hi robin!

a few days ago my friend robin appeared on national television in new zealand, and the interview was available on the internet as well, so i had a chance to view it.

robin on nz tv

i feel the urge to inform you that i took about 20 random snapshots of the video, and this was the best one i could get.

anyway. here is the file for those of you who would like to view robin being interviewed on new zealand tv.

let me give you a brief summary. robin is wearing a black suit and is being interviewed as the president of the post primary teacher’s association. the interviewer wants to hear arguments for the state to invest more into teaching and robin delivers, bundled with a lot of mumbo jumbo. the main point being that 30+ students per class makes it impossible to establish personal relationships with the students. and since the state wants a “move to personalized environment”, something needs to be done. (more teachers, more money, i suppose.)

to further argue his case, robin tells that in finland (yes, finland!), you need at least a master’s degree to teach in any area of education and they (we) only choose about 15% of the applicants. well ain’t that a bold statement! it sure wasn’t hard for me to become a substitute teacher while still being in high school (gymnasium). as for the 15%, according to the åbo akademi statistics (representative for the swedish-speaking minority), 88% of the applicants 2006 were admitted. somehow i doubt the situation for the rest of the country should be very different.

but hey, who the hell cares, robin mentioned finland on new zealand television!

diving diva

I LOVE DIVING. [insert flashing heart here]

[insert big fat smiley with tongue hanging out and two more tacky hearts]

thomas dyker

my brother has a wet suit and other diving stuff but i’ve never tried it before, until today when he, robin and i went for a swim. the water was extremely cold, 20-something, but the wet suit is a MIRACLE! i felt like a seal with it! with the weights on i was 10kg heavier and the actual suit made me 3cm thicker everywhere. it was like having an extra layer of fat. i felt warm and cozy.

two birds

robin took a nice photo of two terns while i was preparing to dive.

baby-tärna they were on guard for their baby tern.

tärna 3
hence the rapid welcome.

tärnaclose, but close friends?

tärna 2i got the message and backed off.

thomas dykeri entered the sea as a seal. lovely feeling.
unpopular diver still highly unpopular though. but my appearance as a seal cooled them down. i even hauled myself up on the cliff close to the baby tern. i’m a seal i’m a seal 🙂

thomas divingand i can DIVE! i started diving from the cliff shore, along the bottom, and this is where i got up. hard to tell how deep i went, the angle was about 45° but i did not reach the bottom. later, kimmen told me the depth is about 15 meters. i might not make it in the future either, during the last meter i got a funny sound in my head as i tried to level out the pressure. then again, 15 meters should be doable.

getting up from the waterin any case, i love diving.

what dad said.

i’m almost asleep but i want to write about something significant and personal. the background: robin and i went to korpo to visit my parents and siblings. since it was my dad’s namesday i decided to surprise him by preparing a thai meal as well, for him and the rest.

i don’t prepare food very often, and for others even less, so they were definitely taken by surprise. by the end of the dinner, dad praised the food and thanked for the whole thing – and then said to me:

i’ve always known that when you really want, you can do anything.

he certainly meant it in the broadest of senses. then everybody applauded for the dinner i made.

words, sentences. i find these to come annoyingly close to negative self-praise (don’t brag!) and distortion of reality (am i really worth the praise, do i lye?). in any case, at the time i felt, i don’t know what to say but i know what i felt. i’ve said enough at the moment and will leave it at that.

meta matters: from time to time i think about what’s in my best interest to blog about and what’s not. this time i gave it some more thought. i decided that although what i just wrote is personal, it’s not private. and i doubt it can be held against me. yet still, there’s something i can’t put my finger on.