Building a dog fence

I got my first evening shift now but before we got around to building a dog fence. It’s in the same style as the one that goes around the lot. We’ll continue tomorrow…

10 days

My 10 days off are over. I'm back at work...

Sunday morning

Sorry for the late update but we got the keys to the house on Monday and we are moving stuff and doing some renovating =)

2 out of 4

It's my second night shift out of four...

English as a third language

Tuesday evening I began attending a course in Finnish. It’s simply named “Intermediate Finnish”, It’s for people that now some Finnish but want/need to improve it. About 25 people had shown up. About half are Finland-Swedes, ¼ are Russians, a woman from Ukraine, a guy from Africa and a couple of Finns that have lived abroad the last decade or longer and an Englishman. Since we only speak Finnish at the course he also could be American since I can’t hear his English accent.

We where asked to present ourselves in Finnish and tell a little bit about what and why where/we need to improve our Finnish skills. Almost everyone needed it for either work or their social life. Me, it’s a bit of both. Except for the Englisman. He stated (in Finnish) “I really don’t need Finnish to live here but I think it would be nice to know.” As a Finland-Swede I would never make that statement, I know some who would but you get the sense that they been living under a rock all their life and are quite happy to die there too. It can be difficult to live one’s life in Swedish in Finland but it has worked well for me the last 32 years. But I do see the need of Finnish.

However this guy’s native language is English and his statement the he doesn’t need Finnish made me think about it. He’s probably right; most Finns know some level of English, some perfect, some just a few words, but it’s a world language the Finns have adapted. English is The World Language. So I think he’s doing better than many Finland-Swedes in using his native tongue.

So with that in mind I think that it might be a good to introduce English as a third official language in Finland. It’s a language that most people know, it’s used as the only official language in many work-places, the University world are practically using it as it’s official language, people have a positive attitude towards English, it’s easy to learn, it’s probably the largest common language that different language groups in Finland have.

I don’t want to abandon Swedish or Finnish culture, I’m just saying that a common language would be nice =).

Another Monday morning

It’s another Monday morning and I started working 7.00. It’s actually my last morning shift out of four. Tomorrow I got the day of and I think I will visit my mom. If it’s not raining I will mow her lawn. Hopefully it’s the last time this year. As we get further into the fall it becomes colder and it’s soon cold enough for the grass to stop growing.

My four night shifts start on Wednesday. That basically means that I got Wednesday off to since my night shift starts at 22.00. But we got out weekly X3M lunch around noon so I really can’t go anywhere that day.

After that I got 10 days of and since we are moving around 1^st October I’ll spend those days packing. We got two apartments to clear out and that takes some time to do.

The Last King of Scotland

Last night was movie night. We went to the video rental store and hired two movies and bought some ice cream. The first movie which we saw last night was “The Last King of Scotland”. Well the only Scottish about the movie was the fictional character of Dr Garrigan. Well he is loosely based on real person taking elements from a few others in Uganda at that time.

The movie is about Uganda’s late dictator Idi Amin. I’ve seen a few movies lately about dictators, kings and emperors and they seem to have one thing in common. They start out full of ideals and ideas on how to improve things. But absolute power is absolutely corrupt. They can’t handle being in full control and soon real enemies and mostly imaginary enemies start dying but the thousands, in some cases millions. Amin was no exception to this rule. How many 100 000s of people he killed is unclear but it shows that no one should have absolute power.

The other movie, well Nina is going to see that today while I’m at work. I really didn’t remember the name of it but I think Brad Pitt was in it…

Possibilities and limitations

I think there are differences between being young and old, especially in the mind. When you are young you know it all but as time passes on you begin to understand things and you start to realize that the more you understand the less you know. You move from being an arrogant know-it-all to someone who has a more humble to approach to life. This is a good change.

However not all changes are good. When you are young the world is yours. You can do anything, become anything. Your world has endless possibilities and no limitations. But life, destiny, the will of God or whatever you call it might have other plans for you. It can be cruel beyond words or compassionate beyond understanding.

But since we live in a world of good and evil you will meet both of them. One of them can bring you infinite bliss while the other will trip you over and then start kicking on you as you lie there. As you rise again it can do the same thing to you again and again. Few people have such bad luck so there is usually a time of happiness between the times they fall down.

But each time you fall it hurts and each time it becomes harder and takes longer to rise up again. So at some points you start seeing the limitations rather than the possibilities. You stop reaching for the stars because you know it hurts when you fall. You start seeing what can’t be done rather than what could be done so that you will never fall again. But by doing that you also stop living, you start existing. If you do not reach for the stars you will never reach them.

It’s far easier going trough life on autopilot. You don’t need to think, feel or do anything special. Just avoid falling and it’ll be fine, it will be boring but it’s an easy existence. A wise man once said “It doesn't matter how hard you fall, it's how you rise up again that matters!”. The ability to rise up again is the quality that separates living people from existing people.

If you live you might have a few bad experiences that really shows how cruel life can be but it will also show you how truly wonderful it can be and what true happiness is about. So would you rather be without those moments of joy for a few moments of sadness. Everything in this world has a price, even happiness and the big question is are you prepared to pay it by living your life?

I think the key to all of this is seeing your possibilities rather than your limitations. Realism is always important but that shouldn’t stop you from living?

Stomach problems (disgust warning)

One of our dogs had a bad stomach last night and I’m not sure which. And the puddle I wiped off the floor around 1 am, I’m really not sure if it was crap or puke. It was almost all fluid so it looked like and had the consistency of puke but by the colour and smell of it I would say it was crap. Yes this was disgusting but it’s a reminder that dogs are not just cute. Getting yourself a dog means a lot more than walks in the park and cuddling with furry love on four paws =). It’s also a “feel a little bit sorry for me”-post ;-).

2-15

Swedish TV4's first House episode this season was 2-15. So I remember right, they only showed half second season last winter...

This year's TV season

In about 10 minutes this year’s (fall-winter-spring) TV season starts. First Swedish Idol 2007 comes out and an hour later it's time for House. I’m really not sure if it starts from late season two are freshly from the beginning in season three. They might have just taken a break in season two when they stopped sending it before the summer. When I look at the episode guide I remember seeing episodes up to about seasons 2’s episode 15. Well I know what I’ll do the next two hours and the same thing every Tuesday night for a long time =).

3 out of 4

This is my third evening shift out of four. Very exciting news indeed. Well seriously my life goes on as usual. Consider this as a post about what’s happening in my life right now. I’m working the evening shift; tomorrow I’ll be working another one.

We did take my father in laws boat out of the water. It’s the fall and it’s too cold and windy from here on to do much boating…