en puhu

it will be sad if the impossibility of reading a book about political science all the way through without ranting and frothing at the mouth keeps me from getting my degree in a timely fashion. perhaps i should give up on fulfilling the political science units, and take the introductory courses from the other parts of ekonomiska-statsvetenskapliga fakulteten in economics and information management or something. i haven't even read any part of a political science book since last february, yet still the thought of cracking that book on finnish politics makes me shudder in anticipatory frustration and rage. i think it's something about marxism, perhaps, or about the birth of the nation-state. possibly an allergy. maybe related to my violent antipathy towards post-modernism.

in other news, when i was walking the dog this evening an old man stopped me, and when i politely informed him that i en puhu suomea, he unfortunately switched to english. i'm still not really sure what he wanted. first he asked if he could pet perry, but when i told him that perry wouldn't bite, he just sort of patted him on the chin and then asked me if i was aware that you should touch a dog's muzzle from below so that it doesn't bite you. then he asked me if i had eaten yet today which was kind of weird given that it was nearly 10 pm at the time. i can think of three possibilities: a) he thought i was anorexic. i don't think i look anorexic, though. i'm thin, but i'm not that thin, and i wasn't wearing keira knightley's red carpet dress anything that made me look especially bony. b) he was trying to offer me food. but he was like fifty, which is way old to be trying to proposition someone as young as me, especially right in the middle of a park, even if it is near a bar. possibly this was a fatherly impulse brought on by thinking i look thin, but again, ...? c) his english was even worse than i thought and he meant to ask about the dog. well, regardless, i didn't feel threatened or anything - just puzzled (and a little annoyed, because i like to listen to my ipod uninterrupted while walking, thankyouverymuch. but i'm sure i didn't betray any annoyance. when i'm annoyed, most of the time i just come across as blankly confused). at that point perry caught sight of one of those little footstool dogs favoured by british royalty and started to jerk at the leash and grumble, so i just quickly said "yeah" in answer to his question and darted across the street.