interlude: a picture is worth .. at least 2-3 reminisces.

Post date: May 08, 2020 5:1:14 AM

so i was working late [1] and after deciding that enough was enough, i decided to catch up on news ..

.. today?

.. today and yesterday?

.. wait, since last week?!?

i can't remember anymore;

my students have final exams, so my life isn't really my own until grades are submitted and 5% of my students email me to complain about their grade [2].

that's not the point. i clicked on a link off my usual sources and saw the image below ..

kiitos, iStockphoto: please don't sue.

.. and right away i remember:

wait: that's the esplanade! i wonder if that's the block where la torrefazione is, which had amazing!! drip coffee and i can only imagine how they would make a flat white ..

as well as ..

down a ways, near end of summertime, the kauppatori market would be bursting at the seams with chanterelle mushrooms and fresh peas .. and wouldn't it be nice to make a soup of them twice this week instead of just once, with good steamed potatoes tossed with herbs?

the chanterelle make a thick broth by themselves. it's like they're begging to be eaten and i'm the lucky stiff that got them!

kiitos, alamy!

summer in the Nordic countries is a blessing: everyone hopes for it and often enough, it comes .. not too much rain this year and a few very nice days where you think of nothing but heading to the shore and just enjoying the warmth.

then i looked at the article, thought that it made a few promising possibilities, but decided that further study was required. on the other hand, it is commendable that they sought to measure (or at least, assess) characteristics, like fulfillment, that would easily be ignored otherwise:

"The scheme also gave some participants “the possibility to try and live their dreams”, Blomberg-Kroll said. “Freelancers and artists and entrepreneurs had more positive views on the effects of the basic income, which some felt had created opportunities for them to start businesses.”

It also encouraged some participants to get more involved in society, by undertaking voluntary work, for example. “Some found the guaranteed income increased the possibility for them to do things like providing informal care for their family or their neighbours,” said one of the researchers, Christian Kroll."

...

this is to say that tonight, i'm looking backward, because looking forwards is too hard without knowing what came before and what will likely be, this time forward.

i'm tired .. not as tired as i have once been before, but still tired. part of it is COVID and a yearning of what life used to be, a life of casual freedom where being in a crowd didn't cause you fear for your safety and health.

i also miss friends that i've not seen in a bit, and before that, for years.

i miss campfires and simple camraderie,

i miss Nature and being with them in Nature.

i'm stuck in a concrete jungle, with some green in the distance, but where people are negligent and just give me pause.

...

[1] among other things, i'm an educator .. and according to some students on ratemyprofs.com, not a very good one. it doesn't mean that i don't take my job seriously.

[2] yes, i made up that statistic. all i can say is that the percentage is nonzero and positive.. every. single. term.