personal

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive@Dreamwidth ✨

1. How far back can you trace your family tree?

Not far at all! I knew my adopted Mom's Mom but her Dad my Grandpa died 10 years before I was born. Grandma was a homemaker and moved from the country to the city as a young girl in 1930s, and my Grandpa's family originated from Russia but they were living in Finland by the time Finland declared its independence in 1917. I don't know in more detail than that or further back for either family's history.

I met my adopted Dad's Mom when I was a kid but I didn't know her - we didn't have much to do with her, not sure why. I... can't remember Dad's father? I'm not sure whether he was still alive when I was a kid or not. No memory whatsoever. I remember once when I was a teenager after Dad had died and Mom and I were out shopping, we ran into Dad's mother and I did not recognize her. I don't know really anything about my Dad's side other than that he had had to leave to a different city chasing work when he was a very young man, that he moved from city to city until he found a permanent job here and that he had one sister we saw regularly usually twice a year until Dad died. That was the only real contact we had with Dad's family.

I don't know anything about my bio family other than that I have several full siblings and several half-siblings. I'm unclear on the exact number. And that there are both headache and stomach problems in one or both sides of the family, so I'm not an outlier on that level!

2. What is the most interesting (or strange) thing you've heard about one of your relatives?

Nothing strange, but I've always thought it interesting the my adopted Mom's Dad (the one who died 10 years before I was born) was a traveling salesman, and he went to places such as China because of his work (this would've been the 1940s/1950s/1960s.) He was also involved in the local politics, the Social Democrats/Left side if I've understood correctly. I also love the two wall hangings depicting nature scenes he brought to Grandma from China - they are sewn/knitted/some-other-handicraft but they are so photo-realistic that I always thought they were photos! I was over 20 years old when we got to talking about them with my Mom and she told me that they aren't photos at all!

3. How do you feel about legacy names like John Henry Smith IV or naming children after other relatives?

I'm not sure legacy names are much of a thing here? At least I've never known one who has a legacy name (or at least doesn't use the whole thing in which case nobody might realize it's a legacy name) and I can't even think of a celebrity or a politician who has one. In either case, I don't really think much about it. Probably Finland doesn't have enough rich or noble families that are old enough and that also want to make use of such convention.

I'm kind of iffy about naming children after relatives - second/middle name is totally fine, but first name can by iffy... it depends on the relationship, whether the relative is still alive and if they're dead, the cause of the death. I mean if it's a grandparent or a relative you're not close to, it's totally fine. But if it's a sibling/cousin that died young I feel that's icky like the new baby would be replacement for the one lost young.

4. Would you consider yourself and/or your family to be traditional?

In some really major ways my adopted parents and me, we are not traditional. Since before I was born, we have not "belonged to the church" which is rare (but has been coming more and more common over the last decades), so I was the only one who didn't have to attend the religion classes at school. My Dad died of cancer when he was 50 and when I was 14 which is not common. When Mom found a new man, they never married and have been living together now for 30 years without ever getting married. Which is almost unheard of in their age group. Mom couldn't have children, so Mom and Dad adopted. Which is quite rare. My Mom's best friend never married, never had children and the whole time I've known her (50 years), never been seeing anyone either.

As for me, I myself never wanted children and never had them, never have been married or never lived together with a romantic partner. Both of which is not that common in my age group. I'm seriously ill with several chronic conditions that limit my ability to function, which isn't common in this extent. I've also never had a long term, permanent job but that seems pretty common in my age group for certain professions. And in general, more and more common for people younger than me regardless of profession.

So in many ways, we are not traditional at all.

5. What is one tradition you have passed on to your children and/or plan to pass on to them?

Like I said, never wanted children and never had them so this question is irrelevant.

Answers to today's questions at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/136284.html

1. Did the house where you grew up have a newspaper delivered regularly?

Oh yes, Mom and Dad always had a newspaper subscription for as long as I can remember. It's actually one of my vivid childhood memories. It'd be dropped through the mail slot in our door at 4am every working day and Saturdays - I'd hear it a lot because I often had a migraine attack at that time and sat in the toilet throwing up/waiting to throw up and would hear the mail slot slamming and know it is now 4am and Dad would get up soon.

