A Day in the Life of...

Crazy cat lady

2008-06-15T19:33:00.002+03:00

Yes, there are two of them now.

Jalo (officially D'Manns Triton, baby pictures here) appeared on Friday the 13th, and despite the ominous date everything has gone more or less smoothly. Mimmi, poor creature, has been a textbook example of OMG WTF, and has spent the weekend running to the kitten hissing and growling, swatting him ever so carefully only to leg it away herself.

I was a bit anxious at her behaviour, but even though she has been letting the youngster know that this is her territory and he is an unwanted guest, she has not been openly threatening. She growls, but her head is turned away and her posture is relaxed which in Cat probably means that she doesn't want to hurt anyone. At least that's how I interpret it, I'm more fluent in Dog.

A couple of hours ago they chased each other, and afterwards sniffed each other's noses which ought to mean that the worst is over. I'm still contemplating on keeping them in separate rooms when I'm away at work, they haven't been alone together for more than half an hour and Mimmi doesn't realize that she's about three times the size of Jalo and plays accordingly.

My mother made me promise that I won't get any more animals. Like, what? I only have 2 cats and some fish, it's not that bad, is it?

Now listening: L'ham de foc.

Shameless plug

2008-05-08T17:38:00.002+03:00

It must be utterly lame to advertise your new blog on your already existing one, but here goes.

Paratiisin murusia, a shiny new blog on medieval(ish) cooking.

I'm lame and proud of it!

Cats, babies and road accidents

2008-04-29T18:14:00.003+03:00

"If a cat does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing, for the same reason, we call it intelligence." - Will Cuppy

Right. That's probably why this morning I found on my balcony one very, very annoyed bumble bee and one bewildered cat with half of her face and one front paw twice the size it would normally be - and demonstrating a complete lack of self protection as she tried to catch the insect again and again until I saw what was going on and took her indoors. Sometimes I wonder how there are any cats left in this world...

I tried to take a picture of her predicament but it seems that the modern bumble bee stocks amphetamine instead of ordinary venom as all I managed to capture was a grey blur.

Anyway, on Sunday I became a godmother as J's and G's little daughter had her very first party in honour of her brand new name. What a sweet little baby she is. I make it my business to be the one she can turn to whenever she finds she has questions too embarrasing to ask her parents. So welcome, little Eira, to this circle of friends!

On the way back from the party we witnessed a road accident as a car driver completely failed to notice a motorcyclist and promptly ran him over. Thankfully the only things truly damaged were the car and the motorbike. I think that the biggest shock was to notice how long it took for the help to arrive (or maybe it just felt that way) but once it got there by golly was it efficient! In a matter of minutes the poor biker was packed away in an ambulance, the firemen had cleaned the debris and the police had written down the eyewitnesses' accounts.

So if oy are palning to have an accidet 1) do it in Southern Finland as the help will reach you faster, and b) rest assured that they know what they are doing.

Currently listening: Angel and the Mambo Katz: Black Mambo

What will they think of next?

2008-04-22T19:03:00.004+03:00

There's a long post going to happen in the near future outlining the recent tragedy of having to live without a computer for a while (the horror! the horror!), but first things first.

They've gone and turned the Luttrell Psalter into a film.

Have to say that it looks pretty interesting.

Now I had a dream a while back where E had made lamp shades out of a printed copy of the Psalter but I still don't think I should leave my day job and become a fortune teller...

Right

2008-03-08T11:24:00.004+02:00

Time for an update, eh?

Like there'd be anything interesting going on but here goes:

1 )The cat doesn't look like this anymore,
the little ball of fluff has become a large enough animal to seize control of half the sofa.

2) Work-wise, I've reached some goals and am in charge of a small restaurant, complete with 3 underlings and all. Which is nice.

3) The sun's here again! I've always wondered whether an entire country can be bi-polar but every spring it seems more and more clear, especially after the snowless, dark, and wet winters we've had lately. And that leads nicely to the point

4) which is, that like every spring before, my inner geek gets unleashed and is allowed to run rampage which usually means a heavy-ish blow to my bank account. This time I've bought myself
- one (so far..) CD
- some gorgeous fabrics (N44, Bärnsten, and K93, Brun), which I intend to turn into this:

With the help of this:

Good old Leonfeldner Schnittbuch.

Enough for now? I'll try to blog a bit more often than what I've done in recent months ;)

And as suggested, I'll end with some musical recommendations:
Radio Aena focuses on medieval and Irish folk music.

Lurte comes from Spain, and proves that you don't have to be German to rock the bagpipes.

Hi there

2008-02-28T19:08:00.003+02:00

Rly.

Oh dear

2007-09-10T22:04:00.000+03:00

What on Earth did we do before Youtube was invented?

I was so right about the hat

2007-09-04T23:31:00.000+03:00

The one on my head in the profile picture. Why, I hear you ask. See, my great-grandfather's brother's sons are into family research and have taken it to themselves to delve as far back in the history as they can - with the aid of genetic research. It turned out that I and all my relations on my mother's side are of the same stock as the bloke in the iron fishnets.

As the Viking Answer Lady puts it:

According to the Russian Primary Chronicle (ca. 1040-1118 AD), the Rus were a group of "Varangians," possibly of Swedish origin, who had a leader named Rurik. Rus appears to be derived from the Finnish word for Sweden, *Rotsi, later Ruotsi, which in turn comes from Old Swedish rother, a word associated with rowing or ships, so that rothskarlar meant "rowers" or "seamen."
Due to civil strife in Russia, the leaders invited Rurik and his Rus kinsmen to come rule over them:
"6370 (862 BC) ...Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one against another. They said to themselves, 'Let us seek a prince who may rule over us, and judge us according to the law.' They accordingly went overseas to the Varangian Rus: these particular Varangians were known as Rus, just as some are called Swedes, and others Normans, Angles, and Goths, for they were thus named. The Chuds, the Slavs, and the Krivichians then said to the people of Rus: 'Our whole land is great and rich, but there is nor order in it. Come to rule and reign over us.' They thus selected three brothers, with their kinfolk, who took with them all the Rus, and migrated. The oldest, Rurik, located himself in Novgorod; the second, Sinaeus, in Beloozero; and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. On account of these Varangians, the district of Novgorod became known as Russian (Rus) land. The present inhabitants of Novgorod are descended from the Varangian race, but aforetime they were Slavs." (Russian Primary Chronicle)

I'm a bit surprised, to be honest. I always thought that the most anyone could expect to find would be some horse thieves and, um, village eccentrics.

LERN 2 SPEEK LOLCAT

2007-08-27T20:34:00.000+03:00

If you haven't already heard about lolcats it's about time. You know, these things:

Anyhoo, here you can learn all about their language. Seriously. LERN 2 SPEEK LOLCAT.

And then run your latest report through the translator and look very innocent when your boss gives you The Look.

Problems of the Western world

2007-08-27T19:29:00.000+03:00

Life can be so hard. Like, I bought this new phone, right, and when I unpacked it I also dug out an USB chord which means that I can download little things like music from my computer to its memory card. Which means that all the hours I spent browsing the net trying to find the perfect ring tone were all wasted as the problem rose instantly to another level completely. It can't be that hard to decide which Corvus Corax song would make the best ring tone, can it? Or should it be something by Qntal? Or Kotiteollisuus? Then there are always the classics, Links 2 3 4 and Sehnsucht never fail to please.

Argh. What if I never find the one? Will I be doomed to listen to the infamous Nokia tune for ever?

In other news, the kitten has grown and had her first vaccinations a week ago. The vet sang her praises like there'd been no tomorrow, Mimmi was, in her opinion, very calm but had a healthy dose of curiosity in her, she was very well-behaved and even her stripes were fancy. Of course, I have to agree but I really think that the vet ought to have seen her hanging from my winter coat, the curtains and the back of the sofa by her claws before making any profound declarations.

Damn. I think I'll go with the song Veris Dulcis. The Tempi Antiqui version, I believe there's another take on the song on the Seikilos album. I tried to find a sample but couldn't so here's something completely different. It ought to make noises when you hover the cursor over it.

Kittie has landed!

2007-08-04T11:01:00.000+03:00

The critter on the right is Mimmi, my interior decorator, tattoo artist and, apparently, owner.

She came home yesterday and after few hours spent cautiously exploring all the nooks and crannies of her new home she promptly invaded first the sofa and then the bed all the time demanding attention. Of which I'm glad, of course, since a overly shy and timid cat is not as nice as a pet. What Mimmi does when she wants to be picked up (that is, when she to her great frustration relizes that she's still too tiny to jump up high enough) is to jump up and down making all kinds of noises until she gets her way. Though today we've practised the art of trouser-leg climbing. She may be small and cute but her claws can sink to the bone.

She's a lively little thing for sure. And has a purr loud enough to rattle windows. And she just fell asleep on my lap and is all warm and cuddly and cute (and making my legs go numb. But I just don't have the heart to disturb her).

Here's a short video of Mimmi with her absolute favourite toy.

Lineas vestes

2007-07-13T20:08:00.000+03:00

And why does one need so many of them?

Yes, it's that time of the year again. Time to dig up all the extra bags and fill them with obscure items of linen and wool, and wonder how one can transport all one's precious glassware unharmed there and back again. In other words, the famous Cudgel War is here.

Currently I have a large backbag, 2 large bags and a wooden chest full of stuff, and that does not include the 2 chairs I wish to cram inside the van one way or another. Seriously though, there's no way I could make it through the week without my undergarments (one complete, the other still in pieces), a kirtle, shirts, 2 partlets, an apron, socks (3 finished, 1 to go unless I come up with some weird rotation system), dresses (2 finished, one without sleeves, lining and other little details), headwear, shoes, jacket and, and, and.. I'm pretty sure I've forgotten something. And that was just the clothing. No, that was just the basic necessities.

Oh well. A whole week away from the mundane world, just beer and sewing and friends. What more could one ask for? I believe, in the view of recent events, that I'm well within my rights to demand some quiet happiness for a while.

Tanzen!

2007-05-13T14:34:00.000+03:00

You might think that drinking nothing but sparkly wine for the evening is fashionable and cool, but when you get right down to it it's basically nothing more than wine with bubbles in it. You know, alcohol.

But fun was had yesterday, even more than I expected. We, that is me, my sister, her husband and a couple of friends headed down to the Senate square a couple of hours before the Eurovision show begun, well in time to secure good places in front of the huge screen and to catch the pre-final show. The audience was treated with schlager stars singing good old Eurovision hits. This is where we opened the first bottle of bubbly and toasted for the song contest and especially for Hanna.

We also rehearsed the Eurovision anthem, cheering and shouting hello, much to the bewilderment of a few tourists who seemed to be in town purely by coincidence and just happened to walk into the square. We toasted for once in the lifetime experiences. God forbid you'd be seen drinking without a good reason.

Hanna's performance made the audience explode. And, incidentally, gave the reason for the third toast. I don't think I've seen people so laid back and not entirely focused on getting as drunk as possible as quickly as possible. There is hope yet. Every country got a good cheer, though the absolute favourites were Finland, naturally, and Ukraine. I was on queue for the loo when Verka Serduchka was on the stage, much to my dismay, but I am proud to say that it was me who led the queue to the sing (and dance) along. I got some looks from the teens in the next queue clearly stating like, that is so not cool, but I'm of the opinion they are too young to understand how to have fun. But I can now check another item on my list of things that probably should have been done before I turned 30 but which seem to happen only afterwards. Like walking into a club and casually mentioning at the door that my name's on the list and this is my posse.

We toasted just for the fun of it and of course every time Finland got any points. The audience was almost as good a show as the one broadcasted from the Arena. There were, in addition to the nearly 25 000 ordinary flag-waving enthusiasts, a group of people dressed in British Airways uniforms, complete with a small cart full of refreshments, and an old man in an ankle-length orange fur coat. If one was inclined to notice annoying things, it would have to be the group of young men behind me who seemed to be under tremendous pressure to let everyone know that even though they were watching the Eurovision song contest they were not gay. Argh. Like, who would care?

I'm still waiting for my voice to return or I might have to start looking for a job in the night time radio.

Currently playing: Dancing Lasha Tumbai
Current mood: It's half past 3 and I'm not really woken up yet.

The Official Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Entry

2007-05-10T09:17:00.000+03:00

A.K.A Hear my plea, banana!

Saw the semifinal show yesterday. Well, not the actual semifinal, of course, but the second preview. A rehearsal, if you will. I must say that I'm very impressed.

I had to voice my concerns before the show began for the stage looked so tiny compared, for example, the array Rammstein sets up and I feared that there wouldn't be any room to manoeuvre. Boy was I wrong. The stage is awesome. The clips about Finland in between the songs are not as cliched as I thought they might be and the dance performance which will entertain people while the votes are being count is just... wow.

It was funny how we went through the entire motions of the actual show, counting down together for the moment when the voting began and cheering for the would-be finalists as that part was also rehearsed. There were a couple of old ladies sitting next to us who actually thought that this was it, the real deal, and were overly excited when they thought that Portugal had made it to the finals. My sister broke the truth to them gently, however, but I'm not sure if they got it anyway. Mind you, they also really liked the Albanian group's performance, complete with huge moustaches and too much vibrato. Besides, after E mentioned it in her excellent blog, all I could hear was the choir singing Banana!

I must leave for work now so I'll leave you with Bulgaria's kick start to the evening.

Watch the show. Seriously.

Sigh..

2007-05-06T18:20:00.000+03:00

So, in order to look a bit more like a healthy human being instead of Casper the Friendly Ghost and scaring the neighbourhood children I bought myself some of that nifty moisturizer with a very modest amount of tanning agents. After carefully reading the instructions and putting much thought into the applying I've managed to make one of my legs piebald.

Go me.

For those waiting for the summer vacations I give you Los Bastardos Finlandeses. The official site and the video for the excellent Viva! Los Bastardos!

Happy 1st of May!

2007-05-01T15:57:00.000+03:00

How can you tell when you've become old? When you take the (in)famous ferry to Stockholm and instead of 2 night of revelling you go to bed early so that you can take full advantage of the day in the city and the highlight of the second night is a massage?

Or when you hvae no energy left for the 1st of May celebrations because of the said trip and because you went to a SCA event the weekend before and feel like you haven't seen your home from the inside in ages? My being home today might also have somehting to do with yesterday's insane day at work with 3 people off sick and our dish washer breaking down half an hour before closing time. I had Yakety Sax playing in my head the whole day, and for a good reason. What saved the day was that we had been provided with silly hats to wear, and I went in early and secured a fake cow hide stetson with horns and cow ears and all. Very stylish I must say.

Anyway, it's a beautiful day outside, so don't be like me and grab a bottle of mead and any of the traditional pastries of your choosing and go out in the nearst park to soak up the sunshine! I'll continue avoiding washing dishes and trying to get rid of a song which seems to have not only gotten stuck in my head but is settling down and planting a garden. So in the hopes that sharing it will make it go away, or at least make me feel better for not having to suffer alone, here you are. The very addictive Nymphetamine (fix) by Cradle of Filth, and I really don't even like the band that much..

In case you haven't noticed

2007-04-27T22:00:00.000+03:00

here be wicked comic strip.

The man knows that the world without the devil in it is like drinking wine and never getting drunk

2007-04-07T13:26:00.000+03:00

And if that didn't give it away, yes, I went, I saw and was treated with yet another Kotiteollisuus gig the other night. I don't know how many times I've seen them live, they still kick ass. Am still in some amount of pain as the muscles in my neck, back, legs and sides are apparently not going to forgive me soon for taking them through the exercise also known as the mosh pit.

Tuomas Holopainen, the keyboardist from Nightwish, was once again there - I'm beginning to suspect that he's becoming the fourth member of the band. Not that I mind, though, songs like Valtakunta should never, ever, under any circumstances be played live without him. His presence does, on the other hand, lure the squealing fangirls out of their lairs and into the mosh pit where they stand with a pint of perry and digital camera and are all miffed because people are jostling them. Seriously. Though on Thursday there were not so much fangirls as insane females who actually started a fight in order to get to the first row. I had to pry one of them off of H, who received a nasty wallop on the back of her head and also sports a bite mark on her shoulder. I dragged the idiot off of my friend by her hair. I am so not proud of myself, but dammit, ain't no one putting their teeth on any of my friends without any repercussions. That is, without their consent of course. We made a strategic retreat to the back of the room, where things were like "I do beg your pardon, ma'am. I appear to be taller than you; please do take my place." Seriously, those were almost the exact words of the nice young man who noticed me behind him. Also, we had a real good ogle at Sinkkonen, the drummer who for some reason had his hands bandaged and spent the evening at the mixing table.

Nevertheless, it was a very good evening and I'm all recharged and happy.

On a sadder note, the fates seem to be against me getting a dog. I received an email from the breeder, and it seems that there won't be puppies this time either. She did tell me that her sister, who also breeds Irish Terriers is planning a litter this year and I'm considering contacting her. I want a doggie, dammit! I just was so impressed with the intended daddy dog (he'd have gone home with me and was the embodiment of friendship - at least all the while I was eating a cookie) I'd have preferred him to be the dad.

Tall and tanned and young and lovely..

2007-03-28T19:10:00.000+03:00

Monday evening turned out to be one of those bizarre reminders that there are, in fact, other people living in this house as well. My next door neighbours, whom I've not heard nor seen except in a few rare cases when we've happened to meet in the elevator, decided to get blind drunk and host the loudest party I've ever witnessed. And I've seen a couple of loud parties in my time.

The thing is that the said neighbours are not what you'd might first associate within the loud party demographic, not to put too fine a point on it, they are old. And a very respectable-looking couple. They own a corgi, for goodness' sake!

Anyhow, from about 7 pm to near midnight there was a lot of banging, shouting (no, they were not fighting, only trying to get themselves heard over the music) and the radio blaring so loud that no matter where I went in my apartment it still was like the ghetto blaster they must have had over there had been firmly sitting on my shoulder.

