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söndag 31 mars 2013

The map butterflies - with pics

So... This is what the map-butterflies look like! The pictures were taken two nights ago, while I was still working on it, so the actual positions of the butterflies have changed since then. (I noticed the top part of the swarm looked a bit "rigid") The butterflies are all cut out of the small maps found in a old pocket calendar. Most of them show places in Europe and Russia. In case you wondered.


with the hall light on...

...and off.

And they make exciting shadows on the floor! (Yes. Those are my toes.)

lördag 30 mars 2013

on the easter holidays and new butterflies

I normally dislike those extra days off, like yesterday's Good Friday. It bugs me that everything is closed and I have to adjust my life and routines to traditions built on the beliefs of someone else. But this year it was good! I decided to allow myself to take yesterday completely off, and I so obviously needed it! I hadn't been feeling too good the day before, and due to it it missed my last day of instructing.

OK, so I didn't spend all day in bed, but used most of it to finally clean up my flat. The messiness not only looked bad, but I started to suspect a health hazard, so it felt very nice to finally take the time to finally clean it up thoroughly. To still enjoy the day off, I took many breaks to eat ice cream and read novels.  And as a reward for cleaning up I also made a new artwork for my door. Finally a reason to use my map-butterflies! I was going to post pictures of it, but the battery in my camera is too low (not at home now, forgot to pack extras) so it will just have to wait until tomorrow. (Though I do realize that the word "map-butterflies" might be a bit confusing without a picture to relate it to)

I still have a slight headache today (it was right there waiting for me when I got back from work) but at least I don't feel sick to the stomach anymore. And I really hope to be better next week - and good enough to got through with the next karate course. Black&brown course in Estonia, starting Thursday.


torsdag 21 mars 2013

Day of great news


Yesterday was the official starting day of the citizens initiative for equal marriage laws - more known as the "Tahdon"- initiative. ("Tahdon" is Finnish for "I do") The primary objective of the initiative is to ensure that same-sex partners will be allowed to marry. If , by September 18, 2013, the initiative is supported by 50 000 citizens or more, this means it will be addressed in the Finnish parliament...
...only, the initiative broke this limit on the first day! Writing this, more than 123 000 people have already shown their support for equal marriage rights. Fantastic! And of course this also means that it's all over the media. I can't even imagine what the sum will be in September. There is no way this can be ignored.

Welcome to the 21st century, Finland!

And, on the same day, I read about the LGBT Equality House by Planting Peace. Lovely!


fredag 15 mars 2013

course weekend and the return of art theory

Sitting here trying to finish things for the weekend. As I'll be attending a course this weekend, there won't be any time to finish more of my job applications, essays or other assignments, so that's what I'm trying to do now instead. It's not going too well, but I did finish one more job application. I need to go home soon, so I can clean up at least the worst of the mess in my flat (for the cat feeder).

One thing, or rather two things, that I'm working on right now are two courses of art theory that I'm taking right now, one mandatory and one out of interest. So, yes, I'm officially back studying art theory now. Even though I said earlier that I would keep it as my minor after the change to ethnology, until now for some reason I never touched it. Just didn't get myself to it. Both courses involve working on an online platform, in one case just to submit weekly assignments while the other one includes (mandatory) forum discussions. I like the idea of the discussions, but it is very hard and tends to end up first a couple of students writing long, essay-like posts and then most of the others just throwing in last-minute comments on these. Which is not really the same thing as discussing something. Of course not saying that I would be any better myself.

This weekend's karate course is in Iitti, the youngest of the Finnish clubs. The course theme is quite simply kicks. I'm excited about this, it's a bit of a favorite area of mine and also, as I'm instructing right now (plan to do that for two more weeks) any new ideas on the theme are specially welcome! Bring it on!

lördag 9 mars 2013

On being effective, and sleeping

This week I've been just about as effective as I should be. As in, all of the time. Had I always worked like this, I would have a degree by now. Or two. I would love to be able to keep going like this, to get stuff done, sometimes even finish things on time (OK. I'm not in control of everything. For example, I can't even remember the last time I cleaned my flat... It's messy on a post-apocalyptic level. I've offered that, for now.) But I've learned that this will not work long term. The problem is that if I force myself to keep it up, I burn out. Why? How come "everyone else" are able to get things done on time? Somehow it seems I have to push myself to the absolute limit to get anything done at all. I wonder if that's where the problem really lies.

