SLIDER

✖ 10 songs for a road trip

Friday, 24 May 2019

Do you know the feeling when you hear a song, and you instantly know it's a road trip song? I absolutely love road trips and making playlists for the road trips I might enjoy a bit more.

When this post goes live, I'll be in Denmark. Eek, how exciting is that?


So here we go. I am going to list 10 songs right here, and by clicking each one of them you'll end up in Spotify. So you don't have to go and type all of them in the search bar, and you can easily just click the links like in my other song recommendation posts as well.

✖ "I fought the law" by The Clash
✖ "Lemon" by The Golden Leaves & Blacklight
✖ "Used to the darkness" by Des Rocs
✖ "Blame it on my youth" by Blink-182
✖ "Dress Up" by The Regrettes
Remember when we would spend all night on the kitchen floor, laughin' 'bout some fight. I wish I could drink your tea, but some people change when they move to valley.
✖  "100 Bad Days" by AJR
✖ "I'm gonna be" by the Proclaimers
✖ "Die Happy" by DREAMERS
✖ "Metallica t-shirt" by Wolfie's Just Fine
✖ "Gently break it" by Beck Pete

✖ in the sea of smartphones

Thursday, 23 May 2019

The 1st of May, I went to see Lukas Graham performing live at the Circus club in Helsinki, Finland. It was such an amazing experience, and holy crap the guy knows how to sing. Also, I was very touched by the stories of his daughter. Basically the sweetest stuff ever.

If you want to see how the actual gig went, there's some bits and bobs in my Instagram highlights, as today I'm here to talk about something very different. Though related in the gig I went to.


Call me old fashioned, if you like, but do you remember the times when the slow song began and you would pick up your lighter, light it and wave it in the air to the beat of the music until the gas ran out of it? Is it just me? Am I the only one who still thinks it's a lot cooler than to lift the flashlight of your smartphone in the air and wave it around until you run out of the battery?

To be fair, using a smartphone for the purpose is a lot safer. It also might look a bit more beautiful in larger venues and just to be completely honest, not everyone has a lighter in their pocket nowadays.

But just as a thought we can play with today: isn't lighting up the flashlight from your smartphone, basically creating a huge sea of smartphones? It's magical and powerful in its own way but at the same time, it reminds us how the times have changed.

Once we took the lighters to the gig, put up a sea of lighters.
Now it's just a sea of smartphones.
An end of one era.
Hit me harder than I would have thought.

Guess who lit her lighter in the audience.

✖ extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile

Wednesday, 22 May 2019

Earlier this year Netflix released a movie and a series from the same director, Joe Berlinger, that were taking on a few different perspectives on Ted Bundy case.

If you don't know who Theodore "Ted" Bundy is, I highly recommend you to look it up. Let's just say that the looks and the charm can be very deceiving. However, I'm very fascinated in a very odd way on how he managed to keep his guard up until just a few days before his execution until he confessed these horrendous crimes he had done.

My interest in this kind of stuff goes a long way and during the 8th grade, I was very into multiple things, including serial killers. I went through everything I was able to find from Jack the Reaper to Ted Bundy. I mean, a normal hobby for a 14-year-old, huh?


Yesterday evening (or well, this evening, as I'm writing this piece), I watched the Ted Bundy film starring Zac Efron and I learned a couple of things:
✖ Zac Efron is actually a pretty good actor
✖ If you don't know anything about Ted Bundy stuff beforehand, you might actually feel sorry for him
✖ I haven't heard anything about Kaya Scodelario after her acting Effy in Skins
✖ It taught most of us the main point about serial killers

Zac Efron is actually a pretty good actor
There, I said it. To be honest, I've never been a fan of his, especially after I read somewhere that he stated High School Musical was the biggest mistake of his life or something like that. Can't quote that, as I don't really remember what he said, but the point was made. Then I saw him in 17 Again and still wasn't impressed. After 17 Again, I saw him in that circus movie, what was it called?
Right, The Greatest Showman. And wasn't he in Hairspray as well?