And the channel they chose to make us all listen to was no other than Groove FM. It could have been worse, it could have been schlagers all night from the Radio Suomi, or something similar. Jazz and easy listening I don't mind, though I prefer to choose myself the time I want to listen to it. At one point I was holding my head under my pillow and still singing along to Girl from Ipanema. This was the point when I think they passed out as the shouting stopped though the radio was left on. Thankfully one of them woke up enough to turn it off before I reached my breaking point and strode to bang their door stark naked and screaming.

I own my home, they can't throw me out :P

Today's music:
Rammstein: Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen?
Johnny Cash: Rusty Cage

Um, hi

2007-02-17T13:09:00.000+02:00

Good morning! I guess I did hibernate for a tad longer than expected...

But now the sun's up, days are longer and I've Madonna blaring on the stereo. Things are looking up, definitely. January was horrid, all rain and darkness and sludge for the entire month. I woke up, went to work, got back home and was in bed again at 9 pm. For the entire month. For a while I was convinced that instead of Vantaa I'd accidentally moved into Mordor, and that one morning I'd open the curtains and saw a great big fiery eye staring right at me (and probably complain how I'd let my home become such a mess, at least finally get something done and paint the hall, woman!).

This month, however, has been a steady progress of getting rid of the worst winter depression ever, what with mornings like this

and my sister's hen night (read: weekend) and wedding as a result of which I do not only have a ticket to the 2nd preview of the semifinals in the Eurovision song contest but my, um, cat-in-law has been gracing my home with her presence since dear sister and her brand new husband legged it off to Florence for the week. Her 2 most favourite perching posts, the bed and the book case:

Not to mention the fact that yesterday I got this in the mail:

Yes, that's right, more Corvus Corax. I watched the concert and it's once more proved that real men play bagpipes, huge drums, are known to occasionally get down on their knees and whip themselves, and..

....

....

....

Excuse me while I go take a cold shower. I'm sure that somewhere there are laws against unmarried women watching certain kinds of DVDs.

Nice weather we've been having lately, isn't it?

Winter solstice

2006-12-22T14:31:00.000+02:00

Yay for the shortest day of the year! Today, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institution there's exactly 5 hours 44 minutes of daylight (in the Southern Finland, naturally) before the sun sets, but tomorrow already there'll be some thousands of the second more! And before you know it's time to throw away the winter coat and strut around in nothing but t-shirt and shorts.

But it's only 2 more nights to Santa's visit, so merry christmas, everyone! Eat like you've never eaten before, enjoy and generally have a good time!

9223

2006-12-01T21:41:00.000+02:00

is the exact amount of steps I take in 7 hours at work.

Thank you, and please return to your previously scheduled program.

Hi there

2006-11-27T22:55:00.000+02:00

Been wondering what I've been up to? Probably not but I'm going to tell you anyway. You see, I've been busy making this

look like this:

That's my new bedroom. Of course it didn't look like that when I bought the place, it had layer upon layer of lovely floral wallpaper which just had to go, in the name of all that is good in this world. The living room (yes, I have one now) and the kitchen (a proper kitchen! Can you imagine?) had to undergo the same treatment, though fortunately the kitchen only needed a new layer of paint and the living room walls sported only one layer of wallpaper which peeled off at the merest touch.

The work is not done yet, the bedroom is finished and nearly all the walls painted but the floor is installed only in the bedroom and half a living room. I currently live amongst all my belongings in the bedroom which is probably only good as I've yet to come to terms with the fact that my living quarters have suddenly doubled in size.

I owe so much to A, H and my sis for painting and tearing off the wallpaper, dad for all the technical stuff (he's doing the floors) and my mom for cleaning this place up for good. I mean, I've walked in on her cleaning the stove with an old toothbrush and some cotton sticks. Also, I owe something special to A and sis for helping me to move in here on last Saturday; we packed, loaded, unloaded and carried stuff all day. Huge thanks, guys. Like the they say in the Oscar gala, I couldn't have done this without you.

In fact I've been so busy that Rammstein's brand new live DVD, Völkerball, which was delivered already on the 22nd, has been lying untouched for a whole week. I've grand pans for next weekend, I'll get a nice bottle of white wine, some snacks, turn off the phone and let the boys loose.

On a sadder note, R.I.P Juhani "Juice" Leskinen. I'd like to write something profound about the nation's common memory and stuff but since there are people who can do it better I'll just say thank you, sir, and bon voyage!

tired but happy

2006-10-30T20:24:00.000+02:00

What an amazing thing, the internet. Without it I'd have spent last weekend home, avoiding all household chores at all costs and got nothing done instead of meeting wonderful people, seeing the sights of Berlin and downing drinks at a local metal bar.

To those who think that internet only alienates people from the society and whatnot I'd like to say ha! And once more, ha!

I forgot to pack my camera so unfortunately this time there'll be no photos but believe you me, great fun was had, time and money was spent in most excellent of ways and life in general was enjoyed a lot.

Currently playing:
Qntal: Palästinalied

Tired, but happy

2006-10-30T19:41:00.000+02:00

Thunder & lightning

2006-10-01T19:37:00.000+03:00

I guess it's officially autumn now, It rained nearly all day yesterday and today it's been thundering for the most part of the day. After the extremely dry summer I find listening to raindrops hitting the window a very pleasurable sound indeed, though having to stay indoors all day has given me a somewhat annoying headache. I don't know, I might be tempted to brave the elements for a little while and take quick walk around the block. There's only so much doing nothing at all one can take.

I got an email from the dog breeder on Friday. Unfortunately the mama dog had not gotten pregnant at all so there won't be any four-legged christmas presents this time, but they are trying again in March so that if things turn out all right I'll have a puppy in summer. Oh well. That's nature for you. At least I'll get the moving and renovation business over with properly, and quite possibly can fix my summer holiday so that I can spend some proper quality time with the baby dog once she arrives. Of course, there's the big if looming around this time too so I shan't be buying any squeaky toys just yet lest I jinx the whole deal.

Today's soundtrack besides thunder:
David Attenborough and the fascinating Life Of Mammals first on BBC Prime and then on Animal Planet. Ask me anything about primates or wild cats and dogs.

Gone shopping

2006-09-24T12:56:00.000+03:00

I spent 6 hours yesterday roaming from shop to shop, running away from hordes of screaming children, trying to avoid shopper enthusiasts gone totally mad and being jostled by what seemed to be the best part of the entire human population, all trying to break the current world record in squeezing inside one shop.

But in the end it was worth all the trouble, with the much-appreciated help from H I now know that I want rosewood-coloured laminate on my floor and which colour will end up on the bedroom walls. The exercise did not help me to get rid of this godforsaken flu I've been suffering for the past couple of days but hey, in a couple of months I don't have to be ill in an unstylish enviroment. In addition, I have purchased a 30 x 90 cm poster of a basset hound, a pillow shaped like a crab (don't ask, it simply begged to be bought), been donated a table, a Bonk Art poster (it reminded H of Rammstein's music) and also been asked whether I'd be interested in giving a good loving home to a surplus sofa. In short, life is good.

Anyway, to continue the successful series of totally useless but fun links, I can now with some confidence reveal that were I a dog, I'd be a Welsh Terrier.

&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://not-a-real-namespace/http://www.gone2thedogs.com" target="_blank"&gt;gone2thedogs.com&lt;/a&gt;

Does this mean I'm a grown up now?

2006-09-19T18:56:00.000+03:00

Today finally the apartment I had my eye on became mine. I had thought the actual event would have been filled with sombre people in black suits, suitably serious atmosphere and more, you know, ceremonies. Like the bank demanding I'd have to sign my soul over to them in blood. I didn't expect a light, airy room with a fashionable Marimekko tablecloth, a bowl full of apples and no more to do than to sign a few papers and then pocketing the keys.

Everything's been happening so quickly that I have been suffering a some kind of post-purchase depression. I can't shake the feeling that

a) There's something terribly wrong with the apartment, and I keep imagining the seller and the real eastate broker now opening bottles of champagne, lighting expensive cigars and chuckling the word "sucker!" not believing their luck,

b) Even if there wasn't anything wrong (or that I could fix whatever it was), if I ever wanted to sell the bloody place, no one would want to touch it,

c) It's going to suck each and every cent I'll ever earn as long as I live,

or d) my parents, who live near by, will lose all their understanding in what is my life/home/territory and what is theirs.

Plus, all the furniture I currently own are a bookshelf and a bed. It'll be ages before I can call anyone over and who knows, they might completely forget my very existance during the time I'm trying to hunt down a sofa.

In any case, I now own an apartment. I can't say that I'd feel any more grown up than before.

And now for something completely different...

2006-09-12T20:18:00.000+03:00

Hamster! A dentist! Hard porn! Steven Seagull! Warrior! This rifle! In me the fishmaster!

Dear Sirs,

2006-09-10T21:42:00.000+03:00

I appreciate the importance of hosting the ASEM meeting here in Helsinki, what with all the publicity and money and whatnot but I swear, if the goddamned helicopter does not disappear from above my home right now so help me any passing deity I'll climb on top of the roof and give them the finger.

It appeared first at 8 bloody a.m this morning, making a godawful noise and waking me up and throughout the day I have had the pleasure and privilege to listen to the sweet melodies it creates every 30 minutes. Give a policeman a helicopter and they think it's Christmas all over again...

Why, if you absolutely have to arrange these kinds of meetings, not lease a suitable remote island somewhere out of everybody's way? Yesterday morning on my way to work I spent at least 5 minutes at a zebra crossing staring at the red light, the absolutely car-less road, and the dozen or so policemen loitering about with the air of giving me at least a sharp look had I so much as thought about crossing the road until the green light went on. Our deliveries were 2 hours late thanks to the extensive security checks. The wannabe-rioters were on my way when I tried to get back home some 10 hours later. All these little nuisances would be so easy ot overcome if one were to put some though into the location.

Besides, it's amazing how quickly you can hammer out important decisions if you have to dig your own toilet.

Today's attempts to drown out the helicopter engine:
Laibach: B-maschina
Schmerz: Gott
Corvus Corax: Venus Vina Musica

What ho!

2006-08-20T23:26:00.000+03:00

Another wild wild weekend gone, the Friday night spent taking a bath and going to bed early as I had to work on Saturday and the Saturday evening spent curled up under a quilt watching Jeeves And Wooster, season 2 on DVD. I swear, this kind of life only leads to an early grave.

The next week I'll continue on the path to desperation and doom, a.k.a apartment hunting. So far I've encountered a couple of total disater zones, had the apartment snatched from under my nose by someone who had more money on their disposal, listened to a party next door with a somewhat professional air to it, so to speak, and read a couple of emails from the sales agent saying the the apartment I would have wanted to see was already sold. The word of the day is UPDATE, kthx.

I don't ask for much, I really don't. I just want a nice, calm neighbourhood, a nice apartment, preferably with a balcony though a sauna in the building is a must, about a half an hour away from the city. That's all. Enough space for me, my fish and a dog or two. And possibly a cat as well. A little place I could call home sweet home and from which I would never roam or whatever it was the song said.

Why can't life be like in those magazines which are full of pictures of airy, light apartments with enough room for a pony?

On the note of fish, mine seem to have gone completely off their rocker. The old filter I had in the tank broke down and the new one I bought creates a somewhat stronger current which, apparently, has triggered some ancient instinct in them and now they imagine they are, in fact, salmon. What lurks in the mind of a fish, one cannot fathom.

And because one cannot have enough "awww" in one's day, here's a random video of a group of kittens taking their first steps.

Soundtrack of my life, volume 20/8/2006

Nina Persson: Oriental Love
Nieminen & Litmanen: Leo Jokela Rides Again

Spill the beans

2006-08-01T21:16:00.000+03:00

I shamelessly stole this from morgalou's blog. If you want to answer it, and please do so, I'm curious and proud of it, use the comment box please.

1. Age:
2. Single or Taken:
3. Favorite Movie:
4. Favorite Song:
5. Favorite Band/Rapper/Artist:
6. Dirty or Clean:
7. Tattoos and/or Piercings:

HERE COMES THE FUN ... ... ...

1. Do we know each other outside of the Blogosphere?

2. What's your philosophy on life?

3. Would you have my back in a fight?

4. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?

5. What is your favorite memory of us?

6. Would you give me a kidney?

7. Tell me one odd/intresting fact about you:

8. Would you take care of me when I'm sick?

9. Can we get together and make a cake?

10. Have you heard any rumors of me lately?

11. Do you/have you talk(ed) crap about me?

12. Do you think I'm a good person?

13. Would you drive across country with me?

14. Do you think I'm attractive?

15. If you could change anything about me, would you?

16. What do you wear to sleep?

17. Would you come over for no reason just to hang out?

18. Would you go on a date with me if I asked you?

19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?

20. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you?

It's nice to be back

2006-07-20T20:50:00.000+03:00

What on Earth did we do before the invention of the internet? On Tuesday whenever I tried to log on all I got was a apologetic message saying that "a cable is not connected" or something along these lines. I tell you, I was about to don a reed skirt and a huge wooden mask and try some dancing and chanting until a nice young man from my provider's helpdesk told me that it was the modem which had, for some reason, decided to call it quits and stopped working.

Today, after three painful days of waiting, biting my fingernails and despite the lack of any distractions getting absolutely nothing done (or just because of that) another nice young man got on his bicycle and brought me a new modem. A lovely, sleek, black modem with pretty flashing lights and nothing but working bits inside. You should have heard my sigh of relief at the sight of the Google logo appearing on the screen.

But seriously, what did we do before the internet conquered the planet?

Soccer's boring?

2006-07-14T00:05:00.000+03:00

Thought you'd seen it all in the Zidane World Cup Headbutt Animation Festival? In that case, take a look at Smack Materazzi Up, by all the people with too much free time in their hands.

Soundtrack of the evening: Yakety Sax

Forgot to mention

2006-07-11T21:48:00.000+03:00

My sister and J are selling their car.

If you, or anyone you know, are in need of a relatively cheap car let me know and I'll get you in contact with them.

Now speaketh Knows-Nothing-About-Cars:
It's dark blue, an Opel if I remember correctly, automatic gears. Needs someone who can talk Car. It works well but has the usual crankiness of an elderly vehicle. Definitely not something you'd see in Pimp My Ride but not the latest model either.

Here endeth the commercials.

"Hold!" she cried, as she found from the depths of her computer a picture of said car. "It ain't over until the fat lady sings!"

Clicky.

Hot weather and pretty bitches

2006-07-11T19:07:00.000+03:00

One again, long time no blogging. Though I've been on holiday and should have no excuses I'm still going to make a spirited attempt; I blame the nearly month-long heatwave which has been rendering yours truly utterly listless. I've been following St:s advice and kept the bathtub filled with cold water, occasionally throwing myself in there too. I've sunburned my legs and arms and scalp, which was an experience I'm not keen on repeating. I've even managed to tan a little instead of the usual scale of pale pink - darker pink - lobster my skin tone varies in.

W00t for summer, though I relly wish it would rain soon. Otherwise I fear I might dry up like a raisin.

In other news, I have now, finally, after a couple of days spent in despair because I though I'd become the laughing stock of bank managers across the country, entered the feared realm of apartment hunting. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I'm aiming to buy a little home of my own. Not that I mind living close to the sea and the city centre, it's just that I've begun to long for just a tiny bit of more space to put my things in, and most of all a place where I could unleash my inner interior decorator.

But the real reason I finally got around to write something was that today I went to see a nice woman whom I would very much like to buy a puppy from. The litter is planned sometime in September/October, so the li'l puppy would - that is, if everything goes as planned - come home just in time for Christmas. I saw the dad-to-be, a very friendly and nice dog who, I'm told, has a perfect head, and the future mother's mother who greeted me like she'd known me all her life. The breeder hinted that she'd might be interested in selling a bitch to me but with an arrangement for breeding terms, if those are the words I'm looking for. Anyway it'd mean that the dog would be co-owned by me and the breeder until she has produced one litter or turned four years old, after that the dog would be all mine. I'd pay for the food and vet bills and everyday life, the breeder would pay the entry fee for the shows she wants to show the dog in (and vice versa), it would be my duty to keep the dog in good shape and the coat in show condition but in return I'd have someone to call if any troubles would arise.

Of course, it might be that all the puppies will be boys, or that there will be only a 2 or 3 puppies born and people have been very interested in this litter, or that there will be no puppies at all. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Good things are worth waiting for, I guess, but I've been waiting for too many years now.

In my idle days I've also been wondering about the state of the Finnish music industry. Nothing serious, mind, like what is the meaning of it all and heavy stuff like that (like my heatstroked brain could function on any higher levels anyway) but what happened to the people who make the videos? Something positive, I should think, because this, um, interesting piece of art is what they started with, and now it's all evolved into this, Mies yli laidan by Ruoska. I shall refrain from commenting the song itself, but the vieo is kinda cool. Nevertheless I'd like to see them live, especially because I remeber listening to their very first album and let me tell you, they were not the "boyband from hell" they nowadays call themselves, but very angry young men who had thigs to say and weren't afraid to say them. Don't believe me? I suggest you take a peek here, scroll down a bit and watch either Kiroan, or Epilogi.

It's a funny thing, evolution.

I love the smell of new band shirt in the morning

2006-06-22T00:56:00.000+03:00

Back when I was 8, my uncle made me a cassette which had the album Kuka teki huorin by Sielun veljet, and some other songs by them. Today, at about 9 pm he called me and said that he had one extra ticket to see Ismo Alanko (the singer and the founder of the aforementioned band, currently the icon of the Finnish rock scene for those not in the know), and that should I want it I had about 20 minutes to get to the Tavastia club before the gig started.

I put on my shoes, ignored the fact that the clothes I was wearing had absolutely nothing what you might call street credibility about them and rushed there.

