meme & asks

This week's questions at f.riday5.com

1. What makes you feel pleasantly young?

So I always feel young! I never feel old or even middle-aged... is that weird? I'm always surprised when I remember that my age starts now with "4-something". And this year I get to be surprised every time I realize that on my next birthday I'll be 50! 8-O :-D 

Inside myself, I always just feel the same way I felt when I was 16. Although I recognize I've changed and matured in many respects, in many ways I still just feel just the same as when I was 16, 18 or 25 or whatever.

2. What makes you feel pleasantly, uh, seasoned?

That I can see many sides to issues, and everything is not black & white. I used to be very black & white person about the things that mattered to me.

When I realize 1995 was 30 years ago - I always feel it was just a few years ago!

Whenever I realize I'm so much more comfortable in my own skin now than I was before my mid-30s.

3. What makes you feel optimistic?

Marin's government (the previous government) made be feel optimistic because of its left-leaning politics and policies. I felt like the poor, the sick and the unemployed (meaning: people like me!) were seen as people and persons in their own right and that human rights belong to us too. And that Finland had a good future ahead of us. All that went away with Orpo's government :evil:

Star Trek TNG (and 1960-1990s Star Trek in general!) makes me feel optimistic. In recent years I've realized I've based my human values and vision for the future very much on how humanity and Federation is portrayed in TNG.

4. What makes you feel competent?

Lately it's been realizing my reading comprehension is a lot better than many other people's, particularly when it comes to bureaucratic texts such as KELA's decisions letters. So many people post asking "I got this decision from KELA. I don't understand what it says - what does it mean?" but to me the text they are puzzled about is crystal clear, just formulated in a bureaucratic way.

I think it's because I read so much and always have, and I have my parents, particularly my Mom, to thank for this! It makes life much easier. I read in several genres, both fiction and non-fiction, and in Finnish and English. And I write myself too, I bet that helps as well.

Few years ago, KELA had a project to go through and re-word all their texts in a less bureaucratic manner. I'm not sure how well it worked - I personally think that now it takes longer to get to the actual decision (yes or no) in some of their decision letters, but it could be that I'm still used to the old format due to having had to deal with that for literally over 20 years.

5. What makes you happy to be alive?

Whenever I hear great music, read an interesting book or a fic, and when I do crafts or art (particularly physical - not in Photoshop) myself. And of course, being with my Mom or best friend!

This year spiffikins at Dreamwidth put together daily questions for the year 😀 

1. Are We Becoming ‘Numb’ to School Shootings?

In Finland? No. I think we've only had 5 incidents of violence in schools that led to deaths and only two of those were gun violence. So school shootings are not a common occurrence here and we're not getting numb about about them.

2. What Words Do You Hate?

I don't hate any words.

3. What Recent Events Will Most Likely Be Featured in History Museums Someday?

COVID-19.

4. When Do You Choose Making a Phone Call Over Sending a Text?

When it's something that needs to get answers or relay information ASAP.

In case of family and friends, when I want to hear the other person's voice because we haven't talked in a while. Or when there's a lot of stuff to talk about and writing it all out feels cumbersome.

5. What Temperature Do You Set the A/C or Heat To Be Comfortable?

Most Finnish homes don't have A/C as a rule so I can't do anything truly working about comfortable during the summer when it gets hot. But in the winter, I try to adjust the radiator so that the indoors temperature is 20-21 degrees celcius.

6. What Are Your Favorite Works of Art?

I have a lot of musical favorites but not things like paintings. Here's a few:

Porz Goret by Yann Tiersen

The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack tracks by Trevor Jones. I also love the cover by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKIfQB8OhR8">Shamrock Redheads</a>, one of the best ones I've heard!

7. How Do You Remember What You Need to Remember?

I used to be able to just keep it all in my head, but since being in daily pain for going on 16 years now, I've noticed I can't remember things anymore. So it's paper lists, yearly paper appointment diary, and two digital calendars for me now!

8. Have You Ever Stumbled Upon a Cool Public Performance?

Live? Nope. I've seen some Youtube videos though.

