3BT: Random Days

1. Finally having time to change my blog's template and lo and behold, it was MUCH easier than in the past. In the past, when I uploaded a new xml file, if the uploaded blog template doesn't offer as many sidebar widgets, I had to make sure to save every one of them and then adding them one by one manually. Nowadays all I had to do was click on "keep all widgets" and I could rearrange them easily by dragging and dropping them. THANK YOU, Blogger!

2. The new-and-improved reply button right below the commenter's post. It makes things much easier! :-D

3. It's a hot day today, so I went to the supermarket to buy some stuff and I didn't even have to put on any jacket. WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!



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4. Having 30+ free English e-books in my Kindle reader for PC. I'll be adding more later on ha ha ha ha ha...Mind you that here in Sodankylä there's only a small bookstore with very limited choice of English books and ordering some from the internet would cost more due to shipping cost.

5. LOVE the features in Kindle reader for PC (best of all, the reader is FREE!!!). I can make the font size bigger, change the background colour, add a note, even find meanings of words easily (simply by blocking the word) or bookmark certain pages.

6. Waking up to a very clean kitchen (hubby had cleared up the dirty dishes and just tidied everything up) HA HA HA HA HA...

7. A week full of bliss 'coz I don't have to work (my first batch of summer holiday). YIIIIHAAAAAAAA!!!

Our Town

In my university days, we got to do one English play on our third year of studies. The play was chosen by the drama lecturer (I suppose) and we had to "audition" to get the parts. Those of us who weren't chosen to be in the play would help out in other ways, such as being involved as make-up artists or helping out with the stage. 

That year, 1999, the chosen play was "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. In the audition we only had to say certain English sentences in front of our lecturers. Guess which part I landed? One of the dead!!! I'm seriousss...I only had to stay still and have this deathly make-up on and among with my other friends who played the dead, we only had a few lines to say ha ha ha ha ha...

The whole experience was very interesting, though. We rehearsed without using any props or lighting, even though the stage was already built during the last few rehearsals. Nowadays in our university there is a spanking new, real theatre-like room for this purpose, but back then during our days, the stage was really simple.

What I didn't expect, though, was how glaring and powerful the lighting would be. I had teary eyes and I never knew that such powerful lighting could feel THAT hot. But I couldn't really wipe my eyes because I played the dead - so I wasn't supposed to move a muscle he he...But anyway, we all had fun. We invited people to watch - they had to pay a small sum of money for the tickets.

Anyway, here's a pic of me and the others with our stage make-up on. Guess which one I am? I know the pic isn't that clear 'coz it's scanned from a regular photo and the photo itself isn't that clear.

Oh yeah, before I forget...I'd like to share my blogger friend's book. I've always admired her writings and she's been a dear friend to me. I've just bought her e-book through Kindle store. Mind you, I don't have a real Kindle reader, but you can download a free Kindle reader for PC and there are always free books to download in the site and so far I've downloaded at least a dozen books. I still prefer real books compared to e-books, but in terms of space, having e-books is handy 'coz they don't clutter the house ha ha...

Anyway, here's the trailer of her e-book entitled "First Light" by Michelle Frost. If you're interested, you can also buy it in a regular book form through amazon. I've only started reading a few pages but I'm absorbed already!!! :-D As a matter of fact, after publishing this, I'm gonna go back to reading it he he...can't wait to find out what's going to happen!!!! :-D

3BT: Random Days

1. Loving my bike's speedometer 'coz it encourages me to ride my bike even more (and faster if possible - sometimes when the road is icy or thickly covered in snow, it's impossible). Plus it's not expensive at all! 

2. Rain!!! It means the temperature is warm enough to melt the snow bit by bit.

3. The upcoming free dinner paid by the company. It'd be nice to finally be able to sit down with all my colleagues and just chit-chat and laugh and enjoy a nice meal together without having to think about work.



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4. Missing hubby whenever I have an evening shift ('coz we'll only meet at night).

