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five questions (dec 2021) | |
December 06th, 2021 | |
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1. How far in advance do you like to start planning things? | |
This is quite variable. Speeches and presentations that don't | |
require slides? Those I prefer to work on very briefly before | |
I have to perform. The over-prep and dwelling on it increases my | |
stress and doesn't make the delivery any better. But if I'm | |
prepping a larger project or something that requires lots of | |
pre-work, steps, 3rd parties, etc, then I try to get that done and | |
out of the way as early as possible. For instance, my trip to | |
visit family in the states next year is already arranged and | |
everything booked except the plane tickets (since prices are time | |
dependent). | |
2. What do you hope happens in 2022? | |
I would really love it if the vaccination levels across the globe | |
help us bring COVID to a long-term managable level that doesn't | |
result in waves of hospitalizations and deaths. The cascading | |
effects of that would be huge and wonderful. I also hope 2022 | |
brings some nice moments with the family. The kid is at a great | |
age right now and I'm really enjoying all the time we get to spend | |
together. | |
3. What challenges have you recently overcome? | |
Hmm, I'm not sure. I've been fighting a sleep disorder recently | |
and while it's not quite overcome, it's very close. I hope that | |
wraps up soon. | |
4. Seasonal traditions you're most excited about | |
I'm a big christmas music fan and listen to it year round, but | |
especially on repeat during this season. It brings be happy | |
memories and sets a wonderful festive mood in the home. It reminds | |
me not to work too hard and to spend time with the family. | |
We've adopted several Icelandic traditions and added them to our | |
own family ones. We leave a shoe in the window for each of the | |
Yule Lads as they come to visit leading up to Christmas. They are | |
thirteen trolls that visit one-a-night on the days leading up to | |
Christmas Eve. Each has his own personality and will usually leave | |
a little treat in your shoe if you've been good. If not, you might | |
find a rotten potato in there instead. Wit has a bit of a beef | |
with Door-Slammer, but they're making up. Last year he left Wit | |
fake cat poop in his shoe. | |
What else? Hmm... We have our stockings and tree set up of course. | |
I put the tree up and Leah and Wit do the decorating. Then I put | |
the star on top and it's all set. Presents slowly appear day by | |
day leading up to the big day. | |
Santa is a big deal here still. Wit knows that the real Santa is | |
not the guy he sees at the malls. We've explained that he lives in | |
Finnish Lapland above the arctic circle, which is why people refer | |
to his home as the North Pole. We've seen the videos of him at | |
home with his reindeer pulling the sleigh. We've also discussed | |
how different cultures celebrate on Christmas Eve vs Christmas | |
day, meaning Santa has 2 full nights to travel the globe, plus | |
time zones to take advantage of. With proper planning it's | |
basically 3 days of activity to get it all done, and only in | |
predominantely Christian areas. Not such a big deal as the stories | |
make it seem. Wit also knows that Santa doesn't wrap his presents. | |
He leaves them loose by the tree. | |
Finally, we exchange books on christmas eve in the faux | |
jólabókaflöð tradition. The term actually refers to the publishing | |
industry going cray-cray and releasing everything at once here for | |
the holiday rush, but somehow it got memed into this make-believe | |
story about Icelandic Christmas Eve. In reality Icelanders open | |
their presents on Christmas Eve, not just books. Still, we liked | |
the idea of it and since we still open presents on Christmas day, | |
that lets us do the book & chocolate celebration the day before. | |
There's one other tradition here where people all go out for a big | |
Christmas feast. It's usually done via work, but there's family | |
groups and friends groups that go out as well. Restaurants have | |
a special menu for it and seats book up in August. Sadly we've not | |
been able to try this yet as it's been shut down the last two | |
years due to COVID. | |
5. Are you good at directions and maps? | |
Yeah, pretty good. I've got a great direction sense in the wild | |
too, but I get turned around in cities. |