I went to my grocery store today. When I came closer to the cash register the guy serving customers said to me: ” I’m sorry I didn’t smile at you, I was thinking about something else. You must know that I didn’t mean anything by not smiling. I want to you to know so you don’t need to wonder why I didn’t smile at you”. I think it was the most sweet thing to say! I had taken a long walk before I went to the store and I had been thinking of  how important it was to look at the people in their eyes and give them a smile. Then this happened! 

For years ago I sat with a woman on a bus tour who was not a nice person, I thought she was really mean. I did wonder if I really had the patience to sit with her on our tour home, too, I did because she was expecting it and it seemed to mean a lot for her. There was a custody issue in her life and other problems,  I didn’t agree with her, she seemd to be just thinking about herself and it was not a pleasure to be around her.  But why not listen to her side of the story? So I just listened  but it was quite a relief to be back home and say goodbye to her.

Some weeks later I met her again. She looked like another person. A happy smile covered her face when she came to me and said:  “My life has changed because of you. You were the first human being in my life that was kind to me.”  She told me that she had solved the custody issue and she had now good contact with her relatives. She did thank me so much, she never stopped thanking me for what I had done when we met. I thought I had not done almost anything. It was wonderful to see her so happy.  She is not with us anymore but she did really teach me how little things can make a big difference.

It was a lovely winter day in Sweden today. I took a long walk and it was so beautiful with all snow and the sun and snow crystals shining. It has been very cold in Sweden. Last Wednesday night Naimaka in the north of Sweden had 38.5 below zero Celsius ! It is really cold. We had 13 below zero Celsius in my hometown today.

I studied in the north of Sweden for a year and I really wanted to experience the cold weather. Unfortunately the coldest days that year occured when I had Christmas holidays. When I came back to my room was cold, the water was frozen in the radiators, but I myself never got the chance to experience those really cold days.

Why I love winter? I don’t know, I think there are winter people and summer people. Maybe it is because I grew up with real winters with much snow. It was a great joy to ski and the white snow is so beautiful and lightens up the darkness. I think it is quite practical to love winter when you live up north:)

Photo: Mikael Tidemar

Maini Sorri

What about time? Do you have time to do what you want to? Why am I always so busy??

When I was a child and I was sick, I always took books and pens and paper and letter-paper and crayons and a pair of scissors etc to my bed to have many nice things to do during the time I was sick. Maybe I always have been an active person. But nowadays I really feel that I am too busy.

I once heard a relative who also moved to Sweden tell our Finnish relatives: You have no time, in Sweden you have no time! I did’nt quite understand what she ment but maybe she was right?:)

My boss on my old job told me once when I complained about having  a lot of inspiration but not enough time: Be happy because you have a lot of inspiration but not enough time, it is much worse to have lots of time but no inspiration.

How do you manage to find the time do the things you want to do?

What about the Christmas tree? My friend from Canada asked me if we still have our Christmas tree. The answer is yes, we have not had time to put it away:)

Photo:  Mikael Tidemar

I heard on Swedish radio P2 for a while ago that the compilation CD featuring me Musalista 14 was sold out in December already! It was released in November! It is great. My song is number 3, Lähden yksin. Musalista 14 is available again on www.sr.se/butik Musik.

One of my songs was aired on TV6 in USA last Sunday! The video during my song was amazing views on Preikostolen in Norway, not a place for those who are afraid of  hights, including me! A Norwegian singer was singing during the second half of the video.

Photo: Mikael Tidemar

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you and welcome to my new homepage! Maybe you visit me for the first time today. I will tell you that my page is not ready yet, there will be lots of music and a shop, videos and much more.

I have just had the busiest week so far this year but I hope that things are going to calm down soon.

It is still winter in Sweden. We have -10 C today. I love winter and hope winter will continue for a while.

Until next time, have a great Valentine! Please write a comment or leave a message on my contact page.

Photo:  Mikael Tidemar

I have seen the Finnish Final of Eurovision Song Contest 31st of January! What about it? Yes, Finland seems to live and breath hard rock nowadays. I was a bit afraid that Finland would send hard rock to the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time.

The evening began with a second chance, with songs that had not qualified to the final. 2 of them with most votes went to the final to compete with 6 other songs. Later in the evening there was a Super Final for the 3 most voted songs.

What do I say about the songs in the final? Yes, I say that I sent 2 great songs to the competition but the answer was no. I hope my visitors don’t mind when I say that I think that my songs are better than some of the songs in the  Finnish final:) Better luck for me next time!

Maybe the right song, the song with a great melody, was not there, but I got a favorite anyway among the songs. It was Waldo’s People. There was so much self confidence in there number and the most important thing: There was a superb female vocalist with a really great voice on high notes. I think the chorus was catchy, too.

Waldo´s People became one of the groups in the Super Final.

Another group in the Super Final was Signmark. It was hip hop, a lot of joy there, and the thing that was special and new was that a deaf artist  expressed the lyrics with sign language. It was great. He was an important member in their number.

The third group was Passworks. The thing I did not understand was the huge silver Christmas star or snow flake on the female vocalist’s back. What had that thing to do with their song Surrender?! It would be interesting to hear the female vocalist when she does not have a sore of her throat. The male vocalist was great and carried his parts great. I really did hope that Finland would not send hard rock to the ESC again, this song was not the best of these three.

The group that won was Waldo´s People although Signmark got very much votes, too! I’ll be glad to hear their Lose control on the semifinal and hopefully in the final, too. I had never heard of the group but they said that they were the one among the groups  with the biggest career going on abroad these days.

I wish them good luck!

Photo: Mikael Tidemar

I love Christmas. In Sweden it is very common to have electric candelsticks at every window. Is there some of my visitors that still have them at the windows? I guess not. I have. It is only 2nd of February, there is no harry. We still have the Christmas tree, too. Alright, there are no Christmas decorations left on it but the tree is still there with candles.

I love Christmas music! I listen to Christmas songs during the whole December and January, sometimes in February too. Why not, it is a long time to next Christmas. I actually wrote a song about my Christmas habits, too, but just that song is nothing to share with the world, I have lots of better songs.

I am very happy to tell that I am one of the artists on International Christmas radio on Last.fm. There are Carola and Sanna Nielsen from Sweden and many international artists with very interesting Christmas music. It is worth a visit!

 Don’t worry, some day I will pack the candlesticks and the tree will disappear, too, but why hurry?

Have a nice day!

Photo: Mikael Tidemar