Trouble Focusing

Lately I'm kinda worried about my own ability to focus on one thing. These days when I'm in front of the computer, it's SO easy to multitask. For example I'm writing a blog post or composing an email, and then suddenly an FB notification pops up and I'm tempted to click on it and respond before continuing writing my blog post or email. Other times I'm reading something online (or reading a Finnish book while using the online dictionaries) and again a notification for email or FB comment pops up and I'm tempted to respond to that first. Other times I need a break from reading something and then I switch to youtube (for example) or I'm doing something online and then someone sends me a chat request. These days I find that it's so easy to just jump from one thing to another without missing a beat. Am I the only one who feels this way, I wonder?

Mind you, I'm not even "connected online" through my mobile. I do get online sometimes when there's free Wifi on our holidays and while "doing my thing" in the upstairs toilet. I can't imagine how much harder it is to focus on something when you're also connected through your mobile 24/7 and then your mobile beeps whenever there's a new message. It gets easier and easier to get distracted these days. I wonder if in the long run this may cause concentration problems for the younger generation, because in the past there were less distractions and the pace of life was much slower. Even now I feel that I'm losing my ability to concentrate on ONE thing at a time. Gotta learn how to focus again (too much temptation LOL!!!).


P.S. GREAT news!!!!! A while ago I posted that a friend of mine may be having autoimmune disease, so she had a thorough check-up again and now she's been CLEARED from that first diagnosis. Another health issue of another friend's Mom has also been wiped away after a second check-up. SO HAPPY to hear these!!! :-D

Whaddup

For the past few days I've been trying WhatsApp for PC because some friends wanted to chat with me using that program. I only have 7 trial days, but I don't think I'm going to pay 15 USD to use this program because of several reasons.

So many people nowadays are connected all the time, but not me. I don't know if I want to be connected 24/7. Even my bro once said how cool WhatsApp was (he uses Android), but I was hesitating. I once downloaded WhatsApp to my mobile, but because I don't have an ongoing internet subscription for my mobile, I realized that it kept on trying to connect even though I'd turned it off, so I decided to delete it. Plus I can't possibly use my mobile during work (always put it in a locker), so what's the use of getting 24/7 internet connection for my mobile if I don't have to travel a lot for work anyway? (Because I can still use my PC to connect at home when I don't have work)

What about WhatsApp for PC? Well, first of all due to the fact that I'm not connected 24/7, I find that chatting via WhatsApp is so...fragmented. Another part of the reason is also 'coz of my random work schedule as well as time differences between me and those friends in WhatsApp. So whenever I log in online using my PC, I've found tons of messages already going back and forth between a few friends and it feels...surreal.


 
I mean in the past none of this could happen. I felt as though I had entered a room filled with a few friends that had stopped talking (and sometimes they've already gone entirely from that room by the time I log in), but I could still view their WHOLE conversation if I wanted to ---> This also takes a lot of time if I log in after a few hundred of messages have been recorded. And moreover, commenting on their conversation felt like "lagging behind" because it had happened already.

I do feel that way sometimes with emails. Sometimes after a summer vacation with hubby when we don't check emails regularly, when we go back home then there are tons of them to read and then I have to think of which important emails to reply to first, but it's not as bad as the feeling of being "left behind" in this kind of WhatsApp chat program. I felt confused, not knowing where to start after being "left behind". Should I start babbling about another topic altogether?


But now after trying WhatsApp for a few days, I begin to understand more why those people in Indo who use BB (Blackberry) chat or WhatsApp to chat are ALWAYS online, because it can be addictive and once you start, it's hard to stop because otherwise you'll miss SO MUCH - logging on every once in a while will only cause so many fragmented conversations. On the other hand, it bothers me to remember the annoyance I felt at being around people who are always checking their mobile and typing stuff and updating the latest photos while they're spending time with me. I also have the fear of turning into those people who have to be "connected" all the time, because when I am spending quality time with my hubby and relatives, I want to focus on them instead of cyber world. And I want them to focus on spending time with me, too. 

