meme & asks

Today's questions at thefridayfive@Dreamwidth

1. What are three things you refuse to live without?

1 - My medications. Because not taking my medications will lead to dire consequences where Crohn's Disease is considered likely within a year or two. And if I don't take my migraine medications, awful terrible pain as soon as 24 hours but no later than 2-3 days.

2 - Fan during hot days (heat wave in English). I didn't used to own a fan, until I bought my current fan about 10-12 years ago, maybe? Honestly I don't know how I survived the summers without a fan! Now I know that the moment my fan breaks down, I'll be buying a new one! It really does help that much! I even sometimes need to use during winter.

3 - Books! Or at least stories. I can't imagine life without books/stories to read.

2. What are your three favorite items of clothing?

1 - My 4 beach dresses that I bought just to use at home during hot days (heat wave days but it's not much of a wave anymore like it used to be but constant stretch of helle or heat wave days). They made of soft, comfortable fabric and of colors and patterns I like very much. They're knee-length and have string shoulder straps and I'd love to wear them everywhere but I don't like showing my underwear (industrial strength bras) to random strangers.

2 - My bras. I need industrial strength bras and if I don't wear a bra, my back starts to hurt within an hour or two as well as developing heat/sweat rash under by breasts. In addition, being without a bra is just simply horribly uncomfortable even if it's not hurting. So bras are definitely a favorite item clothing even though it's entirely out of necessity.

3 - I had trouble thinking of a 3rd one because I don't get much attached to clothing and the beach dresses described above are the only exception that I can truly call favorites... but... a summer hat! Makes being in the sun a little more bearable by giving some shade to my face, eyes and neck.

3. What are your three favorite books?

I don't have singular favorite books that stand above all the others no matter what genre they are. More like I have some favorites in a few genres and they tend to change sometimes depending on my mood and what new books I have read. But here's some that have remain on the favorite lists for a long while:

Scifi favorites: The Expanse book series by James S. A. Corey and Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. These two revealed to me that I can love modern scifi in novel format very much! I've never enjoyed reading classic older scifi such as Asimov or Herbert or Le Guin and and didn't care for the more modern ones either that I found either and for a long time it felt like that only what's in my libraries so I stopped looking at some point and just watched all the scifi tv and movies I could get my hands on. Then I came across Seveneves, then started watching The Expanse tv series and read those books and then started to look at what the readers of those properties had also liked and found some newer hard scifi (in English) that I liked.

Scifi/paranormal/supernatural/speculative fiction: Whispers, Lightning and House of Thunder all by Dean R. Koontz. Koontz used to write really good books!

4. What are three things you'd grab if you had to evacuate your house quickly?

1 - my medications

2 - my phone & laptop (these are practically always by each other when I'm home so I'd try to grab them both at the same time)

3 - my important papers, although I might forget these or not have time or can't get to them because of where they are located.

5. What are your three favorite songs or musical works?

I have so many songs and scores I love but I think I listen to these the most:

1 - Love Song by Ofra Haza. Just so beautiful!

2 - Shared by the score for the Star Trek TOS episode Amok Time and the score for the movie The Last of the Mohicans score, specifically the parts composed by Trevor Jones. Also a lot of the various covers made of those tracks, particularly cover by Shamrock Redheads

3 - Shared by The Leftovers score by Max Richter and The Piano movie score.

By spiffikins  at https://spiffikins.dreamwidth.org/1251745.html ... Hah! Not late this time!

1. What Words or Phrases Do You Think Are Overused?

"hyvä hallitusohjelma" and "kansan mandaatti" and "meidän on pakko". The current far right government ministers repeats one of those everytime any of them opens their mouth, and they're all lies.

2. What Family Traditions Do You Want to Carry On When You Get Older?

I'm not sure that any.

3. Have Your Ever Taken Part in a Protest?

Yes.

4. Are You a Nerd or a Geek?

I'm a nerd. With a good measure of geek thrown in!

