Tag: health

Aina ei voi voittaa

Kesän kolme lomaviikkoa tulivat ja menivät, joten tänään koitti paluu töihin ja tavalliseen arkeen. Tässä vaiheessa voinee rehellisyyden nimissä todeta, ettei loma ollut mitenkään erityisen onnistunut tapaus tällä kertaa, vaikka se alkoikin lupaavasti isolla perhereissulla Suomeen. M:n äiti täytti 60 vuotta alkuvuodesta, ja jo viime vuonna hän ilmoitti, ettei aio pitää juhlia vaan tarjoaisi mieluummin koko perheelle (eli M:n vanhemmat, veli ja me kaksi) lomamatkan jonnekin yhdessä. He olivat jo pitkään halunneet käydä Suomessa, mutta sopivaa hetkeä ei ollut löytynyt, joten päätimme tehdä yhteisen matkan, jonka aikana viettäisimme aikaa myös Suomen perheeni kanssa.

Reissu olikin kaikin puolin oikein onnistunut, ja siihen sisältyi niin rentouttavaa mökkeilyä kuin kulttuuritarjontaakin sekä mukavaa oleskelua Raahessa ja yhden päivän visiitit Ouluun ja Helsinkiin. Vietimme paljon aikaa äidin ja isän kanssa, tapasimme muutakin sukua, Oulussa näin rakasta ystäväpariskuntaa ja Helsingissä kävimme Korkeasaaressa, jossa en ole käynyt sitten lapsuuden. Ainoa harmistuttava asia oli se, että isä-parka oli flunssassa melkein koko reissun ajan, ja siitä ehkä arvaattekin, mikä loppulomassa meni pieleen. Saavuttuamme kotiin toisen lomaviikon maanantaina aamupäivästä M alkoi varsin nopeasti niiskuttamaan, ja tiistaihin mennessä päällä oli jo kunnon flunssa.

No, siinä sitä sitten kärvisteltiin koko se viikko, ja kolmaskin lomaviikko meni toipumisen seilatessa edestakaisin. Yhden paremman päivän jälkeen seurasi toinen huonompi, ja sitten taas parani vähän vain huonontuakseen seuraavana päivänä. Kaikki suunnitelmamme peruuntuivat yksi toisensa jälkeen, koska minnekään lähtemisestä ei vaan tullut mitään siinä kunnossa. Onneksi en kuitenkaan itse sairastunut, ja meneehän se loma sisälläkin ollessa… No, viimeisenä viikonloppuna pääsimme kuitenkin ulos syömään ja elokuviin, ja toki kahteen viikkoon mahtui monenlaisia muitakin mukavia hetkiä, vaikka suunnitellut menot eivät toteutuneetkaan. Ensi vuonna otetaan vahinko takaisin ja tehdään lomasta aivan erityisen hyvä – tai ainakin siihen pyritään.

Tämänpäiväistä paluuta töihin varjosti hitusen aamuinen havainto yön aikana tyhjenneestä pyörän takakumista, mutta onneksi työpaikalleni ei ole meiltä pitkä matka, joten olin vain hitusen myöhässä. Töissä oli todella hektistä mutta myös ihanaa, joten kyllä tässä on akut latautuneet loman pettymyksistä huolimatta. Näillä siis eteenpäin, ja koska meillä on molemmilla vielä lomapäiviä jäljellä, jossain vaiheessa loppuvuotta tai ensi kevättä voi vielä ottaa pitemmän pätkän vapaata tai useamman pitkän viikonlopun, joten ei hätä ole tämän näköinen.

Tilannepäivitys

Purin äsken viimeisen pahvilaatikon. Se oli sellainen ärsyttävä “paljon erilaista paperisälää ja yksittäisiä epämääräisiä esineitä, joille ei oikein vaan ole mitään paikkaa” -laatikko, mutta nyt se on purettu, paperit on arkistoitu ja jopa suurimmalle osalle sälästä löytyi joku paikka. (Toistaiseksi) viimeinen puuttuva huonekalu saapuu huomenna ja ensi keskiviikkona meidän pitäisi saada myös uudet pimennysverhot, joiden avulla on tarkoitus päästä eroon aurinkoisten päivien aika tujusta diskoefektistä työhuoneessa, josta saamme kiittää muuten niin ihanan pirteitä oransseja verhoja. Viimeisetkin kattolamput ovat löytäneet oikeat paikkansa ja kaiken kaikkiaan voisi sanoa, että muutto on miltei valmis (no, taulujen ripustamista lukuun ottamatta). Eihän tässä vierähtänytkään kuin puoli vuotta sitä työstäessä.

