all things me

A chat with a co-worker today reminded me of this.

For our written exam in driving school we had to answer some questions based on photos of different traffic situations. There was one question I remember quite well: There was a photo of a two-lane gravel road in the middle of a summery forest. The road went straight ahead and turned left, and there was a traffic sign on the right telling that motor vehicles are allowed on the smaller road that followed.

The question was “can you drive straight ahead?”

I answered no — because there also was a bird on the right lane.

It was the wrong answer. Apparently I shouldn’t have paid attention to the bird.

Last Tuesday, quite appropriately, there was a newspaper article about famous 30-year-olds (and younger) and how much they’ve already achieved despite their young age.

Gee, thanks for cheering me up! I haven’t achieved squat.

I’m only joking; I’m not feeling particularly “age-crisis-y” (well, I’m writing this on Sunday, the day before, so let’s see how I’m thinking tomorrow) and I don’t even think I’m allowed to. 30 is nothing! I’m still a kid!

OK, checklist:
– Wrinkles? I can see two horizontal lines forming on the forehead but no prospective laugh lines (now, that’s weird) or anything like that.
– Greys? No genuine ones but I’ve had both white and black strands since I was a kid.
– Aches and pains? My legs are sore at the moment but that’s from cardio-boxing on Xbox Kinect…
– Skin on the back of my hand? Bounces right back.
– Grouchiness? No signs, I would say. (OK, I don’t seriously think old = grouchy )
– Cats? None.

Let’s see what that list looks like in 5-10 years, but for now, happy 30th birthday me!

Very often when I’m “on the road” by myself and not reading a book I listen to music on my cellphone. And at work if I’m having trouble concentrating I may listen to music quietly on the background.

I pretty much always listen to music on my way back from work because I’m too tired to read. Today when I was sitting on the bus and listening to music (Muse, Milow, and Maroon 5), I was shaking my foot to my tunes. Next I noticed a reflection in the window: the guy sitting in front of me, with earbuds on, was drumming his knee with his hand. I couldn’t help but smile.

I can easily imagine a future where most people walk around with headphones on. I’ve even seen groups of teen girls where everyone is listening to their own music (and trying to chat, ha). Or maybe they are listening to the same song. Social music playing could get popular so wouldn’t one-to-many Bluetooth pairings be great? Or cords with multiple pairs of headphones on the other end? Those would at least be much better than what these groups do now: listen to the songs from the loudspeaker. To the enjoyment of everyone around them.

On a warm sunny day (that should strike as funny as you read on) last week I was faced with a problem I rarely — if ever, except with socks — face: I found two fitting pieces of clothing for the same purpose!

I was browsing the clothing department, not planning on finding anything (although always hopeful), when I came across a rack marked Season Sale. It had a few different types and colours of winter coats in the few remaining sizes.

I found a nice, practical grey coat — I actually had been looking to replace my old one. Then, there also was this lovely red coat. I knew I would get the grey one but I couldn’t possibly justify buying both, could I?

But the red was so nice!

After trying them on, I stood there, looking at the coats, thinking, looking at the price tags (not too expensive!). And then I asked Grandma for help (we were shopping together). She obviously opted for the red because she would do anything to get some colour on me.

So I did it. I got them both! Now I’m hoping they at least suit for different weathers (the red is shorter and slightly smaller, i.e. I can’t wear much extra under it, so it’s hopefully light enough for the milder degrees).

Once again, I’m looking forward to winter!

I feel pretty, oh so pretty...

Talking about needs… I’ve “needed” quite a lot of Xbox games lately: first Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Fable II, and, as the latest addition to my game library, Fallout 3 GOTY. The thumbs, y’know. Still working on the thumbs.

Ever since I found out I should try and use woolly socks in boots that have the tendency to destroy my feet, I’ve been looking forward to cold enough a weather to start breaking in my brand-new jungle boots and older-but-hardly-used combat boots.

It is slowly getting there but I couldn’t wait anymore. Hello, darlings:

Steel capped boots, for combatting... people who try to cut me in line?

(It’s the same pair of socks as in the photo of my jungle boots. I have a ton — or at least a couple of kilos — of woolly socks and I don’t even like blue, but those seem a good thickness. I will have to experiment.)