5. Did You Want to Go to College? Where Did You Want To Go? Did You Get To Go There?

I wanted to go to library school, and did. But I don't know if it's equivalent of the US college. The library school was people who'd finished the mandatory basic schooling (ages 7 - 15) and didn't require high school. It was a 3-year degree back then, the first year which was common for all students and then 1 or 2 years for specialization depending on your program. My Library program was 2 years, but there were also other programs in the same school such as Marketing, or Office or Communications. This was in 1993-1995 and it's changed since then, I think.

The usual basic path here used to be just mandatory basic schooling -> high school -> university or mandatory basic schooling -> vocational school.

But now there is also higher vocational school and I've heard that high school and vocational school can also be done together simultaneously, I think?

6. What Are the Sounds That Make Up the Background Noise in Your Life?

My favorite music, and silence. Road traffic during summer when the windows are open.

7. Why Do We Like Reality Shows So Much?

It's a puzzle to me! I hate them myself. Waste of space, time and effort.

8. What New Technologies or Tech Toys Are You Most Excited About?

I'm very excited about getting a new laptop this year! But nothing particular, except maybe for ability to play 2160p HDR videos if indeed the new laptops in my price range are capable of that. I think they should be but I'm not sure.

9. Are You Afraid of Math?

Nope, just humiliated. I can't get my head around it beyond the basic plus, minus, divide and add calculations.

10. Do You Find It Easier to Make New Friends Online or In Person?

Neither. It's always hard.

11. Do You Have Good Manners?

Pretty good!

12. What Is Your Favorite Place?

My Mom's home.

13. How Careful Are You Online?

I'm careful. I don't give out my wallet name and other info unless the other person needs to send me something via snail mail, or to Paypal to me or me to someone else. And I ask them to keep my details to themselves. I lock down my socials. I check I'm using secure connections, remember and/or bookmark the URLs to my bank etc. instead of using search engines, spam all the e-mails from a Nigerian prince or an American military officer who wants my help to transfer his money out of Middle East for some totally legit and legal reasons for I should help him. Etcetera etcetera.

14. Have You Ever Reinvented Yourself?

Not really. I used always have long hair, at least down to my shoulders or preferably closer to my waist. I never even considered short hair. But in my early 40s I suddently started to want very short hair - so called "boy hair". Took me a couple of years of cutting my hair shorter and shorter until one time I finally had the courage to cut a really short - think Morena Baccarin circa 2009 when she was on tv series V. She was one of the examples of a type of hair cut I brought to the stylist to show what I wanted. I've grown waist lentgh hair once since then, and shoulder length a couple of times, but that kind of short hair has been favorite for many years now. The only downside of short hair is you have to go trim it every 4-6 weeks and that gets expensive fast.

15. Which Is More Important: Talent or Hard Work?

Both are important, I think - but I think hard work matters more.

16. What Do You Want More From a Career: Happiness or Wealth?

I don't/can't have a career anymore, but before I got ill: Happiness, with enough income not to be poor and being able to cover all my expenses and live a decent life. Work was always work for me, not a career - I didn't chase money or clout. I just wanted to do my job and then go home to do other stuff.

17. Have You Ever Had to Make a Sacrifice to Help Someone You Care About?

Does myself count? If so, yes. If not, no.

18. How Well Do You Perform Under Pressure?

Very well. I've always done well under some kind of deadline. The pressure shouldn't go on for years like it is has though.

19. What Do You Want Your Obituary to Say?

Nothing. I don't want an obituary. I just want to disappear when I die.

20. How Often Did/Do You Fight With Your Parents?

Now that I've been an adult for decades and will turn 50 later this year: never.

When I was a teenager - weekly. Small things such as having to go on a bike ride or having to do the dishes or my parents talking loudly about other things while we were watching the new episode of my favorite tv series. Never anything serious. I always got mad quickly (in seconds) and mellowed out in minutes so my rages never lasted more than 5-10 minutes.

21. What Qualities Would You Look For in a Housemate?

I wouldn't. I don't want a housemate, and they aren't a thing here except while you're studying and less even then in the recent decade.