Toissaviikon loma tuli todellakin tarpeeseen. Ensimmäinen puolikas meni kauheassa stressinpurkutilassa kykenemättä rentoutumaan, ja öiden Technicolor-unet olivat kyllä aivan omaa luokkaansa sekavuudessaan ja eläväisyydessään. Toinen puoli lomasta oli jo rauhallisempaa, kun pystyin viimein päästämään irti loputtomien To do -listojen toteuttamisesta, minkä myötä unimaailmakin rauhoittui. Loman viimeisenä päivänä heräsin kuitenkin kurkkukipuisena ja kuume humahtikin saman tien 39 asteen tuolle puolen. Voi miten tyypillistä. Olin koko sen viikon sairauslomalla ja käytännössä nukuin ensimmäiset neljä päivää miltei kokonaan, kun en muutakaan jaksanut. Sitten kuume alkoi onneksi laskea ja uskaltauduin töihin, joskin tämäkin viikko meni kokonaisuudessaan toipilaana. Vielä nyt, tasan kaksi viikkoa sairastumisen jälkeen, kurkkuun sattuu vähän eikä ääni ole aivan ennallaan, mutta en usko, että tässä tarvitsee enää kauaa kärvistellä. En tiedä oliko kyseessä influenssa vai vain todella tuju flunssa, mutta toivottavasti ei tule uudestaan.

Olen huomannut tulleeni allergiseksi ylenmääräiselle tavaralle ja sille, jos tavarat eivät ole oikeilla paikoillaan (tai vielä pahempaa, niille ei ole oikeaa paikkaa). Onneksi M on myöskin siistin kodin ystävä, joten asiasta ei yleensä tule ongelmaa, mutta tämä venynyt muutto on selkeästi pahentanut tilannetta. Ylipäänsä luulen, että nyt tekisi hyvää opetella tulemaan toimeen vähän rennommalla otteella stressaamisen välttämiseksi. Ylenmääräinen neuroottisuus lienee oire pitkittyneestä stressistä, joka ei varmaan ihan sillä puolentoista viikon lomalla vielä hellittänyt otettaan, mutta olo on joka tapauksessa parempi kuin mitä se oli vielä kuukausi sitten. Kaipaan uusia, fiksuja rutiineja päivään työnteon lisäksi, ja ylipäänsä haluan päästä tilanteeseen, missä virtaa riittää velvoitteiden lisäksi muuhunkin elämään. Siinäpä opettelemista tälle keväälle.

Jaksaa, jaksaa (remontti, osa 5)

Tässä osassa mukaudumme suunnitelmien muutokseen. M sairastui keskiviikkona flunssaan, mikä tietenkin kariutti aikeemme käydä rautakaupassa hakemassa pyöristävää listaa lattian kynnystä varten. Ensimmäisenä sairaspäivänään hän kuitenkin tapetoi urhoollisesti sen ainoan seinänpätkän, jota ei saatu viime viikonloppuna tehtyä valmiiksi, koska piti odotella betonin kuivumista. Lauantaihin mennessä flunssa oli jo selkeästi paranemaan päin, joten tartuimme härkää sarvista ja aloimme maalata suunnitellusti.

Homma meni hyvin siihen asti, että ensimmäisen kerroksen valmistuttua tajusimme, ettei maalia mitenkään olisi tarpeeksi toista saati sitten kolmatta kerrosta varten. Lisäksi maalin kuivuessa kävi selväksi, ettei kyseessä sittenkään tainnut olla aivan sama maali kuin millä seinät ja katto on aiemmin maalattu. Kyseessä oli ns. jämämaali, jonka saimme M:n vanhempien varastosta, ja se on kyllä hyvin lähellä seinien alkuperäistä maalia, mutta sävy on hitusen kylmempi ja mielestäni se kiiltää aavistuksen enemmän. Kyse voi toki olla auringon vaikutuksesta vanhaan maalipintaan ja ehkä betonipölyäkin on sen verran jäljellä, että seinät ja katto vaikuttavat mattapintaisemmilta kuin uusi maalipinta. No, oli miten oli, aivan saumattomaan lopputulokseen ei tällä maalilla päästä.

