Watched: Avatar: Fire and Ash šŸæ

Saw it in a theatre as maybe this kind of spectacles need to be seen.

How can something that looks so gorgeous be so boring? And takes more than 3 hours! Someday perhaps we will see something this impressive with a script to match

ā€The most beautiful vintage 1990’s lampā€

No

angrily pushing stuff off the table.gif

How do freelancers and maybe small-scale SaaS service stewards handle copywriting? Who do you trust to write your marketing copy?

I can handle Finnish myself, but I strongly believe that copy text is a job for a professional writer who is native speaker of the language

I am entertained by multitude of weight-loss ads I am subjected to in Instagram, especially that promise me major gains by walking less than I do on a regular day. I wonder what is the base level if 30 minutes of treadmill walking would do anything to you? (And yes, walk if you can, it is good)

I couldn’t have a cat because I am so weak and easy to manipulate (just ask my kids).

ā€Oh, little kitty you are starving (again), poor thing 🄺. Yes, we haven’t had the fourth breakfast today. Here you areā€

Year in review 2025

This is my year in review post for 2025

last sunset of the year 2025 in Helsinki, Finland

Theme of the year 2025: Focus

I wanted to make conscious choices of my time. I wanted to concentrate on creating and actively doing. Professionally I wanted to concentrate on the things I am really good at. In personal life I wanted to have more concious choosing where I spend my time. Here are some things that I specifically wanted to concentrate on:

  • Learning Chinese – I use apps like Skritter and Du Chinese to keep up my language learning habit. I also try to follow Chinese language podcasts and watch Chinese language TV shows to improve my understanding of the spoken language

  • Playing piano – I started this in January 2024 and wanted to keep on doing it and slowly improve and most of all have fun while doing it

  • Reading books – tried to go out of my comfort zones a bit but ended up in my happy place – cozy, optimistic sci-fi

  • Writing my journal – wanted to build a habit both personally and professionally writing down things the old fashioned way using fountain pen and paper

  • Creating order in to the universe – this is mostly gardening and organizing home but also some health and mental health stuff (more of that later)

  • Anything creative that is not just passive consumption

  • Resting – putting aside moments for just lying down in the hammock and be present with the universe

  • Exercise

And things I didn’t want to choose or tried to do far less than before

  • Doomscrolling

  • Being subjected to content choices of someone else, be it a human or an algorithm of any kind. Especially I tried to weed out AI slop out of my life

  • Excessive following of the news

Report card

I think I did pretty well on the positive side of the theme. I filled up a journal book almost to the last page. I filled up four draftbooks with my doodles and drawings. I often spent an hour in the morning concentrated in drawing and writing. Surprisingly, that ate away time for reading and piano playing – there was far less spent time doing those but I guess it is inevitable with a limited time budget someone working full time (or a bit more) has. I use Forest app to track concentrated time and limit distractions and I think this is a satisfactory result. Forest app screenshot that says there was roughly 142 hours of concentrated workd during 2025

Professionally I’ve been much more conscious about my time and made peace with what modern software development at enterprise customers is. I can choose my thoughts and I can imprint my choices to the software I create. Yes, there are LLMs there but whatever I release is my responsibility. And! I want to consciously know how to do things myself. These giant indeterministic calculators need human oversight and some good quality software will still be written by humans.

On the other side of the coin, I still often start my mornings by checking Bluesky and the news and start off day slightly agitated. This is something I will try to address 2026. There must be better ways to start your day than read about swings wildly at what is going on in the world. I don’t want to block out what is going on in the world and I want to be active part of building the better world. I am however convinced following the world with the speed of breaking news is not beneficial to me or actually a way to make things better.

