Tag: baking

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 4

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Christmas balls, stars and light part 4
Made with Canva

Day 4

I won’t collapse, even though yesterday’s post didn’t get likes immediately. There can be many reasons, which doesn’t necessarily mean it was terrible. I’m good at keeping it together. There are worse things in the world than no one liking something. Despite being active on social media, I don’t get many likes and even less comments. But I post anyway. Sometimes, people find old posts that were posted ages ago. You never know what happens when you’re on the internet. One thing that I’m good at is keeping things together, and I don’t collapse when things get tough. Life’s disappointments make you stronger, and you can take the heat a little better.

The other four things I’m good at are as follows. Two of them are thanks to my late parents.

Cooking and baking

I used to help my mother in the kitchen. That way, I learned how to cook and bake. It had been a big help. My dad didn’t cook, so I cooked for the both of us after my mother died. Sometimes, I try new recipes, and sometimes I succeed, but sometimes I do not. For example, I once tried to make chocolate cheesecake, but it became all gooey and too sweet. I followed the recipe to the letter, but still, it failed. I have more success in cooking a meal. If I like the food I tried for the first time, I cook them again. Now, when I’m alone, I’m a little lazy to cook, so I either order takeout or buy microwave food. But a home-cooked meal is always better, so I still do that. It’s less expensive to cook your own food. I should learn to make smaller amounts of food, though, now that I only cook for myself.

Driving a car

Everybody probably says they’re a good driver, but I can genuinely say that. I follow the rules and consider other people. I only got my driver’s licence three years ago, but I’ve improved since then. I gained more confidence driving because Dad was with me. You get better the more you drive. The longest trip I’ve driven was to Helsinki last week. I even drove in total darkness on the back home. I couldn’t have done it a few years ago. But because of my dad, I’m more confident behind the wheel.

Writing stories

The first time I wrote stories was in elementary school as school assignments, and I got good grades. As a teenager, I started to write in English, and it hasn’t stopped. I have a vivid imagination. Today, I write fan fiction, primarily real-person fiction. It is good practice to learn writing in English, and I have learned a lot of new words. In Finland, we start to learn English in 3rd or 4th grade. That’s how it was in the 1980s, at least. Writing is a lot of fun, and that’s why it’s my favourite thing of all the things I’m good at.

Using a computer

I might know how to fix a computer, but I’m good at using one. The first computer I used was a Macintosh. I was in 7th grade when we got a computer in the classroom. Computers weren’t common then, and you had to know codes. There were no icons to click on, so it wasn’t easy to use one. I used Windows the most because that’s what our school had. It was only the Macintosh that had icons. The first time I used the Internet was in 1997 when I was in business school. As they say, the rest is history. Kids today have no idea how it was then. It’s good that computers have gotten better over the decades. It is more fun to use computers and the Internet these days. But that’s good because things were so slow before broadband and computer icons. That modem sound still haunts in my head. If you lived in the 1990s, you know what I mean.

I wish I could improve on some other things, but that’s another list.

A leak in my career path

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Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

What alternative career paths have you considered or are interested in?

Daily Writing Prompt

You might have a dream job when you’re a kid, but it changes as you age. Some people know what they want to be and stick to it from the start. In some way, I envy those people. It’s a good envy. My mind is more complex than that. I have a leak in my career path because I keep changing my mind. When I was 6, I wanted to be a baker because I liked to help Mum in the kitchen. Later, I realised baking is fun, but cleaning and waking up early isn’t. I bake occasionally but wouldn’t want to do it for a living. I also can’t do a job where you must always wash your hands. Wearing rubber gloves isn’t good either. You could say I have an education path, not a career one, because I don’t have enough job experience.

When I finished compulsory school, I had to apply for further education. My educational advisor suggested healthcare studies, but I didn’t want to apply. My mother said I should start somewhere, so I did. The education was for a year, but it seemed longer than that. I was 17, my first time living away from home. I only went home at the weekend. My mother was right; I should start somewhere because I could have been an outcast youth if I hadn’t. After primary school, it is good to have a further plan. I was lucky to have people who helped me decide what to do next. As a teenager, you don’t know yourself the way you do when you become an adult. I’ve been to two schools that I didn’t finish.