Back then, as a kid, it was Kansan Uutiset - a smaller newspaper with smaller circulation because is left leaning and I'm not sure I knew anyone else who subscribed it except for us. They all seemed to get Turun Sanomat. I'm pretty sure we also subscribed to the weekend issues (so only Satuday and Sunday) of Turun Sanomat which is one of the main newspapers here in Finland and also happens to be our home town one. After Dad died and Mom moved in with her current SO, at some point the left leaning newspaper stopped publishing every day and has been publishing only on the weekends for like 15 years or more now. So now they subscribe to every day Turun Sanomat and also to weekly Kansan Uutiset. Mom and SO still only subscribe to the paper newspapers - they don't like digital for themselves.

2. Have you ever subscribed to an actual print newspaper?

An actual paper print newspaper? No. I could never afford it, and the few times I had spare money I could use for a newspaper or a magazine - I rather subscribed to a Star Trek comics from the US for a year, or a computer magazine, or some other comic. I could only do that when I had longer temp job (6 months minimum), so the last time was in 2007 or 2008, and even then I could only afford one subscription so had to choose carefully. I didn't follow politics at all or even news that much before the 2008 elections (and what news I did follow, tv news were enough for me), so I didn't ever feel the need for a newspaper and rather subscribed to something fun when I could. And then of course all the newspapers etc. have been online for a long long time with partially free content, so it wasn't that necessary even when I did start following politics either. Oh, and the times I had a job, I didn't need to pay for newspapers - perks of working in a library! I could read the newspapers the library got if I wanted to.

3. When was the most recent time you physically picked up and read a newspaper?

I don't remember... Probably last Christmas when I was over at my Moms. I usually check out their print Turun Sanomat when I'm there. Very occasionally I also read a newspaper in a library. The most recent time I did that was in last July when I had to be away from home because of the noise of the bathroom renovations.

4. Do you pay for news online now?

I don't myself because I don't have the money to do that, but I've asked for a digital subscription to Turun Sanomat a handful of times for a birthday gift or some other gift since I started following politics and news after the 2008 elections. And the last few years, Mom and her SO have gifted me two months of the digital once a year because Turun Sanomat is doing some campaign like "buy a gift subscription for your loved one for this token price and extend your own subscription by two months!" or something.

I also sometimes subscribe to digital version of other newspapers myself when they make me a "get-to-know-our-newspaper-for-free" offer.

When it's a birthday gift, the subscription is usually for 6 months which is just about the perfect length of time because by the end of that time, I'm getting sort of tired of "having to" read the paper every day or falling behind. The free "get-to-know-our-newspaper" offers are usually 4 or 8 weeks.

5. Do you have any saved newspaper clippings?

I'm... not entirely sure. I used to have a lot of clippings featuring my favorite movies, actors and tv shows but I think I've gotten rid of them ages ago. I might have some left at the bottom of some box or drawer.... If I do have any left, it's more by accident than purpose.

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive@DW!

1) Do you like your birth-name? Why?

Okay, so. I was adopted when I was 1 month old and this was the plan since months before. I don't think I had a recorded first name until my adoptive parents gave me one, but my original/birth-surname was "baby girl" + my biological family's surname in the documents. It's on okay surname, short and pretty common but not too common. My real name, both first and surname, were recorded when I was 5 months old when the final official papers were signed.

So, I consider my real birth-name the names my adoptive Mom and Dad gave me, and both the first name and the surname are fine in and of themselves. But they are both quite rare and if put on google as a term, I'm the only who pops up.

My first name is fine. I don't love, but it's fine.

It's is a name that can be written with either 1 "i" letter or two "i" letters (Pia, Piia but pronounced the same way) and that has always been a problem and still continues to this day! Everyone assumes my name is the version written with one "i" but my name actually written with two! In school, it was made more confusing that all through mandatory school (so 9 years), there was a girl in my class with my same name but hers was written with one "i" while mine was with 2. And to make it all even more confusing, there was an another girl whose name was "Mia" (can also be written either Mia or Miia but also pronounced the same) with one "i" and that further confused the each poor new teacher  when they would miss-hear her name starting with "P" or our names starting with "M" and would always try to guess wrong how many "i"s our names! Mom and Dad have always been perplexed by this one or two "i" problem - it never occurred to them there are people with one "i" because that's more like foreign version of the name and in the mid-70s there were practically no foreign born living in Finland except for a small Swedish descending population (that had lived in the country for like 100 years usually already or more). To them, the Finnish version was a given!

