Short But Pointless

First week as duty manager almost over. It turned out that I was the only one freaked out about the change in my status, if there ever was one, at least I haven't noticed anything different in how my esteemed colleagues think about me. Except that I get asked a lot more questions as if suddenly I had been entrusted with all information beginning from how to operate any piece of machinery available in a well-functioning kitchen to the orbital velocity of the moon. One more week to go and then it's time for my, at least in my opinion, well-deserved holiday.

It's been a busy month. Every weekend there's been lots to do, and while all of it has been time well spent with friends and family I nevertheless have noticed how much need at least one day a week doing nothing and leaving the house only when absolutely necessary. And because the previous three weekends have seen me staying up until the wee hours and the next one doesn't seem to be any exception to the rule I'm really, really tired and in desperate need of a proper ten-hour beauty sleep. Oh well, as they say, I can sleep when I'm dead, and I do remember complaining about boredom a while back so I shouldn't be complaining.

Fun has been had, ranging from the lesson in tractor driving to drinking something called Drunken Fish (a shot of clear booze decorated with a small vendace preserved in salt - and I do mean preserved in salt, you could use the fish as a hammer) in Kuopio when me, my sister, her boyfriend and my uncle decided to get to know the night life of our city of birth after the celebrations of grandma's 80th birthday were over.

I must return packing my bag, once again, for tomorrow. I don't know why I even bother to unpack it anymore. Fish out the dirty underwear, put in some clean replacements and voilá! Ready to go again.



I shouldn't let myself surf the net tired, I've been nearly pissing myself laughing about the Zazoo Condom commercial, the Carrot Song and the tragedy of Mango Biscuit at the Kontraband.com, one of the most addictive sites on the entire Internet. A warning about the Carrot Song: you'll never get it out of your head.

The Wonders Of Modern Technology

Another headline descended from blogger's heaven, I see.

I feel technologically challenged. Not that it'd be a completely new feeling to me, I generally learn pretty quickly how to use things, but when things go kablooie all I can do is hang around in the background providing appreciative noises whenever someone more talented makes things work again.

So far I haven't broken anything. So far.

I downloaded a movie called Flustern und Schreien, which is a documentary, I believe, about the 80's rock scene in the Eastern Germany. Featuring, naturally, Paul Landers and Christian "Flake" Lorenz, currently of Rammstein. I do feel sorry for Mr. Landers in the movie, he looks like a poodle had crawled on top of his head and died there. Ah, the golden 1980's...

Aaanyway, I had this thought that for once I'd be a clever girl and burned the documentary on a DVD so's not to take too much space in the computer. So while I've been contemplating whether the nail varnish I bought today was a good idea (the colour's kinda bluish-purple and I can't decide if I like it or not. I think I do, though there's something awfully early 90's about it) and reading Harry Potter things have been running their natural course and a while ago the computer asked me to insert an empty disc, which I did, and after that I've been waiting for something to happen.

And waiting.

And waiting.

If nothing continues to happen I think I'll abort the mission, so to speak, and try again later, though how can I be sure that thingies haven't been happening to the disc? Or maybe this is supposed to take an awful lot of time and I'm just being impatient.

And yes, before you ask, I'm sure the disc is in the right drive and it's not upside down.

Oh bollocks. It's not keeping any kind of noise and there are no flashing lights, this wannabe-nerd is canceling the action and going outside, I've been sitting indoors for too long.

Oh, and here's me driving the tractor. There are at least some things I'm not completely helpless with.


















Not at my most beautiful in the other piccie, sorry about that. It's better than the other 2, where I clearly went in the panic mode I usually go into whenever I find myself in front of a camera. You know the symptoms, mad grimace on face, wild look in the eyes, desperate to remember which was the better angle and all the time having the certain sinking feeling that it'll never look good anyway.

If I was Carrie Bradshaw I could write an entire column about our twisted relationship with our own pictures but I'm not so I won't, at least not now.

Instead I'll do as I said and go for a walk and enjoy the results of my latest download spree (all perfectly legal, the bands provided those songs themselves on their very own sites), namely Solitude by Janus and Bitte, bitte by a no longer existing band Schweisser.

Woman's Got To Do What Woman's Got To Do

In other words, I seem to be book tagged.

How many books do you own?

A lot. Something between 100-200 if I count the comic books in as well. A few years back I used to read anything book-shaped and consequently bought plenty of books and comics. I keep reminding myself that I should go back to it, somehow I just seem to have less time to read than I had back then. The combination of the internet and Real Life (tm) is to blame, methinks.

Whats the last book you bought?

Einverstanden! for my German classes.

Whats the last book you read?

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett.

Currently reading?

Just got my paws on the latest Harry Potter, will start reading it as soon as this is posted.

A book you've been reading for a long time but never got around to finishing?

Terence Scully's The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. The book is absolutely brilliant, but because it works so well as reference material, I only dig out the chapters I'm currently interested in or need the info. So I could say that I've read all of it, but not in a traditional from cover to cover-sense.

Other than that, Dante's Divina Commedia. I never got past the Purgatory.

What 5 books have meant the most to you?

The Discworld novels by T. Pratchett, especially Small Gods. I guess the 10 years of learning English at school would have been a wasted effort if I hadn't decided that the Finnish translations sucked arse the size of an oil tanker.

The Lord of the Rings. It's long, pompous and sometimes boring, but boy did it rock my world when I was about 10 years old. I read it seven times in a row.

Douglas Adams' Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Bril-li-ant.

I can't remember the name of it, but when I was but a wee lass, my parents gave me a book about the evolution and history of mankind. Been curious about the past events ever since.

Calvin and Hobbes. Say what you want, I like reading comics as much as traditional books.

Who would you like to book tag?

Elina and Miti. Consider yourselves tagged :)

Interesting Times

The most exciting thing in human life is, that you never guess what's going to happen next.

Last Friday, for example, I had no idea that I'd be driving a genuine tractor on Sunday. But drive it I did, even reversed it - go me! Nothing broke and no one was harmed in the process. Amazing. There might be pictures to prove this later on, I'll just have to see how much I resemble Quasimodo in them before I publish any of them.

The whole story behind this heroic act of controlling agricultural machinery is that I was invited to a weekend at a country manor, which I realize does sound like an episode of Keeping Up Appearances but which actually was one of the best weekends all year so far. We (that is, a group of 8 good people) ate so much food that you'd think it was Christmas, played all sorts of games and generally had fabulous time. And, as mentioned before, got a chance at driving a tractor.

Right now, however, I feel I have so many things on my to do - list that it is almost as long as Santa's beard. For the next two weeks I am officially the duty manager at work, there's grandma's birthday and then the tent camp feast which still needs more planning - the menu is complete, I need to design the shopping list and plan in which order to cook the dishes (a big, huge, enormous, Till-size thank you in advance to all of those who have promised to help me in the kitchen). Then I have to find out whether my home insurance covers traveling, cancel the newspaper for the duration of said trip, decide what to pack, find out if there's any way of obtaining a camera, and so forth and so forth.

Small things, but there are so many of them. Lazy old me is having a hard time deciding from where to start.


Today's top of the pops:
Hedningarna: Gorrlaus, Täppmarsch, Täss' on nainen
Janus (I've heard only a couple of their songs and I'm already hooked) : Verflucht, Kafka, Grabenkrieg

Mir ist kal... heiss

Das Wetter ist warscheinlich zu heiss und das gefällt mir nicht. Or something. I've forgotten about two thirds of the German I learned during the last semester. I keep on talking about opening the books and rereading them but so far I've done absolutely nothing about it. Maybe tomorrow.

It's 1.30 a.m. and I have opened all of the 2 windows my apartment has and it's still too hot to go to sleep.

My computer is making a funny and slightly worrying sound, my poor poor fish are probably wondering why I'm trying to cook them and me - if I was a dog I'd be panting in the shade trying to keep my tongue off the ground.

If there are any good points, it's that I've been working half a day in an office learning all the computer stuff I need to know when I get to be the duty manager in a couple of weeks (the other half in the company of a huge-ass dish washer which has made my working hours somewhat tropical in terms of heat and humidity). The thing that worries me the most about it is what my colleagues are going to think about me when I get to play the boss for real - so far I have had only unofficial street credibility there mainly because I've been there longer than most of my co-workers. After my semi-managerial status is made official I don't know where exactly I stand in the pecking order. Somewhere in between, I guess, which could be a compared being between a rock and the proverbial hard place if the mythological beast called team spirit between us wasn't as good as it is. For now, at least. Who knows what'll happen next week. We have 15 workers and 1300 daily customers (it's the slow season) and my theory is that the place is functioning only because it doesn't know from where to start falling apart first.

Recommended link for entertainment until the temperature gets a bit lower and off to slumber land I go: the latest Subway to Sally video.

EDIT, once again: This needs to be shared. Infamous "i´m not amused about the ´new´ apocalyptica" thread, which is about a guy who went to a Apocalyptica concert, and... read it yourselves. Be prepared to laugh out loud.

More Escapism By The Means Of Food And Rammstein

Today I'm a lazy bugger who wants to keep away from thinking about the evil things happening in the bad world out there for as long as possible. I was supposed to have a concert review galore here, but since someone has alredy done a better job of it, I'll just copy and paste the best parts for your reading pleasure:

From Lovisa at the Verboten! Forum:

"The thunder was a good opening and there was a certain perverse pleasure in getting soaked to the bone and watching the lightning. I've never been that wet in my life. Even with a raincoat on, one could literally squeeze water from one's bra. With all the people there it didn't get cold though and as soon as they started playing I forgot completely that I was dripping water. They were a few minutes late, since the roadies had to do some mopping and some new sound-checks had to be performed after the rain. The roadies in their suits did finally appear though and the familiar music started to play. The shadows shone through the lighted curtain and then they were there, in flesh, in front of us. It' an eerie feeling seeing them finally so close. But one's heart truly started to pound when the stage door opened and Till stepped slowly out of the shadows with those measured strides of his. He really can make one's heart constrict and then explode like a million stars in one's chest.

From our new vantage point we continued watching the concert. Even with the rows of jumping people in front of us, I managed to keep my eye pretty well fixed on Till. He seemed to be enjoying himself. The others were probably too, but since the concert only "lasted" for ten minutes, I couldn't very well waste too many minutes looking at how they were doing. Till had bothered too learn Finnish as Aisling and Mayah said, appreciated us singing along and showed it with hand gestures and looked really a lot into the audience. That makes a girl wish she had been closer to the stage. He looked relaxed, content and better than ever. Even those gestures that on pictures sometimes look a tad silly, were - for the lack of a better word - perfect.

The songs went by so fast, that it was difficult to keep up. Links drove people to stamp and jump like crazy, the red smoke during Asche tasted curiously pleasant and Paul's microphone stand burned more furiously than I've ever seen in live recordings. Du hast and DRSG were still the crowd-pleasers and Mein Teil was greeted with appreciation. The fire during Feuer Frei and Sonne (?) felt amazing even if it was difficult to otherwise appreciate the effects that close up front, where you couldn't really see that much. Stripped was played in the middle as already reported. Olli sailed past us with a happy smile on his face - I'm starting to like that man - and I saw him grab Mayah's flag and then look around carefully to give it back to her. Remembering people's words about the bandmembers concern for him, I turned to look on the stage. Till and Flake were talking and laughing and they were handed a bottle of something to drink through the door. Not too much obvious concern there. I didn't see Olli fall - only him taking a bow and smiling at least at that point already.

The feeling after the concert wasn't as ecstatic as after my first Rammstein concert, but the obsession certainly is just as worse again."

The thread from where I snatched these pieces is the one named Ruisrock!, if you have the energy to read the entire review in this hot hot hot weather. Yesterday I watched at work how the temperature outside started with a cool 29 C and ended up with a refreshing 32 C by the time it was time to go home. Why oh why did I choose foodservice industry? I could be in some air-conditioned office instead of suffering in the hell-like heat of a kitchen.

But yeah, the "perkele," "no niin" ja "ylös" Till said during the concert were a pretty nice surprise, especially considering his reputation of talking next to nothing to the audience.

And since you ask, yes, I'm a member of that forum too. Count in the forums at herzeleid.com, megaherz.com and deutschemusik.net and you don't need to ask how come I never complain about being bored and having nothing to do.

But before I finish, there's a surprise for you. You thought that I was only capable of posting Rammstein pictures, didn't you? Well, I went to help my mother to redecorate the other day (she wanted to move a bookcase from one end of the living room to the other and father being out of town called me to be her lovely assistant. We switched places between a sofa and the bookcase and after that my dear mother held a ten-minute monologue about how it's women who make the world go round. Don't know about the entire world, but mere furniture was certainly no match to us) and found some old photos I had taken last November when I borrowed their camera. So here. From the famous Feast of St. Homobonus , the emblems of Lady Lent (those are candied orange peels in there, btw) and Lord Carnival, who fought a glorious food fight in the event, even if I say so myself.

Those magnificent pieces of embroidery are made by yours truly. As they say, you gotta start somewhere...

And as the universal truth of films goes, there's got to be one last untaken picture left with which you can take a cute picture of, for example, the tiny sweet-natured monster living in your fish tank.

I have to start thinking about the theme for the next Feast of StH. after the Cudgel War feast is cooked and served. I swear, if it continues this hot throughout the tent camp I'm going to have to kidnap me a private waterboy to keep me from dehydrating entirely in the kitchen.

Hmm.. last time it was the Lady Lent/Lord Carnival battle, the next could be something in the way of the senses, perhaps, or a discussion between Nature and Love or something of that ilk. I know my mother taught me to not to play with food but it's too much fun.


Today's soundtrack has included good chill-out songs like Janus' cover of Rammstein's Seemann (if my memory serves me correct, there's a possibility for download on the janus website) and the cover of Engel made by the Scala Choir (the one that started playing when Rammstein stopped playing).

Home Sweet Home

Just got back from the sunny city of Turku. I'm still sweaty, hot and tired from traveling in a too hot temperature, my skin has the lovely hue of a boiled lobster and I really, truly do not want to go to work tomorrow. Just a few quick notes of pointless rambling before I hit the shower and then the bed, so that I won't forget anything.

- The ever-changing weather of Finnish summer. I left for Turku on Thursday when it was sunny and warm. Friday morning was sunny and warm. Came Friday afternoon and the rain started. Then came thunder. Then came messages that the festival site had lost electricity during the Turmion Kätilöt gig, luckily everything worked fine when we got there. Unless, of course, you count the thunder storm we had to stand right in the middle of on a field wrapped in a disposable rain coats waiting for the six German Masters (long story involving a few episodes of Sherlock Holmes and a few beers) to show up. The story goes that a security person had said that if the storm would continue for too long and there would not be enough time for Rammstein to play before the permits say that the fun must end, he would throw away his vest as far as he could and dig himself a hole in the ground because the crowd would tear down the place.

After that it was, of course, extremely hot and sunny for the whole weekend. Almost too hot to do anything but sit by the river in the shade and spend quality time with friends. Three of us braved the drunken hordes on Saturday and went to see Ismo Alanko and Tuomari Nurmio (good gigs, both of them).

- The Rammstein gig was good. Not as good as when they play in an indoors venue, largely because of the fact that for the first part none of us could see nothing but the pimples on someone's neck until we moved behind the mixing table to watch the show from the screen. Till's voice did sound a bit rough in places, and the security personnel showed us from where the term "concussion boat" comes from when they dropped Oliver, the bass player, when he came back from crowd-surfing. It looked as though he hit his face on the edge of the stage, causing my heart to take a few extra beats, but he seemed quite okay when he got back on the stage. Understandably slightly pissed off, but otherwise fine.

They did not play Benzin, Los, or Ohne dich much to my (very small) disappointment, but they showed up, they played great music and they put on one helluva display of fire and brimstone, so I'm a happy woman for a good while now.

- During their show the ground shook. Literally. It was a funky feeling standing there on a quaking (don't know if that's word. Don't really care right now ;) ) field as Links234 was playing.

- Meeting Turku-based friends after a too long time - awesome. Picnics by the Aura river - doubly so. Why don't we do that more often? It's only a two-hour drive between us... We even saw a young man jumping into the river for a quick swim, which goes down in the books of history as one of the stupidest things a man can do. Just because it's river-shaped and has liquid flowing in it doesn't mean that it's a) water, and b) safe to swim in.

- Um, um, there must be more but my brain's still on a screen saver mode so I'll leave that for later. Cool shower and my own lovely bed are awaiting.

A big thank you for those willing to put up with me in their own home, not to mention giving me rides from Helsinki to Turku and back again.

Never, Ever Get A Job In Customer Service...

After another pretty eventless week (see the previous entry) this post has really only one purpose, to share this Rammstein photograph with you, my dear, dear friends:

The appropriate caption comes from the famous rammimages.com site: You haven't lived until you've felt your eyelashes curl! Or like my workmate put it, they're big, loud men who play with fire. What's not to like about them?

That picture hit the right spot, I've been spending too much time in close contact with customers for the past days. Not that I mind watching the good-looking gentlemen walking around in a tight t-shirt or shirtless (gotta love the summer...), but I'm really sad that there never seems to be a correct time or way to say to a customer complaining just for the sheer joy of being able to complain, that while I do appreciate his opinions, I'd be obliged if he told me when he gets to the part where I'm supposed to care. There was this one young man who wasn't satisfied with any of my answers so finally I told him to contact our product manager, but I'll be surprised if he'd be happy if a god came down from heaven to tell him the truth about our fish stew. And today we got a woman who threatened to call the National Food Agency and the Consumer Agency and inform them that our vegetarian lunch had milk products in it. She absolutely refused to believe that there is a difference between a vegetarian and a vegan diet, and if only she learned to use the connection between her eyes and her brain she would notice that we actually serve both.

All right, those were harsh words, but really, all that gray matter inside our heads can't be just for decoration.

But on the other hand, there was one young man who, after I had accomplished the strenuous task of charging him money for his food, thanked me profusely and wished me an extremely good day. Aww. Sometimes they manage to make even me smile.

Only three more days behind the cash register, and I'm back in the kitchen where I belong.

By the way, did any of you notice how immediately when July began the constant raining stopped? I mean, it's been really hot outside for the past couple of days. I've been forced to wait until 9 or 10 pm to go jogging (yes, I've not lost interest in it yet, I bet no one is more surprised than me) and even then it's nearly too hot. We may get a decent summer this time, ladies and gentlemen. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Currently playing: The album Stahlmania by an Austrian metal band Stahlhammer, though defining them only as a metal band is an understatement. Weird sounds, but good. See, it's not only German bands I listen to...



THE MOTHER OF ALL EDITS:

Took a look at the weather forecasts for the weekend:

This is the 5-day forecast for Turku, and it looks like it might rain on Friday. Of course, it's not certain but it might not be a bad idea to pack something waterproof. Or, alternatively, get some front row places, and wait for the pyro to dry us up...

Mellow Mama Blues

Though not really blues, even if it is Dinah Washington's opinion of the matter. More like a bossa nova.

It's half past four in the afternoon and I have accomplished absolutely nothing today, unless you count in the two-block walk to get me a bottle of white wine, which is now being chilled and awaiting the bath I've been planning to take since Monday.

Basically, what I've been up to is some small-scale internet surfing, and as a person addicted to all sorts of strange personality tests you can find on the net I have been pretty entertained for the most part of the day.

You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant.Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle.You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs. For you, comfort and calm are very important.You tend to thrive on your own and shrug off most affection.You prefer to protect your emotions and stay strong.

World's Shortest Personality Test

I am? Okay. *Shrug*

Another find of today, besides that definitive analysis of my character, was this: A woman tattooed her face for money. How stupid can you be? I realize that there's a question which really demands a whole entry all for itself, but right now I'm too relaxed to thing about anyhing bigger than the nice, cold bottle of white wine in my fridge. I'm sure that if you open an encyclopedia and look for the words "stupid," "moron," or "half-wit," you'll find that woman's picture in there.

It wasn't even a very large sum of money.

I'm off to bath, and then I'll clean the fish tank, and maybe have the courage to cut the sleeves for the 1490's dress. There are few things that scare me, and cutting fabric is one of them. There are so many ways of screwing things up when cutting fabric.

Six days to Fabulous Six...