mari’s blog

I am in Finland. Not a long planned trip, but nevertheless I am enjoying as much. I was driving here myself, first time alone. Okay, the road to the boat was quite narrow, furthermore I didn’t have any navigation device, but who needs it anyway, when You have a sister, who says the directions in Helsinki – after the port turn to the right, then to the left, and under the tunnel. When You see a large shopping mall go straight and that road takes You out of the town. The fact of the matter is, that I didn’t get lost during the 10 km ride and I found my way out.

I am close to Tampere, which is a 2 hour drive from the capital Helsinki. I am staying with my sister’s family in a countryside. The trees here are yellow-red-green and fields golden. The other day I was driving a bike, my 3 year old nephew sitting in the back bench. He showed me around and took me to the lake. When I asked which way to turn, he said “That way”. Since he was behind me, I had to look behind and see which way he was pointing. I told him I have to teach You left and right. When we got to the lake, we were playing with the rocks and touched the ice cold water. When nature called, he said there was no other way than the forest

On the way back at one point, he said “great”. And I smiled and asked what was that for. And he said I drive so well. The motivation words showed the great potential of future leader He knew the end destination and motivated along the way.

Finland is rightfully called, the land of thousand lakes. They are all so pretty here … everyone should come and see …

I am home alone. Peeter left for the summer cottage. So I have spent the evening reading the news and blogs of people who are taking around the world trips. These stories are always fun to read due to their unexpected nature. The characters, places of stay, the budget, the food, the aromas and other things make it memorable …

Back to today, then in the morning we went to the flea market. Since it was the first time, then I didn’t know what to expect. To sum it up. 80% of the stuff composed of  the clothes. The rest were the books and other items for homes. I ended up buying 2 lamps. It was a great bargain and now they stand in the bedroom, where I admire them from time to time.

What else? Lately we have been to the movies a lot. To bring out, Inception was a really good movie. Even though normally I am not fond of this type, but maybe I should start making exceptions? The next movies i am waiting for are Wall Street 2 and Eat, Love, Pray. I have read the book, and cannot wait.

Oh, and the evening strolls in the city have been really nice. The weather is hot. Yesterday at 10 pm, it was still 27 degrees. Kind of like in Malaysia.

With that note I end. Since a cup of mandarin tea is waiting and George Soros book. At least I have been staring it for a while now, and it is time that I take it out from the shelf and make a close acquaintance

Until the next time!

P.S. The best thing I have read today is this -

“Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it’s cracked up to be. That’s why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is… if you don’t risk everything, you risk even more.”
- Erica Jong (via emmahearts)

I got a new pasta machine. Have been making my very own pasta for a while now. Not to brag too much, but I think the outcome is really delicious Pasta, pasta, pasta … whoever sees a good pasta / sauce recipe can send to me. And as a return can come and try it out here  and umm admire my masters diploma I am really proud of myself. End of an era. Literally. It’s funny how I wished to obtain this degree and after I did, it seems so effortless, so easy. BUT to think back, it took a lot of sweat and time and herewith I would like to thank all my schoolmates who made this journey memorable. I had really great time! Now to the new goals.

Lately I have been into physical activities – cooking, interior designing. There’s one 1.4 meter room here. 1.4 meters is the height of the room, so You can imagine what to do there and how it limits. I decided to make it a chill-out room. Pillows, and lots of  them, bean bags, book shelves, sound system, and last but not least a silhouette of skyscrapers on the wall. I decided to go the hard way and draw it myself. If anyone has some pointers how to do it and what to keep in mind, then please! I plan to do a simple black line drawing, not to make the room too dark …    kind of cool to think about it now, but we will see

Lastly one memorable event from 2 days back – a visit to the roof top cinema. The movie started at 11 pm, so it was dark and cozy while watching the movie. Whoever comes to Tallinn in the summer, can go there! www.katusekino.ee! The movies there are classical and finely selected An open air cinema with great food/drinks and magical atmosphere! Even that is worth a visit to Tallinn, haa?!?

Few days ago i got chimney-sweeper’s button. Shiny, golden button. According to the belief it brings luck … so i am waiting, patiently

Joanna sent me a link and I thought it might be useful for others as well to know … might come handy to know that we can learn while we are dreaming …

“If you’re a student and you want to do better on the test, you might need to dream about it,” Dr. Stickgold said. “The question is, ‘How do I get myself to dream about it?’ The answer is to get excited about it. That seems to be what you dream about.”

The link to the research is here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/learning-while-you-dream/

//I would like to extend the results of this study to everything else in life. If You dream about it, it might not be a dream soon …

I also get some spam to this blog. I always delete the spam comments (only I can see it), but they are kind of funny and inspirational – “keep up the good work” or “You should express more Your own feelings”. However, this is not what I wanted to write about. As a moment ago I deleted 5 inspirational posts, it just came to my mind.

1,5 years ago – me, and my dear flatmates started a facebook page – it was called Kuala Lumpur. We didn’t write there much, but now that Joanna and Natalia have taken over we have more than 2,000 fans already. Kind of cool. It is active, thanks to Joanna’s comments and also You can join our club here -

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kuala-Lumpur-Malaysia/39626887688?ref=mf

I promise to contribute some stuff, once I finish with my present work

I am a people person. I really enjoy interacting with people, watching how they behave and thinking why they behave some sort of way in a certain situation. I also think that about myself …

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html

17:22 watch it… it is a really good explanation. Especially handy for marketers …

I went to the local tax authority today to ask how to file for the taxes, as I was working in Malaysia. I was standing next to the door to take the number, and as I was wondering whether I should go for consultation of taxes or something else, when one old lady just coming in, asked which one to take, so I told her, I don’t know, but I guessed and took the consultation. She took it as well and then we two blondes looked at the sign above – legal entities. We should have gone to the left, for the ordinary people  queue number

After we had taken the correct numbers, she bossed me around, where I should stand and wait. It’s like she found a new best friend. Of course I had to stand next to her and talk to her. She was so talkative, telling me about her taxes and asking me why I am there. I told her I worked in Malaysia. She asked me then if I was there as a volunteer and I said no. And i told her my story in one line, and then she said – YOU MUST HAVE LIVED AN EXCITING LIFE! I told her that I did. Even though this encounter was funny and short, she made me think back to the time and smile, however  i want to believe that the most exciting things are waiting ahead …

Everything is possible. To give You two examples. My 80 years old grandmother started to study how to use a computer. I already made her skype … another example is my friend who had a wish to conquer the world somehow some way. Last autumn she found a school online (the school is located in England) and now she got accepted to the program to study contemporary music. Wow haa … she had to record in the studio and not to mention the long application process, but it was worth every sweat … just keep believing!

Btw today I FINALLY realized I don’t have many reaaders on my blog at all, so I have to write more creative stuff and regularly …. and do more what You call … oh branding

There are so many good movies in the cinema and many on their way. Today I stumbled into a trailer, a book i read a while ago is a movie now -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZzmqHJ0gPU

Cannot wait to see it … A woman has everything, but  gives it up in order to find herself, to find an appetite for life again. As a result she receives much more she ever wished for. Everything during a journey through Italy, India and Indonesia …