You Are Orange Monkey

If you don't know your character in Doubutsu Uranai fortune telling system, you better find out as soon as possible. How would you know otherwise what to do with your life? I am Orange Monkey.

Uninvited Guests

A running nose, coughing, headache and even fever are here as my uninvited guests. I hope this goes away soon and other members of my little family unit will avoid getting this. Atchoooooo - there's nothing like Tokyo winter.

A Meme

I got tagged by Sunny. Here I'm doing shamelessly the same by this meme.

Four Things

Four jobs I've had:

* Bottle filler at a brewery
* Translator
* Avocado picker
* Cheese seller

Four movies I can watch over and over:

* Star Wars Episodes 4-6
* Casablanca
* Lord of the Ring trilogy
* Some Like It Hot... ok, 8 movies

Four places I have lived:

* Raahe, Finland
* Helsinki, Finland
* Gotheburg, Sweden
* Tokyo, Japan

Four television shows I love to watch:

* Firefly
* Desperate Housewifes
* X-files
* Star Trek - all variations of it

Four places I have been on vacation:

* Athens, Greece
* Here and there in South Africa
* Coast to coast in US of A
* Dublin, Ireland

Four of my favourite dishes:

* Sushi
* Veggie Thai
* Veggie Indian
* Pasta

Four websites I visit daily:

* Tenki
* Bloglines
* Helsingin Sanomat
* Flickr

Four places I would rather be right now:

* In my solitude
* Helsinki
* In a bar, tipsy
* Somewhere warm

Four bloggers I am tagging:

* Elspeth
* Jo-in-Japan
* Timorous Beastie
* Mikki

Whining... I Can Whine Here: It's My Blog

Crap. It feels like I am getting a cold after all this still ongoing freezing. I just don't get it: I come from a land of the ice and snow (yeah, I know, Immigrant Song) and I have taken there my dog out when it has been -25 degrees of Celcius cold outside and done it without complaining - and freezing. I have played icehockey, skied on a frozen sea against the wind, played out as kid in so cold winter weather that you never have anything like that in Tokyo. And still - I have never been this bloody cold in my life. What's wrong with me?

Rentable Pets

In Tokyo you can rent a pet by the hour:
"Puppy the World in Odaiba has more than 50 breeds of dog, mostly kawaii small dogs like toy poodles to French bulldogs. After taking the pooch for a walk, you can groom it or take it to the canine café, Puppy’s Dining." (Metropolis).

I have actually walked by the shop several times without realising what is it for. I don't dare to think what happen to those puppies once they are too big for their job.

Mama's Airing

Here I am, ready to rock'n'roll. This is another self portrait before leaving for an airing with few other mothers.

If you are a housewife with a kid, you better find other housewifes with children to go out with sometimes: in their presence no-one blames you if you talk only about your kid and about how tired you are.

Parenting is a Tough Job

We had a nice walk at a park today. Vimme rode his tricycle and we stopped at a playground. That all sounds nice and harmoniuos - and that it was. We both got enough energy to scream the rest of the day.

The kid is really testing what he is allowed to do and what not. I am trying to remain calm and sometimes I manage to do that, but today I ended up screaming at him as loud as he screamed at me. Or maybe not that loud, my ears are still ringing after a powerful mega scream he made just next to my right ear.

I need a holiday.

Accidents Happen

There is no reason to wonder why gray hair have started an invasion to my head. If it goes on this fast, I'll be a natural (silver)blonde in no time.

Yesterday evening Vimme hit his head to a corner of a cupboard. He has an inch long cut on his forehead now, right under his last year's scar. We didn't take him to a doctor this time. I patched it myself with pieces of band aid. Vimme is fine, I am not so sure about myself.

Toilet Paper

Soon I will wipe my butt on Hello Kitty's face.

A Scary Moment

Vimme decided to run away from me while I packed a shopping bag on my bicycle. He headed straight to a crossing. Traffic lights showed red for pedestrians and a bigger van was driving to the same direction as Vimme was running to. I left my bag and ran as fast as I could after the crazy kid. I caught him and we managed to reach the other side of the crossing unharmed. Bloody hell that was scary.