22. Have You Ever ‘Paid It Forward’?

Yes.

23. What Have Been Your Experiences With Catcalling or Other Kinds of Street Harassment?

When I was about 11-25 I got catcalled (because I got huge boobs that early) but then I got really fat and the catcalling stopped. I don't miss it. Never got harassed in other ways.

24. How Do You Feel About Proms?

I don't. Proms aren't a thing here, but "aikuisten tanssit" is and I guess that party and dressing up is kind of like a prom. I still don't feel any kind of way about it, and "aikuisten tanssit" is only for people who go to "lukio" (high school) and I quit that after 3 months and went to a vocational school instead, so it was never part of my life.

25. What Do You Want to Be Doing When You’re 80?

As long as I'm not pooping uncontrollably and am not in constant head pain due not remembering to take my medications due to dementia or something, I just want to keep doing what I'm doing. Reading, playing on the computer, watching tv and so on and so forth.

26. How Often Do You Cry?

Rarely. I try not to cry because it always starts a migraine attack. The last time I cried was probably 3-4 years ago if not longer.

27. How Do You Express Yourself Creatively?

Baking, Photoshop, binding little notebooks, watercolors, acrylic pouring. Oh, and it's all playing rather than Serious Art.

28. Is It O.K. to Use Family Connections to Get a Job?

Sure! But understand that your co-worker may doubt you got your job only because you're family, not because you know what you do. And they might think you are treated better than the rest of them, regardless of whether that is true or not.

29. Is It Easy For You to Say ‘I’m Sorry?’

Depends. If it's condolences, sure. If I have apologize for something I did, nope.

30. What Would Your Dream Home Be Like?

Separate full size large kitchen (instead of joined kitchen/living room) with planned places for microwave and stand mixer which I would get along with many other appliances I'd love to have and a lot of working space. Craft/hobby room, an office for my computers and papers, a large bedroom for me and a guest bed room. Actual air conditioning (Finnish homes don't air conditioning - hasn't been needed until in recent years). I love huge floor-to-ceiling windows but in reality they'd be always covered to keep the sun out so maybe just normal windows. Sort of rustic, maybe French rustic decor. I'm good with an apartment! A house with its own garden is the stereotypical Finnish dream, but I've never wanted that. I'm not into garden work and such so while I like gardens, I'd need a gardener too and somebody who'd do all the maintenance and repairs on the house and such. It wouldn't be in the city, but in the suburb because I like some greenery around me. My current area is nice. A good public transport is a must.

31. How Do You Get Your News?

https://www.yle.fi is my main source (YLE is the public broadcasting company of Finland), and from the online sites of a few newspapers such as https://www.ts.fi, https://www.kansanuutiset.fi and https://www.hs.fi

I also read through official documents such as the Programme of the current government from the government site https://valtioneuvosto.fi/ along with actual scientific reports, studies etc. when they garner a lot discussion or are about big and/or interesting things, particularly when they might affect me/are about my demography because news don't always present them quite truthfully - news reports may latch on to some particular thing and make a big fuss about it when in reality it's only a small, sometimes inconsequential finding in the study.

Answers to today's questions over at thefridayfive

1. What's the happiest thing to ever happen to you?

I... don't know. I can't think of anything that would fit the "happiest". Lately I've been noticing I'm having problems thinking and feeling positive things, and can't usully name when I've felt an extreme emotion. I was happy to study to be a librarian/library clerk, and I was very happy every time I got a temp job (Because more money! Work I like a lot!) And my Mom's dog, Caro the Beagle, made me very happy indeed whenever I saw her!

But I can't name the happiest thing that ever happened to me, and am not sure if that's because it hasn't happened to me, or because I think feel/think of one because I've been a little depressed for years due all the chronic illnesses and money troubles. On the other hand, I don't think I've ever been one to feel extreme emotions but just always been a pretty steady line emotionally. So I'm not sure... I think, if someone put a gun to my head, I'd say Caro the Beagle. I think she's probably the closest to the happiest thing that ever happened to me!

