Olie, where the 🔥 have you been, loca?

It's me tuning in directly from The Tortured Indie Devs Department! Long time no blog, hence the title. Fun fact: I haven't watched Twilight, but I know everything about it thanks to being chronically online. I have listened to Taylor Swift's latest album, though. I definitely need to give it another listen since I can't recall a single song other than the "she's the albatross" lyric because I kept thinking about the 2014 hit track 'I'm an Albatraoz' produced by Swedish DJ AronChupa.

Speaking of Swedish (isn't this the smoothest transition ever?), I think I'm officially done with actively studying it. It's been 2 years of taking classes at Åbo Akademi, and I cleared all four levels available. Okay, I'm still waiting for the final grade for my exams, but I know I passed. The other three levels I finished with an A (or 5 in the Finnish grading system), but it wasn't easy. I'll share more of my thoughts on the learning experience once I get results for the YKI test (den allmänna språkexamen) I took a week ago. This was my ultimate goal – to pass the YKI-test to be able to apply for citizenship in the future.

And as an extra thank you to everyone who's read this far, here's what saved me from entirely losing it during this very stressful period of my life:

• The Sims 4. Not much to say other than that the meditative quality of the game was erased as soon as I switched the game's language to Swedish. However, it helped with not feeling so guilty for doing anything other than studying words in Quizlet.
• Crocheting. I believe I started learning how to crochet in February, maybe late January. Either way, I'm proud to say I'm pretty good now, and you can see some of my creations on the banner image.
• Stardew Valley. Ever since the 1.6 update released on March 19, I've been hooked. I've been playing it off and on (with years in between) since its initial release in 2016, so it's an absolute comfort game for me.
• Old Barbie movies. I just boarded that nostalgia train and refused to get off. 'Barbie in the Nutcracker' and 'Barbie as Rapunzel' raised me, and when that final dance with the Nutcracker prince hits the screen, I have the most therapeutic sob ever. Every. Single. Time.
• I tuned down on my penpaling and promoting Penpal Corner shop. While penpaling fizzled down naturally (though I still enjoy doing it from time to time!) due to the lack of incoming mail, Penpal Corner simply didn't get enough space in my mind. I think I might get back to making reels and TikToks for it again soon :)

And there's that. I also watched a lot of current media on Netflix and other platforms, but I think my controversially positive opinion on ATLA Netflix should be kept for a separate post. Or myself. We'll see ;)