måndag 30 maj 2011

Wouldn't change a thing


Laying by the pool watching airplanes draw faint white lines high above me and listening to a million birds.
We are up on a hill and I can see the whole valley stretch out before me all the way to the hills on the other side. A glass of ice cold coca-cola and a good book. A quick dip in the pool whenever it gets too hot. No need for towels, the sun dries my skin.



söndag 29 maj 2011

fredag 27 maj 2011

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

Bikini - check
Sunscreen - check
A good book - check

Taxi is picking me up at 6.45am tomorrow, it's off to Tuscany! One week of sun, rest, contemplating, good food, exercise, and red wine. Switching my phone off. Everything will just have to wait.

Might write some soul-searching entries while down there, then again, might not. No have-tos.

Ciao, baci!

onsdag 25 maj 2011

Perfect weekend

It was a fabulous weekend! Started my Saturday off with breakfast by the river-side together with a friend. Combining business and pleasure. After which we moved on to having, I guess, brunch at Kioski. It was a perfect day for a mini picnic! Could have stayed there forever... but my Saturday was unfortunately too busy for that.



More on the weekend will be posted shortly. Now I'm off to enjoy my guilty pleasure, "Gossip Girl", don't you dare judge me!!

lördag 21 maj 2011

Just a thought

Sometimes it is good to remember that at some point, each and every one of us has been a child longing for a mother's embrace. We are not that different.


fredag 20 maj 2011

Tonight was a good night


Somebody was well prepared for tonight...wonder what went wrong...how do you not notice dropping a toothbrush and mouth-wash?

Anyway, the night ended well. Drinks and then home. Tomorrow is a new day.

Racism

Yes, I'm going to talk about racism. Not much, because I am on my way out for a bbq. Racism is just a sign of narrow-mindedness and fear of the unknown in my opinion. We all have prejudices against different things, nothing wrong with that, it's natural human behavior. But we don't have to accept our prejudices. Once are aware of them we can try to do something about it, knowing that this feeling or opinion of mine is not based on factual knowledge, but the lack there of. I want to be a better person. Everyday. It's a never-ending process.

I was watching Pressiklubi and they were discussing racism. One of the claims they made was that today racism is not determined by race, but by culture. Maybe they have a point. But then one of them started talking about "African culture"....come on!!! African culture?? Is there also something called European culture? Or Asian culture? Or South-American culture? Or even American culture? I'm Finnish, my culture is very very different from an Italian's culture, just as is an Egyptian's culture different from a South African's culture.

Anyway, it's friday. Time for chicken and a good white wine.

tisdag 17 maj 2011

You do not want to miss it!

Looking forward for the weekend!!!

måndag 16 maj 2011

Feelgood video of the day

Food for thought

Today's lunch at chez moi. I see a lot of people have read the previous post. Please, if you have any thoughts on the subject, leave comments! I think this is an important matter. (Comments may be left in Swedish, Finnish, English, Portuguese or Spanish.)

söndag 15 maj 2011

Fear of failure

I've been lucky on several occasions to have come across great teachers. Some of these teachers have said things that have stayed with me ever since. Some of these things concern what is mentioned in the topic to this post, the fear of failure. It is an interesting subject in deed. Just think of all the things everybody leaves undone just for fear of failure! What possibly great, maybe even life-altering experiences have you missed because you were scared it might not work out the way you planned it!?

Something I've noticed while living here in Finland, is that Finns have a terrible fear of failure! It's visible whenever there is a big competition of any kind that Finland is participating in. The rhetorics before entering the competition are always the same "we are well prepared, all we can do now is our best and hope that things go our way, although the competition is really tough, and quite frankly we will be satisfied what ever the outcome is, yada yada yada etc etc etc". That's like laying out cushions because you are mentally prepared to fall flat on your ass!

Why not instead go in thinking "I'm going to win this!!"? Then, even if you don't win, you will at least know you gave it your all, mentally and physically. It's like a front somersault, if your arms are pointed downwards in the take-off you get a low somersault, if your arms are pointed up, the somersault is higher. It's all in the take-off.

Back to those wise teachers I've had the fortune to come across. One once told me when I was about 14 years old that "daring is to lose ground for a moment, but not daring is to lose against yourself forever". When I was 23 another one told me fear will never go away, it just moves in the same pace as you move, only always one step ahead. The next new thing is scary, but once you do it, the fear moves on to the next new thing.

These wisdoms have led me to conclude that fear is something we just have to accept. It is ok to be afraid. It is not ok to let that fear stop you from doing things you want to do. Believe in yourself and that you can handle what ever comes your way, despite the fact that it scares you.

Here are some more thoughts on fear of failure.

Exhaling

The sweet taste of freedom! Work is over (except one meeting) and the fashion show is done. Even if you might have missed the show, you can still get a piece of it! Just go to this blog and comment on the last entry and you might win a t-shirt from Jeti!!

Now time for some of this...





onsdag 11 maj 2011

a time to leave

Last class behind, walked around the place to check all lights have been turned off and everything is in its place. I am not returning. This is it, I'm locking the doors for the last time.

I step outside and the sun is still shining. It's a short walk, 5 minutes tops, to the office. Dirt road, crisp little green leaves in the trees, birds singing. Return the video camera to the office and walk another five minutes to the train.

A sense of freedom. I might be back here some day, but that is for time to tell. The rest of the night is mine. Tomorrow focus is turned to the fashion show on Friday.

tisdag 10 maj 2011

ladie's room in Helsinki

Not so much worth while post

Tomorrow is my last day at work!! Then there is the fashion show on friday, evaluation at work on sat and sun, and finally last meeting at work on tuesday, then I'm free!!

Free to occupy my time wit other projects that is.

My feelings about leaving this job are quite mixed. I'm not sad, although I will miss some of my students. I guess it's normal to feel a bit confused when something that has been your everyday comes to an end. But at the same time I'm really happy it's over. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed working there, but as I already have new projects starting up I'm really eager to see what will come out of them.

Today was a good day. Got my ass to practice for the first time in a looooong time. Then lunch with the best of company, and then work where I was showered with gifts (please, no more chocolate!) (this is worse than christmas). I surprised myself at practice by doing a back somersault from standing! Haven't done one in ages and thought my days of flipping are already over...guess not.

måndag 9 maj 2011

No complaints here

Heh, so much for holiday, already landed a one week job assignment for the second week of my holiday... although it is not so bad, the assignment is in Tuscany, all expenses paid.

söndag 8 maj 2011

laying back and putting my feet up

Eat your hearts out suckers, three more days of work, then it's holidays for TWO MONTHS!!! Hell yes!!

Although, knowing me, it's not really going to be holiday, I have a ton of projects I'm working on, as always, but at least I get to set my own schedules so it's pretty much holidays!

Spent the weekend in Helsinki, which was very nice aside from the fact that I left my wallet at home...so I've been living on borrowed money. Now on the train back home to my wallet and internetbanking to pay back my debts to all those lovely friends who have supported my drinking habits this weekend =). Not really, I'm not that big on drinking. But we did end up at an afterparty last night. I wish I could show you what it was like, but it was one of those affairs where everybody involved is better off knowing that there are no pictures or any other type of documentation of the party in question. Don't think anybody would like to be exposed, but I can tell you there were listening to old cassettes, dancing on tables, and nudity.