well that escalated quickly

so much has been going on again. as it it often does, in life. starting today we are on a 14 day quarantine because both of us are ill atm. doctor got ill last week in helsinki, and me just today. we were supposed to stay in helsinki much longer but luckily made the right call cos obviously, just now, everything is closing down. every border, everything. we managed to change our flights for free (thank you Finnair) and just got back last night. which is nice since indeed today noon i started poor as well, i already had a stuffy nose but thats normal, but then felt so lethargic which my sinuses aching and cough etc. i mean i am fine as usual, fit enough to work, but under the weather. and doctor has on-off fever and headache.

for me all the talk about working from home and how tough it will be staying in is interesting. obviously im so comfortable working from home as it is, and often stay in for days anyway. so im kind of in my comfort zone. but of course the knowledge that i now must stay in for 2 weeks does something psychologically. like, suddenly things dont feel normal.

our food hoarding habit finally pays off though. the cabinets are always full of canned tuna and whatnot. and the freezer is full. so we're good for a while and i didnt even consider going to the grocery today (before i felt ill), i knew they are all empty anyway. and we had paracetamol and all that.

i was supposed to celebrate my 40th with a big party in helsinki but then last minute pretty much i had to cancel as doctor got ill and although its so minor, with the corona panic it just didnt feel right.

the weekend before, we had a birthday and housewarming party in our wonderful, cute home. also our friends from Edinburgh visited, VV & partner. and then we were straight off to helsinki. i got to work at the office for 2 days after which people were advised to start working remotely.

at our housewarming we has turkish pide and some mezes to feed people with.

also a friend (Anni) made this amazing finnish cake for us. i was looking around for a finnish style cake cos the british cake ive had was dry and meh. this was the best ever.

i got some paper plates for the party. 

 a couple nights before the party i prepared some drinks. i like making a punch but felt like there was not going to be space or time for a punch bowl so instead i bought juices and made the punch into the juice bottle/carton. they were all different. worked out pretty well i think.  

and before the London party... we had friends visiting. first miss R and then Arttu. it was great to have friends over, they were the first guests in our very own home! im lucky i have people in my life would travel to london to spend time with me (& doctor). buuuuut after that was pretty blissful too, finally alone for a few days.

with miss R we went to a cool drag brunch, it was better than expected. Vinegar Strokes at Prince of Wales, Brixton.

went to Wellcome Collection with Arttu.it was...inresting.wonderful library there;

uh, just saw in the Guardian that campaigners are demanding that plastic sachets are banned. the kind were u get instant coffee for example. i admit i didnt even realise they were plastic... but of course they are. next step: order a load of Nescafe 3 in 1's cos i bloody love it and will miss it when gone. although hopefully they will invent another material to pack them in...

got these flowers from our neighbours below, for my birthday. very thoughtful. 

in helsinki i had time to go get botox the day before my birthday. i considered it a birthday gift to myself. just the frown lines between my eyebrows. i felt like they needed a break, i frown like...permanently. its still not 100%, botox takes like a week to kick in, but i will try remember post before and after later.

some good stuff i read:
Guardian/Steven Poole: Why Bad Ideas Refuse to Die
NY Times: Jordan Peterson-Guardian of the Patriarchy

Next Up Comedy seems cool.

the last party in istanbul

the other day i started deleting movie files from my computer. i didnt have that many, a couple dozen movies ive been meaning to watch for months or years. our portable hardrives are kind of full so i figured its not worth it to buy a new one, if i actually want to see these movies some day, i can get a hold of them again...   same applies to some tv episodes and seasons that have been sitting and waiting for their turn. for some of them, it was never gonna be the right time i think... like True Detective for instance.

one of the bazaar shops nearby where i buy mezes and foreign cheese etc.

last sunday we did a wine & cheese evening with a few friends. some good cheese and wines were tasted! mostly french and turkish, both wine and cheese.

tonight is our 'farewell to istanbul party'. around 25-30 people coming. more were invited but a lot of people are on holidays, and several have a wedding to attend to tonight. oh well, a week later wouldve been better attendance wise but i also didnt want to make it too stressful for myself so i wanted to do this well before actually leaving. but overall i want to make it a great party with the people weve shared the past 6 years (or more, in doctors case) with.

party planning!

enough mixers? not quite, but getting there!

building the playlist!

open bar - we need to get rid of all the bottles in our alcohol cabinet. some years old. people are lazy at writing their names on the plastic cups even if you give them the marker (except for swedes) so my solution has been in the past parties to mark them beforehand. this time i wrote down istanbul neighborhoods. it was actually meaningful too, for me, reminiscent of the places ive seen in my time here, they all mean different things; Nisantasi, Kabatas, Feneryolu, Osmanbey, Sirkeci, Pendik, Kartal, Atasehir, Ortaköy, Bahcelievler, Levent, Kozyatagi... 

booked my yearly check up for next monday. its free on my health insurance so why not. also ive been doing research on health insurances in the UK, we will have to get one for when doctor applies for his residence card, since i am 'self sufficient' EU citizen. i got really good service from this insurance broker and they found a cheap one so we will probably go with that. its £84/month.