Näin ollen nyt on edessä uuden maalin osto, ja mietinnässä onkin, että pitäisikö yrittää hankkia vähän mattapintaisempaa maalia vai jatkaa samalla kuin millä nyt aloitettiin. Lopputulos on joka tapauksessa se, ettei maalaus tule tänä viikonloppuna valmiiksi, ja kaiken muun hyvän lisäksi heräsin tänä aamuna itse väsyneenä ja flunssaisena. Jee.

No, näillä mennään kun ei muutakaan ole. Koska eilinen remonttipäivä jäi vähän tyngäksi maalin loputtua, pesin remonttihuoneen kammottavan pölyiset ja muutenkin likaiset ikkunat, jotta saisimme hommia sitä kautta vähän enemmän eteenpäin. Haaveilin peseväni tänään loput kämpän ikkunat, mutta nyt ulkona sataa vettä ja lienee parempi muutenkin keskittyä lepäämiseen, jotta flunssa ei äityisi turhaan pahemmaksi.

Ärsyttää.

Oviaukon korvaava seinä ulkopuolelta (yksi kerros maalia)

Oviaukon korvaava seinä ulkopuolelta (yksi maalikerros)

Oviaukon korvaava seinä sisäpuolelta (yksi maalikerros)

Oviaukon korvaava seinä sisäpuolelta (yksi maalikerros)

Ulkoseinän sauma (kaksi maalikerrosta)

Ulkoseinän sauma (kaksi maalikerrosta)

Katon sauma (kaksi maalikerrosta)

Katon sauma (kaksi maalikerrosta)

Remontti siis jatkuu ensi viikonloppuna, ja ehkäpä se tulee silloin jopa valmiiksi. Ensi viikon torstaina tapahtuu kuitenkin jotain, jota olen odottanut jo pitkään ja jolle olen varannut perjantain lomapäivän kokonaisuudessaan, oli flunssa tai ei. Silloin nimittäin kauan odotettu Mass Effect -pelisarjan seuraava osa pamahtaa Euroopan markkinoille, ja sarjaa alusta asti seuranneen suurfanin koneelta se toki jo löytyy esiladattuna, joten tämä tyttö aikoo sukeltaa Andromeda-galaksin syövereihin heti perjantaina herättyään. Vähän ankean virallisen julkaisutrailerin sijaan linkkaan itselleni enemmän kolahtaneeseen vanhempaan traileriin, jossa näkyy sekä peliä itseään, sen tekoa että minua kiinnostavampi naispuolinen pelihahmovaihtoehto (pelissä voi pelata joko Sara tai Scott Ryderia, joista molemmat ovat pelissä joka tapauksessa):

Visits

Okay, so I cheated a bit. I wrote the bulk of the previous post on Sunday morning, but then all of a sudden time (quite thematically appropriately) got away from me, so I had to leave it as a draft when we left to meet M’s friends. Which became more of an adventure than we expected, because buses completely screwed us over, and we ended up spending 1,5 hours trying to get to where we needed to go, and ultimately reached our destination an hour late. Embarrassing, but not our fault! However, what I was trying to say is, I posted it just now, so technically I didn’t post an entry last week, and that means it’s penance time again. Hence you’re getting two for the price of one, lucky bastards!

Back to Sunday’s adventure: the first bus we took had to deviate from its normal route due to road work, which meant that we had to get off on the wrong stop, and by the time we reached the stop of the next bus we were supposed to take, it had already gone. Or it never went at all, because of the road work… I don’t even know. However, we ended up walking quite the distance to another stop where we ultimately discovered that we needed to wait half an hour for the next bus. Fortunately the weather was gorgeous, so sitting and waiting wasn’t so bad, and on our way there we glimpsed a shop I’ve been meaning to visit for a while now. We totally would have had the time to visit it, too, but we didn’t know that when we passed it, and by the time we found out, it was way too late… But even so, now we know where it is, and we’ll definitely visit soon.

