Thing Called Love

These lyrics belong to Columbia records. I take no credit for their creation, or their popularity as made by Johny Cash

Six-foot-six, he stood on the ground
Weighed two-hundred and thirty-five pounds
but I saw that giant of a man brought down
to his knees by love...

He was the kind of a man that would gamble on luck;
look you in the eye and never back up
But I saw him crying like a little whipped pup
because of love

You can't see it in your eye;
hold it in your hand
but like the wind that covers our land;
strong enough to rule the heart of any man
this thing called love.

It can lift you up
never let you down
take your world and turn it all around
Ever since time nothings ever been found
stronger than love

The song goes on, but that is all I feel like saying at the moment;
Love let me down today, but it will pick me up again soon...
if anything, I have God's love.

Big Change to 100 dollar bill

I am one of those people in the world who love old

things. I keep a typewriter under my desk, and my telephone has a rotary dial. I think that a mid-80's HP calculator is better than a Ti-anything, and I love the shape and design of American money. I will show you the prettiest bill ever made:

photo at http://planetoddity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/old-100-dollar-bill-17.jpg



My opinion anyway... all of the US paper money printed used to look like this, the only thing that changed was the value in the corners and the face in the middle. But as time passed and counterfeiters got better, new features were created:

 

The "Large portrait" Bill (from wikimedia)



And I honestly like this bill too. It appears a sleek and modern version of its older cousin, and it is still a c-note. Unfortunately the US bureau of engraving and printing has decided to launch a new series of bill:



The Newest Bill



 Now what is this????!!!!!?????  It looks so decidedly European and ugly! It isn't even green anymore! When I first saw this bill design I almost cried; I cannot believe they would allow such a radical bill into circulation....

But I want to hear from you? What do you think? To leave a comment, click the post title and then go to the bottom of the page. Is this bill obnoxious or am I just stubborn? Should our money even be green anyway? What do you think of that purple bar-thing-y running down the right side? Let us know!

Der Tag; part 2

Chapter 1 part 2

Of course when you meet in passing and develop friendships in fifteen minutes over ice cream, (which everyone ought to do before they die) there is little you can do with them, all of your plans are more or less set, and you cannot throw your plan away and wander around with your newfound friends. You can however exchange contact information, and that is what we did.

                Our hotels were conveniently close, and they came to visit me every day on the promise I would one day visit them. I never did. I truly did want to, but I never had the time, even though I should have. They understood and did not mind however, and when it was time for me to return home, they came to see me off, and we made absolutely sure that we would write each other.

                And then I let their memory slip into oblivion, and honestly I had forgotten them until they loyally sent me a letter and an Email. From that point a friendship developed and blossomed between us, and Miri, Eli, Ursi and I became very good friends. We used all of the resources we had after that to stay in contact; the pen, the computer and the telephone became our means, and we talked as much as our schedules allowed. Unfortunately with the difficulty of Swiss school, (Kantonschule) as often as we could was not so often after all.

                I was simply overjoyed when I got the message informing me Mirjam was coming. She broke the news in the fun “guess what!” style we all know; as I was rushing to school she told me she’d be coming to the United States, and then I asked where.

                “Are you coming here?”

                A single word “Yes.”

                Needless to say I was late for school that day. I started asking her a host of questions, and allowing my thoughts to run wild. I asked for her itinerary and plans, and she told me she would not be coming for four months. I didn’t care. The point was she was coming, and I was in trouble when I got to class.
                As the days passed and zipped from the drizzly days of February to the slightly sunnier days of March, Mirjam, her friends and I spent the days fantasizing over her impending arrival. I could envision myself being the ultimate tour guide; meeting them wherever they arrived and chaperoning them all over the place, as if I was an adult actually hosting them as a friend. I could not imagine anything else, but slowly more details of their plans emerged, and my thoughts became more rational.

