Pool of Thought - Shallow End

Catching up

2009-04-24T23:14:00.002+03:00

Almost two years passed by and I kept thinking "I should update the Pool", but for some reason I didn't. I've certainly posted on my journal in LJ, since in all honesty it's somewhat more versatile as a blogging platform. I do like the fact that I can easily screen who sees which post and I'm ridiculously hooked on using icons, but on the other hand blogging here has always been more straight forward. More serious in a way, also because in here I post with my name and over in LJ my name doesn't come up anywhere. Anonymity there, name and face over here. In other words I've wanted to keep the posts less silly here, despite the title of the blog.

Perhaps I've made myself an ill service keeping the Pool more serious, because one reason I haven't posted is that I've felt like I've nothing to say. Nothing that made any sense anyway. I'm not sure things have changed in any way, but I'm going to give it a try. A voice into the void, if nothing else.

So, catching up then. I seem to have been worrying about turning 30 the last time I posted. Hah. 30 came and went, I'm not certain I'm looking forward to this year's 32, but as it's unavoidable I choose not to go on a rant about that. This time around.

There have been many positive changes in my life since the spring of 2007. That summer I did go to London and Wales for the first time and it was amazing. I loved every moment of that trip. I completely fell in love with London, Cardiff and small Welsh towns like Conwy and Caernarfon. I haven't yet had the chance to go back, but I'll go as soon as it's possible.

When I returned home from the UK, I didn't meet my grandpa alive anymore. He died the same night, about 10 hours after my flight from London landed in Tampere. Turned out I spent most of his last day on this Earth on Stansted airport waiting to board a RyanAir flight. I didn't know it at the time, as my parents decided it wouldn't be necessary to inform me, as there was no way I could've been there in any case. I think they did the right thing. Those hours at the airport would've been horrible, if I would've known. This way they were just tedious...

I miss grandpa, but at the same time I think it was his time. He was tired and confused, with his disease eating away every recognisable fragment of his identity. What was (and is) heartbreaking was to see grandma's despair. Today she's coping relatively well but we're all seeing clear signs of dementia and tiredness. The spark of active life is slowly diminishing. It's becoming more and more difficult for her to live alone in a big house, but understandably enough she has refused to seriously consider any other option. There are all sorts of aided living arrangements that could be made, but I suppose she has to come to the decision herself. It'll be very difficult to let go of her and grandpa's home, where they lived all their married life and raised their children.

Hmm, this got serious fast...

On to lighter updates. I was planning on buying a car in the summer of 2007. Surely enough I did buy one. Cara Giovanna, it was affectionately named quite soon after I got it. I admit to being materialistic and shallow, but I still sometimes catch myself grinning when I walk out to the parking lot - that's my car and it's not an igloo made in an Eastern European country that doesn't exist anymore. Wahey! (Not that I've forgotten the dear old Skoda. The stories still live on even though I'm quite sure the car itself doesn't exist anymore.)

Summer 2007 also saw me begin apartment hunting. That all ended last July, when I finally bought an apartment of my own. I didn't buy my old flat, because it was priced a little high for me, but I got a bigger one a little bit further away from the city centre. I've renovated it to my liking (and I like it a LOT!) and this upcoming June will see the old kitchen completely redone to a more modern and sleek kitchen. I simply love having a place of my own, a place that looks like me and really feels like a place I belong to. Besides, picking up colour schemes and furniture and such is so much fun!

So what else is new? Well, one topic I used to post about nearly ad infinitum was my thesis and graduating from the university. Guess what, I did that, too! A year ago I was finally given my Master's Diploma. I got a good grade on my thesis, which I ended up putting together surprisingly fast when push came to shove. I was quite happy with myself, for sure.

Some things haven't changed since 2007. I'm still very much single and definitely not any closer of becoming a girlfriend / wife / mom to anyone. I did become an aunt (and godmom) last May. My brother's daughter is the cutest little girl, although I don't get to see her that often nowadays since she and her mother don't live with my brother anymore. I hope she'll visit her dad for her first birthday so I'll be able to spoil my goddaughter with loads of presents. Isn't that what aunties are supposed to do?

So there. Consider yourself caught up with my life. For the most part, anyway.

Times they are a-changing: A BLOG RESURRECTION!

2009-04-20T18:57:00.003+03:00

Well well well. It's been seriously long since I last visited this blog. I've been really ashamed of my negligence of poor Pool, and now it's time to do something about it.

The perfect excuse being that I'm actually on a short course on Google docs etc. and as I'm pretty familiar with it all, I can play around. And write a short entry promising that I'll be back soon. I really will be, honestly! There's been stuff going on in my life and I think there could be an entry or two in it somewhere.

So now I need to look like I pay attention, so this is it for now. I'll be seeing you soon.

Got to have a crisis now

2007-05-06T16:08:00.000+03:00

I've had many "I've got to post about this" moments lately (= during the past month or so) and no time to actually sit down and properly write anything. And consequently, I've forgotten most of the things anyway. (I'm hearing many virtual sighs of relief, heh.) But today I'll try to collect the pieces of my mind that have been scattered around and put them down in a blog post form. Sorry if the end result is a mess. :)

Life doesn't always follow deadlines

Some weeks ago I went to the movies with mom. (We saw Music and Lyrics, since mom likes Hugh Grant, hee.) I waited for her in the cafe next to the theatre and browsed through a City mag while sipping my latte. There was a short story (more like a poll, really) for which a bunch of young people had been interviewed about what is the age they want to have children at.

Yeah, you can guess I let out a silent hrmpf into my coffee mug. When you ask a 17-year-old a question like that, the answer is likely to make a (nearly) 30-year-old single feel very old. "Yes, I'd like to have my children before I'm 28 years old, so I won't be too old and tired to take care of them when they are small." Hellooo, I'm not exactly dead yet, either...

But yes, it seems I'm really getting into this whole cliched crisis of turning 30. You know, even though I have no particular "baby fever" at the moment, there is no escaping the fact that I don't have forever to procreate (yeah, boohoo, only like 10 more years of time...), should I want to try it some day. (Yes, yes, a few minor details have to be settled first, like finding the proper husband / dad material...) Take that thought, add the tiredness caused by work, season with a hint of fear of being alone forever and you have all the incredients for my worst moments. (At this point I need to stress that most of the time I feel just fine, no worries!)

The worst part of this darned "crisis" is that it gets worse when I compare my life with the lives of my friends. Yes, it's the last thing one should do, because there's no one formula for a good life - and no deadlines (well, if one doesn't count the one non-negotiable absolute last deadline, eh). And I know this perfectly well. It just doesn't stop me from comparing. I'm only human, after all.

And what's there to compare? Well, at least 6 babies on their way into the families of my friends within the next 6 months. Argh. It's like the Finnish saying about mushrooms in the rain. I've also described it as the "plop, plop" effect, heh.

I'm really, really happy for all my friends for their pregnancies and I certainly hope everything goes well for everyone, but I'm feeling more and more like an outsider. The odd one out.
I'm running out of friends who are in even a remotely similar situation in life with me. Not only does it make me feel super lonely sometimes (even though I'm really not lonely in the normal sense, I've got plenty of friends, after all), but it also makes it increasingly difficult to plan social activities with those friends. They all get very tired around 9 p.m., can't drink any alcohol, can't get babysitters etc. *sigh* (Love you all anyway, my dahlin' preggers friends who will become my dahlin' friends with tiny babycritters!)

This is not a unique problem I'm having, I'm sure, but that doesn't make it any less significant in my life at the moment.

Ok, I got that out of my system for a while. Thanks for listening. Erm, reading.

On a related note, however...

Right. Consider this. I'm in an age crisis. Which has to be obvious to anyone who read the rant above.

One possible cure would be finding The Right Husband Material. Problem is, it's been a Mission Impossible so far.

Another possible cure is to get the heck out of these old circles, shake things up a bit. That's something I can and will do.

First of all, there's the trip to the UK this summer. It's the first time in my adult life when I have saved up a whole lot of money (yay for proper salaries!) to travel outside of Finland on my own (or with a friend, rather) and I'm seriously thinking it's going to do me a world of good to see something outside my comfort zone between Nousiainen and Turku...

Secondly, the matters have come to the point where I'm facing the fact that I can't live in this apartment forever. It's owned by my grandparents and since grandpa is in a very bad shape now and has to live in a senior citizens' home (specialized in taking care of patients with advanced Alzheimers and dementia), this apartment is a piece of property that may have to be liquidated in order to pay for his care and grandma's living. I've thought about buying it myself, but unfortunately it may be too expensive for me, even though it's not in perfect shape. And there is also the option that grandma will be moving here, because she won't be able to live in the big house alone. In both cases, I'm outta here.

Anyway, this means I'm now apartment hunting. I'm looking for an apartment roughly the same size as this one is, because I refuse to downgrade a whole lot from my current roomy arrangements. I'd like the new apartment to be a "through-the-building" apartment, with a proper balcony, if possible. Windows on both sides of the building make it easier to get an extra bit of "air-conditioning" in the summer, as I've noticed in this apartment. A sauna might be a nice addition to the comforts of living, too. It'd also be nice for it to be on the Eastern side of Turku, I'm especially interested in a few specific parts of the town. I'm hoping my "requirements" aren't too impossible to reach with my budget. Schedulewise I've thought that it might be nice to celebrate the upcoming big birthday (in October) in a new apartment. Or perhaps a new year's party?

In any case, I have that one little writing project to finish before that. With the new topic I'm fairly confident that it'll be done by mid-August, when school begins again. With that done, my salary is going to climb up a few notches and the monthly process of paying back the huge (!!) loan will be easier.

And I'm going to buy a car at the same time. Yay for not being dependent on coworkers' schedules when going back and forth to work!

Talking about severe methods of going from an age crisis into a crisis of "OMG I can't believe I have a loan of bazillion euros to pay back!". But at least I can count on all of this to make me preoccupied enough to not worry about being single. Too much. *grin*

On for something completely different - Vikings and Indians!

This is turning out to be a wonderful spring of theatre entertainment for me. Two weeks ago we went to Tampere with some junior high students to see a play called Kun isoisä Suomeen hiihti ("When grandfather skied to Finland"), last night I went to the city theatre here in Turku with a few friends (only one of them preggers - but with twins, heh) to see the musical Thorin vasara ("Thor's Hammer") and this coming Thursday we'll be going to Helsinki to see Midsummer Night's Dream with the senior high students.

The first play, in Tampere, was a story of a Finnish Jewish family from the last years of Finnish autonomy to the end of the wars (ca. 1905 - 1945). I was a little worried about what the students would get out of it, but at least a few of my students were very excited about the whole experience. And they were able to follow the historical side of the story as well, since we'd just discussed the Finnish wars in class. I thought the play was alright, nothing spectacular, though. I liked the musical numbers, there was enough of the traditional klezmer-music sound to the songs to appeal to my taste of ethnic music. Other than that, the whole production was somehow forgettable. The actors were doing a solid job, but no one really stood out. What I think was most important about the story was to remind everyone that the Finnish Jews couldn't rely on being completely safe in Finland during WWII.

Last night's adventure in the land of Vikings was interesting. I had heard terrible bashings of the production (for example, a history teacher I know had absolutely hated the story and claimed it was utter rubbish etc.), but I was still in a positive frame of mind when the lights went off.

And I'm still in a fairly positive frame of mind about the play. I was entertained, even if not thrilled by it. I loved the pyrotechnics used in the staging (nothing cooler, eh, hotter than to have an actual burning funeral boat gliding through the stage or to have actual fire flare up in the scene where the main characters meet the dwarven smiths on their way to Valhalla), as well as the utterly cool viking ship that rocked gently on the stage in a few scenes. Not to mention the male lead's, erm, fine leather outfit and appearance in general. Vallu Lukka, mm-mmm.

What was disappointing was the music. I had thought based on the promo material that it'd be more "primal", more ethnic. Instead there were only a few pieces that had a proper Viking sound & attitude and most of the songs were bland musical "schlagers". I didn't manage to suppress a giggle, when in one of the more tragical scenes (Sigurd's, the male lead's, body is washed up on the beach and the Viking villagers find it) the lyrics of the song went something like "Whose is this bloated corpse we see stranded here?" You don't get that too often in a musical (nor a half a dozen synonyms for the private parts of men, like in one song, heh) ...

Anyhow, this musical had the same problem as Elisabeth did. Excellent singers, blah songs for them to sing.

And the story? Yeah, well, it was like a jigsaw puzzle. Bits of this and that (Vikings capturing an Indian girl and bringing her to their lands, drinking of mead, scheming gods, a surreal trip to the underworld etc.), hints of "this theme could've been dealt with in depth also, but well, we didn't" (those themes would include otherness, clash of cultures and religions etc.) and definitely no high ambitions about historical accuracy. Sure, the play could be "dated" roughly to the 11th century, when Christianity began to weed out the old pagan beliefs in Scandinavia and yes, Vikings did sail to America before Columbus did, but naturally all of these details had been worked into the fictional story, sometimes quite loosely. But heck, I don't go to the theatre to watch staged history documentaries, but to see what someone has created with the help of a vivid imagination. (I bet the teacher who hadn't liked the story at all has never read any fantasy...)

So, all in all, an enjoyable evening at the theatre with friends.

For Thursday (haha, Thor's Day!) I'll try to forget the Viking world and be ready for the tricks of Titania and Puck & co. I hope it'll be a good version of the play. I've never seen it on stage before, just as a movie (and read it, of course).

Oops, I've spent quite a while writing all this - I've got to get back to work! I'm sooo looking forward to summer vacation! Less than 20 days of work anymore, only one full & normal week. YAY! I'm in serious need of not seeing the students for a long while. Gaah.

When vacation begins, I hope I'll have a bit more time for blogging, too. I'll at least try to post stuff from my trip, but at the moment I'm not sure if I'll do it here or over at LJ. In any case, I'll post pics and such afterwards in both places. But I'm sure you'll hear from me before I head to London and then to Wales. :)

Now, work.

Am I in the target group?

2007-03-05T19:56:00.000+02:00

This past weekend was a busy one for me. (Umm, so what else is new?) First there was the cruise I was on as a "guardian" to our junior students and then on Sunday a visit to an event for women at a local conference hotel.

The cruise went well. One of my colleagues was with me (plus some students' parents) and we had a delightfully relaxing 24 or so hours. Dined well on Friday evening at the fancy restaurant, partied till 2.30 a.m. and slept in till almost midday. Did some shopping, smiled at the headachy students who were hanging about in various states of well-being and had another good meal in the buffet with some of the students (they were mostly feeling pretty good, I suppose) and then got home in time for some cleaning up of the apartment. Very respectable.

During the cruise I and my colleague pondered a lot about the curious role we're in as young teachers. First of all, being a teacher sometimes brings up the fierce lioness in us. You know, the kind of ultimate feeling of responsibility and protectiveness towards the young people that would normally be linked with parenthood. Neither of us has children of our own, but we still both have had those feelings of "Do not make me act all teacher-y on you! Because I will, if you don't treat these kids well!" with the students. It really is very odd to feel like that about youngsters one doesn't really know that well after all.

On the other hand, the kids certainly treat us in a more formal way (as is appropriate) than for example the parents who were also on the cruise as guardians. It's not like it's a surprise, but for someone obviously closer to the students' age than the parents are, it's funny to be in a situation where even the parents probably considered us as some sort of authorities. Even though we're only in our late 20's. (I'm trying to avoid thinking I'll be 30 this October, yikes.) But for heaven's sake, we're teachers!

It's an odd feeling of somehow sudden professionalism (meaning I still sometimes wonder if I'm actually adult enough to be a teacher...) to notice that teachers are treated a bit differently and that I also interact a bit differently with all kinds of people thanks to my "status" as a teacher. It's a combination of reservation, no-nonsense and roleplaying. And oh my how the students must've thought we teachers were nuts (or just plain embarrassing) when we danced in the nightclub for almost 3 hours straight. All through stuff like Snoop Dogg, 50cent and whathaveyou.

There was even one young guy (not one of our students) who, for some reason still not clear to me, came to me and asked in an honestly puzzled tone "Do you also listen to this kind of music?" The DJ was playing some hiphop song at the moment and I was having a blast "shaking my booty" to it. I just kinda stared at the guy and blurted out something like "Of course I do." I mean, why wouldn't I? Because I'm ancient compared to an 18-year-old? Did I perhaps look even older than nearly 30? Gosh, it still bugs me that I didn't ask him why he asked. :)

Am I not in the target group for hiphop? Probably not, if one thinks about it really, but hey, I don't plan on gathering moss on my way to the bigger numbers. And I have a background of 10 years of oriental dancing.

Anyway, we young teachers survived the cruise, as did our young students and their older parents, too. Fun was had by all (at least as far as I was able to tell) and we teachers got to do some professional self-analysing on the way. And got to be "bourgeois" while at it, too. Heh. Fancy dinners, a bottle of respectable port for "souvenir" and a taxi home.

The event on Sunday was the other thing that got me thinking what the society expects (or seems to expect) of a woman my age. I got free tickets to the NaisDay event from a Celtic Jewellery seller I bought some Christmas presents from. (For those of you who speak English, a short explanation is in place: "Nais" in Finnish is pronounced as "nice" is pronounced in English, but it conveniently has the actual meaning of "relating to women". In other words, the silly Finnish-English name of the event implies both "a nice day" and "a women's day". Pretty nifty, eh? Well, not really. I personally don't like the Finglishms or whatever you might call these mutations of two languages mixed up in one name.)

Aaanyway. I spent a couple of hours browsing through the stalls & watching a couple of performances with my friend - bought a bottle of hairspray and a Celtic brooch for my new scarf. Other than that, the best part of the whole event was the short drag show we saw. It was funny, had really fast costume changes and some pretty fine dancing.

But why is it that I'm expected to want to host all sorts of Tupperware/clothing line/cosmetics/candle/sex toy parties? Sure, I've been to some myself, but I honestly don't feel like I'd like to host one. Not in the very near future, anyway.

Or why is it somehow expected that when I go to an event for women, I'd want to see a psychic? There was a section of "spiritual growth" -related stalls in one corner of the conference center and we couldn't be bothered to even check it out. I'm sorry to say this but I honestly feel like fortune telling and whatever combined with an event like this is almost insulting - how gullible do they think I am?

Or perhaps I don't fit into the target group in this, either. My friend and I may just fit into a small minority of non-believers, boring feet-to-the-ground kinda women. Perhaps the "every woman" likes to go to the fortune teller's desk and hear how her life is going to have a turn to better in the near future. Or maybe the fortune telling is a bad example. If it was free, I'd probably be ok with listening to some mumbojumbo about my future, too. Just for silly amusement. But I wouldn't want to try an ear candle treatment, for example. Which in my books sounds certainly like the kind of rubbish I wouldn't want to try even for amusement, even if it didn't cost a thing.

I'm always amused by magazine sellers, though. They usually start by asking which mag I'd like to order and then they list half a dozen of mags like Cosmopolitan and Gloria. My honest answer? At the moment I wouldn't pay for any of them. Once I did order Cosmo (when the Finnish version was first published), but I found it to be utter waste of time and certainly insulting to my intelligence most of the time. Most of the other mags for women fall into the same category. Sure, I read them when I'm at the hairdresser's, but to order one of them? Nope, no thanks. I'd rather read National Geographic, the Finnish science mag Tiede or the movie mag Empire. Any day. Not surprisingly, they didn't have those available at the event, so I did not order Gloria for 7 months for 25,50 euros. Thanks, but no thanks.

