Regarding Finland Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It won its complete independence in 1917. During World War II, it was able to successfully defend its freedom and resist invasions by the Soviet Union - albeit with some loss of territory. In the subsequent half century, the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy; per capita income is now on par with Western Europe. As a member of the European Union, Finland was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999. more...
Damned Stuff I spoke to my mother this evening and the family is currently in the middle of the "selling grandma's house and getting ready for the estate sale" phase of our post-grams life. It must be amazingly sad for my dad to have to go through all of her stuff and sell/throw out everything.
After I got off the phone, I started thinking about stuff and cursing stuff - which is odd because I have a lot of stuff. Damned stuff. Stupid attachments. I mean, it's not just a coffee table - it's the coffee table my uncle built. It's not just a little roll-top desk, but it's my dad's childhood roll-top desk. That's not just an easel, but it's the one grams used for her painting. Damned stuff. It's just stuff. But not.
Liz y Mark This weekend, Liz (of Liz from happyrobot) married her boy-pal Mark in a nice little ceremony in Park Slope. She looked pretty and they were happy and cake was eaten and champagne glasses were lifted. It was a mini-happyrobot party as well with Nate and wife in attendance, Honky Cracker, Cootie Girl, Becky (i.e. "-b-"), and Cootie's pal Tisha. Oh, our pal Val was there from when everyone worked together at VagueCompanyDotComEra.com - you remember her? She was the one that was mugged (and hit in the head) on the same day they announced that our company was going belly up. She's nice and was once on Sesame Street as a child.
After. Party. Then we went to Sing Sing for karaoke. See, this is always a problem because CronkyHacker was there and he is from that Boston school of karaoke where they really sing. Well. They know the words. And there is little of that whole "white girl screaming the Grease soundtrack" thing.
Friday Night Our pal Claire had a "green card party" because she finally as issued her green card (oddly, it's not really green). It was a grand time. This guy from Finland was in the bar and his friends had stood him up - so we adopted him. It was fun. Sushi was delivered. Sake was had. Cake was also consumed.
Reliving my youth Sometimes my computer finds itself on the 80's playlist I set up in iTunes. Wait. First, I love those smart-playlists thing. I have set up a bunch with the conditions as time periods - i.e. "Pre-Marriage NYC: 1997-2000" or "Heavy drinking: 1986-1992" or "Herpes flair up: 1978-1984". It's fun, because after a while my brain gets the idea that this is some sort of musical flashback thing and suddenly I remember stupid stuff from my teenage years.
Like how my mom totally dissed New Order's "Shellshock". She basically said something like, "Wow. This is the dumbest song ever." I am sure I was all, "shut up" and took my cassette out of the player and stomped back to my room to pine for Molly Ringwald on my own. Naturally, she was right. That's a pretty stupid song.
You call me on the phone, you left me all alone All I get from you is shellshock Another day goes by and all I do is cry All I get from you is shellshock.
Mirror in the Bathroom? Did I ever tell you how my grandmother once told me to stop playing "Mirror in the Bathroom" (by The English Beat) on the radio anymore? Why she didn't like this song or thought it was inappropriate she never said.
Did I mention that she listened to my show every week in college? Yes, of course I did.
Speaking of teens I still can't grow a decent mustache. And I don't really have herpes.