Health and Mental Health

This year I’ve been very active making sure all the health issues that got postponed or completely forgotten during the covid years were finally taken care of. I also finally got into therapy to address my anxities. I am healthier than I started the year 2025 and I am much, much attuned to my feelings. My bad habit of ignoring or suppressing “bad” feelings has not been good for someone very good at catastrophizing. Also, it seems a lot of what I thought was anxiety was actually physical symptoms of something I had ignored. Better treatment of my existing conditions lead to better mental health.

I still have a lot to learn about myself and especially on how to control my body’s reactions to my stronger feelings but now I least have a map and person supporting me.

I added yoga to my physical routines and I have dabbled a little in meditation. My gym routine is strong and I feel very good right now. It has not been true for me always – someone living with multiple chronic diseases. Happy to feel good right now knocks wood

2025 – Year of love

shadow of two people standing very close to each other

Year was filled with love. I started the year dating someone, that didn’t last but was a good relationship. Like last three years I dated actively and in May I met someone I fell in love and was very happy with. Even if that relationship ended (for reasons I will not go to), I am super happy about how it filled my year with passion, friendship, laughter, and companionship. Nothing makes you happier than meeting someone that appreciates your quirky side.

I finally figured out that ethical non-monogamy is my choice. I’ve been dating people for last three years actively after break up from my second major relationship. Honesty and openness is something that is I value above all.

Watched: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring šŸæ

long time no see. Still such a lovely adaptation and a great cast. And many of the visual effects still holding decently. Balrog is impressive

If you start playing Twisted Sister’s We’re not Going to Take it at 11:48:42pm today, the first thing you’ll hear in 2026 is ā€You’re all worthless and weakā€

I hope I am doing this internet memetics thing correctly

(Happy new year, this is my yearly shitpost to celebrate)

Currently reading: Taru Sormusten herrasta 1: Sormuksen ritarit (tarkistettu suomennos) by J. R. R. Tolkien šŸ“š

Reading Lord of the Rings for Christmas again

Watched: Nouvelle Vague šŸæ

I might not be enough of an movie nerd to get all the references but yes, it is a perfect movie. Fun, smart, and makes me want to visit Paris again

Currently reading: The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older šŸ“š

Finished reading: The Anxious Person’s Guide to Non-Monogamy by Lola Phoenix šŸ“š

If there was a book for me right now, it is this. Loving and emphatetic, sometimes hard to follow but definitely worth a read

Norwegians have a weird sense of what is edible

A bag of potato chips. Label says – and sadly the label is correct – ā€dill pickleā€ taste.

Currently reading: The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older šŸ“š

Watched: Zombieland šŸæ 🤘

Watched: Sinister 2 šŸæ

here we go again 😰

Watched: The Last of Us S1E3, Long, Long Time šŸæ

yes, I watch this if I need to cry. This episode and movie Coco – always work 😭

Watched: Sinister šŸæ

My kids made me watch this and I don’t how I am going to sleep in anytime soon

Happy fountain pen day to everyone!

Empty page of a draft book. One Pilot Parallel, one Kaweco Sport and four Lamy Safari’s (one of them is really AL-star)

It is wet, gray, and warm in Helsinki. Capturing the beauty of it is hard but not impossible

View out of my kitchen/living room window. The faint light coming from streetlights show glimpses of my furniture. Street lights peek through fog they were old stars

Inktober day 31 – award. I deserve this

#inktober

Quick fountain pen draft of a metal cup with embossing of roman numeral I on the side

Inktober day 30 – vacant

#inktober

Abandoned hotel in desert. Sign says no vacancy but even the rats left years ago

Inktober day 29: Lesson

#inktober

Person in a dress pointing at a whiteboard. There is a word ā€Ćµppetundā€ on the board. ƕppentund is Estonian for ā€a lessonā€

Inktober day 28: skeletal

#inktober

There is giant rock or is it a giant skull on top of a bed rock and three smaller rocks that look a bit like vertebrae. A humanoid shape robot is collecting something to its mining cart

Inktober day 27: onion

#intober

Two onions that kind of look like a heart together&10;&10;Fineliner pen

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