So, I guess I'm not the target group most of the time. Too old for hiphop, too educated (or something) for bogus spiritual treatments and too something (young? nerd?) for MeNaiset-magazine... And yet I am a single woman, soon 30, live in a city and have a respectable job. I fall between target groups in a very odd and effective way. I bet some of you do too.

Still alive here despite the long silence

2007-02-11T16:37:00.000+02:00

Oh wow. The year really got to a flying start, didn't it? The whole of January and almost half a February gone before I get the first post of the year in. And I still don't have much to say, I'm afraid.

Which will probably tell you what I've been up to lately. Yup, work, work, work. The Christmas break was long waited for and sorely needed, and I'm equally happy that there's the winter vacation coming in a week. Yay for vacations! (Not that work has been bad lately, it's just nice to get out of the reach of the students every once and a while, just to have some time for myself.)

Vacations are always something to look forward to (I can't, for example, wait till my summertrip to London and Wales with my friend in June), but at its best work is highly motivating in itself, too. Especially when people give you good feedback on work well done. I got some of that last week and it made my day. The compliments even included a strong hint I might be asked to continue working at the school for at least one more year. Yay! I certainly hope that's going to happen. I really like my "deal" at the moment, combining history, Finnish and tutoring. And if the principals like my input, I'm more than happy to get one more year of work experience from this school.

But this brings forth the nearly eternal problem of finally graduating. I took a pretty serious step forward in that matter today, I'll know more next week. I'm getting so sick and tired of the ghost of the thesis looming behind me all the time that I'm forced to face a few facts in order to get the darned thing to go away. One of them being the fact that work takes most of my time and the thesis has to be done somewhere in between. Which is not a whole lot of time or energy. But if everything goes well, I'll be able to begin ghostbusting for real pretty soon. Keep your fingers crossed, I'll keep you posted.

Ah, better be going now, got to plan some lessons for the week. Ta ta.

Farewell, 2006

2006-12-30T22:30:00.000+02:00

And so, the year comes to an end to the sound of rain. This is certainly the oddest weather for the new year's eve's eve. Clearly I remember new year's eves so cold I could not wear enough clothes to keep warm during the midnight fireworks. Also I remember several new year's eves with lots and lots of snow.

And what do we have now? Temperatures around +5 C and pouring rain. Odd, indeed.

But never mind the weather, I've been saying my goodbyes to this year by enjoying culture. Indoors.

Yesterday I went to see a play called Einstein, Weinstein & Wittgenstein performed on the small stage of the city theatre. It was a delightful romp about the two very famous professors, Einstein and Wittgenstein - and a third guy, perhaps less known by name but definitely known by habit to all people.

As the play is written by M.A. Numminen, the Finns should know what to expect of the text. Lots of witty references to popular culture, a whole lot of stuff from the actual theories of Einstein & Wittgenstein and well, lots of lewdness and absurd humour too.

Turns out that Mr. Weinstein is, as anyone who speaks any German can guess from his name, the master of drinking and intoxication. The "genie of the bottle", so to say. He manages to confuse the two serious professors by his antics - especially Wittgenstein is quite baffled at times. When Einstein tries to explain the world with physics, Wittgenstein through language, Weinstein pours them more wine.

The actor playing Wittgenstein was my new favourite, Mika Kujala, who was Death in the musical Elisabeth. (Remember my squees over him as Death? I thought so.) This time his role had less grandeur, but the socially awkward Wittgenstein was very endearing. He was serious, broody, shy and insecure. And funny as heck.

Einstein was played by Petri Rajala, a favourite of mine for many years now. I've seen him in several plays and even performed with him. (He's also a popular troubadour and he was playing in the same event where I and my friends were dancing - so in the end he played us a serenade and we danced to it. One of my fondest memories of performing!) His Einstein was silly and wise at the same time.

But the funniest of them all was the almost child-like Weinstein, played by Stefan Karlsson. He made Weinstein an epitome of the cliched university student / research assistant. Spending most of his time in bars and pubs, having a jolly good time doing what he knows best. Namely, researching the bottle, its contents and the effects of said contents on people. And for some reason he kept changing hats all the time.

After the play I was humming Wittgenstein's words to a tune they sang at the end of the play. "Worüber man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen." And I remembered why Wittgenstein's theories were among my favourites when I studied philosophy in senior high. In other words, if you have a chance, go see the play. It's entertaining on quite many levels.

Today's dose of culture was a movie. Guillermo del Toro's newest fantasy piece, Pan's Labyrinth (or El Laberinto del Fauno). It's a story of a young Spanish girl, who moves with her pregnant mother to live with her new step-father. It's the year 1944 and Ofelia's step-father is a cruel army captain of Franco's army, who coldbloodedly kills rebels and innocent bystanders alike.

To survive the horrors of her new home, Ofelia escapes to a fantasy world, where she is the long lost princess of the Underworld. She meets a faun in a labyrinth near the mill-turned-military-base she has to call home. The ancient faun gives her different tasks to fulfill in order for her to be able to return to her "real father", the King of the Underworld.

The movie is no bright spring picnic. It's cruel, gruesome and dark. It's disturbing, graphic and yet there is comfort to the idea of a little girl finding a way to cope with the bloody real world.
If faeries and fauns give some relief from the constant fear of the captain or the fear for her mother's and unborn baby brother's health, who can blame the girl?

Del Toro's work is impressive. The cuts between reality and fantasy are seamless, the imagery haunting.

The only thing that annoyed me about the film was the translation. I don't know if it was on purpose (it probably was), but there were ridiculous mistakes in the verb forms the faun used. I don't know enough Spanish to be able to tell whether the original words were also slightly misused archaic forms as the Finnish ones were (you know, of the type "olkootte" instead of "olkaatte" and so on). If they were, and the mistakes in the Finnish version were on purpose, my complains have no base, but until someone can confirm that the Spanish the faun spoke was also a bit off the proper grammar, I'm going to be annoyed. It's not like the old Finnish über-polite verb forms are familiar to most people anymore (they'd probably sound equally odd to almost any Finnish teen, whether they were correct or incorrect), but well, I suppose I'm a nit-picker when it comes to such details.

There. It's already half past midnight, so the last day of the year is well on its way. Since I probably won't be blogging later today, this is where I wish you all a very happy and prosperous year 2007! Let it be a year of wishes coming true for all of us.

See you in 2007, folks. :)

Bits and pieces of my mind - plus penguins!

2006-12-18T18:29:00.000+02:00

I have done myself a huge service. I've scheduled most of my classes this week so that the senior high students have papers to independently do research for (my history class) and little presentations to give (my Finnish classes). Ergo, I find myself blogging on a Monday evening at 6.30 p.m. with all work for tomorrow done. Yay me.

It didn't rain today. I don't think it rained yesterday either. In fact, we've had a few drier days and the temperatures have been falling. There was even a few speckles of snow on the ground this morning. There's still a faint possibility of a white Christmas! Yay winter weather.

On Friday evening I was very tired, and wanted to watch something light and cute for entertainment. What I got from the movie rental place was a French movie called La Marche de l'Empereur or March of the Penguins. It's a nature documentary / family film, which tells the story of the Emperor penguins as they literally march (mostly in single file!) miles to a traditional breeding ground to bring their young ones into the world in the middle of the harshest Antarctic winter.

I found the movie simply stunning. I hadn't known this about the behaviour of the penguins before. They march by the thousands to a particular place, long away from the open waters of the ocean, to find a partner and mate. Finding a partner involves complicate "dancing" and "singing" - and when a partner is found, the pair is monogamous. The female lays one egg and leaves it to the male to guard - for two months without food! While the male penguins keep the eggs warm and protected on top of their feet, the females march back to the sea to feed. In two months time the females, once again, march back to the waiting male and hatching egg. The penguin parents change roles again and the males return to the sea. The females now take care of the little fluffy chicks until they are strong enough to, you guessed it, march to the sea.

May I just say at this point that there is hardly anything cuter than a fluffy emperor penguin chick. The adult penguings are adorable, but the chicks, OMG. I guarantee you that unless you are made of stone and have a heart of ice, you'll go "awww" when you see the little critters fluttering about. My heart was full of warm fuzzy feelings, when the baby penguins explored their world and just plain owned me with their cuteness. I mean, they're round and obviously soft and cuddly, naturally wobbly and when they fall over in the snow to bump on their little penguin bums, I doubt if I could've uttered a sensible word. It was all "awww" for me.

In other words, I warmly recommend the movie for everyone. It's a great family movie, obviously a great movie to watch alone - and honestly, penguins are teh cute. QED. :)

Yay penguins!

Ah, maybe I've now made my point about penguins. :) Time to move on to something completely different...

Often around these last few weeks / days of the year people like to look back on the past year and evaluate it according to whatever criteria they deem appropriate. I decided I'd just list a few "Bests of 2006". I'll add to the list later, as things come to mind.

Best bought CD
Sting's Songs from the Labyrinth. An amazing collection of John Dowland's songs from the 16th century, beautifully interpreted by Sting and Edin Karamazov. If you like historical music, you'll love this. At least I did. I admire Sting for this bold decision to record songs that certainly aren't material for the top10 pop charts.

Best book read
Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl and C.S. Forester's Hornblower novels (Hornblower and the Atropos & Hornblower and the Happy Return) share the top spot for historical fiction, I think. For fantasy, umm, well, Patricia McKillip's Ombria in Shadow was a pleasant enough surprise.

Best new addiction
The Fables, graphic novels by Bill Willingham. Instant love. Quite a few issues missing from my collection yet, but I'm adamant in getting them all into my bookshelf. They'll have a nice place next to my Sandman collection. My meagre collection of graphic novels.

Best purchase
Laptop! Digital camera (bought on Saturday, btw)! But laptop is definitely The One.

Best movie seen
Probably V for Vendetta and Kingdom of Heaven DC.

Best tv-show
Dr. Who takes the top spot here. I have enjoyed also shows like House M.D., Bones, Battlestar Galactica and many more. But Dr. Who offered a refreshing dose of British quirky humour and witty scripting.

Best decision
To start planning on a vacation in Wales next summer! Has kept me going (and saving up money) during the whole rainy, dark autumn.

Well, better think about some more bests and post them later.

Dear deities of the weather

2006-12-11T20:02:00.000+02:00

Please make it stop raining! I'm so sick and tired of constant rain and I want snow! Pretty puh-leese?

Yes, the Northern winter wonderland of Finland is experiencing the warmest December in some 200 years... This is bordering ridiculous. If anyone, I repeat anyone, comes and tells me there are no signs of global warming, I'm going to make them crosscountry ski in this weather! Darnit.

If it only wouldn't rain so much. I wouldn't mind not having really cold temperatures, but the rain is driving me nuts. There was a short two-day period in the first days of November, when the scenery looked like this:

The view from my balcony in the beginning of November.

But alas, the snow melted away and ever since the ecosystem has thought it necessary to keep flooding the country with water. Meh. There aren't many things that make you more depressed than waking up to rain and darkness seven days a week. Snow would have the delightful effect of bringing more light to the gloomy Finnish winter even when the sun doesn't shine that many hours a day anyway.

Besides, it doesn't feel like Christmas is coming at all. I'm more than ready for a vacation, but the feeling isn't here. Another meh. I'm afraid there's just no hope for a white Christmas this year, with temperatures closer to +10 C almost on daily basis.

I just hope this doesn't mean spring will come in June next year... Or that February will boast with four weeks of temperatures around -30 C...

I think I'd better go and write my Christmas cards and listen to the raindrops fall.

A mind is a terrible thing to lose

2006-11-19T20:10:00.000+02:00

Grandpa didn't recognise me today. He didn't recognise me a few weeks back either, when my brother and I went to rake the leaves from their yard. Back then grandpa did know my brother, but had thought that my brother's brought a new girlfriend with him...

So there we were, raking leaves again. This time with mom and dad. I was already busy with my corner of the yard and grandpa had seen me from a window. He had muttered to mom that "There's some girl out in the yard with a rake. Come, look! Who is it? Do you know her?" Mom had explained to him that "the girl" was in fact his granddaughter. Grandpa had looked puzzled and sad. "My head's not working properly anymore. I get confused."

His Alzheimer's is getting worse fast. He doesn't remember that grandma lives with him (he keeps asking her if she lives there and when will she be leaving), he doesn't always even remember my mom (he had asked grandma where does she know her from) and the list goes on.

It really is heartbreaking to watch how a person's mind crumbles. On better days grandpa seems to understand his condition, but today, for example, he has problems with the most common words and if he tries to tell a story, it very soon becomes incomprehensible, because he confuses times, places and names. Sometimes there is no connection between two consecutive sentences.

The silence around the table when he tries to find words is a sad silence. I'm not sure whether it'd be better to try and help him with his sentences or just wait till he finds his words (or falls silent himself). And in the middle of it all, what makes me most sad at the moment is not the thought of me losing grandpa but of mom losing her dad and grandma losing her beloved husband.

There's no way for me to know what it must feel like to foresee the end of a 60 year marriage, but I do know that the thought of losing a parent is frightening as hell. It's something most of us have to face some day, but I can honestly say that I fear the day terribly. And that's why I feel so sad for mom.

I suppose it might have something to do with my life situation. I don't have a family of my own, except for my parents and my brother. No husband, no kids. I've pondered about this before (and the thought is very difficult to put into words, but I'll try...) - does the fact that I haven't gone through the "transition" from being "only" a daughter to, say, being also a wife, make me cling more to my parents? (Agh, how medieval do I sound? The thought is obviously clearer in my head than it will ever be here...) I mean, since I don't have anyone else in this world that I'd love as much, does the fear of losing my parents become a bigger monster, even now that I'm not dependent on them as such? Or do I just have ridiculously unrealistic ideals about "real love" and how it would make a difference? Or am I just being a selfish idiot, who thinks she's somehow different from everyone else, feeling like this?

Or am I just being ridiculous altogether? Agh.

Be how it may, I can honestly say that no matter how quickly this all ends, Alzheimer's has had its chance to show us how cruel a disease it really is.

Random observations of the day

2006-11-06T17:53:00.000+02:00

First observation. If one wakes up in the morning after dreaming about the Russian Revolution of 1917/1918 during the first part of the night and then about one's bank card crumbling into tiny pieces when one wants to pay a dance course (which, oddly enough, was held in a castle somewhere and sadly it didn't make me feel any better) during the second part, one does not feel refreshed. Nope. Somewhat disoriented, yes, but not refreshed.

Second observation. People disgust me sometimes. Like on the bus where a woman was loudly discussing her ugly custody case with someone (most likely a social worker) on the phone. She was getting ruder by the minute and I was feeling bad for the person on the other end of the call. But I guess if the loud lady didn't care about the whole bus hearing how the child's dad has behaved badly or how the social workers had lied to her, I shouldn't care about it either, but for cryin' out loud (literally!)... When I sit in a bus, I do not want to hear about other people's court cases / sicknesses / arguments / whathaveyou. People really should think about the stuff they talk about in public on their cell phones.

Or like the young couple at the bus stop, right after I had survived the first piece of annoying bus behaviour. The girl of the couple (they must've been around 16-17 years of age, I'd say) was dressed in camouflage coloured tight jeans, with a lacing down to the crotch in front. Ewww. The fact that the pants were reeally lowriding doesn't probably even need mentioning. Combined with a winter coat which left her whole lower abdomen bare to the world. Brrr, thought I in the winter weather. But her dresscode was only the first thing that I noticed. I went seriously "eeeewwwww" when she started to squeeze the zits from her boyfriend's face right in the middle of the crowd waiting for the bus. Seriously, how gross can you get? Not much more than that.

Then, a random observation about footwear. Silly, silly fashions. It's now fashionable to have cute boots with an absolutely flat sole. I think most of the boots are nice and I could have a pair myself, but when there's a 4 cm layer of watery slush on the ground - not a good choice. Lots of wet feet squishing about today.

And finally, a random observation about work. I like teaching a lot (especially in senior high), but I hate the junior high "extra stuff", like recess watches and detention duty almost as much. Urgh.

There. Thanks for reading, if you read this. I'm off to do some work.

Silk and Audis for me

2006-11-05T19:52:00.000+02:00

I went to a Halloween party last night. Lots of people, lots of costumes and drinks and dancing and fun. I must admit I find the dress up part of Halloween heaps of fun, especially when almost everyone has gone through the trouble of finding some costume for the occasion.

I have fond memories of the Halloween party we had in the States, when us exchange students were housed in a funeral home for the night (I mean for real, spooky!) and ever since (and probably before too) I've liked costume parties. Which probably explains some of my hobbies, like the Fantasy Feast stuff. Escaping from the boring every day life. Heh.

Anyways, my dress for last night was a real Indian sari and I loved it. I want one for myself too, as the sari I was wearing is actually Satu's souvenir from Goa (a million thanks for borrowing it to me, hon!).

It's certainly a very feminine thing to wrap oneself up in several metres of pretty fabric and my goodness, even with my less than perfect skills of wrapping it, it looked elegant. Very beautiful. I've spent quite a lot of time lately surfing the various sites selling saris on the net, and especially some of the bridal saris are stunning. (Well, I'm probably not likely to be wearing a sari on my wedding day, if such will come in the distant future, but I sure love the idea of having such a beautiful piece of clothing in any case.)

All my enthusiasm about saris resulted in an interesting description of me, by a friend (somewhat tipsy friend, that is) of mine. He happens to know I also love big cars, like the Audi Q7 and he pondered how this combination of wanting to have several metres of gloriously embroidered silk around me, preferably while driving a Q7, makes me "a high class woman". You can imagine I giggled at that. (But at the same time the image seems very enticing, heh.)

The Indian version of me. I should've arranged the pallu a bit better for the picture (pallu is the end part of the sari, the part that comes over the shoulder), but you get the idea. Seems that it requires a bit of practice to learn how to keep the folds of fabric in order...

Feels like I'm repeating myself

2006-10-22T23:56:00.000+03:00

Another year gone and I got older as it went by. Time flies even though I'm not always having fun. (But to be honest, I do have fun most of the time, heh.)

I've already posted two similar posts during my time of blogging, as for some reason a birthday always brings to mind all the things I perhaps lack in life or on the other hand things I have that I should be happy about.

And once again I could basically just "cut and paste" my post from last October 21st (or around there). It really is funny, how little things can change in a year. You would think that a year is a reasonably long period of time in which all sorts of things could happen, but no. It's a reasonably long period of time in which nothing new happens. I'm sure the universe must have a few action-packed years in store for me somewhere. You know, the type of years when I suddenly find myself a future husband, get engaged, graduate, start planning a wedding, win the lottery and buy a nice car and an apartment or something. But before I get that year, I'm evidently stuck with "no news is (supposedly) good news" -kinda years.

In other words, referring to that description of an action-packed year, I've had none of that this past year. But what is nice is that I've got more money now than last year, despite not having won in the lottery. Even though that means that I have practically no free time and skyrocketing stress levels - but at least I'm able to save up money for a long trip to Wales next summer. Even the mere thought of it keeps me going and never fails to cheer me up. In less than a year I'll hopefully see the nightlife of Cardiff, the castles of Caernarfon and Conwy, the quirky "Italianate" architecture of Portmeirion and wander on Roman ruins and ancient Celtic sites. Ahhh.

