personal

So I had totally forgotten these question of the day montly things by spiffikins  at https://spiffikins.dreamwidth.org/1251745.html  that I was in the habit of posting my answers to last year *headdesk*

This set I was supposed to post last October! Better late than never...? ... yah.

October

1. What Rites of Passage Have You Participated In?

I count going to a vocational or business school or some such or university after the basic education and getting a degree to be one, so that's sure one, twice!

I can't think of other ones.

2. Will Humans Live on Mars In Our Lifetime?

Within my lifetime (I'm 50)? Nope.

3. Do/Did You Ever Hang Out at the Mall?

Nope. My friends and I always conducted our business and then went somewhere more quiet and/or interesting.

4. Do You Unknowingly Submit to Peer Pressure?

Yes.

5. Is Breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of the Day?

Health authorities say it is, but I'm not convinced... I've always had problems eating in the morning; I'm just not hungry and have no appetite before midday.

6. What Public Behavior Annoys You Most?

Screaming infants or people watching videos on loud speakers on their phones/talking via loud speakers on their phones in the bus. It's a toss up which annoys me the most at any given day.

7. What Superpower Do You Wish You Had?

Zap from one place to another in an blink of an eye at my will.

8. What’s Special About Your Hometown?

It is the oldest town in Finland! The founding year of Turku is considered to be 1229 when the bishopric/episcopal seat for Finland was created in Turku. The community grew into a town in the decades following, and was officially made a town in 1280-1290 or so. I think it's cool living in a town so old!

9. How Materialistic Are You?

I'm quite materialistic in many senses, maybe not in all the most common ones though. I'm poor and have been my entire adult life except for a few stretches of longer contract temp work, so I have personal experience on how important money is, and even more importantly, how the lack of money narrows possibilities and choices you have in regards to literally everything. Not to mention the chronic stress and worry lack of money causes.

So I'm quite materialistic in the sense that I know and experience that buying things you want, or need, actually can make you happy, at least up to a certain point. But I have zero interest in owning designer clothing or bags or anything; I just want to have enough money to buy everything I need when I need it and be able to save some money for later needs.

No matter what anyone says about money not making happiness. That's complete and utter bullshit.

10. Should the Private Lives of Famous People Be Off Limits?

I don't care. I don't read gossip magazines and I'm not interested in celeb's private lives. I guess maybe it depends on why they are famous? Did they seek fame and continously participate in things keep them in the news? Or did it come as a byproduct of what they did, maybe because they're very good at it? In any case, I think the person's people in their life should be left alone completely, whether that's their children, spouses, family members etc. - unless those relations seek publicity themselves.

11. What Are Your Opinions on Cosmetic Surgery?

I'm all for reconstructive cosmetic surgery such as cleft lip or breast cancer related cosmetic surgery, or surgery that fixes problems that causes pain or impairs normal function such as breast reduction.

But if it's done purely for appearance reasons for fun, that I don't support.

12. What Habits Do You Have, and Have You Ever Tried to Change Them?

I have a habit that I don't drink coffee which is very much not understood here in Finland! I think it tastes awful. I have tried to get myself used to it, but it just doesn't take, so I'm resigned to the fact that I have to keep turnig down coffee (and tea! I don't drink tea either) and ask for water or juice in every event ever for the whole of my life. Two decades ago, there often was never anything but coffee and tea on offer, and the host would have to go fetch water/juice specially. But nowadays, usually there's one or the other or soft drinks on offer in addition to coffee or tea!

13. Does Keeping a Messy Desk Make People More Creative?

I donno! I used to have what looked like a very messy desk to outsiders but I actually knew exactly where each paper was and there was only about an A3 sized free space on my desk at any given time. I was very creative at that time, and had no problems whatsoever with my school work or anything.

But in about my early 40s, the piles of stuff on my desk started to bother me. I really like a very clean desk now, ideally it'd be always so but realities of things I need easy access - to because I use them every day or every other day - being what they are, and my own nature which finds it very frustrating to be putting away and taking out every day the very same things, I've ended up with mostly a clean, tidy desk but with a handul of things that live on it because I get mad if I have physically put it in every evening and then take it out again every morning. And there's one tiny pile of watercolors and water color papers, too. So now mostly tidy, with a little bit of chaos! It works pretty well, I find.

