Daily Slow Chat

5 comments

1. It’s pretty interesting to bump into different uses of what appears to be the same term, when browsing English-speaking subreddits.

   As an example, the term hiking seems to emphasize a slightly sportier approach to the activity, compared to the Finnish word vaellus, let alone the word retki.

   And I thought cross country skiing would be a clear one: Making your way, well, across land, with your own power, with occasional short uphills and downhills, and the skis ranging from 44 to 50 mm in width depending on the quality of the tracks. I just saw someone asking for advice on whether to choose 85 or 98 mm wide skis for “backcountry cross country”. Such skis will not be “skiable” in the way skis for prepared tracks are, as the latter type has a carefully measured stiffness that keeps the center of the ski off the track when your weight is on both skis, and allows the center to be in contact only when kicking for speed.

2. I had bought some Italian handmade watercolor paper on sale out of curiosity and decided to do a [quick painting](https://imgur.com/a/1cgbwSP) yesterday to try it out. It’s got a nice weight, nice texture, 100% cotton, nice deckled edges… And it’s absolutely ass for painting. The surface is so fragile, you need to finish whatever you’re doing in one confident stroke and be done with it. It doesn’t work if you like to do repeated glazes. Even then the surface looks kind of mottled but it is not too terrible for a loose painting I guess.

   While doing this, I had YouTube on in the background and it started playing an interview with Lars Vogt. He was a pianist, conductor and overall excellent person who passed away way too soon from cancer a few years ago. This was apparently his last interview. It was so touching and very sad but also quite enlightening. He said for example that he continued taking piano lessons till he was 41 (he was 50 when he died, I think). And he also said that he started playing much freer when he decided he doesn’t have to memorize everything and just plays with the iPad in front of him. I also struggle with this, I maybe know 2-3 pieces by heart. It made me feel much better. 

   It’s probably a time of the year when people who celebrate Christmas miss their loved ones most. 

   [Here’s a video of him playing the second Intermezzo by Brahms](https://youtu.be/hFk0VKcM1ns?si=hhjvMEjCMDhc2HL_).

3. Big party last night,it was fun! It was good to meet up with a lot of people I rarely see.The food was very mixed as always… some nice stuff and some terrible 😉

   I understand people who don’t cook (or don’t have time) and buy something ready made to bring . that’s fine.

   I don’t really understand people who make something really terrible and bring that? 😉 Don’t they taste their own food? Or perhaps they like it but no-one else does?

4. I am re-homing my 3 year old cat today.
   It’s a total mix of emotions.
   I have found a good new home for him, they are driving across the country to get him.

   But it’s the first pet I have ever had to rehome. Usually I am the one get the re-homed pets!

5. There’s a post on one of the travel subs at the moment posted by an Indian woman who was trying to enter Russia (for tourism..she wanted to see the Northern Lights) and was refused entry on arrival.

   She was very upset about the ‘lack of human rights’ she experienced there.

   Do people really not read or watch the news to that extent? Her justification for the visit is that ‘Indian influencers told me that Russia was great to visit’.

   Why she would expect her ‘human rights’ to be respected by the current regime there is beyond me…are people really that ignorant? Do they do everything that ‘influencers’ tell them to do,without question?