And if I continue on the path of ridiculously positive thinking, there's no avoiding the fact that time goes by so fast it's soon going to be Christmas and maybe on Christmas vacation I'll have time to do some research too. And, for goodness sake, rest a bit. (And if Christmas comes soon, it'll also mean that June'll be here fast enough also. Did I mention I'm planning on flying out of Finland in June? :) )

Well, time to move on to other topics. Like dance shows. I've got one coming up next Sunday in Uusikaupunki. It'll most likely be the last dance show our dance group Arais El Bahr is ever going to arrange. I've had no time to practice and even though I only dance in three choreographies (of which one is my own solo), I'm feeling a bit uneasy. Hopefully this slight cold I'm having at the moment will vanish soon and I can rehearse during the week so I don't have to go and make a fool out of myself on stage. Performing on stage is fun, but only if I feel like I know what I'm supposed to do... And I'm afraid my solo is terribly boring and blah and aaaaghh.

Oh well. At least I had the sense to say no to two more group dances I had originally thought I'd like to dance in. No Andalucian or Saudi dances for me this time. (But if I'm completely honest, it breaks my heart every time I hear the Andalucian song - it's one of the most beautiful songs I know and I've performed the dance a couple of times before and now I'm not involved. Curse this wretched being that is me for feeling like this, when the only reasonable choice was to stay out of the dance...)

But our show wasn't the one I was going to write about, actually. I went to see the Irish dance show Rhythm of the Dance last night - mom & dad had given me a ticket for my birthday. I had high hopes for the show, thinking about the exuberant Riverdance show I had seen earlier (actually, my post about the show was my first real post here at the Pool a couple of years back) and well, I do love Irish music and dancing.

Too bad I can't say I was thrilled after the show. I would've wanted to be.

First of all, I felt so embarrassed to be a Finn, once again. The audience seemed to be made out of clay people with ironbars for backbones and no capability to express emotions whatsoever. I am (sadly) not even exaggerating when I say I was the only one in the audience (about a half full hall) who clapped my hands during the performances.

People, you are supposed to clap! The absolute silence of the audience can be such a mood killer. The poor dancers were tapping away on stage the best they could and the response was a deafening silence. There were even a few soloists who left the stage without getting any applaudes (except mine, eh), because the Finnish audience seemed to wait for a complete silence to signal the end of a dance. And it doesn't always come, if the show is designed to flow along without breaks.

And I'm sure the very stiff looking mother (and her poised little girl) next to me gave me long looks, when I clapped and cheered during the dances. I could almost feel the chill radiating from her. Agh. People can be such bores! And I truly felt bad for the dancers and musicians, who were trying to get the audience to participate. It took the bodhran player quite a few minutes to wake up the mute and frozen Finns to clap for rhythm during his solo. I so wanted to go and peek behind the curtains after the show to tell the performers that the Finns most likely did like the show, even though it couldn't be seen (or heard, for that matter) from stage.

But then, perhaps the show could've been a little more impressive, maybe that would've made it easier for the rest of the crowd to react. I'm sure the National Dance Company of Ireland will now and for quite some time, if not always, suffer from comparisons to the Riverdance show. And unfortunately I'm going to add to their misery a bit.

The Rhythm of the Dance promises to be "a whole new concept" in Irish entertainment, "a two-hour dance and music extravaganza", "an inspiring epic" which combines "traditional dance, music and song with the most up to date stage technology".

Well. If one has never seen or heard of the Riverdance show, the concept of last night's show might be new. But I couldn't see what the fuss was about. If the new concept was to project pictures and video clips of contemporary Irish life on screen, I'd say the concept artists need to do some more thinking.

I sat to the side of the stage and the screen was only half visible to my seat, which wasn't a terrible loss. When watching a dance show, I'd prefer the background to be quite neutral and preferably not have any brightly dressed people in it. The main focus should be on the dancers and the background visuals shouldn't steal their moments and the interest of the audience. Landscapes and ornaments are fine, but people on a busy street are not.

I also think the story of the show remained quite unclear. It was in the program I bought, but for the life in me I couldn't make out how the story evolved on stage. An easy way to solve this problem would be either to ignore the fact that the show tries to tell a story (a bad solution, since the show is made into a story) or to have short introductions to the dances. In other words the story would've been stronger, if it would've been told "twice". Once with words and once with dancing. It wouldn't break the rhythm of the performance, but it would help the audience. If I hadn't bought the program, there would've been no way of knowing that the dancers were supposed to be Celtic Warriors fighting against evil spirits and higher Gods. Rii-ight.

The music itself was good. Not thrillingly exciting (as some of the Riverdance songs are), but solid Irish dance pieces. And the somewhat odd "Irish Il Divo" trio of male singers did their jobs well. Their choreography consisted of walking from one side of the stage to the other, which was a bit dull. Also the swinging of the jackets was a bit artificial as a part of a choreography for singers. But the singing was good, and one of the singers was very cute, so who am I to complain?

Dancers of the ensemble are, according to the program booklet, the "cream of Irish and Ballet dancers" and it was obvious that they knew what they were doing. Only small glitches, like one dancer having to fix her bra while dancing and one having to collect a piece of her colleague's dress from the floor in the middle of the dance - nothing that a professional dancer can't handle with style and ease.

I thought the male dancers were a bit stronger as a group. More dynamic, more accurate. The girls were very skillfull, there's no question about that, but I suppose it's partly thanks to the nature of the dance that the men appear to have the upper hand (or foot? ehheh). There were some very nice group formations in the choreographies, excellent movement and precision. Although the typical long rows of dancers weren't very long on the small stage and not quite as militaristically precise as the ones Riverdance boasts with.

I don't know how much the small stage forced the group to restrain themselves (or the sets - judging by the pictures in their gallery they do have a bigger ensemble and different set pieces for some events), but on the other hand the smallish stage made the performance feel more personal in a way. I don't know if it's only me and my experiences as a dancer, but I've always liked to get close to the audience if I'm dancing or to the performers if I'm a member of the audience. And since I had a good seat close to the stage, I enjoyed watching the dancers faces and the details of their dresses and such.

All in all I liked the show, but I didn't go home feeling absolutely in awe of what I had seen, like I did after the Riverdance show. I felt like I had seen a good show (even if a little over-priced) and I had enjoyed the couple of hours.

Went to a Book Fair, got some music

2006-10-01T21:53:00.000+03:00

So there. I lost the debate of "to buy or not to buy". I bought. Money has been spent and stuff has been acquired. Curiously enough I spent most of my cash on CD's, not books.

I bought two cd's of medieval music by a Finnish ensemble called Oliphant, the other has songs from the times of the crusades and the other one has spiritual songs from the 13th century. I started to listen to the songs from the crusading years and I think they're beautiful.

In addition to the medieval music I also bought some Celtic music. A very nice and soothing collection - and not the synthetized kind of plingplong stuff at all, but real instruments and acoustic sounds. Good shopping, I'd say.

The books I bought were actually more work-related books than what I had had in mind to buy. I was looking for two specific new books, couldn't find them and ended up buying two essay collections about fantasy as a genre. Tax deductible expenses, whee.

The fair seemed somewhat less crowded than it has been in the previous years, but it could all be just because I left reasonably early and didn't visit on Saturday at all. But nevertheless, it's always fun to stroll around the place, browsing books and chatting with friends.

I even went to the little booth of the city theatre - to get some brochures of the upcoming plays. I noticed that there's going to be another musical next spring, this time about the vikings. In other words, I'm imagining Nordic mythology combined with strong dances and music (preferably with plenty of drums) and, guess what? My favorite Death!

Well, probably not Death this time around, but I did spot the actor from the "teaser poster" of the production. Whee! I did tell the lady at the booth that I had enjoyed their show on Friday and we enthused about the staging and costumes for a while. And I admitted that I had fallen in love with Death. She said she'd tell him he got a new fan. Heheh. But honestly, he does deserve all the praise. And if he's as dashing as a viking - oh my.

The other part of the day's culture was the Bollywood film Parineeta. I thought it was a delightful film. This time around the music wasn't the weakest link at all. Gorgeous clothes, lovely songs and a beautiful love story. I'm definitely glad I went to see it.

And I even got that social studies exam done in between! All this culture and work in one day, I feel accomplished and relaxed. The weekend seemed a little longer with all these activities. And next week, it's all work and no play, so this little break in routines was welcome.

The night I fell in love with Death

2006-09-30T21:29:00.000+03:00

No, I'm not crumbling under the pressures of work, nor have I decided to end my miserable single life (hah, as if), but it has been proven to me (once again) that Death in popular culture is often a very enticing character. Whether it be the snarky gothgirl Death of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, the ever so IMPOSING Death of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels or as in yesterday's case, the blonde charmer in the musical Elisabeth played in the city theatre here in Turku.

The musical had it's premiere a year ago and it's been performed to a full house ever since. It's been nearly impossible to get tickets, but mom had luck a few months ago. She bought a ticket as a birthday present to grandma (dad's side) and three to us, so we (me, mom, dad & grandma, that is) could all go together.

So, almost exactly a year after I met the stars of the show in the local Italian restaurant (while in the company of a relative of the empress Elisabeth - I think I blogged about it back then) I finally saw them on stage.

The story is, of course, the story of the empress Elisabeth of Austria (and later also the queen of Hungary), also known as Sissi. This portrait of her is one of my favorites - especially the Swarowski crystals in her hair... OMG.

She used her beauty to her advance - the hairdo alone took 3 hours to make and the dresses were sewn on her so they would fit perfectly!

Anyway, the musical is the story of her life, told by her murderer (an Italian anarchist, Luigi Lucheni) a hundred years after her death. He tells her story as a tragic love story between her and Death (emperor Franz Joseph is the third wheel of the story, naturally).

The story begins when Sissi is 12 years old. She's been raised a free spirit and one day she performs a circus trick to her relatives. She balances on a rope and falls. This is the first time she meets Death, who in this play is a handsome young man. He falls in love with her.

The events of her life then take her to be the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph's wife. It's a miserable life for her, being caged in by the rules and etiquette of the court. She's also always under the judging eyes of her mother-in-law, who was said to be the only man in Franz Joseph's court...

During her life she meets Death several times and each time he tries to woo her to his side. He wants to be the only love of her life. When he fails, he acts like a jealous lover and first takes Sissi's youngest daughter, then befriends her son, Rudolph, and takes him (the kiss of Death they share - oh shivers! says the little slasher in me!) and once even turns down Sissi's plea to join him. But when the assassin stabs Elisabeth, Death is there to take her finally into his arms and to give her a passionate last kiss.

I had heard in advance that Death was going to be impressive. And I had high expectations of Death's dancers, too. And I wasn't disappointed at all.

The actor playing Death (Mika Kujala) wasn't very tall or handsome in a traditional manner, but my goodness what a stage presence! He had blonde hair to his shoulders (yummy!) and wore long velvet coats (veeeery yummy!) and moved like a (excuse my choice of phrasing here) steamy dream. Compared to his seductive, stalking, energetic performance the lead actor playing emperor Franz Joseph (Tomi Metsäketo) looked like a log of long dead wood (not that his character really had many chances to move around in any way, being emperor and all. It'd be very improper for an emperor to behave like that.). And that's a lot to say, since I really think Metsäketo is very handsome and droolworthy. But he's first and foremost a singer, whereas Kujala is first an actor and then a singer. Which doesn't mean his singing was any worse, not at all. He had an edgier voice and also got some pretty rockish solos. But the movement, oh my god. I've got shivers down my spine even now.

And the dancers! When the two male "Death dancers" came on stage, I couldn't keep my eyes off them. (Only Death himself got my attention over those two, heh.) Imagine two excellent dancers (the other one was actually a international level ballroom dancer, wow!) in Lucius Malfoy -style blonde wigs, floor length burgundy velvet coats and postures to make anyone envious, and you'll understand why my brain went all wobbly in a flash. (Dear lord. What is it with men and blonde wigs? And why aren't those lovely coats fashionable anymore?)

What was disappointing though was that the weakest link of the musical was the music. Not the singing (the lead actress, Théresè Karlsson, had a voice like an angel, Tomi Metsäketo's singing is like soft, creamy chocolate, and Death - well... *grin*), but the music. A bland mix of rock and classical style music, songs that can't be remembered five minutes after the show's over. What a bummer. I wasn't expecting catchy tunes in the style of Andrew Lloyd Webber, but something more original for sure. One of the best performances (once again, excellent singing, even though the song wasn't outstanding) was a duet by Death and Elisabeth's son Rudolph. Death lures him into committing a suicide and before the shot is fired, they sing together. The two actors' voices complimented each other perfectly and finally, as I already mentioned, the quite literal kiss of Death was, umm, hotter than anything that was going on between the emperor and the empress during the play. (Yes, I do have a dark side to me, a slasher side... If you don't know what that means, I'm not going to elaborate now. Sorry.)

But if the music was somewhat bland, the staging sure wasn't. Rarely have I seen the stage technics being used so fully. I loved what they did with the screen backgrounds (images of the sea, of the sky etc.) and lighting. The sets were grand, and the grandest of them all was the set with Death's carriage, which I absolutely adored. A huge misshapen carriage, tilted, half sunk in the ground, pulled by two rearing horses - it was magnificent (albeit a tad difficult to describe) and fit Death's character perfectly.

I couldn't help but think that my students should all see this, just so that they could see how a theatre stage can be anything but dull. Especially the students who saw Shakespeare's Collected Works in a small local theatre last year should see it, just to compare the absolute minimalism used in the comical Shakespearean play(s) (only four actors playing all the parts, only one set used to stage all the plays) to the full capability of a bigger stage.

On the other hand, the changing of the sets seemed a little superfluous at times. A couple of sets seemed to be there just for the sake of showing that they could fit a Moulin Rouge -style cabaret/brothel set and an Italian tivoli set in a musical mostly set in the court of Austria. But since the sets were equally beautiful, it didn't bother me that much. I like eye candy.

In any case, this was the first time I ever saw the crew come to take a bow. There was a good dozen or so people who had been moving the sets around during the fast changes and they did deserve their thanks. Very smooth work indeed.

I noticed that the popular buzz surrounding the play had probably encouraged a few non-theatre-enthusiasts to come to see the musical, too. Two of them sat next to me during the first half of the show. During the intermission they had, however, left their seats for good. I cheered silently when I noticed it. The man who had sat right next to me hadn't showered since his last several drinks of something stronger than water and I had to lean towards mom in order to be able to breath through my nose at all.

I do think it's great that theatre interests all kinds of people, but fercrissakes, take a shower before you come! And wash your shirt. And brush your teeth or take a breath mint, if you think there's a possibility that you stink of old booze! But obviously the play wasn't what they had expected, so to my great relief the person sitting next to me for the rest of the play smelled better.

In short, I was entertained by the show, despite its flaws and I'm glad I saw it. I need to go to the theatre more often now that I could actually afford it, too.

Tomorrow it's time for the annual "Buy or not to buy" -debate inside my head. This is the Turku Book Fair weekend, and I'm going to be sitting behind the desk of our SF-booth (dressed properly in Harry Potter gear, this time meaning a Gryffindor tie and my version of a school uniform) in the morning and then - a quick but effective tour around the place, hoping I won't find too much to buy...

And in the evening it's time for some Bollywood fun. The movie Parineeta is being shown in a local movie theatre just this once and I'm going to go.

Somewhere in between I should prepare a social studies exam for the 9th graders for Monday... Yikes. I didn't get it done today, since I spent all my day cleaning up my place. Talking about trying to avoid one's duties, huh? But seriously, this apartment was beginning to look like a hurricane had landed on it, so I'm very happy I got the cleaning done. Now I can concentrate on work. Somewhere along the line, at least. There's a tiny pile of about 360 pages of text to be graded, for example. Yay for that. Uhh.

Gotta go now, it's getting really late and I've got an early wake up call tomorrow.

Remember, remember...

2006-09-01T20:36:00.000+03:00

Lately I haven't been doing anything much except working. On an average weekday I go to work to start the first lesson at 8.50 a.m, get home around 4 p.m. and continue working till about 10 p.m. On some days I have nearly fallen asleep on my laptop or lessonplans.

Honestly, I know it's not going to be this difficult for long, because soon I have taught all the courses at least once, but at the moment I sometimes seriously doubt the reasoning behind my career choice. Like the other day, when I had a headache and a bit of temperature thanks to the flu I caught about two weeks into the semester and the students were bouncing off the walls when I tried to teach them whatever it was I had planned for the day. It was literally the first time ever the thought "I can't do this" has entered my mind during a class.

Sure, it was mostly thanks to the fact I wasn't feeling too good physically, but it's really not that nice to doubt one's abilities, not even for a while (and especially not in front of a class - I'm glad I got over it fast). But what it really emphasizes once again, is that I can't let myself become exhausted because of work. I know myself well enough to know that I have a tendency to feel really crappy when I'm really tired. In other words, I'm glad I've been able to get to bed early enough on weeknights and keep the weekends mostly clear of anything mandatory. Reloading batteries is very important.

And besides sleeping, reloading with quality entertainment is what I like to do. Last weekend my choice battery chargers were the movies The Libertine and V for Vendetta and the BBC series North and South.

I went to see The Libertine with mom on Friday evening, after a couple of hours of idle shopping and a pizza for dinner. I was interested in seeing Johnny Depp in yet another impressive role, this time in the role of the notorious Earl of Rochester, John Wilmot. His performance is, once again, admirable. He struts his stuff all over with gusto, making the Earl a character worth hating and loving.

I found the movie fairly good, although the acting was better than the story. I liked the way the movie was lit, all shadier and murkier than your average epoch film. It brought a touch of believability into the movie. For once candlelight looked like candlelight, not like an industrial heavy duty flashlight or something.

But the story itself, well, I thought it could've had something more to it. The life of John Wilmot was certainly a tragic story in itself and for example his last speech to the Parliament, bandages hiding his face, deformed by late stages of syphilis, is a touching one. And whereas the speech is touching, the play that the Earl wrote to the King earlier, is flat out outrageous. Or what do you think about commenting on the current reign (as filled with debauchery as it may have been) with a play that flaunts giant dildos and sexual organs on stage? Might be accepted nowadays, but I can easily imagine how it would've been frowned upon in the 17th century. I think I'd like to read some of the Earl's works some day... ;)

Even though I didn't think The Libertine was a great movie, I did think V for Vendetta was one. Absolutely blew me away. I had heard a lot of praise for it, and had wanted to see it for a while. Last weekend provided the perfect occasion - I wasn't feeling like watching some lighthearted comedy or a fluffy romantic chick flick and rented V instead.

I hadn't read the comic, so I had very little knowledge of the story, what to expect from it. Just a week earlier I was in Finncon and walked around Helsinki accompanied by a friend of mine dressed as V. His wife had painted the mask on his face and it looked great. He and his wife had also recently watched the film and had obviously liked it, too. They told me how the fifth of November is mentioned in the film - and I didn't ask any details, which then resulted in a heartfelt "duh!" when I finally understood what it was all about. And I was really glad I had just watched the miniseries Gunpowder Treason and Plot on tv this summer. I actually knew what the background story was about! How much easier it was to understand where V's ideology came from, knowing Guy Fawkes' story.

First of all, I'm in awe of the acting skills of Hugo Weaving (Natalie Portman was very good, too). It's really amazing how he brought the mask to life and made it very easy to feel for V. It's actually exactly the same as it is with Darth Vader. Despite the character having just one expression moulded on his face, the expressive power is there. Body language, tone of voice - wow. And V, I did fall in love with him a little, I admit it. (And naturally I cried in the end - so technically that makes V the second comicbook/graphic novel character that has made me cry. The first being the Sandman, of course.)

And the message of the movie then? Keeping the current events of the world in mind, the movie is downright scary in its accuracy and the image it paints of the future is chilling. And keeping the past events of the world in mind - I don't think I need to even go any further. I'm actually pretty sure I could use the movie as an educational film on several occasions in senior high. The discussions after seeing it would be interesting. And since most kids don't read books like The Animal Farm or 1984 anymore, maybe the power of the dystopian imagery of the movie would make them think. And most of all see a great example of how popular culture can be a powerful tool for social commentary.

And just as I would like to read some of John Wilmot's texts, I'd love to read the original V for Vendetta comics now. I'm pretty sure someone I know is bound to have the albums and I can borrow them. Right?

Ok, so after crying over V on Saturday evening, I radically changed topics for Sunday, but cried nontheless. The BBC drama series North and South was a wonderful story situated in the fairly newly industrialized England. A perfect Austenesque story of love first rejected and then accepted. Ahh. (And I could use bits of this series in class, too, btw. - See how I don't stop working at all?) Made me feel a bit lonely, though. But that's what romantic stuff does to me nowadays, can't help it. I need to get this series on DVD, too. (Just like the Forsyte Saga. I'm not allowing myself to buy it in September, however, since I already bought the Kingdom of Heaven DC today, whee!)

Oh dear, the time. I'd better get to bed now...

Back to school

2006-08-13T19:22:00.000+03:00

Ok, it's time to get into the "back to work" -mood. Tomorrow we have teachers' planning day and on Tuesday school begins for the students also.

Having taken relaxation very seriously last night with Tytti I suppose I'm ready. Sure, it'd be nice to have another two and a half months of peaceful research time, without work related worries, but that'd be called unemployment (or being filthy rich) and as such is not an option at the moment.

So I've spent the day sorting out my papers (should've naturally done that earlier, eh) and doing very light planning work. I guess I'll be ok, once again. And at least I have one thing going for me tomorrow - I still have my brother's cool car (I'm most generously being allowed to borrow it for the time being), because he hasn't been able to sell it yet. So I can drive to work myself! Yay! I feel a bit ashamed to say it, but I hope it takes him a while to sell it, so I can use it for a little while longer...

Ah, better get back to work, then. I have to get most of these papers sorted out by tonight's episode of Bones...

Hmm, when's the next vacation again? :)

Reflections and ramblings

2006-08-09T21:46:00.000+03:00

Recently some of my friends have had to do some reflecting on their lives and priorities. How much of personal resources can be used to hobbies, such as being active in various societies, how can one guarantee that there is enough quality time with spouse / family, what kind of requirements does work set, how to manage with limited income and so on. The serious, real life stuff, you know.

These reflections are necessary in life every once and a while, if not for anything else, then for the simple reason that it's not possible to reflect without standing still for a moment. And stillness is a rare luxury in today's world. People dash around looking busy, feeling stressed out and probably achieving less than they could, because they have too many things they're trying to do at one time.

I think I'm very much in the middle of a situation like that. Granted, I don't have a family (meaning a husband and kids of my own) to worry about, but I definitely recognise the feeling of (false) inadequacy, which is the result of having too much to do almost at any given moment. False inadequacy, because I know these things aren't in any way impossible for me to do. But seems they are impossible to do simultaneously, eh. Like reading thesis related books, exam books and planning upcoming lessons at the same time. There's the tiny little limit of not having three sets of eyes, hands and brains to deal with everything at once.

Sure, these are just questions of organising one's time a little better. In this case it may mean I'll skip the exam, because I just haven't had time to study for it (I very nearly broke down in frustrated tears today, trying to understand the damnable economics stuff) and concentrate on doing lesson plans. And since school starts next Monday, the thesis stuff will be limited mostly to weekends from now on, anyway. So, in theory, problem solved - only that if I skip the exam, I'm probably moving the date of my graduation once again further down into the future. Argh. (But if I do go to the exam not having read enough, I won't pass anyway and I end up in the same situation after having "wasted" several hours to trying to scramble through the materials, whereas I could've used the hours for working on the lessons... Sheesh.)

And school then, oh my. It's really quite ridiculous that I'm getting nervous about it again. I should know by now that it's work I'm fully capable of doing (and I'm not too bad at it, either - if I may say so myself), and yet the feelings of doubt and insecurity are back. I wonder how many years of teaching will it take to get rid of this...

I suppose it'll get easier when I've taught all the courses through at least once. Now I have 8th grade history and 9th grade social studies that are completely new to me. I've taught bits and pieces of them, but never the full year. And even the start of the 7th grade history is foreign territory to me, since I didn't teach it last year. In other words, come next Tuesday I'll have three completely new courses beginning, which means quite a lot of work in the evenings for me. Yikes.

Ok, so if I now had to list my current priorities in life, the list could be made very short and simple. (It could also be made a long, rambling list of many things, but I'll keep it simple for now.)
1. Graduating asap, no excuses
2. Doing my best at work, trying to motivate the students and be a good teacher (preferably without sky high stress levels, or 14 hour work days, pretty please?)
3. Maintaining meaningful friendships, because friends keep me sane (and since I don't have a boyfriend to spend quality time with, my friends are my quality time)
4. Family (I have to make time for grandma&grandpa, since grandpa is not going to be around for long anymore)
5. Hobbies (dividing time between rehearsing for one more dance recital to be held in October, editing a fanzine and so on...).

In other words, at this moment my work and my research go before everything. I expect I'll have to seriously cut down my responsibilities elsewhere. For example I'm pretty sure I won't be editing Spin next year anymore. I just don't have the time, sorry to say it.

And that's one heck of an important lesson to learn. To learn to recognise the limits of one's resources. I know I'm having a hard time with it, and some of my friends struggle (or have struggled) with similar problems. The core of the problem is (at least for me) that it's fun to participate and be active, but if there aren't enough people who share that attitude, the workload soon becomes too heavy to handle.

But on the other hand, a simple, stressless life would be awfully boring, right?

After all this seriousness, I'm off to watch Gerard Butler as Attila the Hunn. Heh. That'll keep my thoughts off anything too serious for a while.

Fantastic times

2006-08-07T15:22:00.000+03:00

Last weekend was the Fantasy Feast weekend. FF is a tradition of the Turku SF society and this was the seventh time the Feast was organised.

Basically, it's a weekend spent in Sauvo, where the City of Turku has a youth camp center by the sea. People come (dressed in medievalish / fantasy outfits) to relax, participate in different kinds of games and activities, sing, dance, eat and generally have a good time.

This was the second time I was involved in organising the Feast and it was a nice experience, once again - even though the fewer organisers meant a whole lot of working hours per person and ridiculously sore feet for most of us. (I still walk a bit stiffly...) But what's a little pain, if the people who paid to visit the Feast were happy? It seemed that especially the kids who were present had had a brilliant time. I bet they'll have some fun memories.

The most of my Saturday was spent on the beach, under a truly scorching sun. First there was the Tournament and then I supervised a couple of hours of archery practice. No shade anywhere and it must've been closer to 35 Celsius (maybe even more?) , which is a little bit too much for me, too. I generally don't mind heat, but in this weather I'd rather stay in the shade, not under direct sunlight.

Anyway, nobody got hurt while trying out the longbow and the crossbow and I was able to try out my own bow & arrows properly. Seems that I have managed to make arrows that fly pretty swiftly without any wobbling and the bow is beginning to feel, well, mine. Yay me! Too bad I only just realised I should've asked someone to take a few photos of me with my archery gear... Oh well, maybe next time.

For a fantasy fan and a silly romantic like me the FF weekend is a perfect escape from the routines of everyday life. I simply love to see what kind of outfits people have, for example. This time we had as visitors a Shaman, a very impressive Black Wizard with his lady, a group of renaissance style Highwaymen, a few Tudor style noblemen, a Fool, a Wood Nymph, A Barbarian, several beautiful elven and human ladies and so on. It's so nice to see that many people clearly put time and serious effort into their costumes.

On Saturday night, after we had closed the Jumping Dragon Inn at midnight, I wandered to the dark beach wrapped in my cloak, just to watch the stars. If there are moments that are magical, that was certainly one of them. The starry sky (with an occasional shooting star!), the sea, the splashes of fish in the shallow water, the solitary cries of birds... It wasn't all quiet this time, since the Black Wizard was further down the beach playing his tin whistle, which suited the atmosphere just fine. So there I was, wrapped in several metres of purple velvet, under the stars... Very meditative and relaxing - a definite highlight of my weekend. And honestly, if a hobby can offer me moments like these, I can happily remain a romantic and a wannabe elf. :)

Here are a few photos from the Feast. Not very many of them, since I really didn't have time to take that many pics, since I was busy with my duties as an organiser.

This is me wearing the medieval(ish) outfit I made myself. I'm standing in front of the Jumping Dragon Inn.

Wizard Pyroforius was kind enough to perform a spell to light the fire. And a powerful spell it was, too. The blast of flames was huge. This pic, however, is taken a few moments after the biggest burst.

Visitors hanging out at the main square.

A view from the beach, at dusk.

Yours truly, once again. (Did I mention I love that cloak?)

A lady and a courtier.

Like father, like daughter. I was told later that she thought the FF Saturday had been the best day of the summer. How sweet is that?

See how these little wizards are having the time of their lives!

And here are the organisers on Sunday. Tired, but happy.

I don't have any pics from any of the actual events, such as the Tournament, but if you'd like to see more of the Feast, you can visit Tero's Fantasy Feast pic gallery or Pasi's Fantasy Feast pic gallery.

I'm probably completely nutters for saying this, but I'm looking forward to the next time. My thanks go out to everyone who came to the Feast and had a good time and of course to my fellow organisers. I hope to see you all again in, umm, perhaps 2008? ;)

Just me, my laptop and this mellow Sunday

2006-07-23T18:42:00.000+03:00

I have achieved nothing today. Absolutely nothing, at least if only stuff that I should be doing is counted. I did finish reading a good book and knitted some (I'm making a poncho for Satu this time). Other than that, I've just slept, eaten, watched television and listened to the construction workers build the scaffolding outside our building. I feel sort of bad for so completely slacking all day, but darned if I can be bothered to do anything anymore. Too late, heh. I'll have to make up for the lost time tomorrow, then. Monday's are good days for getting back to work, right?

Last time I wrote, I was on my way to get me some sea legs on a nice boat trip to the archipelago. And what a wonderful trip it was! Unfortunately I had only my old camera with me, so no pics this time.

Heli's parents boat was very nice. Huge. I'm not exactly sure how long it really was, but I figured it must've been at least some 20 metres long and completely equipped for seafaring also over longer distances, to Denmark and so on (that's where Heli's parents went with the boat earlier this summer). The five of us (me, Satu, Heli and her parents) were quite comfortably accommodated and I'm sure at least another five people would've fit in still reasonably well. We didn't, however, get to try out the in-boat-sauna, since it would've heated up the cabin in the aft, where Satu and I slept.

But a couple days at sea and I felt like I had been away from home for at least a couple of weeks. In a good way, too. There was something unbelievably relaxing in the low growl of the engines, the waves hitting the boat and the shores... We girls spent most of our time basking in the sunlight on deck, reading, talking or napping. (And I've got the sunburns slowly turning into a tan to prove it.) I'm more than willing to say that it was the highlight of my summer. I loved every minute of the trip. I so love to be at sea and it's too bad I don't have the means to do it more often. (Perhaps I have to add a boat to the list of requirements of that Special Someone, hah.)

To make the trip even better, we spent the second night at Heli's family's summer cottage in the archipelago. A truly stunning place. A beautiful (and big) summerhouse (can't really call it a cottage) built high up on a rocky hill, facing the open sea. My god, I could've stared into the distance from the balcony for hours. But the sauna beckoned us, and I finally got rid of my "winter coat" as the saying goes. The water wasn't very warm, but it was still nice to swim in the sea. Relaxation extraordinaire, I tell you!

On Saturday evening I had a garden party to go to. Hobbiton's garden party had been long awaited and turned out it had been worth waiting for. Tytti and her hubby do throw very nice parties. We drank a ridiculous amount of fresh strawberry margaritas, ate well and had a good time. What wonderful friends I have.

A week ago on Monday I got to try something completely new to me. I took a short course on making wire jewelry! Heli has been doing wire jewelry for a while already (and she's advanced into silver wire) and she urged me to come and try it, too. And surely enough, after some five hours of twisting, sawing and fumbling about with tiny loops of wire I had managed to make a nice ankle bracelet out of brass wire and decorated it with glass beads. Go me!

I'm discovering all new handicrafty sides to my life - within a year I've made myself a longbow, a Harry Potter scarf, a poncho (and a half) and an ankle bracelet. In other words I've tried woodworking, knitting and metal work and managed to not mess everything up or get injured myself. Yay.

Well, perhaps I shouldn't consider changing professions quite yet, but new hobbies can be a nice way to break the routines.

One old hobby definitely remains, though. Reading. I just finished reading Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife today. A piece of maintstream literature, which was pure fantasy or science fiction. I suppose Niffenegger didn't intend to write an sf-novel, but that's what it was. Not too bad at it, either.

The story was that of Henry DeTamble and his wife, Clare. He has a strange genetic disorder that makes him travel in time. On these travels he meets Clare, his future wife, and visits her randomly when she grows up. The timeline of the story is, if I'm allowed an understatement, somewhat garbled as Henry travels from his present to his past and future, little by little revealing the whole love story between Clare and himself.

I found the book a reasonably entertaining read. However, I think many readers who haven't read any sf will find it more refreshing and new. For me the idea wasn't anything groundbreaking, to be honest. But as it was a well-written piece of literature, I enjoyed reading it. In other words, it was good literature, but not so good sf. But since it wasn't written as an sf-story, I probably shouldn't judge it as such. But you know, zebras can't get rid of their stripes and I'm pretty stuck with my sf-background when it comes to time travelling stories.

Oh, and another literature related piece of my mind. I just noticed the other day that they're making a movie version of The Other Boleyn Girl! I hadn't known about it before, but now - I can't wait! It'll have Eric Bana (!) as Henry VIII and Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman as Anne and Mary Boleyn. Sounds good to me! Something to look forward to, in addition to the third Pirates movie...

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

2006-07-11T22:43:00.000+03:00

I'm so excited! I'll get to go sailing for a couple of days this week (from Thursday to Saturday)! Or technically, not sailing, since it's not a sailboat we'll be on, eh... I don't actually know what kind of a boat it is, exactly, but I do know it's supposed to be quite big. An old wooden motor boat of some sort, with sleeping places for over 10 people and a sauna on board. This is how it has been described to me and I'm already loving it.

It's been ages since I got to go out on sea. If the weather stays like this, we'll have a magnificent trip, I'm sure. The archipelago is beautiful, I love love love the sea and absolutely need to get swimming soon! I can't wait!

And it will all fit my sea-faring mood perfectly. I saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie today. I went to the press viewing with Tytti, even though we do both have tickets for tomorrow evening, too. It'll be fun to see it again, though, this time with a bunch of friends. I'll post a longer review later, but I'll say this much. I had a good time, even though I must admit I was slightly disappointed on the whole. But not in the least bit disappointed in the hotness of Orlando. Still there. Very muchly so. ;)

Anyway, I'll get back to all things marine probably on Sunday or something. It'll be all adventures of pirates of the Caribbean and of the Uusikaupunki archipelago then. Arrr!

(But why is the rum always gone? Yo ho, yo ho...)

Jousting the night away

2006-07-08T21:22:00.000+03:00

Last weekend saw Turku go back in time to the 15th century, as the medieval market lured some 100 000 people to see what life in town all those centuries ago might've looked like. I spent quite a while browsing through the stalls and enjoying the atmosphere, just like I do every year. It was fun, even though I was recovering from a cold and didn't even dress properly for the occasion (it would've been doubly as hot and uncomfortable wearing a velvet dress), but even dressed in a more modern fashion, I got some money spent...

But what was more interesting this year, was that there was a horse tournament for the first time. You know, knights on handsome horses, sporting against each other with lances and stuff. Well, naturally it was all done in somewhat smaller scale than I imagine tournaments for example in England would be , but nevertheless I had a good time cheering for the knights who were trying to show off their skills. I had mom's digicamera with me, and I took quite a few photos. And here are a few to show what the Finnish knights could do.

The Black Knight shows off his skills before kidnapping the King's daughter.

And so he rides away with the damsel, clearly in distress.

Is there a noble enough knight to save the King's daughter?

Will it be the Blue knight?

Or perhaps the Red one?

Or the Blue and Gold knight?

And in the meanwhile, the Black knight imprisons the lady.

The knights are given tasks to prove their might. Picking up the King's daughter's "petticoat" with a spear is one of them.

Picking up rings with a sword is another.

And one should not forget the slashing of the cabbages...

Mightiest of the knights on his mighty steed.

And they also rode against each other...

The Black knight approaches with no good intentions.

He sets fire around the two knights and they are forced to ride through the flames to safety.

And then there's a terrible skirmish, in which the Black knight is defeated. Or so it seems.

Having made a miraculous recovery, the Black knight returns. And in the end, love wins it all as the Black Knight and the King's daughter aren't too displeased with each other after all...

Not a very original storyframe, but entertaining, sure. Funnily enough the knights seemed to communicate mostly with grunts, growls and arrrr's, but luckily the Fool was articulate enough to elaborate on what they clearly were meaning to say.

The horses were very well trained for the job, they patiently galloped about with their respective knights trashing about with this and that weapon. Very admirable.

I'm hoping I'll get to try some of this "medieval riding" at the Rohan stables where the riders came from. It'd be great to have a try at it before travelling to England (next summer, if everything goes well) and hopefully seeing a tournament in slightly grander surroundings. Like at one of the shows of these people.

My days in the Tudor court

2006-07-04T13:44:00.000+03:00

Thanks to Tigerlily's indirect recommendation, I've just finished reading what is without a doubt the most entertaining and spellbinding book I've read in a while. I stayed up till 3 a.m. last night reading it, and didn't get up from bed in the morning before I had finally finished reading it. (My logic being that once I finished reading it, it wouldn't disturb my work anymore and therefore it'd be better to read the rest of it pretty quickly.)

Philippa Gregory's novel The Other Boleyn Girl was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It tells the story of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Mary is the first Boleyn girl to catch the King's eye and she becomes a pawn in her family's game of politics and power in the Tudor court. She is already married to another man, but nevertheless she is ordered into the bed of Henry so that her family of Howards and Boleyns would get the King's favour.

The basic story is sadly familiar from history. Mary is cast aside as Henry's interests turn to the French-court-schooled sister of Mary, the dark and vivacious Anne. She wrappes the King around her little finger and marries him, after he has coldly removed his wife of two decades, Queen Katharine, from court and had his first marriage annulled.

From there on it is all just a question of breeding, really. Will the new Queen provide the nation with a strong male heir? Everything looks reasonably well, when the little princess Elizabeth, the future Queen of unrivalled magnificence, is born. But no son, no prince is born. In the tireless rumour mill that is the court of Henry, the Queen Anne is soon ground to pieces and her destiny is the sharp blade of the executioner's sword.

