Är du lycklig nu?

Early morning at the market place, people setting up their stands, so many things to be sold. I'm in the centre already before 7am and I think that's the best time to be there, when it's still calm, only couple of janitors cleaning streets, busdrivers waiting for people to get in, no-one is running.

This week, busy as always. There was one customer at the library, who complained about the small quantity of books in Estonian and said that it must be because "you have so many black people here". Where's the logic? People like that make me angry.

On Wednesday I also missed my connection bus, because the driver in the previous bus didn't let me out...There were 2 teenage girls, who travelled with flawed tickets and when the bus arrived in the centre, there was only 3 of us in the bus and the driver didn't open the doors and was shouting to the girls. I went to tell to the driver that I have to catch a bus and he should open the door for me, but he did nothing! So I had to stay 2 minutes in the bus and missed the next bus.

I guess that all that is unfair in my opinion makes me so pissed off. Life is not fair but it should be!



But small (and bigger) misfortunes are something I forget so fast. What I like to see are all the children coming to the mobile library and borrowing lots of books! In these photos the bus looks quite in order, but after one class everything is a big mess and we barely have time to put all books in their places before the next class arrives. Most borrowed books are of course animal books (especially about dogs, horses and dinosaurs!), comics, fictional horse books and Risto Räppääjä -books. And while the mobile library was moving, I had time to knit my everlasting woollen scarf...


Yesterday Esko was here! He's my favourite astronomer, who brings astronomy closer to normal people, both young and old. His books have been excellent and I like his way of writing, although sometimes I don't agree with him. His main goal, to make us understand how tiny creatures we are here in the universe, but how much we have already done, is very refreshing and I really enjoy his lectures. Also yesterday! Once in a while his jokes were (again) a bit too stereotypical, however his sense of humour is so self-ironical that it compensates everything :D I enjoyed especially the huge naked photos of himself he projected on the screen ;) People applauded heartily for so long time after the lecture that Esko had to say "please stop already, this is not North Korea" :D

Now I'm listening to (both Clark Kent and) Kent and the strong wind blowing outside. Weekends go too fast, I wish I had more time to just be...Maybe I should change the blog's name, too :( I have so many ideas that my mind is overloaded, my time is limited and I don't know if I can put some of them into practice. But it's better to have too many ideas than no ideas at all?

"It's time to go
hold my hand you should know
that the road we follow
ends the day we grow old
'cause there is no life
after you've given in
age can't define what we are deep within

Away from harm here in my arms
safe in my heart, my only, that's what you are"

(Clark Kent : In my arms)

Books books books books books.....

Relaxing holidays are soon over. I should soon get back to ordering books (some interesting ones are being published this fall!) and forget my knittings for a while.

Meteorologists promised sunshine, but I haven't seen any sun. (Hmm, how many suns do we have?). I finished my "Kahdesti haarautuva puu" and that's why I'm still living in different worlds. I can recommend that book for everyone, although I remember enjoying it a bit more in English, maybe because the story was not familiar to me when I read it :) Ursula tells about a woman called Sutty, who explores a world where religion, books, old habits and ancient stories are forbidden. The life of the countryside people is still dependant on those old traditions and the rich culture is something Sutty gets interested in. The story is beautifully written and it really makes you think (which is sadly not so common in books these days).

I also read "Terveyden kiinalainen kirja" by Denis Vinokur this weekend and it was interesting as books about Chinese medicine always is. Chinese medicine (if not using tiger teeth or other ingredients got from rare wild animals) is based on thought about energy called Qi, which should flow around in your body freely. Stress, bad food, weather, too much/too little exercise, so many things can affect the flow of Qi and block it in some places and that causes different diseases. Unlike in Western medicine, diseases are treated by trying to change the way of living, not just taking pills. Food is for example one of the important remedies in Chinese medicine. This book told the basic things I already knew about Chinese medicine, but I guess it would be interesting to read for someone, who doesn't know much about the subject. There were also tips for meditating at home as well as meridian points which can be treated when you have certain illness.
The last book I read this weekend was Tommi Uschanov's Mikä vasemmistoa vaivaa? (What's wrong with the left wing?" and although I'd had that book borrowed from the library for over half a year (!), this weekend I finally grabbed it and started to read. Interesting facts and thought provoking ideas as well as good answers you can use against basic arguments used by politicians these days. Sometimes I really need to find this kind of books, which have something else to say than the normal political jargon where people try to hide the real thoughts inside the thicket of useless words.

