Wishful Thinking

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I finally managed to get my permanent residence permit on Friday and was impressed that this year it only took 5 months instead of 7 or 8. Making the trip up to Malmi is one of the most depressing experiences an expat here can have. Once you get off the train and wander through the shopping mall of sorts and walk over to the police station, you enter a queue that is guaranteed to take three times longer than your least optimistic estimate. While you wait, it's impossible to really read a book since the Somali's tend to bring all of their children with them who either run around or, in the case of infants, cry for food, as well as the sweaty anxiousness of the place tends to lend little ease to even those who are just there to pick up their papers. The desperation and fear is impossible to avoid and makes it difficult to ignore all of your instincts that are telling you to make a break for it and run like hell. I overheard some loud American guy getting fussy over the long wait for his new visa after changing status and I kept waiting for his reaction to the new rule of four years residence instead of the previous two before being granted the permanent visa which he will likely be subject to since a change in status resets the clock. I'm delighted that my next trip to Malmi will be years from now.

On the topic of furriners and the welcome wagon [not] we receive at all points on the paperwork grid, Presso has an interesting article on how 1 in 4 Finns will be retired soon and, given the current birth rate, taxation rate, working population, and 1/3 of the population being openly racist/xenophobic that something is going to have to give. I will freely admit that had I not married a Finn, I'd be in the Caribbean somewhere enjoying warm days and shiny happy people. I enjoy Finland quite much, but it was nowhere on my radar of places I'd like to relocate. I doubt very much that Finland is going to attract the hoardes of white, well educated, working age people to prop up the retirement system that appears to be the current fantasy solution. Those sorts of people have many choices and many choices with less of a language barrier, a more hospitable climate and more welcoming to outsiders. Finland is far, far from the path of least resistance, even for the desperate. Considering I had a cake walk getting my papers compared to most foreigners, there are layers and layers of complexity that Finland doesn't have time to change before fiscal realities start to weigh in. My guess is that retirement age will be pushed higher or benefits lowered since having only 2 people working per retiree is a tax burden noone would abide. I do hope the government gets realistic, forgets the whole foreigner importation business and starts thinking realistically about what will likely be a very serious problem and, really, is one already.

Otava has been sick this weekend with diarrhea and vomiting. We took him up to the vet since he had all the symptoms of parvo though he has had all of his immunizations. The vet confirmed that the symptoms are not a result of a viral infection so I suspect that it's a reaction to the anti-inflammatory they prescribed last week for his leg. He's finally better today so we're relieved after worrying all day yesterday that something was very wrong. The leg is still a bit gimpy so we're likely going to have an x-ray done of the leg in a week or three since we want to be sure it's nothing serious and that it will heal in time. I can say that having a 40kg puppy who is teething and not being allowed to go play with his puppy pals for a week or more can be very trying on the patience. He is, however, too adorable and sweet to be cross with for very long. I spent a while shopping for books on Amazon while he slept next to me yesterday...

• Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn ∞ An entire book about one woman's lawn. Just when I thought I'd seen everything.
• Do You Speak American?" ∞ The history and development of the American English dialect.
• A Natural History of Latin ∞ Not very useful in Finland, but still looks interesting.
• Souvenir of Canada 2 ∞ Doug Coupland's continuing off-beat Canadian guide books.
• Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon
• The Friar and the Cipher: Roger Bacon and the Unsolved Mystery of the Most Unusual Manuscript in the World ∞ I've noticed quite a few new books suddenly being released on the Voynich which, I assume, is a direct result of the popularity of the Da Vinci Code.
• Best American Side Dishes (Best Recipe) ∞ Looks too good to pass up.
• Say What?: Talk Like A Local Without Putting Your Foot in It ∞ This could be entertaining or it could suck horribly but for the price it's not too much of a risk.
• City Walks London: 50 Adventures On Foot (City Walks) ∞ These are really well done and I hope there is enough interest that they publish more cities in the series.
• Trawler ∞ I wasn't very interested in this until I saw the author interviewed on The Daily Show recently and if the book is only half as interesting as he is it's sure to be a good read.
• The Weekend Baker: Irresistible Recipes, Simple Techniques, and Stress Free Strategies for Busy People ∞ Organizing a recipe book by how much time the recipe requires is a terrific idea.
• Quick Loaves: 150 Breads and Cakes, Meat and Meatless Loaves ∞ I must be hungry with all these cookbooks looking so good.
• The Geographer's Library ∞ A novel of literary intrigue, a genre made very popular by, again, The Da Vinci Code [which I haven't read] but this one sounds less of a shameless clone.
• New York Pop-up Postcards ∞ Cleverly done postcards.
• In Other Words ∞ Exploring the world of untranslatable expressions.
• The Revenge of Anguished English: More Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language ∞ The agony and the ecstasy of the English language in modern usage.
• Mediated: The Hidden Effects of Media on People, Places, and Things ∞ I saw this reviewed on Salon and found the author's feelings about media, consumption and narcissism to be very similar to my own.
• On Bullshit ∞ Backordered. A rant on bullshit is sounds refreshingly different.
• Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World ∞ Ambitious, but possibly cohesive enough to be worthwhile.
• Type: The Secret History of Letters ∞ Where would we be without type?
• St Petersburg (Everyman CityMap Guides S.) ∞ These little map guides are amazingly compact and useful. I have one for Stockholm which is perfect for getting around without carrying some 400+ page guide which you won't read anyway. I wish they had a larger selection of cities in the series.