5. Remembering a fond memory of hubby that just warms up my heart no matter how grey it is outside.

6. Hearing news that there'll be a slight raise of the hourly wage because the union had fought for this for all of us in my field of work. Thank you, union!

7. They still had the lovely ice-cream at the store, so I bought a package yesterday (it's a special kind that only came in a certain batch and once the batch is gone, then there'll be no more).




8. Making kampanisut with MIL's recipe and it turned out just LOVELY!!! (I'd been craving for some lately - the day I baked it, I ate 3 right after they were done ha ha...)

9. Having a space to fume over something unpleasant I heard and feeling glad after having let it all out. :-D

10. Going back to normal after PMS and period mood wrecking out my balance.

11. The knowledge that my parents are proud of us, even though they have never said it verbally. And that they love us even though they don't actually say "I love you" verbally, either. This kind of knowledge is VERY precious and I cherish it with all my heart and soul.

3BT: Random Days

1. An old woman looking so happily surprised to see me at work. She said, "Oh, I haven't seen you in a long time. I'm GLAD you're still working!" ---> Honestly I don't even remember her, but I'm HAPPY to hear that she's SO happy to know that I'm still working in the same place. :-D

2. Free youtube exercise video clips. They really help me in doing different types of exercises when I'm bored with the exercise routines I've been doing.

3. Fast and reliable internet access that enables me to watch those said youtube video clips.

4. Receiving this lovely homemade Christmas decoration present from a friend.



5. More snowwwww!!! And the weekly temperature forecast showing below 0'C even during the day! :-D

6. Watching two squirrels playing in and around the branches of a tree.

7. Cleaning up the snow from the yard. There's something so serene about doing that in the middle of Winter Wonderland.



8. Lovely lovemaking - plus the fact that hubby just knows what to do TENDERLY! :-D

9. Watching "While You Were Sleeping" again that made me feel mushy mushy inside. :-D

10. Hubby buying pizza so that I didn't have to cook he he he he...It's nice not having to cook sometimes. :-D

11. Putting up Christmas lights. (Yep, the picture below #7 is the close-up look of the Christmas lights below)

The Nothingness of Us

Yesterday I had a SUPER long chat with the second friend I visited. We jumped from one topic to another and we got to the part where we shared our views about Sodankylä. We shared everything we had experienced so far. We agreed that one of the things we loved the most about Sodankylä is the fact that the sky felt limitless, especially if you go to an open field. Just look up and you'd be swallowed in the greatness of the sky and you'll feel that you're really nothing. Nothing. Nothing...

My friend said that it was ironic that the feeling of being nothing made her feel so...FREE!!! I mean, logically speaking, that feeling should really make you feel bad, shouldn't it?

I said to her that what she said made sense. I started thinking about it. I come up with this answer: I feel that sometimes we humans tend to be arrogant. We feel that we can do anything and we can achieve anything. Earth and its resources are OURS. We go day by day striving to be better, to do better, to achieve, to achieve more, to achieve even higher goals...competition is tight, we have to always be alert...we have to keep on improving...more and more and more...Technology has advanced SO much...we can even clone animals and perhaps humans too if our ethics don't close that door...and we begin to lose the ability to feel awed bit by bit...

On the rare occasions when we're feeling awed about the universe and we feel like we're really nothing, all those "burdens" and "races that we're in" are suddenly "put at the back of our minds". We're stripped away of all those things...and we feel free in our nothingness. After all, we are NOTHING.

I'm NOT saying that we shouldn't strive to be better. I'm NOT saying that we shouldn't strive to improve. I'm NOT saying that we shouldn't be responsible beings. All I'm saying is that this kind of feeling is liberating and I wish everybody feel it every once in a while in their lives!!!

Another thing that my friend said about life in Sodankylä resonated with what I felt when I was in big cities. Many people are such in a hurry in life...they try to fill every single moment with activities...they grow agitated when there's nothing surrounding them except nature and serenity and they can't wait to do something to fill the moments. Do, do, do, go, go, go, next task, next errand, next appointment, next meeting...always in a rush because there's traffic, there's a long line, there are demands, demands, demands, deadlines, deadlines, deadlines...even typing these words make me feel tired.