Don't get me wrong. I am deeply in love with musicals, but with Zac Efron, I've never been. I guess this is one of those popular unpopular opinions that I'm currently typing out of my keyboard.

Now seeing him in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, I actually can give him the credit he deserves. The actor choice for Ted was actually spot on. And I know this shares a lot of opinions and there were people who thought that choosing someone like Zac is basically "glamorising" serial killers, who are supposed to be evil and vile. He did his job well. Actually better than well.

If you don't know anything about Ted Bundy stuff beforehand, you might actually feel sorry for him
I think I would have wanted to see the movie without actually knowing anything about Ted Bundy beforehand. I think what it would've felt like to watch something, where the info is completely new. The movie was put on a perspective, where they didn't straight forwarded accuse Ted of doing those heinous acts but they managed to describe incredibly well of what his closest people might've felt like at the time. And that's when you start feeling sorry for Ted. You start believing that he actually wasn't guilty at all. Although, based on everything I've read before and seeing Ted Bundy tapes on Netflix before, it didn't kick me that way.

I saw a man, who had managed to convince himself into living in a lie until the very moment the person he loved the most cracked his guards down. I mean, you know it's easy to push things you don't want to believe you've done to the back of your mind, begin a lie and start living in that lie. Unless, if you aren't smart enough to remember what you've lied about.

Although, despite the awful things he had done, he was a very intelligent person. He just chose the wrong path to use it, combined with this awful urge to murder and torture young women in the process. The movie, on the other hand, succeeded to show that even he was extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile, perhaps one of the most horrendous serial killers of our time, he was also a human.

It taught most of us the main point about serial killers
In January, I wrote about the "Bad Boy effect" and why we tend to fall in love with the psycho version of Dan Humphrey. And I felt like I needed to link it here because it slightly sides the topic of this blog post.

The main point about serial killers, killers and other bad people, in general, is that you can't really know who is able to commit such heinous acts. They don't walk around with a label "serial killer" tattooed in their foreheads. And it's not meant to be tossed out there, so you'd be scared of every single person you'll cross your path in life, but even the ones who "could never have do stuff like that" sometimes actually can do stuff like that. And as scary that is, it's important to remember.

The point is, that they're human too. Whether we enjoy it or not. And it's scary as fuck.

✖ 10 x happy things

Tuesday, 21 May 2019

Earlier this morning, I did some yoga and put on my favourite yoga instruction video from Youtube. It's a fun thing to say though, as it's only been there for a month but I've done it so many times I can almost remember the routine completely on my own. It's called "Yoga to feel your best" and that's exactly what it does, so it's perfect for the mornings.

However, I'm not here to talk about yoga today (if I was, would you still be here? Let me know if that's something that interests you! Weekly free yoga instruction video recommendations, perhaps?). Today I'm here to talk about setting intentions, as the previously mentioned video suggested me to do and I thought about 10 happy things that I've felt lately.

If the positivity bugs you, just hold on to that day when I can finally find some time to write about that Ted Bundy movie on Netflix but for now, here is a list of things that have made me happy lately.


✖ I bought a new phone (went straight to the materialistic things, didn't I?)
✖ I also managed to sell some old clothes of mine and now I'm in a desperate need of new ones
✖ An adventure to Denmark waiting ahead
✖ I landed on another backstage hosting gig and will be attending to one of the biggest music festivals in Finland next summer
✖ Little walks I've done with my old workmate
✖ My new workmates
✖ The fact that it's warm (I also hate it, it's been 26°C degrees today and I feel like I'm dying)
✖ I've started running again (I know right, what's gone in me?)
✖ I'm less emotionally exhausted
✖ I've been sleeping better

Most of these things might be quite small, but for me, at the state, I am at the moment, they are huge. It's the little things, the little things that are the ones that are able to make you feel happy. When you appreciate them enough. 