2. What's the saddest thing to ever happen to you?

Either that my Dad died of brain cancer just before my 15th birthday.

Or the narrowness of the life I am able to lead, as result of the chronic illnesses themselves, but also the way they have made me unable to work for 16 years, and the social and financial loss that brings and the bureautic troubles, and that I can't see no real change to this state of being in foreseeable future. All that is also intertwined with the way this circumstance has resulted in permanent poverty without ease for the last 16 years, with also no change to that in the foreseeable future. The way the chronic illnesses and poverty rules my life and makes my possibilities so narrow makes me feel awfully sad every time I really think about it.

I can't say which I feel is the saddest thing. I dealt with my Dad's death decades ago, but I'm grappling every day with the other and so far I haven't found a way to completely accept that this is my life.

3. What's the thing that got you the most angry in your life?

Finland's current far right government and its "destroy the unemployed, the poor and the working man" policies are making me hate them, each minister and party member each and everyone one, both individually and as a group. I've never been this angry this long about anything before, but they are making me actually really truly hate them - I've never truly hated anyone before, and I don't like the experience.

4. What's the most frightening thing to ever happen to you?

This current far right government.

5. What's the most unbelievable thing to happen to you in your life?

I think it's kind of unbelievable that somehow I have so many serious chronic illnesses and health problems. I guess I won the "manifest really bad genetics" lottery!

Answers to today's questions @thefridayfive

1) Is summer a break for you, or is it busier?

Back when I was healthy and working - it could be either depending on the year. Sometimes I'd be unemployed and didn't have anything to do, and sometimes I was hired either specifically as a summer temp (for about two months), or working through the summer was expressly part of longer job deal (4 months up to a year). For those longer deals, I could get the vacation compasated with money if I wasn't able to take vacation days (or just didn't want to and would rather have it as money), or I could take my vacation time either at the end of the job, or a few days at a time all the way through except for the two months the permanent workers had their summer vacations. For the short temps, vacation time was always paid out as money.

Since becoming ill, summers are pretty much the same as any other time of the year for me. Once or twice I've had some unemployment agency mandated activity or a rehabilitation course during summer. But mostly it's the same as any time of the year and not busy at all.

2) What's next for your travel plans?

I have no travel plans.

3) What have you spontaneously done lately?

I moved my sites to a new host pretty spontaneously last month. I had fleetingly thought about it a few times in the previous few months, due to wanting a possibly lower price and because the sites had started to get kinda slow on then-host, but hadn't really seriously entertained the idea and hadn't thought about which host terribly much. But then one afternoon, I made the decision to move suddenly in about 10 minutes after reading good reviews from fellow fansite owners about Asura Hosting.

4) What's your favorite way to unwind after a long day?

Watching a good tv show and/or reading.

5) What's in your pockets?

I don't wear clothes with pockets when I'm home, only when I leave the house to run errands. And then only have pockets if I have a coat on (none of my shirts or trousers have pockets at all!). I always have the following things in my pockets:

Left pocket: paper handkerchiefs, keys, small bottle of spray hand sanitizer
Right pocket: my smart phone, lip balm, clip-on sunglasses unless I'm wearing them, bus travel card (for the local public transport). Oh and my ID card, library card and KELA card are in the tiny slit pockets of the phone wallet case so I guess I carry those too in my pocket just because the phone is in my pocket!

Additionally, any sharp(ish) items I need to carry temporarily always go into the left pocket to avoid scratching/breaking the phone even though it's in a wallet case - I feel like I still need to be careful with the phone 'cause they cost so much!

Answers to today's questions at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/125933.html

1) What are your five favorite birds?

I don’t care much about birds, to be honest. The birds local to Finland all have such boring colors (drab brown and gray and maybe kinda barely there yellow) that I can’t muster interest. I do like watching documentaries and photos of colorful tropical birds such as listed at https://justbirding.com/most-colorful-birds/

2) What are your five favorite pet-type animals?

