What is the next language you want to learn?

If I could pour French language into my head that be cool! But I don't think I'll actually try to learn it again. German would be nice too!

What advice could you give new language learners?

Submerge yourself in it in whatever format you love! If it's movies, great! If it's reading, great! If it's, writing, discussing... it's all great! Whatever makes you want to spend time on it.