Bloody Valentine

Today is Valentine's Day or Friendship Day in Finland. Is it just my advancing age that is making me prefer Friendship Day to all the mushy sentiments of V-day? Perhaps it is the passing years that have taught me to lower my expectations and focus more on the sure things like the constancy of my dear friends.
Another thing, how is it that though we have only (relatively) recently concluded with the Christmas holidays and had a three day weekend in honor of MLK, everyone seems to be dragging through life with listless enthusiasm. I find myself wishing for bed by 2pm and trying hard not to conk my head on the monitor at work...(i'm not really snoozing at work but i feel like it).
This day has not been a complete waste. I found an absolutely wonderful blog, chock-full of gorgeous pictures by some of Scandinavia's best artists. There is plenty on things to feast your eyes on. Check it out: http://nordic-aputsiaq.blogspot.com (I realize that this is a different blog service but it is worth the visit).

Ever the romantic, i sent this Valentine to my husband today. It's by a famous Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. I really liked the kiss and only later realized the grim action taking place...oh well. But isn't that an apt example of how differently we all can experience the world depending on what we choose to focus on? Trust me, I am not one of those "let's just think happy thoughts" kind of people, however, i do believe that there is something to be said for not being a gloomy-gus about everything.

As luck would have it, i am once again writing this at night when my brain is barely functioning above the level of an earthworm and I am literally boring myself by this blather...my apologies if you are struggling to keep reading.
Just this morning, i had a super cool thought but i was brushing my teeth and running late and, well, now i can't recall it. I remind you of the earthworm status...
There is something i have been thinking about every night as i try to get comfortable on my worn out mattress...zero gravity. Imagine going to sleep in zero gravity. Do you think you would be able to or would you need to be swaddled in some kind of a pouch?

Happy Friendship Day, dear reader. I hope that you have at least one friend whose presence on this earth delights you.

Introductory bits

It is January 31st, 2013 and it is evening. Therefore, not a good time for me to begin blogging as my mind has pretty much run out of steam by this time of week and at this hour of the night. However, I am looking forward to putting my thoughts in a blog or two come morning. I find that my mind seems to race with wild and woolly ideas early in the morning, though i am decidedly not a morning person.
Since I hardly have anything scintillating to share at the moment, I thought that i would get the introductory bits out of the way with this blog.

I should perhaps explain my purpose for starting a blog. It is very simply to get the aforementioned wild and woolly thoughts out of my head and on 'paper'. My thoughts tend to center around theological questions and spiritual matters.

The title (and my blogger name "Tirlittan") are Finnish. When I was a child, my mother used to sing a song to be about a girl named Tirlittan, who was orphaned and forced to make her way in a world that did not necessarily receive her with open arms. Nevertheless, Tirlittan persisted without bitterness, relying on God. I loved the song especially when my mother sang it; it was at once humorous, a little dark and yet so charming.

The word 'tuumii' is the grammatically convoluted result of the Finnish word 'tuumia', which means to ruminate. I suppose I could have named the blog "Tirlittan Ruminates"...but i didn't.

Essentially though that is precisely what i do most mornings; I ruminate about things. It's as if someone comes by at night and fills my head up with thoughts that burst into a full-blown oratory upon my waking. I don't know if i am just tragically full of myself, but I find the thoughts zinging around my brain incredibly interesting. It's just that those moments of 'brilliance' are confined to the early morning hours and by the time i have a chance to write them down, they have all but deserted my cranium.

I suppose this blog is as much an experiment for me as anything else. If I manage to get my early morning ruminations recorded in some fashion and then have the opportunity to examine them with the workday-worn mind, perhaps i will discover whether they have any merit at all.

Well, that's about it. Time to launch the blog....