                The Schnüringers would be arriving in late July in Los Angeles, and drive around the American southwest going as far as Lake Powell, before returning through the desert and coming up to San Francisco. They would be in San Francisco for three days over a weekend, arriving on Friday and leaving after Monday. I would only be able to see them on one of those days, and I knew I had to make it count, so I chose to meet them on Sunday, although I did not know what they wanted to do. With still a month to go before their arrival, I rapidly began to put together a plan; how to entertain a family of four Swiss people in the City of Fog, while not ruining my own wallet.

America quiz, and Finland quiz

A long time ago, I had a Finnish girlfriend. And just after we decidid we loved each other, we each made up little quizes abbout our countries for fun. So I present them here:

It's SOOOOO (NIIIIIIIN) On!

 















ENJOY YOUR QUIZES, AND NO INTERNET!!!!!!!!

American quiz for Inkeri Seppälä:

1.      What is a gear-jammer

a.       A special American football play

b.      A poor machine

c.       A truck driver

d.      A police officer in the detective department.

2.      If I say I will “Catch you on the flip side!” It is because I intend to…

a.       Flip you over and catch you.

b.      See you tomorrow

c.       Go to school

d.      Smack you.

3.      In Finnish, you say Perkele to swear. If you say Percolate in America, you are going to?

a.       Well, swear of course!

b.      Complain about your problems

c.       Argue with a baseball umpire

d.      Make coffee

4.      I tell you to jump in a lake, why?

a.       You told me to do something I do not want.

b.      I love you.

c.       You need to change television channels

d.      You’re too pretty

5.      When I say I am putting my foot down,

a.       It’s the last straw

b.      I am fed up

c.       I am adamant you stop

d.      All of the above.

6.      7 eleven is a

a.       Yeah, I already told you.

7.      In American Football, you are losing 14 to 6. You score a touchdown with 5 minutes left. Do you go for two?

a.       Yes, because then you are tied

b.      No, because there is enough time to get the ball back.

c.       No, because you if you fail, you are still losing.

d.      What the hell am I talking about?

8.      If I were to really love you, I would tell you by…

a.       Phone

b.      Letter

c.       Face to face

d.      Trick question, by email because you are in Finland

9.      What is Chili?

a.       A bean filled sauce

b.      A slang term for a banana.

c.       A snowball

d.      A car.

10.   The best place to buy a hamburger (according to me) is at….

a.       McDonald’s

b.      Burger King

c.       A&W

d.      I have no idea; McDonald’s is the only place to buy Hamburgers in Finland.

11.   America has four big sports. Which one has the longest season?

a.       Baseball

b.      Football

c.       Ice Hockey (We do play it here)

d.      Basketball

12.   A brush-back is a?

a.       A way of sweeping a floor

b.      A baseball tactic

c.       To try to punch something behind you

d.      A device for cleaning your back.

13.  Which word is spelled correctly?

a.       Colour

b.      Flavour

c.       Thurough

d.      Meter

 True or False

14.  A slinky is a type of snake native to Oregon.

15.  Everyone here can tell you where Finland is.

16.  What is the American term for this, “Hiukset vapaana”?

17.  Does it snow where I live?

Finland Quiz

I didn't use internet or any other outside-my-head-information in my quiz, so I hope you try to do this without them too. Enjoy! :)

1. What's the Finland's national sport?

            a. Jääkiekko (ice hockey)  It is probabaly D, but you seem crazy for it. I wish it were c,       naturally

            b. Jalkapallo (football

            c. Pesäpallo (baseball)

d. Suunnistus (orienteering)

2. What happens the first of May, vappu?

            a. Nothing. It's a boooring day.

            b. It's a working class celebration, and people decorate places with balloons and streamer.

            c. It's our independence day, so we celebrate Finland and watch TV.

            d. 'vappu' means spring, so it's just in calendars so that people know it's spring.