14. Does Reading a Book Count More Than Listening to One?

Yes, to me it does. It's a completely different experience, and I've never liked listening - not radio, not books. But it's still better than not reading at all.

15. Are You a Novelty-Seeker?

If I had the money, I'd be trying out new tech things all the time but other than that, nope, not really.

16. How Strong Is Your Sense of Smell?

I donno. Never really thought about it. It's never been a problem, at least.

17. Are There Topics That Should Be Off Limits to Comedy?

Recent tragedies.

Serious illness POVs that the comedian hasn't experienced themselves.

18. What Animal Are You Most Like?

Donno. Don't care.

19. What Magazines Do You Read, and How Do You Read Them?

Regularly only Yhteishyvä and Pirkka - the free-to-members magazines published by the two grocery store chains here. Always paper magazines, but they also have websites and I search those for previously published baking recipes often.

Some random Science/Computer/Homemaker etc. magazines when given as a freebie when they happen my way. Mostly paper magazines, sometimes a digital version. Depends on the freebie.

I don't subscribe to any pay magazines. Sometimes I request a subscription as a birthday gift or something. The last several times it's been a newspaper I've requested. rather than a magazine.

Sometimes I also borrow magazines from the library, but not regularly.

20. Would You Like to Live in Another Country?

Not really. It'd be too difficult and too much of a mess and probably not even possible because I can't work and so I can't support myself. And there are my serious chronic illnesses and my other lesser ailments that'd I'd have to figure out to get on-going treatment and regular check-ups for in the new country. Way too difficult in my situation, and impossible considering my current situation.

21. What’s the Coolest Thing You’ve Ever Seen in a Museum?

Natural History Museum in London: the gigantic dinosaur skeleton that we saw there in 1998.

Also, when I was about 8 years old or there abouts, we went on a holiday to Moscow. I don't have a clear memory of the trip, but I remember this one exhibition in a museum - it was of the 1812 war between Napolean and Russia. A scene of a Napoleonic battlefield had been built into a round room, where the stairs came up in the middle of the round room and you were surrounded by the scene. At the front were mannequins dressed as soldiers, statues of horses, riders, sand, grass, dying solders etc. and an entire battlefield had been painted on the wall at the back and you couldn't tell where the physical scene turned into a painting. You were in the middle of the round room, surrounded by the battlefield and you felt like you were actually there in the middle of it. That was very cool and the first time I realized how interesting a museum could be! I've no idea what museum that was, I asked later and Mom doesn't remember the thing at all.

Also in that 1998 trip to Natural History Museum in London, they had many scenes of prehistoric life using that same technique - physical at the front, painting at the back and you couldn't tell where one ended and the other started. Very cool!

22. Are You a Good Listener?

Yes.

23. Do We Still Need Libraries?

We'll always need libraries.

24. How Do You Celebrate Your Birthday?

Just by having my Mom and her SO over for a coffee, cake and hot sandwiches, or a fruit salad or whatever I think up. I don't like parties, and prefer to have one or two persons over at a time. We're not fussy about the day anymore, either! Like for my 50th, the actual day was Friday but we decided to do it on the following Sunday.

25. When Have You Failed? What Did You Learn From It?

I feel like I've sort of failed at life, if judged by typical norms. I don't have a job, I'm poor, I'm chronically ill and haven't been able take full control of my symptoms like a "good dutiful worker bee".

Patience. That's what I've learned. And to find meaning in other things than being gainfully employed.

26. What Activities Make You Feel Most Alive?

Dunno about alive... I don't ever feel too terribly alive, I'm too fatigued for that. I guess being creative brings me the closest, especially painting.

27. Where, and How, Do You Watch Movies?

Home, at my couch, on my laptop.

28. What Is Your Favorite Street?

... do people have a favorite street..? I sure don't.

