Nonsense weekend

I had last weekend off again, but wasted most of the time and got very little done. The original plan (and the reason for my Saturday off) had been to attend short karate course, but after my return to work last week my knee started to bother me so much again that I decided against the course. So instead I had one more free weekend to use for whatever I wanted. What I did? Well, it included two days of concerts (Thursday and Saturday), one bottle of a new favorite red wine (both cheap and ecologic!), some catching up with an old friend (former room-mate actually, from the small commune I lived in before the separation) and some drawing. I'm trying graphite again, and it's going surprisingly well. I was especially surprised to find a slightly more expressive style, compared to my more recent drawing... Interesting.

So all in all a good weekend, even though I had been more happy if I had also got something (anything!) sensible done. Something like finishing essays, cleaning my flat, looking for that lost, longer version of my thesis... I seriously hardly even took out the trash. Or then maybe I just need to learn to relax and enjoy things without guilt tripping...

Tomorrow I'm going to try working again and hope for the best. If my knee can't take it I'll simply have to contact my doctor again and see what to do about it. But still hoping I won't have to do that.

on writing

It was amazing to have a full weekend off work! I got so much done. It was good to have that little extra time, a chance to catch up and to care for my long-neglected home. I've tidied my flat (which was in a state close to health hazard again), rested, read lots and even got some writing done. When cleaning, I found quite a pile of forgotten notes from last spring, that m now having great use for - both for my thesis and for the essays I'm working on for the moment. The pages of notes came with... maybe you could call it a bonus of kinds. On several of the pages (I had completely forgotten about this!) I had also made my own personal notes in the margins, spontaneous little notes on this and that, on things I had seen or thought of at the moment, absolutely unrelated to what I had been studying. These were very fun to read, made me remember things...I bet I still do them, haven't even thought about it really.

Where does this need to write come from? Sometimes I think I'd be nothing without my words.


I'll soon be off to see the doctor again about my knee. I need to know whether to keep eating the same medicines, and I'm going to ask for one more week of sick leave.

Weekend update

 I'm OK, just haven't taken the time to write for a while. I have two awesome weekends behind me, and a busy week in between these. The course in Tallinn was great, very inspiring and lots of hard work - like it should be.

This weekend was spent at Kåren, where the rock organization RÅA gave their annual two-day festival, featuring 2 x 8 different temporary cover bands. This year shows by the likes of Metallica, The Who, Manowar, Megadeth, Motörhead and Bruce Springsteen, just to mention a few. I had a great time and was quite impressed with  most of the bands. Brought my friend Mr Camera around this time and had some fun with him/it. Still have lots to learn about using it though, and taking pictures during concerts is particularly hard (and often a waste of good concert time). But there were some good pictures among them, just have to sort through them all.

Suffered a bit of a hangover today - seems I can hardly stand any alcohol anymore - but managed to cure it with the help of my  Simple Hangover Soup: very salty (vegetable) stock + frozen veggie mix + chilli powder + garlic. It works!

And tomorrow it's Monday again. Wasn't it Monday just the other day? I'm growing suspicious about these constantly recurring Mondays...

Listening to: Graveyard

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.

Weekend update

I had such a great weekend!

I was very happy with the meeting on Friday. More people showed up than last year, and we found some brave  new board members after two years with the exact same group. It was also a generally nice evening with inspiring discussions. And beer is always good.

On Saturday I attended the moving out/good bye- party of a couple who are leaving Turku for Vasa. I was more than a bit tired after work, and showed up late, but still almost managed to act social. Among the large group of guests were both old friends to catch up with (some I hadn't seen in years!) and nice new people to get to know. Lots of good things to eat, and a good deal of dancing, too. Brought my camera, and carried it around for most of the evening, but hardly remembered to use it. I'm obviously still not used to owning it.

To finish the weekend, I finally got my ass over to Sunday practice, which was really good! I got some very needed and constructive feedback, as well as got a chance to train with the person whose instructing I've been assisting, so we could go through things a bit more thoroughly and had the time to test ideas. I now feel quite confident about the last couple of sessions of this period. Back at home, I tried to remember my personal points and write them down, as I hope to get the chance to work on them during the course. (After which, it turns out, it's my turn to take over the instructing. I had completely forgotten about that!)

Now, if I could just stop procrastinating... Pretending to prepare a presentation here.