9. What Are the Animals in Your Life?

Unfortunately I don't have animals in my life at all. We used to have an adorable, wonderfully loving and completely nuts Beagle, Caro, but she passed 20 years ago this year. I still miss her!

10. What Did/Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

An starship officer and a scientist aboard the USS Enterprise. Or barring that, a librarian.

11. What Are Your Favorite Viral Videos?

Don't have one. I don't really do social media, and I guess that's where viral videos are because I never come across them.

12. Should a College Education be Free?

Yes, and it is, in a way. Thus far, at least. The far-right wing government is planning to change that.

13. When Did You Last Have a Great Conversation?

Today.

14. How Do You Feel About Valentine’s Day?

It's a commercial day among other commercial days.

15. Is Shakespeare Too Hard?

Nope. But it's boring.

16. Are You the Same Person on Social Media as You Are in Real Life?

Nope. I'm very little on social media, and only post with my fannish persona there what little I post.

17. Does Punctuation in Text Messages Matter?

It does to me! Texting didn't exist until I was around 25, so writing and reading text speak takes more effort and brain power than just writing the normal way for me.

18. Where Do You See Yourself in 10 Years?

The same as now - mostly likely unemployed and poor because of chronic illnesses. I hope to be on disability retirement by then but it isn't very likely.

19. Do You Speak a Second, or Third, Language?

Yes, English. Finnish is my mother tongue, I'm fluent in English and have some very rudimentary understanding of Swedish because it's Finland's second official language and forcibly teached in all schools at all levels.

20. Did You Like School?

Nope. I hated school when I was a kid and teenager because the other kids were loud, rowdy and generally behaved like idiots literally all the time.

The occupational and library schools were better because the youngest people in my classes were already at least 20 years old and several were closer to 30 or even 40 who were getting formal certificates or switching careers. But I still didn't like it - it was just more tolerable.

21. Is It Harder to Grow Up in the 21st Century Than It Was in the Past?

I does sound like school is harder now than in my day (80s and 90s). It sounds like there's been a lot of new methods of teaching adopted in the last 20 years and lately there's been lots of outpouring from parents that the methods aren't working and the kids are expected to basically teach themselves and each other without help from teachers. That the teachers just hand over all the tasks for a season and the kids are expected to plan their schedules and learning themselves. Which is just insane. It certainly wouldn't have worked for me. No wonder our PISA scores are falling! No wonder kids don't learn reading, or math, anymore! I've also heard that there's a great pressure already in years 6-9 to plan and study to get great grades for high school and university and what career you're going to have, to make the right choice. And the school isn't considered for civilization anymore, but just to produce productive workers for companies and society. Don't know how true that is.

22. Have You Ever Performed for an Audience or Shared Creative Work With Others?

I've shared creative work with others online a lot, and do that regularly.

I've never performed for an audience. Except for the small, few minutes presentations we had to do in school a few times a year. But nothing like that since finishing library school in 1995. Performing for an audience is a nightmare of mine. I hated those school presentations and they'd make me a nervous wreck. I hate being the center of attention.

23. Should Terminally Ill Patients Be Allowed to Die on Their Own Terms?

Yes.

24. How, and by Whom, Should Children Be Taught Appropriate Behavior?

Parents or guardians. School.

25. Do You Like to Exercise?

Hate it.

26. What Places Do You Remember Fondly From Childhood?

My Dad's Union's camping site. We spent most of all our summers there until Dad got ill. When I think of my childhood summers, the first thought is always the adventures I had on that camping site. There was a big forest on one side and ocean on the other, so we spent our summers wondering in the woods, climbing the big rocks and swimming in the sea. My family had sort of like an house tent which had a kitchen area and a separate sleeping compartment, and often a friend or another of mine would stay with us for week there. When we got a little older, around 8 or so, Mom and Dad erected a small tent just for us kids that we'd sleep in while they slept in the big tent with a separate sleeping compartment. Back in those days, there still were mobile stores (a normal size bus converted into a grocery) and one such came once (or twice?) to a stop near-by, and we'd go and buy whatever groceries we were running out of... or just for ice cream! It was also usual that our friend families woud visit us on the camp site in the summer for an afternoon of fun, swimming and good food.

