April 2020 / overdosed on caffeine.

✖ rhapidophora tetrasperma | care and stuff

Thursday, 30 April 2020

HEY-OOO, this is my first official plant post on the blog!

And I'm going to start it off by sharing some bits and bobs I know about my oldest plant I've got: Rhapidophora Tetrasperma. Tetraspermas are often miscalled as mini monsteras, mini split-leafs or even philodendrons and they're ridiculously Instagram worthy at the moment. Also, they grow darn fast, if I may add.

R. Tetrasperma must've been one of the easiest plants to grow that I've ever had. I bought it approximately a year ago from the Crazy Days sale at Stockmann and ever since we've been the best of buds. However, it really started growing after six months living in my new flat which either means that my old apartment was too dark for it or I've given it plenty of more attention now that I'm actually living alone.

✖ what kind of lighting does it require?
Rhapidophora tetrasperma loves light! I read somewhere that it requires bright, filtered light. However, it's right next to my somewhere-facing window and it has been doing brilliantly. Might even say it's thriving. So plenty of light, especially indoors. R. Tetrasperma requires a lot of light to grow faster and produce the layers on its leaves.

✖ how much should I water it?
During the growing season, from March to August, it likes to stay a bit moist. I simply water it whenever I remember, using the fertilizer each time I water it. During the Wintertime it requires a lot less water. Also, spray its leaves with water at times - it loves it!

Rhapidophora Tetrasperma is easily one of my favourite plants to propagate. It's fairly easy, just take a stem cutting with a node and root it in water or soil. They may be a bit slow to root in the water, but they'll grow fast when they're planted in the soil after rooting them.

Would you be interested in reading a blog post about R. Tetrasperma propagation?

Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Now that some of us are under lockdown, or at the very least in quarantine we might have realized we have a lot of things at our homes, right? I can't be the only one, right? Today I wanted to share a few tips and tricks with you that help me go through the massive pile of random junk I've found around the flat. Yup, been living in this flat of mine for 6 months and I can already feel the junk piling up.

✖ when was the last time you used it?
The most important question to ask, in my opinion, is when is the last time you used it? Heck, if you haven't needed it in 6 months or in a year - get rid of it.

✖ can this be sold or given away?
Yeap, I'm not suggesting you throw away these things. You can get a bit of pocket money, or simply a happy mind giving the things you don't need to someone who needs them more than you do. I mean, if it's completely broken and useless - then you can recycle it in an appropriate way.

✖ but what if it means so so much to you?
Hoarders tend to get emotionally attached to things. Okay, just kidding, I've saved D's first Converse as well. And some baby clothes. I can still smell the baby he used to be, even though I've washed them. HOWEVER, if you have memories with it, don't toss it away but also remember that you don't have any memories with the vacuum cleaner that doesn't work anymore but you kind of want to keep it simply because if the miracle happens and it was the first vacuum cleaner in your childhood home.

I've gone through so much of my stuff these past few weeks. Some I've given away and some I've sold. Not much has gone to the trash/recycle bin, and I'm actually quite proud of myself. I've still got some stuff in storage at my old apartment, so that's going to be the next thing I'll be sorting but for the weekend I decided to go and visit my friend in my hometown. Really looking forward to that, even though the times are what they are now.

Tuesday, 28 April 2020

You might remember earlier this month in the April mood board blog post, how I talked about wanting to bring the plants into my blog. I've recently been absolutely obsessing over different house plants, as much as I've got nearly 30 of them and they're all thriving. What? YES. I couldn't have imagined it myself either if you look at it a year back but here I am, succeeding as a plant mama.

So from today, you'll be able to find all the plant posts under the "overdosed on plants" label.

Also, if you're a fellow plant person you should definitely follow my new plant-themed Instagram account - @overdosedonplants, and check out the hashtag I created - #overdosedonplants. See you there, eh? More the merrier!

Sunday, 26 April 2020

Yesterday, my washing machine decided to leave the bathroom in the middle of washing all my bedsheets. Bathroom, you may ask? Yeah, that's where we Scandinavians and Scandi-ish (Finnish) people keep our washing machines.

A week ago, the lamp over my stove burnt. I had to watch several tutorials and Google the shit out of it in order to figure out how to change a lamp into it. But I did it, off to store I went, found a right lamp and I freaking changed it. Took me a day.

A few weeks back, I ordered myself wifi for my apartment. I installed it all by myself. Heck, life is a lot easier now when you don't have to use the Internet hotspot from your phone.

For almost two weeks, my 3-year-old son wasn't allowed to go to the daycare, so I had him at home with me while studying remote via Zoom for uni. I got through that.
I was able to study myself and act as a daycare teacher for little whiles. We learned a lot about different animals, we can now count fluently to 15 and we went out to pick up rocks so we could paint them.

Yesterday, I fixed the washing machine. May have had to Google the shit out of it too but I did it. I fixed it. It no longer wants to escape from the premises and is put back in its place to wash our clothes.

