It’s funny to observe one’s behaviour and thoughts when something is restricted. At the moment I’m not allowed to sit and it’s been interesting to realize when, how and in which situations my mind wants me to sit and how this simple restriction actually changes my patterns of thought and action. And how much it has eased my back pain! Well, of course I’ve also been resting as ordered by my doctor and taking some medicines but still. I actually find it much better to work by my laptop standing rather than sitting in a bad posture by the desk. The kitchen worktop is on a perfect height for me (90cm) when standing. And as my ‘office’ is not yet finished anyway, this suits me very well.
I got a pile of magazines from Maija yesterday and it’s been such a luxury to lie in bed and read. I love magazines. I have to be really careful not become such a magazine junkie again as this addiction is showing it’s nature again… Yes, I still order a couple (only a few!) design magazines but last spring I quit ordering most of them. I’m very proud of this and in general I prefer recycling them so anyone who wants to recycle their magazines with me is most welcome! I talked on the phone with my son the other day and I told him I was lying in bed recovering from my back injury. He then said: “Let me guess, you have a pile of magazines next to the bed!”
In the process of facing the truth of our financial situation, I made an Excel of all our living costs from January 2007 onwards. In this bigger picture, my magazine addiction is not that worrying, really. And the daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat is included in the Excel! But the statistics might look a little better as I quit most of the magazine orders last spring but still, it never was that bad. It’s just my partner who doesn’t have this addiction and who therefore cannot understand the bliss of it either.
Now that we’ve moved out of the centre, I have to face the costs of travelling to work and school. Well, of course this was known beforehand but still, it’s over all quite expensive here in Kuopio. As far as I know, Kuopion Liikenne, which runs the busses of the city, is the most expensive in the whole country. Public transport is definitely not cheap here but more so I hate that on our street most families have more than two cars. For me it’s either my bike or the bus.
The last couple of days have been really hot and since we still don’t have curtains, it’s been unbearably hot in the house, upstairs especially. Impossible to do any hard work in the house! Fortunately, we now have a shower, which helps the life in general, a lot. But there’s a lot of work remaining undone.
I have been working on my next productions a lot and worrying about the future of the ANTI-Festival. Some serious actions need to be done.

Johanna