✖ few things I've learned during the first year of uni

Friday, 17 May 2019

Here we are, all tapped. Tapped? Can you say that?
My point was, that here we are. The first year of uni is finally over and holy shit it went by fast. I also learned a bunch of new things, and as some of you might know how much I like to turn things into positive learning experiences, this is definitely one of those.
Don't get me wrong, my classmates are flipping awesome and in general, I'm really enjoying uni.



✖ a lot of things are made in groups
Holy crap how many group projects I've been part of this year! I believe not even the fingers on my both hands will be enough to count the number of group projects we've had. It's ridiculous, and it's also flipping amazing. I've been lucky to have such wonderful people as my classmates, so working with them is really fun and fruitful. Although, I've always used to depend on myself so sharing the responsibilities in order to succeed as an individual in the group has been one of the most difficult tasks I've come across. So it's definitely been a learning experience for me as well.

✖ studying new things is exhausting
Since I haven't been studying these past four years before I started at the University of applied sciences last Autumn, because I simply wasn't able to get in there, lol. So adjusting my brain into the student mode was a bit difficult for me during the first semester. I've finally gotten a bit better grip on this new life of mine and starting to feel a bit more comfortable with it.

 all things move forward really quickly
There have been some courses where we simply haven't had time to study all the things there are to study, which means the teacher is usually going forward with the speed of lightning. Though I'm pretty proud of myself I've been able to keep up with the coding stuff, as that's the stuff that has been "new" to me during these first two semesters.

After all, the first year has been wonderful.
I'm definitely looking forward to next Autumn and the second year as a student. Perhaps I'll graduate in three years, goodness, how fast the time is flying by.

✖ Haukankierros nature trail in Nuuksio National Park, Finland

Thursday, 16 May 2019

A week or a few weeks back, (I've lost the track of time basically), my dear friend found herself from Finland. So what did I do? Dragged her to Nuuksio of course. Don't get me wrong, she's Finnish, she's been there before but you know, when you're living in Norway you need a teeny-weeny reminder of what Finnish nature looks like when you're used to the magnificent mountains in Norway.


The trail we walked was around 4km long, took us a few hours and was chosen based on an Instagram hashtag I found. Instagram hashtags play a huge role in where I might go when I'm you know, going to places in general. That's how I find the coffee shops worthy of visiting, and that's definitely a better way to find out what it looks like in a specific nature trail in Nuuksio, as the pictures on their website are rather bland.

It was definitely a worth to go to. Can't wait to visit the place again.

✖ 3 thoughts about starting on a new job

Wednesday, 15 May 2019

The moment has finally arrived: I've started on a new job. It has been a huge difference from what I've used to, yet very refreshing one. It has taken some time for me to adjust to everything, and actually being around customers has taken its toll on me, especially during the first week.

There's not a basement 40m underground I can go to hide anymore.

And even though there's not an option to hide from people, and even though being social such long period of times through the day has been rather exhausting, I've still felt more like my old self than I used to feel, let's say two months ago.


✖ I have some obsessions I've brought from a previous job to another
Well, as a first thing, I have this obsession to organise everything in the size order and that's something we don't do at the new place. Also, I almost fainted when I saw our storage for the very first time. The fact that things are done quite the opposite than I've used to, and it takes some time to adjust in this new, a bit messier way to work. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, it's actually pretty good and in a hectic environment like in the new place, it actually saves some time. In a really weird way. But as I said, it definitely takes some time.

✖ not every day will be the same
What I really love about this new job is that not every day will be the same. The faces won't be the same, the customers won't be the same and I actually get to speak in English quite a lot. It's really fun, although it kind of sticks. Sometimes I accidentally tell customers the final price of their products in both, in Finnish and in English. I might even greet them in English, even though they're Finnish. There have been a few awkward moments there, haha. But it's part of the job and I'm definitely fully embracing it.