Just one really: Dogs! I like dogs a lot, and I LOVE beagles! The only pet I’d like to have is a dog or two, and maybe a cat. I don’t care for other types.

3) What are your five favorite wild animals that live in your locale?

I don’t have favorites as such (I don’t care enough) but lynx are pretty cool! And foxes.

4) What are your five favorite zoo animals that you always want to visit?

The giraffes and the big cats are always a highlight for me! And birds, but only if there’s a lot of colorful pretty exotic birds. And zeepras are cool too! And crocodiles – they’re so scary but fascinating and I like seeing them safely from the other side.

I also really like aquariums – the ones I’ve visited have made me feel like I’m under the sea, and a few times when we’ve been there soon after opening in the morning, it’s been wonderfully quiet and peaceful because the crowds haven’t arrived yet and there’s only been like a dozen of other visitors around at the most.

5) What are your five favorite cryptids that may or may not be extinct, may or may not exist in this world?

I don’t think I have five but… Loch Ness Monster. Mothman. Sea snakes.

Snagged from wickedlittletown @ Dreamwidth:
+ Bold all of the following TV shows of which you've seen 3 or more episodes.
+ Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode.
+ Asterisk if you have at least one full season on tape or DVD
+ Exclamation mark if it's an all-time fave.
+ Add up to 3 more shows that are not on here.

24 (*)
The 4400
Abbot Elementary
A League of Their Own
The A-Team
The Addams Family
The Adventures of Pete and Pete
Agatha Christie's Poirot (!)(*)
America’s Next Top Model
The Americans (!)
Angel
The Andy Griffith Show
Arcane: League of Legends
Avatar: The Last Airbender (cartoon)
Avatar: Legend of Korra
Arthur

Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Batman and Robin
Batman: The Animated Series
Batman Beyond
Battle Creek
Battlestar Galactica (the original series)
Battlestar Galactica (2003) (*)(!)
Beavis & Butthead
Beauty and the Beast
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Big Love
The Bionic Woman (1976)
Black Books
Blackadder
The Brady Bunch
The Brittas Empire
Blake's 7
Bob's Burgers
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boston Public
Boy Meets World
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice

Caitlin’s Way
Care Bears
Carnivale
Catweazle
Charlie’s Angels
Charmed
Cheers
The Closer
Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000)
Commander in Chief
Coupling (UK)
Cowboy Bebop
Criminal Minds
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Cyberchase

Dallas
Dancing with the Stars
Dangermouse
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Matter (2015)
Dark Skies (*)(!)
Davinci’s Inquest
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
Dawson’s Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
The Dead Zone
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dexter
Dharma & Greg
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Digimon
Dinosaurs
Different Strokes
Dirty Jobs
Doctor Who (1963 - 1986)
Doctor Who (2005 - present)
Dollhouse
Downton Abbey
Dragnet
The Dresden Files
Due South

Elementary
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
The Expanse (!)(*)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Facts of Life
Fame
Family Guy (!)
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers (!)
Felicity
Firefly
Flash Forward
Fleabag
Forever Knight
Fraggle Rock
Frasier
Freaks and Geeks
Friday Night Lights
Friends
Futurama

Game of Thrones (!)(*)
Get Smart (!)
Ghostwriter
Gilligan’s Island
Gilmore Girls
The Golden Girls
Green Wing
Grey’s Anatomy
Grimm
Growing Pains

Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hazbin Hotel
He-Man and the Masters of the UniverseHeroes
Highlander
Highlander: The Raven
Hogan’s Heroes
Hillstreet Blues
Homicide: Life on the Street
House

I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy (!)
Instant Star
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
Invincible

JAG
Jackass
Jeeves and Wooster (!)(*)
Jericho

Killing Eve
Knight Rider

Laverne and Shirley
Law & Order (!)(*)
Legend of the Seeker
Lexx
Life on Mars
Life With Derek
Line of Duty
Little Britain
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost (!)(*)
Luther