Completely unrelated to this, I've now learned that that have caught the sneaking guy I wrote about last summer. I was very relieved to hear this, while also a bit creeped out to learn of his earlier "history". This guy has a history. However, he's been in custody since December, and last night I went to sleep without having fastened the door chain - just wanted to see if I was up to it. (And I was! I slept like a baby!) This was the first time since last summer that I didn't secure the door before going to bed. I still keep my bo staff close to my bed. Just in case.

Listening to: Depeche Mode, Nine Inch nails

fredag 8 mars 2013

2 x Tallinn

pic blatantly stolen over the interwebs




It looks like I'll be going to Tallinn no less than two times next month! In early April there is a karate course (for black and brown belts) hosted by our Estonian karate friends, and later the same month my department (dept of Ethnology) is planning to do a short field trip. I'm happy about both! The Estonian karate courses are always good, and the spring B&B course is one of my absolute favorites. But then again, I have actually never gone to Tallinn just to go "touristing", so I haven't really seen that much of the city. Everything I've experienced of Tallinn is what I've seen through the car window when going to or from the harbor and to or from a practice venue or restaurant, as we tend to be on quite a tight schedule during the course weekends. So I'm looking forward to both trips, but for different reasons.

The theme of the April course seems to be all about ageuke again. This might be the right time to finally get that gum-shield...

måndag 4 mars 2013

Good news - bad timing

Today I talked to one of my professors about a work experience opportunity. I don't know how much I should write about it yet, but the job includes helping out in hosting a big ethnological event here in Turku in June. It seemed very exciting, so after the talk I was very happy to learn it seems I'm being recommended for this. There are only two downsides to it: 1. The work is unpaid. This I as OK with, as I still see it as a good experience, and the deal also includes free participation (when possible) in an event that would otherwise have you pay an expensive fee. But then I noticed downside 2: The symposium coincides exactly with the Sensei course in June... This is one of the biggest karate happenings of the year, and since i started practicing I have missed it only once. Both happenings are major events in their respective area, that I should partake in. So frustrated now!

fredag 1 mars 2013

Things I've learned from (while) instructing

Last night's session was messy. I felt very confident when I got there, having planned a session that I really believed in. But then it crashed. What happened? The demos didn't work, I got so much of both critique and helpful points that I lost all sense of focus, and when trying to adjust the program, me and my demo partner couldn't get along about in what direction to take it. Just to mention a few things.

 But I did learn something, or rather some things:

- As an instructor, I need to be more verbal. Just showing people what you want them to do is not enough, even if you would do it correctly. I also need to be more clear about what I aim for, and what I want my "students" to focus on.

- I need to learn to be more clear to my demo partner abut what I want, at least the goal of the session, to make it easier to work towards this together.

- I need to train more myself! My shape (and overall "feeling" for what I  do) should be no worse than that of my students.

- If, or when, I know who my demo partner will be, I might just as well also consider that when planning my session. Because the time we can use to go through things (during warm-ups or, when necessary, during exercises) will be limited. And because different things work best with different people. And by admitting this, it should be easier to make use of the powers you and your partner actually have, rather than struggle to make something work that doesn't for the two of you. (I am in no way against challenging yourself, just saying that the session you are just about to teach might not the best opportunity to do this)

Naturally, I also received feedback on my actual karate, but I won't go into that here. Still, wanted to put this down - also as a reminder to myself. The fact that this time was messy didn't put me down (honestly! I didn't!), and I have some new ideas for next time. Will be interesting to, hopefully, try some of them on Sunday.



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