personal

In happy news, today I learned that KELA has not only approved my application for long term sickness benefit but granted it the maximum time (300 days)! I'm beside myself!

Getting the maximum is very rare in general and particularly in the first go, I was expecting maybe 2-3 months and then having to re-apply... if granted at all in the first place. It must be the KELA rehabilitation I partook last year, and I wonder if the fact that I used AI to make my application clearer and to "speak KELA's language", maybe that helped too? I mean, this is the 3rd or 4th time since 2021 that I've applied, and earlier ones were all denied. But this time I had the KELA rehabiliation summary to bolster my application, even though in reality my situation hasn't changed since 2021 so on that basis, it's interesting that it wasn't granted earlier and now was.

This reduces my general medical stress and particularly the bureaucratic stress caused by unemployment office, KELA toimeentulotuki and työmarkkinatuki by like 80% because I now I'm not on unemployment and its demands won't touch me for the duration. I'm feeling kinda odd  suddenly having those lifted from my back...

My latest AO3 site skin:

This is the first time I tried to make a mobile friendly version (that I call mobile add-on) too! The instructions on how use the add-on are included in the README.md.

I've now been on Linux Mint only for 2 months! I deleted Windows 11 off entirely January 9, 2026 and even though I was a little worried I'd come to regret it, so far I have not! I haven't needed Windows for anything. I'm so happy with Linux Mint!

Even the two apps I was sorry to lose with Windows, Paprika Recipe Manager and Scrivener, I managed to get working once I discovered Lutris ✨ Those two are the only Windows apps I'm stil using, and not that much. Paprika also has an Android version which I have on my phone so that's great.

In other great news, I actually managed to install the otwarchive software (the software that is developed for and runs A03) on Mint. It was not any easier now than back in 2017 or so when I tried the first time. Let me tell you, it was an exercise in frustration! I followed the otw's Docker Desktop installation instructions, had trouble getting my head around Docker but once I did, I mostly figured it out and got the otwsoftware up and running. Except the default installation come with a controller, css and database error, and not being familiar with ruby/rails/whatever, I could figure it out myself. But suddenly it dawned on me to ask AI, and so to Gemini I went. It solved the controller problem in 1 minute, css in another (I had been banging my head on the wall otwarchive wall for 2 weeks by then!), and then the database problem as well and low and behold, I had a otwarchive up and running without any errors! Yay!

... And no yay. 3 times out 4, everytime I'd start otwarchive, docker would come up with an error: ghost container/image and the otwarcheve would not load at all. So, back to Gemini to troubleshoot. And we did, for three days. Nothing worked, always the ghost thingy and always full reinstall. Until after I asked Gemini, is Docker Desktop necessary to run it because that seems to be the problem, can Docker be run from terminal. At that point, Gemini told me that there's native Linux docker engine and it might work better in my system given I've been having such problem with the Desktop version. So with Gemini's instructions on how to remove Docker Desktop fully, then how to install the Linux docker native engine and finally otwarchive itself. And... IT WORKS!!!! 🥳✨

This docker raw engine version is SO MUCH faster than the Desktop was, and not a single ghost container/image/whatever since then. Or any other problems - otwarchive's on my laptop been working like a dream with the native engine! And it's very easy to start and shutdown. I made some aliases and bash script to make it easy. The reason I wanted to try and get the otwarchive on my laptop is because I'm curious, and because it'd be easier to develop site skins that way. Gemini also helped me create a python script to automatically update the site skin css I'm working on, so now I don't have to save it, copy, go to AO3/my otwarchive, find the skin and open it, paste the css, save. The script does all that automatically for me while it's running! So cool 🥳

So, I think I'm switching to Linux Mint for good!

I installed it in this (new) laptop back in October, and have needed to boot to Windows 11 only twice since and HATED both times. I did the only the mandatory things there and booted back to Linux as quickly as I could and felt SO relieved to be back in Linux. I'm so terribly tempted to remove Windows entirely, I don't want to keep it anymore - it just gets on my nerves.

I put Linux Mint on Mom's old laptop something like a decade ago maybe (which originally ran the notorious Vista and was slow from the start), and she liked it so much I had her on it for like 6-8 years until even with Linux the laptop became quite slow (it was 14 years old at that point). Mom bought a new laptop in 2021 but when I tried to install Linux Mint in that because she wished it so, it seemed to go okay but when I tried to boot to Linux Mint, got errors. I didn't have werewithal at the time to figure it out and Mom was okay with Windows 10/11 which still worked fine. But we got to talking about it again in October; Mom still misses Linux Mint/Ubuntu and I did love it, so I decided to try it out again and I instantly in LOVE with it so much again!