Fortunately M’s friends didn’t mind our lateness, but instead welcomed us with a table full of all kinds of tasty treats. It was an interesting visit for several reasons. They got to meet the elusive girlfriend they only learnt about recently, and I got to meet a bunch of people M chats with on a daily basis, but whom he rarely meets in person. So why did they only learn about me recently, you may wonder, and the answer is both extremely simple and strangely complicated.

You see, my friends are people I share intensely personal things with. His friends are people who share interests with him, and in this particular case, the same university background and profession. Where I talk with my friends maybe on a monthly basis (if we’re lucky…), he talks to his pretty much every day, but the things we talk about differ wildly. My friends know me. I tell them if something important happens in my life, and even though we connect rarely, we do so on a deep, personal level. They aren’t an active part of my everyday life, but I carry them with me every step of the way, and I always know that if I need them, they’re only one email or phone call away (and vice versa, of course). M’s friends know next to nothing about him, personally, and so the subject of having a Finnish girlfriend move in with him simply never came up, until a few weeks ago it got mentioned entirely tangentially. Cue intense curiosity from their side, and a sudden invitation for coffee ;)

In person their curiosity was much more subdued, and only one personal question ever got asked, which was about what I do for a living. That one didn’t take long to answer, and soon we were back to talking about the horrors of software development in environments that are endlessly bogged down by layers and layers of procedure. Or how bad it is when there is not enough procedure. Apparently it’s a hard thing to get right. Made me feel oddly good about my job, which at least is clear and unimpeded, if not terribly engaging. All in all, I enjoyed the visit a lot, although I’ve no idea how much they got out of it. I guess we’ll see if we get invited again.


Today I reached a milestone of a kind: my first dentist visit in Denmark! One of my molars has been aching a bit lately, and on Sunday and Monday it was bad enough that I resorted to painkillers. So, on Monday after work I walked to the nearby dentist’s office and asked for an appointment, and got one for this morning. (This all sounds so easy now, but I absolutely detest having to use any health care services at all, especially abroad, so getting myself through that door was more of a struggle than is readily apparent.)

This morning I was so nervous about the appointment, I left for work without my bike helmet, which is unheard of. I just simply forgot, and by the time I realised, it was too late to go back and get it. I’ve worn the stupid thing religiously ever since I got it, so it was the weirdest thing to just suddenly forget. Fortunately I only had a half hour of work before the appointment, so I didn’t have to spend the entire day dreading it.

Unsurprisingly, everything went very well once I got there. The dentist was extremely nice and spoke excellent English, and couldn’t find anything wrong with my molar, so the current assumption is that I’ve been grinding my teeth at night which then aggravated the tooth. The plan is to wait and see if it calms down on its own, and if so, then nevermind. (It’s been much better today anyway, so things look promising.)

Of course, she also found a broken filling and some cavities that will require two additional visits in the near future, which is not so great, especially considering the pricing of Danish dental health care, but so it goes. It’s been a while since I last got my teeth checked, so it’s not exactly surprising, and I’m just happy to have everything taken care of. Having my own dentist is another small step towards belonging here, as odd as it may sound.

Lighter

I’m somewhat annoyed by the “weekly digest” format my posts have taken. Of course, currently the only likely alternative is to not write at all, but even so, I hope to eventually reach a point where actual themes emerge. Until then I suppose digests will have to do.


This week was pretty much as average a week as it gets. Work was busy but mostly quite successful, and the language course went well. The combination of work and studies left me really tired by the time we got to Thursday, but this, too, is entirely normal. I had Thursday evening free of all responsibilities, which gave me a bit of a reprieve (and the opportunity to make tiramisu, which I had planned for the Easter break but then postponed due to being sick), and on Friday I hit the gym after work.

We spent Saturday doing things that needed doing, such as packing away winterwear, washing laundry and doing other chores, and then had a lovely date night as counterbalance. Today it’s been even more laundry, M continuing to try to fix a laptop as a favour to a relative, and in the afternoon we’ve been invited for some coffee with a few of his friends I’ll be meeting for the first time. The normalcy of it all has been a relief after all the time spent being sick.