Surfacing

I feel much better today. My workday was much longer than I had planned, and I haven't had the energy (or motivation) to get anything else done after I finally finished, but hell, I still fell good. And the winter has been a nicer kind of winter today; snowy white but without the cold and wind of yesterday. If it's half as nice tomorrow I have to take my camera along when I leave home. I wanted to do it today, but it had already grown to dark when I finally got off work. And I figured out how to continue one of my collage works! Who would I be without my mood-swings?

I still wish the weekend was one day longer, though.

Friday brain drain

One more weekend off, thanks to cancelled plans. (Is it only me, or has this started to happen way too often?). It should be spent writing essays, I finished one of them last Wednesday, but have much more writing to look forward to. No less, as it doesn't look like I'll be finishing any projects today. It's only three in the afternoon and I'm already dozing off in front of the computer...

I have a very interesting new task to do, one unit of a course that involves working with (or in?) pictures instead of the usual essays. Not that I mind writing, of course, but working in new ways can be very stimulating! I just have to try and remember not to put too much time on this, as I simply don't have it. And there are more Important tasks to do. Frustrating!

So jealous of the people attending the karate course right now, but what can you do? And at least I had a great regular practise last night! More of that, plz.

Weekend update

I just came from the pub where we (my karate club) held our fall meeting. One more person attended, compared to last meeting - this time we were the board members plus two people, whereas last time we were the exact same group minus one. I wish I knew what to do to get people activated... But except for that, I'm pretty happy with the meeting, it was good to talk things thru, and sometimes more effective to discuss eye-to-eye than only over the internet. Also, there were some good, creative ideas and suggestions.

I just now finished and printed my essay for tomorrow. This will be a heavy weekend, tomorrow I'll have both a lecture (10-16s) to attend and my regular job. There goes the weekend. I'm taking a course called Academic English, I believe it's for the third time now. At least this time attendance shouldn't be too big a problem as there will only be two actual sessions - tomorrow and then one more in December, when we are to give presentations.

I heard some great news today, turns out there's a black&brown-course in Tallinn, Estonia this October. I was very happy to learn this, as there (I might have mentioned this before?) are  nothing but two Black-belt courses left on the Finnish course calendar for the rest of this fall. I had planned to go back to my routine of last fall, of one weekend free every month, but thanks to this it looks like I'll have two weekends off again in October... Not that I would normally mind weekends off (who would?), but for me it means unpaid vacation. I really want a new job.

Been listening to today: Animals as Leaders.

Waiting for Friday

So tired. Been running around like a madwoman for the last two days, trying to finish things before the weekend. It's always the same before a weekend course, knowing that you can't possibly finish anything more between this day and Monday... Well, at least I've felt effective today. I've done everything from preparing a meeting, finishing yesterday's workload, enrolling myself in two different courses (to be started next week) to sending out even more propaganda about our beginner's course, and finally finding someone who agreed to feed Mirjam while I'm gone. You could also put it like this: pretty much everything but studied. I'm good.
I somehow managed to lose my quite impressive Things To Do-list by mid-day, so I'm a bit worried about what I might have forgotten, but I think most things should be done that should have been. And it feels good! Just have to remember to finosh packing tonight, as there will be an early start tomorrow. The plan is to leave Turku by 05.30 in the morning. This so that we can attend morning practice at 10.

I'm excited about the weekend, it seems I've been waiting for the next karate course ever since I came home from Summer School. And this will be the first Finnish course (for me) since... April? So many people I haven't seen in far too long! So I'll be looking forward to reuniting with everyone, as well as the actual karate practice.

Ok, I should be heading home now (still at uni) to finish packing and then - finally! - get some sleep.

Weekend update

Lots of things going on right now! Mostly good things, luckily. This weekend I've had a good old friend visit Turku - one thing I wish would happen more often! The visit included a tasty homemade dinner, whiskey tasting, a good beer or five and photography. And for next weekend I can look forward to a karate course (with Sensei!) in Vasa, and the week after that I will have another friend from home visiting me. Of course there's also the stress that comes with every start of a new season. I've been trying to get my university studies to at least look like they are following some kind of plan (and failing at this), and it's also the time of year for advertising our karate club. And I love being involved in that, even though I know there are other things I should be focusing on right now.

I still don't know what was/is wrong with my stomach, as I haven't been able to get in touch with the lab. It's much better but not good. Looks like I 'll have to visit the hospital again. Hope it's nothing too serious. The foot still bothers me a bit too, the pain comes and goes.

The following couple of days will probably include more than a little photography, as the friendly visit included a very nice used compact camera. Loving it so far!