29. When Do You Remember Learning a New Word?

Between English being my 3rd language and medical stuff, I learn a new word every week, most weeks! Sometimes everyday! I like it!

30. Is Amazon Becoming Too Powerful?

Becoming? It's already been too powerful for far too long!

31. Will You Be Wearing a Halloween Costume This Year?

Nothing. I don't do Halloween and it's not a native thing to Finland, so I do absolutely nothing.

Answers to questions at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/139656.html

1. Have you ever been to summer camp?

Nope. I never wanted to go. I have never liked big groups and crowds, and by the time the school year was over, all I wanted was to was to be by myself alone, or with my friends (1-2 friends), or at the most, when I was in years 1-2, with the small family day care group (2-3 kids in addition to me). And by the time I was in year 3, I had negotiated with my parents that I could be alone at home those weeks my parents weren’t on summer leave. The family day carer was a neighbor and lived in the same apartment building, so Mom and Dad made a deal with her that I can always go to her if I get scared or lonely or anything. I never did - didn’t need to: I loved being alone at home or with my 1-2 close friends at home/the yard/on biking adventures or whatever..

2. Have you ever made a s'more?

Nope, those are not a thing here.

3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?

I’m not entirely sure! We used to spend most of the summers camping when I was a kid, with a tent. I vaguely think we might have slept under the stars as a novelty/treat once or twice, but I don’t really remember it. The nights were never that warm in the 80s when we were camping; sleeping in sleeping bags, wearing long johns, inside the tent was just comfortable enough, and rain was likely whenever, so if we did, it was just a special treat when circumstances were just weirdly right!

4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?

As a kid sleep over party? Nope.

5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?

My bed is 120cm x 200cm - no idea how that translates to US sizes. It’s technically wide enough for two, but I’ve slept on that size bed my whole life (except for the 2 years I was living in student housing while doing library studies - that bed was provided by the housing and was 80xm x 200cm and felt way too narrow and cramped - I almost fell off many times, not being used to narrow bed like that.) and if I ever acquire a long-term bed partner, I’d need to buy a bigger bed in order to sleep comfortably. The bed frame is made of wood and is about 25 years old but doesn’t show any sign of wear and tear.

My mattress is quite hard and I love it that way - it feels like it doesn’t give under me, but it does just a little. I love softer mattresses too, but after sleeping on one for more than 2 nights, my lower back starts to hurt and I can hard get up and move. So softer mattresses a nope for me. Last year we had to buy a new mattress and mattress topping, and it was surprisingly difficult! Few places sold only mattresses (and none of the big furniture stores had traditional bed frames for sale, ones like mine is.). Now it’s all jenkkisänky (I think it’s called continental bed in English) - they were all selling the whole damn bed system complete with a frame-mattress-bottom-with-legs, the mattress and the mattress topping! One place was able to order just the mattress and mattress topping for me, finally, because I already have a great wooden frame.

Here's my answers to today's questions at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/139433.html

1. What sets you apart from your friends?

Two things:

- I several serious chronic illnesses that impact my ability to have a job or just live a life.

- I'm adopted. I've only ever personally known one person in my regular circles who was adopted too. She was a class mate of mine in comprehensive school.

I looked at the statistics from 1987-2023 out of curiosity and there were about 90-250 adoptions every year, not counting adoptions from abroad which added maybe another 200 to number per year. So adoptions are quite rare and they have been going down for a long time, too.

2. What sets you apart from your family?

Same answers as #1.

3. What sets you apart from your coworkers/fellow students?

I don't have either now. Once I finished comprehensive school and started vocational school and then entered work life, I've never personally met anyone else who was also adopted or at least no one I got to know well enough to share what our families are like. I only once heard about a co-worker in one of my temp jobs about to adopt a child from abroad but I never met them as I was temping for that exactly that person. I've met people who know other people (usually one) who had adopted but meeting other adoptees out in the wild never happens... unless it's a support group for adoptees or something else that is designed to bring them together.

4. What is the one thing about you that is most unique?

Not sure. If not counting the chronic illnesses and being adopted, the things that used to make me unique are pretty common now that fandom has gone mainstream and also because I don't have the energy to be so active in fandom anymore.