The last time I still needed Windows because there were a few Windows only programs I needed because of my fansites, but now I don't really do fansites anymore and in the about 3 months I've now been using Linux Mint, I've either figured how to do everything I need or don't actually need them anymore! Because I don't do fansites anymore as extensively as I used to.

Mom said that she's totally okay if I put only Linux Mint on her laptop again - if I can figure out the errors - and get rid of Windows. So now I'm putting Linux Mint on my old laptop so I can give it to her for the time being - I'll have to bring her laptop home with me, so I can troubleshoot it in peace and see what I can figure out. I already have some ideas what it could be, having done more in-depth research to make sure I can install Linux Mint to dual boot with Windows 11. But it'll likely take some days at the minimum to get it all ready, so Mom and her SO need a laptop for the duration.

My answers to today's questions at thefridayfive@DW

1. Do you mostly drink tap, filtered, or bottled water?

Only tap water. 

2. Is it safe/recommended to drink tap water where you live? If not, why?

It's safe. The quality of tap water here in such that it's a given - nobody born here even thinks about it. 

3. What does the tap water taste/smell like where you live?

Nothing, IMO.

4. Do you collect rainwater? If so, what do you use it for?

Nope.

5. Do you/have you ever had restrictions on water use where you live? What did you have to change about your lifestyle?

The only times tap water isn't safe to drink is when there is a temporary, local problem with some local plumbing/water supply/water treatment plant. These happen occasionally but I've never had it happen to me in my 51 years.

People still have summer cottages that are old and basic enough that they don't get municipal running water, or the running water comes from their own well in which case bottled water is needed for drinking. My Mom and her SO had a place like that for a couple of years, spent only summers there and had to haul in water for the stays. They had their own well and running water, but it could not be used for drinking or cooking, just for showering and gardening and such.

The only thing was that when I visited that Mom's and SO's summer place, I had to remember never to drink water from any faucet. And while showering, not letting water in my mouth. 

Replies to today's questions at thefridayfive@DW!

1. Did you get an allowance as a kid, and if so, how much was it?

I did. I don’t remember the amounts because it increased as I grew older. First it was a weekly allowance, and then later on I got a monthly allowance. I usually spent it on candy, comic books and if my friend and I went to see a movie, the price of the ticket came from my (monthly) allowance too. This was in 1980 -> 1990.

I never got money for good school grades or for doing chores at home. Things like that were and are considered things you do for yourself (learning), or need to know and nobody’s gonna be paying you to do them when you’re living on your own (home chores).

2. How old were you when you had your first job, and what was it?

I think I was probably 14? My Mom’s work hired their worker’s teenagers (if any were interested) to wrap the Company’s Christmas presents for their employees and business partners etc. This was for 4 nights during one week after school in November, and each night I worked wrapping gifts for 4 or 5 hours. I did this for two years. It was fun, I was familiar with Mom workplace and many coworkers already because she’d been there like 20 years, and Dad and me would pick her up with the car whenever there was something we had to go do right after work together. And during the summer vacations, I (often with my best friend) would often bike to Mom’s work for her lunch hour and we’d all have lunch together.

3. Which do you do better: save money or spend money?

I don’t know. I’ve never been freely able to do either. My monthly income is just too small and/or uncertain. Back when my father had died and I got my portion of his inheritance, I was able pay all my education with it and the free public education benefits (taking a loan wasn’t that common back then, unless you went to university which I didn’t), to buy a small apartment upon graduating and then to stretch it out for many years using it to supplement unemployment benefit which was and still is unlivable. But because work was few and far between, I had to keep dipping in to my savings simply to pay rent and eat until it all run out.

4. Are people more likely to borrow money from you, or are you more likely to borrow from them?

Neither.

5. What's the most expensive thing you've ever bought?

My apartment.

My asnwers to today's questions at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/144788.html

1. What do you see when you are looking out of the window closest to you?

My tiny backyard and white fence, then a little bit of grassy area, the walkway to the parking lot, the windowless end (gable??) wall as well as several entrances to the apartments in the rowhouse across the walkway to the parking lot.

2. Who was the last person coming into your room?

My apartment, and my Mom on last Tuesday.

3. What is the most predominant colour around you?

My kitchen, living room and tiny hallway’s walls are all white so that’s the one I guess. My bedroom walls are pale blue which is nice and soothing for sleeping.

4. What is right behind you?

The living room wall. Higher up on the wall there are 12 acrylic pour paintings I made, behind the couch on which I’m sitting on as I write this.

5. What is on today's calendar sheet?

Nothing at all and it’s wonderful! I’ve been too busy the last 3 weeks and need a break very much.

