Do you ever find yourself saying "Why do I have to be such and IDIOT?!?" Yeah... me too.

So after I cheerfully got up got up got up got up, posted that last one, and drank some coffee, I got a phone call from Krista, who is the other Env Specialist in the N0k Grad Prog. I was like "HI!!" and she was like "Where are you?!?" and I was like "At home. Where are you?" and she was like "At Nokia, at the induction session." And I was like "SHIIIIIIITTTTTT". I totally had it in my mind since I received the invitation and agenda, that the induction session was Wed-Fri. But in fact it was today (Tues) through Thurs. Damn. I guess I didn't miss that much that I haven't heard about so far, but it looks pretty bad. And I missed the trip to the factory in Salo (about an hour away from Hel-stinki), and just getting to know the other people in the program (from all over the world). I felt like SUCH an idiot, and it wasn't too easy to keep that little devil on my shoulder from screaming at me and ruining my day. But I fended him off, and tomorrow I get to meet everyone.
Here's what I will wear:
(yes those are Inovar scrap circuit boards decorating my wall... so what)

Dressing up for to work at a corporate headquarters is hard. Everyone at Nokia looks so cute and clean and put-together. It is a struggle to keep my clothes ironed, hard combed, face powdered... so not me. I wish I could just wear this:
(except it is too clean... I threw it on the floor for effect, because that is how I most like to choose my daily attire... what is closest on the floor when I wake up. Really there is nothing there because I happened to vacuum recently)Anways, I decided to not let my idiocy get me down all day. My best gal pal came over (she is a teacher and they are having their autumn break at the moment) and we drank coffee. At one point, the sun just came out in all of its glory, so we rushed out to well... just be out.
First we got a spare set of keys to her new place at the cobbler downstairs. Yes... I live above a cobbler. How perfect is it?!? There are so many cobblers around town:
(the wooden door to the left is my door)
I just wish this cobbler was as scary as the one that was on Main Street in Logan. I might be embellishing this a bit, but in my memory he was wall-eyed and wore a scary leather apron, and came out from behind the dark and mysterious back room (I don't even wanna know what went on back there) slapping a rolling pin in his hand. But that doesn't quite make sense now does it? Let's just say he had a hook, and that can be scary enough.
Anyways, as we were leaving I noticed two of my neighbors who I haven't yet had the pleasure of making their acquaintance:
They are very, very nice.
Then we went to the watch shop, where I showed them the warranty for this lovely (and expensive) watch I bought last summer. One should never buy a cheap watch, coat, shoes or glasses. It quit working, and it turns out that the mechanism broke because water had gotten into it. Now, I don't swim. Nor do I regularly drown people. I never find myself in any situation where my wrist would be submerged in water. But there was always moisture under the crystal on muggy days. And the warranty said that every watch is water-resistant. But they were trying to tell me that it is not water-PROOF therefore the warranty isn't valid. Yeah right. I told them to call the manufacturer to verify that. And if they call me back and say that the manufacturer said so, well... we'll just see about that.
Anywho, next on the list of chorettes was to return some bottles to the wine store. In Finland, every time you buy any beverage from a bottle or can, you pay an extra 20 cents per receptacle. Then, when you are done with it, you take it back to the shop, feed it through the fun recycling machine, then get a receipt for however many bottles you returned and can get your money back from the cashier: Simple. Solution.

Then we had to go to the post office so I could mail my security clearance and Mallu could return her books to the library in the same building. Right now there are really colorful leaves all over the place in Helsinki. It smells like autumn. Like Ichabod Crane.
When we crossed the street, the sun again turned everything completely golden and it was breathtaking. Here's what the post office looked like:Then I went to the store and bought some tomatoes and goat cheese, because I felt like eating some tomato soup for dinner. But it turned out waaaaaaayyyy too thick and rich, so it was pasta sauce instead:
I made plenty to freeze and next time I eat it, something lemon needs to be incorporated into the meal.The light in our kitchen really is that yellow. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE our red chairs. When I was homeless and an illegal alien a few years ago, I dreamt of living in a place with red chairs at the kitchen table and an old-fashioned elevator. Dreams come true!!!