Monday 6 December 2010

Where I was and why IKEA is dangerous


Ohai. Sorry I wasn't here. I got lots of stuff done and then regressed into a stressed out heap in a fleece watching hours of Frasier for some days. I got all my papers together and registered for the graduation ceremony on the 14th of December. My thesis got MCLA, which is pretty good :))

Just before I got my papers sorted, my popularity as a noob translator soared and I ended up knowing far too much about bridges. The world of concrete was opened up before me.

I had planned to start my business stuff on the 1st of December but for some unknown (but welcome) reason people wanted me to translate stuff in November already. I'm not one to turn away money that so desperately wants to take up shelter in my bank account, so I started organising stuff. See that chair in the picture there? Its name is Moses. Or something. I've spent a large chunk of my life in that chair, usually leaning back watching TV or spinning around on it because, well, it's still fun to do that. Unfortunately my chair didn't live as long as the biblical moses and I remembered something about not wanting a curvature of the spine so me and Ari set off to Swed- err, Ikea.

I wanted a chair, and more importantly, I wanted Ari to carry it home for me. Ari wanted some kitchen utensils so we were sorted. Ikea would not tempt us with its useless but desirable crap you never knew you wanted.



We were wrong. We totally wanted everything. Well, mostly everything. We sat on beds, divans and at desks. We wandered through the top floor of Ikea marvelling at stuff. Until we came to the armchair section. Ari found a chair that would set us back 6000 euros, but it was God in a chair. Leonard (ari) is about 6'3'' tall and this chair dwarfed him. It was so soft and comfortable it could have been a bed. It had a footstool that came out when you reclined in it. People walked past eyeing us with jealousy because they hadn't made it in time to sit in it before us. Unfortunately as yet we don't have the money for such an immense chair so I just returned home with a Verksam chair. Ergonomics hurt :(

On a lighter note, today is Finnish independence day. The independence fairy visits all conscientious citizens the night before independence day and leaves an independent state under your pillow. The fairy even chooses some people to go to a ball at the president's residence.

On an even better note, it's CHRISTMAS soon. Here's my advent calendar:

It has a mix of Christmassy stuff and stuff that I find interesting (strange quarks, for example). Christmas means that I am moving out of this place and away from stupid roommate, hooray!

On an even better note - I'm getting a PUPPY. Omg. I'm waiting to hear back from a lady who breeds Seiskari dogs, which are an old type of seal hunting dog from Finland. As yet they are an unrecognised breed of dog, which suits me fine. I can happily declare from my soapbox that I am not getting and will not ever get a purebred dog. Waiting to hear back from the lady is driving me nuts, but in a way it's like being a kid on Christmas Eve. Although it sucks to wait, it's kind of nice. You may expect tons of puppy pictures in the blog from now on.

During the week I seem to be glued to the computer with translations, but at the weekends I'll probably have time to update my blog with something vaguely funny. But I'm moving next week, so posting might be sporadic.

(This post is dedicated to Deborah, because she asks me to write stuff when I've been blog-lazy).