Saturday, January 31, 2009

25 Things About Me. (A meme)

This crazy meme was sent to me in Facebook, but from now on I'll try to write more of my blog and less Facebook stuff, so here we go.

"You are supposed to write a note with 25 random things about yourself. At the end, you choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you."

I'll try to keep this trivial, non-political and light-hearted but sincere. No whining about Putin, Bush, climate change and human rights this time. (But trust me; more posts on those coming up!)


1. Those are my eyes.

2. I just dyed my hair a bit darker, so I guess my hair colour is now "dark blonde". And I guess my original hair colour is a very Nordic "Messy Darkish Blondish": I get blonder stripes easily in summer because I swim outside whenvever I get an opportunity, and I have hints of red pigment, too. But here are the News: I have huge stripes of grey above my left ear.

3. I am a Helsinki girl. My grandparents lived here, too. Most of my relatives live here. I love travelling, but I have never actually wanted to move elsewhere.

4. Of all forms of arts, music and literature are the most precious to me.

5. I like music which is composed and played skillfully. Soul, jazz, "classic" progressive rock... "Complicated" music, like Mr HP put it. When driving I usually listen to Groove FM and sing all the soul classics so dear to me. At home it is nice to listen to classical music, but in the car I get a headache if I listen to classical piano.

6. When I was 17 I borrowed the ID of a friend of mine, because I had to get to Tavastia, the number One rock club in Helsinki, to see Pekka Pohjola's gig. The bouncers were, and still are, well-known of the fact no minor can sneak in. The music was excellent! (And my classmate had a driver's licence, so she did not need the papers. Well, neither did she want to see Pekkis, either.) For me, that one was only the first of many Pohjola gigs, I tried to be in Tavastia every time he played there.

7. I cried last November when I was in Berlin and heard Pohjola had passed away.



8. I cried at the Pohjola Tribute gig 14 January.

9. Enough of all this crying: I laugh a lot. I enjoy being with friends who make me laugh and who enjoy laughing. For example, the gang with which we travel to Football events are like that. I love telling and hearing jokes. I am constantly trying to learn new ones and pass the oldies forward!

10. I can't draw. Not at all. Or maybe I could if I really tried, but I am not interested.

11. I can't cook anything fancy. Or maybe I could if I really tried, but I am not interested.

12. I am really, really good at baking! The sweet buns I make are most delicious. I can do cakes, too. And bread. With freshly baked, hot bread the best topping is real butter.

13. I love jams. Cherry, blackberry, blackcurrant jam, and marmalades... I have to have several in the fridge all the time. And I can't picture pancakes without my favourite: apple jam!

14. I have never been in the USA. And neither in the Southern America. Been to nowhere in America! But I'd very much love to go.

15. The most famous person by whom I have been kissed is Francis Ford Coppola.

16. I hate warm milk in most of its forms. Except that sometimes I like drinking a cup of hot chocolate, but it must be self-made with lots and lots of cocoa (so that I can't taste and smell the milk).

17. Usually I don't like soups, because very often there is warm milk in them. Though I do like Russian-style selyanka (which I have in Estonia all the time) and bortsch.

18. I love pickled cucumber, made in Russian style, but I do not like the sugary, Nordic versions of those. I hate the Felix crap.

19. When I was a kid my mom took me to cinema every other weekend. When I was 5 my favourite film was "Sleeping Beauty" because the dress of the Princess changed colour in the final scene.

20. I stopped being religious at the age nine when I saw a film on the life of Jesus. (To tell ou the truth, I don't think I was religiuos before, but I migh have thought there could be something like a God somehere.) In this film the Son of the God was so human, so likeable, so wonderful guy. I even read the Bible after seeing that film - and immediately realised I truly am interested in history and fairy tales, but the God is not speaking to me, because there is no god. No God could make his beautiful, loving son suffer like that! And much later I learned this breath-taking film was directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

21. I fell in love with mr HP when he told me one of his favourite directors is Pasolini.

22. One of my favourite directors is Francois Truffaut. One of my favourite actors is Juliette Binoche. Other good ones: Jeanne Moreau, Monica Vitti, Gerard Depardieu, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Monty Clift, Ava Gardner, Tauno Palo. And Liz Talor! And John Wayne. I love everything with John Wayne. Actors everyone else seems to love, but whom I don't find particularly good: Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner (and he is not a good director, either).

23. I love the French language. Sometime I want to see some French film just because I enjoy listening to that beautiful language so much. I am refreshing my own language skills in a funny but very productive way: I sing French children's songs. With this.

24. I get bored easily, if I have to wait or just sit or stand still for a long time. That's why I always have a book or two with me everywhere I go. Or three. (And that's why I never carry too small a hand bag!) Should I forget those, I write myself. I aways carry a note book or two with me. Or three.

25. I wish I could be a bit more Buddhist and deeply understand how the inner strength is everything you really have. How happiness, confidence, beauty and peace do not come from outside, but they are resting inside you all the time. A lot of work required here.

* * * * *

I'll "tag" more of You in Facebook. Here I forward the challenge to Timo Virtala, Mane the Mean, Tiina Kaarela, Sedis, Oderazzi, Halo Efekti (Except that she has already done this!) and of course, Vaiheinen.

I was tagged by PG, who will be informed through Facebook as well.

3 comments:

Halo Efekti said...

Kiitos kutsusta vastaamaan. Vastaukseni on täällä.

70-luvun alussa kävin usein Wigwamin konserteissa, Pekka Pohjola soitti silloin siinä. Jännä että silloin proge oli nuorisomusiikkia.

Tuli mieleen viikolla aiemmin että olen joskus aikoinaan nähnyt Elisabeth Taylorin ja Monty Cliftin tähdittämän elokuvan Raintree Country, "Sadepuun maa" 1957. Muistan itkeneeni sitä katsoessa -ajattelin katsoa sen uudestaan. Sinäkin saattaisit pitää siitä.

70-luvulla kävin äitini (!) kanssa katsomassa Truffaut'n The Man Who Loved Women - se oli jotenkin hassu elokuvakokemus (seurastakin johtuen) ja jäänyt mieleeni.

Ensimmäinen näkemäni Pasolini elokuva oli 70-luvun alussa Decamerone.

Kiitokset haasteesta ja mukavaa jatkoa sinulle!

Vaiheinen said...

I have answered, but in finnish because of context.

Anonymous said...

oh, kiitos kutsusta... mutta 25! seitsemän oli niin paljon helpompaa, mutta 25... minä ainakin nyt menen ensin nukkumaan...