Twenty years ago today (1987) I was 15, in school and history was happening all around me.
That year there were the first public protests against Soviet rule in my memory. The "Phosphor War", IME and protests where Estonian flag was flown. IME was an acronym for Isemajandav Eesti (Estonia with autonomous economy). This was a proposal to Soviet government and if it had happened, would have meant semi-freedom from Soviet rule. No-one actually believed that the miracle ('ime' means miracle in Estonian) would actually happen and Estonia would be wholly independent.
Fifteen years ago today (1992) I was working in an animated film studio.
Estonia had been independent for a year and had exchanged rubles for kroon, our own money. there was lack of food and basic supplies. We had food coupons and one of the coldest winters I can remember. We endured.
Ten years ago today (1997) I was learning as much as I could about databases. I'd gotten a good job as a database administrator and had fallen in love with databases, data warehouses, etc. Anything to do with organizing data, basically. A love affair that continues to this day.
Estonia was developing fast, economy improved in leaps a bounds. I got paid twice the national average so I got a credit card to buy books from Amazon. I still have only one and I've kept it through all of my moves to different countries. It has helped me through tight situations more than once.
Five years ago today (2002) I wanted to be at an event. I'd discovered SCA* the year before and had found my kind of people. People who shared the same interests I had and who didn't think I was weird. Well, not weirder than anyone else, but that's beside the point.
Estonia was... um... doing well, I think. Both politically and economically. I was involved in my hobbies and nothing remarkable happened. History had been made and now it was everyday life.
*SCA -- Society for Creative Anachronism
One year ago today I was miserable in Ireland and I was looking for work in Stockholm.
In my opinion we all have at least three fasets to our life: official, work and private. Official is interacting with government (taxes), public services (transport) and healthcare. Work is interacting with your employer, their human resources policies, your manager and your job tasks. Private is family, friends, hobbies, anything one does to relax.
If two out of three of those fasets suck, life sucks. At least for me.
I loved our household with friends, I loved to travel to different SCA events in Isles, I loved the landscape and Irish summers, and my manager was the best I'd ever had. I hated the public transport, the stupidity of banks, the confusing healthcare system and the horrible atmosphere at work.
If work had been better, or Irish systems worked better, things might have been different. Two out of three ain't bad... but one is not enough.
Today is my 35th birthday. I've found an excellent job and have moved back to Stockholm where I had lived for 1½ years after moving in with R and before moving to Dublin. In that short time I'd found my 'place' on Earth. Don't mistake me, I love Tallinn, I love Estonia and I will be an Estonian till I die, but Stockholm is where I belong.
R left me shortly after we had moved back home from Ireland this summer and the less said about that, the better.
Now I have my own apartment, a very good job, two adorable cats, friends near and far, and my family is close to visit whenever I want to. Life is looking up, for the first time in past three years.