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

1. What is your water flask like?

It’s just a used Frezza bottle.

2. When did you last hold a mic?

I don’t think I’ve held a mic - I have an office headset but the jaw mic is attached to it so no holding.

3. Of whom are you jealous?

People who can buy groceries and pay normal bills (such as rent, phone or electric bills etc.) without having to count whether they can afford to do those things and when.

4. For what are you zealous?

Getting rid of this cruel far-right, only-for-the-rich and big corporations government.

5. And when might you go on a hike?

Never. It’s not something I enjoy, and my health doesn’t allow it now anyway.

Answers to today’s questions at thefridayfive @ Dreamwidth

1. Do you consider yourself to be a good housekeeper? Why or why not?

I think I’m adequate now. I used to be worse. Even a lot of messiness didn’t bother me. As long as it wasn’t filthy it was ok. But these days I don't like messiness.

2. Are there any household chores that you enjoy doing? If so, what and why?

Does anyone enjoy chores??? They’re just a necessary evil.

3. Which household chore frustrates/angers you the most?

Dusting is so bloody frustrating! I hate it because as soon as you’ve done it there’s a new layer of dust or you notice you missed a spot when light hits it just right.

I’ve always also loathed vacuuming - it’s so boring! And ever since my migraine went chronic, for some reason, the physical movement of vacuuming triggers a migraine attack unless I pause a lot. I won a Roomba about 4 years ago, and it’s been wonderful!

4. When doing household chores, what do you do to make them seem less of a "chore"?

When dusting or doing doing dishes by hand or basically anything where I can hear it, I listen to my music.

5. Which chore do you find yourself doing most often, and why?

I guess kitchen and bathroom. I like them to be clean, particularly the bathroom now that it was fully renovated last year so it’s actually fun to keep it clean.

Answers to last friday's questions at thefridayfive!

1. What is your favourite fruit?

Strawberries! I'm so sad the strawberry season is only about 1,5 months here.

2. What is the last book you read?

The last one I finished was Talo maailman laidalla (orig: Hus vid världens ände) by Åke Edwardsson. The last book I read from is Tilinteko (orig: Making a Killing) by Cara Hunter, as well as like 5 others I'm currently in the middle of!

3. Do you like any of your school photos?

I don't have any of them, my Mom has them. I didn't order any of the personal shots of me to keep, just the full class one, for the last two years I think in comprehensive school. I don't remember having school photos taken in library school?? I haven't looked at them in decades... I don't hate them, but I don't like them either. Whatever.

4. Do you ever blowdry your armpits to get the deodorant to dry quicker?

I had no idea this was a thing... never even occurred to me until reading this question!

5. What was the last film you watched?

Hah! For once I have watched a film recently enough to remember what it was when asked this question! It was The Thursday Murder Club and I watched it this past Saturday! Helen Mirren, as always, was a delight and I liked the film well enough as a whole, but the book was marginally better.

Answers to today's questions posted at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/142805.html

1. Does where you live have regular doorstep rubbish collections or do you have to take your trash somewhere else?

i live in a housign co-op with, I think, 44 apartments in five buildings. There's a collective trash point on the parking lot, with 7 big molokki containers (molokki = a deep collection system developed by Molok, where more than half of the waste containers are underground) for mixed waste, bio waste, paper waste, metal waste, glass waste, carton waste and plastic waste. Each house hold take their trash to those big containers, and containers are emptied at certain intervals by waste disposal companies.

2. Do you separate recycling? What sort of stuff gets recycled from your household?

Yes, the above listed except for bio and plastic waste.

3. Do you take things you don't need to charity shops, or give them away online, or sell them secondhand, or ...?

I take clean, intact clothes and textiles I don't like or are too small to their recycling service sometimes, but it's cumbersome because I don't have a car and those service points are only few and far away and not necessarily anywhere I normally go. But mostly I use up everything. I also try try to take used textiles that aren't intact to textile recycling containers that are outside my closest grocery store and so is conveniently located, but I don't always remember.

4. Do you pick up litter in your local area, from streets or trails or play areas or parks? Have you ever found anything interesting discarded or lost in a public space?

Only my own if I drop something accidentally.

I've found some coins and once I found a wallet in the library. I took it to the library staff.

5. Are there "repair cafés" near you to help mend fixable items? Have you ever been helped by a community repair service or volunteered for one? Do you do any other kind of upcycling?

I'm not sure whether there are such here. I've never heard of ones but I haven't looked either. Some of the libraries have sewing machines to loan out so people don't have to buy them for the occasional need.

Nope.