One was business school, and the other was photography. I didn’t like economic education for two reasons, Math and awful schoolmates. Photography education wasn’t fun either. It was at the beginning of the 2000s, and digital cameras weren’t that common. The teacher was all about film and refused to teach us about digital photography. I didn’t understand film development with all the different liquids. It was too complicated for me. The only thing I liked about the school was my roommate and the chance to use Photoshop in the computer room. The trip to the school wasn’t fun either. First, take the bus and then walk about 3 kilometres. I was only there for 3 or 4 months and then quit. My mother said I gave up too quickly, and in a way, I still do. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, and that’s the easy part.

I have considered different career paths. As a teen, I wanted to be a singer for a moment because I liked to sing along to songs I liked. Then, I thought I would want to work for a radio station or in a fan club. I even applied for a dance education, which luckily was cancelled. I don’t know what I was thinking with that. I didn’t even like school discos. I applied for the dance one after I finished my healthcare education. I was very restless when I was a teenager. I wanted to live in England because my favourite band, Take That, lived there and you could study English there for 3-4 months. I also wanted to see some other places than Finland. My mother didn’t want me to live there, maybe because we didn’t have the money to send me there. She didn’t even want to pay for a concert ticket when the band was here. The older I got, the less I wanted to live abroad. I’ve always been a homebody; I didn’t stay out late at night as a teenager. I had no friends anymore with whom to spend time anyway. I liked spending time with my parents and spending quality time with them. I didn’t have a reason to go out. They supported me in any occupation I chose.

I never really had a career path. It’s challenging to have anything when you concentrate on what you want to do for a living. Even if my mother was dying, she always worried about if I would find a job. She had been unemployed, so it was understandable she didn’t want the same thing for me. But it’s been inevitable these days because there are only jobs in places where I don’t have an education. I have never wanted to do only one thing. I like being versatile. Once, I thought about becoming a screenplay writer because I enjoy writing and have studied writing. But it’s hard work and an unstable job. I can’t even finish the fan fiction I write. A career in movies and TV would be an exciting career path. But it’s a complex business to get into. It would be different if I was younger, and I would have time to start something different. I have studied creative things, so I want to combine them.

I found what I wanted to do, but since I don’t have the experience, I don’t get a chance to work anywhere. They all want job experience but don’t even provide internships for people like me. They’re all for young people who study. My resume has too many leaks. Studying doesn’t mean a squat if you don’t get the chance to work in the field you studied. All I get offered are jobs that aren’t moving my career further. If I was younger, those jobs would be OK. I’m seriously thinking about becoming an entrepreneur. I have already taken courses in social media to promote myself. I just don’t know if any of it will get me clients, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Maybe I will finally get that career I’ve been looking for and end to the leak.

Bloganuary: Repost: Dream jobs as a child

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treat

When you’re a child you have these dreams about what you want to be when you grow up. Maybe some does make those dreams come true. Someone wants to become a doctor or a police man. They already know what they want to be at a very young age. Others only have dreams what they want to become but when they get older, they got other interests.

I’ve had dreams what kind a job I wanted to do. When I was 6 I wanted to become a baker. I helped mother in the kitchen. We made gingerbread at Christmas. Then there were times when we made buns or cookies. Just baking in general was fun. But when I got older, it wasn’t much fun anymore. Not to mention early mornings. I’m definitely not a morning person. Bakers needs to get up early and baking in general is too much work. Baking once in a while is nice but to do it as a living is not.

Once I had a small thought about owning a candy store. Eat candy all day. But it’s nothing like that. You are supposed to sell them to other people, not eat them yourself 😀 That was just a thought. But a nice one. I don’t think there are many candy stores anymore. At least not here. People rather buy candy from grocery stores and other stores.

When I became a teenager, I wanted to become a singer. We used to sing at home a lot when I was a  child. I thought I was good. When I listened to old tapes, I realised I didn’t. At least not as good as a singer should be. I’ve always sing along to tunes but that’s as far it goes. I’m not that much into performing either. Even though I’ve been on stage in school plays and such.

When it comes today, I still don’t know what I want to be. But that’s another story for another day.

(Day 2 of NaBloPoMo)

Originally published on November 3, 2015