So let me just bask in the glory of nature again...last night I walked home from my second's friend's place underneath a starry sky...mmm...it was -17'C and I just wanted to lie down on a field and enjoy the beauty...

I accidentally found the link to this BEAUTIFUL video while blog-hopping and I'd love to share it with you:

P.S. Just a little bit of info found from here:

The most distant space probe, Voyager 1, was 13 light hours (only 1.5 × 10-3 light years) away from Earth in September 2004.

It took Voyager 27 years to cover that distance.

Join SlogBite!

My friend Mel Kaye has created a new directory site called Slogbite. The site is still under construction but is now accepting participants in preparation for its official launch. Join now! Don't wait for anyone to tag you if you're interested in joining in, OK?

Join SlogBite:

• There is no need to register!
• SlogBite is a new concept in site directories (full participation.)
• You decide what specific categories you want to be listed in (you can choose multiple categories.)
• You decide your level of participation, “A” List or “B” List, by following the simple requirements.
• You complete the form that appears in each category.
• If you need a category to be created, it will be done upon request.
• Slogbite is not limited to just blogs. It is open to anyone who has a web-presence.
• SlogBite is meme based (lots of link-love, once officially launched) for the “A” List.
• SlogBite has a varied selection of badges to choose from. Flying one of the badges is a requirement for both the “A” List and the “B” list.
• Upon request, I will create a custom badge for your site that will point directly to the SlogBite category directory of your choice.

Searching for Sites:

• Choose a category that interests you. Then choose a site to visit by clicking on their “most representative” post (”See the Best before you see the Rest”.) This way you start out with their best post that site has to offer in this category; a great way to browse sites; or
• Type in a keyword that may be found in a site name, the representative post or the site description and “enter.”
• Both options are directly under the SlogBite banner.

This blog is currently added to these categories: Expatriate, Personal Diary, Finland Blogs.

I'm going to tag these following bloggers:

Callalily Space
Nyumix
Choc Mint Girl
Island Paradise
Miss Body Beautiful
Palms of My Hands
Pinoy World
Ritzchelle
So Cute
Unpredictable Life

Meet Other Christian Singles

Here's another website I found for a certain group of single people, namely Christians. Have a hard time trying to find a date in your area? Well, why don't you try joining Christian Dating? It's free and you can enlarge your chances of meeting the right person for you since there are many members there.

You'll never know where you'll find your spouse. Look at me! I found it through an online penpal club and we both never thought it would happen he he...If you decide to try the site, good luck then! May you find the best person to be with...

Flock Together, Gothic People!

They say that birds of a feather flock together and that's true. What's more fun than to be among those people who understand you well, right? Well, if you're a goth and you want to find another place to chat with people of the same interest, then Goth Dating is the right site for you. It's free and registering only takes a couple of minutes.

Good luck in making more friends from all over the world via this site and have plenty of gothic fun!!! *wink*

Chat with Fellow Fit Buddies!

A friend of mine married a guy who's so fit. He loves working out every day for hours and he's a vegetarian. He wants his wife to eat healthily, too. Are you that kind of person, too? Maybe you're single and you need to find other people of the same interest to hang out with or to chat with? Well, then, you only need to go to this Fitness Singles Community where you can join for free and you can possibly find activity partners...or lifetime partners. Who knows? ;-D Life has many surprises, anyway.

Jewish Online Forum

As social beings, we need to interact and share our thoughts and ideas with other human beings. Through our interaction with other human beings, we can learn SO many more things that we couldn't possibly learn on our own. I've enjoyed the benefits of joining an online forum that helped me find information about what I needed to do before I could move to Finland. Through that forum, I found my first friends in Finland.