✖ your job doesn't have to be mentally and physically exhausting
The funny thing is, that even though I'm spending around 95% of the time at work on my feet I don't find it physically exhausting. And I believe it has something to do with the fact that it's not mentally exhausting if you know what I mean?
A few days back I got off work at 8pm and I smiled. What kind of a lunatic smile after a rough day at work? Apparently, I do. So unless I haven't completely lost it, I'd say I really enjoy my work.

So here are my thoughts, after one full week.
Let's see what I think about it in a month, but so far it's been one of the best life changes I've made in my short life so far.

✖ the best things in life are found used

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

It has been a while again guys, although a week ago I was in a great roll tho, don't you think? I started in a new job last week and as you know, when something new jumps into your life you kind of pause everything else. Or at least, I do. I tend to pause everything else to fully focus on consuming new information.

Which brings us to other new things in my life, (smooth, wasn't it?). It also brings us to that rather awkward title of this blog post, and please do bear with me. I haven't been sleeping too well.


I found a new dining table for the dining area! Some of you guys might still remember that huge two-metre long wooden dining table we had previously and even though I was absolutely in love with it, I decided we needed to go for something a lot more compact than that. To be honest, it took a lot of space in our home in general. And the only half of it was properly in use and the other half was more like stuffed with a bunch of random stuff that didn't have a proper place to be put on.

And what do I mean by "the best things in life are found used"?
Because this is what it is. I went online, checked out what people in my area were selling and found this beautiful Ikea Kvarnsten dining table from there. It doesn't always have to be new, right?

Have you made any great second-hand finds lately?

✖ my summer bucket list

Monday, 6 May 2019

Since there have been so many deep and thoughtful posts lately, I decided to kick off the week by listing things I want to experience during the Summer. Even though I'm more like a Winter type of a gal, I really like Summer too. Unless it's too hot and oh boy, last Summer was. We're expecting another one of those so I might have to start preparing myself for that. Thanks to climate change, thanks.


the official bucket list of mine for Summer of 2019
✖ do more yoga outside
✖ watch more sunsets than Netflix
✖ write more
✖ play more ukulele
✖ drink more water
✖ do a little road trip
✖ see Muse performing live
✖ spend time with the loved ones
✖ eat healthy, with a good amount of pizza
✖ take more runs outside
✖ see Ed Sheeran performing live
✖ go to a music festival
✖ sleep in a tent
✖ walk in a rain
✖ go for a swim in a lake
✖ get a new tattoo

What's on your bucket list for the Summer?

✖ thoughts about handing in my notice

Sunday, 5 May 2019

As I mentioned before, I went in and handed my notice. This week has been the first week in almost five years I haven't had to wake up at 4AM in any morning, and oh well - it's been oddly but not surprisingly refreshing.


✖ starting to feel more energised
To be honest, waking up that early has been taking its toll on me. And combined with school, it's been even more awful. I've felt like I haven't had any time to do anything between school and work, except sleep and it has left me feeling like an awful human being on all aspects of life. All I did was sleep, go to uni, sleep, go to work and repeat. And I have so much more going on in my life, which I haven't been in on 100%.

✖ feeling less socially drained
Considering the fact that I'm sleeping a lot more now and I don't have a place to go to and pretend to be a happy employee anymore, I've been feeling less drained socially. When you have to go to a place to pretend you're something you're not, it's exhausting and I wouldn't want that even for the person I dislike the most. It's draining, and afterwards, you just want to wrap yourself in a blanket in a dark room and be alone for the rest of your life. It took a toll on my relationships, my mental health and well, the fact of how many events I've skipped because of being so exhausted about life.

✖ taking better care of my wellbeing
During this past week, I've been taking better care of my own wellbeing. I've showered more often, I've found some energy to clean around the apartment, and actually keeping it clean. I've done more laundry than I've done these past six months, my skin is in better shape, I haven't felt ill. Small steps, but I'm getting there. Getting back to the stage where I'm less depressed, anxious sleep-deprived zombie and more like just a depressed anxious me. And it's a lot. I'm even brushing my hair.

It's a lot.
And it's the best choice I've ever made.
I saw this quote once:

"If it costs you your mental health, it's not worth it."

