2016: the year of business and an electric summer

* New Year celebration with friends, Czech beer, fireworks and the glorious feeling of having turned down two safe job offers in favour of freelancing.
* First Christmas celebration of the year (out of three) held in early January.
* Leap Day: decided to start a business.
* Learned Arabic in one day (in theory, at least).

* As Orthodox church bells rang in Easter at midnight, I ordered certificates of tax debt online.
* Complained about racist writings on Facebook and was called coward, scum, rat, dog, traitor, (unprintable) and "leftie who doesn't wash".
* Emergency coffee picnic outside the hospital on a sunny day, with sister and small Kenyan boy.
* Took green-lipped mussel pills to improve volleyball skills but lost the year's tournaments anyway. Possibly because the team captain's pep talk was: "I've fallen for Justin Bieber!"
* Birthday: woke up to a spring blizzard, gave an eight-year-old life advice on how to handle rejection, pushed a priest out of my flat at midnight after a lecture on the dry valleys of Antarctica.
* A week in London with exploration, sisterhood and a Colour Conference with 12,000 women.

* Watched the annual icehockey championship disappointment in a hospital common room, surrounded by nurses and sleeping babies.
* Had a physical altercation with a pissed-off crow and retreated in defeat.
* Typical Finnish yard sale race with friend and toddler. Best find: great coffee and Kalevala.
* Became a business owner and linguistic consultant. Started off with a month's vacation and a negative result of -3.75 euro.
* Quail eggs, ice-skating, watching relay runs, three new fun colleagues, invitation to join secret order.
* Succeeded in match-making for the first time ever.
* Road trip to Turku to see my favourite cathedral, wave at ferries, try kangaroo meat and give my friends a nostalgic guided tour of the Nineties.

* First summer in summer paradise with electricity and running water. Work and play felt equally good. A hundred years of rest together with books, DVDs, curious owls, family and a little too much rain. Most adrenaline-filled moment: finding an ant behind my ear.
* Traditional Midsummer Eve with the Midsummer People around a white table on the Island. Almost-midnight sun, lots of food, laughing at serious matters.
* Visit to the national Housing Fair: jacuzzis, artificial lakes and annoyed artists.
* Road trip with mother to a tiny village that I once represented at sporting events (but have never seen before). Found a mighty river and a distant cousin.
* Sea-faring adventure to the Isle of Shadows, risking our lives in heavy seas.

* As I arrived at home after a month between sea and forest, my gang was already waiting on my balcony with bottles of wine and a beautiful sunset.
* Weekend in a weird little town near the Russian border: beachvolley in rain, pillow fights, a fateful devil's jam and a board meeting in the back seat of a Toyota.
* Trip to Helsinki: another fair, famous dead people and summery sea views, too much walking in golden shoes.

* Playing pranks and interrupting an intimate moment on a dark autumn night.
* Back-ache, massage and camping on the floor.
* Selling second-hand stuff without much success. Made twelve euros.
* German phrases played on repeat in my car.
* Saturday nights with friends and too many family worries.
* Financial donations to tooth extractions and tuberculosis treatments.
* Melted chocolate evenings and gingerbread cookie baking with family.
* A quiet but delicious office Christmas party, Christmas walks, a borrowed Christmas poodle and reunion with the Christmas people.

  

* Joined a gym.

* Celebrated New Year's Eve over a quiet cup of tea with friends, then suffered an invasion of party-hungry people at midnight.

 * Summary of the year:

Scared and mute and super-efficient business owner.