Oh la la

Greetings from snowy Vantaa :)

Snow and it's attributes:

1. Cold
2. Is pretty when there is light rain of it coming down and it shimmers
3. Makes places luminous, reflects light
4. Can blind you if large bits of it fly into your eye
5. Can freeze your face of simply bitchslap you with a freezing cold wind
6. Can create massive obstacles when large amounts of it pile up so your life is harder as it takes you twice the time to get to places(20 cm = not good)
7. You can go sledding
8. You can make snowmen
9. It makes winter feel like winter
10. When melts becomes a shitty pile of wet, dirty snow that is the most frustrating thing in the entire world
11. Snowball fights
12. Skiing

aaand there's more if you can think of them :)

So many things to look forward to in February, birthdays, sweet 16, new term = chilling in school, a week long winter vacation, and my adorable french exchange is coming!

I'm super excited for the Lyon-exchange that we have in our school. Shortly put, the french students come here at the end of February for a week and we go there at the end of April for a week. I love new people and France, so this will be such a fun experience: new friends, practicing my french skills, showing people that Finland CAN be fun, going to Lyon which means SHOOOPPIING, french pastries, and warm weather <3 Though my french vocabulary is limited to food and such, I'm pretty sure it'll be awesome :D

Gonna go try out a peach upside-down cake now. Let's see how that turns out. :)

Win or lose

Racers, get ready. On your mark, get set, go!

Competition: it drives this world, really. You can't look anywhere without seeing competition in one way or another. School; where students compete for better grades, work; where workers try to get promotions by doing better, stores; where they try to get people to buy their products over others, games; monopoly, racing, and such. It might be subdued and hidden at times, but it's there, you just can't always see it.

It can get frustrating at times, competition, but there are good and bad sides to it. People usually think of it as either a win or lose situation, and nobody wants to be a loser, everyone wants to be the best. We feel bad when we lose, because we imagine then that we are not as good, or that you're being put down for your abilities. Also it arouses jealousy, since the other person got something we would have wanted. If your friend who's sitting next to you in biology class and gets a 10 on her lab report and you got a 9, at times you might find a little prickly feeling in your chest of envy or jealousy, though you might also be very happy for their success. Entrance exams are also the perfect example; they're dreaded due to the fact that you never know if you can make it. You'll have to fight many others to achieve your goal. These can be categorized as the negative aspects or competition, but I find that there are positive sides to it too!

Competition is used as drive and motivation for many; when they challenge themselves against others or just simply yourself, you find that you want to do better every time, no negative feelings necessary. You want to do your best, just for the sake of improving your own skills. You can say "Look, she's worked hard and is doing well, I'm happy for her. I'll try my best too!" It's going to push you, so then you can call it healthy competition.

Remember, YOU ARE YOUR OWN WORST CRITIC, so when you learn to accept loss or the fact that things won't always be perfect, you'll find yourself much happier. (hmm, there's a topic for another blogpost :D ) When I suck at something or I lose, I tend to laugh at my mistakes and learn from them, being a sore loser never helps. Who cares if your Yoshi flies off a cliff during Mario Kart or if you can do mental math as fast as your neighbor, just be the best that you can be.

When it comes to competition, just do it; but not for others, for you :) If you feel good, that's enough to make you a winner.

Bring it on!

I've been dead from blogging during the vacation, the lazy bug bit me. Pardon for that. Also I've adapted to being a couch potato, so all I've done is sleep and eat........and sleep some more.....and eat some more....and spent time with superb people. That sounds just about right.

Productivity level = 0, zilch, nada, none, zero, nolla

School is now back on track, and the hardest thing was getting up before noon due to my messed up sleeping schedule during the vacation. All I could think of was "I'm royally fucked, this ain't gonna work out." I managed though, and in a way it's worth it, I get to see all the wonderful people again (screw the work, it's part of the deal anyway, can't run away from it :D )

gotta get my game face on and focus this year

Also we finally have snow! (pictures courtesy of iPhone camera)
Everything is so white and luminous, bright lights are everywhere due to the snow reflecting it! :) The weather is undoubtedly chilly, but I prefer it this way, actually FEELS like winter now.

snow angles :)

Playing monopoly, my team owned it. All ours baby <3

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the corner of death. My team owned Scandinavia and some of eastern europe, and we planted houses like crazy. In the end, stepping there meant bankruptcy for that person and money for us. Also I stepped on Finland more than once; it's gotta be fate ;)

here's something for you to think about ;)