Sometimes there are no better people who can understand you than those who have gone through the same experiences, don't you agree? If you click on Jewish Chat, then you can share with other Jewish about anything on earth. I believe that true friends can be found through the internet. Look at how many blogger friends I have found! And more than that, I found my husband through the internet he he he...

So if you feel that you want to extend your world and find other Jewish friends, why don't you check out this free site?

3BT: Random Days

1. Hubby got headset for free from one of the computer stores he frequented due to his job and he gave it to me HUE HE HE HE HE HE...

2. Today I found The Undomestic Goddess - Sophia Kinsella on a discount in a bookstore here (they're having summer sale). It was supposed to cost €10.90 but I bought it for only €3.90. WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I spoke in Finnish there even though I knew one of them spoke perfect English HE HE HE HE...Good practise! ;-D

3. When I walked home, a boy on a bike greeted me and I greeted him back with a smile. Yesterday two boys greeted me, but I was too shocked to greet them back as it all happened too fast he he he...

4. I've begun to see more flowers blooming here and there. Summer's heerrreeeeee!!!

5. I've got a date with my new friend this Friday. Since hubby's going to have a boys' only night out, then I can have this date with her HO HO HO HO HO HO...

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6. God's PERFECT timing. Upon reviewing my past, now I understand more why He wanted me to wait and wait and wait. Some things in the past that were as clear as mud have become crystal clear now and I'm THANKFUL for His open and closed doors and for His temporary blocked doors.

7. Talking to my Mom via Skype again. I always HAVE FUN talking to her, listening to her stories of my relatives so that I know how they're doing these days. ;-D And hearing her say that she'd stock up some of my fave food prior to my visiting Indo made me SO HAPPY HE HE HE HE HE HE...

And the fact that she supported my wish to go to Singapore (if we have enough money) even though that meant that I'd be having less time to be with them meant THE WORLD to me. She's always SO supportive!!!

8. Meeting an old friend in YM and being able to chat with her for a long time. WHOOOPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I truly missed talking to her as she'd been too busy to catch up via emails, so that was really a WONDERFUL opportunity to catch up with her. ;-D

9. Took a nap for 2,5 hours yesterday. Boy, I definitely needed that!!! Having PMS makes me feel tired so easily. (Unfortunately, just like the image below, I also drool while sleeping LOL LOL LOL!!! But I have no shame in admitting it hi hi hi...)

10. Peace of mind, a nice bed, a nice apartment (albeit slightly dusty due to my laziness HA HA HA HA HA), health, and a funny, wacky, loving husband who ALWAYS makes me laugh (even when he's not trying to do so HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...)

A Foodie's Website!

By now most of you probably know that I'm a foodie. I love browsing for recipes online and trying out new recipes. Unfortunately I haven't had enough time to try out more recipes lately, but I've found another good recipe site for you to try in case you love cooking and baking. And if you're also fond of sharing your own recipe, you can become a member of this site and put up your recipes there.

What I love about this foodie's website are these:

1. They provide complete nutritional facts for every recipe. Thus if you're truly health-conscious, you can search for the most suitable recipes for your needs here. Plus if you want to know the nutritional values of a recipe for FREE, then you can submit it to this website.

2. A very practical glossary. The words are highlighted, so if you're a newbie in cooking and baking, you don't have to search high and low for explanations.

3. Readers can submit their own reviews. I've always loved this about a food website. After all, even though people have different tastes, but if more people mark the recipe as a great one, then I'll be more liable to try it he he he...

4. They have ALL KINDS of recipes on their site, starting from appetizers, salad, sandwich, diabetic recipes, vegetarian recipes, etc.

5. Becoming a member is FREE!!!

Even if you're already an expert in cooking and baking (like my Mom), sometimes you want to try other people's recipes, right? Then this is the right website for you to go to, especially if you're planning to have a party and you want to try making or baking something different. You can also discuss ideas to make new recipes and cooking and baking techniques with fellow members.