Although I was familiar with the history, the story still captured me. Gregory writes in a very simple and charming way. Compared to the excellent Lymond Chronichles (by Dorothy Dunnett) I've also been reading lately this was certainly an easier read to a non-native English speaker, if nothing else. I don't mind difficult language at all, it's part of the charm of Dunnett's work (and a challenge!), but Gregory's was the style of storytelling (and use of English language) I'd like to master myself.

In addition to the easy-flowing language, Gregory's choice of telling the story in the first person, in Mary's voice, is very effective. It enables the reader to relate to her, brings her character closer. And that, if anything, is a good sign in a historical novel - in any novel, really. I wouldn't want to read about a character I didn't care the least bit about.

Mary's life is a life of a courtier, and she isn't allowed to decide for herself, not until later in life. She struggles with her conscience as she beds the King while the Queen, whose lady-in-waiting Mary is, turns a blind eye to it all. She struggles to accept and obey her sister's every whim, as Anne replaces her as the favoured Boleyn girl. She cries bitter tears when Anne adopts her and Henry's bastard son, just so Anne could claim young Henry was a legal heir to the throne. But after it all, she is the Boleyn girl who wins it all, as she keeps her life when other Boleyn heads roll - literally. And of course, she also finds True Love. (And that courtship is described so endearingly, that it was nearly impossible to not feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Awww. Nice balance of "fade to black" and telling it all, also. - This is a comment that will probably best open up to the fanfic writers out there...)

All in all, I thought the novel described Mary and her life in the court very believably and entertainingly. Made me want to be able to travel back in time to Henry's court to see the grand masquerades and listen to the courtiers' poems myself. (Not to mention to see some of the gowns described, my gosh.) And besides, after reading a fictional description (even though admittedly quite well researched) of the court life, I'm once again pretty happy that I chose Henry's reign as my thesis topic. What a fascinating period in history it was.

On a tangent line of thought, I do have to say that writing a historical novel is, in a way, also a dream of mine. I've even toyed with an idea for one for a couple of years now. It'll probably never come to anything (I think I need a better idea, first of all), but it really would be a great way for me to express my enthusiasm about history and literature in the same package. I don' t know if I'd want to be a full-time professional researcher, but since I do like doing research and writing and telling stories about history, what better way to combine them than to write historical fiction? (Especially since I will, hopefully, have a steady income from teaching, heh.)

Ah, but I suppose I'd better get off this research break and get back to the non-fictional times of Henry VIII. Today's reading includes some 200 descriptions of different kinds of letters and papers from the year 1540. I've got to browse them through carefully enough to find any and all references to the Order. I've gone through some 800 documents already, and so far I've been able to find less than 20 documents... I hope that the personnel at the Order's archives in London will be able to point out more documents to me, as they said they could probably help me with my research. (And yes, this is just one part of the huge collection of documents from Henry's reign, so I expect I still have some thousands of descriptions to go through, yikes. Help would therefore be more than welcome...)

Feeling cheerful

2006-06-12T22:19:00.000+03:00

Ah. A week of summer vacation gone (nine left, yay), various projects coming along fine and some seriously good summer shopping done and summery weather enjoyed muchly.

What else could a girl want? (Ok, I could list a few more things, eh...)

Funnily enough it took me about two days to fall into my daily "schedule" of vacations. Which means that I very rarely get to bed before 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. isn't exactly impossible either. Then I just allow myself to sleep in some. Not the best possible way to get everything done, but seems to work for me. You know, some people are morning people and some people, like me, just aren't. Although I do have to admit it'll be painful in August to try and get back to the work routine again, leaving for work little after 8 a.m. and getting to bed early enough... But I'll worry about that when the time comes closer. Now I can enjoy my quiet hours of the night, by the computer, reading a book or knitting. Isn't vacation fun?

In a completely unrelated matter, I have something to confess. I just love Indiska and I think I'm somewhat addicted to it. Ok, so anyone who knows me around here, knew this already, but I just had to say it out loud. :) You know, "Hi, my name is N.N. and I'm an Indiska-shopaholic." Luckily I don't usually have the money to shop too much anywhere, so my Indiska addiction has been pretty well under control. But sometimes, ah well, the body is weak.

My latest purchases include a surprising item - a lime green piece of clothing. I never, ever thought I could wear anything lime green, but turned out it suits me just fine. I bought a Indian style longer tunic of the colour and I'm already guessing it'll be my favourite piece of summer wear this year. With matching jewelry. :)

How shallow can a person be? I feel utterly ridiculous being so happy about something I bought. But well, I had to buy myself some summer clothes anyway and wouldn't it be awful if I didn't like what I purchased? I suppose it all comes down to the simple joys of life again. I'm easily pleased and not particularly afraid to confess I'm a materialist, at least to some extent. Now if I could only find some nice (and sort of cheap) summer shoes to match... ;)

But so that everyone will see that I haven't become a total airhead, there are also some more serious matters I've been pondering lately. Reading my thesis related books and listing the documents I'll be needing has lead me to wonder whether it'd actually be cheaper for me to fly RyanAir to London for a couple of days to go to the archives myself.

Ordering copies of all the relevant documents is going to be awfully expensive, I'm afraid. First there's a £10 fee for an official estimate of how many copies I will be needing from the National Archives where most of the letters and documents of Henry VIII's reign are kept. Then every batch of copies (I do still have to find out what kind of number of copies is included in a batch, or series) costs another £10 and so on. So let's say I need to order some five or six sets of copies (which to me sounds like an underestimation of huge proportions), the sum would be some £70. Quickly calculated that makes a bit over 100€. Then I can consider the RyanAir flights, around 30€ one way to London. Naturally I would have to spend at least one night in England, if I'm really, really optimistic about the amount of quick copying I can get done in a day (provided everything goes nicely in the archives of the Order and the National Archives), and that will naturally be more than 40€, even in the best case scenario. But still, if I need more copies than six batches, it all suddenly becomes more reasonable to consider going "on location". Besides, if I go to the archives myself, I can avoid copying irrelevant stuff, which isn't the case when ordering copies based on a short description of the document.

This really is bothering me quite a bit. In any case I'm probably going to have to rely on mom&dad's help to pay for the stuff (and I'm not even thinking about the printing costs of the actual thesis later on) and it bugs me that I have to begin to count my cents to finish my studies. And to think that some people get paid to do a thesis... Ah, the injustices of the world. What is a poor historian to do, but to quietly empty her pockets to the altar of research, hoping in vain for some compensation for her troubles... (I just have to keep thinking about the better income from teaching after I graduate. Which helps a lot, in fact.)

And another point to ponder. One of the key studies I'm now almost done reading mentions the Order only once in a footnote and a name of a high ranking official of the Order is mentioned once, as well. Woohoo. A lot of good it does for me. Except for teaching me a valuable lesson in research semantics. The Order is not a religious order by the definition of this particular study, which in every other way is excellent and extensive.

In other words, my research really seems to be falling into a "research void", which of course is what every historian hopes. I just hope it doesn't prove to be too great an obstacle (/challenge) for my puny thesis to overcome. God, that'd be horrible if I couldn't actually write my thesis on this topic. That'd mean I'd have to switch topics basically "in flight" and then put it together in less than two months' time. Keep your fingers crossed that it won't come to that... Yikes.

Anyway, I'm feeling rather optimistic about everything (well, perhaps not about the business economics exam in August, heh) and plan on working accordingly. Hopefully I'll be able to have that graduation party around the 21st of October. Just don't hold your breath quite yet.

Kinda like summer vacation

2006-06-01T20:44:00.000+03:00

My first full academic year of teaching comes to an end this Saturday. I'm facing a 2 month unemployment period (aka the summer vacation I don't actually have) during which I'm employing myself by writing my thesis (which, sadly, doesn't pay me a cent).

However, I'm actually looking forward to digging into my research, because it means I don't have to teach anyone for two and a half months... Ah, no students of any age until mid-August! :) Just me and my laptop (got a brand new one last week, yay!) and my research stuff. The thought is very motivating and oddly relaxing, although I know it's going to be a lot of work. Especially since I have to take a few exams during the summer months, too. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll finally pass the accursed business economics exam and the exam on political sciences. I have no worries over the exam in Finnish history, but these other two... Urgh. But I simply have to pass this time, because I won't have time to retake them in the fall.

So, I'm eagerly looking forward to my summer vacation of sorts. At least I can plan my own schedules and don't have to grade any papers! And come next summer, I'll actually get a paycheck during the summer months too. The thought makes me very happy already a year in advance. Small joys of life. :)

When hell froze over and other entertaining events

2006-05-21T15:29:00.000+03:00

Finland is in turmoil. People are seriously questioning their mental health and the number of pinches given and received within the last 12 hours has, without a doubt, at least quadrupled. There are even people who think that it has now been proven that alternate realities do, in fact, exist.

What happened? Well. Finland won the friggin' Eurovision Song Contest with the monster rock number Hard Rock Hallelujah! by the awesome monstergroup Lordi. Yay to the millionth power!

I thought I'd never be able to write an entry like this. Ever. It wasn't supposed to be possible. It was supposed to be more likely for mankind to find life on Mars than Finland to win the ESC. We've participated some 40 times and up til last night, the record was pretty poor. Loads of zero points, awful performances (and I mean some truly dreadful ones) and last places on the score board.

But no more. Lordi rocked the whole continent (and then some) and did what nobody thought they could do. Took the price home and brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Helsinki for 2007.

I couldn't be happier for the band. Their appearance is such that there has been endless debates in the media about whether or not they are some sort of satanists or something. Well, to make things quite clear, they're NOT. And for them to win after having to face so much prejudice and ignorance - awesome!

So now as hell has frozen over (the other thing more likely to happen than Finland winning), it's time for the Finnish national broadcasting company to start thinking about the tiny little business of arranging the contest next year. I wonder what'll become of that. But for the first time in years I'll actually be interested in this carneval of camp humour that the ESC is. Go Lordi! You rrrrraaawwwwkkk!

Other entertaining events include an evening at the movies. Went to see the Da Vinci Code with Tytti and Jani. And I was entertained. Just as I wanted to be, when watching the movie version of the novel.

I think this movie is, once again, a prime example of people taking things too seriously. I can't understand what it is with people and their lack of understanding the concept of fiction. Sure, there are historical factoids (and even some real facts) included in the story, but fercrissakes, it's still mostly fiction and written with the aim to entertain (and obviously earn the writer a few bucks), just like any other lightweight novel.

What never seizes to amaze me, however, is the whole different set of standards people tend to apply to novels that deal with the church and its past. Or perhaps it's envy talking. Here's this mediochre author, who just happens to stumble over an old idea (and yes, that's what the story is) and manages to wrap it up in new covers and make a bazillion dollars out of it. So stop whining - the Templars, the Holy Grail, the Catholic church with its mysteries and the works of Da Vinci have been out there for centuries, up for grabs for any storyteller. If you didn't think of writing the novel yourself, get over it and find another idea.

And the ever powerful Catholic church should get over it, too. I mean, they really should be more worried about how the ban on birth control devices is spreading death and disease and creating misery for thousands and thousands of people around the worlds, instead of waving their fists at some piece of literature, in this case a.k.a. fiction. And if they're really so worried about people getting the wrong ideas about the church and/or abandoning their Catholic faith because of possible misconceptions about the role of Mary of Magdala in Jesus' life or such organisations as Opus Dei - once again, stop whining about it and start a facelift of sorts to attract the "lost lambs" back. And to be frank, if a simple fictional story about the holy grail can make the church feel so vulnerable, isn't there something wrong with the picture in the first place?

Anyhow, back from the land of rant... I thought the movie was a perfect way to spend a Saturday evening after a truly horrible week of work. Relaxing and amusing, with a hint of history and mystery and some action, too. Spot on for me in my state of mental awareness. :)

I actually liked the way they brought the past into the present of the movie by using "ghosts of the past" as a visual aid. And even though the characters had to solve some of the riddles a bit quicker than in the book, they still were awfully slow with the missing orb and Sir Isaac Newton's grave. :) And Paul Bettany's Silas. He was disturbing, just as he was supposed to be. I often quite like Bettany's work and this role was no exception.

Now it's time for me to get back to work. Tomorrow's the last prep course session before the rehearsal exam. Yay! Then it's only the exam and a review session a week from Tuesday. despite the course being loads of fun, I'm going to be so happy to be done with it. At least for a year. Phew.

Living la vida loca

2006-05-12T21:31:00.000+03:00

Phew. I'm still alive. A cause for minor celebration, I'd say. Something like allowing myself to go and watch a little bit of Bride and Prejudice or something. Basically just kick back and relax for a short while. I think I've deserved it.

This May seems to be turning into a month of all work and no play, with the prep course going on (we're already two thirds done with it, as far as the materials go), the first week of the month having been a week of triple work (my lessons at school, my mom's lessons at school while she was in Paris and the prep course in the evenings) and now all the essays & 7th grader exams are piling up on my desk, just waiting to be graded. I could use some five extra hours in my days right about now. I'd probably use three of them for sleeping, mind you. But it'd be all for the best anyway, I'm sure. As it is (without the five extra hours), I'm feeling pretty battered. (And hug-deprived, but that's another matter entirely, heh.)

The prep course, no matter how exhausting, is solid good fun. Highly motivating for me, and challenging, too. This year's group is a bit livelier than the one I had last year, possibly at least partly because there are several students that are a bit older than this year's graduates from high school. They seem to have the nerve to interrupt me and ask tough questions, which is such a good sign. Although they do tend to stick to the more irrelevant questions, like the names of people in lower positions in all sorts of committees during the 1840's in Finland - which is so not the point of the book. There is still some historical thinking to be learned there. I keep telling them to think about the questions "why?" and "how?" so that they'd get the required depth to their essays, but it seems to be a tough nut to break, finding the relevant "chains" of cause and effect. But it's great to see how they start getting better results.

What is going to be interesting is to wait for the results of the entrance exam itself. At this point I think there are several students who have a very good chance of getting in, some that have a good chance if they keep working hard and a few who really need to work on their essays. But that's the way it was last year, and most of them got in just fine. I'm just going to be probably almost as nervous as the students will be, waiting for the day when the results come.

Having said all this, I must admit, once again, that I'll be sooo relieved when I'm done with the course. Which'll be on the 30th. I'll be so ready to not have to teach anything for a while. I can just concentrate on my own stuff, according to my own schedules (hmm, I think I may have to spend some time soon just planning that schedule). I'm actually quite looking forward to it. I just hope I'll get my research well on its way soon, meaning that I hope I'll be able to get all the materials I need without too many problems. If that happens, I can just sit down and write, write, write. (And read, read, read.)

But until then, I'll just try to keep my head above the waves, so to say. There are things that need to be done before June 3rd, and there can be no excuses. However, now it's time for some silly Bollywoodish entertainment or something, tomorrow is the day for the next ton of work.

It's that time of the year again

2006-04-20T19:01:00.000+03:00

Could someone kindly tell me where did the whole of April go? It can't be this late in the month already - it was supposed to be a long while before this year's prep course begins, and now it's finally dawned on me that it starts next Wednesday. Sheesh.

This year's course has more students on it than I had last spring. Maybe it has helped that my course was mentioned in the company's brochure as a course with a record-high acceptance rate into the University. Apparently my 70% result was pretty good - and of course it was. I was stunned myself. Anyhow, now I have at least 16 eager wannabe-historians to coach, starting next week. The course will take the whole May, three evenings a week, so I foresee a lot of stress and scurrying to get everything done, but heck, the course will be so much fun to teach. And while at work I can now concentrate on the kiddies (7th graders' history is all I have in my schedule), who don't need to write dozens of essays, I may be able to survive everything. :)

Oh, and marvellous news on the "real" job front. It is now almost 100% certain I'll get the fulltime job for next year! Wheeee! It seems I beat a few PhD's to it - nobody else has the required subject combination of both history and Finnish. This is very good news, also in the sense that now I know there aren't that many people around with the same competence as I have. Hopefully it'll be an ace in my sleeve also in the future. And to be able to say I've got two full academic years' worth of experience teaching both subjects in both junior and senior high - it can't be bad. Yay!

All in all, a good day today. Got my tax papers: come December I'll be getting a considerable tax refund (well, considerable by the scale of my current budget) and then at work, the principal asked if I could take a few more extra lessons into my schedule next year, which definitely means I'm as good as hired. This is brilliant!

Oh, and I got my first postcrossing card yesterday. It came from the US.

Pretty, isn't it?

Now I'm just waiting to receive more cards - and a few of my cards to be delivered, so I can get a new batch of addresses.

The internet generation goes retro

2006-04-07T20:29:00.000+03:00

Yay. I got a new hobby for myself. Postcrossing. I heard about it quite some time ago, managed to forget all about it until a couple of my friends began talking about it. And yesterday I finally registered.

So what's it all about, then? Well, simple as this. You register, you get an address where you'll send a postcard and in return you get a card from someone from somewhere in the world. Repeat as often as you want - as long as you keep the cards going, you'll be getting them too. I've now got five cards waiting to be sent tomorrow, to Canada, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Wonder where I'll get my first cards from?

It'll be so much fun getting old-fashioned mail. In this era of lightning fast communications and easily deleted emails, a real postcard or a letter is just wonderful. It's something you can touch, you can see the touch of the sender in it and it's an actual piece of that other culture sent to you.

I love communicating with even my most distant friends via my blog and lj, emails or icq / messenger, but the magic of mail has not vanished. I remember clearly how much fun it was to receive and write letters when I was younger - and when there was no internet. Many of my friends remember how they also had bought international penpal addresses, just like I did. I remember getting my first English language penpals around the age of 9 or 10 or so, through a special organisation. I was in elementary school, and had only studied English for a couple of years. I think my first longtime penpals were from Australia, England and Germany. I also remember writing to a girl in Canada for quite a while, to a girl in the US for a shorter while and only a couple of letters to a boy in Egypt. I think I may have to try and find those old letters one of these days.

I recall the absolute excitement of ordering those addressess - you could wish for penpals in specific countries, I think my "cool countries" were (already back then) Australia, New Zealand, Egypt and Great Britain - and then waiting for the first letters to arrive. And the same goes with the letters that would come from friends in Finland. For years and years I, for example, exchanged letters with my dad's second cousin, who shared my enthusiasm for horses. She later owned quite a few horses herself and the letters would be full of news of their life (in addition to the other regular topics, such as school and boys, heh). And getting them was always a thrill. Oh, the days when the treasure chest that was the mailbox had several letters to offer on a single day. That was loads better than for example any normal Wednesday, when the Donald Duck mag came (I had to negotiate with my brother who'd get to read it first...) - and the mag was the highlight of many a week.

The most recent experiences with proper letters I have are from my exchange year. No internet back then, not that I was aware of it, anyway. And to avoid skyrocketing phonebills on both sides of the Atlantic, letters were the best way of communicating. Imagine how happy I was to receive thick envelopes full of news from home from mom&dad or my friends. A tiny bit of home brought to me by the kind postman.

What is it that makes the old-fashioned mail so enchanting? I think it has to be the time and effort put into it. It's so easy to just quickly type a short email to a friend that the trouble of writing a letter is somehow overwhelming.