5. What is your most interesting quality?

You'd have to ask that from somebody other than me!

Questions from https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/138441.html

1. What is your all time favorite book?

I answered this for another the friday five set a year ago, so here's a copy/paste of that one because the answer is still the same!

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 faves: Whispers, Lightning and House of Thunder all by Dean R. Koontz. Koontz used to write really good books!

2. What is your all time favorite movie?

The first movies that always immediately pop up in my mind when I see this question are The Last of the Mohicans and The Piano. So I guess those two are my all time faves! Although Alien and Aliens should also make that list for scifi.

3. What are you reading right now?

There are several books I'm currently reading!

Most actively I'm working on Rakel by Satu Rämö (because I won't be able to renew it due to there being 1850+ holds on it). The Satu Rämö Hildur book series is hugely successful and popular - she's a Finn living in Iceland is writing a fictional crime series of a Icelandic detective Hildur and a Finnish-police-student-who-moved-to-Iceland Jakob working together in Iceland, solving crimes and Hildur's family mysteries and crimes. I loved the first two books in the series, but was disappointed by the 3rd one which was supposed to focus on Jakob but didn't (even the book's name was Jakob!), and this 4th installment is about Hildur's mother Rakel. I like the current timeline mysteries/crimes solving but I'm totally uninterested in the chapters set in early 1990s and which are of Rakel's POV and life. But yeah, I have to focus on reading this one because I'll have to return it in 3 weeks. Luckily it's easy to read and not a thick one.

The book I'm most excited about is Piirileikki by Carin Gerhadsen though! It's a 4th in the crime series about a Hammarby murder squad. I loved all the three previous books in the series I've read, but you really need to read them in correct order. This one is sort of my reward for reading a bit of Rakel every day.

Another book that I really should start is Peilityyni by Riina Raevaara. Another in a series, this time about a scientist who gets involved in sciency dangers/mysteries and whose own past has sciency secrets as well. This book also has about 50 holds on it waiting, so I probably won't be able to renew it when the due date is in 3 weeks. Which I only realized while checking my list of library books for this question! So I really need to get started on that, and leave the Carin Gerhardsen to the side for now. Tiina Raevaara is a Finnish author so that's nice!

Other books I've also started on: Ashley Bell by Dean R. Koontz, The Last Testament by Sam Bourne and Ilmetty (The Likeness) by Tana French.

Ashley Bell is weird in that I'm not sure whether I have read it already or not! I'm pretty sure I've read shorter something involving the same name by Koontz before, then there was this brick of a book that I'm not sure if I've read it or not, I just remember being confused about this title before in the same way but I don't remember whether I read this brick too or not! Also I find myself skipping a lot - too much purple prose, seemingly unrelated heroics by  the main character's Navy SEAL boyfriend on the other side of the world, and there's so much details about guns and everyone seems to happy to carry a gun and 'cause everybody carrying a gun and being gun happy isn't a thing here in Finland, it seems really weird and off and MAGA. I've noticed that gun thing in a couple of other recent Koontz books too, and it's feeling like he's very gun happy these days. I don't like it. Just in general I'm not sure I like this book, the main character is awfully cutesy so far and so young I can't really connect with her at all.

I'm also reading Työttömyys sattuu : arjen kamppailuja työllistämistoimien rattaissa by Sari Näre, Lena Näre which a sosiolocigal study about the effects of being unemployed for a long time and is compiled from the writing challenge for the unemployed about their experiences, by researcherrs/scholars. This study has been peer reviewed. I didn't write for the challenge, but reading the experiences of other long term unemployed shared for this project, there are so much that could be directly from my own experiences and story. It's a good read but hard, and I can't help but think that the people who the very most need to read it, are the ones who could not be less interested: namely prime minister Petteri Orpo and finance minister Riikka Purra but in general, right wing party people. As well as people who do not have personal experience in being unemployed for a year or more, no matter their political leanings.

