...and a quote

"Maybe there’s a universe where I’m the right person for you. Where I adore every nice thing you did for me without starting to resent you. A universe where you actually end up with someone who appreciates you. Where no one becomes a doormat. Where both of us can shed our baggage and curiosity and issues. A universe where we’re happy without wondering if that happiness is some messed-up Jenga game ready to topple at the slightest quiver. A universe where we’re comfortable and sure. Where I don’t second guess everything and I’m not afraid of commitment and of the future and of love. Maybe there’s a universe without all the noise in my head and the pride that makes me so fiercely independent and the coldness in my heart that I can turn on and off like a security fence."

Gaby Dunn

Before the summer

The weather is still warm and lovely, but I hardly have time to enjoy it. When this week is over, I have only one more week to finish everything  before the summer - as I will be working every five to six days a week, I can't expect to have much time to write during the summer months. What I am writing on right now is the probably least inspiring group of essays I've had to do in years... While the sun is shining outside. Do I even need to mention that the progress is excruciatingly slow?

Sunday is election day for the European Parliament.  I still can't believe the number of people who chose to show their dissatisfaction by not voting - no less considering how common it is to complain about the European Union and the bad decision-making of the parliament... Many voters also seem to gather behind candidates who are simply "against" the European Union, which I find quite naive. How can anyone expect to change things simply by complaining about how little you like them? (Or, in the case of not voting, not even complaining. Choosing to just stay quiet.)

Sunshine is my new drug

It looks like the belated and longed for spring might finally be here after all. I seem to have more energy than I've had in a long time. Yesterday I went for my longest jog yet this year. Even though I waited until the evening, the weather was almost too hot. Still felt great afterwards, though (in spite of a slight dehydration)! I'm not sure whether I've written this before or not, but I've been surprised this spring of how little my allergies have bothered me when exercising! I still have no idea as to why, but so far I have not suffered one single allergy attack while, nor after, running. I have not done anything different that I can think of, I even exercised less last winter than I'd done the past couple of years, and I haven't changed my medicine (I still go for your average anti-histamines) or anything, but for some reason my health has just been better this spring than "ever" before! Which also means that it's so much easier for me to enjoy running - lovely! Strange, but lovely!

(Oh, I see now that I commented on this a couple of posts ago.)

One more thing that's going well at he moment is my artwork. Suddenly, missing pieces just appeared! Now I just wish I had more time to put on it. I still have deadlines to catch at uni, so I don't quite have the courage to really throw myself into my art just yet. I should probably also look into getting some new canvases, rather than just picking around on my old, un- or half finished ones... Not that I wouldn't love to finish them of course, I'm just starting to realise that it might never happen.And it would be interesting to try out some of the new ideas on fresh surfaces, to really start from scratch for once.

Have to go now (dinner at mum's). Will seriously try to keep up here on the blog. The longer it takes, the harder it is to write...

Quotes of the day

Working on my thesis and reading Hewison:

"Whatever the true figures for productivity and employment, this country is gripped by the perception that it is in decline. The heritage industry is an attempt to dispel this climate of decline by exploiting the economic potential of our culture, and it finds a market because the perception of decline includes all sorts of insecurities and doubts that make its products especially attractive and reassuring."

"Instead of manufacturing goods, we are manufacturing heritage, a commodity which nobody seems able to define but which everybody is eager to sell, in particular these cultural institutions that can no longer rely on government funds as they did in the past. Which means every single one, from the universities to the Arts council."

Oh. The sarcasm.

writing and running

Progress!

I'm getting ahead on my master's, and I've been glad to learn that it is much easier than writing your bachelor's - especially as I chose to continue on the same subject. The subject is somewhat familiar now, and the writing itself is easier, which I guess is a sign of development. I actually enjoy the work, so far at least. It feels interesting again, after having had a very necessary brake from it while writing on other projects.

One more thing that is going surprisingly well right now is my running! Not only have I finally got my arse out of the door and started again, but the return has not been even half as hard as I imagined it to be. Yesterday I did my longest jog so far, since starting again that is, and even pushed myself more than before, but I was still able to enjoy it - no allergy attack (which is what I fear the most), just a slight dehydration... I've been positively surprised at how little trouble my pollen allergy has given me so far this spring. Now I should just return to karate practice too, more than once every second week or so.

Update on this and that

I can't believe how fast this spring is passing. Around yesterday it was still February, as far as I remember... I do enjoy the warm, sunny spring weather, I just wish there was more left of it.

I don't remember whether I already mentioned this or not, but right now my brother is staying here in Turku until sometime the end of this month. This is the first time in.. I don't even remember how many years that my entire family is gathered all in the same town (not counting the occasional weekend or Christmas holiday). Feels a bit strange, up until now Turku has been "my" town. Still nice to be able to spend time together and catch up, of course. My mother's move is not yet finished - she resides in Turku now, but loads of stuff are packed/still unpacked up in Jakobstad, awaiting the next step. I don't know when that will be. Sometimes I think I wouldn't mind moving myself, but I refuse to do it before all this is over. In a family of three, you really don't need more than two members moving at the same time.

Some progress considering my studies. Not much, but slow. Two more coures to finish this spring, waiting to receive credits for one more finished one, and still work (most of it, to be honest) to do on my masters. I naively plan to write on it this summer, as I'll be working quite short days. We'll see.

I wonder what happened to my blogging. I'm doing lots of interesting things, but never seem to gather the energy/inspiration/motivation/whatever to write about any of them here. And when I do blog, I end up with texts like this one - rarely about anything in partcular. Hmmm...

post-weekend update

I was going to post yesterday, but accidentally deleted the post and was after that too pissed off to re-write it. Here's a slightly shorter version of it:

First of all: Two of the jobs I had applied for let me know that they wanted me, so I had the hard luxury problem of picking one of them. Chose the one that seemed more challenging .Will be working at a museum, starting June. Very happy about this, and enjoyed telling my old job I cannot work for them anymore after May. Still have to find something nice for the fall, though.

Last weekend was good. My brother paid a short one-night visit to Turku so I met him on Friday. He has just sold his flat in Stockholm and is now planning a move to Spain. In the evening I joined a friend to a concert, Swaying Wires played a release gig at Dynamo. Good gig, but felt short, I kept expecting the second set that never came...

The rest of the weekend was spent in Iitti (south-eastern Finland) attending a short weekend (three-session) karate course. This was a great experience, with good training and great hospitality. Will be happy to return at any time! We were quite a small group training this time, but there are also good aspects of that, like more feedback from the course instructors. The only thing troubling me was the back problem I got from work last Thursday... Had to sit one session, so took lots of photos. Now trying to chose which ones to share on facebook.

The article on death is going forward, but not the English in-class presentation. More and more clueless about it. Oh well, I still have just over a week to prepare it.