First of all, there's the language. Whether it be in Finnish or English, letters (at least in my opinion) demand a little bit more from the writer. I may be an uptight Finnish teacher, but I've always preferred letters that are written properly. I don't mind grammatical errors and such in netspeak nowadays (my own email language is horrid at times, and I'm more than willing to admit it), but letters, that's a whole different matter. Or at least so it feels to me.

Perhaps it's just the way I'm "built" around language. Words are so powerful and even more so on paper. It's the reason it's extremely easy to impress me with smooth writing (if there are no mistakes in the Finnish compound nouns or punctuation in the writing, I'll probably have a positive attitude towards the writer) and equally easy to disappoint me with simple mistakes. I'm quite certain that I'd fall for a guy who could write me an old-fashioned love letter, with no grammar mistakes in it, written in a skillfull and witty style, combined with original thoughts. (Right, I'm not asking for much, am I?)

And in addition to the language, it's a question of taking the time and concentrating on something - the other person. It really makes a letter (or even a postcard) so much more personal. Especially a handwritten letter. The writer has taken the time out of his/her schedule to sit down and scribble a letter to you - how wonderful is that? There's no "cut and paste" -option, but only the writer's skill to plan his writing.

With emails the conversing is quite often fast enough to be just that - a conversation. We sit by our computers all the time, and immediate replies are easy to send (at best it's almost like using a messenger or something). And the conversational aspect of it is enhanced with quotations from previous emails and so on. It's easy to remind the recipient of their own words, when you can just "quote it inline" and write your comments in between. What else is it, if not a written conversation, with its more direct reactions and immediate responses? But when writing a letter, you have a blank page in front of you and you have to form your message so that it will remind the other person of the original question or thought and yet mainly concentrate on what you want to say about the matter.

Now that I think of this, perhaps in this lies a small fraction of a reason why the results of the Finnish exams are getting worse by the year. I've already seen the level of writing skills of the average senior high student, and I must say, it's not very impressive for the most part (however, there are always brilliant exceptions, fortunately). And when the most important writing skills that are practiced in school are different kinds of essays, in which it is often necessary to be able to parafrase a source's ideas in your own text, in your own words - perhaps my generation got more practice in it just by writing letters? Probably a far-fetched idea, but an idea nevertheless. I think I'll discuss this with mom later this weekend...

So, to sum it all up. I love the idea of getting postcards from around the world and letters, well, they have the magic. :)

Another new thing in my life. A very good CD of wonderful music. I bought the CD Mi sangre by Juanes - you may know the guy, looks like Antonio Banderas and sings the song "La camisa negra". This is my spring CD. I've listened to it several times in a row now and it brings a smile on my face and makes me want to take a few dance steps every once and a while. Perfect!

Now that I have spring music, I'd like to have spring, too. It's been a ridiculously cold and snowy (!) April so far. It snowed today, and there have been huge rags of sleet in the air several times this past two weeks. Icky. Luckily most of it melts away pretty soon, but the mere sight of fresh snow on the ground is so depressing at this point of the year. I want sunshine, pretty flowers and days when I don't have to wear my warm winter coat and my hat or my thick scarf anymore!

Or perhaps it's just Mother Nature's way of telling me to quickly finish up my knitting - I've got about three more sets of stripes to go before I'm done. Hmm. I'd better get knitting then, if that's what all this snow is about.

What I have been thinking about

2006-03-27T14:38:00.000+03:00

I've been shamefully neglecting my blogging lately. It's not like I would've been exceptionally busy, just standard busy I think, but there have been a few reasons I haven't posted anything for a while. First of all, I haven't felt like I have anything to say. I've had a few things I've thought about quite a bit recently, but somehow I haven't felt like blogging about them. Secondly, my "therapeutic" writing has lately been silly fanfic-stuff - and that is a whole different world which will never see the daylight of a wider public. So, what this has resulted in is a lazily updated blog. Sorry about that.

To compensate, a post about all sorts of random things I've been pondering about since my last post.

About owning a car

Or to be more precise, not owning one. Getting to and from work is a combination of getting rides from coworkers who happen to have similar schedules and catching buses, that have even remotely reasonable schedules. The trip to Nousiainen, which takes me 20 minutes by car (one way), takes me at absolute worst almost an hour and a half.

Today, once again, as I was standing at the bus stop in Nousiainen, waiting for the bus which was some 7 minutes late, I amused myself by watching the cars that drove by. There were quite a few of my students, one driving a fancy Alfa Romeo, one driving a shabby Fiat, one very tall guy cramped in a tiny little car of some sort (perhaps an old VW Polo) and two students in a sporty car of some other sort. Most of them waved at me when they drove by. A nice gesture - an old teacher lady like myself always likes it when young and handsome men smile and wave from cars that drive by... Hah.

No, but seriously, I'm so itching to get a car. And while I can't have this before I win some serious lottery money, I would settle for something more compact, too. Just as long as it is an automatic, airconditioned, 4-wheel drive more compact something. With proper stereos and wheels and loads of chrome... Oh wait, what was my budget again? Doesn't exist? Ahem. Well. Anyway, I'm just saying I want wheels!

About the joys of having to be in the bus with other people

Oh, and today I wanted wheels more than in a while. The bus I took home picked up about half a dozen junior high school kids from Masku and among them was the rudest, most obnoxious little brat ever. He was clearly seriously lacking in braincells. He stomped in, rudely threw his ticket at the driver ("So it's ripped, I don't give a f***, it's your effin' problem, not mine, bitch..." etc.) and went to the back of the bus, followed by his giggling (almost equally obnoxious) court. He then began to (loudly) bitch about how he had been treated in the morning by the busdriver (not the same guy driving this particular bus) and without exaggerating one bit, at least every other of his words was a swearword.

My god, it was disgusting. I grinded my teeth - I didn't want to get involved, because I have my share of obnoxious junior high kids at work and I don't want to be educating someone else's students on my free time, but the driver just pulled over and shared a few thoughts with the kid. One of them being a suggestion the kid could take a hike right away. I warmly (but silently) seconded that thought, but unfortunately the kid chose to remain in the bus (and continued bitching only a little less loudly). A couple of bus stops later, when he and a couple of his friends were going to get off, one girl hissed at him to shut it up. But alas, to no effect. As his last words the incredibly stupid idiot of a git yelled to the driver something along the lines of "Thanks, fu**er for the f****ng ride, f****ng queer whore!" Can you imagine? I was just furious.

What is it with kids today? I mean a kid like that has to have some problems at home or something, but still. It just doesn't fit in my head that some thirteen-year-old little snotnose thinks that it's somehow cool to act like a brainless moron and be rude to adults. Does not compute. Makes me mad. Grr.

About applying for a proper job

I've been anxious about my job situation, too. This part time job I've had this past academic year is going to be a full time teaching job next year. Which would suit me better than fine, because well, a full time job would bring in about double the money (and god knows I could use it). If only things were so simple. They're not.

So, I was asked by both principals if I would be interested in continuing at both the schools next fall, with the remarkably welcome addition of some 10 courses of stuff to teach to the courses I currently have. Barely able to remain still and behave respectably as a sudden urge to hop around happily like a hyper-active bunny almost overcame me, I managed to simply reply "Of course I am interested!", smiling like a cracked pumpkin. Both of the principals were very pleased to hear I would be available, but as it is, their word isn't final in this matter. In other words, "my job" is now open for anyone to apply for and I'm having angst attacks about not getting it.

Why? Well. It all comes down to that one little book I have to write first. And with my current plans of working on it all summer, I'll graduate at the earliest in late September, early October. And if there is a person with the same qualifications I have (qualified to teach both history and Finnish), but with the small extra of being a MA when I'm only BA till October, I'm out of the game, no questions asked. Granted, I do have the weirdest combination of subjects I can teach (history and Finnish used to be a lot more common combination), but it still doesn't guarantee there isn't someone that will run over me in the race for the job. Agh.

Today I took my application directly to the person who will be handling it and now I have to sit on my bum and wait for a couple of weeks. Much nervousness will be experienced before the "results are in". Hngh. I'll keep you posted, though.

About what I'm going to do with the money if I get the job described above

Ah. First of all, if I get the job, I will go and buy a laptop in August. :)

Then I will begin saving up so that I can travel. No later than in the summer of 2007 I will leave this country for at least some time. Be it to Malta, London or a tour of Wales and Scotland, I don't care. I'm going. I'm so going. Whoever wants to come along, better start saving up, too. :)

Although I'm afraid all my plans can go miserably wrong in a million ways (the first of them being not getting the full time job), but I don't care. I want to plan a wonderful trip nevertheless. A girl has got to dream.

About Harry Potter and his chums

Yes, I've been thinking about Potter a lot lately. I've been rereading the whole lot (at the moment I'm in the middle of The Order of the Phoenix, on my way to finally read the Finnish translation of The Half-Blood Prince) and I'm enjoying myself more than on the previous readings. It's only the second time I read some of the books (in English, that is) and I'd forgotten quite a lot of details and even some major plotpoints, which one tends to forget if one only watches the movies and doesn't freshen up the reading experience in the middle.

In any case, in addition to reading (and writing) about the world of young Mr Potter, I've also been knitting (!) according to Potter-verse. My scarf is now about 160 cm long and I've still got some way to go. I haven't knitted in well over ten years before this, but I suppose when all sorts of madnesses hit me, I'm ready to do quite surprising things. Like knitting a (movie) GoF -styled scarf. My only regret is that I probably won't finish it before spring properly begins (even though it's very kindly delaying its progress for me), so I won't be able to use it before next fall... In any case, being over-the-top fannish is sometimes so liberating. :)

And on Wednesday - time for the Goblet of Fire DVD! Whee! I'm so buying it asap and I will watch all the scenes with Viktor Krum in them that same evening! *lol* Watch, rewatch and rewatch... Including all the possible extras... Ah, it's good to be a nutter. :)

Well, I suppose it's always good to stop writing, when one's true nature becomes too obvious. In order to try to preserve at least some of my credibility somewhere, I will shut up now. Hopefully to be back a little sooner than after a month.

If it comes in pints, I'll have one (or two)

2006-02-26T13:12:00.000+02:00

What a great evening I had yesterday. It pretty much made up for the less than great winter vacation I spent mostly fighting off a cold and other ailments and studying for a boring exam. (Which, if I'm extremely lucky with my guesses, might get a passing grade - I'm keeping my fingers crossed.)

First of all, I started my evening at the housewarming party of Kaisa and Tero. Loads of friends and excellent discussions, heaps of tasty snacks and plenty of beverages, of which I didn't drink that much at all, due to my plans for the rest of the evening. But during the couple of hours I stayed at the party I was once again convinced that K&T sure know how to throw a good party. A room full of likeminded people lively chatting about lj's, Harry Potter, fanfic, translating literature, thesis writing problems (problems I share with Anckyria), television series, cars - you name it, it was probably discussed during the evening.

In other words, I know I left an excellent party behind, when I headed out for my "Muggle Evening" with my darling friend Satu. We had a leisurely plan: a movie and a couple of beers in a local Irish pub.

We went to see the movie The New World by Terrence Malick, starring such names as Colin Farrell, Christian Bale, David Thewlis and Q'Orianka Kilcher. I didn't know what to expect from the film, since I unfortunately haven't seen the previous movies by Malick and I hadn't read that much about this particular movie, either. Only that it is now Oscar nominated and highly praised by at least some critics.

What we saw was a breathtakingly beautiful, quiet, yet powerful movie. The story is, of course, a retelling of the story of "Pocahontas" and John Smith, in early 17th century settlement of Jamestown in Virginia.

In 1607 a small group of English settlers arrives in Virginia. Their aim is to build up a fort and lay down the foundations for a larger settlement. They don't arrive in empty lands, though. They encounter natives, of a tribe lead by a respected chief, Powhatan. His most beloved daughter, Pocahontas, eventually saves the life of an Englishman, John Smith. The incredients of one of the most famous love stories of all times are in place. Smith and young Pocahontas learn from each other and fall in love, only to be separated by life. Smith refuses to use the princess as a hostage and doesn't dare to think of a life with her. He returns to England by his king's command and asks that after two months time Pocahontas will be told he has died at sea. Pocahontas crumbles at the news and continues living in the settlement, subdued and hopeless, bound now by the standards (and corsets) of the English life style. In the end she accepts the proposal of John Rolfe and becomes his wife and the mother of his son. The life of the proud princess, now named Rebecca, ends in England, however, as the king and queen of England request her to present herself in court. Rebecca and her family travel to the land of her husband, where she is a success in court, but where she finally falls ill and dies far away from her native lands.

Terrence Malick is said to be a director who is obsessed with nature and quite possibly slightly too ambiguous in his storytelling to appeal to larger audiences. I think this is clearly visible in The New World. The movie is at times almost as a nature documentary, with the vibrant sceneries of Virginia in lead role. Combine this with stunning sunsets and sunrises, expert use of light, shade and camera angles in all the scenes and the sounds of nature all around, and you've got an aesthetically extremely pleasing film. This is only accentuated by the slow paced storytelling and the lingering close-ups of the characters. The whole movie is almost like a poem, and I felt very calm when leaving the theatre.

The casting of the movie is also excellent. Q'Orianka Kilcher is just about perfect as Pocahontas. She isn't overshadowed by her more experienced fellow actors (this was her big screen debut), but is able to build a believable and lovable character. Her Pocahontas is innocent, tragic, frail, strong, loving and human. And the camera seems to love her features.

I was also quite impressed by Colin Farrell - or at least by his eyes. He seemed to do most of the acting with his eyes in this one. There isn't that much dialogue to start with (most of the spoken words of the movie are voiced over thoughts of the characters, not in dialogue form), but Farrell is the sometimes confused, sometimes tough and sometimes very gentle man John Smith is depicted as in this story. Quite expressive eyes, he has. (And not bad hair, either...)

All in all I thought the movie was beautiful. It is not a wild adventure or a thrilling drama, but it's a thoughtful description of two cultures meeting and a touching love story. If you think you can handle a less direct way of storytelling and enjoy a quiet journey, I recommend you go see this one.

Satu and I continued our evening at The Castle, a new Irish pub quite close to the movie theatre. It turned out to be a place worth visiting and we were doubly delighted when we noticed it was actually an evening with live music there. So we got our drinks (a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale for me, thanks) and wandered to front row to listen to the band playing Irish music. At best it almost felt like we were in a real Irish pub in Ireland - even though we haven't been to Ireland. But it felt like it, alright. And we weren't approached by more than one drunkard, who amused us to no end claiming he was very cute when he's sober. Satu was all pins and needles and I almost spilled my beer trying not to laugh out loud when she calmly said to the guy that cuteness clearly was a feature which is accentuated by being sober. I could see the guy's brain try to work that out, hah. We're not an easy couple of gals to approach, if we don't want to be approached. Which usually is the case when someone has had a lot too much to drink.

We stayed till about 2.00 a.m. and headed home both feeling good and happy. A perfect evening. Must go back to The Castle soon. A nice pub, indeed.

What else could one want from a Saturday evening? Good friends, an excellent movie, couple of pints of good beer, jolly good music and everything. I think my annoyingly good mood will continue, even though it's back to work tomorrow.

Words in a cloud

2006-02-23T13:13:00.000+02:00

My word cloud. Very appropriate, methinks.

You can make your own here. Thanks to Tigerlily for the idea. (Just what I needed to avoid studying for a couple more minutes, heh.)

Motivational problems

2006-02-23T12:36:00.000+02:00

I have an exam tomorrow. It should be the last political sciences exam I ever have to take - if I pass it. I haven't got a hold of two of the four books I'm supposed to read for it and only the other one of the two that I've got is actually interesting. So things aren't looking too good, if I really think about it...

In other words, I'm suffering from extreme lack of motivation to study. Even though I know this could well be the last time I ever have to read about IGO's and INGO's (and even BINGO's, as I learned just a while ago) and it all takes me one step closer to graduating - I just feel utterly, completely and devastatingly BLAAAGH.

It could be also because this is not exactly my idea of a nice winter vacation. Here I am, sitting by the books, still suffering from the aftermath of a bad allergy attack and a cold, while it's gorgeous outside (only about -1 degrees or so, sun shines and everything is brilliantly wintery, with just the very slightest touch of spring in the air) and I have a million other things I'd rather be doing. Including walks outside (maybe I'll take a risk later today and despite my cold go for a short walk...), knitting, reading novels and short stories (the latter being work-related reading), writing silly fics or just about anything else. And yes, this entry is also a way to have a break from studying - just to keep me from falling asleep on top of the stupid book on international organizations.

I don't know what happened to my enthusiasm about studying somewhere along the line. I used to be a very motivated student (well, at least in high school) and I used to have no problems reading for exams. It can't all be because some of the minors I've been forced to take to qualify as a history teacher (economics and political sciences, that is) aren't my favorites. I should be able to concentrate nevertheless. I guess there's just too much going on in my head nowadays. I need a Pensieve, from the Harry Potter universe. A place where I could store all the extra thoughts while I need to study.

Ah, well. Enough ranting, back to the books. Blergh.

You are important to me

2006-02-14T20:14:00.000+02:00

It's that one day of the year again when even the Finns, who are usually falsely considered grumpy and cold, tell their friends and loved ones they are important to them. Probably not in so many words, but little by little also our Northern nation is falling under the spell of the American candy-sugar-lovey-dovey Valentine's Day.

I went to town today and was genuinely happy to see so many people who had clearly bought flowers for their loved ones. Such a simple gesture, but effective nonetheless. I didn't get any flowers this year, since there is no one to buy them for me, but I did get to spend time with my friends (and Tytti even had bought me a chocolate heart - thanks, sweetie), which is always nice and even more so today.

I actually appreciate the fact that the whole Valentine's Day is known as "Friends' Day" in Finland, because otherwise it'd be so depressing to be single today. But since I have been feeling very cheerful lately (for no particular reason - I suspect there's a bit of spring in the air, who knows) , I refuse to be depressed by not getting any flowers from a Special person. Maybe I'll get some next year. :)

In other words, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. You are important to me, even though I may not always remember to say it out loud.

***

Ja loppuun vielä muutama päivän teemaan sopiva sana Wendy Copelta, runokokoelmasta Vakavia asioita (Loki-Kirjat 1995).

Kirotut äijät

Kirotut äijät kuin kirotut bussit -
saa odottaa kuin nousevaa kuuta
ja kun yksi vihdoin lähestyy
tulee myös pari, kolme muuta.

Ne vilkuttelevat valojaan,
jos vaikka sanoisit: "Kiinnit veti!"
Siristelet nähdäksesi määränpäät,
mutta päätös on tehtävä heti.

Eikä takaisin voi enää palata.
Hyppäät pois, katsot kun muut
taksit ja rekat vilistävät ohi.
Ja tunnit, päivät, viikot, kuut.

Kukat

Ei se monille edes pälkähdä päähän.
Vaan sinulle se sentään juolahti mieleen.
Vakuutit, että ostit jo kukat
melkein - vain jokin oli mennyt pieleen.

Kauppa oli kiinni. Tai epäröit -
niin tyypillistä meille, eikö vaan?
Varmaan jotenkin kuvittelit,
etten sinun kukkiasi haluaisikaan.

Hymyilin ja halasin sinua silloin.
Nyt hymyilen enää kaihoisasti.
Mutta kukat jotka melkein ostit
ovat kestäneet tähän asti.

Niin makeaa

Me ollaan niin samanlaisia -
sukulaissielut, kuin peppu ja paita.
Hyvä on, me hymyillään tuolle.
Mutta juuri niin on asianlaita.