M*A*S*H (!)
MacGyver
Magnum PI
Malcolm in the Middle
Mama’s Family
The Man from U.N.C.L.E
Married... With Children
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Melrose Place
MI:5
Miami Vice (!)
The Mighty Boosh
Millennium
Miracles
Mission: Impossible
The Muppet Show
My Mad Fat Diary
The Mythbusters
Monk
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Life as a Dog
My Little Pony
My Litle Pony: Friendship is Magic
My So-Called Life
Mystery Science Theater 3000

NCIS
North Shore
Northern Exposure
Numb3rs
NYPD Blue

The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Owl House
Oz

Perry Mason
Person of Interest
Phil of the Future
Pokémon
Popular
Power Rangers
Prime Suspect (!)
Primeval
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psych

QI
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (UK)

Red Dwarf
ReGenesis
Relic Hunter
Rome
Roseanne
Roswell

Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat
Sailor Moon
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
seaQuest
Seinfeld
Seventh Heaven
Sex and the City
She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985)
Six Feet Under
Skins
Sliders
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park (!)
Space: Above and Beyond (!)(*)
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Star Trek (!)(*)
Star Trek: Discovery (*)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (!)(*)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (!)(*)
Star Trek: Voyager (*)
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis (*)
Stargate SG-1 (*)
Starsky and Hutch
Suits
Superman
Supernatural

Taxi
Teachers
Ted Lasso
That 70’s Show
That’s So Raven
The Avengers
The Famous Jett Jackson
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Jetsons
The Love Boat
The Lucille Ball Show
The Nanny
The Pretender
The Real World
The Sarah Connor Chronicles (!)
The Sentinel
The Shield
The Simpsons (!)
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
3rd Rock from the Sun
Torchwood
Transformers
Transformers Prime
Transformers Rescue Bots
Two And Half Man

V (1983) (!)(*)
V: The Final Battle (!)(*)
Veronica Mars

WandaVision
Weeds
Wellington Paranormal
The West Wing
Wheel of Time
Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?
White Collar
Wonderfalls

The X-Files (!) (I’ve seen all episodes of seasons 1-9 and season 10-11 don’t exist)
Xena: Warrior Princess (!)(*)
X-Men: Evolution

Yu-Gi-Oh!

My answers to Friday's questions at http://f.riday5.com/2024/04/12/friday-5-for-april-12-ladies-and-gentlemen-take-my-advice/

1. What is your favorite shape for ice in a beverage?

Don't have one. I practically never put ice in, and when I do, it's just your standard cube. I don't have other shapes and I don't care.

2. When did you last apply ice (or something functioning similarly) to your body?

I regularly and often use one of those ice gel packs that are stored in the fridge or the freezer on my forehead or temples when I'm having a migraine attack, or just an otherwise worse-than-normal bad head day. I'm not sure when the last time was - it was this month but whether it was this week or last week, I can't say for sure it's so common but not every day occurrence...

I dream of trying on one of those migraine gel pack hats which cover the whole head and eyes and which are stored in the fridge/freezer between uses so it's cold when you have a migraine attack, but I haven't found anywhere in Finland I can buy them from and getting one from from abroad is expensive and I don't trust that the sizing works and so am wary of getting one that is too small/too big... It's been on my list of things to get for years now for when I have "extra" money to spend but it's very far down indeed because I can make do with the single gel packs and other more important/useful/fun things come first.

3. What was the occasion for your most recently toting something with ice in a cooler?

Probably when my family did camping in the 1980s when I was a kid.

4. What is the iciest movie you’ve seen?

Not movie but the tv show Fortitude jumped to mind - it's has pretty icy conditions! As for movies, maybe The Thing from 1982...?

5. What are some good songs with “ice” in the title or lyrics?

Fire And Ice by Pat Benatar is the first one that came to my mind. It's been one of my favorite songs since I was a kid!

I can't think of other good ones right now.

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/125170.html

1. Rice or potatoes?

Potatoes.

