What I do

Lots of karate-related things going on right now.
Tonight, we'll be holding our annual members' meeting with my local club, where hopefully we'll find a good group of new board members for this year. There will be a lot of things to discuss, no less with the course coming up in almost no time.

What course? In two weeks, my club will be hosting an international karate course, held over the weekend here in Turku. This will be the first Finnish "All grades" course for five months and I'm looking forward to it like a kid to Christmas. I'm taking part in the administration of the whole thing again, which is fun, although planning is just a bit more of a hassle than earlier, as two of the places we've normally used for accommodating our guests are not available this time. But still, nothing that can't be fixed.

In between this, I've this month been allowed to help another person out with instructing. This has been very rewarding, and a good chance to practice both communication and being in front of the group (bit of a weakness for me) without having all of the responsibility put only on me while doing so. The only downside of this is that as I haven't been training that much myself, I now worry about my own shape - again, with the course coming up. Still excited, though.

One jar of awesome

I first saw this idea over at facebook, and immediately thought I should try it myself!

So, in short, the idea is: Every time something good happens, big or small, write it on a little note and save it in your jar of awesome! Next New year's eve, open the jar and look at all the good things that have happened to you all through the year!

So I found a big jar I used to store beans in...

...and pimped it up a bit...

Why, yes, that is a cat hair on the lid.

...and chose some nice papers for writing the notes...

...and slowly started adding them to the jar.

This also makes the jar nice to look at. I keep it in my kitchen, as the old bean jar it is. I've already realised the jar might be too small, as this is one of those projects that really helps you notice the small positive things in a day!

The things you find

Last night I decided it was time to clean out the drain under my tub.

Nevermind the dirt. Move along people - nothing to see here...

The only way to do this is through a small opening in the tiles (behind the metal lid in the picture. This turned out to be the best hiding place EVER for a little cat - this is why miss cat is in the picture). For some reason, this time I stretched my arm in to also feel around under the tub, only to find a hard object that said "klonk!"...

Chateau du Bathroom

...and turned out to be an age-old, empty bottle of Bordeaux! Cork still inside.

"Taatusti alkuperäistä Bordeaux-viiniä/ Garanterat äkta Bordeaux"

I wonder how old it could be, and what made it end up under the tub. (student hiding his drinking habit from conservative parents?)

Also, I'm considering writing a message to put in the bottle before returning it to its home under my tub. You know, just in case someone else was to find it years from now.

Still alive

I'm still alive. Have thought of writing, but not of anything worth mentioning. My training motivation (karate) seems to be back again, at least. I'll try to think of something to post soon enough. Have been writing (personal diary), but nothing I've felt like posting here. I'll be back soon enough.

The most important Christmas video

...oh, I was about to forget! Found this on youtube! My peronal Christmas favorite- in Swedish, though. Sagan om Karl-Bertin Jonsons julafton, by Tage Danielsson/Per Åhlin. I love it!

Last post before Christmas

 I can't get that tomorrow is Christmas eve! Most of December has just flown past... But I'm not too stressed about it all this year. I've finished what I could, except for one hand-made gft and cleaning my flat, but I'll do that tonight. I had my last day of work yesterday, bought the last gift today, and tomorrow morning I'm catching the early train up north - a bit later than usual, but I had no choice as I'll be bringing miss Cat along again and there were no more places (for the both of us) in the pet compartment on any earlier train. But that's ok, I'll be home by lunchtime.

 Christmas will be celebrated in the now traditional order, with family on Christmas eve and with friends on Christmas day. Looking forward to both! Don't know too much about New Year's yet, but looks like it will be spent here in Turku.

Not too much more to report. See you on the other side! And Merry Christmas!

Recommended reading

One of the very few things I did last weekend was to finish reading the before-mentioned biography on Sophie Elkan. (Eva Helen Ulvros: Sophie Elkan: Hennes liv och vänskapen med Selma Lagerlöf) It was a very good read, and I could hardly put the book down. Except for telling the interesting, and sometimes tragic, life story of Elkan herself, who does seem to have been a fascinating person, the biography also highlights much of the life and politics of the time, the changes around the womens rights movement(s) just to mention one aspect.

For now, I'm trying to finish a collection of essays before I return home for Christmas, and should be doing the same with my thesis as well. But this is going painstakingly slow. At least I have finally collected some credits for my recent work, which makes it feel more worthwile, of course. Still, I'm looking forward to the change in routine that the holidays always are, even though this is not (still not, and will never be) my favourite time of year, and even though I'm already feeling the seasonal stress-relaed stomach ache. Let's hope for no tragedies this year (knocks on wood).