meze dinner with Carina the other night.

my new favorite lunch take away place, Manca. they are on yemeksepeti but always bring the weekly menu, of course they a lot of if i call and order directly. so i try to do that. they have a lot of veggie options and i usually order 2 small things, which makes for one lunch. importantly, the foods are not drowning in oil, as is often the case with turkish 'home food'.

this 15tl/5eur plate is from the above restaurant. not the most inventive, but if you want healthy vegetarian lunch food (ie. not just cards and fats), your options are very slim. i was happy with this portion.

bought this swedish toothbrush the other way. supposedly ecological and blah blah...  (Humble Brush).

there is this tension in the air though and some people believe something worse than the coup could happen sometime soon. but there are no actual "signs" that you could count on. plus, stuff like coups dont really announce themselves beforehand.

food and drinks and food and

another week with guests...almost over. Arttu & Inkeri just left today, BUT tomorrow doctors mom will be coming! however she is so low maintenance and stays typically 1 or 2 nights...    we did have a good week though, everyone was working so our living room was like an open office, and in the evenings we went out to eat and drink and the usual. but i look forward to being home all alone, too...  like, just watching tv shows, doing nothing for hours...

crazy tasty food. nearby liver & kebab place.

out guests came bearing gifts...nom nom. i had asked for a cider and doctor for "lonkero" (gin+grapefruit9. we both got several each <3 a="" addition="" gin="" got="" href="http://barmagazine.co.uk/iwsc-judges-best-brands-for-a-gin-and-tonic-and-a-bloody-mary/" in="" target="_blank" we="">Napue, which recently won the best gin at Internation Wine and Spirit competition

.

and, doctor got a deo he asked for (Lumene). we got 2 packs of Stevia. and a belated wedding gift from Inkeri - a proper finnish cook book. AND she gave me a copy of the book she wrote that won the Finnish science book of the year award. ive been really curious about it and finally get to read it now :) its about pseudoscientific history, stories about where finns originate from (but which are not true, like, finns being related to egyptians...). should be entertaining.

on wednesday we went to see Melisa's documentary at documentarist festival, in SALT Galata. after that we dined at the rooftop of said building, at a fine dining establishment called Neolokal. the festival has not done much PR i think...cos this film, and many others, are playing to empty theatres.

QA for Daddy's Girl.

On Tuesday we met Toros and Siri and their friend Irmak. had a great time and learned that Toros has lives in Camberwell, which is where me and doctor are first moving! small world :)

thursday was picnic day, in Caddebostan, with Volkan and Afsin. i shouldve taken a pic when it was still sunny and perfectly warm...  oh well.

Volkan and Afsin both brew their own beer and brought a few bottles. well, i dont drink beer so it was not something i could enjoy, but i DO enjoy the cool labeling here:

so what do you like to be referred to as...?

coming from a native language without gender i can understand the need for gender neutral pronouns, although im not super passionate about it. but why cant the people fighting for this cause settle on something?! i dont personally know anyone who wants to be referred to as ze or ne or xe or something, but im just imagining a situation where one of my friends wants to be xe, another ze, another ne and so forth. one pronoun i do NOT like for gender neutral is they/them. i mean...  do i have to explain why?? if i could pick, i'm not sure actually...
ze/zir can be hard to pronounce (esp. internationally)
ze/hir same thing, plus illogical for a layman
ve/ver too close to 'we'
xe/xem another exotic one/will lead to pronounciation issues, although very distinguishable
ney/nem sounds like baby-version of 'they/them'
ey/em as above

yeah i actually don't think i can choose. trying to put those in sentences and think of possible conflicts and accent issues....  maybe i'd go for ve/ver although i dont know how its supposed to be pronounced, but probably follows the logic of "we", so  sounds like "vii" and "vi'r". i could do that.


the back of a bar/restaurant really near our home (Oblomov). i met Hanna there for a lunch a while back.

Atatürk is always around. like in restaurants under your plate...

last saturday i was feeling good, testing a mobile app (with the help of doctor's android). the old nokia is not related to the testing, heh.

our floor is living a life of its own again. i dunno how water from the kitchen got to it, but apparently it did. opening the front door is tough, but it seems like the process has stopped so we're just ignoring it for now...  i eman what is there to do, anyway, i know the landlady does not want to hear about it...

in our bedroom, behind a chest.... lovely. i also saw there is something similar going on behind our wardrobe, but i didnt bother moving and finding out how bad it is. cos sgain, what is there to do anyway. im surprised it took 5 years for this to happen though, better than most flats!

tomorrow im seeing this friend of a friend, Henna. our common friend gave my details to her cos she is coming here for a visit and wants to hang out in kadiköy. i promised to take her out and whatnot. ive been on a pretty healthy diet for the past couple weeks, and back to biking more (stationary bike :) so this will break my streak...im a bit bummed. also cos saturday is a girls night with Cary etc. so two nights in a row!!