I danced, sang and boogied to the beat the whole evening and nearly fainted when they played Säkenöivä voima - I've claimed that a Rammstein gig is a religious experience but they've got a lot to learn from Mr. Alanko. I found it mildly amusing to watch how the younger members of the audience liked the newer songs better, and how the old farts like me and my uncle (who, in fact, is only 7 years older than me) went totally apeshit over the punk-era songs. I have seen quite a few concerts at the good old Tavastia but never have I seen the audience so intense as it was tonight. It might be early to say this, but I think tonight was the best gig this year.

Yeah. Thankies to my uncle. 'Twas wonderful. I'm in for a shower and a good dose of sleep, in that order.

Woo. I did some video searching and here's Rakkaudesta, which has got to be the bestest love song ever made, and Elämä on hauras, a newer song. Not from tonight's gig but good enough for me ;)

FREEDOM!!!

2006-06-21T00:11:00.000+03:00

It's now past midnight and it's still too hot to even consider sleeping. Though what would I care, I'm on holiday.

This was my last day at the Aukio UniCafe. One part of me is a bit sad, I've been there for more than 5 years and some of the people there I know I won't meet again until the next christmas party and I know the place inside out, I know the customers and how to operate the cranky dishwasher and the regularly crashing cash register system. The rest of me is cheering to be out of there for precisely the same reasons. I'll have to pop in to give back my keyes and to clean up my locker which I'm sure by now houses some lost tribes, bloodthirsty dust bunnies and sentient socks.

On to new things, and it's about time too!

Today's top track choice would be Loituma's Ievan polska, don't ask, which I've been trying to extract from my head for a couple of hours now. Finding this version of the song did not help at all.

This is it.

2006-06-10T16:47:00.000+03:00

The proverbial it. My last weekend as a twenty-something. After this I don't have to make up excuses to stay in on Saturdays. Like I had to do so before, the last time I found myself in a bar was, um, about a month ago.

I have about a day and a half to become an astronaut, travel around the world and learn kung fu before I have to produce 2.4 children, buy a house and a white BMW and so forth. Like Marian Keyes said:

Now that I'm past my prime I've had to let go several visions of myself. Better versions, of course. I used to think that being alive was some sort of apprenticeship where I'd get to a certain age and all of a sudden I'd be able to do life. That out of nowhere I'd know how to twirl my hair into a fabulous smooth French pleat. Or that the day would dawn when I'd just somehow be able to time my leg-waxes to coincide with good weather. Or that I'd wake up one morning and suddenly be one of those people who can go out in their slip and look willowy and graceful and fey and right. But now I accept that it's never going to happen, that I'd just look like I'd gone out without getting dressed.

;)

Anyhow, to those who for one reason or another have nothing to do, you can always watch live broadcast from the European Winner dog show on the Finnish Kennel Club webpage. Me, I have some party planning to do.

Holy crap, part II

2006-05-21T02:00:00.000+03:00

This is just too good not to be posted. Thank you, Madde (and your cousin)!

Holy crap

2006-05-21T01:19:00.000+03:00

It took us 40 years, but strike me blind if Lordi didn't just win the Eurovision song contest.

Everyone to the Market Square on Monday! Launch the Hornets! Print t-shirts and caps! Sing the national anthem!

WE GOT MORE POINTS THAN SWEDEN!

The Eurovision song contest

2006-05-18T23:54:00.000+03:00

A.k.a purgatory. I am deeply sorry for what I am about to say as I know that some of you are enthusiasts but seriously, that was painful. Now I remember why, exactly, I haven't watched the show in ages. Songs as interesting and easy to tell apart as bowls of porridge, at best something you'd expect to hear at 4 am on the ferry to Sweden, women who forgot to put on clothes as they left home this morning, and someone please tell the Russian guy that mullet is never, ever, under any circumstances considered a trendy hairstyle. And keep the Belgian women away from the coffee pot.

Anyhoo, go Lordi! That was worth watching even if they didn't make it to the finals.

EDIT: They made it. Yay! And a deep sigh because now I have to watch everything all over again.

Oh, and did I forget to boast? I got the job.

Good morning!

2006-05-11T09:15:00.000+03:00

I don't have to go to work today, and what do I do? I wake up at 7 and if I already hadn't planned to meet with A, I'd be cleaning like there was no tomorrow, though among the dust bunnies I seem to have two cats living under my bed. Muska, a 15-year-old tiny female and Retu, a tom with a purr like a jet engine, both owned by my uncle and his family, are staying here until Monday. Today I've only seen a glimpse of Muska as she peeked out from under the bed when I woke up, blinking at me and clearly thinking only crazy people wake up this early.

What type of Fae are you?

"Boiled lobster red" is a healthy skin tone

2006-05-07T15:38:00.000+03:00

Want to know how to best spend a Sunday morning? First, you need a sister who has some free tickets to the Linnanmäki amusement park. You need a friend willing to go with you (this is the easiest part) and sunshine.

Yes, my friends, summer season is now officially opened. My dear sis had other plans for today and gave me her tickets (some corporate incentive stuff, the whole park was reserved for 3 hours this morning to the clients and employees of the Tikkurila company) so me and A decided to have our weekly thesis meeting there. I even took a ride on the new ferris wheel, and while I do appreciate the view I feel that there is no need to go just that high above the ground, thank you so very much. An absolutely fantastic morning. I finally even made it to the Sea Life aquarium and five minutes into it I was promptly contemplating how big a fish tank would fit in my home. I mean, do I need a kitchen?

Two weeks to a small vacation, and after that I no longer appear on our shift lists. Does this mean I got the job, or am I being held in reserve just in case? If I score I'll have to have my holiday in June instead of July/August which I had originally requested but I don't appear on the holiday list either. AARGH! I want to know already!

Hyvää vappua!

2006-05-01T20:05:00.000+03:00

So, it's May for the workers and the students alike. The fact has been duly celebrated by the means of an extravagant picnic in excellent company in the Kaivopuisto park with several thousands Helsinki residents. It seems to me that every year there'll be more and more food and drink. Like E said, we're only a couple of years away from putting up a pavilion, dragging a table and some chairs over there, and I wouldn't be too surprised if there was an actual butler serving us strawberries and whipped cream.

Twenty years ago I spent the day marching for peace and the worker's rights with my parents, sang a few anthems and then it was time for potato salad and mead. The world changes. For better or for worse, I don't know, but change it does.

My face is sunburned and my tummy's full of delicacies. If one was to look for a downside, it almost has to be the kilogram of dust I've swallowed - dry sand paths combined with thousands of people adds up to blocked nose, sandy eyes and a funky throat. Oh well, the fun more than compensates for the sneezing.

May has to be one of my favourite months. April is strange, the first week is clearly a winter, days are short and there's still snow and then kaboom! it's 14 hours of daylight and the streets are full of confused people blinking at the suddenly appeared sun and trying to figure out a) who they are b) why are they here c) what's going on, and d) is it time to wake up yet? May, on the other hand, is almost summer. Heck, usually it's warmer than June! May is great.

I also had the job interview I mentioned a couple of weeks back. It was kinda weird because the interviewers were people I've worked with for more than 5 years but it was nevertheless a job interview. They promised to let us know the results either this week or the next so keep your fingers crossed. I'm not holding my breath as they told me that there had been plenty of applications (though I don't know how many people they interviewed) but I'm carefully optimistic. If I score I'll be promoted to a duty manager in a restaurant which will be re-opened after a long renovation in August.

Urban jungle

2006-04-20T22:02:00.000+03:00

I hate it how people assume that other people wouldn't be capable of deciding how to lead their life by themselves. I'm talking about the hordes of attention seekers fighting over lebensraum around the central railway station. It's a veritable mine field of Greenpeace people, Unicef people, Amnesty people, Jehova's witnesses, Hare Krishnas, the odd lady who has her own dancing dervish routine (you know, the one dressed in purple and gold robe, flourishing a purple flag with a golden cross glued on), and the street musicians, some of which won't let their complete inability of playing any sort of instrument stand in a way of profit.

Yes, I know some of them are trying to make the world a better place and I respect them but for goodness' sake, harassing people on the streets will only make them and their cause look bad. Only telemarketing is worse.

Like today, I had to catch a bus and as per usual had lingered at home a bit too long and therefore had to almost run to stay on schedule. All of the sudden, there are 2 Unicef people flanking me, a Hare Krishna monk going for frontal attack quite probably setting his phasers for stun, or something, and nowhere to hide. Helpless, I saw only one way out of the situation. I cranked up the volume of my mp3 player, set my shoulders and pictured myself in the scene of the Lord of the Rings where the Ringwraiths are chasing Frodo to the river. As they closed in on me I found the courage to utter the magic words "sorry, I don't like direct marketing" and lo! they vanished.

I also cought the bus and made it unscathed to A's place to study for the bachelor's thesis.

Songs to help you through the rough spots:
Janus: Ich will seinem Kopf
Verjnuarmu: Viitakemies

Spring!

2006-04-12T17:42:00.000+03:00

I can't see what I was complaining about yesterday. Today I've been soaking up sunshine like the Sahara desert rainwater.

<3 sun.

Strange days

2006-04-11T22:16:00.000+03:00

If lately you have spotted a relatively young woman striding the streets of Helsinki and shaking her fist to the sky, it has probably been me. This time last year the sun was where it's supposed to be, that is, clearly visible and shining like there was no tomorrow. I mean, where does the snow come from? There simply can't be any more left up there, can there?

The overall greyness has prolonged my hibernation. Part of me is all ready for the spring, bouncing back and forth and yammering incoherently, the other part is still convinced that sunset happens precisely at 4 p.m and that it's bedtime at 8. The result is that I've been sleepwalking for the past couple of weeks, got nothing done and can't even be arsed to find it annoying. Go away clouds! I want my energy back!

Stupid weather.

Lately I've also come to the conclusion that I spend far too much time online. On Saturday we received a feedback from one of our customers saying among other things, and I quote, "What about the finish pankaka? Why wasn't there anything written about German history between 1939-45?" the rest being similar nonsense in Swedish and English, and my first knee-jerk reaction was to start going through all the Herzeleid.com forum users in my mind to find out who the culprit was. I did some creative googling and the email the prankster/nutjob had provided doesn't exist - a shame, really, because I so wanted to send them a response.

Dear Sir/Madam,

It has come to our attention that concerns have been voiced about the pancake we offer to our esteemed customers every Thursday... And so on.

And that wasn't even the worst waste of paper we've received over the years. There was one sad soul who a couple of years back filled the A4 with frantic stream of consciousness, beginning from the 60's when they studied to be a doctor (wonderful, don't you think?) and ending up in them telling us that there's too much driving around in lorries and throwing of candy, quite probably referring to the ending of high school festivities, but then again, who knows? They also wanted to change the "red and black," so yeah.

In other news, I'm off to my parent's summer house for a couple of days at the end of the week so that I can eat too much mutton and sit in a sauna until we either run out of wood to heat it or it's time to come home again.

And I have a job interview on the 25th. I have absolutely nothing to wear.

Today's top tracks:
Placebo: Taste In Men. The song haunted me for so long that I had to go and get the album.
Kent: Om du var här. I shouldn't enter any store selling anything remotely resembling CDs as I not only bought the Placebo disc but also Kent and Die Toten Hosen. *Ahem* In my defence, they are all second-hand so I was only doing the world a favour, right?

Long time, no blogging

2006-04-03T18:26:00.000+03:00

And I have no other excuse than just being too lazy to type anything. Also, the western front has been all quiet lately, unless you count in the afternoon spent dragging the bookshelves, a wardrobe and the bed around the room. I must say I like the result, my humble abode seems to be slightly bigger now.

So. Um. The weather sucks, it's been raining for what seem like an eternity now, and although it does melt the snow and reduce the amount of dust and whatchamacallits, you know, those pesky little particles that float in the air and make living difficult, if I didn't know better I'd say it was November all over again. Then again, I've noticed that the dose of flu I have to suffer every year seems to happen at March/April every year - the snow melts and the gravel spread to the streets during winter is ground by the car tyres, the pollution level goes sky-high and voilá! I'm ill. Oh. well. It's the prize of living in a city.

Speaking of Helsinki, if you happen to find yourself in the vicinity of the Gallery Nunes do drop in there. Päivi, my uncle's spouse, is holding an exhibition there.

On a more positive note, the First of May celebrations are approaching! Only a few weeks left to decide what to take to the picnic. This year, however, I will not be as hung over as I was last year. I don't want to go through all the trouble of preparing for a picnic and not being able to enjoy it. I've done it once and I don't need to repeat the experience, thank you so very much :P

Today's top track is Placebo's Taste in Men which has been haunting me for weeks now. It keeps on playing in my head, and I know I have the album somewhere, I just can't find it. All I have to do to stop the inner jukebox is to play the song and I can't find it anywhere. Typical...

An evening of culture and chess

2006-03-12T20:06:00.000+02:00

Another week gone by. How the time flies.

On Thursday I experienced classical music live for the very first time. The Helsinki Philharmonics performed Mein Herz brennt, a cycle of 8 orchestral lieds to the music and lyrics of Rammstein by Torsten Rasch. It was certainly a new experience to me, but definitely not a negative one. The music was all very modern classical, and the only thing connecting the songs to Rammstein were basically the lyrics (I saw one couple leave half way through, I guess they hadn't done their homework and were expecting the Philharmonics to play Rammstein) but still, I found myself quite enjoying the experience, a n00b to the scene though I was.

I heard that there are some Rammstein fans who consider using the group's music like this a kind of a blasphemy which I frankly do not understand; I had thought that the whole "true fan" thing happened mainly in the black metal scene. the band's okay with it, and no one's forcing anyone to go to the concert if they do not want to so I fail to see how anyone would be offended by this.

Snippets of the lieds and an interview in a video form can be found here: click on the Videos, RealPlayer required.

On Saturday I sat my last exam. That's right, I have done all my courses and all that looms between me and my graduation is the bachelor's thesis. Of course, I'm assuming that I pass the exam. I bought myself a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale to celebrate, but if and when I get the grade for the course I'll get some champagne for sure.

Woo! Soon I'll be able to focus on getting stressed only over work and life in general!

Today's top tracks I listened while hiking on the ice and looking our fair city from the sea:
Subway to Sally: Die Schlacht
The Scaramangas: Eight And A Half
Weissglut: Unschuldsengel

Bandwagon time!

2006-03-03T21:33:00.000+02:00

O-kay! Time to roll up the proverbial sleeves and get to work!

- There's a new litter of baby Border Collies on the Puppycam,

- I set myself a Johari window for you guys to use and analyze me, so go ahead and analyze to your heart's content,

- Make your own South Park character here, the one on the right is me (and it's pretty accurate, too, I worked 11 hours yesterday)

- I found a searchable Calvin and Hobbes database,

- Scraping from the bottom of the barrel, go to verjnuarmu.net to see young men expressing themselves by dressing up like it was halloween and playing surprisingly good rock. Click kuvat -> videot -> and the image on the page to stream the video. They are playing here in Helsinki on Saturday, I'm going and if anyone wants to join me you're welcome.

- And finally to the point:

Shakespeare or the Bible?

Shakespeare, no doubt about it. Never been much into religion, and while there are several exciting and gory stories in the Bible, I think that Shakespeare just said it better.

We are such stuff as dreams are made on, rounded with a little sleep. Well, who's to say we aren't?

A word you like?

This is a difficult one. Um. In which language?

If I have to pick just one, I'll take tuli, fire.

Most romatic moment in fiction?

I'm not that big on romance, either. It probably doesn't count as romance per se, but I've always been somewhat impressed how in Kalevala the blacksmith Ilmarinen had to, in order to marry his heart's desire, plough the viper-infested field, kill the wolf and the bear of the netherworld, and catch the pike who also resides there. He succeeds, and the reluctant mother has no choice but to agreed to the wedding.

And there's always the famous love poem in Kanteletar which might be overly quoted and a bit passé, but I like it.

Should my treasure come
My darling step by
I'd know him by his coming
Recognise him by his step
Though he were still a mile off
or two miles away
As mist I'd go out
as smoke I would reach the yard
as sparks I would speed
as flame I would fly;
I'd bowl along beside him
pout before his face
I would touch his hand
though a snake were in his palm
I would kiss his mouth
though doom would stare him in the face
I'd climb on his neck
though death were on his neck-bones
I'd stretch beside him
though his side were all bloody

Most over-rated writer?

Dan Brown. The Da Vinci Code was entertaining enough, but for gooness sake, Dan, cliffhangers are like garlic! Excellent in moderate amounts, but if used as the sole topping on a pizza digesting becomes difficult.

Favourite book in translation?

Umberto Eco's The Name Of The Rose. Love the movie, too, but the book is one of my absolute favourites.

Best meal in English literature?

I'd say the serving of roast mutton with clootie dumplings, followed by chocolate delight with special secret sauce Nanny Ogg prepares for the Ankh-Morpork Opera bigwigs in the book Maskerade. The after-effects of said meal included much embarrassment and icy baths. Read the book if you want to know more. You'll like it.

Most under-rated writer?

This is where I have to reveal the extend of my recent period of not reading enough books. Maybe, in the context of literature being a serious art form and such, and pure entertainment must be frowned upon, I'd say Marian Keyes. I like her way of writing; the novels seem to be all light-weight and comical, but all the time there are big and difficult issues being dealed with. I bought Under The Duvet from Berlin and enjoyed every page of it. She's very witty and intelligent and has a sense of humor I like.

Favourite children's book?

This is easy! Uncle Fedya, His cat And His Dog by Eduard Uspensky. Defintely. A book full of gentle anarchy and humor, talking animals, crazy cows and tractors running on food. Uncle Fedya, who really is a small boy, runs away from home because his parents won't let him have Mr. Matroshkin, the talking cat, as his pet, sets up home in a little village and has an adventure after another, while almost driving the village postman insane. I must have read it a thousand times when I was young, I've seen it played in theatres several times and it still hasn't lost its sparkle, so to speak. If I ever have children, that's the book I'm going to read them.