The boots are lovely but man, the amount of stuff they accumulate! Gravel, leaves, plums… When I got home today I noticed a twig roughly the size of a pinkie sticking out.

Loot of the day

What’s next? Dead squirrels?

I have this recurring dream or nightmare or hallucination — whatever I should call it.

I think it happens right when I’m about to fall asleep: I “wake up” and see an enormous spider, a black tarantula-looking thing, walking on the bed next to my pillow. At the time, still half-asleep/awake, I’m actually aware that this happens to me a lot and I know it’s never been anything, but I think this time the thing just looks so real (and huge, and moving!) that I have to turn on the light — which I in reality do because I’m not sleeping properly yet — and make sure.

Unsurprisingly, there’s never been anything. Not even a big crinkle in the bedsheets.

I think it’s strange that this happens to me so often, because I’m not particularly afraid of spiders. I don’t like them but I don’t have a phobia either.

There’s also the dream of a mouth full of loose teeth (I hear it’s quite common). Ugh, I really hate that one. Luckily I haven’t seen it in a while. Maybe chewing gum helps…

Back in 1997 I popped my knee really badly in April and had to use crutches for quite some time: first till I got in a surgery that summer and then finally to heal.

It was horrible having to ask help for anything and everything when both my hands were occupied by the crutches. In school I felt such a burden to my friend — just getting to class was a challenge. (And boy, the confirmation camp that summer was such a hoot.)

At a time when I’d got rid of one crutch I went to McDonald’s with my friend. I was left at the counter to carry the tray to our table. Yes, the one-armed me. The tray was quite heavy — with two drinks, two burgers and two sets of fries — and pretty soon after I’d started walking to the table, I dropped it.

I was sooo embarrassed. My friend had to go ask for refills for the drinks and someone had to come and wipe the Cokes off the floor. And I had to sit there and eat that meal.

Just now, after all these years of still being embarrassed, as something made me think about the crutches again (not that I haven’t thought about them before…) I surprised myself by realising something: why should I be embarrassed about what happened? No one offered to help me (a 15-year-old girl). Not my friend, not the person at the counter, no one. They should’ve been embarrassed.

I’m on my summer vacation, and after one week at the summer cottage and one — this — week spent pretty much lazing around (and assassinating people), I decided to do something useful for a change. I started organizing my closets. I went through (actually started to go through, I’m not finished yet) the clothes — especially my overflowing sock drawer; I love silly socks — and checked if there was anything to throw out or recycle.

I came across my favourite socks.

Worn out, faded, and I haven’t worn them for ages. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to throw them out. Hopefully they’ll bring warmth to someone when they’re burned at a power plant.

I bought new boots

They’re US army jungle boots. They’re so nice… built-in air conditioning* and everything!

I have a problem with pretty much all new shoes: they scrape the back of my ankle raw. In addition to these new summer boots, I have really nice leather “combat boots” that I haven’t worn much because I can’t walk for long distances.

But, I was determined to wear my new jungle boots (after destroying my heel once and realising that yeah, these shoes have the same problem) and I googled for tips. Some people had told they always broke boots in by wearing woolly socks for a while. So that’s what I did.

That does the trick! Too bad it’s summertime because it gets pretty warm in there… I’m looking forward to autumn and winter for once! (Now I’ll also get to break in my “old” leather boots when it’s cold and wet and I don’t want to wear shoes with holes in them.)

* Little ventilation/draining holes right above the sole. Now I realised you can actually see them in the photo: they show quite clearly in the bottom photo, the shoe on the right.

I have a Whirlpool washing machine that has “6th sense technology.” It’s supposed to be able to determine how full the machine is and then adjust the washing cycle, water etc. accordingly.

I don’t know if it’s doing a good job or not (in the 6th sense stuff; it does make clothes clean which is enough for me), but today I noticed it’s a bit too smart. Either that, or there’s someone living in my washing machine.

I put a small amount of clothes in the machine, including a small zipper bag with a clothing item in it. I zipped up the bag, of course.

After the cycle was done and I went to unload the machine, I noticed that the zipper bag was open — and empty. Whoever it was, they hadn’t stolen the item, so at least I don’t have one of those sock-stealing creatures in there.

I’ve also noticed they enjoy turning huge duvet covers inside out!