The common theme for the past nine months seems to be “no time”. Always in a hurry, always tired. Being sick so much has just exacerbated the issue, because it is such a horrible time sink. Everything has to be put on hold, be it work, language course, chores, or even the nice, relaxing things, because you don’t even have energy for those. Eventually even the nice things become a part of a giant, neverending To Do List. It’s only recently that I feel like life is less about crossing things off the list and more about actually living, and it feels awfully good. I think the ever-advancing spring has a lot to do with it, because it’s not like my life has substantially changed recently.


Lately I’ve been diving into my comic collection a lot, starting from re-reading Jeff Smith’s entire Bone saga (including Rose), the entire Sandman collection by Neil Gaiman, the first three volumes of Brian K. Vaughan’s Saga, and now all the Elfquests I own, which isn’t quite the entire collection, but a huge chunk of it, anyway. I’m planning on continuing to Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza (which I haven’t actually read before), and then it would be nice to take a crack at the Valhalla series, since I got the first two volumes of the Den Samlede Saga editions in Danish as birthday presents this year. Good language practice, I’m sure! Beyond that, it just feels good to be reading again.

Getting Back on Track

I ended up being sick for my entire Easter holiday. M recovered a few days before I did, so he got a few not-quite-so-crappy days at the end of it, but I was sniffling and exhausted all the way until work started again. Needless to say, I was not happy, nor did I take it particularly gracefully. My misery was somewhat alleviated by a generous amount of chocolate eggs, but even those were just a band-aid. Nothing could replace the plans we had had, or the wasted beautiful sunny days during which we stayed indoors out of necessity. I was grumpy all through the next work week as well, since we started the month swamped and understaffed, but my mood got slightly better towards the weekend, and yesterday was already very enjoyable. I won’t get another stab at a proper holiday until July, but at least there are some extra days off sprinkled here and there in April and May, so that’ll help a bit.

Yesterday was the only day I could vote in the Finnish parliamentary elections, so as soon as the Honorary Consulate of Finland opened their doors for voters, we made our way there. After a successful (and blessedly short) voting experience, we headed to the city centre for a delicious sushi lunch and some yummy ice cream. We’d been invited for dinner at M’s parents’ place in the evening, so we spent several enjoyable hours there, after which we came home and pretty much went straight to bed.

Today was mostly about catching up with chores, so I finished the work-related translation assignment I started yesterday, after which we cleaned up the apartment, I did my Danish homework, and finally got to spend some quality leisure time by finishing Tomb Raider, which I really enjoyed. It’s also the only AAA single-player game I’ve managed to finish in several years… Dragon Age: Inquisition is currently gathering (proverbial) dust, as I lost interest fairly early on. There’s a number of other titles installed on my hard drive that I’ve either started but not finished or never even started, so hopefully this will be the start of a new era of being able to focus on a single game long enough to finish it.

It’s been a successful weekend, both in terms of having a good time and getting necessary things done, and I think I’ve finally purged the disappointment of the missed Easter holiday from my system. We’ve also made some (hopefully long-lasting and beneficial) changes in our diet and added some vitamin D supplements into the mix, so hopefully there will be less illness in the future. I’m really looking forward to being able to rely on my normal routines without being constantly interrupted by one calamity after another. Also, the weather seems to be getting warmer all the time, so I think it’s fair to say that spring is finally here and summer may be just around the corner! Can’t wait :)

I have this habit of planning things down to detail. When it works out as planned (or when there’s only minor variation), I’m happy. When it doesn’t, I get very, very bummed. It’s a stupid, perfectionist habit that I should break, but when it works, it works beautifully and I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Of course, the reverse is also true.

I had a lot of things planned for our Easter holiday. Not down to the finest detail, but in general. Then yesterday, M got sick. Again. It hasn’t been a full month from the last time he was sick (after which I had my nasty week-long illness), but here we are again. So that pretty much wrecked all my plans, which led to a meltdown last night that I fortunately recovered from fairly quickly, but boy it still stings. Of course, there’s a real chance I’ll get it from him again, although I’m trying to take all precautions now because I really, really don’t want to get sick again.