27. Can Graffiti Ever Be Considered Art?

I don't think I've ever seen graffiti that appealed to me personally, but I have seen a lot of graffiti that made a dull, gray concrete wall more fun than it was as before the graffiti. I think graffiti can be considered art when you can see there's a plan to it and it isn't just random scribblings and squirts.

28. Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Nope.

29. Are Digital Photographs Too Plentiful to Be Meaningful?

I don't know that the number of them is a problem. It's more that the quality can be lousy, or taken unnecessarily of a situation or a thing.

Today's questions at thefridayfive@DW

1. Your favorite book?

Still can't name one above all others! And these can change place sometimes too!

Whispers by Dean R. Koontz - been my favorite since I was about 10, but recently I'm not sure it's actually by its own merits or because of family memories attached. My Dad, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer, who didn't read a lot, was on sick leave and needed something to spend time on, and he started reading more. He liked this book so much that I read it too! I loved it so much that then Mom (who has always read a lot like me) read it too just because Dad and me had enjoyed it so much. Ever since Dean R. Koontz became an writer that we all read, and Mom and me continue to read to this day. It was something 25+ year tradition - only stopped because around 2011 they stopped making translations into Finnish and Mom can't read English, so now I'm the only one who reads them anymore. And even I have been losing taste for Koontz's books. The several last ones feel very formulaic, and like there's always the same kind of family the focus with a genious or a supernatural kid. But his 1980s/1990s books are good!

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - this book stuck with me in a way few other works have. I read it twice in a short period of time, and I'll read it a third time in not too distand future. The disaster, hard survival, evolution of humanity just caught me hook, line and sinker. This is the book that got me interested in modern hard scifi. I never could sustain interest while trying to read Asimov or whatever classics.

The Expanse book series by James S. A. Corey - love the mystery and the adventure and the space travel and techonology that is totally different from things like Star Trek or Star Wars.

2. Your favorite movie?

I can't name one that is above all the others! More like by genre. To name a few:

Scifi/horror: Alien/Aliens (in my mind these two are sort of one)

Scifi/action: The Terminator

History/drama/action/romance: The Last of the Mohicans

History/musical/drama: The Piano

Sometimes these also change if I've recently re-watched some old favorite!

3. Your least favorite adaptation of a book to a movie?

I've hated all the movie adaptions made of Dean R. Koontz's novels. Badly scripted, badly acted, badly shot and badly directed with low production values.

4. Your least favorite adaptation ever of anything to a movie?

Same as #3.

5. Your first ever novel/comic book/movie character crush?

Novel: I can't remember. Mom read to me since I was a baby and I'm sure I had a crush on a character when I was tiny, considering how things have gone since. First I think I remember, maybe, was Julian (although he is called Leo in the Finnish editions so he's Leo to me) from The Famous Five by Enid Blyton. Maybe.

Comic book: Silver Arrow from the Silver Arrow comics.

I don't remember a movie crush, but here's the first tv crush I think I remember: Robin from the 1984 UK tv series Robin of Sherwood.

Today's questions at f.riday5.com!

1. What’s the strangest food you’ve eaten out of a can?

I don't eat strange foods! And I don't eat a lot of canned foods - just some fruits (mainly peaches or pineapple) and meatballs-in-a-brown-sauce a few times a year.

2. What food most recently made you ill?

I can't remember - thankfully! It's been a while now that my Crohn's Disease is under much better control.

But one time I'll always remember was sometime in the summer of 2008 when I had gallstones. There was this one day when I ate fresh strawberries with kuohukerma (I think that's double cream in English). The cream caused a really bad gallstone attack late that night, so bad that if I hadn't known I'd likely been having gallstones attacks that summer I would thought I was having a heart attack. (I was waiting for the gall bladder ultrasound but that's what my doctor thought was happening to me). After that, I didn't eat anything with fatty cream and avoided fatty foods in general until after the removal of my gall bladder!

3. What movie makes you really want to eat?

No movie makes me want to eat, but any novel that describes a cheese sandwich does! It always sounds so delicious! But then when I make one myself, it's never so good.