I'm also in the middle of Kivinen purje by Åke Edwards. I've read the series before but recently re-watched the tv series made based on the books, got the thirst to read the books again. They're so old now that are no holds on them and I can renew them as much as a I like, so this one is sort of my whenever I don't have anything else to read!

4. What is your favorite show on TV?

This one changes too! If we're talking all time favorites well, obviously Star Trek TOS, TNG and DS9.

If we're talking about currently airing tv shows: The Last of Us. A few weeks ago, it was The Pitt when it aired.

5. What is the last movie you saw in the theater?

I think maybe The Queen? IMDB says it came out in 2007 here in Finland. I went to see it with my Mom – we’re both huge Helen Mirren fans! I liked it because Helen Mirren and she’s always awesome. My migraine went chronic and of breathing hurts kind in 2008 and I can't even think about enduring a movie theatre since then. I don't think I saw another movie in the theatre after The Queen and Helen Mirren but before the migraine went awful. If I did, it was so forgettable that I have no recollection.

As you may recall, my Mom bought me a Lenovo laptop for my 50th birthday last year! I love it to bits, it's awesome but it did have 3 problems - 2 of which I solved on the same day I got it, but one of the problems has persisted: the touchpad doesn't work properly - it doesn't register all the taps, buttons don't work most of the time when I click on them. Even though I found a workaround (Windows gestures - very useful once I got used to them!), of course it bugged being a brand new laptop and I've been googling the problem. A lot of people have the same thing, and nothing worked - until today!

Anyway, I was thinking I should send the laptop in for guarantee repair because of the buggy touchpad, but decided to try solving it myself one more time, just for the hell of it. And well, I solved it! ✨✨✨

Thing is, I'm not entirely sure what exactly solved it 😂 I did most of the very same things I had tried already without success. But then I came across instructions to search for any Windows 10/ 64-bit Synaptics (PS/2) driver and install it. I downloaded a 2016 release of Windows 10 64-bit Synaptics (PS/2) touchpad driver and installed it. Which did fuck all, as far as I could tell. Then in a last ditch effort, just one more time, I deleted ALL touchpad/mouse/ I2C HID devices from Device Manager so that the mouse cursor vanished again and I had to use tab and arrow keys to restart the laptop so they reinstall at startup. And low and behold - suddenly the touchpad is working exactly as it should!

But the weird thing is, the driver dates are all the same 2006 which they have been since I got this laptop. Not the Synaptics 2016 one which I installed today (and which I don't see, by the way, at least under that name). So what on earth fixed it??!! Because I had done the whole "delete ALL touchpad/mouse/ I2C HID devices from Device Manager so that the mouse cursor vanishes and Windows needs to reinstall the drivers at startup" thing like a at least 5 times before over the months! I guess it's just some combination of things, done in the right order, under favourable stars....

Here's hoping this miracle, whatever it is, lasts!

A little late... answers to last Friday's questions at f.riday.com.

1. How do you feel about spiders?

Not a fan, but as long as it's a typical small spider that I see around here, I don't mind them.

Any ugly, hairy, big and/or poisonous/deadly-to-humans spiders (and fictional monster spiders) can stay the hell in Australia or wherever with all the other deadly creatures!

2. When in your life was every day a happy day and every night peaceful?

When I was a kid, even as a teenager in school. I had no idea back then, but until my Dad died, I didn't have a true, real worry in the world!

3. When did you last attend a fair, and how was it, and what did you eat?

The summer before COVID, so June/July of 2019. Can't remember which month. It was on one of those rehabilitation activity days (a course arranged jointly by the unemployment office and social services for job seekers with long unemployment and/or health problems); the whole group attended the local fair after the lunch. Basically we all went there together and the day ended at that point (1,5 hours early) and then we were free to disperse and browse along however we wanted and stay or leave as we wished. Me, I was still in such a bad health back then (this was before Ajovy and before my Crohn's Disease symptoms quieted down due to non-Crohn related medication changes) and I was hurting and so physically exhausted (typical after being at the activity), I only peered at some sold-as-handmade jewellery and knives and soaps etc. while walking through the fair to my bus stop that was on the other side of the fair and across a bridge... while praying I'd make it to my bus stop without collapsing. It was a nice weather, not too hot, and it was nice to see all those things being sold and I would have liked to buy one or other thing, but I couldn't afford to buy anything except for maybe an ice cream. So there was no point in rubbing my face in that fact by really looking at the products a lots. And I was feeling too ill to eat anything - I had thought to get a soft ice cream, but by that time I felt like I might throw up if I tried. So I just looked around while I walked through.

