"Living an extraordinary life"-class / On clothes / On Bush's speech / More on the…

The ideal place for me is the one in which it is most natural to live as a foreigner. Italo Calvino

"Living an extraordinary life"-class

I am taking a class called "Living an extraordinary life". It took 3 hours today. The main message, which I fully agree on, is: just do what you want to do, do not repeat any excuses to yourself. Quite much common sense, but of course hard to live by. And sometimes there are some things in the reality, which prevent even the most strong-willed of us to do what they want to do. Basicly, the main idea is a vulgar version of Sartre's existentialism. The funny/scary thing is that the lectures claim to "get paid so much that it is insane" - they kept on repeating how well off they are. As if that would give some credibility. Not in my book.
We got an homework to write a confession about things that we are embarrassed, that we are hiding. The premise is that if we write about them, we will get free, and our lives will hurt less. I assume this is a naive interpretation of Freudian psychotherapy, and may thus work to some extent. Or not.
The lecturers gave us some example confessions. One was written by "a woman, CEO, mother, and wife" - which information told us that "she is no sicko". Really? Success in life, CEOness especially, somehow by definition makes one not-sicko, I assume. Or motherhood, right. The confession went like this: I had sex with my husbands brother. I used marihuana. I used cocaine in bathroom and liked it. I masturbated in a taxi. I let my neighbor's dog to lick me off. I like big boobs, buy Penthouse and masturbate to big boobs. I had sex with 2 women. I stole from my grandma. etc. The whole confession was about sex, masturbation, and drugs. For a Finn, this list sounds really weird: is the US culture so fucked-up (to use expression of the older gentleman mentioned below, when I discussed the issue with him after the class), that people has such a big traumas about sex? Is it due Mr. Calvin? Oh, there were other examples: person X had masturbated with a tofu sausage. How terrible is that? She had not eaten the sausage though (I had to ask, I found this confession business so fun and wanted to whether see would tell, or I was just curious, it was about sex after all, you know.)
So, we should write confessions or we are out of the class. And send them by email. There was an older gentleman in the class who pointed out that sending such information by email may not be the most clever an idea. The email may end up in NSA's files and be used against the confessor in the future (remember how just receiving a blow-job was almost enough to get Clinton impeached - what are the changes of getting government jobs after confessing sex with animals in this country). I am not sure whether the level of paranoia is justified. Anyway, I wrote my confession. It had 2 lines and absolutely nothing to do with sex or drugs, as I cannot see them embarrassing.
The class is very much fun. I will keep blogging about it. Stay tuned for more indecency.

On clothes

H&M's trousers can take daily punishment only for 5 months or so. Then they break down, in an embarrassing manner. Just after I had sent all other trousers to Finland. So, I went to buy another pair, but a bit sturdier one. While in the shop, I suddenly wanted to start wearing a jacket/blazer/shirt on top of my ubiquitous T-shirts. They had some very nice ones, but all were way too narrow at shoulders. And even at biceps, even though I am far from being muscular. What kind of midgets they are selling the shirts/jackets to?

On Bush's speech

The net is full of commentary, most of it not that positive or admiring, on the state of the union speech by Mr. Bush yesterday. I do not want to add any more, but I just point out a good question raised by Juan Cole: if Bush really wants to get rid of the oil addiction, why does he not mandate saving oil (e.g. by using smaller cars, or whatever) in the US government. He would have to power to do so. As long not even the government bothers to follow the word of the leader, I think leader's talk is empty.
Frankly, if Mr. Bush would be really serious about energy and really understand the dangers of climate change, he would redirect at least half of the defense budget (some $300 billion) to energy research and infrastructure building. That would really increase the national security of the USA. If $300 billion on energy research sounds like an overkill, how much more an overkill it is to spend at least $600 billion on military?

More on the size of one's home

I was exaggerating a bit yesterday for two reasons: First, I tend to eat all my meals out here in Boston. Thus I have no real need for a kitchen. In Finland, later this month, I intend to start cooking again - mainly because there are no decent Asian restaurants with reasonable prices in Kallio. So, I need a kitchen. Second, living together with someone (S in my case) more than doubles the living area needed. When living with someone, it is actually rather essential to have two room, so that one can study in peace when the other wants to do something noisy (or sleep).

January

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs January to February 2006".