4. What haven’t you eaten in a really, really long time?

There are so many things! I'm rather picky, have a rather set selection of foods I usually buy. I don't eat many common things just simply because I'm neutral/not interested in them when I'm buying food and cooking for myself. They are not bad or anything, just meh. But the one thing I sort of miss is cucumber even though it's never been a staple of mine - the prices went ridiculous and right out of my budget a year or two ago when the inflation set in. Same with tomatoes but I don't miss those as much.

5. What did you most recently eat in a moving vehicle?

I don't have even the foggiest of when the last time might've been, it's been so long. I don't have the need because I'm never away from home, restaurant or my Mom's long enough, or have so little time between thingies, that I have to eat on the move. I drink water on the move for thirst, and sometimes have to take my meds on the move, but no need to eat.

I usually eat home, or at Mom's if I'm visiting. But mainly at home. The last time I ate in an unusual place (a hospital cafe) was a couple of years ago, when I had blood work done early in the morning and and had to fast for that for 12 hours, and then had a meeting with someone an hour after the labs in the same hospital and knew that meeting might take more than an hour, and then I had to do grocery shopping still so it would take too long to get breakfast if I waited until I got back home. So I had breakfast in the hospital cafe while waiting for the meeting.

Answers to this week's questions at thefridayfive@DW

1. Have you ever been the president of anything?

Nope.

2. What do you think is the most important leadership trait?

Well, the current far-right goverment is giving us a master class example of what politics look like when "there is no place for empathy in politics". So, I'm saying empathy.

3. What time period did you find the most interesting to learn about in history class?

I can't choose. I loved learning about Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Mayans, Incas, the Aztecs... really, about the only thing I didn't love learning history about was anything after the year 1900. Some of after-1900 I also found interesting but didn't love it. I hated school but history was probably my most least hated subject at school and I loved learning pretty much all that we were taught.

4. What's something you think about doing, but you haven't gotten back into in several years?

Biking. I keep thinking how quickly I could bike to places like the grocery or my Mom's. Also it'd be easier to carry heavy shopping bags and so could take the bike instead of the bus. The bags are usually too heavy to carry and the walk home just too long with them. I'd probably have re-learn how to bike though because I haven't even tried biking in 20+ years and don't own one.

5. If you could add one more random holiday to February, what would it be?

To be honest: I wouldn't. There's already Runebergin päivä (Runeberg's day, not a holiday from work/school but special day and special cakes in shops), laskiainen (um, Shrovetide? also not a holiday from work/school, but a special day with laskiaispulla (sweet bun with traditionally raspberry jam or almond paste filling and whipped cream filling) possibly with hot chocolate and sledding if enough snow on the ground) and then at the end of the month, the winter holiday from schools. So February is already busy enough with specialness!

Answers to today's questions at f.riday5.com

1. How do you feel about vending machine food?

I don't. I can't even remember seeing a vending machine for decades now. I'm sure there must be some somewhere, just not where I usually go like the gastro department in the hospital I go to or the health station. And if there's vending machines where I go, I haven't noticed them because there's at least one grocery nearby everywhere I go and often several, so of course I'd buy from the groceries because it's cheaper.

The only place I regularly see vending machines in are US tv series and movies.

2. Where on this planet is the vending machine you’ve given the most money?

I don't have clear memories of ever buying anything from a vending machine, just a few very faint ones. I don't buy from vending machines, they don't feature in any way in my life. There might have been once or twice, I have a faint feeling, that I probably bought a 0,5 litre bottle of Seven Up or a Jaffa at the Helsinki train station vending machine once or twice when I was traveling between my library studies city and home city for the weekend so it would've been 30 years ago now. I was raised to bring everything I need with me, including drinks and food, when at all possible. Because buying from the grocery is always cheaper than buying from a vending machine.

I'm also sure when I was a little kid, around 10, and we toured Finland during two summers, staying at camping areas in our tent, that we used to buy some drinks from the vending machines in those camping areas. But it never was something we did a lot and was more of a small treat and not a routine thing.

3. Have you ever purchased a non-food, non-beverage item from a vending machine?

I don't remember/have a feeling of ever buying anything but drinks from a vending machine. Vending machines really don't feature in my life.