4. This weekend, what is likeliest to have you feeling T, double E, double R, double R, double I, double F, double I, double C C C?

Teerrrriiffiicccccc?? Nothing, no matter the spelling. Except winning millions in the lottery which wouldn't happen 'cause I'm not buying lottery tickets.

5. What are some of your favorite children’s books?

The Famous Five by Enid Blyton and the nurse Ursula books by Helen Wells usually come first to mind.

Then also the books I read as a kid but are not children's books:

Watchers by Dean R. Koontz - the first Koontz I ever read, and the one all Koontz (and a lot of other authors) books are forever and ever compared to since.

The Barsoom novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I'm not sure whether those are considered children's or YA but they are in the children's sections in libraries here in Finland.

I voted in advance two weeks ago, but the county and municipalities election actual election day was yesterday!

• In the county elections, voters will elect representatives for county councils. County councils decide on the organisation and provision of health and social services and rescue services in wellbeing services counties. 
• In the municipal elections, voters will elect representatives for municipal councils. Municipal councils decide on the activities and finances of municipalities.

I'm so glad the SDP (a centre-left social-democratic party) turned out #1 in my home county and municipality as well as in most of the country. But even more importantly, Perussuomalaiset (a populist far-right party) with its racist politics and ideologies crashed totally! Kokoomus (main right-wing party) is like teflon - nothing touches it, and so this time too. It's going to be interesting because Kokoomus and Perussuomaiset are the two main parties of the current government, and they have been saying their entire reign that the government has the people's mandate to make the cuts that they have made and that have turned homelessness to grow for the first time in over a decade, have driven countless people into poverty, made part time work hard/impossible, have destroyed workers rights and are dismantling the healthcare system just to name a few bad things that result from their actions. Perussuomalaiset have the Finance Minister post, fulfilled by the party's chairwoman Riikka Purra, who has been happily cutting working people's and poor people's livelihood and rights and joked about it. Interesting to see can the government keep functioning now that the People have clearly said that Perussuomalaiset do not have their trust and that they do not support the cuts. I really really hope the government breaks apart and new elections are held soon! Because Finland really needs to get rid of this far-right government before there's nothing left to save.

Also, my home town has been run by Kokoomus for 30 years, the whole time I've been an adult, and a long time before I started to follow politics. Now SDP will step in! Interesting to see what kind of changes that brings.

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive@DW

1. What do you like most: Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays (and why)?

These days there's no preference since I'm not working. Back when I was in school or working, I liked Saturdays the very best because usually it was a free day and I could sleep in and do whatever I wanted. Although once I started working, there usually was at least one Saturday a month I had a shift if the job was longer one. Even then I still liked Saturdays the best - the customers were always happier on Saturdays too, and I always had Sunday off anyway.

Once I finished school, I liked Sundays a lot too because no more home work on Sundays (I always did the next Monday's home work on Sundays) but not as much as Saturdays because Mondays started for school or work, or at least were supposed to be even if unemployed.

I also liked Friday a lot when I was in school - usually Friday's were shorter days in school so I'd be able to get off at 1pm or 2pm, or at least teachers had lighter content for the lessons, particularly the afternoon lessons. And we usually went swimming with my best friend after we had eaten and would spend the time in the pool until the plase closed down for the night. So we'd sauna & frolick in the water around 3-4 hours most Friday evenings!

2. What was the best weekend of your life?

The first thought that came to my mind: Back when I was a kid in school, I felt like the summers where one long weekend because Freedom! No school! I loved that feeling!

No single weekend stands out to me as being above the rest of them. There's been a lot of good ones, and nothing that special to earn the title best ever.