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In Indo, we have this term called "eksis" (yeah, based on the word "exist", though it doesn't really mean the same - I think it means "being active in cyber world"). Some people, if they haven't been active in some type of online group/site, consider themselves as "they don't exist". If they're so active in those groups, then they "eksis". It's kinda ironic to think of the pressure to "eksis" these days in Indo, because you DO exist even though you don't "eksis" in cyber world. 


I don't know about you, though...any POV? I do like technology and as you all know, I found love through the internet, but sometimes I feel that we're going into "uncharted territories" (boy, do I feel old/old-fashioned writing these words HA HA HAAHHHH...) and I'm not talking merely about cyber world, but the advance of technology in general. I read an article the other day that the impact of this "online world" can only be researched after a decade or two (if I'm not mistaken), because the current generation (Generation Z ) has spent their entire lives surrounded by the internet. 

Note: Maybe in the future I may feel differently about WhatsApp - dunno. But for the time being I just want to record this here for future reference.

Technology: Then and Now

In this modern age where kids start using computers at such a young age, it seems that my childhood was like a "caveman period" for the new generation of kids. The other day in Facebook someone posted somebody else's picture that made me laugh so much.

It was a picture of a cassette and a pencil next to it. Below it is written: Kids These Days Wouldn't Know The Link Between These Two Objects.

It took me a split second to realize what it meant, then I started laughing. I remember the first time I had ever bought my own cassette. It was a NKOTB (New Kids on The Block) cassette which my cousin and I played over and over again on the tape recorder. One time it was jammed and the roll of tape got entangled inside the tape recorder (see the pic below). I had to stop it and take it out manually and then roll it back neatly using the help of the pencil. However, the second time it happened, I had to actually open the case of the cassette and roll it into place by hand VERY VERY slowlyyyyy so that it wouldn't slip 'coz then I'd have to do it all over again...

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Today I've also been talking to another hometown girl who's just married a Finnish guy and has just moved to Finland two months ago. They also met online, but I realized how different it was back then when I started getting to know Arttu and the time she spent online with him.

She told me that they spent a lot of time sending messages via Facebook because it was cheaper than sending SMSes. When I first got to know Arttu better in 2000, mobile phone providers had just started their SMS services. Back then I still had my 56 Kbps modem to connect to the internet (yeah, so very slow!), so for me it was much cheaper to send SMSes compared to being online all the time. These days in Indonesia there are so many internet providers with faster connections and cheaper prices, so it's natural that it's getting cheaper to connect with people via Facebook or Blackberries compared to sending SMSes.

Talking to the younger generation makes me feel like I came from a distant age and time ha ha ha ha...It doesn't necessarily mean I feel old, though, but it's such a huge contrast that happened in just a few years (I was still using the 56Kbps when I left Indo in 2007 and nowadays the internet connection can be as fast as 1Mbps or even faster than that - depending on what kind of services you subscribe to).

When I look back to my childhood, I remember so many wonderful traditional children's games that we had with my friends and neighbours. Kids these days don't know those wonderful games anymore 'coz they grow up with Wii and stuff like that. These are some of the wonderful games that we played in the olden days:

Congklak
Bola Bekel (explanation can be found in the middle of the page)
Hopscotch

There are also some running/jumping games, but I don't really remember the rules anymore nor could I find any info in English. All I knew was that we had so much fun!!! :-D

Health News + Moving in Progress

Yesterday nite we heard shocking news about FIL. He was taken to Rovaniemi hospital due to some health problem (there's no full-blown hospital in Sodankylä, so women who want to give birth have to go to Rovaniemi hospital), but they said that they'd take him back to Sodankylä health centre perhaps today. Just now I received a reply from MIL that FIL has been taken back to Sodankylä and she's glad that the condition isn't any worse. Remember that FIL has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease since 2006 if I remember correctly (or at least around that time).