4. Where’s the nearest vending machine right now, and what would you get from it if you were to go immediately?

No idea and nothing. There are a couple of groceries and kiosks near me that I'd go to if I needed something immediately (or ever).

5. What would you like to see in a vending machine?

I don't care.

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive@DW.

1. At what age did you discover you had a favorite color?

No idea. I remember loving pale blue and silver as a kid as far back as I can remember. I still love silver but only like pale blue, and have since childhood added certain pinks and lilacs/violets to my favorite colors row.

2. What type (genre) of film do you prefer to see in a theater versus one you'd watch at home?

I prefer the same both in a theater and home. Scifi with horror, thriller, drama and/or action/adventure elements. Think something like Alien/Aliens or The Terminator. I do enjoy seeing visually impressive films in a theater because they look so handsome on the big screen, but I also love watching them at home on a small screen.

3. What's your oldest object or item since childhood?

I don't have things like dolls or teddy bears or whatever like that people usually mean when they ask this question. Those things never had much of a meaning to me after I grew out of them.

On the other hand, I have lots of old things because we divided our house hold items between us when Mom moved in with her SO and I moved on my own. So any number of plates and some drinking glasses, a kitchen table and chairs and some other funiture are from my childhood... the kitchen table and chairs are newer than the plates, because we originally had benches instead of chairs in the kitchen. The plates are at least so old that I don't remember eating from any other plates as a kid at home. Whether they're older than me... it's a real possibility!

I sometimes think about recycling the drinking glasses and the plates and buying new ones, but the truth is, the old design is really functional! Much better to hold etc. than what's been available in the shops for the past 20 years or so. Same with the forks and knives. I've only bought new serrated and cutting knives myself. I got some forks and knives for free with some purchase or other maybe 20 years ago, and those too are much more clumsy and unattractive than my old, old forks and knives that we already had when I was a kid.

The plates and drinking glasses are by Arabia which has been a Finnish staple for kitchen stuff for over 100 years, and thanked for being both functional and aesthetic in design. The ones I have are not the expensive, collectable/special occasion ones but the ones for laverage income families and meant for everyday use. So I guess it isn't a wonder that they just work.

4. In what book would you insert yourself as a side character or friend to the protagonist?

I never insert myself. Instead I imagine myself to be an existing character, usually my favorite character, so someone particularly interesting.

5. What's your favorite shape or type of cloud?

Any that covers the sun. I don't pay attention to clouds otherwise.

Answers to today's questions at f.riday5.com

1. What does it take to make your way in the world today?

Callous ruthlessness and sheer luck.

2. Where do you go to take a break from all your worries?

Nowhere. Closest I get is spending time with my Mom.

3. Where does everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came? (or where did everybody know your name and were always glad you came?)

At my Mom's.

4. Which no-longer-in-business establishments are you nostalgic for, and is nostalgia generally a positive or negative emotion?

I can't think of a business that I miss.

But I'm nostalgic for the fresh breads, cheese and meats counters that were in all the grocery shops in the 1980s when I was a kid. The bread counters had all sorts of delicious bakes that varied from shop to shop and you could ask only for as much as you needed, instead of having to buy a huge family size pack. Same with the meats and cheeses. Now all those are either too big packages for one person household, or too small package, or the right-size package but double the price of the family size. It's maddening. And all the bakes are majority the same everywhere now.

5. Which television shows have great opening theme songs with opening title sequences?

Miami Vice, Silk Stalkings and many others but those two are the ones that first came to mind!

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive@DW.

1. Do you cook regularly or does someone else cook for you?

Nobody cooks for me as I live alone, and I don't cook regularly either because of my chronic illnesses. I rather use my energy for baking, so I buy and eat a lot of ready-to-heat casseroles and vegetable soups. I usually cook 2-3 times a month and usually make something that'll last me for a week or so as dinner. And when I do cook, I use a lot of semi-finished products such as frozen sliced potatoes because as a spoonie I only have so much energy to use, and using things like that help conserve my energy to do other things as well that day.

