Summer's almost gone
Summer's almost gone
Almost gone
Yeah, it's almost gone
Where will we be
When the summer's gone?
- The Doors
Yes, summer is indeed almost gone. Four months of work at the cemetery ended last Friday, this is the first Monday in four months I didn't get up 6:04 AM. It feels weird. I mean... I think it's always like that, for me at least: you look forward to lazy days when you can do whatever you want (or do nothing) but when the time finally arrives, you feel kind of lost.
Well, as often happens to me, I wasn't much online this summer (except for updating GetGlue, which is currently my biggest Internet addiction). I'm sorry for not reading your blogs, following your Twitters and all that - I simply don't have energy for those lovely little things during the summer. I don't mind, actually. I spend so much time online during the dark and cold winter days anyway. So, since it's my summer holiday now (which is pretty awesome - it's September, and right now it's raining cats and dogs outside), it's time for me to catch up with my Internet life - I've missed all my favorite bloggers, writing nonsense updates to Twitter etc. However, I'll start by offering you a summary of my summer.
Here goes (yes, I still love writing lists)...
Summer 2012
Books I read...
- Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club (1989)
- Ray Bradbury: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962)
- Jack London: The Road (1907)
- Torey Hayden: The Sunflower Forest (1984)
- Joyce Carol Oates: Rape - A Love Story (2003)
- Kurt Vonnegut: Deadeye Dick (1982)
- Jared Cade: Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days (1999)
- Åsa Moberg: Florence Nightingale - biography (2012)
- Oliver Sacks: The Mind's Eye (2010)
- Barbara Demick: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2009)
- Helen Keller: The Story of my Life (1903)
- Shlomo Venezia: Inside the Gas Chambers - Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz (2007)
- Stephen King: Duma Key (2008)
- Stephen King: Lisey's Story (2006)
- + currently reading Sophie's Choice by William Styron & Room by Emma Donoghue
TV Shows I was addicted to...
- House, M.D.
- Bones
- The Amazing Race
- Hex
- New Girl
- Little Mosque on the Prairie
- Trauma
- Whose Line Is It Anyway? (USA)
- Bedlam
- Eureka
- 18 to Life
- Whitechapel
- Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
- Rizzoli & Isles
- The Twilight Zone
- Murder, She Wrote
- + currently 100% addicted to PERSON OF INTEREST!
Music I listened to...
- AC/DC
- The Cornell Hurd Band
- Emmylou Harris
- Guns 'N Roses
- Hurts
- Judas Priest
- Keith Urban
- Lady Gaga
- Melissa Etheridge
- Melissa Ferrick
- My Chemical Romance
- Nanci Griffith
- Nickelback
- P!nk
- Reckless Kelly
- Rodney Atkins
- Secret Sisters
- Sheryl Crow
- Willie Nelson
Random Stuff I Did...
- WORK, WORK, WORK - I think I've never worked this many hours in a summer. That's how I am - always volunteering for working over time and doing weekend shifts. That's the Uncle Scrooge in me
- Lost 12KG (26 lbs) and now I feel great about my weight! :-)
- At this age of 26 I finally learnt how to crochet. I also learnt to read crochet instructions both in Finnish and English (ohh I'm so proud of myself!) - I'm so addicted to crocheting that I'm actually planning on putting up a Craft Blog where I could collect photos of all the stuff I've done :-)
- For some reason I argued over nothing with my sister more than in years )-: Nothing serious really and at the moment we're best friends again, it's just... ohh well, we're both such nasty bitches when we get annoyed, and we're both a little too good at hurting each others feelings when we want to. Blah.
- Applied for a flat in Luumäki like I planned! I'm so excited about moving back here permanently. Sadly, I haven't found a perfect flat yet, but I'm not in a hurry. They offered me one place, but it was too expensive for my taste, and then there was a flat I loved but in the end I didn't get it... Well, I know I'll find my dream flat occassionally, but sometimes it's difficult to be patience in these things, right?
- In four months, I've managed to put a side over 2,000 euros for that crazy Chevrolet Impala dream of mine. I know I have a looooong road in front of me, but I'll get there.
Hmph, that's pretty much all I have to say about this summer. I think I spent 40% of the time sleeping, 45% working, and above I've described how I spent the remaining 15%. Nothing exciting, just simple Apple Pie Life, you know.
I'm going to spend this week in Luumäki; simply relaxing and getting used to have much more spare time in my hands. Then I'm driving to Joensuu / North Karelia for a week or two. I obviously have a lot to do there before moving away; boring office stuff etc. Kind of stuff I just want to get done with, get rid of it. Then I'll go back to work on first of October, so by then I'll be back in Luumäki. Gosh, I have so many plans for the winter I feel my head is going to explode (in a positive way, if that's possible)! I have high hopes of starting to update this blog regularly again, so... so we'll see.
Anyway, I hope you all had a nice summer;
see you around,
yours truly-
photos from Google
I just want to take this chance to tell you that I really like this country, and at times I might be thought as patriotic, even. I've seen quite many countries, and it feels the more I travel, the more I learn to appreciate Finland. I have my chronic wanderlust, I always want to see new places and experience new adventures, but I also enjoy coming back to Finland, each and every time. After all, Finland is where I come from, where my roots are. Sure, Finland has its faults, no doubt about it, but there's still plenty of nice things here, too - and that's something I've learnt to appreciate after travelling as much as I have. In a nutshell, Finland is not any better or worse than any other country, but it's mine. It's a place I will always return, eventually. It's a place... it's a place I call home. Like Rodney Atkins puts it while thinking about his own country:
