Uhhh...

... Big thoughts... I know I promised. Um. Elephants and glaciers. Those are pretty big.

I have just spent four days bonding with my parents at their summer cottage. Now you must not get me wrong, my parents are the best parets evah, the absolute elite of parenthood. It's just that four days with them in a fairly small house can be too much even for the strongest constitution. We did some nice stuff, ate well, had a few mother-daughter and father-daughter bonding sessions over some wine and lottery tickets and drank insane amounts of coffee, which was nice, obviously. But, and this is a pretty big but, otherwise it was boring. Boring, boring, boring. I could feel my brain shrinking. I can handle a weekend at the cottage, but four days was really pushing it.

Outside - nothing to do. There's still some snow on the ground, and what isn't snow is mud. Too cold for sunbathing, and I'm not one for winter activities. Took some walks, though.

Inside - bleh. My mother had the flu, and my father doesn't do board games, so we watched the telly, drank some wine and, well, that's about it.

You see, there is a huge difference between not doing X because you are a lazy bugger, and not doing anything because there's nothing to do. I'm usually all for not doing anything, sometimes nothing is what I do best, but this was just too much.

On the other hand, my parents now own Finland's most scratched, petted and tummy-rubbed cat.

Boy, did it feel good to come back home again. Let's face it, I'm a city dweller and despite my regular yearning of moving to the countryside and growing my food myself there's no way I'd survive there. At least, not without Internet, and the biggest luxury of all, indoors toilet.

I'm excited, school starts tomorrow for real after several weeks of not having to go there except for the odd exam and even rarer lecture. I hope I haven't completely forgotten how to be a student. Need to start working on the thesis, too. My partner in crime and I had thought for doing our thesis for the Fair Trade Association, but they already had enough students doing stuff for them, so they didn't need us. Good for them, bummer for us. We are going to speak with our environmental studies teacher and ask her if she has any ideas. We are both rebelling against the "you will be succesful businesspeople! You will have big careers!" attitude the school is trying to instill in us. Yeah, right. As if all of the hundreds of graduates from that school alone would rise to the top of the hotel- and restaurant scene automatically. It's going to be average work in average businesses for the most of us. Sheesh.



Anyways, a link chosen totally at random.
http://blog.qiken.org/archives/000196.html
Ever wondered what happens when you combine lawyers and The Lord of the Rings?

All Is Well

My kitchen is mine again. The mysterious ninja plumber had fixed everything while I was at school. There's now a very futuristic array of pipes beneath the kitchen sink, almost like a piece of modern art. I can go safely back at avoiding any household chores I feel like avoiding.

I had a German exam today, which I completely aced. That test was so my bitch. Of course, after saying this, whoever's responsible for cosmic balance will deal out some instant karma and fill my test with grammatical and typographical errors. So imagine that I didn't say anything about any German exams. I'll let you know in few weeks who exactly was who's bitch.

It seems that the time spent listenig to German rock has finally paid off. I have now a good amount of various grammar examples memorized.

Let's look at a Megaherz song Windkind:

Wer hat von meinem Tellerchen gegessen / Wer hat in meinem Bett geraucht / Wer hat in meinem Sesselchen gesessen / Wer hat meine Frau gebraucht.

See? Perfect examples of, haha, the perfect tense and dative. Am I clever or am I clever?

Hmm. My mother gave me some English Donald Duck comics when I started studying it, maybe I should give myself some comics in German...

I have also, after avoiding it in a champion level, updated my CV and am currently in process of figuring out of who to send it to. It would help if I knew what I want to be when I grow up. An international woman of mystery? Sounds appealing, but the hours are definitely not good. A jet-setter? Another evening job. A rock star? I think I'd be a perfect rock star, except for the minor detail that I can't sing or play any instrument.

So many choices...

All right, time to stop this rambling, as it's clearly going nowhere. I promise to think some big thoughts for the next entry.




Food for thought from a Megaherz forum user: "But I guess in the rock/paper/scissors order of things, kilts & fire win every time..."

Amazing Adventures...

...In the land of plumbing.

Gah. My kitchen has showed its rebellious spirit. Last Sunday I finally gave up my heroic battle against doing the dishes and actually took the brush by the handle and washed the Mount Everest-size pile of dirty plates and glasses. That is an epic tale in itself, but this time the simple task became a full Shakespearian drama in three acts (and counting).

So, there I was, quite peacefully doing my chores, up until I pulled the plug from the sink. A few moments later the kitchen floor had turned into a swimming pool simulator as the water poured out of the first bend on the pipe. Great.

So, I dried the floor. A couple of days later I went to the janitor (I hate bothering people on Sunday evenings, and I really haven't been at home recently. I seem to lead an active life surprisingly enough), he came to see for himself and called the plumber who was supposed to fix my kitchen today.

Except that no one came. Not one even remotely plumberisque figure was seen strolling the hallway. I woke up at seven. I could have slept till ten. I left for school three bloody hours early because I hate being at home when there are complete strangers doing stuff I can't participate in. Now I have absolutely no idea when I'll be able to use my kitchen again.

Like I'd wash the dishes anyway, it's just a matter of principle.

So maybe the hero will show up and rescue the damsel in distress from a fate worse than death (i.e. living on frozen dinners), or the evil overlord of broken pipes will conquer and there'll be a full-scale hell broken loose in the form of renovation.

Bloody marvellous.

But the balance between good and evil is in equilibrium. Guess who'll get to see Rammstein live on stage in July? Is it me? Is it? It so is.


Hence today's choice of link:
http://www.rammimages.com/galleries/index.php
Warning: Browsing the rammimages site may result in having to have a lie-down somewhere quiet. It may also cause severe addiction and involuntary singing of German rock songs. Side effects: shortness of breath and heart flutters.

The Famous Humble Pie

All right, all right, I was wrong. In quite many things, actually. But because I am an adult I can admit it and not lose my cool.

First, my flu wasn't a flu at all but bronchitis. Whoop-de-doo. I still hate it, mind. Fortunately I got some mighty good medicine from a nice young doctor so that I have to actively remind myself that I am not healthy. (And why is it, that every time I encounter a nice young, not bad-looking doctor, I'm full of snot and goo and just as witty, or have some other disgusting ailment. Why couldn't it for once be like, "Oh, kind Herr Doktor, I have this awful splinter in my finger, is there anything you could do...? I'd be ever so thankful..." But no. Snot it is).

Secondly, my complaints for lack of sympathy were for nothing. Of that I have nothing to complain about. I called my mother, and after a stern command to go see a doctor immediately, she did rush at my bedside bringing with her oranges, home made blackcurrant juice, croissants and a scanner which I intend to install as soon as I gain full control of my brain again. All right, she came by in the evening, after watching an episode of Emmerdale, but still.

Then my sister brought me some DVD's, a good friend H had some blueberry soup and fruit salad and more nourishing chocolate and all in all I've felt some good vibrations going round, and before you start with any smart comments, I haven't had fever for two days now.

So there. I've eaten that humble pie with good appetite.

Moodwise, I'm pretty excited. I sat the final exam today (doped to near overdose) and it was much easier than I expected. It might be that I passed it, but I'm not counting on it seeing as I just went to see what it was like. I'm still half prepared to make it for real next fall. But I analyzed both positive and negative economic impacts of tourism on destination areas, counted how many work hours can a restaurant afford if its total sale is x before VAT is deducted and personnel expenses can be y% of the turnover, wrote about the different kinds of personnel management in different kinds of businesses and made some educated guesses of the influence the post-war big generations will have on marketing decisions in hospitality business. I guess I've actually managed to learn something during the last couple of years.

I'm hoping that there might be an opening for some extra education for me as well, I've had the pleasure and privilege of listening to MC Eagle Owls latest hits performance every now and then. The Hogwarts letters are obviously not all delivered yet. I'm still waiting for mine.

Today's paper had a story about the eagle owl. Or the eagle owls, I should say, there are two of them in the area now. The eastern eagle owl and the western eagle owl, as they are affectionately called. Both are a bit of a mystery, apparently they should now be somewhere quiet and private thinking about reproduction, not enjoying the fast lane of big city life.

All right, time to wrap this up and go take care of my fish. I made a bit of spring cleaning in the fish tank, basically I trimmed the most offensive plants down a bit and washed the tree thingies. I have now one very baffled fighting fish swimming around the tank, making mad spurts from one end to the other and obviously thinking that something was different a moment ago, just can't put my fin on it... Not necessarily the greatest of thinkers, that fish, but he makes it up in other ways.

Yes. I have no life. So sue me.



Do you like Garmarna? You'll probably like Subway to Sally, too.
http://www.subwaytosally.de/
Not for the weak of heart, all things Jack the Ripper. I mean everything you'd ever want to know about him.
http://www.casebook.org/

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning...

Aren't I a lucky girl. I managed to catch another flu right after the first one was almost completely gone. I woke up this morning (the fact that it was before 6 a.m. really should have alerted me that all was not well) feeling slightly feverish, so I grabbed the thermometer, stuffed it under my arm and expected the result to be slightly over my normal temperature, so that it'd be perfectly all right to go to school and the only symptom would be a tiny increase in grumpyness.

Whaddaya know. The thermometer proudly showed some 38,5 degrees temperature.

So no school today, and if the fever does not settle over the day, I'm going to have to miss work tomorrow. It's just that I really do not have the time to be sick. I can only miss a few lessons, or I will fail my courses. Thank goodness there are some sensible teachers, so I'll be able to negotiate something.

Bollocks, still.

I hate flu. I loathe it. And the worst part is, that when you are single and ill, there's no one to complain to. An important part of the healing process, wallowing in misery, is completely missed. If you want chicken soup, you do it yourself. And before that you'll have to go to the store to get the ingredients for said soup, since there's nothing in the fridge but light. I could call my mother to score some sympathy points, but it's not like she'd rush to my bedside to dab my forehead with a cool cloth. "Oh, dear," she'd say. "Drink a lot of warm blackcurrant juice and rest." It's just not the same. I'd still have to go buy the juice myself. It's every human's undisputed right to be pampered when ill.

This is also exactly the time you'll miss the good old family doctors you see in old Hollywood movies. You know the type, dressed in reassuring brown tweed suits, they stay by the sick, speaking in reassuring bedside baritone. "Quickly! We need more ice! Her life is in danger!" Then there'd be some forehead-dabbing and eating of nourishing broth.

Then again, that'd mean that I'd have to wear a white silk nightgown instead of my grubby old pajamas. And my bed would have to be one of those big cast iron jobs with massive decorations and cool, crisp white sheets, which is most definitely not what it is.

But I guess my fever is going away, my eyes still feel a bit odd but my spine is no longer burning. I'll head down to the store, get me some nourishing chocolate and then probably call my mom and have a good whine.

Today's top track choises. Peggy Lee: Fever; Oomph! and Nina Hagen: Fieber.

It's A-OK to Shout at Your Computer

I've been just sitting here an hour writing my latest masterpiece, only to have it erased by a bug in the blogspot system.

Bollocks.

Oh well, here we go again.

I started school today again after a two week "holiday," which I spent entirely at work. It was surprisingly hard to set my brain to the student-mode after having it set for work-mode for 14 days.

Having a logistics exam today was not helpful. I think I blew one of the three essays, but the 125 multiple choice questions were surprisingly easy. Of course, I'll know for certain how easy they were only after I get the grade.

I also managed to be persuaded to sit the final exam on Friday. I'm taking the attitude that I'm just going to see what it's like. If I don't pass, there'll be another try next September.

If I do pass, however, I'm going to give myself a huge pat on the shoulder. It seems more and more likely that I do graduate come December. I still haven't quite decided whether to take as my final module courses in environmental or personnel management. I could do courses in both, but I feel that concentrating on either one would be better.

I'm in grand sulk at the moment. There was supposed to be a SCA event in May, but the rumor has it that it'd been cancelled due to some trouble getting a site. So no strutting around in medieval clothes for six months, the next event is now scheduled to July. Bollocks at that too.

On the lighter note, I have come to the conclusion that I am a stern, no-nonsense human being. A woman of my word. I swore to myself how out of this months pay not one cent would go to buy me music in any form, so the first thing I did on Friday when I got the money was to walk in the Free Record Store to get me a copy of Rammstein's Keine Lust single. But seeing as the Live aus Berlin DVD was on sale, it must have been some sort of heavenly influence on my life.

I have now solved many a nights entertainment problems, you see, the DVD comes with all the songs subtitled in German. This, ladies and gentlemen, is pure genius at work. Rammstein karaoke!

Another valuable marketing lesson was learned a couple of days ago when I, overly excited about my shiny new Megaherz album, registered in their fan forum. Their singer, Mathias Elsholz, welcomed me there, with no less than eight exclamation marks, a smiley and a pun. Their actual singer! I couldn't believe my eyes! That's good marketing, that is. It's a heartwarming experience to know that your hard-earned money goes to someone who appreciates it and also thinks it's nice that I like their music. Apparently all the members of the band are more or less active in their own fan forum, up to and including their former singer, and hopefully also their as-of-now former drummer (who was replaced by their even more previous drummer - does anyone else smell Spinal Tap here?).

For a while I thought that it would be cool if Messrs Rammstein would communicate with their fans, but seeing that there are currently over 7000 registered users on the herzeleid.com forums alone, the poor boys would not have time for anything else. "You have 2753876434 new messages!"

I prefer them to concentrate on making music, thank you all the same.

All right, I have to start cleaning as it is my turn to host the weekly Fabulous Three gathering tomorrow. My apartment looks as if it had been attacked with a dust thrower.



Lessee, a link.
All Calvin and Hobbes comics ever made:
http://stfunoob.com/calvin_hobbes/
Aaanndd... Since the darn event was cancelled, some consolation in the form of cooking:
http://www.godecookery.com/

Living on the Edge

I'm living dangerously. I did not cancel my student allowance for this month even though I've worked so much that the income limit will be a distant dot in the horizon. Oh well. The lure of easy living is too much to handle. I just want one month when I can both buy food and pay my bills and maybe even spend some money on something completely useless like new clothes.

Maybe I can even get myself a nifty Rammstein shirt I've lusted after for so many months. I dare not think about it too much lest the opportunity is taken away from me again... It seems that every time I get some money, it disappears. I'm starting to suspect that there's an international conspiracy behind all this. Their main goal is to prevent me from getting what I want. I might have to start wearing a tin foil hat.

I still haven't made my mind up what I'm going to buy, however. There's this neat grey shirt which has no other indication for being a band shirt than a heirate mich - embroidery on the other sleeve. I like the concept of being able to wear a band shirt anywhere. On the other hand, there is an extremely cool black-and-white jacket with Rammstein written across the chest. And I've seen a photo of Till Lindemann wearing that exact jacket, albeit without the Rammstein text. You can't get better recommendation than that.

Wouldn't my life be easy if that was the biggest problem ;)

Speaking of music - w00t! My Megaherz-less days are over! The postal delivery person, with whom I am deeply and passionately in love, brought me a copy of Himmelfahrt yesterday. That happy incident emboldened me so much that I surfed a bit on my favourite net store sites, and miracle of miracles! I found another album for sale! So maybe in a few weeks the Himmelfahrt will not be alone anymore and Herzwerk II has joined my little collection of Good Music (tm). After weeks of "You want to buy what?" and "We did have Megaherz when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but not anymore, also we forgot to remove that item from our site, sorry," I haven't been able to stop myself from grinning stupidly every once in a while. Sweet moments of victory.

And if anyone would like to point out that the precious little money I have could be used for something more useful than music, well, nah. It's important to me. I may not have life, but my soundtrack is amazing ;)

Besides, I truly felt I deserved some compensation for my efforts yesterday at work when I got stuck in a loop with a customer. I had let the guy who - how do you express in English handing out portions of food from behind a counter to the customers? That was what he was doing, anyway - does what I just explained to his break. In walks a customer, looks at the selection (never actually reading the menu. No one reads the menu. It pisses me royally off, because then I have to tell everyone the goddamn menu they are standing right in front of. Our customers are receiving the highest form of education available, you'd think that they could both read and comprehend written text?) and goes: "Fish." I ask him whether he wants Baltic herring or seithe, we had them both on the menu. "Yes" says the Hope of Mankind.

Me:"Baltic herring or seithe?"
The Chosen One:"Fish."
Me: "Which one? Baltic herring or seithe?"
Plucky Young Hero: "Yes"
Me:"Yes, but which one?"
Glorious Leader of the Intellectual Elite: "Fish"

Nice little infinite loop we had there going on for a while.

Finally he took the herring.

Meh. I like our customers. There are the default freaks every university is required by law to have, but on the whole they are a pretty decent bunch.

Time to shower, eat and catch up on this evening's entertainment in the form of Ten O'clock News.



Hottest links evar!
http://www.megaherz.com/
http://www.ericisgreat.com/tinfoilhats/ - tin foil hats for the discriminating lunatics

Hot rumor of the moment: Rammstein might visit Ruisrock festival. Double w00t!