Tohtori sanoi suhteestamme:
Sen toisin analysoisin.
Nimittäköön sitä miten haluaa
se on sama sanottuna toisin.

Kaipaan sinua, ääntäsi, hani.
Narsistinen objektivalintani.

Ja taas onneton valinta

Olen pihkassa A.E. Housmaniin.
Tilanne on pahempi, vaikkei uusi.
Se ei koskaan kajonnut naisiin
ja kuoli vuonna kolkytkuusi.

Ystävänpäivänä

Sydämeni on tehnyt päätöksen.
Ja pelkään pahoin, se olet sinä.
Miten vain kaavailitkin sen
Sydämeni on tehnyt päätöksen.
Nyt jos sinua voi varata en
ensi vuosikin käy, sanon minä.
Sydämeni on tehnyt päätöksen.
Ja pelkään pahoin, se olet sinä.

Yhdeksänrivinen trioletti

No pakko on tätäkin koittaa:
Kulta! Sa oma niittykirvinen!
Jne. Pitää esteet voittaa.
No pakko on tätäkin koittaa,
kuin viululla ilman mitä soittaa.
Taiteen sääntöjä irvinen.
No pakko on tätäkin koittaa.
(Sääntöjä kuin ei jättää voi taa.)
Kulta! Sa oma niittykirvinen!

Siinä teille muikeita runoja päivän kunniaksi, ystävät armaat. Kokoelma on kerrassaan ilahduttava, suosittelen lukaisemaan läpi joskus. Saa vaikka lainaan minulta.

And to you, my friends less skilled in Finnish, I recommend trying to find the English original poems - in other words, poems by Wendy Cope, from her collection Serious Concerns (1986).

Mrs. President, congratulations!

2006-01-29T21:47:00.000+02:00

The results are in, Tarja Halonen will continue as the president of Finland for the next six years. Yay!

Love in the Brokeback Mountain

2006-01-27T23:09:00.000+02:00

I have just seen the movie I would give all my votes to, if I had any to cast when the Oscar winners of the year are chosen.

Brokeback Mountain. Worth every good word I ever heard of it. Beautiful, touching, heartbreaking, breathtaking - simply an incredibly good movie.

If you are scared of plot spoilers, I warn you at this point. There will most likely be some in this post. If you don't want to be spoiled, go and see the movie first and come back to this post later. I want to get this out of my system right away, or at least the first impressions.

I heard about this movie quite some time ago. I think my first thought was "Heath Ledger? Jake Gyllenhaal? Gay cowboys? How's that ever going to work?", not because I would've doubted the story (I was in fact extremely interested of the story right from the beginning), but because I couldn't see those two actors in the roles. (Of which I knew basically nothing at that point, to be honest.) But as I saw teasers and finally a long trailer of the movie, I began to think I might have been wrong in my suspicions.

And so I was. I've never had anything against Jake Gyllenhaal as an actor and Heath Ledger - well, I just hadn't seen him in that many movies at all, but I didn't quite picture him as an actor to be taken seriously, for whatever reason. But in Brokeback Mountain they both did an amazing job. Subtle, yet complex, quiet but very expressive.

The story, naturally, is based on a short story by Annie Proulx. (I have to find it now and read it, that's for sure!) It tells the story of two young men, who are hired to look after a few hundred sheep during a summer pasture season in Brokeback Mountain. The other, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), is a quiet and reserved fellow, who is going to be married come November. Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) on the other hand is a rodeo rider, and the more outgoing of the two.

As the summer passes, the two men find themselves in a relationship that would never be understood, let alone accepted, in the society of 1963. They have fallen in love, maybe a bit reluctantly at first, but the end result is clear. They are in love. I suppose the song title "Truly, madly, deeply" would describe the situation pretty well.

The summer, however, doesn't last forever. Any possible plans of a future together don't stand a chance. Ennis is going to get married to his Alma and Jack is going to return to his odd jobs of being a ranch hand and a rodeo rider.

Four years later Ennis receives a card from Jack, who is going to come and visit Ennis. The reunion is like a rekindled flame, burning with a force of its own. Unfortunately Alma happens to witness the first passionate kisses between the long separated lovers. It's the beginning of a slow end for their marriage.

In between the "fishing trips" Ennis and Jack take in the mountains, the men have to fight to keep their "normal" lives within the accepted framework - in this case meaning supposedly happy marriages, with children, for both. It tears especially Jack apart, piece by piece. He suggests they start a farm of their own, but Ennis won't budge. He's bound up with his responsibilities and the struggle of getting money to pay the bills and eventually, after divorcing Alma, also the child support.

The situation frustrates both men and towards the end of the movie director Ang Lee has chosen to show more of the bitterness that shadows the relationship of the men. We know that Ennis and Jack have been in the mountains for a week, but only when they are packing their pick-up trucks, the desperate emotions surface. Each separation hurts them more and more, until both of them are very close to a breaking point.

How I wished the story of Ennis and Jack could've had a happy ending. How I wished, even though I knew it wouldn't be possible. In the end true love, wide open mountain views and a possible future together have diminished into a blood stained shirt, a postcard view of Brokeback Mountain and a tiny slice of a grassy plain seen out of the window of a lonely trailer home. The sheer sadness of it, of all the lost moments of happiness...my gosh. I sat with tears in my eyes while the end credits were rolling.

One of the best things about this movie was the fact that it was very easy to feel for all the characters of the movie, not just for Ennis and Jack. Ennis' wife Alma sees how her husband lies to her about his fishing trips, which are really just lovers' getaways; Ennis' daughter grows to have a close relationship with her father despite everything; Jack's mother's short appearance is enough to create a sense of a forgiving and understanding mother... Actually the only character that remains somewhat shallow is Jack's wife, who is basically portrayed as a number-crunching heiress who has a bossy father. Not that her character really would make much of a difference in the story, since she is always left behind when Jack drives from Texas to Wyoming to meet Ennis.

In short, combine all these concealed emotions and suppressed passion to excellent acting and characterisation, plus magnificent sceneries, you've got a movie I recommend you don't miss out on. Go see it. Honestly.

And an un-related note here at the end (I must go and ponder the movie more before I continue on that topic). I have to squee a bit. The new Battlestar Galactica seems to be getting very addictive and interesting. The second part of the prologue-type miniseries was on tonight and I'm captivated. Very exciting. (And woohoo for Jamie Bamber, aka Lee "Apollo" Adama! He's done some growing up since the Hornblower series, for sure. Mmm-mmm.)

This coming spring is probably going to be see me getting addicted to a number of tv shows. I've already fallen for the Italian Elisa di Rivombrosa, yesterday's first episode of Lost made me want to see more of that story, BSG will be a show to stay tuned to and I'll even give Deadwood the benefit of a doubt for at least a few more episodes. I'm not yet sure I like that one after seeing two episodes. I love quality tv entertainment!

But what I probably love even more is quality dreaming, some of which needs to be done asap. Tomorrow's going to be a fun & busy day, with the science fiction society's grand dinner and all - I need loads of beauty sleeping before that. :)

Alchemist, finally

2006-01-14T18:21:00.000+02:00

I've been meaning to read Paulo Coelho's Alchemist for years now. I've fiddled with the different editions in bookstores, trying to decide whether I should buy it or not. Last Wednesday I finally did and I finished reading it last night.

What a touching, elegant, warm and comforting story it was. The text flowed and ebbed in a very natural rhythm, just like life usually does. The decisions and (mis)fortunes the boy has to face were easy to relate to, because I think all of us know what it feels like to not be able to follow one's life's path (I don't know how it's translated in English, as I read the Finnish version), because of whatever reason or excuse.

I for one can say my life reminds the life of the man selling crystalware. He had a dream of a pilgrimage to Mecca, but had decided to earn some money before he would go to the holy city. He would see the poor pass by his store, on their way to fulfil their duty as moslems should, but he would not go, because he had an excuse. Eventually, when the boy helped him earn plenty of money, he understood that he'd never go to Mecca. The time for that had passed.

In my life I quite often feel like I'm living a "I'll do it when..." -life. I'll travel when I have money. I'll do this and that when I have achieved this and that. For the most part my excuses for not doing what I've dreamed of are, unfortunately, money related. And I don't have any sheep to sell to get money for tickets. So the story continues, as it ever has: I'll go to London or to New Zealand when I have graduated and have a steady income. I hope I won't wake up one morning and realise that I'm the crystal guy and that my time to follow some of my dreams has passed me by.

What also makes me wonder is the courage needed to follow one's dreams. Have I become so attached to my current life, a life that just plods safely along with no big news year in and year out, that I wouldn't have the guts to do something different? The thought is somewhat worrying. I think I'd like to at least think I would be able to do even radical changes, if needed.

One such radical thing would be moving out of Finland. I have been, occasionally, thinking about moving to England to study & work for a while after I graduate. There's this program for studies in international publishing that sort of interests me. Granted, I haven't graduated yet, but when I do, will I have the guts to take the more difficult road (instead of, say, a secure teaching job somewhere around here) to find out if that would actually be the career & life I'd like to pursue? I'm not much of a risk-taker, that's for sure, and yet even the mere thought, a mere speculation of a situation where I end up following my countless excuses why I shouldn't do something a part of me would really like to do, is terrifying. I'm so glad I got to go to the States as a teenager - I might not have the guts now! Back then it really didn't seem like "any big deal", living in a foreign country for a year. Sheesh. I'm getting old, aren't I?

Well, in any case the book will be given a comfortable home in my bookshelf. I think it's a story I should return to every once and a while, just to remind me that life can be magical and that some dreams really should be followed (or just to check how close I am of turning into the crystal guy...). Listen to your hearts, people. And if you haven't read the book yet, go already! You shouldn't miss out on this one. If nothing else, it's a beautifully written story about a boy and a treasure. Make of it what you want.

(On a slightly lighter and less philosophical note, go visit Wired Temples this weekend. I'm a guest blogger on the Malta blog of my friend Robert. Lots of stuff about the Knights in my life and so on.)

Winter wonderland

2006-01-07T16:02:00.000+02:00

Do sane people drive altogether 1800 km just to be able to ski about 50 km? Yes they do. We did. And the trip was worth every single bum numbing moment sitting in the car.

It took us about 13 hours to drive up North. Dad insisted on driving the whole way himself, so I spent my day watching the sceneries and drowsing off every once and a while. Quite relaxing, actually.

It's nice to travel to Lapland (I'll just use that name, even though I know most people don't consider Kuusamo as being in Lapland - it's too far South, funnily enough) with mom and dad. They've been up there many times and are beginning to be quite familiar with the route already. They know which gas stations have nice restrooms (something you do appreciate when you travel through Finland via route 8) and which roadside restaurants are worth stopping by for lunch or what have you. Very convenient.

The further up North we got, the more beautiful the sceneries became - at least when judging by the amount of snow on the ground. The final 300 km or so was truly amazing. It was sometimes hard to tell the sky apart from the ground in the dusk. The sky was constantly grey (we didn't see a glimpse of the sun during our trip - which should come as no surprise to those who know what the Finnish winter is like in Lapland) and when the darkness began to creep in, the snow would look darker too. In the middle of these two, there were the trees. With tons of snow on them. And I'm not kidding either. There was plenty of "tykkylumi" in the trees, or in other words heavy snow, which has settled down on the trees with no intention of falling down (not before the temperature rises above zero, that is). The snow can literally weigh tons and it bends down the trees, some all the way to the ground. So in fact the whole world seemed to be made out of different shades of white and grey, with only tiny specs of black in between.

The surroundings were very nearly eerie, when it really got dark and the headlights of the car were lighting the woods by the road. I wish I could've captured it on film somehow. (My camera was in the trunk of the car in my bag, so I couldn't even try to use it.)

When we finally arrived in Ruka, I was quite surprised to see that the place was quite like any central European skiing resort I could imagine. I've been to a couple of Finnish skiing resorts before, but Ruka was the first one that is clearly more centered around downhill skiing, right down to the general feeling of the place. Lots of young people, lots of Russian tourists and not too many people on the cross country ski tracks. I suppose Ruka is still one of the "coolest" resorts in Lapland, where one should be snowboarding to actually be "in".

Oh well, we weren't there to impress anyone, just to relax and ski. Our cabin was very nice. Four bedrooms (for 8 people altogether), two livingrooms, a tiny kitchen and a sauna. The cabin belongs to two families my parents know and we got it for a very reasonable price for the few days. It was just perfect, as it was also quite close to everything, but in the same time in a very peaceful area. Or maybe the peacefulness of the place was due to the fact that this past week isn't exactly high season.

During the three days time we managed to ski about 50 km. Not too bad, I'd say. It'd been a couple of years since I last had been cross country skiing, but it's a skill exactly like biking. Once you learn it, you can't forget it. I'm not saying my technique is worth mentioning (because it most certainly is not), but I don't fall down, I can cover fairly long distances in an easy pace and I don't have to walk down any downhill tracks. Which is already enough to make the whole experience very enjoyable.

And besides, how could you not love those long ski trips, when the surrounding nature looks something like this? (I'll post my own pics later when I get them, but until then these links will have to do.) Just wonderful. Although the heavy snow on the trees isn't just breathtakingly beautiful, it was also causing all sorts of problems. There were power failures all over Northern parts of Finland, as trees and branches were falling on powerlines. For us the problems weren't that acute, since the Ruka maintenance people did clear out the few trees that had fallen on ski tracks and we weren't living in an area that was really suffering from power failures. Sure the lights blinked a bit, but we didn't end up sitting in candlelight, huddling in our sleeping bags in front of the fireplace during nighttime. Lucky for us, I suppose.

Yesterday morning we got up around 7 a.m., packed our bags, cleaned the cabin and left for home. Exactly 11 hours and 54 minutes later dad drove the car up our driveway in Nousiainen. During the day I felt a bit like Tolkien's Treebeard the Ent, since he said he always enjoyed going South, because it felt like going downhill. That's how it felt, if for no other reason, then because we made the trip South in less than 12 hours and it took us a bit over 13 hrs to drive up. (The difference can easily be explained by one more stop on the way and one longer stop for shopping some groceries for the cabin. But that's the boring version, heh.)

If you're ever in need of a month's vacation in just two weeks' time, I recommend this sort of thing. One week of holidays with family and friends and then an ex tempore -trip for a few days. Made the week seem very long and on Monday, when I go back to work, I'll feel doubly refreshed. A good deal, this was.

The year comes to an end - with pics!

2005-12-30T21:30:00.000+02:00

Another year went by. It seems it wasn't all that long ago when some of us gathered here at my place to celebrate the beginning of 2005. Twelve long months and what do I have to show for it? Ah, well. Let's see.

First, there was spring by the seaside. I borrowed dad's car, took my camera and drove to Ruissalo (one of my favorite places in Turku) to see how everything looked. This was around easter.

Then came June and I had to part with my dear old car. You can see it parked between the bright red and blue car. The pic was taken from my balcony. Buh-bye, Skoda.

Then there was the Medieval Market. Ye Olde Good Times Were Had by All.

August came, and with it work and my little goddaughter. See how well we were color coordinated already at the maternity ward, heh.

And then there were the Australian GUFFers Damien and Juliette, here seen in the local sf society's clubroom. They were wonderful people and I had a good time showing them around Turku (them and two additional Aussies, Karen and Dave). Evidence as follows.

See all those tiny Aussies in the window of Turku's magnificent medieval castle?

One beautiful early autumn evening our friends invited us all (and then some) to a great party. They had the fireworks to back up their promises, too.

Then I went to Helsinki one weekend. Met the author M. John Harrison and took touristy pics. Here's one.

And the rest of my pictorial year hasn't yet been developed... Although, as you well may remember from my previous posts, the rest of my year has included two additional trips to Helsinki, having international visitors from Malta and Belgium, working, working and working and so on. Not a bad year, all in all, I'd say.

I do have a couple of requests from the Magnificent Fates to make 2006 even better. Would you be so infinitely kind as to
a) kick my butt enough for me to get my act together and graduate
b) let me win in the lottery
c) let me fall in love once and for good
d) keep my friends happy and sane (and me along them, naturally)
e) bring peace to the world
f) choose at least one of the above for your serious consideration.
Thank you ever so much.

With this I wish you all a very happy new year. May it bring you joy, happiness and success.

(I'll see you, when I begin my new year of blogging. It'll be in about a week, because on Monday, I'm off to Lapland to ski for a few days with mom and dad. I'll be back on Saturday. No computers, no stress, just snow and nature (and about bazillion tourists in Ruka...) Whee!)

Awwwwww

2005-12-26T21:32:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Tigerlily who kindly pointed out this site and caused a wave of squeeing, awwwing and other funny noises. Go and melt yourself into a puddle of goo.

This was one of my favorites. There are no words...

Just how cute can a baby seal get?

It's the season to be jolly...

2005-12-23T23:29:00.000+02:00

Tralalalalaa and so on. We have, once again, come to the point where I notice that almost a full month has gone by. In this case, I don't mind it, because it's Christmas Eve tomorrow! Yay!

This year, it seems, we'll have all our family members healthy and happy at the dinner table come tomorrow evening. Last time this was the time when I was worrying about mom who was in the hospital. Infinitely better this way.

So, getting ready for everything has been relaxing this time around, I'm happy to say. Today I cleaned up my place, baked some gingerbread cookies and went to the movies with a good friend. We saw Narnia, which turned out to be quite charming, if nothing else. I want a unicorn, too! (I couldn't help pondering whether or not Peter's unicorn was in fact the same horse that was Shadowfax in LotR, since the battle scene was at least one of the scenes filmed in New Zealand and Peter rode bareback, just like Gandalf. The horse would have to be used to that sort of thing. I may have to do some digging up of facts...) And what an appropriate name the movie has - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Me and my friend, at least, were checking out the clothes of the characters at all times. I need a dress like Susan had, so I can be a believable archer next summer... ;)

Anyhow, it's time to go and wrap up the last of the presents and go to bed. Tomorrow will see me happily listening to the Declaration of Christmas Peace, eating way too much of delicious food and hopefully opening some nice presents, too. And having said that, I must confess I'm going to try and not sit by the computer during this upcoming weekend! There'll be other things to do, books to read and movies to watch, I'm sure.

In other words, I wish you all can enjoy a warm and joyous Yuletide with your families or loved ones.

Season's Greetings from Turku! The picture isn't very wintery, but this is just a reminder that it will look like this again in about six months or so. Days are already getting longer!

We have a debt of honor

2005-12-06T21:59:00.000+02:00

This is what a young Finnish athlete said in an interview just a while ago. He had been invited to the president's independence day reception, thanks to his success in the world championships this past summer. He was answering a question about the meaning of independence and referring to the generation of Finns who sacrificed their youth to defend our independence in the last wars. I agree with him, today more than ever.

A veteran of the Continuation War gave a speech in our school yesterday. He told us of his own experiences in the fierce battle of Tali-Ihantala (in the summer of 1944), in which an estimated 8500 Finnish soldiers and around 18000 Soviet soldiers lost their lives or were wounded. It's the largest ever battle fought in Scandinavia and he survived it. Truly humbling story, really. My grandpa, who is also a veteran of the Continuation War, has never really told me stories of the battles he fought in his time. I think he really doesn't want to talk about that part of the war at all - and I don't blame him.