Ahhh...on my free days later on, I'll make sure I drop by this site again to try something out. Why don't you visit this site, too? ;-D

3BT: Random Days #3

1. Getting more student money which I transferred to my "untouchable account". Now that savings' sum is back to its original sum. HALLELUJAH!!!!!!! ;-D

2. Sweet, sweet nighttime rendezvous with hubby. *wink wink*

3. Green grapes ---> I decided to splurge a little bit on fruit since I had received the student money again HE HE HE HE HE...

4. Pita kebab and salad. MMMMMMMMHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

5. Stealing another kiss from hubby during lunch break at the course today HUE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...

6. Seeing hubby working again in our classroom (our teacher needed help setting up something on her computer) and feeling SO proud of him. I couldn't help feeling, "That's MY man!" *grin*

7. Having a patient hubby. He never tires waking me up with a smile and plenty of kisses HEEEEEEEEE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...THANK YOU SO MUCH, Bonbon!!!

8. Being able to read Japanese comics online for free with English texts HO HO HO HO...I LOVE the internet!!! ;-D

9. Feeling that I've made some progress in learning Finnish. Even though speaking Finnish and listening to native speakers are still tough, but I find that I recognize more words and I remember many more new words than before (especially compared to last year HE HE HE...).

10. It's FRIDAY today and I'm going to my in-laws tomorrow. I'm REALLY looking forward to it HO HO HO HO HO HO HO...In-laws, here I coommmmeeeee!!!

Image taken from www.glitter-graphics.com

Topsy Turvy

Sorry I haven't been around. I've been VERY VERY tired. I think there's some kind of bug going on since today some of us suffer from a headache. Ugh!!! I think I'm going to ask Arttu to coin me again today to make sure I'll be fit tomorrow. I just don't feel 100% myself today, though this morning I felt perfectly fine, but after lunch break it was just horrible. Even our teacher's got a headache today!!!

Anyway, today we received news from our teacher that the course would be continued still, even though the French girl left the class. You see, yesterday we were worried that the course would stop since we once heard that there should be at least 8 students in order for the course to be opened. Phew!!! Yesterday I was a bit sad since if the course stopped, that meant that I wouldn't have enough money to buy the plane ticket. Well, I'd have enough, but that meant that I wouldn't have any spare money to use in Indonesia and that wouldn't be good, right?

And we still don't know if the course is going to continue until the end, since the Swedish guy in our class is waiting for the mine to open again here. He used to work in a mine until it closed down, but there's news already that the mine is going to open again in April or May. If he stops going to our course and works at the mine again, MAYBE the course will stop, but by then, I'll get enough student money to buy a plane ticket to Indo. Phew!!!

Another thing we have to do soon is to find ourselves a training place. Gee...I thought that they'd assign us to do our training somewhere, but now we have to find it ourselves??? We'll see if my husband can help in that area...hmmmm...I'm really not confident enough to ask around to know if they'll accept me as a trainee, you know? HE HE HE HE HE...

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And today our teacher also told us about a national Finnish proficiency exam that would be held NEXT MONTH. If we want to take the test for free, then we should take it during this course. It sounds a bit "silly" to be honest, since we'll have only been learning it for 2.5 months during this course when the exam is held on April 12th, 2008. However, since it's for free, then why not find out how far we'll have gone by then, right? The actual exam fee is around €125 €77.

THAT meant that we'll all have to try and practise MUCH MUCH more. I must say that this is really making me a bit stressful since we're taking the intermediate test as per our teacher's recommendation. If I pass it, it'll make me VERY HAPPY since in 3 years, I can apply for a citizenship without having to take the test again. However, if I fail, at least I know what the exam is all about. I just have to make sure that I don't push myself too much to get good grades and just relax.

This kind of exam reminds me of the free exam that our faculty paid for us on our last semester at the university. It was a grueling affair, taking hours and hours. And we had to do a separate speaking session at TBI (The British Institute) where we were paired up and we had to go into a room where we were asked to do different types on conversations based on pictures or questions. In the room there were one native speaker and one TBI teacher taking notes about our conversation and our conversation was recorded on tape.