✖ Skippergata 22, the most random coffee shop experience in Oslo, Norway?

Friday, 3 May 2019

Have you ever stepped your foot in a coffee shop with an idea of your head that you're going to enjoy the cuppa in a lovely quiet little coffee shop and perhaps sit in a table where you can see the busyness of the streets? That's what I had in my mind when I stepped in the doors of the Skippergata 22.

The first impression of the place was that the music was so loud. I wasn't sure if I had gone into a coffee shop or a night club. Though it had some cosy cushions and comfy looking sofa's around, there was a piano even, which I now, later on, believe, was on sale.


The place was like dragged straight out of Brooklyn and brought in the middle of Oslo, which was the vibe I absolutely loved in it. When you walked in, it felt like you walked into your own living room. Despite the music being too loud and the difficulty in ordering a cuppa because of it.

The coffee shop was all over the place. My friend and I even joked about the fact that someone might buy a chair under us, which wasn't quite off from the truth as most of the things seemed to be for sale. There were a few houseplants sold during the time we were there and I believe some even brought some of their stuff for sale over there. I'm not sure, at one point there was this huge group of people and a lot of Norwegian was spoken I kind of couldn't keep up with.


After all, the whole experience was flipping cool. Oh, and did I mention a dark room with a disco ball in the roof of a wooden iglu? Yeah, there's one of those too.

✖ Instagram making like count unvisible, will it actually help?

Thursday, 2 May 2019

It sounds quite dreamy, doesn't it? The fact that you don't have to worry about your like count anymore when you'll be posting new pictures on Instagram, eh? It's been rumoured that Instagram will test a new feature out, where the like counts are eliminated from viewers feeds.

What does this mean exactly? And how do I, in my personal point of view am feeling about that?



What is important here, is to remember that they have confirmed on testing this new feature at the moment. It's not something that will definitely be there at one point, it's a possibility but not necessarily something that'll happen right away.

According to DigitalTrends.com Facebook confirmed that they're testing out eliminating the like counts from viewers feeds. "This test will keep the like counts intact, but will no longer show them to followers. With the test, only the user that shared the photo will see how many heart-clicks the photo or video garnered."

As with all user-testing, there are difficulties in this one as well. It will basically mean that when I post the picture on Instagram, only I will see how many people have liked the photo, which isn't too bad when you think about it. If you are the type of a person who doesn't give a crap about like counts. But it's important to remember that there are different types of people in the world.


imagined instagram user A
Let's say this person is the one who doesn't really care about the like counts. This type of person usually uses social media for their own fun (and really not in a business-wise). These people also tend to have their accounts hidden from the public, even though their Instagram account is private, they're still using hashtags under their posts without really realising the fact that their account is private. These are the ones who post on Instagram rarely, or often, but not at all consistently. Whenever they want and whatever they want.

imagined instagram user B
This type of person is most likely someone who is a basic Instagram user, with a public account and even though they say they don't care about the numbers, they secretly do. And when they are posting their pictures, they are often checking on how many likes the new post achieved. They don't necessarily have a business account, not necessarily know anything about the reachability of the post, or curate their hashtags in a specific way, but they still do care about the numbers. They're addicted to the fact that their posts are gaining likes.

imagined instagram user C
They have a public account, they don't give a crap about numbers and they post whatever they want and whenever they want. They're basically like the Instagram user A, but with a public account.

imagined instagram user D
This person takes Instagram as a platform that is more than a hobby for them. They tend to get creative with their pictures, they are doing hashtag searches related to their own niche, perhaps have a business account but may not necessarily grow their account on purpose. They might not have a specific goal to become the next Instagram success, they are genuinely enjoying about their hobby.

imagined instagram user E
This person takes Instagram very seriously. They have a business account to see all the stats, how many people they reach and tend to be very careful about the timings they post. They might even be bloggers, who are using their account on growing the readers of their blogs, or another place outside the actual Instagram app. Or, they don't have anything outside the app and they microblog directly on the platform. Yes, that is a thing now.

imagined instagram user F
These people influence other people. They get paid on posting, they are very consistent when it comes to creating content and they are very likely to get caught on the fact how well their posts do on specific social media platforms. Obviously, as they're probably getting paid for it.