For someone who used to be in a relationship for 10 years, these kinds of small things is a huge deal for me. And I'm proud of myself. Pardon my French, but who the fuck needs men anyway? When you've got Google & Satisfyer Pro, you're good to go.

And can you imagine? Changing a freaking lamp won't have to take two years when you can do it in a day all by yourself!

Saturday, 4 April 2020

Since I've taken some time away from everything, I've been also trying to figure out where to take overdosed on caffeine next. I mean, it's definitely time for a little change - in content if in something. I want to bring up some new additions to the content and start including greenery in it. I mean, my life is dark but I recently counted all my plants and ended up realising I have 26 green plants. So I would really love to include all those things here since they're very close to my heart.

I'm welcoming this Spring with an open mind. Hell, I had all plans sorted out on how to escape life and then the whole coronavirus thing happened - so all plans had to be thrown into a trash bin. Yesterday, I even managed to get myself on 3 new online classes for uni for the summer and if that doesn't define how fucking lost I am, nothing ever will.

I've been thinking a lot about my life lately. My life choices, everything that happened last Autumn and everything that has happened after it until this very day. Even though I find it extremely anxious, I find it also very purifying. I've been able to sort out my thoughts in order, and started going them through in their own pace.

I don't know what this Spring will hold for me, but I'm terrified and excited to find out. I hope there will be lots of plants. Plants have made me happy lately. And it's been a long time since I have been able to even think about being happy. I'm still not healing, or if I am - I don't really notice it myself. Whatever it is, I think there might be light at the end of the tunnel, when I find the end of that tunnel. I'm still a bit lost, but I've accepted it and beginning to be alright with it.

I hope you all have a lovely Saturday, despite all.

Friday, 3 April 2020

This blog post was highly requested by my cousin after I wrote about being on Tinder and why it isn't for me. No, really, Tinder is definitely not my cup of the tea but I've spent enough time on the app (a week, and then I had enough) so I can share a bit about the type of guys you'll find from there.

It's umm, a place. It's definitely a place. It's a weird place. I was on the app to have my fun and chat easygoing conversations with new people without making them attached to me. To be honest, that was freaking hard, since I'm super funny and adorable. Okay, so this is how I'm being today. Please bear with me.

So here we go, five types of men on Tinder, who I've talked to but never met in person.

✖ the kinky one
Kinky ones are the best in my opinion. Not that I would have any sex preferences, but they make a fun easygoing convo until shit gets too weird even for you. These are the ones you should definitely watch out for. I mean, I didn't meet the kinky one in person but I believe if I had he would've locked me in his basement and kept me there as his pet. Oh, and these ones always without an exception call grown-ass women girls. That really grinds my gears.

✖ the "nothing serious" one
There are two types of these guys. Their bio says they want "nothing serious" which can only mean two types of things: they really don't want anything serious and they're total fuckboys, or they've only put it in their bio so they'll get more matches on the magical app. I've stumbled upon a conversation with both ones. The first one made it very clear that I shouldn't fall in love with him, yeah, like I automatically would - dude, it takes a hell lot more!
The second one simply told me that he wrote it in his bio just to find Tinder easier to use for his purpose, which was finding a girlfriend.

✖ the shady one
The shady ones are full of surprises! They've got this mask they're using when they're on Tinder, where they come across as such wonderful personalities and easygoing, easy to chat about the weather with until you add them on Snapchat.

And this is the dealbreaker for me, I never shared my personal phone number so I still have a few of these hanging on my Snapchat as friends of mine, though not the shady ones - like real people ones. The shady ones, however, they send you nudes.

They're very comfortable in their own skin and when you don't jump in their game and send nudes to them, they remove themselves from your Snapchat as quickly as they got there. And I'm there like "ok baiiii, you idiot!"

But yeah, I've seen a few dicks floating around on my Snapchat. And not just the people, but their actual fucking penises.

✖ the creative one
In a way, I really do love the creative ones. Though they're so fucking full of themselves. Literally, the only thing they ever talk about you are their own creative achievements.

"Hey, I just created a new song."
- "Oh cool, can I hear it?"
"Nah, I'm not too sure will I ever publish it."

"Hey, I just painted one of the coolest paintings I've ever painted."
- "Heyyy fun! Send me a picture, I wanna see?"
"Nah, I'm not too sure if it's finished yet but I'm trying to get into an art exhibition and..."

And it goes on and on and on. Until I tried the same thing and opened the conversation about a painting I had painted. (I never painted any paintings.) And guess what the creative one replies? "Oh, cool." AND THAT'S IT.

✖ the one next door
These guys are safe. They're comfortable. They're umm, boring even. But safe. Comforting. Fun to friendzone.

Thursday, 2 April 2020

I fled to Cape Verde in early March to escape my feelings and to be alone. When I got back to Finland, I was placed in a 2-week forced quarantine, like a little homecoming gift even though any COVID-19 cases weren't in Cape Verde at that time. I just managed to get back after they stopped tracking the virus, labelling countries to epidemic areas - the whole world was an epidemic area, even pandemic when I got back. So to the quarantine, I went.

