I’d really like to start this post by saying that I tried very hard to finish this in time with the year in review post for the year of 2016. But, honestly, I didn’t even try. For some reason, finishing the post about the whole year felt much more urgent.
But December was a not-half-bad month in the life of the maintainer of this little site on the internet. – I read some cool things, and many people said funny things to me. If you keep reading, you’ll find out all about them below! (And you’ll see a super cute dog I met at an airport.)
I found
- The entrance to the Speakeasy
- Fantastic books
Read
- Just 27 Women Waiting Patiently For Men To Stop Talking In 2016
- Ready to ditch white feminism? Here are 6 Black feminist concepts you need to know
- The Problem with Tech Leads
- Badass women you probably didn’t hear about in 2016
- Jenny Holzer: Truisms
- Revenge
- Taming the steamroller: how to communicate compassionately with non-native English speakers
- Hunger makes me
- Fighting Anxiety with Scrambled Eggs
Heard (1)
- “Be straight with us. Are you at the burger truck?”
- “One drink is no drink. … But we’re not gonna make this a habit!”
- “I hope someone told you that before?”
- “Bring the eye patch.”
- “You only like me for my coffee recommendations.” — “No!… yes.”
- “What happened was exactly what I expected to happen when you said you were going to Australia.”
Wrote
- “Worst case it will be a good story. But I really don’t want to think this way anymore.”
- A good story
- Something about taking chances
- 12 Days of Summer – Melbourne in November 2016
- Patches of Light: Helsinki in December
- The traditional Year in Review Post: My Twenty-Sixteen
Watched (or saw)
- Kate Tempest: Storming the Castle
- The Castle
- A dog with antlers at 32°C outside
- The Perks of being a Wallflower
- Koalas stretching
- The sunrise over Abu Dhabi
- A sleeping Wombat (the way their belly moves when they’re breathing in their sleep is just so pretty)
- Berlin in the fog
- The sunrise over the sea
- Four Santas
Said
- “It’s not because I’m German, it’s just that I’m really not sure if this actually qualifies as humour.”
- “Once you suppress the thought of garlic, it’s actually drinkable.”
- “Can’t talk, I have Mango in my face.” – “Is that a euphemism I’m not aware of?” – “No, I literally have a Mango in my face.”
- “I don’t think I’ll make it to the concert on Friday.”
Learned
- What “timezones are hard” can really mean
- I choose my books based on who I want to become.
Was
- Wondering if I missed a chance
- In Terminal 2, waiting for boarding, listening to Christmas music (not voluntarily)
- On a plane
- On another plane
- Home
- Jetlagged, maybe
- Surprised
- On more planes
- In an Australian Bar somewhere in Scandinavia (by accident)
- In many bookstores
- In the bathtub
I did
- Make it through Christmas
- Send a poem
- Lose a Memory Card
- Walk home
- Walk 80kms around Helsinki
- Come home to flowers
I did…, although it was a bad idea
- Leave
- Look for flights
- Get only one more coffee
- Count
Had
- Internet problems
- Eyeliner problems
Heard (2)
- “Have fun with the adventure that you call life.”
- “Leave Finnland alone. … I mean it.”
- “You’re in Helsinki? Is there a conference I’m not aware of?”
- “You’re a writer – not keeping the personal and professional separated, that’s exactly what you do. That’s where you get your inspiration from.”
- “Guess there’s no white Christmas this year. Santa will have to come in a Helicopter.”
- “I’m the only Aussie who didn’t come here for the love of a woman.” – “Then why did you come here?” – “I came here for my love of Heavy Metal.”
Listened to
- Bright Eyes: The Calendar Hung Itself
- No Wyld – Let me know
- Sigur Rós – Hoppípolla
- Blind Pilot – 3 Rounds and a Sound (and learned that the lyrics were inspired by a bike magazine)
- Cloudbirds – End Run
- Tall Ships – Meditations on Loss
- Saint Sister – Corpses
I thought
- About goodbyes
- About Drop Bears
- About why a Speakeasy is called a Speakeasy in English, while it’s called Flüsterkneipe in German (which literally translates to Shush bar, and which seems to be just the opposite of a Speakeasy)
- About Christmas presents
- About time
- About hope
