How did I miss that?

Some weeks ago I wrote something along the lines …”when I started this blog more than 3.5 years ago”. Yesterday I found myself thinking: No, must’ve been more than 4 years ago, because my mum passed away 4 years ago and surely she’s seen my scribblings?

I was so certain of it that yesterday morning I drove myself crazy looking for all the “missing” texts from the time prior to her death. But eventually I just had to come to the conclusion that no, she’s never seen any of it, I started this 3 months after she had died.

What’s funny is that I didn’t spot the connection between the two until yesterday even though it’s so obvious now: it was her death that triggered this whole thing in the first place.

It’s been a long, long road to recovery after we lost her, and I’ll always miss her. But now, this is the first year since 2005 that I haven’t felt like death in November myself. And I’m sure my mother would be very happy to know that!

This is her.

Commitment

It’s like going for a walk. If you choose the long route, you know that you’ll have a really long way ahead of you before getting back home. If you choose to go zigzagging close by, you know that you can get back quickly any time.

It’s quite possible, even likely, that the zigzagging walk will, at the end of the day, take you further since you only have to commit yourself to a short stretch at a time: You first walk around one block, quite enjoy it, decide to go around the next one, and the next, and the next...

But if you think that you have to walk far, it may well happen that you’ll say: “No, too long, too much hard work, I don’t think I’ll bother” – and stay at home.

How would this apply to, say, marriage? Perhaps it’s time to drop the “till death do us part” bit out of the wedding vows and say instead: “Don’t know about tomorrow, but right now is good.”

Demi and Ashton, our way (kind of)

There’s this ad: http://www.atriafresh.fi/Sivut/default.aspx. Scroll down a little and press “Katso video” (somewhere on the right-hand side of the screen).

Right now this very ad is a hot topic over here. It all started when it was found out that a handful of people (7, to be exact) had approached the Finnish Consumer Agency and complained about it. Some thought that the Finnish Council of Ethics in Advertising should make a statement.

Now newspapers are writing about it, radio stations are asking for their listeners to phone in to voice their opinions on it and people are talking about it during coffee breaks at work.

...And why do you think that is? Ok, my title might be a bit of a giveaway: The problem – obviously – is that the woman is way too old and the man is way too young. And that, of course, is not acceptable. That ad can clearly do some serious damage.

I’m so happy that there are some active citizens who are ready to fight this terrible, disgusting case. Hopefully they’ll ban the ad, fire the entire upper management of Atria and put that horrible cougar woman in prison.

A good negotiator never says no

”Five minutes and it’s bedtime, Ben.”

“Ok Mommy!”

(Five minutes later.)

“Ben, bedtime!”

“I’ll just finish drawing this monster.”

Or: “Just a minute, I’ve nearly finished building this battle ship.”

Or: “Yes, Mommy, but I’ll just show you first how well I can stand on my head.”

Or: “Ok! But let’s finish listening to this song first.”

Or: “Mommy, I’m hungry actually. I’ll just have this apple.”

Or: “You know, you said that I can watch telly for five minutes. And the adverts don’t count, so five minutes isn’t over yet.”

Sharemyplayslists.com

I’m hooked on Spotify. I can’t believe that there’s all that music there at my fingertips – and that all I have to do is to find it.

So far I’ve found pretty much everything that I’ve ever liked since I was a child. But when you’ve done that, found all your all-time favourites, you get hungry. Hungry for something new, music that you’ve not known before but that speaks to you now.

And to find it... The Spotify people have created a website called Sharemyplaylists.com. Great! Except that… well.

First of all, you end up spending ages there browsing through other people’s playlists. You might find a jewel there, or you might not.

Then there are these categories. Do you like soul? Or R&B? Or dance? Impossible to say. Whatever label a piece of music has, there is no way of knowing if it’s going to make you tick.

So, how can you find out then? You just have to listen.

An unexpected conversation

It was a beautiful morning, and I was enjoying my breakfast in a hotel in Konstanz, Germany. Fried eggs, fresh bread, hot black coffee, yoghurt. The breakfast lounge was nearly empty: I could see a group of businessmen, an elderly German couple and a chap in his mid 30’s on his own.

Suddenly I could see this man in his mid 30’s walking towards me. That’s odd, I thought, no one ever goes to talk to anyone in hotel breakfast lounges. Anyway, he walked to me and…

“Excuse me, do you speak English?”

“Yes I do.”

“I just had to come over to tell you something.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been watching you and I must say that you have the most perfect pair of ears I’ve ever seen.”

Wow, now, I didn't expect that.

“Um… thanks. No one’s ever told me so.”

“The thing is,” the man continued, “I’ve just had my ears operated. They were sticking out.”

“I see.”

“So, what do you think,” the man asked, looking at me intensely.

I forced myself to look at his ears.

“They’re good. Good ears,” I replied eventually, not quite knowing what was expected from me.

“You think? Are you sure? The right one’s sticking out a little more than the left one, isn’t it? It is, I know it is,” he said, sounding a little desperate.

I looked again.

“Nope. It is not. At all.”

The man looked relieved, thanked me and walked away, smiling.