I've been one month at the library now and now I know something about the reading habits of people using the library. Most of all, it's good that people read! And boys borrowing Ursula's books and women loaning books about organic gardening make me smile. But the fact is that women read mostly romantic books as well as detective stories, where men are most interested in books about war, both fact and fiction. Children still love Pippi Longstocking (Peppi Pitkätossu in Finnish) and funny Puppe -books by Eric Hill (Spot the Dog in English). Also comics are very popular, especially manga books.

That's all about books!

One thing before going to movies (Visitor!). I don't know if I told about Raw Gaia before, but I've been very satisfied with the products I ordered from there. Jojoba oil makes my flaking skin feel better, when I apply it before going to sleep and MSM Beauty Cream keeps my skin moisturised during the day. Ordering was easy and delivery fast and in addition to these I also bought spirulina powder (the smell is horrible, but it doesn't taste when you mix it with smoothies :D) Too bad there isn't any cure for my rosacea though...And antibiotics are still the last opinion in my mind.

Thank you, goodbye!

Wisely if I can't make it

There is an airport close to us and I've always been dreaming of taking a photo of landing airplane. This plane is not landing, but taking off, all the same for me = I got a nice photo! Last weekend was sunny, springy, and full of new places.






This week I've been busy again and in the evenings I don't feel like writing anything here. I get enough of computers at work! I've been mostly making work shift lists, removing some old books and on Thursday I was in the mobile library (I got corrected that library car is not a proper word for it) and somehow I really like all the school children coming there and they're all so enthusiastic about books! They read the same horse books I used to read when I was in elementary school too :D

One other thing I did in elementary school too was to read a book in sauna. Yesterday I tried that again (when you put sauna on, it's not too hot to read there and slowly the heat surrounds you!) and it was awesome! One part of my ultimate happiness must have been the book I read though (that Ursula K. Le Guin's Kahdesti haarautuva puu, which I started yesterday).

Yes, spring is taking over, although yesterday it was snowing the whole day and the ground is all white here. Next week it will be +10, I don't know how to think about it. Instead of thinking, during this Easter time I'm going to eat mämmi and chocolate eggs and knit. I already finished a few presents from waste yarns and the colours make me happy!



I just found this nice Poem machine, try it! I'd call it hilarious. This is the poem I just made:

This is how it goes

crawl inside your mind
hope for sauna to pour cloudy Morning
Birds foaming
rabbit is frozen cold

Wisely if I can't make it

somebody talkative
sunshine inside you.

Animals in the wild

Yesterday morning I decided to take photos of the animals I see every day. I came up with the idea because I didn't want to spend time with a man, who comes to me every morning at the bus stop and starts to talk about jesus. Some mornings it's ok, but not always :) Snowy wolf and woody fish can be found from the centre of my city and the rest of the animals from the library where I work. I love especially that big bear, stroking it makes me feel relaxed and when you climb on its back, everything looks small and you feel like you can conquer the library!


Last week as well as this week I attended different meetings. This kind of meeting culture is very new to me and for example I didn't understand to take blank paper with me to the first meeting. And of course because I'm so newbie in my work, some things the others are discussing are just not familiar to me and I feel like an outsider. But as the time passes, I'll get hang of it, hopefully!

It's also a bit difficult to understand that there's always tea and coffee and something to eat for free. When I was unemployed, I didn't have money to buy cakes or pies - at least not often. When I went to a cafe with my friends, I usually took just tea. I don't know if I want to get used to this kind of change - it's a small thing, but for me it tells about the way of the world these days.