Book by your bedside now?

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett.

Sexiest book?

Another difficult one. I can't remember any of their titles, but I like the collections of black&white erotic photographs.

So, the ball is in your field now. I'm curious to see your quys' answers.

Today's soundtrack:
Godsplague: Hell Raisin' Beer Drinkin'
Rammstein: Spiel mit mir

How much is that doggie in the window...?

2006-02-26T18:50:00.000+02:00

I may have OD'd on cute today. I went to a dog show, specifically to a puppy show - it has been a while since I saw that many wagging tails and over-enthusiastic loving of basically everything that moves in one place (except for the pugs, who all were fast asleep when they weren't performing). Aww. I want a dog.

Did any of you catch the sports new today, by the way? They have actually built a huge stage smack in the middle of the market square, where they showed the hockey final on a equally huge screen - so that people would have had a place to party had we won the gold medal. Fine, I guess, shame about losing the game though, but then the young man reporting from the scene said that even if Sweden won, the stage had not been built in vain, as the hockey team is flying back to Finland this evening, and they are all shoved on the stage as soon as they arrive so that, I don't know, people can have a good ogle at them or something.

Like, what? Where are all the other medalists? I didn't hear anyone mentioning the curling team being paraded through the cheering masses, for example. What on earth makes hockey so special, that it automatically shadows all other sports? Are the hockey players the only ones who have worked hard for four years to get there? 'S not fair, is all I'm saying.

In any case, I'm glad the Finnish team didn't win the gold medal, though I'm aware I might be facing high treason charges after a confession like this. Think about it. Do you remember what happened back in 1995 when the bastards went and won the world championship? The endless reruns on telly, the incessant playing of Den glider in and Me ollaan sankareita kaikki, songs for which the composers should be tortured by smearing them with honey and making them sit on an ant-hill. It was absolutely horrible.

And after 11 years - eleven years, goddamnit - you still can see people wearing the commemorative t-shirts and caps. Why, just because I'm a Finn, I'm supposed to go apeshit over whether the Finnish hockey team wins or loses?

Anyway, if you feel like it, there's probably some die-hard party people down by the market square doing their best to get the par-tay started.

/ rant.

There was a very interesting literary questionnaire in morgalou's blog which I was planning on answering until I realized that what I've been reading mostly during the past couple of years are either Terry Pratchett novels or the captivating stories about the fascinating worlds of accounting and personnel management. I've read so little lately it's almost criminal. I'll have to give the questions some serious thought before jumping on the bandwagon.

Today's soundtrack:
Kotiteollisuus: Routa ei lopu
The Scaramangas: Eight And A Half
Subway to Sally: Die Schlacht

EDIT: I missed my bloggiversary! I's been a year since I started this. Wow. Thankies, morgalou, for pointing it out! I completely forgot about it.

And thank you, all who have read my little contributions to the wonder which is the internet.

Where does an 8-tentacled octopus sleep?

2006-02-20T22:42:00.000+02:00

Do you know the feeling when there's a ton of things to do, but something goes snap in your brain and all you can do for a few hours is to fill in a multitude of useless internet personality tests?

And the feeling when one of said tests tells you that you'll quite probably reincarnate as an octopus and that 45 % of people will reincarnate as higher life forms than you? An octopus? I beg your pardon! I'm not quite that bad, now am I? I ought to send them an email and tell them where to shove some tentacles...

Anyway, octopus is a noble creature if you ask my opinion.

I've also been wasting my time on drooling at some nifty two-room apartments that are currently for sale in the greater Helsinki area. Yes, I've been getting the nagging feeling that maybe, while renting is all fine and dandy, just maybe a home I could call my own would not be such a bad idea after all. I like my current abode, humble though it may be, but it's really, really small. And the landlord is not a young man any more so the supercheap rent I'm paying now will quite probably stop to be supercheap in a few years.

Does this mean that (before I end up as seafood) I'm actually, finally becoming an adult? Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

Today's soundtrack:
Verjnuarmu: Laalavat jouset, Kärähtänyny kylä
(woo! metal in Savo dialect, which I spoke fluently until we moved out of Kuopio when I was 5. There are some samples in the Mussiikki-section)
Rammstein: Feuerräder
Madonna: Skin

It's Been A While,

2006-02-12T14:59:00.000+02:00

hasn't it?

From my latest entry, I mean. For the past couple of weeks my days have almost without exception followed the routine of wake up - go to work - leave work and have errands to run / friends to meet - come home and go to sleep. Once again I wonder why I pay rent, I feel I've forgotten what my home looks like. For someone with officially no life I seem to have plenty of it right now. The few hours I've had to myself I've been too tired to even think about typing anything longer than Gosh, I'm tired.

Valentine's Day is here again. A day dedicated to celebrate love and friendship by buying said loved ones some over-priced useless items or at least send them a Winnie the Pooh-related chain text message, and then forget about them for the next 364 days. Friends are there every day, and it's pretty horrible if you need to be specially reminded to tell them you like them around you. Then again, the whole commercial aspect of Valentine's Day serves a good purpose if it really makes people think about friendship by showing them the shallow and superficial side.

There might be some good things about Valentine's Day, but what I associate it with is the awesomely stupid idea someone in my school had some 15 years ago. All of us students (all of us between 13 and 15) were given one red heart cut out of cheap cardboard, and we were supposed to give it to the one we fancied. Nice enough thought, yes, but the girl and the boy who'd collected the most hearts were given a prize which kind of lost the innocence of the day, sorry for the bad pun. A bunch of us unpopular girls, since we also were realists, gave our cardboard hearts to the most popular girl in our class in hope of gaining some glory by association in case she won. We spent the rest of the day just hanging around and chatting and staying away from the bloodbath the heart-hunt was turning into. I still shudder at the memory.

Despite the rant above, here's something I'd like to tell you, courtesy of Anti-Valentine (the link shamelessly picked from Lou's blog):

I'm still alive...

2006-01-30T23:11:00.000+02:00

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your eyes are not deceiving you. That there is me, all formal and ready to go to my school's posh dinner & dance. And yes, that is the study / library / bedroom / Off-White Dressing Room of my apartment I'm standing in. It may be small, but it's cozy. And after tomorrow, free of all insects.

I tell you, the evening was awesome. String quartet, bubbly drinks, an excellent 5-course meal with appropriate drinks, waiters with white gloves and everything. I've never been on the receiving side of formal dinners, cooked a few, yes, and once even done the waitressing, if you can count the 6th December par-tay the president throws every year. Though I have to say we spent a lot of the time sneaking up to the ball room's balcony to criticise the gowns instead of actually working. In my defense, we weren't getting paid, so there.

Anyhoo, fun was had in copious amounts. The Finnish polytechnics generally do have a bad self esteem and try to copy the universities to the best of their abilities, and we had our share of wannabe academic pompousness, too. We even had to sing drinking songs, and I'm proud to say our table won the competition with our clear, harmonious renditions of Baarikärpänen and some other more traditional lieds. I think you've all been in some posh shindigs before, you know what people get up to in there.
thanksks St for designing and making the dress, it got plenty of positive attention.

Now I'll head off to soak myself in moisturizer, it's winter; therefore I turn into a raisin. The skin on my hands is so dry it's almost flaking off and it doesn't really help that I have to wash my hands all the time at work. Thank goodness it'll turn into spring soon and things will ease out until the summer begins and I dry up again. Woo for having a sensitive skin.

Today's top choices:
Madonna: Skin
Peggy Lee: I Don't Know Enough About You

EDIT: Whoah! 5 comments to the last entry! I really ought to pay more attention to my own blog... All advice on how to get rid of fur beetles are gratefully received! I checked out the wardrobe today and didn't see any evidence of them; still I made the difficult decision and threw out all of the tiny pieces of fabric I've been storing for who knows what purpose.

Nevertheless, I'm glad the exterminators are coming.

New hot chicks in town!

2006-01-22T13:39:00.000+02:00

So I read the paper today and guess what it said? The eagle owls are back in town! Remember the one who lived practically next door to me and had regular concerts on top of a pine tree by the Hietaniemi beach (there are 2 churches on either side of my block, and the silly owl thought the towers were the hotspot of this city)? He actually turned out to be 2 birds, one with a preference to churchs, the other hanging out at the beach, probably wearing a floral-print shirt and drinking Mai Tais. In fact, instead of the 2 owl supposed to live in the Helsinki area, there were in total 8 of these beasts. Yes, eight.

Some of them even found love and formed couples, though only one couple managed to raise chicks. Sadly, my neighbour had to spent the year hooting all alone. I hope he's still here, and as the mating season is beginning, he'll start making himself noticed again. There must be plenty of fat rats around after the warm autumn and early winter so woo for urban rat-eating wildlife!

While the news about the invasion of the eagle owls was a good one, a couple of days back I got the news that my house will be fumigated as, apparently, there have been sightings of fur beetles. If this wasn't a public forum, where decorum should be maintained, I'd fill the next several lines with all the swearwords I know in all the languages I speak. I haven't had the courage to rummage through the closets and see if there's been any damage done. Stupid insects, eating cloth and causing trouble...

Que Sera, Sera...

2006-01-17T21:55:00.000+02:00

So I finally had me a little talk with the old boss today. Usually I'm not a big fan of these personal evaluation thingies, though I do understand how valuable they are if one wants to advance in one's career. We had a nice chat about this and that and she promised to let out personnel manager know about my desires to acquire a position where I could take the most advantage of my education.

Funny how now that the actual time has come to make the changes in my life I've been wanting to do for quite a while now I'm more scared than excited. Not scared as in hiding under the bed and refusing to come out, or being unable to make the necessary decisions, but scared nevertheless. It'd be so much easier to just to live life just like before and not worry about anything new and unfamiliar. But that would just lead to the realization of one of my greatest fears - that I'd wake up 40 years from now and discovered that I'd have spent my life doing something I wasn't happy about. I'll never find out what I have potential for unless I try things out. And in the face of that thought I'm scared shitless, pardon the language. What if things won't work out? I'll never get a decent job, or decent pay, my fish will die of malnutrition and the dog I'm planning on getting will become the bully of the neighbourhood? What if I never succeed, measured on any scale of success? Can't I just rewind life and go back to being 5 and carefree for a day or two?

Although if I want to get started on the finding out / successing business I really should finish the three very short and easy essays I've been avoiding like the plague itself since early December. The deadline's on Friday. Go me!

Today's soundtrack:
Depeche Mode: Stripped
Erykah Badu: Otherside of the Game
Hedningarna: Tuuli
Kula Shaker: Govinda

Tagged again

2006-01-14T22:34:00.000+02:00

All right, at morgalou's request it's now my turn to continue the noble tradition and reveal 5 random things about myself. Like I hadn't done so in every post since I began blogging ;)

1) I can't concentrate on one thing at the time. If I start reading one book, I have to have another one nearby in case I loose interest in the first one. I surf on the internet and watch telly at the same time. Cleaning a 24 square meter apartment takes me the whole day because I get these brilliant ideas of doing something completely different every 30 minutes.

2) I'm turning out to be surprisingly picky when it comes to dogs (which I will get when I have any regularity in my life and incomes, which I don't expect to happen until after a couple of years).
- Absolutely no retrievers, I can't stand the constant worshipping
- No miniature dogs, or giant ones
- No couch potatoes, nor do I seek a 100% working dog which will destroy the world if it doesn't have something meaningful to do all the time
- No dogs which aren't in control of their instincts
- I want an intelligent dog which, while easily trained, can use its own brain (I'm well aware that they can use their brain to destroy the world if they don't have the sufficient mental stimulation). I also want a dog loyal to their owner and prone to guarding.
I'm slowly narrowing down with all the choices, and currently Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Dogue de Bordeaux, Dogo Argentino, and the ordinary Doberman are the ones holding my interest. Who knows, I might end up with a Chihuahua...

3) I'm prone to impulse shopping. I don't shop much, but when I do I usually end up dragging home more or completely different stuff than I originally meant to get. Like the other day I went out to buy myself some sturdy, sensible winter boots. However, when I got home I found myself to be an owner of a pair of calf-length, high-heeled, black suede boots which when worn with jeans makes my legs look about 10 meters longer. As people around me might have noticed, I also buy more CDs than strictly necessary.

4) I have some weird habits, though I'd like to see who doesn't. Like, I can't leave home without checking that the stove is not on (even if I hadn't used it all day) and that the coffee maker and the toaster are unplugged. Also, when I leave the apartment for longer periods of time, I unplug everything except the fridge and the filter in the fish tank which I would unplug too if I could get away with it. I fear they might set my home in fire if they are left unsupervised. Embarrassing, I know.

5) I still sometimes dream of flying to space. Ever since I saw the Sandmännchen flying away in his little rocket when I was a wee little toddler (I was such a fan of him!) I've wanted to go up there too. My mother has more than once wondered where I got my genes, she prefers holding her feet firmly on the ground.

So there. Five totally random things which were surprisingly difficult to come up with. Elina and Miti, you're next!

Fish Are Low-Maintenance Pets

2006-01-12T16:19:00.000+02:00

Today I redecorated the fish tank by replacing the gravel with sand, putting in some new plants and generally sprucing it up a bit. The sand makes it look more natural, it's easier to keep clean and the bristlenose pleco (I hope that's the correct English name for the poor fish) should be happier - she swims with her sensitive nose pressed tot he ground, after all.

The experts make this sound very easy. First you take out the fish, then the plants and the machinery, remove the gravel and put in the sand. Put the plants and other decoration back, and release the residents to their new home. How hard can that be?

Yeah. Unfortunately I have managed to buy the sneakiest bastards ever to be my pets. The fish and the shrimps swam for their dear life to escape my catching attempts, hiding themselves under the most creative things the best they could. The pleco, to make things even more difficult, glued herself to every available surface, and when a pleco doesn't want to let go, it'll take a sizable crowbar to prize it loose. To my sorrow I only found three of the five shrimps I was supposed to have in the tank, so two must have perished at some point without me noticing a thing.

Then there was the matter of the sand. I spent yesterday washing the excess dust from it, all the while spreading it evenly across the bathroom and, as it appears, across the rest of the apartment too. There's sand everywhere. Plus, I think the nice guy in the aquarium shop made a mistake when calculating how much sand do I need, because there's probably too much of it in the tank now and there still is almost a third of it left. What do I do with a pile of extra sand? Build a castle? I haven't even figured out what to do with the gravel.

The result of it all was me, wet and covered in sand, some very upset fish and a better-looking fish tank. Although the water hasn't cleared out yet and it's been hours.

Damn. The pleco is still sulking in her corner, while the other animals are by now quite happily swimming around. I may have to give her a pea tonight to soothe her bad mood.

Sloooww...

2006-01-10T17:18:00.000+02:00

Argh. I have most certainly not been my usual witty (ha!) self today. Writing simple messages have taken me more than fifteen minutes and I have been wrestling with this entry for about an hour, although to my defense I have to say that I've saved it as a draft a couple times before continuing to suffer the angst of creation. Some sort of late attempt at hibernation, perhaps?

Anyway, I had an actual point to this entry: yesterday I did it. You may call me whatever you like, but I went and bought the poles and started the much ridiculed sport of Nordic Walking. In your face, you nasty painful lumps in my shoulders! I took a test ride yesterday, and I swear that during the 45 minutes I spent trying to stay upright on the glaciers which are currently serving as pavements I worked up more sweat than I'd have done had I gone for a 90-minute normal walk. Maybe that goes in some way towards explaining today's sluggishness.

Had a meeting with A today about the bachelor's thesis and it seems we've officially started doing the bleeding thing. I went as far as to mark the June 16th in my calendar as my graduation date (I'd appreciate some collective wood-knocking here, thank you). Do you think celebrating both graduation and my birthday would only jinx the whole event? Or should I have two separate parties just to be sure? And yes, we've still to write the first sentence of the thesis and I have 2 more exams to go - here I still am pondering the important questions...

A also informed me that on March 9th the Helsinki Filharmonics will perform both the Symphony N:o 3 by Aulis Sallinen and Mein Herz brennt by Torsten Rasch, which is, basically, Rammstein songs and lyrics converted into modern classical music. Me and A are quite probably going there, anyone else interested are of course warmly welcomed to join us. Bizarre will be the word of the day then, I presume. It'll be my first classical concert (I guess the few Finnish schlager stars I've seen won't count).

I may also have promised to join a Bollywood dance course. I'm not sure. We'll see, we'll see.

One should never leave home if the brain is not working properly.

Anyway. Should I go rent a movie? If so, which one? Popcorn or candy, or perhaps both? I'll keep you posted as events occur.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the Noodles of Doom incident, all's well which ends well. The rug was in need of a good scrubbing anyway.

Soundtrack for today:
Janus: Ein Hund, der sich hinlegt, wo er will
Murderdolls: Graverobbing USA
Rammstein: Hilf mir

Yah...

2006-01-05T15:48:00.000+02:00

Ever wondered how it feels like to drop a plate full of shrimp/vegetable/coconut milk & noodle wok on the floor?

Not worth the trouble.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

2006-01-03T18:03:00.000+02:00

I guess it's time to take a look at the last year and list some of the good and some of the bad things about it.

Overall it's been an OK year. Nothing radical happened, not in a good nor in a bad way.

Financially, being a student is a Bad Idea, even though I worked more or less steadily throughout the year I got my fair share of cent-stretching. There's only one course left, however, and the bachelor's thesis, and then I'm done with it (on today's paper was a small story about people wanting to change the translation for ammattikorkeakoulu from "polytechnic" to the "university of applied sciences" - the ministry of education wanting to stick to the old name, how surprising).