*sigh*

B is for Bronchitis

So, last week really sucked. First M got sick (well, this happened on the weekend before last), and on Tuesday I started coughing as well. On Wednesday morning I woke up to a 38 degree fever, which only got worse during the day. The highest temperature I measured was 38,7, and the blasted thing lasted for four and a half days, until yesterday my fever finally broke. (It broke intermittently during nights as well, so that every night I would wake up swimming in my own sweat, but that really doesn’t count. However, massively gross.) The coughing has been pretty much a constant, although my version is much less severe than M’s. There was some sniffling and such as well, but that only really lasted for a few days and is mostly gone now. The fever was the real deal. It drained me of all energy, and most days I spent sleeping or desperately trying to. When I was awake, I was in this weird haze of not really being able to think. My body was so weak I couldn’t sit up for an extended period of time without feeling woozy and having to lie back down again. Obviously doing anything beyond that was a lost cause.

Timing was also important, as E was supposed to visit us this week. The original plan was for her to come on Wednesday evening and stay either until the weekend or Monday. But as the plague hit, we figured it would be best if she stayed in Copenhagen for a few days first to give us a little time to get better (and possibly be less contagious) before her visit, and that’s how it went. She arrived on Saturday instead, and fortunately I was feeling a little better by then, as the fever had gone down to 37-38 degrees instead of 38+. The jolt of suddenly talking quite a bit backfired on Saturday evening when my throat simply decided “no more!” and started feeling like someone stabbed me there, and I’m still recovering from that, but it’s getting better all the time. E taught me to make this vile-tasting ginger/orange drink that really soothes the throat, so that helps, too.

Yesterday afternoon, M and I were finally contemplating getting me to see a doctor because the fever just wouldn’t go down and it didn’t really react to painkillers either, and maybe most worryingly, because I was increasingly lethargic. However, by the time he had looked up the necessary information and I took my temperature one last time to let the nurse know, it had gone down and was only 37. For the first time I also genuinely felt better. The fever stayed that low for the rest of the day, and while I still sweated a bunch during the night, it wasn’t quite as bad as it had been before. My temperature has been normal today, and hopefully that’ll be the end of it. I still called in sick today because my voice isn’t functioning, but I will go in tomorrow and hopefully by then I can do a normal day’s work.

It was a delight to have E visit us, and I’m so glad we didn’t have to cancel altogether. This has been a really hard six days, but at least M and I are both well on our way to recovery by now.

Sink or Swim

I’m home sick and feeling guilty about it. I always feel guilty about it even though I know it’s ridiculous. I didn’t get sick on purpose, and I couldn’t do my job right now even if I tried, so there’s nothing to feel guilty about. Yet… Yeah. So, I decided to try and do something worthwhile with the unexpected free alone time. I’ve been meaning to get this blog running ever since I moved to Denmark almost six months ago, but you know how life gets in the way of all the things you allow yourself to procrastinate over?

See, there are some issues that I haven’t managed to resolve yet when it comes to this blog project, and so it fell entirely dormant for much longer than I had intended. Originally I wanted to document the whole “moving to another country” experience, but frankly, I had enough on my plate just trying to live through it. I had neither the time nor the energy to write about it, too, which is also evident in how little I’ve written to my friends and family back in Finland. It was simply too overwhelming. It’s something I still worry about, because I’m afraid the blog will simply never take off properly. I’ll write for a few weeks and then it’ll be a few posts each month, and then one, and then none. It’s happened before.

I’m also quite unhappy with the way the blog looks right now. It’s been a long time since I designed anything more complex than a single webpage here and there, and I have no skill when it comes to actual graphic design. I have ideas regarding how I might like the blog to look, but I don’t have the skills or the patience to actually pull any of them off, and I feel like the important thing right now is to get the words flowing instead of polishing the site until it glows while there is still no actual content. So, either I’ll end up leaving it as it is, or it’ll go through all kinds of changes in the future. We’ll see.

So, while it’s entirely possible this poor thing will die a sad death before it ever gets off the ground, I’m going to give it a try anyway. I wrote a few blog-like entries on my very first days here, which I may or may not actually end up publishing retroactively, but beyond that, I’ll set myself a goal of posting (at least) once a week. It doesn’t have to be anything grand and exciting, but there needs to be some sort of consistency to the pace or there’s really no point in this. So there we are. Welcome aboard.

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