lets be friends

i spent yesterday and today at the "retardpal" course. F did not manage to kick me out of bed yesterday morning though, and i was veeery late. i think id missed my chance but i called em and they said i come and join anyway. this was at noon. we went to bed at around 6am so that explains i guess.

i had a great time at the course :) some of the others were rather...interesting personalities. the atmosphere was really nice and relaxed. and i realized its been ages since i met any new people, especially from such different walks of life. i look forward to being matched with someone now, but it can apparently take several months.

on friday we werent's supposed to stay up as late as we did, but we had a good time, so... went to a bar nearby, where my ex-boss VV and some of his friends were sitting. later in the night we took a cab to my place and continued until said 6am. my new fav drink was vodka/pina colada. i only assume since the pina colada bottle was empty the next time i saw it

no bar-photo without my legs! in fact, no photos ever anywhere with at least one of my legs. whats with the leg obsession, jen? *shrugs* whatever.














he used to be my boss, VV.



















me and F... doing the kiss-thing. that pink shirt is the one i cut the denim-collar off from. i wore it today and the down-syndrome girl i met at the course said it was a princess-shirt :)













ive spent both evening sleeping for hours, i guess it was heavy to spend all day somewhere? i almost passed out there at a lecture this morning, i was so fucken tired. almost in a coma.

shirt i got today from the course. my colors!

















Gil in a newspaper! i met Gil a couple years ago when he came to finland to visit Assembly (the largest"demo-scene" event in the world). i wasnt participating there, mind u, we just met up in the city and hung out for a bit. didn't go too deep in the isreal/palestine situation ;)

looking in the mirror just a bit

oh dear how dumb my last nights drunk-post is. is it okay to just say "thank you" to...blah blah... ?! uh huh. i definitely make something out of nothing sometimes...i have a tendency to that at all times, but especially when in %

it is cruel when u have to face your drunken self later. without videos, photos and blogs you only have memories and what your friends say, and honestly those 2 are as never as bad a s reality. not that being drunk is always embarrassing and about doing stupidities but the little things can seem dumb as well...exaggeration and all...

but, u should be able to face your drunken self as well as your other 'selves'.

clouds

ugh, cant really see my fancy flowers.


















kitty in the living room.













birthday-girl wore her bunny ears for the party :)








veggies to dip. thanks guys for the great design.














random shots:
































my punch was well-liked :) eventually i used all the booze i had and ran out of it anyway. you could see that too, ppl got pretty drunk. the original recipe was:
-vodka
-strawberry liquor
-banana liquor
-strawberry cider
-sprite zero

the drawing board was utilized well.


















i have to thank F for a lot of this change in my home. maybe it was coming my way anyway but he's boosted it.

"list of stuff that white people like" - 80% true in my case.

stock photography selling only sky/cloud photos: www.millionclouds.com
interesting idea.

seeing the light

Tiitta got inpired by my permanent make up and booked a time for herself too :)

i got a curtain from IKEA for 5 euros. it was on sale to begin with and then theyd run out of it. i asked if i could get the sample piece. yea its wrinkly and shit but since when did i care. the new curtain gave the kitchen a really beautiful illuminating light, soft and eerie.










i wasnt originally so fond of these chairs and seat cushions...but. my mind changed? ordinary chairs. the seat cushions have the same pattern as the curtain, only thicker material. but yea they look middle-aged. *shrugs*

















my rug arrived! but actually, i had to pick it up, they didnt notice my phone number in the packing slip and my building has a door code. so, i got a note to pick it up. the post office is near so even with my 4 inch heels i handled this 10kg rug gracefully.

the rug is supersoft. this pleases me.


















i also bought this from someone online. saved 13euros, its 39e as new, and this was still packed and all new. actually, i wouldnt mind paying a couple euros for assembling this...it was a bitch. but, there it is. show someone else who has as much storage space per sq meter! im gonna drill a hole in the back of the drawer and put my internet modem in there. out of sight.



















pink curtains and amazing "flower" arrangements and pink mini stool (called MAMMUT ...)

ive been active in the decor apartment...























































oh boy i have so much cleaning up to do...

cousin B will come fix my nails on thursday.

how does this sound for a punch:
0,75 liter vodka
0,5 liter banana liqueur
2 liters sprite zero
1 liter sweet strawberry cider

too sweet? well TOO BAD! i think ill like it! ill make a small test first though. im not used to this type of mixes and cant afford to fuck up.

crossroads

well it seems to be the last day of january. i woke up before 12 and saw a glimpse of the sun, that was refreshing actually. i dont usually care or pay attention.

im going for a coffee with Sebastian in a few hours but working a bit before that wouldnt hurt. then im returning my überkeyboard to the store and....going to ALKO to get booze.

ive put effort into vitamins lately. im eating general vitamin pills, cod-liver oil tablets and some lactobacillus things... i wonder if theyll have any effect in my general wellbeing?

i finally have an appointment for tomorrow for this light-based permanent hair removal. i had to cancel the earlier time in the beginning of this month...but now... tomorrow morning...the journey will begin.

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