My grandma is slowly getting worse, and may not be able to live home for long now. Christmas went surprisingly well and she was more alert than in the previous Christmas, but a couple of days back she started talking to my mother as if she was her sister. Sad.

Then there were the definite highlights.

- Seeing that my friends, some after some rough stuff, are all doing pretty well in their lives.

- The Sziget festival, and the entire trip there and back again. One must be mad to voluntarily sit in a bus through 5 countries. Damn good festival, amazingly well organized, and of course the city of Budapest is worth seeing in its own right.

- The Berlin experience. Thank whoever invented tax refunds (and student loans) so that I could make it there. Last year I traveled more than in couple of the previous years put together, I usually end up doing the obligatory cruise to Tallinn and that's more or less it.

- Finding the best damn sites the internet has to offer. Being asked to moderate the General Forum on Herzeleid.com, which for all its insanity and chaos is a very entertaining place to hang in (though I must admit I'm kinda waiting for the Rosenrot-born hype to wane, the flood of new users registering there is starting to be a bit overwhelming - which reminds me that be the new live DVD will be released shortly. Oh, dear). To balance things out, I go to the Verboten! Forum on the Rammimages.com to enjoy the virtual company of intelligent and witty people posting there. there are several meetings scheduled this year, one of which is held in Finland. I hope I'll be able to make it to the Berlin meeting as well.

In any case I expect this year to be much more dramatic, for want of a better word, than the previous one. I'm graduating, and hoping to get a new job. Finding a bigger apartment wouldn't hurt, either.

And before I go, here's 2 pictures of Himpula, my sister's and her fiancé's cat, who took over their apartment on New Year's Eve. She's a bit clumsy, but otherwise an absolutely adorable creature.

Today's soundtrack has included:
Eläkeläiset: Humppaan itsekseni, Sortohumppa
Janus: Anita spielt Cello (The entire Janus album makes me want to crawl under the duvet, curl up on fetal position and never come out again - Anita spielt Cello, for example, is about a woman who survives the concentration camp only because she can play the instrument; and don't even get me started on the song Kinderkreuzzug. So depressing but also so captivating that I can't help but listen)
Megaherz: I.M. Rumpelstiltzchen, Heute schon gelebt?

What I Did On My Holidays?

2005-12-31T12:25:00.000+02:00

A.k.a Four-Day City Marathon.

The Berlin trip is over, I'm back to home sweet home with overflowing laundry basket and a distinct look of being lived in by a tenant who's not been arsed to take the vacuum cleaner out for a while.

Plus it's raining outside. Raining, I tell you! Water, not snow!

I want my climate-controlled, clean and tidy hotel room back, thank you very much.

After all the waiting and biting of fingernails, when I finally got to the airport on Monday I had to control myself not to join a young gentleman, who had not yet celebrated his second birthday, in his Sunday best, expressing his joy of seeing aeroplanes by running in a wide circle and making impressive "prrrrt!" sounds.

It snowed when I got to Berlin. In fact, it snowed all through the week, except on Friday (when I had to leave the city) the sun came out and the weather was just perfect. Nevertheless, as I decided to live life to the maximum and took a taxi from the airport to the hotel, my first impression of the city was a pretty one - snow falling gently, lights on windows, and the taxi driver's choice of classical tunes made for an impressive experience.

Berlin is an awesome city. No matter where I went, there was something worth seeing. On Tuesday I took a look at the west side of the city, walked down the Kurfürstendamm shopping street and took a look at the KaDeWe department store, which has the most impressive food court I've ever seen. I also took advantage of the relatively tourist-free time to walk the Unter den Linden down to the Brandenburger Tor, turned around and couldn't stop grinning as I saw the Fernsehturm looming over the buildings.

Wednesday had me wailing and gnashing my teeth at the Saturn music store at the Alexanderplatz. I mean, every single CD I've been lusting after was there. I looked left, there were neat piles of pretty albums, just waiting for me, I let my gaze fall naturally to the right, and there were more! I must have spent an hour there, clutching a pile of CDs in my clammy hands, running from aisle to aisle, trying to decide what to buy and what to leave behind. In the end I opted for In Extremo's Sünder ohne Sügel, Megaherz's Herzwerk II, Corvus Corax's Cantus Buranus (arrangemets can be made for those unpatient to wait for the Amazon.de order) and Janus' Nachtmahr - which has to be the most beautiful CD case ever made.

At least I got to hold the rest of them for a while. Still, I'm surprised the staff didn't throw me out for fondling the albums in public.

I had planned on taking the lift up to the Fernsehturm's top, but took one look at the queue and decided to admire the symbol of DDR's might and power from the outside only. I went for a walk in the Nikolaiviertel, and ate at Zum Nussbaums which offers food as German as it can get. It was delicious, but had at least one kilo of butter in it. I almost left permanent dents to the ground as I left, and after several hours of non-stop walking still wasn't hungry. If you ever happen to find yourself there, try it out. Excellent food and excellent beer.

It is very reassuring to find out that after 2 years of learning a language I can now confidently walk in a restaurant and order myself a meal. After 2 more years, who knows, maybe I'll have advanced so much that I can order a dessert as well. But really, I spoke German to people, and instead of being laughed at, got understood. Amazing.

And because of a band I like I had to look for a certain U-Bahn station (where parts of Mein Teil video were shot), and a building in Schlossplatz (where the video for Ich Will was shot). And while in Schlossplatz, looking at what remains of the Palast der Republic, where DDR's rulers sat in their time, I had a good thought about history and where it has lead us.

But back to the modern times. I did sample the famous kebabs, as I promised. A good kebab, yes, as kebabs go, but I still think that the kebabrulle special med ost you get in Skåne is the best. Must be the added factor of spending ten days camping on what must be the soggiest field in Sweden which makes anything a) made by someone else b) you can eat indoors and sitting on a proper chair taste divine.

I also sampled the famous beers. Goodness gracious me. The selection in the small corner shop near the hotel had me biting my lower lip, and had I had room in my bag I'd have brought some over.

Thursday Berlin was hit by a good, old-fashioned blizzard. I tried to brave it, but after a couple of hours (and after my legs simply refused to take another step unless it was towards the hotel) I gave up, went to my hotel room and spent the evening looking at movies dubbed in German.

I went to the Deutsches Historisches Museum to look at some medieval goodies, but to my embarrassment got lost in the building and ended up walking in a circle between 2 exhibitions and the museum shop. In frustration, once I had located the front door, I escaped. The Gemäldegalerie, on the other hand, made up for the disaster. It has an endless supply of art beginning from the 12th Century, and I spent an informative couple of hours there, nose pressed to the paintings, trying to figure out the secrets of seams, headdresses and fastenings of the past centuries. Too late I found out that taking pictures was allowed - I had left my camera with my coat.

On Friday the city exploded with people coming to celebrate the New Years. Two thirds of the Italian population had moved in for the single purpose of blocking every single way. Traveling alone, I must have gave the impression that I was somehow a part of the native population as I was stopped at least four times and asked for directions. I took a walk around the Museuminsel and too soon it was time to head to the Tegel airport (if you take a really good look at the picture, you may see the bloke at the end of the corridor thingy, playing Mozart on a keyboard. Lovely, I must say).

On the flight to Berlin we had this big, shiny job of an aeroplane, with small videoscreens popping down from the ceiling, giving us real-time info on our altitude, ground speed, local time in Helsinki and in Berlin and so fort and so forth, complete with air hostesses dashing back and forth the aisle radiating concern over the passenger's sufficient coffee intake and pampering us in all ways possible. Also, you could donate all your extra coins to Unicef and thus help educate young girls in Nepal, a campaign Finnair has till March, if I'm not mistaken.

On the flight back, however, we were crammed into a small can of sardines which I thought was a blast from the past until the captain proudly proclaimed it to be one of the brand new planes Finnair has just bought. Really! Had there been any video screens there, they'd have smacked us over the head. But before the air hostesses begin their dashing and pampering, when the plane, small or big, takes off from the Tegel airport and the cabin lights are lighted, it faces the wrong way and has to make a slow curve over Berlin in order to get on the right course. If one is lucky enough to be seated on the right side of the plane, and has chekced herself in early enough to get to choose a window seat, when the plane dips to turn, one is treated with a sight which can only be described as fuckin' A.

All my money is gone, I'm still tired and my brain is only half-way home, but goddamn, it was so worth it. I don't think I'll complain too loudly if I happen to find myself there again.

Oh, and it's the last day of the year. Have a happy next one!

Berlin piccies.

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T22:27:00.000+02:00

Here I am, full of food and good holiday spirit.

Originally I was supposed to spend the night at my parent's, but my sister and her fiancé generously offered to drive me home and I decided I sleep much better in my own bed than on a narrow spare mattress.

Food has been eaten, in copious amounts, fun has been had and all the proper christmas traditions carried out. The grandparents are visiting us, and my uncle and his family came also over for the dinner which all amounted to a good, old-fashioned christmas. J, sister's husband-to-be, who every christmas plays Santa for his little nephews had a little surprise for us as he after the gig showed up in full Santa gear, distributed our gifts, made us sing christmas carols and all in all pulled off a very credible show.

I got
- perfume (City Glam by Emporio Armani, love it) from my sister
- socks, a Berlin city guide, a sauce ladle and ingredients for a sauce from my mother
- a lottery ticket from my dad (didn't win anything)
- a ceramic object d'art, a very beautiful small round jar in which I'm told one can store either salt or thoughts from uncle's gf who does these things for a living
- some self-made candy from St (took it to the dinner and people almost gave standing ovation, so thankies!)
- an embroidery frame, which Santa promesed to deliver in the near future from E.

So I am a very happy woman right now.

I leave you with some more pictures of Miska, the famous cat of my parents, who spent the evening either at the table waiting to be fed (see above), or under the christmas tree enjoying a refreshing drink or just looking after the presents. The cat population of our family is growing by one on the first of January when sister and J are adopting a 2-year-old female Manx, although this one comes with a full-length tail.

There's a Fast Show marathon on telly going on, I'll better stop this and give it my undivided attention.

I'm Free!

2005-12-20T15:42:00.000+02:00

School's over for this year! Woo!

Well, actually the final lessons were yesterday, I was supposed to sit an accounting exam today but couldn't go as I had a doctor's appointment which took longer than I had expected. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the mystery surrounding my left arm is beginning to dissolve.

After much electric shocks and probing with sharp objects the doctor announced that most probably the old trouble has not raised its ugly head, it's the scar tissue which has attached itself to the nerve and is pressing it and I'll just have to learn to live with it; another operation would just mean more scar tissue. He told me to give the arm a few days' absolute rest which is turning out to be a surprisingly difficult task. Also he asked me if I lean on my elbow, and I was like yeah, don't everybody? He was surprised that no one had told me before that its something I should avoid and is quite likely one of the reasons why the poor arm is behaving as it is. I just wish someone had mentioned this a few years ago...

But I'll get to hear the final results of the examination on January and until that I'll just try to support the weight of my head without the help of my left elbow.

I finally got round to do some christmas shopping today and surprised myself by not buying every single shiny object I saw. In fact, I only bought one piece of christmas tree decoration (and as I haven't got the space to get my own tree, haven't had for years, I have no idea why I keep on buying them) because it just was too pretty not to buy. Only a few odd things to get and then I'll be all set for some exessive eating and enjoying life in general.

Right now, off to bath.

Today's favourites:
Danzig: Black Angel, White Angel
Rammstein: Te Quiero Puta!

Manners maketh man

2005-12-14T22:32:00.000+02:00

Congrats to E for successful navigation through the Kafka-esque world of university and graduating!

Christmas is only a bit more than a week away, and so is my trip to Berlin. I have already started to fret and imagine all the worst case scenarios - I manage to catch a bad flu, the flights are either cancelled or that I miss the plane, that the hotel has never received my reservation (the worst fear, as the reservation was done through a booking system and not straight to the hotel - though my sister has had good experiences booking hotels through it before), and so on. Just like the "OMG we forgot to shop!" dream I see every time I'm supposed to cook large amounts of food.

Speaking of christmas, me and A sought out some extreme experiences the other day and went to a service organized by our school as part of the christmastime celebrations. For some reason I like singing hymns, I guess the heir to the Coca-Cola Company might get the same feeling singing some of the more bloodthirsty communist marches. Anyway, there we were, punishing the believers with our gift of noise and singing our hearts (and possibly some other organs as well) out, when right in the middle of it all, someone's cellphone rang. Like, what?

After a decade or so of having the damned things around, you'd think that some parts of the unwritten etiquette would have sunk into the brain of even the slowest of thinkers? Or is it that the older generations have neglected to teach some manners to the younger ones, as I think it was a teenager whose phone it was. And not so long ago, during the touching final moments of Harry Potter, a young boy not only answered his phone but talked pretty loudly to his mother.

What is going on? Do we need to start all over again with the public discussion of proper conduct of behaviour with cellphones? And this time I would like to include in this topic of discussion some people's habit of inflicting all the co-passengers in a bus to all the details of the talker's sex life or the lack thereof/diseases/retarded bosses and colleagues. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Know.

Whatever happened to common sense? Sheesh.

This year's Best SMS Award goes to H, however. I left work today, heard a bang, rounded a corner and saw a car on fire right in the middle of the road. I don't know what had happened, it was an older car and had obviously stopped at traffic lights and then for some reason KA-whoosh!! but anyway there it was, merrily on flames. Imagine a pyre. Of course I had to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience and reported it via SMS to H whose response, though it consisted only of one word, somehow captured the entire scene: Benzin.

Truer word has seldom been spoken.

To fit the mood:
Rammstein: Zerstören
Kotiteollisuus: Käärmeenpää

Complete lack of interest

2005-12-11T23:50:00.000+02:00

I should be writing a book analysis. For some reason I can't concentrate on it for one bit, and I only have 1 page to do. The deadline is of course tomorrow. This complete lack of self discipline is unwanted, though somwhat expected after a too busy couple of months - combining work and school is an unfortunate necessity which thankfully will be over soon. I'll knock on wood, my sister was on the verge of graduating when she found out that someone at the school had blundered and accidentally given her more credits than she had actually studied and therefore had to take a few extra courses and of course postpone the graduation.

Otherwise, this was a good weekend. Got home from an event to find a christmas tree in the corridor and spent a pleasant couple of hours avoiding even thinking about the book analysis (oh, the book itself is muy interesting, Richard Sennett's The Corrosion of Character. It's about how the change of work ethics and culture affects us children of the modern capitalism. Recommended reading, definitely) and watched some cheap but oh so relaxing sitcoms on telly.

With the benefit of hindsight I think I can safely say that I have been a pretty stressed creature throughout the autumn. I apologise if I have been more annoying and/or scatterbrain than usual. In good news, the second half of my summer holiday which I never got the chance of having in summer will begin on 27th. After that, I only need to worry about one German course and the bachelor's thesis and getting a new job. So yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a flamethrower! I might actually pass for an adult human being in the near future.

I do not recommend stress. It's not good for you.

The analysis doesn't seem to be writing itself no matter how hard I want it to, so back to work...

Soundtrack of the moment:
Some Robbie Williams song. The MTV is on, and his video is currently playing. Pretty decent pop song.

Happy B-day, Finland!

2005-12-06T12:18:00.000+02:00

A thousand smiles upon that anonymous blogger who gave me advise in how to get my bookmarks back after Firefox discarded them. Thank you!

Happy independence day, my fellow inhabitants of this small, weird and currently rather cold and slippery country! Don't eat too much, and here's hoping your sense of style will recover after watching the presidential party on TV. I'm glad I don't have to be working there tonight, it was an amazing experience, but once is quite enough in one's lifetime, thankyousoverymuch. Next time you see me there, I'll be an invited guest :P

Here's the evidence of snow I talked about a couple of posts back. The snow was there only for one day, but on my way from school to home I saw 2 snowmen. It's a good thing I happened to have my camera with me, otherwise I might have missed the winter completely. What happened to the winters we used to have when I was a kid? Or am I just becoming senile? I remember having vast amounts of snow, clear, crisp days and bright sunshine, not this un-weather of today.

I withdraw the question about becomig senile, as I seem to be unable to talk about anything but weather the answer is obvious. Sorry. Anyway. The Futurama-a-thon I've been waiting for just began on Subtv, I'm off to be entertained.

Today's top choices:
Massive Attack: Angel
The Scaramangas: Eight And A Half
The Scaramangas is A's other half's band and a highly recommended to be checked out.

1st December

2005-12-01T00:33:00.000+02:00

One month to go and it's officially good bye this year, welcome the new. What happened to this year? It just started, didn't it? And now it's almost gone, 12 months of our lives lived and lost. So far it's been a good year, but we shall see how it looks like after 31 days.

I haven't bought a christmas calendar, so in compensation here's a random christmas-related picture to get people in the mood. I wish we had snow, too, not this stupid wet gray horrid sludge we've been having lately - there was snow the other day, I saw it and have photographic evidence to back me up, but it's all lost to the sludge.

As far as preparations for christmas go, I haven't done anything yet. On Friday, though, I have planned to do some shopping (not any presents, though, because it's Santa who makes them, not me) and cleaning.

Soundtrack:
Pink Martini: Hang On Little Tomato; Donde estas, Yolanda and Sympathique

Aaaaargh! (And shameless praising of self, yet again)

2005-11-25T21:23:00.000+02:00

Internet just ate itself. Firefox went into seizure and destroyed all my bookmarks. All of them. Bloody hell. Thank goodness most of them are still saved in the IE browser settings but I'm still looking at a nice afternoon spent getting those links I need back to the Firefox's bookmarks section - unless of course someone knows how to turn back time and make things better again. All help is gratefully received. A decidedly annoying turn of events, nevertheless.