2. Fish or red meat?

I don't prefer one over the other, but I only eat like two kinds of fish (smoked salmon and fish sticks and the kind of fish used in "fish and chips" in the UK). But really, both fish and red meat are mostly too expensive these days to eat things like steaks every week. But minced meat in a macaroni casserole that lasts for 4-5 days is okay price-wice.

Smoked salmon is very expensive so it's in the treat department and I usually only buy it once a month, and still only if the price is under a certain amount.

3. Salad or cooked vegetables?

Salad and I need to be able to choose which vegetables go into it. And still I prefer them laid out separately, instead mixed together in a salad. I don't like cooked vegetables (texture and feel) except when they are made into a smooth soup.

4. Cake or ice cream?

Really depends on the kind of cake it is! If it's a bundt cake, probably ice cream. But if it's a layer cake with whipped cream topping and whipped cream + fruits or strawberries filling, then the cake.

5. Water, soft drink, wine, beer, or hard alcohol?

I don't drink alcohol, and soft drinks can get boring if I drink them too often, so water it is. And water is best when I'm qenuinely thirsty.

The Friday Five for 22 March 2024 - https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/124924.html

1. What is your native language?

Finnish.

2. Do you speak any other languages? Which ones?

I read and write English fluently, and speak it less so (don't need to speak it much so I haven't had the practice to get fluent).

Learning Swedish all through the school and vocational school/university is mandatory, but I can't speak it and can only read it with very great difficulty, with a dictionary, up to a certain point. Nowadays, after having watched so many Swedish crime tv series, I can understand enough to get the gist of the thing, say, when I watch the news, but for anything longer and more in depth, I need subtitles.

I also studied French for two years in school in 1988-89, but other than saying my name or asking what time it is, I can't speak it or understand it.

3. How difficult is it for you to learn or understand new languages?

English was very easy but Swedish was very difficult and I never really got the gist of it. French was somewhere in between and the pronunciation was the most difficult part. Our French teacher was very particular that we'd learn to pronounce it well.

4. If you were going to study a new foreign language, which would you want to learn?

I'd re-start learning French. There are a couple of books that I'd love to read which haven't been translated to English nor Finnish. Once of them has been translated into Swedish, but I can't read the language well enough to manage to get through the book - I tried!

5. How are you at reading subtitles in foreign films?

It's the norm for me. Subtitles for foreign films and tv shows are the norm here (except for the movies/tv shows for babies and kindergarteners which are dubbed in Finnish). The majority of (fictional) tv shows and movies shown on television here are foreign here, so you learn to read subtitles as a tiny kid if you watch practically any television almost by accident. I also want subtitles for Finnish things because the actors always mumble and/or the audio work/sound effects drown out the dialogue. I generally use English subtitles for English and other language things because they are often easier to find than Finnish subtitles (and the Finnish translation is sometimes really bad on more obscrure things).

About 20 years ago, YLE tested dubbing The Bold and The Beautiful in Finnish for two weeks (an episode was shown every day), and the outcry was loud. Nobody wanted dubbing! Everyone, including me, thought it was horrible - original audio always, please!

Friday 5 for March 22: Initial here - http://f.riday5.com/2024/03/22/friday-5-for-march-22-initial-here/

1. What do you remember about your first camera?

I've only ever owned one camera myself and only had it for a few years before phones with cameras became a thing. The only thing I truly remember is that I took a lot of photos with it on my first trip to London in 1997 or was it 1998. I'm not sure - I might still actually have it lolling around somewhere. I have no memory at all whether I've gotten rid of it or not.

I never took much photos before the phone cameras.

2. What do you remember about your first cell phone?

The very first cell phone I ever used was my best friend's Ericson - I had it for about a year before deciding that yes, cell phones were cool and wanted my own. My friend loaned the Ericson to me in 1999, as she had gotten a newer cell phone from her family as I recall (her father was something of a technology enthusiast), also an Ericson, I think.