3. What weekend of the year is your favorite?

Don't have one.

4. Do you have any weekend routines?

I try to not do grocery shopping on weekends, and mostly I manage that. I do this because I don't work so days just tend blend and repeat for me, and this is a way to try and keep weekends as something a little different from weekdays.

5. Describe your ideal Saturday night.

Just me at home with a layer cake or a chocolate cake I love and probably made myself, tasty drinks, with either a very good, thought-provoking and entertaining movie with great writing, excellent performances and beautiful cinematography. Also a long runtime so I really sink my teeth into it. And then finish the night by reading a good book before sleeping.

In other news... I won a Roomba i3 robot vacuum cleaner after filling in the local energy company's website usability test questions back in 2021. I never win anything so I was ecstatic to have one the first price for once! And a happy coincidence too it was the first price was a robot vacuum cleaner! It's been a tremendous help the last 3,5 years for me in keeping my home clean :mrgreen: Being a spoonie due to several chronic illnesses it had been difficult the past several years but the Roomba solved that. About a year ago, I noticed the Roomba started to drop the network all the time (it can be controlled via a smart phone app and needs network for that to work) and other odd behaviour and a few weeks ago, it got really bad. I had looked into it some, and had come to the conclusion that the battery was going out. I wasn't sure whether a new battery was a good idea, and also it looked like I'd have to order it from abroad which was difficult because most shops I looked at didn't ship them to Finland. The iRobot website shop was of course out of the original battery for the model, so it'd have to be a replacement part. So I hesitated. But now that it was crapping out every time I tried to use it, I looked around for reviews and people were having good experiences replacing the battery.

So I looked around a lot more this past weekend, thinking come on, there has to be a Finnish robot vacuum cleaner shop or a spare parts shop or something that sell them. After a lot of duck duck going, I did find one! It arrived at my closest post office yesterday, I picked it up today and installed it immediately. And low and behold - the problems seem to be solved! It's dropped the network for a few seconds a few times but that allowable (unlike days which happened with the old battery) and probably normal, the Roomba started action immediately when I clicked so in the phone app, and did not get stuck or act weird during vacuuming today like the last times with the old battery! 😀 Fingers crossed I get a couple of more years out of the Roomba with this new battery! 🤞

The county and municipalities elections are on the 13th, and advance voting opened today.

• In the county elections, voters will elect representatives for county councils. County councils decide on the organisation and provision of health and social services and rescue services in wellbeing services counties. 
• In the municipal elections, voters will elect representatives for municipal councils. Municipal councils decide on the activities and finances of municipalities. 

I voted while running errands today!

This is the first ever double election, and it was just as easy as single elections are! No confusion or problems at all. The process was the same, just instead of one slip there were two.

I had some trouble selecting a who to vote for this time. I've got my Party chosen decades ago (Left Alliance) but this time I had decided that I wasn't going to vote for anyone who is a congressman(person?) already and well, that decision took all the candidates I know more than just the name of out of the pool! But I dislike that the same person can be a congressman and also hold the county council membership as well the municipal council membership. I believe that it just isn't possible to do good work in all three roles, and that allowing holding all three roles also makes political power congregate in fewer hands. So I decided to vote different candidates for each role, and neither may be a congressman.

I also had a lot of trouble mustering enthusiasm for the county elections at all even though it's very important election because technically the council will decide what public healthcare and social services are offered. But the reality is that the Orpo government while dismantling the welfare state is dictating their decisions for them by cutting the budgets left, right and center and even dictating which hospitals or open-at-night ERs are to be shutdown. Decisions that politicians don't have the know-how to make, and which should be made by the concerned wellbeing services counties themselves who know the situation in their own county and population. The wellbeing services counties can't tax and they can't truly decide where and how to use the money government gives them, so why bother voting? There's been news that a notable number of the first term council members aren't running again, because they are so frustrated that the council is basically acting as Orpo and Purra's rubber stamp on decisions the council itself has had no say in.

But I managed to find someone to vote for, and voted, so I've done my civic duty!