The thing is, that I can't use the school's virtual education program on IE, it crashes immediately I open the Edulink page. And since I'm not in favour of using one browser to do school stuff and another for just surfing (as I usually can't concentrate on the serious thinking for a long period of time without doing something brainless every 15 minutes) I want all my precious bookmarks back on one folder.

Speaking of school, and the end which is truly beginning to be nigh - I'll have finished all my courses by December, only one German course will continue to February and all that is really there to be done is the bachelor's thesis - I was a Good Student (tm) the other night and actually made a contribution.

Me and A, my associate and partner in crime in the bachelor's thesis business, had noticed how bloody difficult it is to actually graduate from our dear polytechnic. The idea is good, but much like communism ruined by the people. We are supposed to go to a thesis seminar before starting to write the damn thing to learn all the technical details about it, which is all good and proper. The problem is, that if you don't have a crystal clear idea about what you're going to write about, there's absolutely no help available.

A came up with the idea that there should be a couple of meetings arrnged before the actual seminar begins, where teachers and students would discuss different ideas and points of views and whatnot. Me, already spending far too much time on the internet, expanded on this and since people are having trouble
a) figuring out what to do
b) after this, finding the focusing point
c) getting quick and accurate feedback in all stages of the writing process
and
d) keeping up motivation,
I thought that an internet forum might come in handy. Our school consists of three different units, or four, there are 2 business schools, the hospitality management school I attend, and a sports and leisure management school up in Vierumäki. We have a mutual Extranet system which serves all the units, through which we enroll to courses, it includes the abovementioned Edulink and so forth and so forth. You get the idea. So I thought why not make the most of it and start a common forum for both teachers and students of all units to discuss the thesis and all the problems thereof.

Yesterday I got a response saying that my idea "has potential." Whoah! That's got to be the highest form of praise one can get from the administrative staff.

Though knowing our school little will come out of it. If they ever manage to put up a forum, it'll surely be the most user-unfriendly version they can find. Oh well, at least I've tried.

And the bachelor's thesis me and A are starting to work on, what about it, I hear you cry. It'll deal with the contradiction between restaurants claiming how customer service and complete customer satisfaction are their most important business values and nevertheless outsourcing said customer service, their core function. We haven't quite decided yet whether we'll study this through the strategic or process management (focusing on the traditional good business sense of outsourcing the unnecessary functions vs. outsourcing the core functions), or through accounting (finding options to the most obvious methods of cutting back expensess).

In any case I fear it'll turn out to be a manifesto.

(Sorry about the self promotion :P)

STURM & DRANG

2005-11-19T14:19:00.000+02:00

Okay, close your eyes.

No, read the instructions first, then close your eyes, though you'll have to remember to open them again some time later.

Imagine an arse. Got it? Good. A big arse. An arse so big that it makes Obi-Wan Kenobi go "OMG that's not a moon, that's an arse!" and promptly turn into Dark Side.

Now imagine said body part being kicked.

Congratulations, you have just experienced a KMFDM gig.

So yeah, that's where I was yesterday, at the Tavastia club, right in the front line staring in awe at the very person who has helped to create the music genre I happen to enjoy immensely. I also, by coincidence, managed to score a place right in front of Jules Hodgson, who is one of those annoyingly good-looking and cool guitarists, and got offered a year's worth of eye candy in one go. I got *this* close to shaking hands with Sascha Konietzko, the founder and the vocalist of KMFDM but got shoved aside by a squealing fanboy. There should be restrictions in admitting fanboys in public venues in my opinion. Fangirls, on the other hand, are a completely different matter, otherwise I'd never get anywhere.

Some shaky and blurred pictures can be found here, my camera is unfortunately a crappy one and I'm no master photographer anyway.

In case you're wondering what I'm doing posting here on this early on a Saturday is due tot he fact that this is, in fact, the first free weekend I've had since August. I've worked on every single Saturday throughout the autumn. What do people do when they have 2 whole days off? Seriously, I've forgotten how it feels like to sleep late and not worry about getting all the housework done right now because Monday is just one night away. I could learn to like this.

I think I'll just hang around in my brand new KMFDM (I'll stop soon, I promise) shirt and every 5 minutes check out the antics of the baby fish, which admittetly consist mainly of swimming around in jerky fashion and finding things to eat.

Soundtrack:
The coffee maker. I went to bed early. At 4.50 a.m., to be precise.

This is it.

2005-11-16T23:32:00.000+02:00

This marks the first official winter day.

No snow yet, but boy was the air crisp today! Add bright sunshine, degrees below zero, or at least very close to zero, and a gorgeous full moon both before and after the sun was up. And judging by the weather forecast the status quo will last at least a few more days.

Lovely, just lovely. The less gray days and constant rain, the happier I am.

And then some happy family news. My fish have gone and reproduced behind my back. There is this teeny tiny transparent, vaguely fish-shaped little thing swimming in the tank, and apparently has already been a few days - it doesn't have the nutrition bag-thingy anymore young fish usually have. I hope it's now too big for the adults to view it as a light evening snack and that it'll find enough food for itself as I am a completely unprepared surrogate mother. Good luck for the little feller! It seems to be the sole survivor of a batch of eggs, the rest being probably eaten before anything came out of them. Hopefully it makes it to adulthood.

Soundtrack: Conan O'Brien interviewing the skinniest blonde woman ever. How she doesn't just break in two is beyond me.

Father's Day

2005-11-13T23:02:00.000+02:00

W00t for my daddy!

I went to my parents today for a father's day lunch and while we were there we, that is to say me, my little sister and our mother went through some old photographs in desperate need of organizing.

The one on the right is one of them. Me and my little sister, trendsetters since the late Seventies. That gigantic furry hat I doubt I could pull off nowadays with that amount of confidence and flair was brought from Moscow where my dad lived for a while back then. S, my sister, has since learned to wear pants.

A very enjoyable afternoon, all in all, we ate well, reminisced over said photos, pampered the household cat and had some quality family time.

Yesterday, however, was spent in whole different manner. Me, St and E had our weekly Fab 3 gathering during which, since it was Saturday and all, we consumed a fair amount of alcohol and ended up having this extremely interesting conversation about young men, women and the relationship market issues concerning them.

Item I: Where are the young men?

Really, where are they? Statistically, more boys are being born than girl. Also, statistically, this difference is evened out by the fact that more boys die before their twenties than girls. Conclusion: There should be almost as many young men as there are young women.

But, and this is a pretty major but, after the elementary school where boys avoid girls because of cooties and girls think that boys are all rather icky, the boys disappear. In high school there are more girls than boys. In universities, generally speaking, there are more women than men. What on Earth is going on?

The statistics also show that in cities majority of the young population are of the female persuasion, as opposed to the countryside and smaller towns where the situation in quite the opposite.

So, speaking as a single young (no need to comment, thank you) woman, should I start to worry? I mean, I have no urgent need to find Mr Right, I'm quite happy with my freedom at the moment, thank you very much, but should the need to commit myself into a meaningful relationship rise it's head, where on Earth do I find any eligible bachelors?

a) I like living in Helsinki. Yes, I would survive in a smaller town, but I like the little comforts the relatively big city offers I'm used to.

b) I don't exceptionally fancy sports (or sport bars) where some empiric research has found young males of the species. There are exhibits of said specimens in rock bars and gigs but, um, yeah. Ahem. In search of a politically correct term for a lifestyle loser, that is, in fact, what most of them are. That is, of course, an extreme generalisation, but that's the first impression they give of themselves and that leads us conveniently to the

Item II: Should you finally locate a suitable young male in a bar (because that is the only place they exist), they are invariably dead drunk.

Like, what? The supply and demand are clearly not in balance here.

Experience and urban legends tell us that bar tenders are the ones who get it on more often than the average fellers. Listen to me, young men, that is because they are sober. The theory oes that should a young man show up in a bar and not drink at all, he'll radiate desperation and therefore attract no women. Like, what?

I refer you to the Mastercard ad and the Rakastaa/Ei rakasta (to love or not to love) video by Kotiteollisuus about the correct amount of alcohol consumation.

Still, despite all this, people do find each other and end up happily committed. Power to them, but I'm nevertheless confused about how it all happens.

For the next gathering I think I'll have to purchase a sixpack of beer to get to the bottom of all this.

Soundtrack:

Weissglut: Weiss glüht die Sonne, Etwas kommt in deine Welt
Depeche Mode: Walking In My Shoes

Tired But Happy

2005-11-07T23:00:00.000+02:00

The Feast of St Homobonus is now finally over. Amazing how much hard work it takes to feed and accomodate a few dozen people. Well, not exactly amazing, as we've done it before and I actually work in the business. The really awe-inspiring thing about organizing events is the amount of free time and volunteer work people are willing to sacrifice in order to make sure that everyone are enjoying themselves.

So once more, thank you to all those who helped in any way.

Yes. I really am that good in photoshopping and also never repeat myself.

Anyway, after 14 hours in the kitchen I might have been a tad hysterical, tired and not necessarily entirely the usual euphoric sunshine people know me as, an expression I learned today while surfing the forums, but nevertheless happy and somewhat blissful.

One must truly be insane to actually enjoy cooking whole feasts in tiny kitchens but hey, I've never claimed that I'd be normal.

Sadly my left arm is consequently now on strike and has been numb since Saturday. So no heavy lifting or repetitive motions for the next couple of days and I'll have to limit cooking in events to the minimum in the future if a solution is not found. I'll have an appointment with a surgeon in a couple of weeks so hopefully things will solve themselves.

It's not nice when your body gangs up on you.

On a lighter note, Helsinki dwellers, have you been to the Corner Bar recently? You know, the stickiest, one of the oldest heavy metal bars in town? It's gone through a complete makeover. It's a heavy metal lounge these days. The ancient posters are gone, there furniture is very fashionable and they have a separate corner for the heavy metal karaoke so that the ladie's loo is no longer blocked every Sunday. It was such a culture shock to go there, for a moment I thought I had walked in a wrong bar. If they have removed the "those who smoke in the non-smoking area are dickless wankers" signs I'll shed some tears, I swear. Thank goodness the clientele's still the same bunch of no-nonsense metalheads and the service just as unfriendly as before so the atmosphere has not changed that much.

The truth be told, Corner really needed that makeover. What with the invasion of rock/heavy metal bars to every nook and corner of this town they must have been struggling to yield any kind of profit lately. I hope they'll pull through, I like having a good bar with excellent music and cheap beer within a crawling distance from home. That bar has history and it would be shame to see it gone. Fun has been had in there many memorable times.

On a second, even more lighter note, my trip to Berlin is now made more complete as I have booked myself in a four-star hotel for a ridiculously low price. The confirmation letter mentioned a double or a twin room so I doubt that despite the price I'll be sleeping in a broom closet. I went to the library to check out what they had to offer in the department of travel guides but either Germany in general is too boring or overly exciting travel destination because all they had there was Olavi Paavolainen's Kolmannen valtakunnan vieraana. Which no doubt is an interesting description of one man's visit to Germany and how he got to know its citizens, and a valuable source of information - the only downside being that it was written in the early thirties. Things are nowadays somewhat different, I'd say. And I'm glad that they are.

I need to find out places to shop, eat and see. I'm sorry, morgalou, but I am planning on packing both the camera and a bow tie ;)

Today's soundtrack:
Godsplague: Diesel Burning, Lake Of Fire
Rammstein: Ein Lied, Wo bist du?

Another Late Night Post

2005-11-02T18:49:00.000+02:00

Ooh, this is just too cruel. How can something like this be put on the Internet? Does the police know? Sick and twisted, I say. Pure exploitation.

In other words, live webcam footage, starring a Border Collie mother and her litter of 8 tiny puppies.

Click it and be hooked. A warning, though, if you happen to be suffering from the lack of anything dog-shaped in your immediate vicinity, this site is probably not good for you.

I may not be looking at things with a certain canine-ness about them, but nevertheless there is a familiar square shape on my table - the nice postal worker finally brought me the copy of Rosenrot I've been waiting for. Gotta hand it to the German fellows, they never cease to surprise me. Even if in interviews they have stated that Rosenrot is their romance album, and while there isn't anything wrong with romantic music as such, it's just not my cup of tea, this is the one album I could eat candlelight suppers with.

Soft, but with a definite edge if you catch my drift. Provided, of course, that you don't actually listen to the lyrics.

And a good cure to the almost blinding headache I've had all day. It was such a nice surprise to wake up with my back and head aching, and despite the copious amounts of Rammstein and painkillers I've consumed in several meanings of the word, it's still gracing me with its presence. I think I'll move on to stronger medicine, grab a muscle relaxant and head off to bed.

Today's random quotes for entertainment and education (the lesson being, that it's not easy being a rock star) come from the live chat with Flake, Rammstein's keyboardist:

[20:53] Nuffe90: Dear Flake: Why arent't you in the rubber boat anymore? Don't you trust us fans?
[20:53] <> I injured myself too often.
[20:54] <> People during open air gigs tore off my clothes.
[20:54] <> Then I had no costume any more.
[20:54] <> I wrapped a towel around my waist.
[20:55] <> Who wants to play in an industrial band with a towel around their waist?
[20:55] We're not in the sauna.

And:

TdK: what is that brown stuff that u have all over you on concerts.
[20:58] <> That'S a secret that will be revealed now!
[20:58] <> We smear instant coffee all over ourselves.
[20:58] <> No makeup holds as long.
[20:59] <> And no makeup smells as good.
[20:59] <> In the beginning, we used normal coffee.
[20:59] <> But I went crazy on stage because I had a caffeine shock.
[20:59] <> That'S the reason why I shake so often on stage.
[21:00] <> Later we used caffeine-free coffee.
[21:00] <> Since then, our music has gone soft.
[21:00] <> As you can hear now.+++

Too perfect...

2005-10-26T23:53:00.000+03:00

Finally I have something worth blogging about. This day has just been one wonderful experience.

First of all, as you probably already read in the morning, I decided to take advantage of the school rules and stay home just because I could. OK, there was a storm out there, people lost electricity and there was car accidents and all so I really had a reason. Right? Anyway, because of this I got a few pages more to a report I'm supposed to turn in on Monday, it only misses about 5 or 6 pages worth of text.

Then Amazon.de informed me that the limited edition of Rosenrot I've preordered is now shipped and on its way to mama's tender care. It won't be traveling alone, though, there's a Weissglut CD in the package as well.

And now we get to the best part. I got invited to a live chat with Paul Landers. Yes, you read that right, THE Paul Landers, Rammstein's other guitarist. There was an announcement on the official site about this chat being organized, and that people could participate by submitting questions and voting for the best of them. The 100 most voted got an invite to the chat, and I was one of them.

I mean, me. Plain old me.

Anyway, after some technical difficulties which eventually turned out to be just me being computer impaired, I finally got my question asked, and answered. So here it is, the epic conversation which will no doubt go down to the pages of history:

[20:44] MsBehaviour: Greetings from Finland and good evening! My question is, you have been playing together as a band for quite a many years now, and there is a big difference in the sound of Herzeleid and the sound of Reise Reise. Does this "evolution" come naturally to you, or do you make conscious decisions as to where to direct your sound? How do you feel about the change?
[20:44]Paul: There are some of us who want to stay the same.
[20:44]Paul: There's some of us who want to always change.
[20:45]Paul: These parties fight each other and the result is a new album or a black eye.+++

I submitted some other questions as well, but the time ran out before they could have been answered.

Next Wednesday the chat is with Dr. Christian "Flake" Lorenz, the world's most weird keyboardist. There'll probably be the same most popular questions - competition, so if you want to hang around with the stars, think of a good question and go for it.

The transcript of the chat is here.

That Landers fellow seems to be the witty and intelligent person he's told by people who've met him to be. Though not always the one to ask anything if you want the answers to be truthful. ;)

And not 15 minutes ago, H, who nowadays works for a catering company, brought me a cartload of Russian delicacies. I'm in vorschmack heaven.

The rain has turned into snow. It's beautiful outside. Cold and wet, yes, but seen from behind a window, really beautiful.

Oh, boy, tomorrow's better be just as good.

Horrible weather

2005-10-26T07:58:00.000+03:00

Like hell I'm going outside today. It's raining cats and dogs and little grannies. I should be braving the elements, yes, I should go to school and listen to a nerdish young mand drone on and on about marketing research and fight falling asleep, but since we're allowed one day of absence during this course, I'm so going to take advantage of it.

Besides, the wind is so hard that I'd end up on the sky with my umbrella like Mary Poppins and probably end up mangled by a passing helicopter. Never fool around with safety guidelines, that's my motto. Indoors it is. I never thought I'd be happy not owning a dog, but this is the one moment.

On that note, this town is run over by puppies. There are little baby dogs everywhere I look, making me go "awww" and embarrassing myself in public.

Gah. I want a dog. I just have to get a new apartment and a new life to be able to take care of one.

Anyway, since I'm already up this early I might do something useful, especially seeing as I got a writer's block as soon as I logged on to the blogspot. There's, like, a ton of schoolwork to be done and other stuff as well.

Currently playing: Radio Yle X morning show. Top 4 of "The good aspects of having your luggage stolen from your car on your trip to Tallin."

Vamos, mi amor!

2005-10-20T22:49:00.000+03:00

Rosenrot samples.

An Itchy Nose Must Be Scratched

2005-10-19T11:32:00.000+03:00

What are you saying? You haven't seen Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning yet? Well, what are you waiting for, go and download it!

It's a really, really good Star Trek/Babylon 5 parody, made by a couple of Finnish dudes in their living room over the course of 7 years. If there ever was a time for patriotic feelings, it's now.

Sometimes having too much free time on your hands produce bad home videos of young men jumping from rooftops, sometimes feature-length films of young men conquering a galaxy. And producing headline-worthy quotes as they go along.

