Do you know... the ancient Mesopotamian origins of the Ring mythologies of Saxon and Norse folklore? the real historical people behind our ideas of elves, fairies, pixies, goblins, gnomes, sprites, and leprechauns? who invented vampires and why? the true meaning of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel? The Arthurian legends? what mutual connection the above questions share? For the answers to these questions and a whole lot more, go here.
-BC
You know when you butter your toast in the morning, and then, when you reach over for the milk, you knock the toast off the table, and it falls to the floor, and you're like, "Shoot, my toast is toast!" but then you notice that it landed butter side up, so you pick it up and it's fine, and you know that today is a good day and nothing can mess it up?
Today was a butter-side-up day.
Unlike yesterday, I was able to spring out of bed and go for my morning run around the lake.
Unlike yester
...At, least, that's what it feels like.
I'm talking about the fierce glow of self-assurance and determination that vitalized me four days ago. Then, I strode like a man on a mission, unstoppable, clear of eye. Today, I am a husk, shuffling along, confused, afraid.
I need help. Come this weekend, I will seek it out and be healed. The Project must go on.
-BC
My alter ego and I are back to normal. He doesn't have a separate persona anymore. No more blaming my obnoxious outbursts on a virtual unperson. Or is that subperson? Pseudoperson? C'mon, help me out.
With the Me Project, I try to listen to a different kind of inner voice. The one that says, "Do your homework," "Clean your room," "Go outside and get some fresh air," "Is this what you really want? "When did you last make a deposit to that relationship account?" and other such inspirational Dr.
In a nation of five million, he's sold over a million copies. He's Ilkka Remes, the top-selling Finnish novelist.
With an eye to improving my Finnish literacy, I'm reading his 2005 opus, Nimessä ja veressä (In the Name and in the Blood).
It's about Finland's first serial killings. You get a glimpse of the religious movement that the first two victims belonged to. If religious content weren't strictly forbidden on BZPower, I might have added that I consider myself a member of that movem
Now for the What.
The Me Project is about learning to say "I" taking responsibility for myself knowing myself being good to myself making every hour of every day count. My friend <daydreamer> was kind enough to send me a very relevant symbolic image:
I do so love cute, funny animal photos.
-BC
I'm sick and tired of accomplishing nothing being self-defeating being spiritually restless being lonely for no reason being subject to every little external force in my life feeling like half a man not having a clear direction not being the person I would like to be. I have decided to start being proactive. I want to change.
This isn't the first time I've attempted to grow as a person. The first try went bust after three months and I'm not entirely sure how to prevent the same thing happening
Yarr.
Because I couldn't very well just not do it. Because it was the thought that counted. Even though people are talking like pirates anyway, Talk Like a Pirate Day or no. All thanks to Schizo.
I dunno. I guess I'm just bitter that I couldn't start a fad if I tried. Which is dumb, really, because I've never seen the attraction of fads in the first place. I'm more an in-joke kind of guy. My favourite unfunny jokes are the ones nobody else gets. Or the ones without punch lines.
So, wh
- So Tiia was put in charge of hitting everybody up for the money. Her tactics were quite admirable for a beginner in this line of work: discreet little cards with all the relevant information listed, nice and neat and legit, with just the right hint of the need to pay up on time or else. Her only problem was with those foreigners: they don't necessarily understand such subtleties and the absolute importance of the rules of the game. But you know me: foreigners are my specialty. So, naturally, s
I got a response from Chrissy at Scholastic.
This is obviously not going unnoticed at Scholastic's decision-making level. You, too, can be part of the effort to save Bionicle Legends #7! All it takes is one email!
-BC
I went to Mikkeli today, a city 60 km to the south, the hallowed haunt of my school's main campus. The trip was mandatory, and, as far as the official "study term opening ceremony," a total waste of time. But it wasn't all bad: I met some more exchange students.
Left to right: Girl From China, Girl From Kazakhstan, Guy From Nepal, Me.
Girl From China showed me how to solve one of the several neurosis-inducing brain benders at one of the booths.
Girl From Kazakhstan was beautiful. Wa
I finally got my student grant approved. I have money now. What a difference that makes in life, eh? Superior Finnish social insurance, I love you. Mwa-mwa-mwah.
-BC
In another of those everyday twists of fate, a sidenote in my first entry of the day leads to the subject of this one.
I just emailed Scholastic myself. Another drop in the (hoped-for) tidal wave. Do your part to save this incredibly important book from its prospective doom!