Usually when I visit my Mom, we time it so that I eat there. It's always around lunch time because that's when they have their main meal. It's a real treat to eat food cooked by someone else, made even better that usually she makes one our old favorites that we all love but don't make that often... so not only it's that someone cooks for me (or we cook together) and the food is really tasty but also good company while eating! Except for those visits, I always eat alone so it's all kinds of special :-D 

2. Which are you better at making: sweet or savory foods?

I have more experience making sweet foods (meaning: baking) so I guess that. But I'm pretty good at both, just limited in what I bother to make because I'm not very adventurous eater - I used to be picky, and guess still am. It's just that there are textures I don't like (they make me gag and even throw up if forced to continue), and certain tastes I tolerate if I have to but don't use myself. I tend to stick to recipes I've enjoyed, or new ones that I think I might enjoy because they don't have any of my no-thank-yous and not try out a lot of new tastes etc. I think my taste is also rather bland - as an example, I don't like even mildly actually-spicy food - a bit of salt and black pepper is usually enough for me for most foods. Also as an example, I hate onions (which are a Finnish stable and put in pretty much all cooked meals or so it feels like) so I never use them and luckily nobody can complain to me about it because I only cook for myself!

3. If you had to work as a chef in a restaurant of your choice, which restaurant would best complement your current culinary skills?

I never eat in restaurants so I can't name names, but it'd have to be one that specializes in home cooked food, with a menu of only maybe a dozen different meals on it at most. And each day would have only 2 different meals + one vegetable soup on offer. But really, I'm physically unable to work in that environment so I'd be fired before first week is out.

4. What is a cooking tip that you know, but other people generally aren’t aware of?

I can't think of one...

5. Do you have a recipe you would like to share?

This one is one of my favorite casseroles, very quick and easy to make: https://www.k-ruoka.fi/reseptit/helppo-kinkkukiusaus I made it as-is the first time but felt it missed some "oomph" so now I also add 150g of grated blue cheese. I just love blue cheese and think it goes very well with the other ingredients. I also usually add in grated pizza cheese on the top after about half of the time in the oven for a pretty topping.

Mokkapalat (Coffee Pieces) is a baking favorite of mine. The recipe I use is from: https://cebicinkeittio.blogspot.com/2018/12/maailman-parhaat-mokkapalat.html I guess it's kind of like a brownie? Mokkapalat is one of the stable bakes here in Finland. All kids and teens make it in school at the very least, and lots and lots of (most?) families bake them at least when their kids are small. There are about a million slightly different recipes but this is the one that I think is above all others (and I've tried like a dozen!). The cake part is soft and moist just right and the topping is enough for once (in the other recipes, you usually had to make the topping as double to get enough to cover the entire thing just barely thickly enough). I always use a Frezza Choco Loco cold coffee drink in place of the coffee in this recipe (old fashioned coffee as in the recipe is too strongly coffee tasting to me so I use one of the Frezzas).

These two have been my favorite things to make the last few years :-D 

Answers to http://f.riday5.com/2024/01/19/friday-5-for-january-19-random-topic-generator/

1. How much experience do you have with tobacco?

No personal experience at all - I've never even tried it. The smell's awful.

2. What have you made with wood?

Back in school, in the short wood work course I made a little ship. That's all.

3. What do you think of farmers markets in your area?

I'm not sure we have farmers markets here, but we do have market squares where farmers, bakers and flower growers etc. can sell their things. Most only sell during summer. When I was a kid in the 1980s the market square was filled with sellers, dozens and dozens of them and practically everyone bought their potatoes, carrots etc. there. The produce were domestic and of good quality - better than in shops. But nowadays, it's vice versa a lot. I think it started to change in the early 1990s but I'm not sure - I just know that by the time I was an adult (I turned 20 in 1994), the number of sellers had halfed. And now only a handful remain.

They renovated the market square last year, after first building an underground parking carage under it, and now there are some sort of cafes/restaurants there in addition to the produce sellers, some of which I think operate only during the summer. There's also supposed to be events etc. there during the summer.

4. What’s a good movie, novel, or TV show containing a shipwreck?

Alien.

5. What’s a good song with the word magic in its title or lyrics?

Black Magic Woman by Santana