I  could list hundreds of different user profiles there are on Instagram, but I think we've reached the right amount for the post to prove my point here. You might also have noticed that I left out the accounts that are promoting their businesses (except influencers) and the people who are on the platform behalf of another business (except bloggers).

Also, please note that these aren't any specific people. These are only profiles created quickly on my head without any specific gender, age, geolocation, or anything. These are imaginary user profiles.


Like everything, there are upsides and downsides on how "likes" are affecting people. It's been said that social media is a huge part of some mental illnesses. And I do not disagree with that.

It's been said that the like counts specifically are affecting people's mental health, however, is it because we get jealous of how many likes other people gain in their pictures or is it because we living in a society where stuff like "getting your own 15-minutes of fame" will increase our own addiction on gaining those likes?

Don't get me wrong here, I can imagine it's both. I can imagine, and I actually believe that it's the mix of both of those things. It's a difficult topic to wrap your head around it.

Likes can be considered as some sort of a drug by now, I'm not even oversaturating it. More people like our posts, more dopamine our brain develops. It's something we enjoy, it's something we begin to need, it's something we begin to imagine we need. Human psychology works that way, it gives us pleasure to see those other people like us. Whether it's something done face to face, or as simple as a click of heart on a social media platform.

And what do we do when we gain the number of good-feels we need at that very moment? We crave them more. It works the other way around as well, as when we don't get to the point where we want to, we start to feel that we've failed. And when we feel that we have failed, we get disappointed. And then we might feel disappointed in ourselves, and the cycle is created.

That's what social media is, constant dopamine hits and moments when you feel that feel-good feeling going away. It's like when you get high and you feel the effect of it drop. It's like getting drunk, feeling dizzy and happy until you get to the point when the effect is dropping and when you close your eyes the whole world feels like it's going round and round, leaving you feeling nauseous.


But how does the fact, that you will be the only person who will see your own likes stops us feeling like that? And will people still continue liking other peoples pictures, even though they don't see if anyone has liked it before? Doesn't it still leave us wondering how our posts are doing in social media? Will it help, when we have nothing to compare? Are we going to brag with our own likes on other social media platforms?

This test leaves so many questions unanswered, and I'm more than interested in where it will lead us. Although, I don't think it's a long-term solution to the spiral of madness we've gotten ourselves into fishing likes on the Internet.

But why did I create those imaginary user profiles? To make the point that there are us for multiple train cars. To make the point, that after all, we're all human and whether we got caught on how many likes our posts gain the social media can still leave us feeling like we aren't enough.

The ugly truth is that eliminating the like count visible from certain people won't stop us comparing ourselves to each other, and I believe that's what the most devious thing about social media is. And it's unfortunate, as we're all just enough, just as good and just as wonderful like everyone else on this planet. If there's anything to get out of this post, take a note on that.

✖ my favourite spot in my hometown | Pori, Finland

Wednesday, 1 May 2019


We spent the last weekend at my mum's celebrating my little brother's 10th birthday. My goodness, how is he 10 already, if I may ask? I don't know how he's the one ageing when I haven't aged a day.

Each time I'm around, my best friend of almost 20 years and I tend to have this little routine and we're off to shoot some pictures for ourselves. This time we visited at a spot that is by far one of my favourite places in my hometown. I cannot say it would be my favourite place in Finland as a whole, but it gets quite close to it.

This little gem is called Kallo, like a skull in English and it's located in Pori, Western-Finland.


I think the name Kallo comes from the skull alike structure of the stones there are. It's one of my favourite places to go and chill, watch the sea, enjoy the sunsets and have a little picnic if it isn't too windy.

What's your favourite place in your hometown?
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