Just thought I'd make a quick introduction-sort of thing...

(The picture above shows a Niina-animal in midst of a horrible fangirl squealing fit.)

So since this is a new blog and I might one day even get some readers, I thought I'd tell a thing or two about myself. First thing you should probably know is that I like writing about myself.

My name is Niina and I'm from Finland. I'm 21 years old, study graphic design and dream of getting a job as an illustrator some day. Art is my passion and I have an almost unhealthy obsession for fantasy and history related art - and fantasy and history in general, especially if we're talking about WoW and iron age Ireland.  I dream of building my own roundhouse one day, even though I'm all thumbs when it comes to building big stuff (I think I have some problems with really seeing and thinking things in 3D) and my back is shit. But it'd be insanely cool to chill in a roundhouse eating rabbit stew and sewing and shit like that.

I also like random things like animals, herbalism, folk music, beards, archery, tea and beer. One could say I'm a wee bit primitive when it comes to some of my habits, hobbies and knowledge about stuff, but my lifestyle is pretty much that of a complete nerd. Apart from constantly traveling around the country to see my friends when I'm bored, that is. I like being on the move and seeing people.

So in a nutshell, I'm slightly obsessive and impulsive - but thanks to that, rarely boring company. Except when I get to talk about the things or people I really, really, really like. I end up repeating myself quite a lot sometimes!

Religion-/spirituality-wise, I'm a pagan. I don't really fall into any ready-made category under that term, though. In a nutshell, I believe the gods are, in the end, born of human belief and live on it. That doesn't make them or their deeds any less real, though. I see the gods as "translators" between man and the vast, abstract pool of knowledge and energy of the Universe. I don't rule out any god's existence, I simply believe we connect to those whom we best understand, who "speak our language", so to say. So, in the end, Life is what I worship. I worship birth and death, the ups, downs and all arounds. I believe we're not really that separate from the gods. We have the power to create and to destroy things in our own lives - a smaller scale of what the nature does. Things begin and end, and the cycle starts anew. We're all gods of our own worlds, the paths we walk. I see the world as a complex web of relations, as bubbles and circles. I know it sounds really strange when I put it that way but I hope you understand. You know the feeling of wonder when you realize the silhouettes of the naked branches of the trees against the sky look like the blood vessels in our fingertips our our lungs? How you can "hear the ocean" when you put a seashell against your ear? It's blood rushing in your veins, it's your inner ocean. Those are the kinds of associations I get all the time, that the world is like a big bubble in which are tons of smaller bubbles which are filled with little bubbles. Which reminds me of how all living things consist of cells.
Life is a beautiful wonder which will never cease to amaze me.

I believe in spirits, past lives and things like that, but with a healthy dose of criticism. I analyze things a lot - over analyze, too. I question almost every single theory about spells and such and like to use my own logic and feelers more than read fluffy texts like "the magical healing powers of crystals - the article which was written by one person with biased views on the subject and who cites no sources at all". I like magic but I also like logic. In my opinion, those should always go hand in hand. But then again, everyone's logic is different and I'm not saying mine is better than others' - just that I do things my own way. To the person who's written such articles, the subject may be very real, and I have nothing against that. I'd just wish people would separate the "news, based on facts"-section from the "opinions"-section more clearly and not assume their way of seeing things is the only right one.

So yeah, I'm pretty open minded. I like people and ideas, inspiring stuff. Long conversations at 4am are a favorite hobby of mine, but can be pretty tiring to the person I'm talking with I guess. I have the tendency to get a wee bit carried away. Like I have done with this blog post. OOPS!

 (And here we have a Niina-animal in their natural habitat.)