The funny thing is that I went there to be alone for 8 days, I also got back to be alone 14 days more. But the thing is, I didn't want to be alone anymore. This has driven me nuts. Of course, I've seen my son, as he cannot go to the daycare so he's been to uni with me (remote working) which I do not recommend with a toddler, but what can you do.

✖ my head can handle a lot, but it cannot handle hoarding and selfishness
I got back right when the hamsterwave was on its full swing. People were hoarding the cheapest things from the grocery stores - you know, the crap us students buy. Oh and elderly people. Oh and people who aren't blessed with a chubby wallet in their pockets. I read a FB post about an elderly man who had to leave the flipping grocery store without buying anything because all the cheap options were hoarded and he couldn't afford to a bit more expensive ones. That makes me mad. Idiots, idiots everywhere. Also, I managed to survive 5 days without toilet paper before I found any from the store, I just had to take a shower after each time I used the toilet. Fun times, very fun times. And no, not the hand shower (I don't have one), the actual fucking shower.

✖ my introvert-self can handle being alone if it chooses to do so but not forced
I'm an introvert, this whole situation the world is dealing with is basically like the dream come true for me. If I only had chosen to isolate myself. There's a little rebel living inside of me, especially as an Aquarius, I'm drawn to rather make my own rules instead of following someone else's.

✖ being alone with my own thoughts is scary as fuck
As being someone whose thoughts aren't always blue skies and sunny rays being alone with one's own thoughts is creepy as fuck. I can think about anything from plants to planning my own suicide. No worries, I'm not going to kill myself but holy shit what a wide range of thoughts and emotions can go through someone in one day. As if I was pregnant, but no, just alone with my own thoughts.

Have you learned anything about yourself during the quarantine?

Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Holy shit what kind of a world we're living in at the moment.

Thanks for the guy who decided it was fun to have, what? A bat for lunch, we've faced a situation where my generation has never been before. Or not that us millennials would recall it.

I mean, SARS - was that something to eat? And Ebola? Well, that affected mainly in Africa. We've lived through that, but we haven't really lived through that. Have we?

But covid-19, that stopped all of us going outside, having fun and apparently using our brains.

I want to talk to you guys about media criticism, and I cannot stress enough how important it is. We're living an era of misinformation, we're living in an era, where the journalist ethics and all that important shit is pressured down by the effect of the Internet and social media, where they feel the need to push all the news out in the news outlets as fast as possible. You've seen huge headlines on tabloid websites, right? But when you actually open it and it's recently posted, there might be one sentence of the news following with another sentence, "this article will be updated soon". And that's the best-case scenario. I mean, there has been news with a bunch of bullshit in it and afterwards edited the facts in it.

That's simply the result of the pressure, of the world we are living in. They need to push news out there right at the very moment they receive it. They need to push news out there without flowing it through the copywriter. News after news, after the news. They've lost the importance of quality, while quantity and clicks are all they nowadays care about. And why? It brings them money.

The media criticism is something rare, I reckon. It's something, that should be taught in schools. Actually, I've heard from my younger brother who is now what? A 10-year-old, that they've been talked at school about media criticism. And that's something that should've been done when the Internet arrived amongst us. Or at least 16 years ago, when Facebook brought us the thing you can do on the Internet, which is now called social media.

The very problem of social media and the Internet itself is that everyone has access to it. Don't get me wrong, that's the way it should be, BUT HOLY SHIT KAREN, who asked you to share your Farmville progress on Facebook every other hour?
No, to be honest, I'm a firm believer that the Internet should be made accessible to everyone and it should be a basic human right, and like in Finland, the government should guarantee that everyone has the access to it.

The core problem is that everyone has access to the Internet. There are people who know how to use their brain and the people who aren't necessarily blessed with the ability to use them. And that's where the importance of media criticism comes along. If you know how to use your brain, you also know that not everything in the world wide web is true. You know that it's not good for anyone to go out there blindly and believe everything you see. I mean, if there's something suspicious on your plate in a restaurant, would you eat it?

The thing is, you don't have to believe everything you read. While you're reading things online, check up these two things while you're reading: is the news source reliable and has it been right before?
Due to COVID-19 info, it's all fairly new to us. It's obvious that there is misinformation going on since we don't know a lot of things about it, however -- in every country, there is a website like THL (in Finland) or NHS (in the UK) which will give us the correct information about the whole situation. Tabloids are just feeding their click counter with spreading hysteria writing big headlines.

overdosed on caffeine.

SLIDER

✖ rhapidophora tetrasperma | care and stuff

Thursday, 30 April 2020

✖ how to get rid of all unimportant stuff?

Wednesday, 29 April 2020

✖ overdosed on plants

Tuesday, 28 April 2020

✖ strong and independent

Sunday, 26 April 2020

✖ all things green | april moodboard

Saturday, 4 April 2020

✖ 5 types of men on Tinder

Friday, 3 April 2020

✖ 3 x things I've learned about myself during a 2-week quarantine

Thursday, 2 April 2020

✖ let's talk about media criticism

Wednesday, 1 April 2020