I don't know if the kid got me when I told him that it was extreamly dangerous to run like that and I didn't like at all what he did.

I will never leave this house again with him.

A Sure Sign of the Coming Spring

I have never seen so many bright coloured European fast cars at the same time than what I saw today. They obviously had some sort of a gathering right in the front of our house. Most owners were well beyond their 50's. Some of the cars looked like space ships and they had names of pasta meals. It was all quite fashinating. What I didn't like was the sound they made when driver stepped on gas pedal. The sound reminded me of a dentist drill.

A Good Looking Site

Now I know where I will get a new tattoo, if I decide to have one here in Tokyo. I am still looking for a picture.

In a Good Company

We met another mother+kid(s)-unit today and took our little monsters to a park to play. Then we stayed at their place for the rest of the day. It's great to have another adult to talk to and kid companions for Vimme. He has learned many necessary life-saving social skills from these two brothers, like saying 'No, you don't take it!' and 'It's mine!'.

Right Fertilizer

As I thought, the book was too short. I tried to read it slowly, so that the joy of reading it would last for a bit longer, but I couldn't. It was just too good to put away. I recommend it to everyone. Read it. You will love it.

Other than that - we watched short videos of Vimme we'd shooted last year this time. Boy, has he grown! I have noticed that clothes have been getting smaller, but I didn't realise how much he has developed in his speech and physical skills before I saw those videos. We must be using the right fertilizer after all.

Story Too Short & Some Whining

I am reading a fantastic novel: 'The Time Traveller's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger. I have the latter half of the book left to read and I am afraid the story will end too soon. It's one of those books you wish would go on forever.

I really miss the library in Gothenburg. They had good selection of books in Swedish (of course), in English, and in Finnish. Plus in legion of other languages I couldn't read. There was always something good to read. Always. Now I am living in a constant deprivation of literature. It's one of those shadow sides about living in a country where you don't comprehend the language. Libraries here don't basically have foreign collections - and if they do it's all from the 'movies made to books' department - and I won't be bothered to learn to read japanese with a kid running loose in my life.

Sigh.

I Gave My Vote

In Finland it's time for the election of the president. Conan O'Brien is doing his own campaign for Tarja Halonen, the sitting president of Finland. He wants her to stay on her throne, because they look alike. Cute.

Yesterday we went to the embassy to vote. The kid ran around the room while me & M went to a booth - one by one - to write a number on a vote card. And that was it. Not that exciting. And I guess it won't be half as exciting to follow the vote counting as it was when George Double-U was elected in US of A. Finland has a history of counting all the votes in time and also the canditate who gets more votes than his/her fellow canditates, will win.

Dezomeshiki

Today's highlight was Dezomeshiki, "a centuries-old New Year tradition that gives the public a peek at the latest firefighting and rescue techniques". My absolute favourites of the show were the acrobatics doing their tricks on ladders. It was my last chance to see the parade so I dragged myself and the kid there to see it. Next year this time we'll be back in Europe.

A Dialogue

Me: French potatoes please. Medium size.
Girl: japanese - japanese - japanese...
Me: Wakarimasen (Don't understand)
Girl: japanese - japanese - japanese...
Me: Gomen nasai (Sorry) Wakarimasen (Don't understand)

The girl dissapears and comes back with a boy.

Me: French potatoes please. Medium size.
Boy: Anything else?
Me: No thank you.
Boy: Thank you.

The girl comes back and hands me a tray with medium French fries on it.

Me: Can I have ketchup, please.
Girl: Ah...

The girl goes away, comes back and puts another French potato portion on my tray. I look confused.

Me: Can I have ketchup, please.

I get my ketchup and my mind remains totally blurred as I go to my table.

2006

Happy New Year everyone!

Let the year of the dog be wonderful. Let the world find a way towards a better future for everyone (and let the world follow that way too). Let us love one another and let us not be afraid of anything. Let us be here and now.

Cheers, Kampai, Kippis and Skål.