Sun is shining, music is playing (Rubik - Dada bandits!), new Ecologist is still waiting to be read, too many books to be read. Off I go!

The things I see when I wait for the bus, part 1:

Ursula.

I have never been a big fan of anything. But when I got to know Ursula K. Le Guin's books, I totally fell in love with her words and worlds. Her books are more than science fiction, her ability to make stories that are so full of meaning and feelings...I'm just deeply in love.

Last year I wrote a letter to her and explained how her books mean so much to me. I just felt like I had to do it, she should know how her books are meaningful to this small person in this small country. And despite being a busy writer, she answered to me :) I understood how it feels like to be a huge fan of something, because when I received the letter, I was so moved!

I'm collecting all of her books. I've found many from the removal shelf from the library and I've ordered some from internet book store. I've read all her books there are in the library. I just feel like I can't get enough of those worlds, where planets circle around each other and beings have no gender. How imagining different worlds teach us about ourselves.

When I was a child, I dreamt about writing. If I'll ever write something in the future, Ursula has shown me the way :)

Future library? Shadows?

My week has been rather busy again. I had one meeting day, one training day, one library car day. I heard interesting things about how we could get young people to use libraries again...In Espoo there's for example game room and game evenings for young people and they're very popular, especially amongst immigrants. That's how I'd love to see library! Things are just changing - young people are not so interested in reading books anymore, so libraries should offer something they're interested in = dvd's and games. I'm sure the change is coming, but it might take a long time until it reaches us here :)

I'm not sure if library car is something we have only in Finland -> They're like busses filled with books and they stop at schools in day time and in small villages in the evenings. I used to visit one when I was a child, because it stopped quite close to our place then. It was very fun to see that still there are some people who are enthusiastic about books, particularly pre-school children ;)

It has been sunny and I took photos of the shades of the trees on different walls. Sometimes I feel that I can see beautiful things everywhere! It's just about the attitude :) And some days I just look at my feet when I'm walking forward and don't see anything special.

I haven't done the dishes in ages. And the ants are taking over the kitchen. Instead of doing anything reasonable, I use my new face cream from Raw Gaia and enjoy the scent, dream about other organic products (luckily pound is very cheap at the moment!) and listen to Spotify at the same time as I read Ursula K. Le Guin's Kahdesti haarautuva puu (originally "The Telling"). I love Ursula. Bye for now.

Early morning's bright sunshine it seems a bit different today...

I love flowers. I bought these yellow tulips yesterday, because I'm starting to feel like spring. It looks so ugly outside, snow is melting, dog shit is smelling, roads are bare and icy...but I like the changing of seasons, although spring is my least favourite time of the year. Change is always good?

We had friends at our place overnight and now it feels a bit empty. It's Sunday evening again and tomorrow is another morning when I need to wake up at 6 o'clock. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but still it feels too early. I've had headache for 2 days now, too much stress before I get to know my place at the library. I'm trying to read books about being a boss and I find them kind of sad...Those books emphasize the fact that bosses shouldn't be friends with employees and I think it's very weird. But after this year I'll be able to say what kind of boss I am and if it's something I should do in the future or not.




I'm such a child -> I still love to walk over the icy parts on the road. Sometimes I get my shoes wet, sometimes not. The sound of breaking ice is just beautiful, kind of hollow, and all the sounds vary a lot. Maybe it's time to start to use rubber boots again :D

I have Spotify. Too bad they don't have enough good dance music, all other favourites can be found from there though :) Dinka, Kent, Moloko, Laika...Sub-Urban Tribe's First spring day! It suddenly came into my mind and this song is still so awesome!

That's all today. I'll sit on the sofa, drink tea and knit before going to sleep. Hope to see sun tomorrow as well as nice customers, friendly faces and cute army boys :D (my bus always stops in Kontioranta! Too bad I'm already so old and they're so young...)

PS. Ski jumping is over! What I'm going to do in the weekends now? And I should start calling to my brother more often because I can't see him on TV ;)