I'll let you know about his condition later on when we've heard more news about it. When it comes to moving, we still have to move some stuff to the new house 'coz the final moving date is next Sunday. We've gotten rid of most of the things we have here. There are still some boxes that need to be moved and we haven't taken down our bed and my computer table plus my computer (today R2 took down his computer plus the computer table).

If we happen to move to the new house faster than Sunday, we'll only be able to get online on Monday (the internet connection is moved there only on Monday), so I'll catch up with all of you later, OK?


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P.S. Do you ever wonder how much stuff you've been piling up over the years? Every time we move to a new place, we're amazed at the amount of things (plus junk) that have piled up, even when we lived in a small apartment (the first apartment we lived together was only 49 square metres).

Randomz Babblz

Since this post may be filled with ramblings, I'll just write a list he he he...

1. SO THANKFUL that we've got enough money to book a 2-week trip to Rhodes Island, Greece, next June. R2 has just paid the down payment. WHOOOPPEEEEEEEEEE!!! This will be our first trip ever to that place he he he he...---> We didn't really plan on going anywhere, so it was kind of a spur-in-the-moment decision he he...

Actually we don't know yet what to see, so any tips and tricks if you've been there before? Well, I'm going to browse around later on to find out what things we have to try or see or visit. ;-D

2. Remember what I said about the cheap used books that I bought from the library? Turns out I get a 50% discount since I'm considered a "worker" there he he he...The usual price for an adult book is €1 whereas a children's or teenager's book is only €0.50 (doesn't matter how thick they are or whether they're hardcovered or not).

I've bought 8 books so far WHOOOPEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I figured that I'm going to really force myself to read more Finnish and it's nicer to have my own books at home so I can read in peace without any hurry ho ho ho ho...Plus now I have enough space to put my books since our new apt. is bigger HO HO HO HO HO...

3. Chatted with two of my best friends on different days. It's funny that we have more time to talk online than in real life, especially since some of them have kids already (young kids!!!) he he he he he...So I'm THANKFUL for the internet!!!

4. My mobile bill has gone up a lot since my Mom learnt how to send the SMS HA HA HA HA...Doesn't matter, though as long as we can still afford it. It used to be only €1 a month and now it's gone up to €5-6, but at least I'm having MUCH MORE FUN with my Mom and I get plenty of updates about the whole family's stories. :-D

5. Called my Mom today. I LOVE talking to her!!! ;-D Always has and always will be.

From the emails my friends and I send to one another, I've begun to realize even more how BIG my Mom's influence is on me. She's like the warm, bright light in my life...always supportive and positive, never critical yet always ready to guide me gently if I'm lost. :-D I'm THANKFUL to have her as a Mom.

6. This Friday we're going to load some more boxes to our new apartment. Next week will be busier than ever, since we HAVE to move at the latest on Sunday, February 15th as our ADSL line will be moved to the new apartment that day. :-D

7. My third project at work is going so slowly. There have been many other side tasks I have to do, so I can't focus much on that. Plus it took me a few days to find out what I wanted to do. But I think I can finish it since I still have time until the end of this month. I just hope it will be good enough. :-D

3BT: Random Days

1. Watching one session of the Olympics at my in-laws. Arttu, MIL, FIL, Arttu's brother, and I squeezed in my in-laws big bed to enjoy the show he he he...There's a nice benefit of owning only on TV in the house. Everybody gets to watch it together.

2. Arttu took the initiative to warm up the part of my bed and the blanket before I went to bed. Mmmmm...THANK YOU, Bunny!!!

3. Giving something to someone and being able to help that person do something (it's a secret) HE HE HE HE HE HE...Feeling useful feels GREAT!!!

4. Sharing many laughter with hubby.

5. Having a hubby that CARES. No more comment needed here.

6. Chatting with one of my closest friends (found her online accidentally). It's been quite a while since we did that and it's been quite a while since she's been able to write emails, so it was really fun!!! ;-D

7. The internet is ON again HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...

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