The other side

I just stumbled across this blog post by a girl named Kristiina in Helsinki. As I read over it I couldn't resist the knowing smile that crept across my face as she remarked about each of the "little things" that when taken together can have a crushing impact on the globe-trotting individual's mental state. Graph paper, decimal points, commas... they're not a big deal, but when one is having a bad day seeing a decimal point where a comma should be can bring one to tears.

As also mentioned, the date thing gets me every time. I never know what 4.5.2006 was referring to- april or may- so i've adapted a new strategy in my own writing to take all the ambiguity out. When writing dates I give Day in numbers, month in 3 or 4 letters, year in numbers. I still cross my 7's, and I'm ok with that.

I can't say I've ever really gotten used to writing on graph paper, though I accepted it and moved on. When I was at Helsingin yliopisto last semester I eventually broke down and asked my parents to send me some college ruled lined paper. They did like I asked, but in the end I never opened that paper and threw it out in July. I just find it harder to read my notes on the graph paper since i write small as is, so the additional lines interfering just made it worse.

Anyway, the rest of Kristiina's blog also reflects a thoughtful, empathetic and mature individual and is well worth the time to read over. I highly suggest you do.