As for my surname, it's a long and rare one but I like it. It's cool. I always run out of space on the signing line whenever I have sign any paper because it's so long. And because it's rare, if you google it, everyone who comes up, is likely related to each other in some way even if we've never met each other.

2) If you could change your name to anything else, what would it be?

I could change it if I wanted to; it is possible under the law. I haven't, because I don't care enough and I could not choose a new name when I thought about it seriously in my mid-20s. No other name felt like me, really.

3) What names would you consider giving your children?

I've never wanted children, so I have never considered possible names for them.

4) If you had a band, what would you name it, and why?

Donno, don't care.

5) Is there a name that you completely hate? Why?

Hate is a really strong word, but I used to dislike the name Philip with one "l" a lot. Phillip with two "l"s was okay though!

A little late replies to last friday's thefridayfive questions!

1. Ten years ago, what did you think you would be doing now?

2014 was a particularly bad year health wise and I was too ill to have any idea of how/what I'd be doing in a year, never mind a decade. So I was sort of just vaguely hoping I'd be better off health wise, but not even entirely sure what I could hope for re: Crohn's Disease and the chronic migraine.

2. Where do you think you will be five years from now?

Pretty much the same as now most likely. Can't see it, it's all a mist like it's been since 2008 when I first got ill. I can't see even a year from now yet, never mind 5 years... maybe I can just vaguely sense in the vaguest of sense the shape of things for the next 6 months (but even that is pushing it) with extremely-vague-maybe-kinda-there notions of one or two maybes that might be happening by then... maybe. The future is all unknown haze, a mist. The only thing I'm sure of that financially the next few years can get even worse for me, all because of the current far-right government which still has 2 years left until the next election.

3. Do you live life one day at a time or look to the future?

Sort of both? I don't have much of anything truly fun & positive to look for in the future and don't have the money to do anything out of the normal - or energy for that matter - so I live one day at a time mostly. But at the same time I have to keep track of things like doctor's appointments, blood labs every couple of months, unemployment agency requirements, KELA bureaucracy, and make appointments, fill in and send paper work every month for all those things or at least every few months etc. There are always dates by which I must accomplish various things or my situation (usually financial, but often medical too) either might, or will, get worse, depending on what the thing is, if I don't do it in time.

4. Do you wish you could go back in time and undo something in your life?

Sure. I'd like to go back in time and not get my illnesses! I'm not sure I could do anything Crohn's Disease, probably not - but I could try to avoid having the migraine go chronic by getting proper care for it in time! And if I go even further back in time, to my early 20s, I could stay in the Helsinki area and probably get a library job there, in hind sight at least it would've been much more likely there than here in Turku because Helsinki always has a lot more jobs available. So I'd have had a better change of getting job(s) there! On the other hand, I'm not sure if I could afford to live in the Helsinki area with a librarian salary and living alone. Cost of living is a lot higher there.

5. If you could send a message back in time and give a younger version of yourself some advice, what would it be?

To stay in the Helsinki area at least for some years to try and get employment there.

Answers to yesterday's questions! https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/134082.html

1. First time you cooked for someone else?

I.. can't say for sure. And it depends on how strictly we're interpreting the word cook. I always helped in the kitchen, peeling, chopping, cutting, stirring etc. as far back as I can remember. I'd put potatoes going on about an half an hour before my Mom and Dad got home by the time when I was like 9 or 10. If it includes baking... well, I've also been baking for as long as I remember, but the first time I did it all myself from start to finish was around that same age. I've no idea what it was, but would've been something easy such as bread rolls. I used to often bake after school while waiting for Mom and Dad to get home from work. Bread rolls, pies, pancakes, cakes - I did them all.

As for cooking... as in making a whole meal alone... I'm going with age 13 or 14 when I was in 7th and 8th grade. We had home economics classes where one of our home works was to plan and prepare an entire meal, with dessert, for the whole family. I'd been cooking parts of meals by then, but that was the first time I planned it all by myself from start to finish as well as cooked it all by myself. My Mom and Dad were only involved in shopping, to make sure we had all the ingredients I'd need.