The first cell phone I actually owned was a Nokia 3210 (mine was the silver/gray color pictured in that link), and I asked for this particular model as a birthday gift from my Mom! I LOVED that phone - it's was the best cell phone of the basic three cell phones I had before I got my first smart phone and probably the best I've ever had. It just fit perfectly my hand and was so comfortable to hold, and the calls never had any trouble and I loved the way it looked and the color. The other two basic cell phones I had were the Nokia 3510 (the beige/orange color shown in this link) which was my second one, and I think the third one was a Nokia 6300 but I'm not completely sure - it looks like the one I had quite a lot but not entirely but that just might be color in the picture (mine was black/silver) and the model number feels familiar and the buttons certainly look like it. I didn't like this third cell phone at all! It was too thin, too narrow, too short, the buttons were situated too low and it was just damn uncomfortable to hold and use. The previous two phones I had for 3-4 years, but this one I had only for 1,5-2 years, unhappy with it the entire time and that spurred me on to get my first smart phone in 2009, a year or two sooner than I otherwise might have.

3. What do you remember about your first radio?

Nothing. I had my own radio/casette player as far back as I can remember as a kid (I listed to music literally every waking second) - I do remember we had to buy a new one every few years because they'd would always start to break my tapes and ruin them. I used them so much.

I've never actually bought a radio for myself! I don't listen to radio, and my Mom bought a stereo tower for me, with an LP player, radio, 2-casette decks and a 5-cds player. I still have that stereo tower and all th parts except for the casette decks still work great, so what with that tower and smart phones and computers and laptops, I've never needed to buy a radio. Not to mention, I never ever listen to radio. I don't even have the stations saved in the stereo tower.

4. What do you remember about your first countertop kitchen appliance (or device)?

I'm not sure what this means? The first I ever kitchen appliance bought myself was an electric hand mixer and I bought it pretty much the first week I ever lived alone, after I had moved to Vantaa while starting the library studies. But the hand mixer never lives on top of the counter, but in the cupboard. On top of the counter, I have a microwave oven, an electric kettle (and a broken stand mixer I should get rid of). But the only reason they are on the top of the counter is because in a small apartment there aren't enough room in the cupboards for them. If I could, I'd put them out of sight. I'm pretty sure that my previous microwave oven was the first one to actually live on the top of counter - I bought it when I moved into my apartment in 1998 from my childhood home and it worked great for about 20 years. I lived alone in my childhood home for a couple of years because Mom moved in with her SO; we had a microwave oven in my childhood home but it was from 1980s and so big, that we saw that my new home didn't have enough countertop room for it (there was too little right from the start - the curse of small apartments). So I bought a new, smaller one immediately after the move.

5. What do you remember how to do from your first job?

My very first job ever was wrapping Christmas work-place-gifts for my Mom's then-work-place's employees. This took 3 nights of a week in November/December, about 4-5 hours an evening and I did it for two or three Christmases. My school day would end at either 2pm or 3pm and I'd go straight from school to Mom's work by bus, gift wrap their gifts until 8pm and then take the bus home. It was a nice income for a few hours of easy work for a teenager! It was in 1988-1989 but I think I still benefit from having to wrap so many presents in such a sort time even to this day by having more agile fingers and having the forethought to think about what I'm doing first before doing it to streamline the process and make it sensible.

Asnwers to this week's questions at thefridayfive@Dreamwidth

1) What's normal March weather like in your area?

Windy, rainy, snowy, slushy, gray, freezing, warmish.

2) Are you following any spring sports?

I don't follow any sports ever, so nope.

3) What's a summer wardrobe staple you haven't had out since last season (or if you're southern hemisphere, answer this for winter)?

Summer weight (read: thin, airy and light) shorts and culotte pants.

4) What's your favorite spring break memory?

I don't have memories that I can for sure say happened on a spring break. But I hated school so I was always just delighted when I didn't have to go and waited for all breaks like a treasure.

5) How do you feel about daylight savings time?

Hate it. I want it to stop and preferably winter time becoming the norm. But I just really, really want switching clocks to stop entirely and don't mid if it's summer time that's chosen as the time that stays as long as it stops. But winter time is my preference.