-BC
(The reason I don't update on weekends = dependence on school computer lab. The world is a cold, cruel place. Pray for me.)
Saturday night. I've been suffering through a lonely day at the dorm, some degree of lethargy evident. Grandma calls, we chat about random current stuff, say goodbye. My meandering train of thought wanders into a nasty old tunnel. I start remembering a painful event about five years ago.
Not the terrorist attacks in the U.S.A. They did come as a shock, but the level
... all thanks to the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator!
(And to <dd>, who pointed the way to the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator.)
This is a real breakthrough for me. ii am Sam, Sam ii am. But now it turns out that my Sam is spelled INFJ.
-BC
I suppose I should get those goals out of the way first:
Way short. Doomed from the start. But it was worth a shot.
Goal met.
Met, but with serious qualifications.
Fully met. The threat of that particular potential personal disaster has been averted for all time. I'm really glad I set this goal.
- I'm glad you kept me on the straight and narrow, too.
Were you even there? I hardly heard a peep out of you.
Are you accusing me of something?
No. Quite frankly, I don't care where you
Field trips are an everyday experience at my school. Tomorrow we go on another one, but this time, it's not just for a couple of hours. Our destination is the innocuously named Hyytiälä Forest Field Station. What the name blithely glosses over is that Hyytiälä is a huge wetlands area: peatlands, bogs, whatever you want to call them. They're wet. So, in the spirit of preparation, I went out today and bought me a pair of Hog Hole Specials (rubber boots to you) and a Blogger Camo Ensemble. I'm pack
I invited the exchange students over for dinner on Saturday. David was back in Ireland for a bit, so Anssi, a non-student living in residence, took his place. The other two, as you know, are Alena from Czech and Fabian from Alaska.
I set a reminder on my cell phone for 5:30 pm, in plenty of time to prepare for dinner at 7. Unfortunately, I fell asleep reading Dan Brown's Deception Point and woke up to my dinner guests knocking at the door. Talk about a power nap.
I was supposed to be makin
He turns 33 today. I wonder if he's a hobbit? If I throw a party and he shows up, will that make me cool?
- That would make you a god.
Yay!
- A very minor, ingratiating god. Compare the god of infomercials.
Oh.
That would be putting it nicely.
Aah, it's too much trouble, anyway. I'll just drink his health in my basement, alone.
- Good thinking. I'll send him a sarcastic PM for you.
Would you? Thanks.
-BC
According to this CTV article, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (the title still feels funny attached to that name) is apparently not too worried about climate change. Considering his political bent, that comes to me as no surprise; what does is that Canada still has no national strategy for adapting to climate change.
When I applied to the Forestry program in Finland, they told me I needed to study a 278-page PDF for the entrance exam. That 278-page PDF was Finland's National Strategy
If anyone's ever wondered why I've published so little fanfiction, the answer is that I'm very lazy and writing is such hard work. Other factors also come into play, like my hard drive dying and taking all my work to data heaven with it, finished and unfinished alike. Mostly unfinished.
I only ever had one epic that I was truly serious about. I was really inspired to plug away at it. It was originally called Legend of Lhii, and told the story of the inventor of Ignalu (lava surfing). I was ab
Had my first Finnish Language class today. We read an article titled "The Moklofs are Coming - Are You Ready?" from a business magazine. All in Finnish, of course. The article was based on The MeWe Generation, which dubs today's typical youth Moklofs (Mobile Kids with Lots of Friends). The MeWe generation is defined as youth born after 1984. Here's the synopsis, with my own added emphases:
This is how savvy employers, politicians, and marketers see you and me. Heck, they're right and you k
Have you ever spent the night in an unusual place without originally meaning to?
How about in your car in a nowhere town far from home? In your car in front of your house? On a foul airport bench at London-Heathrow? On a sofa in the basement of your school?
I have.
And then there are the places you let people convince you to stay, or that you thought were a good idea. Like sleeping alone in a little two-pole tent while everyone else stays in the camper, and waking up with a terrible ne
I went swimming with the exchange students today. The pier is less than 100 m from my dorm. The water was excellent; cool and refreshing and, like all natural Finnish lakes, dark with tannin. At the first dip, we all swam out about 25 m. Alena asked me how deep it was. I had no idea; did it matter? Later, I dived with my arms locked at the waist, straitjacket fashion, and subsequently became intimately acquainted with the lake's most secret parts. In English, I plowed face first into the bottom.