But onwards to the important stuff. I think I may have had a heart attack today. I went to the hair dresser (funny how every time I come home from Asta's tender care I swear my hair has never been this short. Now I mean it. It's shorter than ever before) and for one horrible moment, after she had blow dried my hair and before she got her hands on a jar of gel I swear I looked exactly like princess Diana on her wedding photo. Except that I'm not a stylish, tall blonde. But all's well that ends well as they say, I'm back to being a redhead and the conservative enough for customer service but easily made suitable for heavy metal gigs-look is still there.

She has a way with hair, I must say. She puts her fingers on people's heads and feels the shape of their minds or something, but I've never (despite that 5-second Di moment) walked out of there wanting to wear a paper bag on my head.

Speaking of minds, remember many a post back I complained how studying yield management was boring? How, according to the book, managers in charge of the company's pricing decisions had to work in a chaos vacuum, hopefully wearing protective clothing, or something just as sensible? Anyways, I have just discovered that something of that course actually stuck to my head.

The basic idea of yield management is that the product sold cannot be stored. If a hotel room is empty for a night or a plane seat remains unreserved, it cannot be sold the next day. It still shows on the company's balance sheet, however; despite the product being unused it nevertheless has created costs - the hotel room must be heated, it needs electricity and so forth. The empty plane seat means no compensation for the gasoline (I so want to use the word Benzin here) used.

Ergo, the product must be sold. This is where it gets complicated. The mangers need to have exact and reliable statistics of low and high seasons, customer base, competition and so forth. Also, they need one helluva good event calendar.

Come the high season, there's no point in offering cut prices, you charge the customers rack prices or higher. Come low season, drop the prices and throw in some interesting extra offer to lure the unwary into your hotel/plane. What I found interesting was how you can control the customers with pricing. You see, the high and low seasons can happen during one week. If you've seen any "Book three nights - get 15% off. Valid only Mon-Thu" offers, you've seen yield management in practice. If the hotel is full booked only 2 or 3 nights a week, that's how they can try to even out the highest peaks to the slower nights - and not risk losing customers as they seek out other options. The airline companies are even more insane with their pricing decisions, the prices can change many times during one day.

So, basically, even if it seems that the evil big corporations use us as they please, with some forward planning and few thoughts put into it, you can get some pretty goddamn good deals out there.

And now that I've got you all numb and bored, here's what got me into thinking all this: Ratestogo hotel booking service I bumped into while looking for what Berlin has to offer in the hotel department. Hotel manager sees that there'll be an x amount of unoccupied rooms and that it looks like they won't fetch the full price, and updates this info to the hotel service site (I don't know how they do it, I'm making this up as I go along just for the suspense and to appear clever) and a tourist seeking accommodation sees the offer, and lo! An understanding is reached and everybody are happy.

Soundtrack while blogging:
Laibach: Tanz mit Laibach
ItÃÂ¤-Saksa: Guten Tag
Peer GÃÂ¼nt: Southbound Drivin' Man

Crazy Days

2005-10-13T23:19:00.000+03:00

Oh what a busy little human being I have been. Somehow there doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day to do everything I'm supposed to do. There's more than enough school assignments up to and including a couple of reports and the upcoming exams the next week - I'm still missing 2 books which seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth completely as per usual when they are really needed.

I have also had to cut back on working hours (to make more time for school and also because I exceeded the income limits last spring and really do not want to have to pay back my student allowances) and even with the student loan I took it'll be a financially interesting month and a half I'm looking at.

I'm dangerously losing energy and motivation to do basically anything, simply because there is no time to do anything properly and whatever I'm doing I'm constantly feeling guilty for not doing all the other things I should be doing.

On a lighter note, in case you haven't noticed the invasion of yellow plastic bags, Stockmann's semi-annual sale is on again. Yes, the four famous days of extreme shopping are here again. I spent an interesting four hours there this morning, trying to avoid all the temptations and focusing on the things I had planned to buy.

I'm now a proud owner of

- A printer. No more going to work/school/parent's house whenever I need to print out stuff, which seems to be surprisingly often, for some reason my teachers are not big on returning assignments via email.

- 6 tiny fish, harlequin raspboras I think they are called:

They are really active little creatures and have spent the day making mad dashes around the fish tank getting to know their new surroundings. 2 or 3 more and there'll be a suitable amount of them - they like the company and I like the view.

- The latest Terry Pratchett novel, Thud! Guilty feelings or not, I'm so going to immerse myself into that book for a couple of nights.

- Last but not least, a return ticket to Berlin. I had originally planned on getting a ticket to London to attend the already fabulous-sounding Rammimages party but as they offered tickets to basically anyplace else than London I decided to visit Berlin instead. If anyone has any good advice about accommodation, please tell me.

I did not buy candy, or ridiculous amounts of cheese, or, in fact, anything unnecessary (if you don't take the plane ticket into account, but it'll be good for my mental health) so go me! There is hope, after all.

If I told you that today I've been listening to Rammstein's Benzin and Apocalyptica's remix of same, would you be surprised? No? Thought so.

The Cosmic Balance

2005-10-06T18:44:00.000+03:00

is in equilibrium again.

Monday was an exceptionally good day, so today I have

Not waken up early enough, so I had time only to check out that the clothes I was wearing were not inside out;
Because of point N:o 1, I had to sit through the first lesson at school without one drop of coffee in me. I was strong. I made it;
Stepped on a pile of dog shit and consequently fell down on my knees - thankfully missing the shit and only getting my shoes dirty and injuring my pride and bruising my right knee. I love dogs but there has to be a special hell designed for irresponsible dog owners;
Survived the hordes of mad shoppers driven to near insanity by a big sale in one of the major warehouses.

I'm afraid to go outside again lest I get hit by a falling meteorite...

Now playing:

Marilyn Manson: The Beautiful People

Herring Market

2005-10-05T00:11:00.000+03:00

I'm going to shamelessly take this opportunity to enthuse about Helsinki. What a wonderful city it is.

Take yesterday, for example. A perfect autumn weather with brisk air, sunshine, trees all aglow with yellow and red leaves.

As if that wouldn't be enough, the annual herring market began again and the whole market square and the harbour is filled with small fishing boats, insane seagulls, people playing the accordion despite the public health regulations, people selling herring in all its forms to other people, and the odd slightly bewildered tourist. I went there with my mother, we had a splendid time wondering all the things mentioned above (and had one unreal moment when the accordion player finished his set with Light My Fire by, you guessed it, the Doors), ate some wonderful salmon soup, discussed the merits of all the differently prepared herring preserves and even as far as to have one pint of beer listening to a small brass band playing a fine selection of the cheesiest schlagers known to mankind.

Funny how everything sounds so much better when played with a trombone, a tuba, a trumpet and a small set of drums.

I can't help but wonder why oh why did I leave my camera at home. Stupid me.

Oh well. At least I have a decent chunk of cold smoked salmon in my fridge and a loaf of the traditional archipelago bread waiting to be eaten. Life is good, so good, in fact, that I am not going to think about the student loan I was forced to take. I'll start worrying about it after two years when I have to start paying it back.

Soundtrack: V on background. The most horrible sci fi series ever made, yet I liked it a lot when I was a child. Shows how times have changed, really.

A Brief Note

2005-10-02T01:18:00.000+03:00

When it's 1.30 a.m you do not want to read all about Jack the Ripper. Trust me on this one.

I can't believe I did the same mistake again.

Top of the pops:

Suomen Talvisota: Kasvoton kuolema

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

2005-09-28T15:45:00.000+03:00

The "what to do before you turn 30" list keeps on getting shorter and shorter. I can now tick off No. 367, Sing in gay karaoke. A (with whom I go to the ballroom dancing lessons) decided to go get one glass of wine in honour of the first lesson.

Funny how most of these things start with one glass of wine.

At 2 a.m I had sung very badly but in compensation very loudly a romantic duet with A, drank more than is good for me but still had the presence of mind to excuse myself when he found company. Today's lecture on the subject of the most dry and boring management theories went in through the other ear, looked in vain for functioning brain cells, and then left the cranium via the other ear.

I so needed that. I have been noticing the usual signs of autum depression - can't get anything done, am considering hibernation and so on and so on. After three decades I still am not used to the change in the amount of the light. I should probably move somewhere with a more steady climate. Plus, the change of the season somehow always dries my skin to the point where no amount of lotion seems to be enough.

Loadsa congratulations in the end:
Happy birthday, sister mine!
W00t to all the new homes - St and T, as well as my sister and her bf, I shall expect an invitation to the housewarming party, just so you know.
And everyone else, just give yourself a pat on the back, I'm sure you've done something to earn it.

Current soundtrack:
Orgasm Death Gimmick: Crazy Woman
Rammstein: Keine Lust (ich zähl die Fliegen remix)

Wo bist du, Sandmännchen?

2005-09-22T16:39:00.000+03:00

I must be turning into a vampire. My sleep pattern has turned completely upside down and shows no signs of returning to normal. Like right now, I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open, but if I take a nap now there's no hope of falling asleep in the evening. Not that I'd had any trouble falling asleep in general, the problem is that for some reason my body seems to think that 1 or 2 a.m. is the best time to really wake up and be active. If I didn't have neighbours I'd be doing the laundry and washing the dishes in the middle of the night...

And of course, at 7 a.m. when I need to get up and go to work or school, that in my body's opinion is the best possible time for some sightseeing in the slumberland.

Obviously there are some disturbances in communication between my brain and the rest of me.

I guess there's no other option but to buy the entire 69 Eyes discography, start to wear too much eye shadow and pointy false teeth and go about brooding and being all melancholic and try as hard as I can to look haunted and mysterious.

Or, of course, learn how to sleep properly. Oh, the choices...

Seeing as writing the literary masterpiece above has now taken me some 30 minutes (plus the additional 15 minutes for the headline), I'll leave you with, as one wise man put it, etwas Nitroglyzerine. If you have QuickTime installed, you can watch the famous, uniform-heavy video Benzin here.

Me, I'll don my running shoes and head outside to see if I can clear my head enough for a 300-word German essay on my previous work experience. That'll be an interesting read, I'm sure. The teacher must be suffering from insomnia too.

:)

2005-09-21T00:36:00.000+03:00

Today's top news go into the category of happy family news.

My sister's got engaged. My actual kid sister, the only one I've got. A big congratulation and an equally big awww to the happy couple, though I have to scold them a little for holding back the big news for a couple of days. You see, sis and her fiance J (awww) reached the agreement on Tuesday, and only on Friday J brought a bottle of Koskenkorva booze to our parents as a compensation for the loss of their daughter. I expect my father will chuckle about it for years.

"Never is a man happier than when drunk or engaged" was his comment so I suppose he approves of the arrangement. As does mother, of course. It'll be an interesting event if there'll be an actual wedding as a result, people in my family are not that keen on marriages. Like another immortal wisdom from my father goes when asked why my parents have never made their union official: What would it change?

What would it change if they suddenly decided to get married? They seem to love each other and that's it. After decades of living together they probably know what they are talking about.

I'm going to be all soppy and happy for a few weeks. Please accept my apologies, the doctor convinced me that this is not permanent and with the proper use of the ointment he gave me will wear off eventually.

Today's random quote and the winner of the Funniest Typo Of The Year Award is the poor sod who registered on the Herzeleid.com forums just to say how crappy the forums are, how badly they are run, that all the posters are just selfish bastards who "have nothing else in your olives."

I'd be on a crappy mood too if my olive was empty.

Soundtrack of my evening:
Sigur Rós: The album Takk
(Sigur Rós will be in Helsinki on 29th October. I noticed that about ten minutes ago, the tickets will come for sale on Wednesday morning at 9 at the Lippupalvelu website. Guess who doesn't have money)
Weissglut: The album Zeichen

I hate having to come up with headlines

2005-09-15T20:42:00.000+03:00

9 months to go before the big three-O strikes, so posts like the following will appear here every now and then. Feel free to skip to the bottom of the page, where you will find pictures of Rammstein in firemen's uniforms. I kid you not.

[ pointless, random angst ]

I just had a talk with my mother and she quite casually mentioned that she's now officially a part-time pensioner (that means she only works from Tuesday to Thursday). My mother. A pensioner. And it won't be more than a couple of years when my dad'll join her. I shudder to think what'll happen when they have to find new ways to spend all the energy previously used for work.

It may well be our humble summer cottage turns into a Taj Mahal or a Buckingham Palace.

Anyway, what that also means, is that I won't stay young and beautiful (no need to comment on that, thank you ever so much) forever either. If I was to believe what I'm told, I should by now have a family and a career. I have a shy fish, does that count? Funny thing is, that even if being young, urban and single is a growing trend, and there's more and more single households (if that's the temr I'm looking for), I still, in some luckily rare situations get the feeling that I'm, I don't know, an awkward. It may be just me, of course.

But enough with the age crisis, if there even is one, and on to the more happier things.

[ /pointless, random angst ]

Rammstein's new video Benzin will air tomorrow on German MTV's Total Request Live, and on Saturday on Viva. I just saw a couple of pictures of what to expect. They are portrayed, like I said, as firemen. If you don't believe me, look at the photographic evidence. Here's one, and here, too.

Hell, if they can pull that off in their fourties I have nothing to worry about.

EDIT: Of course I forgot something. Clicky here for the original source of the piccies (there's more of them there, too). And the release dates of the single.

Mix mir einen Drink

2005-09-14T16:51:00.000+03:00

For some reason I seem to have ended up on the Statistics Finland's mailing lists. Yesterday I got another questionnaire (I filled one out last year, too) on my drinking habits and overall alcohol consumption during the past 12 months. Have you any idea how difficult it is to be honest when you want to write on every page a disclaimer saying that this is not really true, I don't drink quite that much, I've just spent an entire week on a festival?

So if there seems to be a worrying increase in young women's intake of alcoholic beverages, you know why. Though I have to say that there might be a worrying increase in my personal intake of alcoholic beverages if the weather continues to be like this. It's the first official autumn storm outside, if you hadn't noticed, or are lucky enough to live in the Caribbean. Right now I want hot cocoa with rum in it, or at least a huge glass of white wine. I guess it's safe to say that the summer is over and we're facing the six months of bitter cold, sleet, rain, darkness and the few rare sightings of snowflakes called, for want of a better word, the winter.

In all of the handbooks of how to write a bestsellere are instructions on the use of cliffhangers. Here's this episode's moment of suspense and action: this morning I went see a doctor about my arm (amazingly enough; it usually takes me weeks to schedule an appointment with one. Don't know why, I'm not afraid of doctors or anything. Just your basic laziness, I suppose). Anyway, after poking my arm and twisting it this way and that and getting confused with his computer he ordered some more tests, so there's nothing more to do now than to wait. Who knows, maybe the damn thing will heal itself by the time of the next appointment - which may lie months away in the future.

Current soundtrack:
Janus: Kadaverstern
(I just found out that Amazon.uk and Amazon.de will accept Visa Electron as a method of payment. I'm gonna buy me a few good CDs and books once the money fairy visits my bank account again. Read: the next life. Janus is most definitely on my shopping list).

Dear Camera, I'd Like To Confess...

2005-09-12T15:01:00.000+03:00

I have to confess that I am kinda expecting the new Idols competition which starts next Sunday. Not because I'd want to know who'll the winner be, but because of the first few episodes when the most awful, horrible and pathetic singer-wannabes are trying to impress the judges. I don't know why but it really fascinates me how some people have the iron-hard self confidence to go and ridicule themselves in front of a dozen cameras and consequently thousands of people. Have they never heard themselves singing? Or don't they just care? Some are clearly in denial, at least judging by their outraged reactions to the judge's decision. There's no way I'd do that, I know exactly how much I suck at singing - my dear departed dog used to leave the room whenever I had the urge to sing. I took the hint.

The human mind works in mysterious ways and hope clearly springs eternal. Whatever the reason for their (and mine) behaviour is, I'm going to make myself a huge pile of popcorn and have a pillow ready so that I can cover my eyes when the most embarrassing contestants are performing.

It's like watching a particularly well-made horror movie, really. All you want to do is shout "don't go there! For all that is good in this world, do not open your mouth!" and then when they inevitably continue singing and your other eye is watering and the other won't even open up anymore and you can feel your mind devolving to a level beyond retarded and all you want to do is to crawl under a very large rock because of all the embarrassment by association and you fear that nothing will ever, ever be the same anymore, that something pure and beautiful has been destroyed forever you realize that while everything you're seeing is true it'll be over soon. And then the flesh stops crawling and the brain fires up all the neurons necessary for a good fascinated wondering. Why would anyone want to humiliate themselves in public? And why on earth would anyone want to watch it?

And then it starts all over again when the next hopeful enters the room.

On a bit more serious note, I feel I might be due another 8-month wait in the black hole also known as the Finnish healthcare system. My left arm, the one with the nerve stuck in between the bones (yes, the one I'm constantly complaining about, sorry about that) has been acting up again and since my usual "ignore it and it'll go away" - tactic hasn't proved to be successful I'll probably have to take the bull by the horns and go see a doctor. I don't want another operation, even if the magic medicine they gave me made me so tranquil and peaceful I almost reached nirvana that day.

It could be that the pain goes away just as soon as things calm down at work again and I don't have to do heavy lifting and repetitive motions as much. It's just that I dropped a plate full of food into a sauce dish the other day because my fingers went suddenly numb. It's never done that before.

Meh. Old age doesn't come alone, as they say.

Things to do when feeling bored: select All music as a playlist on Media Player.
Suomen Talvisota: Mielitauti-rock
Stahlhammer: Stahlmania
Dinah Washington: Keepin' Out Of Mischief
Feeling B: Lied von der unruhevollen Jugend
Mediaeval Baebes: Erthe Upon Erthe
KC & The Sunshine Band: That's The Way I Like It
And it goes on and on...

The Rambling Continues

2005-09-08T00:00:00.000+03:00

Since I have a blog I guess I should actually post in it every now and then.

Time for another episode of the amazing life and adventures of S. Hietanen!

Um...

..Errr..