3. Which famous technology brand is from Finland?

            a. Volvo 

            b. Nokia

            c. Sony

            d. Apple

4. If you want to go to movie in Finland, where you should go?

            a. Finnkino

            b. Leffaluola

            c. Movieparadice

            d. Elo-kuva

5. What's the meaning of sauna for Finns?

            a. Well, it's a Finnish invention, but no one ever goes there, it's so uncomfortable.

            b. It's very important, almost a holy place. We clean it every week, we go there every day.

            c. Almost every residence here includes sauna, and we go there 1-4 times a week.

            d. Some like, some don’t like, and they who like go there about once a month or something.

6. When we say ’ei ole kaikki muumit laaksossa’ (all the moomins are not in the valley) what do we mean with that?

            a. one have lost something

            b. one don’t have any money

            c. it means just what it says

            d. one isn’t very clever

 7. What's scouting in Finnish?

            a. partio

            b. kattila

            c. kuori

            d. lounas

8. Which one of these is spelled correctly?

            a. Osan

            b. puhuun

            c. soitavat

            d. halaat (I just think so, which is too bad, because I say I want to learn this)

9. Who was Jean Sibelius?

            a. He's from France, what's this question??

            b. He was our second president

            c. He was our national composer

            d. He invented modern rye bread

10. If a stereotypic Finn is in the middle of other people, what is he/she thinking?

            a. Uhh, bacterias!

            b. What do those people think of me?

            c. Oh yeah, so much new friends here!

            d. I must show those people I'm here- (and he/she starts to dance or sing very loud)

11. What's 'mämmi'?

            a. It's a traditional, brown dessert

            b. We call our grandmothers that way

            c. It's the hero of our legends

            d. It's a style of music   

12. Finland is a bilingual country. Which is the second language?

            a. English

            b. Swedish

            c. Russian

            d. Saame

13. Why I don't like to keep my hair down in the winter?

            a. Because it's not cool

            b. Because I just like braids so much

            c. Because the frost makes them stick out and it looks freaky because they are so long

            d. Because they cling everywhere

 14. In the mid winter, how long is our day?

            a. Twelwe hours, of course.

            b. Three hours and fiftyfour minutes.

            c. As long as my school day.

            d. What day? We don't have a day then.

15. If you were lost in Turku, what landmark would you search?

            a. The cathedral

            b. 'näsineula'-tower

            c. Eiffel-tower

            d. No idea. (

16. Home is an English word, but it's also a Finnish word. What does that mean?

            a. Same as in English

            b. Mould

            c. Very dear friend 

            d. Soap

18. When will you visit here in Finland?

 Leave your Answers in the Comments section and I will score it for you!

Der tag

Hello my readers! Now that school has started I am afraid I will not be able to post often... (I know, I don't post often anyway) but I still want to put something out there, so I am going to serialize a little project I am working on and reveal it to you as I write it. Please respect my right to this work, and though I will not be copywriting it, I would prefer no one steals the story.

Der Tag

A short story

 Introduction

       Miss Mirjam is my good friend. But when we were teenagers, we didn’t see each other much. She lived in Switzerland, and I lived in the fog bowl that is the San Francisco Bay Area. Exactly one year after we met by chance in Sweden, her family took a vacation to my homeland and I got to see her again. Here’s the catch: Only one day to see her.

This is the story of der Tag.

1.

                Seven o’clock in the morning was when I awoke. Well, not exactly seven, but close enough to seven. My first thoughts settled on the upcoming day and the previous night’s conversation with Mirjam, when we made the final arrangement for our meeting. It had been, in fact, a year to the day since we had met on that warm Swedish summer day.

                I had just secured possession of what might have been the only Tabasco bottle in all of Sweden when I noticed three Swiss girls trying to buy ice cream. I made them for Swiss girls by their clothes, they were from some kind of scout troop, and much of their insignia read “Suisse.”  I got in line behind them and we started talking about our homes and our respective countries before deciding friendship would be a reasonable proposition. Thus I met and became acquainted with Mirjam Schnüringer, Ursina Boos, and Eliane Halter.

                Eli, Miri, And Ursi from left to right, me in the center-left

Well, that is a good introduction. Whenever I next update I will reveal the remainder of chapter one (short, 3 microsoft word pages) and so on and upwards until the end! Happy reading!