I guess that the national Finnish test would be more or less the same (reading comprehension, listening comprehension, grammar, writing, and speaking). The only difference is that we'll only speak to a microphone instead of having to speak with a partner in front of a native speaker.

We'll see how it goes then. That means that I'll probably not be able to blog-hop too much during weekdays, since I'll really focus on learning more Finnish and memorizing more words and reading more Finnish texts until the exam is done. So pardon my absence, okay? I'll try to blog-hop during the weekend, though. Take care, everybody!!!

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Create Your Mobile SMS Service

If you live in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania, behold since you can start getting revenue if you create SMS-service in Fortumo website. There are three types of services available for you, which are:

1. Basic.
2. Advanced.
3. Community.

The basic mobile service is the best choice for you if you don't know much about programming and you own a website or club or agency. In the basic mobile service, you can earn revenue by setting up SMS info, SMS campaign, or SMS chatbox.

If you want to earn revenue from your videos uploaded in youtube or some other sharing community or from SMS chat in Facebook, you can choose the community mobile service. For further info, you can visit the site.

The best part of all is that setting up all three services is for free AND easy. No monthly fee whatsoever. Isn't that WONDERFUL? So what are you waiting for? Let's start earning some money!!!

RadioGrace

I've been looking for Christian radio stations online where I can listen to songs any time just by visiting the site. I don't want to have to download anything as it's just impractical. I've been enjoying the praise and worship songs in Yahoo Messenger, but the song collection hasn't been changed yet, so I'm looking forward to listening to new ones.

Well, finally I found one! RadioGrace, Home School Radio Station is an online radio station programmed by home school students and parents.

They have different types of songs available, such as Rock, Gospel, Contemporary, and Praise and Worship. They feature artists like David Crowder Band, CeCe Winans, Hezekiah Walker, Rebecca St. James, Jeremy Camp, Third Day, and many more. Other than that, you can also apply for their free homeschool newsletter.

It feels good to be listening to new Christian songs that I've never listened to. So far I'm in love with their choice of contemporary Christian songs. Mmmm...Let's keep on glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ!!!

Audio Advertisement on Your Blog!

Want to get more income from your blog? Well, Net Audio Ads gives you an opportunity to earn from your blog by introducing Pay Per Play advertising, which has been around for 2.5 years. Basically it means that every time a visitor comes into your blog, he or she will hear a 5 second audio advertisement. The good news is that the advertisement only plays one time, so your visitors won't be bugged as they have to listen to non-stop advertisements.

Another good news is that the ads they play are related to your blog content. What's more, you don't earn money per click, but per play, so if your blog has many visitors, you'll definitely earn more.

Your basic commission would be 25% of the revenue spent by the advertisers. Plus you can also earn more money by getting referrals (5% of the revenue spent by the advertisers and another 5% from those blogs that your direct referrals bring to join the site). And if you want to know how often they pay you, well, the good news is that they pay you weekly. I personally think that weekly payment is a very good payment system, don't you?

Now you're probably wondering about the cost, eh? Well, joining the site is free. All you need to do is just complete the form and then get your Pay Per Play codes and put them in your blog. If all this sounds interesting to you, why don't you join now?

Talkswitch PBX Phone Systems

Those of you who live in the USA, are you familiar with Talkswitch? If you own a small or medium business in different locations, you may need Talkswitch as it's a PBX Phone System with rich features. It'll definitely help your employees to communicate from the different locations.

What's more, if you click on the above link, you can see the best deal available where you can get free customization and training, free LIFETIME technical support, free tutorial videos, a free 10-selection On-Hold-Music CD, and free technical toolkit among other things. Isn't that great? You can save a lot of money by getting all these things without paying a dime. Other than that, Best Deal Talkswitch also offers wiring, cabling, and installation throughout America. I think it's a worry-free purchase, don't you think so?