Like one of the best t-shirt slogans I've seen goes: I'm like a superhero with no powers and motivation.

Okay. School first. I did what I promised to do and will now finish my education at the business school instead of the hotel- and restaurant management branch I started it at. Both are different branches of the same polytechnic, so the actual transfer included enrolling to the courses in a slightly different manner than what I've been doing so far and informing a few faculty members of my intentions -and actually finding the building and the classrooms. Easy as anything.

Today we were chilling in the cafeteria with a classmate of mine who also switched over to the business school, and analyzed the differences between the two branches. In Haaga, the school where we started out, the student body is from a different planet compared to the one in the business school - and naturally so, it specializes solely to the hospitality management, while the business school is exactly what the title promises it to be. In Haaga we have these outgoing, trendy, social people in their twenties who generally know what they want out of life and how they will get it - what I am doing there, I don't know.

The Vallila branch, however - a good part of the students are so very young. On Monday, for example, I bumped into a group of questionmark-shaped young men dressed how they feel a hiphopper should and using the word fuck at least three times in every sentence. Then there are the ultra-trendy babes and dudes, straight from the fashion catalogue. Blend in some people well over their fourties and you should see what I mean. Again, the question of what am I doing there arises.

The teaching staff seems to be in the same professional level in both schools, and I mean that in a positive way. I especially adore my new German teacher (learning German is my little perversion, I know), who does most of her talking in German and also makes us talk - and she addresses all her students as Frau or Herr so-and-so. I feel I'm going to enjoy myself on her lessons.

And I was supposed to continue smoothly into some few random notes about Life Outside School And Work tm (yes, there is one), but just noticed there's a pretty gorgeous thunder storm outside. It's 1 am, it rains like there's no tomorrow and the experience is made complete with flashing lightning and rolling thunder. If I was a goth I'd be beside myself.

Anyways, tomorrow I have the rare luxury of a whole day off. I'm not going to answer the phone if anyone from work calls, I'll make myself a nice cup of coffee and for once read the paper properly and not in less than 5 minutes which is what I usually do. And then I'll clean up the pigsty I've been calling home lately.

I can't wait next spring when I've hopefully graduated and can focus on one thing at the time. Right now my calendar's so full of stuff it's amazing I can find anything in it. I can't imagine what it would be like if I had family and children to look after as well. Respect to those who manage to juggle with education, work and family.

All right, time for my beauty sleep.

Currently playing:
Peggy Lee: Black Coffee
Billie Holiday: I'm A Fool To Want You

Minx fought the law...

2005-09-04T20:51:00.000+03:00

...and Minx won.

Some happy news first. Rammimages.com is back, just as fabulous and great as it was before The Attack Of The 50ft Corporate Lawyer. Minx, the webmistress extraordinaire, got permission to keep her site alive albeit without the few video screencaps which apparently were the reason to all this hassle. But as they say, there's no such evil that something good wouldn't come out of it.

1) Go us rammsteinfans! We showed support and made our opinion clear - and we were heard. Though most of the work was done by Minx, I think that our little community managed to create enough pressure to help nudge the management to the right direction. I mean, corporate lawyers admitted being wrong. Who'd have thought that possible?

2) The slightly paranoid who's website is next - atmosphere has vanished, at least for now. Had the management decided otherwise, it would have had an immense impact on running and creating fansites and not only on Rammstein fansites.

There has been another example of how to handle these kinds of tricky situations, a Harry Potter fansite mugglenet.com ran into similar difficulties with Warner Bros. but luckily someone came up with the idea of making mugglenet.com their official fansite. A great deal of fan activity happens on the internet nowadays and that puts the various managers on the edge, or at least should put them there. As fantastic medium of attracting new fans/customers as the Internet is, there's a multitude of issues to be dealt with - beginning with copyright laws and how do they apply in cyberspace/different countries.

The question is, where do the limits of control go? Can The Man just order someone to shut down their website, on the pain of financial charges, or pain? And who gets to decide what is acceptable behaviour/website content/you name it and what isn't?

But for now everything's fine on teh intarweb.

As for Real Life (tm), school started, things are busy at work and I've been nursing a massive hangover today. There were plenty of reasons to celebrate yesterday (combined finished thesis and birthday party thrown by partyorganizer extraordinaire Ms. E) and celebrate we did. The one good point of having students as customers is that if you for some unknown reason might appear to be a tad tired and not necessarily looking like a little miss sunshine they do understand and probably feel exactly the same themselves.

Today's music:
Rammstein: Benzin (a sample of the song here)
Silber: Kalt wie Eis
Clawfinger: Biggest & The Best

Yawn...

2005-08-30T19:39:00.000+03:00

Thank goodness school starts soon so I can finally get some rest. The downside of working in an university canteen located right in the middle of Helsinki city centre is that when the lectures begin after summer and the city is flooded with new students they all want to eat at our place even if there are, what, 24 other restaurants to pick from. All conveniently located in the various campus areas I might add. No one'd have to travel all the way to the centre just to get something to eat but there they are, the students, patiently standing in an almighty queue waiting to be fed.

This happens every year. The first couple of weeks when the schools all start we get something like 2000 customers per day before things settle down and people find the restaurant closest to them. And every year it seems to come as a surprise that many of our workers are also students who need to stop working and go back to school, add to that the flu epidemic currently playing merry hell everywhere and the result is yours truly pulling more 10-hour shifts than would be healthy.

Good for them I don't have a life. And at this rate I'm never going to get one.

And just to make this day perfect I unfortunately couldn't read one customer's mind and got called a 'fucking girl.' Nice to see the fine traditions of proper conduct of behaviour and good manners upheld amongst our finest. Amazing how many creative ways of murdering someone you can come up with within 10 minutes.

On a more positive note, the campaign of clogging Rammstein management's mail box seems to have paid off at least in some way, they have posted a lame-ass explanation re. the closure of rammimages.com site on the official site (and also released the cover art for the first single from the upcoming Rosenrot-album. I've been sniggering ever since I saw it). I can proudly say that I did not shrink away from duty when the time came for action, no sir. I sent the management a letter which would make my English teachers proud (not that anyone'd read it, but it was there doing its bit in causing havoc in someone's inbox) and signed the petition. There are times when even cynical old me has to admit that there is power in people. Even if rammimages would never return in any shape or form, the band and its managers know how their fans and customers feel about how they dealt with one of the most popular fansites and one of the most popular webmistresses.

Oh, and if I was a bit too outraged to form any coherent sentences in the previous post, the whole story of Minx vs. Rammstein GbR can be read here.

And a second oh, the rumour goes that Depeche Mode might visit Finland. The date/s should be decided very soon. I'll keep my eyes peeled and you posted...

Right. Off to shower and then I'll make myself a nice cup if tea and wait for tonight's episode of Sex and the City.

Today's link for fun and entertainment: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (in 30 seconds and re-enacted by bunnies).

And a random Laibach quote just because: "They are Laibach for kids, we are Rammstein for adults."

¤&%%#/)/&!

2005-08-26T00:17:00.000+03:00

vent.

[ censored ]

*Deep breath*

Rammstein's management has closed down the rammimages.com site. Apparently they sent a cease and desist note to the webmistress, using all sorts of official legal terms about copyright infringements and effectively made her take down the biggest and the best source of Rammstein photographs there was.

No one knows why. Maybe someone peed on the management's morning cereal, or their spouses have headaches.

There was some moron who burned some of the photos on a CD and sold it on eBay (who in their right mind would buy it? All the pictures were easily accessed and for free download on the rammimages.com site... stupid is what stupid does, obviously) and it just might be that the management is reacting to that case - shutting down one fabulous website instead of hanging the one selling the photos by his ankles and hitting his head on the floor. Which, IMO, would be what he deserves.

The fact is, that most of the photographs were taken by unprofessional photographers on a public venue, which as far as I understand gives the copyright of said photos to them. So if they want to publish them on the internet, line the walls of their apartment with them or make them into a huge kite and use them for lightning research Rammstein management should have nothing to say about it - as long as nobody else is making any profit.

I should have become a lawyer instead of a cook...

/ vent.

But before I go to sleep:

Rise up!
Rise up!
Resistance won't be stopped!

United we stand!

Rammsteinfans of the world, unite!

I'm a dangerous rebel element, acting alone in the gloom of the night, striking terror into the
hearts of the unwary managers worldwide by publishing Rammstein photos on blogs.

So there. I'm mentally sticking out my tongue at yer.

Party's Over..

2005-08-23T16:33:00.000+03:00

Last day of vacation, and I have spent it trying to figure out how to navigate my school's brand new website. I think I have succesfully enrolled on some courses, but time will tell whether I've managed to find the correct buttons to push. I mean, they could have published the new site a couple of days earlier, not now when there's a week to go before the school starts. I've already found at least two broken links (naturally they are the ones needed to find the list of the free-elective courses) and developed a pretty good headache.

Nevertheless, hope springs eternal. I still face the horrendous possibility that I might actually graduate a year earlier than the average student of Haaga Polytechnic. Knock on wood...

But I haven't spent all my day worrying about school, no, I have indulged in on of my favourite ways of entertainment; pointless tests.

You are like Animal
A Crazy, unpredictable, rambling fool who thrives on parties, perversions, caffine and sugar. A welcome guest at any party but not marriage material.

*Ahem*

No comments.

Today's top tracks:

Depeche Mode: I Feel You, Higher Love, Stripped
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter: Baila conmígo, Warum?

Alrighty, Then

2005-08-20T16:14:00.000+03:00

Let's try this again. I have slept for more than 5 hours straight, caught up on what's been going on during my absence and generally tried to cope with the culture shock of being back home again.

There really isn't a way of summing up the entire trip in a few words, but I'm going to try.

The festival is held on an island right in the middle of Budapest. The variety of entertainment, food and people is simply amazing. No matter where you go, there's always something worth watching. Out of more than 400 bands I managed to see (or only hear, some of the bands performed in huge tents which were usually so full of people that staying outside and just listening to the show was the easiest option) Korn, Basement Jaxx, The Hives, Good Charlotte, Sentenced, a bit of Accept, Hellacopters, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Turbonegro and some random hardcore punk band performing in a Hare Krishna tent - like I said, the there wasn't a dull moment.

There was a drink bar called Zen Cafe where all the Finns hanged out, and by hanging out I mean the occasional dancing on the tables, conveniently located right next to the main stage. They sold wine in pints and drinks in buckets so no wonder it was the most popular place among us.

So that's what we did at nights. Daytime, however, was spent roaming the sights and museums of Budapest. I got to see Mary of Hapsburg's dress, for example, and the lights, sculptures and sounds in the labyrinth beneath the Buda Castle were a bit scary experience for one with a slight hangover. I repeat, if you have the chance to visit Budapest, go there. It's absolutely worth a visit.

From the labyrinth. It's been transformed into a trip into the mythological history of both the entire mankind and Hungary itself. A bit scary, but absolutely wonderful experience.

The party pictures are here, the others here (these are not in chronological order, the photobucket system threw a temper tantrum at me when I started organizing the pictures into files - as the blogspot is doing right now, it's refusing to add any more pictures into this post. Go figure).

Anyways. One helluva party, one helluva city. It just might be that I have to go to the Sziget-festival again next August.

Night Of The Living Dead

2005-08-19T21:20:00.000+03:00

I'm back from the Sziget-festival in Budapest. I'm tired, confused, in awe, missing it all and really glad to be back home at the same time.

We went by bus through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Poland where we spent a night in Cracow, continued through Slovakia to Hungary and to the festival. A week there and then the same journey back.

Budapest is an awesome city. Me and H spent the days roaming the museums and the nights roaming the festival island, slept a little and started again. Saw plenty of good bands. Met plenty of cool people. Trust me, you haven't been to a festival if you haven't been to the Sziget.

I'll put up some pictures later, as well as a more detailed saga of the great journey. Right now I'm really too confused to do anything sensible.

O tempora o mores!

2005-08-06T21:14:00.000+03:00

I saw an actual, real-life Segway today. Righ in the middle of Helsinki, when I was on my way to harass yet another unfortunate young man in a camera shop to sell me more memory for my digital camera (bought one yesterday. 's very pretty). Some day I will see all salespersons regardless of gender running away from me when I enter any store selling anything technical. I don't speak that jargon and thankfully the young men I have encountered so far have always translated the numbers and letters into hours/number of songs/number of pictures which I do understand.

But back to topic. I had to spend nearly ten minutes to try and pick up my jaw from the ground after the Segway had wheeled by. It took me a while to recognize it, too, probably because there wasn't a keyboard attached to it.

I mean, this is bloody Helsinki! A city big enough to offer its residents all comforts and services they might require, but still small enough for everything to be within a walking distance. And a city with a pretty magnificent public transport system as well, I might add. Why would anyone need a Segway here? You can't even pick up chicks with it, unless you both are circus acrobats.

Like Carrie B. would say: I couldn't help but wonder, had we as species grown too lazy to walk? Have we grown past the need to use our legs for more than showing them, provided that they fill the criteria for show-worthy legs? Or are we really such a vain species that ruining a new pair of shoes by walking in them is too much to bear? Is walking as a method of transport last season?

I have to admit I love all things technical despite the fact that I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to finer detail about them. I love how my computer, for example, makes my life so much more easier, keeps me entertained and connected to people I would otherwise have a chance to talk to only a couple of times a year, and I simply couldn't imagine living without my cellphone and the mp3-player. They aren't essential to my physical well-being but I'd have hard time trying to live without them. But buying a gottverdammtes Segway goes a bit too far even for me.

A more eloquent writer could point out how in Segway, and in the act of purchasing one, culminates the whole degeneration of the Western world and capitalism, how it symbolizes the ever-deepening gap between the developing countries and the rich hemisphere and so forth and so forth. What I will say is, legs were put where they are and designed as they are designed for a purpose. The only acceptable way of using a Segway is to put some kind of musical instrument on top of it and let it be driven around by a skinny man in lederhosen, fishnets and a helmet to point out the more ridiculous aspects of our way of life.

I will go now and play with my new toy.

Goodyear Blimp Is Gone

2005-08-04T22:35:00.000+03:00

I got home yesterday from work to find out that my fighting fish had died - probably of old age, but I wouldn't put eating himself to death past him. Hence the nickname Goodyear Blimp. Pretty things they are, the fighting fish, but unfortunately they don't live for very long. I don't think I'll get another one, I've been considering buying a small herd (if that is what fish do) of these:

I'll just have to find out a bit more about them and probably test the water to find out that it wasn't something in it that killed the poor fighting fish so that the new residents wouldn't die as well.

Workwise, my decision to get the hell out of the entire hospitality- and restaurant business got a bit stronger today when I got yet another surprise 10.5-hour shift. I went there at 7.30, was supposed to get out at three but as one of the workers fell ill I had to stay to finish his work. I'm tired now but come payday I'll be much happier.

Besides, 2 more days and I'm officially on holiday. I love that word. Holiday. So full of high hopes and promises of being able to sleep at least until noon (which doesn't mean that you'd have had any decent amount of sleep. Who said you'd have to be in bed before midnight?).

But alas it's not yet time to summer fun and picnic frolics and off to bed I must go.

More fun and frolics: The making of Keine Lust.

Today's top tracks are by A Customer: What's that? Risotto? Oh, it's noodle wok.. Gimme that, then. And the ever so popular: What're those? Feta cheese crepes? So it's not a dessert, then, is it?

And by Feeling B: Artig, and Mix mir einen Drink and also Lied von der unruhevollen Jugend.

I go away, I come back..

2005-08-01T18:45:00.000+03:00

First things first, let's get the formalities done before anything else.

I promised Till Lindemann-sized thanks to those who helped me in the cooking of the feast for the cudgel war, so here you are:

Please note my amazing skill and prowess in photoshopping. As an afterthought I should have made him say danke instead of thank you but I can't be arsed to go through the motions once more. If the wrong language bothers you, just squint your eyes or take a magic marker and write over the text in the picture.

That photo got me thinking, however, what would you think people'd say if I turned up in that outfit to the next event where I'm supposed to cook? Not a good idea? At least it'd be somewhat unique, though documenting it to any even remotely medieval time period might prove to be challenging...

But yes. The event came and the event went away, good friends and cool people were met, fun was once again had in generous quantities, as was alcohol which I promised myself I woudn't consume more than a couple of beers and a very small bottle of white wine which are required medicine after a hard day at work. Somehow I seldom manage to go through a day in the kitchen at events without quite a many people offering me something to drink. I fully endorse this idea and would like to see the noble tradition to continue in the future as well.

After a month of partying on every weekend I have started to notice some signs of wear and tear on me. Yesterday I got home, ate a little, checked my emails and favourite forums and decided to take little nap. Nine hours later I woke up, washed up, turned off the lights and went back to bed. At 6.30 when my alarm clock went off I was just as tired as I was when I started. Whoever said that older people need less sleep than the young was wrong.

I suddenly realized today that I have only about a month to go before school starts and there are about a thousand things to do before it. Why couldn't I be one of those people who take care of everything well before the deadline is even visible in the horizon instead of leaving it all to the last possible evening? I guess I need to start buying Martha Steward's books. Or better yet, I could hire a secretary to handle all the trivial little matters of my life so that I could concentrate to the important stuff, like surfing the Internet, hanging out with friends and enjoying the occasional cold beer. He could do the cleaning and laundry as well, and prepare some light snacks whenever I felt peckish. And if he had some skill as masseuse I'd be happy to offer employment though the actual pay I could offer would be something in the lines of nice words and compliments.

It's nice to dream, though.

Today's top tracks:

Clawfinger: Biggest & The Best

Sepultura: Roots Bloody Roots

Danzig: 1000 Devils Reign

Insane Clown Posse: Please Don't Hate Me (yes, I listen to them occasionally, and quite like the experience).

Short But Pointless

2005-07-28T16:06:00.000+03:00

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.