2. First time you threw up in someone else's toilet?

I'm not sure I've never thrown up in anyone else's toilet. Back when Mom had a Beagle, I'd stay over night frequently when Mom's SO was working in other city. I'd also stay at Mom's when they were abroad for a week or more and I'd look after Caro the Beagle for that time. I'd frequently had a migraine attack and would need to throw up frequently, but doing that at Mom's doesn't count as someone else's in my head. I've also thrown up in a hospital but I don't count that either. I can't remember whether I've thrown up anywhere else - not as an adult, I haven't. But I might have when I was a kid/teenager and could have had a migraine when visiting grandma for a few days, or stayed over at my friend's summer place for a week etc. so it's possible. Because it's more likely that I had a migraine attack during those times than not having one.

3. First time you did anything illegal?

Stealing apples when I was under 10.

4. First time you saw snow/the ocean (whichever is more exotic)?

I don't remember, and neither is exotic at all. Profoundly familiar instead. I've lived close to the sea my whole life (about 30 minutes away at the most), we'd go to the beach since I was literally 7 months old. And I was born at the start of winter, so must've I seen my first snow when I was like 1 month old!

5. First thought when I say "crumple-horned snorcack"?

On first word my thought was "pie!" then immediately that upon seeing the rest of it, "um er gobbledygook that is".

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive @ DW

1. What is the oldest object in the room with you?

I'm in the kitchen/living room... so it's the kitchen table and chairs set. It's from around 1990 - either immediately before that year, or immediately after. I can't remember whether Mom replaced the kitchen table and chairs set before or after my Dad's death, which was in 1989. If she didn't, it would've been in 1991 or 1992 because she did replace them before I moved to Vantaa for library school in 1993 and I remember being totally used to the new kitchen table and chairs by that time.

2. What is the newest?

As it happens, the violet wallet case for my Samsung Galaxy A55 5G. It's brand new - I picked it up today from the pick-up point and just put it on the phone literally minutes ago!

3. What is your favorite object in the room with you?

Well, like I said, I'm in the kitchen/living room and there are literally probably like a hundred objects here around me fighting for favorites... I have my library books and some of my own books on the bookshelf. I have all my fountain pens and inks here. My laptop is here. There's the floor fan that I can't survive summers without, and I use it most days during winter too at least for a few minutes... how am I supposed to choose??????? They are ALL my favorites!

4. What is the most valuable object?

My laptop, definitely. My sofa would be the most valuable, but it was on sale when we bought it so the laptop took more money than the sofa.

5. What is the ugliest object?

I don't think I have any ugly objects.... at worst, they're just neutral.

Spoke with the Doctor on the phone today, about my yearly Crohn's Disease routine follow-up. It was 1-2 months early this time; usually it's in January or February.

• all other labs are okay except:
• ferritin is low again and Tfr is elevated which means:
• I'm going to get an iron infusion!! 😃
• the bowel symptoms are as they have been since about February 2022, no change in the symptoms and the labs show no inflammation in the bowel so good on that front 😃 
• going forward, liver security blood labs will be taken every 4 months now (was 3 months before), and a year from now, another phone or in-person appointment with a wider panel of blood and stool labs taken prior
• Imurel medication continues as-is, Lopex continues as-needed
• and of course, if symptoms worsen, anything new bowel-y crops up etc. then call them about it

I'm so happy about the iron infusion ✨ I got one in February 2022 and then again in February/March 2023, but not this year and my iron levels have been worsening the entire year. I did feel better, and slept better after the iron infusions even though they didn't remove my tiredness/exhaustion, but did make it less worse.

Now I've been even more tired than usual again since about September, and the last 3 weeks, I sleep about 14-15 hours a day, most days. Also, I'm getting restless legs back again, which have been gone for about a decade.

In hopeful but weird news... it looks like energy drink may be of help with my background headache/migraine?? The one that I have on 24/7? I've been drinking one that has both taurine and caffeine in it 2,5dl every day for 2 weeks now, and my need to use Burana has almost halved and my head feels lighter and less achy? There's even been several days when the ache has been nearly gone for most of the day? Is this for real?!

I don't drink coffee (I don't like the taste and I don't like hot drinks) but in desperation I've tried coffee and caffeine tablets before with zero effects on headache or migraine, so I didn't think this would help. Just tried for the hell of it! Maybe it's the taurine? A lot of people in the migraine support group swear on energy drinks but say that it must have both taurine and caffeine or it won't work for them. Who knows! I'll keep on it, and the iron infusion will maybe help a little bit with too.