Today, however, grandma told us about her experiences, which is very rare. I don't think I remember her telling us stuff like that before. She gets to speak up more now that grandpa is getting quieter and quieter all the time. She told us how she had taken her little puppy with her to the bomb shelter, even though it wasn't allowed. I didn't even know she had had a dog then. But the image of grandma and her family fleeing from their home, because Turku was bombed heavily, is just chilling. Especially when she told that they were forced to walk towards the city to the nearest bomb shelter, because the area where they lived didn't have one. Which then meant they were actually walking closer to the areas that were bombed, rather than running the other way. It must've been scarier than I could ever imagine.

To complete my patriotic and emotional independence day I watched the old movie version of the Unknown Soldier earlier today. I absolutely love the book and I finally remembered to tape the movie for future use in school. Oh, how I cried. It's an old black&white movie, which makes it very much like the old document films we see of the war. Which then makes it feel very real and made me think about all the young men (and women) who actually were in the war... You see what I got myself into? An emotional trap. I watch a movie - movie gets my imagination running - I get emotional... Argh.

Oh well, I suppose being emotional over Finnish history is very appropriate for the occasion. And besides, I love being a Finn. I absolutely LOVE it. Anybody notice that lately?

Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää kaikille!

All those pretty men

2005-11-28T17:50:00.000+02:00

What a fun weekend I had. Pretty men a-plenty. Never fails to cheer me up, such a weekend.

The first pretty men were lots prettier than I am, for sure. Or at least they had more makeup and dresses that glittered more than my average costume for oriental dancing. Not to even mention the stunning bling-bling of jewelry, which I could hardly compete with, not even with chandeliers hanging from my ears.

Yes, I went to see a drag show on Saturday evening, for the first time in my life. The guys were stunning. The costumes, the impressions, the humour... All glitter, all glam. Go see here if you don't believe me. My personal favorites were the short appearances of Tarja Turunen, Tina Turner and Ville Valo (although Ville doesn't exactly count as being in drag, I suppose). The traditional Finnish singers, like Paula Koivuniemi, Katri Helena, Marion Rung and so on were also hilariously accurate. I can warmly recommend you try to catch this show, when Linnateatteri hosts the guys again. If not for anything else, then for the excellent mix and match of the dry, sarcastic humour of Jarkko Valtee (for those of you who don't know it, he's one of the judges in this years Finnish Idols -competition) combined with the delightfully perky and bubbly character of Osku Heiskanen. Entertainment guaranteed!

I may have laughed less, but last night's chick flick entertained me just as well as the Men in Drag. I finally got to see Elizabethtown. And this is what followed from it: "Huh? Movie? Was there a plot? I suppose it was good, must've been. But did you see that neckline as he tilted his head to sleep in the plane?" *omgsqueedroolswoon* Yes, yes, it's time for some completely adolescent and unashamed fangirling. Orlando Bloom rocks my world! (As if you didn't know it before...)

Seriously, the movie was nice. It was just the kind of harmless movie entertainment one needs on a Sunday evening when at the movies with good friends. Not a tear-jerker as such, but definitely endearing and amusing. A bit slow-paced at times, but on the other hand that sort of goes with the laid-back feeling of Kentucky. (Too bad I didn't visit Elizabethtown when I was in Kentucky, celebrating the New Year's in 94-95.)

And what's more important, Orlando had plenty of screen time (well, duh!) and this time without a helmet of any sort, without a blond wig or period clothing. Instead, a few very nice regular t-shirts (guuuuhhhh) and few well made suits. It really should be illegal to look that good. Normal, sensible women like myself will suffer from irrational gigglyfits and get all lightheaded from all the sighing. Not fair, I say. Not fair, d'ya hear?

Where did November go?

2005-11-25T19:22:00.000+02:00

A long time since my last update. I can't believe it's this late in November already. You can directly see the relation between my increased workload at school (got those two extra 7th grader groups to teach from November 1st on) and the hibernation of my blog. Sorry about that, folks.

The good thing about this is that the weeks go by so fast it always seems to be Friday, which is not bad. I and a colleague of mine already joke about it. Today when she came to the teachers' lounge in the morning we didn't even have to say anything, we just both burst into laughter. Which then made the principal and other teachers look at us really puzzled. I don't know if our explanation of "Well, it's just because it's Friday!" made that much sense to them. Or maybe it did, considering the fact that (despite the probably quite popular belief) also teachers are happy when it's Friday.

But next week marks the change of study period for us. Which, for me, means a return to a more slow pace and considerably less work at school. Considerably more work at this desk, though, since I need to get my studies going once more. I've got a few more exams to pass before I can graduate, after all. However much I like teaching, it'll be relaxing to be the student for a while, even if it means studying alone at home.

High stress levels also require high relaxation levels. Last week's chosen method for relaxation was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Dum-bledore-de-dum. Excellent entertainment, that movie. I have liked the previous movies, too (although not as much as the books), but this one became the first Potter-film I'd actually like to see in the theatre again. The previous movies didn't make me want to go back, I was more than content with waiting for the dvd's. (Which, btw, I still don't own...)

The movie was mostly pretty fast paced, which served the director's purpose very well. No Dursleys, no dull classes in Hogwarts, no side-stories - it all made the movie feel somehow more streamlined. That particular 2,5 hours went by so fast that I was almost surprised to notice the end credits. "What? Already?"

I'm sure the movie wasn't without its faults, but it was spot-on perfect for me and my stress levels. Besides, the post-movie squeeing and fangirling has been almost as tasty a remedy as the movie itself.

Squeeing and fangirling, you ask? Well. We thought (I went to see the movie with Tytti and her hubby) that the teen-wizards had been doing some growing up since the last movie. First of all, check out the arms of Harry and Ron! They've clearly done some gym work, because when I think of the 14-year-olds I teach... Well, let's just say that Harry & Ron didn't resemble drained spaghetti on a stick as much as an average teenager boy does. Good for them. Let's just wait some five to eight years or so, and some of these young actors are going to be quite the heartbreakers, I'm sure. (And yes, I'll be a dirty old lady talking about them when the time comes...)

And woohooo, bring out the Eastern European team Durmstrang! What an entry. Compared to those sissy Beauxbatons-chicks, Viktor Krum and his buddies were rockin'. It might be just me, but honestly, I thought Krum was pretty yummy. Or mruh, to be more exact. Just the kind of guy that actually fits Hermione's description of him: "Viktor's more a physical kind of guy." Heehee.

The only competition the French witches won without a doubt was the vehicle of choice. Those winged horses, whee! I want some, too! The submerging ship was cool, but those horses were pretty awesome! Too bad they didn't show them more.

Anyhow, I may end up re-visiting Kinopalatsi for a second viewing of Harry and his friends. But before a second helping from the Goblet, I'll go and have eye-candy-a-lot on Sunday, when we go to see Elizabethtown... I've been Orlando-deprived for long enough now, it's time to fix the situation. :)

Book rec

2005-10-30T13:59:00.000+02:00

I mentioned some posts ago that I'd managed to get my hands on a future favorite novel of mine. I had the feeling I'd probably like the book, based on only a short description of it. I finished reading it last week and oh my, what a treat! A future favorite has transformed into a current one, based on the excellent reading experience I had.

The book I'm talking about is Keith Roberts' Pavane, originally published in 1966. It's a skillfully written alternative history, which starts at the assassination of Queen Elisabeth I in 1588.

The author, however, doesn't remain in the 16th century for more than the short prologue's worth. In the next part of the novel it's already 1968 and the most sophisticated technology available in England is the steam engine. The catholic church has restricted technical advancements, for example by limiting the use of petrol for fuel.

Roberts paints a fascinating image. He builds a picture of a 20th century world, which in almost all details reminds me more of descriptions of the world of 16th through 19th centuries. Semaphores are clacking away all around England as the most efficient form of communication. The early experiments with electricity and communicating with its help are labelled as heresy and necromancy. The catholic inquisition is in full strength, with all the horrific forms of torture and punishment still in use. When the actions of the court of inquisition are questioned by a lonely monk, an underground movement of somewhat protestant thoughts is born - and duly hunted down by the mother church. Occasionally the reader will, however, notice a surprisingly modern detail, like among a crowd of peasants a girl wearing jeans.

Alienation works miracles in this novel. I found it extremely challenging and refreshing to compare the two worlds, the novel's reality and my own, while I read. The familiar modern reference points were so few (those jeans I mentioned, electric light very late in the novel and so on) that the world was truly strange and I was a stranger in it.

Towards the end of the novel it's revealed that there is a character, who seems to be aware of both realities, the one that could've happened (in other words, the world as our history knows it) and the one that happened in the novel's world. When he reveals this, the reader is once again amazed. Or at least I was.

Through the entire novel I had been in a way "properly horrified" by the idea of such a backwards world - a world without cars, airplanes, pop music (you know, the Beatles and such never existed in this novel) and so on, that it seemed natural to consider it the fault of the catholic church.

I have to confess I didn't think it'd be shown to me that maybe, just maybe, the slow advance of technology and science was actually in many ways good for mankind. Or what say you of a world without Auschwitz, without Hirosima, without nuclear power, without our current problems with, say, the greenhouse gases? What if the catholic church in the novel wasn't the ultimate baddie preventing scientific breakthroughs, but instead an organisation that was trying to protect people by delaying certain advancements till a time when the world would be better prepared for them. The thought made me stop for a while.

In this world of tech-adoration it was honestly a treat to get food for other kinds of thoughts, too. And even though the novel is already almost 40 years old, it's still very current and has lost none of its effectiveness. I strongly recommend you go and read it, because we all deserve the opportunity to rethink our world a bit. An excellent alternative history, in other words. I think I'm going to have to buy it for myself, so I can go back to it again later. I've got a feeling this novel didn't tell everything it had to say on this first round of reading.

In other news, my goddaughter was "officially" named this past Friday in a small family ceremony at Sarin&her hubby's home. I had been given the honor of delivering the speech, which served as the actual naming ceremony. I told Sarin when she asked me to give the speech that I would do it, but that I probably couldn't do it without turning into a sobbing mess. Unfortunately, it turned out, I know myself too well... First three words into the speech and I was already crying. For some reason this situation seemed to be one of the most emotional I've ever faced. I've managed to stay dry-eyed through several weddings now, but giving a name to a child was clearly more emotional. I suppose I knew too much of the background of the story and that made me (empathetic as I am) choke in tears.

I'm glad, however, that despite my teary-eyed performance little Aure's family seemed to like what I had to say. And I hope to god that not one of those several cameras present at the ceremony were filming video clips...

Winter has arrived

2005-10-26T22:18:00.000+03:00

First snow today, brrr. Not the pretty kind of fluffy nice snow, but mainly sleetish wet rags of white stuff. In other words, water, sleet, snow - you name it, we got it all today.

Nothing & Much has been going on

2005-10-23T17:16:00.000+03:00

"I haven't got a husband (or even a boyfriend), I haven't graduated from the University yet (getting there, though), I haven't got a steady job, I don't own my apartment, I don't have a dog or a nice car (but at least a car of some sort, that's good) and what else... Sounds like I'm a major looser. :) But the heck with it, I'm not! I'm just working my way up to a proper middle class life and it seems to take a while. Next year this time the situation may be completely different, which is a motivating thought."

This is what I wrote a year ago, a couple of days before my birthday. I'm finding it a bit sad that nothing has in fact changed during the past year (well, I do have a job now, but it's only for this one year). Optimism, however, seems to come to me quite naturally and that's why I'm willing to think that it might not be impossible for the things to change within the next year. At least it would be nice to find someone to celebrate my 29th birthday with, come next October 21st. Preferably someone who looks like Ioan Gruffudd, heh. Not many of those around, unfortunately. Must keep searching, then. Tune in next year for an update on this front... (Did I mention my specialty is extreme optimism combined with a peculiarly gloomy pessimism about certain things in my life?)

I did end up having an awesome birthday, though. I even managed to solve the problem I had about the clothes earlier. And to top it all, there was a member of Sonata Arctica who had his birthday on Friday too, and so I got to listen to a full Hartwall Areena singing "Happy birthday to you" on my birthday. Who cares there were only a couple of people singing it to me and not to Henrik! ;)

Nightwishing, part II

So, as is quite obvious, we (me and Maarit, Petra, Liisa and Mikko) went to Helsinki on Friday to see Nightwish perform. What an amazingly great tour finale concert they had for us. The whole Hartwall Areena was packed full and after Sonata Arctica had played their bit, the anticipation and excitement among the crowds was intense. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like it before. I believe the cameraman may have captured some good crowd moments for the upcoming End of an Era DVD (which will, by the way, be on my shopping list when it comes out - we might be on it, too, thanks to our excellent seats...) , if he understood to film the audience before Nightwish came on stage - there was a huge human wave going around the arena, started by a few fans sitting right behind us (we naturally went along with it right from the beginning). The buzz was exhilarating. I kept laughing out loud, because I just felt so happy and excited at that moment.

And surely enough, that's how I felt throughout the rest of the evening. We did have seats, but we sure as heck didn't sit down while Nightwish was playing. There were massive pyrotechnics, impressive videomaterials as backgrounds, a rain of confetti above the audience (not a wall of real water this time as there was last year), stunningly gorgeous clothes worn by Tarja, a touching performance by John Two Hawks - everything boiling down to the feeling of pure energy that flowed on stage and in the audience. Tarja even sang the heartbreakingly beautiful solo song, Kuolema tekee taiteilijan, during which I was almost in tears.

After such a fantastic evening, it was shocking to hear the news from my friend Heli this morning. Nightwish has fired Tarja and is now going to find a new female vocalist, who's going to be performing already on their next album. After some adamant clicking I was able to get to their stuffy website this morning and read the English version of the letter Tuomas and the other guys had written to Tarja to announce the fact that she won't be working with the band anymore.

I can't help but feel so sorry for them all. For Tarja, because this probably isn't how she wanted to be moving on from the band and for Tuomas (and the others), because they had to make a decision like this. I also do think the guys deserve an Oscar for their performance on Friday. There was absolutely no signs of any problems or conflicts when they played, although they knew what was going to happen after the final bows. My god, how awful the situation must've felt like to them, even though the final concert of the tour must've been a bittersweet experience in itself. And Tarja of course had no idea what was brewing in the minds of the others. Such drama, such drama.

I'm glad I was there to see the final performance of Nightwish with Tarja as the vocalist. I hope the new vocalist, whoever she might be, will turn out to be at least as talented as Tarja is. I also hope that Tarja will be able to build her own career without the band, without being known only for being the lead vocalist of an opera-metal band. I, for one, am already waiting for her solo Christmas album. But most of all, I do wish Tuomas, Marco, Emppu and Jukka will be able to continue their musical dream with Nightwish. Best of luck in the future, guys. Change is sometimes inevitable, let's hope it was for the best in this situation.

Turku-Helsinki-Turku-Helsinki-Turku

In addition to Friday's little trip to Helsinki I made the same trip again yesterday. I had a wedding to attend to and it was a bit too complicated to not come home between the two separate occasions. Yesterday the trip also included a couple of hours of shopping in Ikea, because Kaisa and Tero needed to find some stuff for their new home. I was pretty determined not to spend any money going in and was able to stay determined for at least three minutes. Dear lord, what a place that store is. Luckily some of my determination lasted and I only bought a bedcover and this year's first Christmas present, at the total price of less than 20 euros. Go me and my budget. :)

Anyhow, the wedding. Once again, a celebration that felt and looked exactly like the happy couple. The two handsome grooms (yes, this was a gay wedding) had planned a wedding reception that combined good food, nice speeches, dancing and friendship. Very relaxed and warm celebration of their union. I didn't attend the follow-up party, which was probably loads of fun, but I felt like I had a very nice evening anyhow.

What I did think about during the reception was us Finns and giving speeches. There were a couple of excellent speeches delivered, and then some slightly less excellent speeches. The better speeches were well prepared (I think the mistress of ceremonies, Mari, outdid herself this time - she spoke very eloquently) and some of the other speeches were just ad lib at the scene. Which is admirable in the sense that the person actually has the courage to stand up and speak in a public situation (not all can do that, you know). It's also nice because you know the words do come from the speaker's heart when there hasn't been any preparations.

On the other hand, though, I think that all speeches should be planned somehow. By quickly outlining whatever it is you want to say, you avoid the unfortunate rambling. And after two or three speeches that began with "Well, I don't know exactly what I could say to the newlyweds..." (Me: So why are you talking then? You don't need to give that as an excuse, because you've obviously thought of something to say since you're standing there.) and continued with "People usually speak about love and relationships in these situations, but I'm not going to since the couple is not in any way usual..." (Me: People at this wedding usually seem to not speak about love and relationships, I honestly think you could've made an exception to the rule. No? Oh well, it was just a thought.) I began to think that a well prepared speech about love and marriage would've been a show-stopper, something special. Instead we did hear many amusing tales about how different people had met the grooms, which I felt was a bit unimaginative after the same pattern had been repeated by several speakers.

Anyhow, I'm very happy for Tino and Tero. I truly hope their union will be full of love and respect, because that's what good relationships are about. And I'm very glad that they have very outgoing friends, who have the guts to speak in public, prepared or not. It seemed to tell a lot about the general atmosphere of the reception - a lot of acceptance in the air last night.

Kingdom of Heaven revisited

Ah, the ever so wonderful KoH came out on DVD and found its way to my collection, naturally. I was very disappointed because the director's cut didn't come out at the same time, because now I've got to get that version later and become what the movie industry needs - an idiot who spends loads of money purchasing the different versions of the movie. Oh well, I can't not buy the longer version of the movie, just as simple as that.

Anyhow. We watched the movie again with Tytti on Thursday evening. Accompanied by shamefully sinful amounts of chocolaty treats and coffee. The movie was as good as I remembered. And it was nice to be able to comment on different things right when the thoughts came to mind, after all we both had already seen the movie twice.

My favorite scenes remained mostly the same. I love the aerial view of Balian and his men riding to battle in front of the Kerak, as it instantly shows the desperation of the situation and on the other hand the courage (and training!) the riders have.

And the scene where Balian surrenders Jerusalem to Salah-ad-Din. All the meanings of just those few words. "What is Jerusalem worth?" "Nothing." "Everything." If that isn't at the core of the movie, then I don't know what is. It also got us pondering about the world as we know it now. There are these three major religions that all claim the same city as being holy - what would our world be like if Jerusalem hadn't had this role in history? Whose bright idea was it in the first place to have everything happen in this one town? Or to be more precise, whose smart idea was it to think that people could actually be civilized about sharing a cultural past?

I did, again, end up pondering about the character of Salah-ad-Din in the movie. I'm so glad he's portrayed as he is, without making him a "bad guy" of the story. I think he must've been a truly great person in his days, and it'd be fascinating to go back in time to meet him. At one point some years ago I did even think about doing research of the crusades from the saracens' pov, but since I speak even less Arabic than I do Italian or Latin, the idea had to be buried for now. All the more interesting I found the piece of news a friend of mine shared with me yesterday at the wedding. He's planning on doing a research about Salah-ad-Din in the future, after he's learned Arabic. (Can I just say at this point that I want his brains when it comes to languages? He made it sound so easy - and for him it probably is, too. *sigh*) And I think I can promise him he's already sold a copy of the book when it comes out. I'll surely want it for my crusader and islamic history collection. :)

Ah, but about the DVD yet. The extras, that is. Nice ones about the making of the movie, but I didn't much like the first of the history docs they have on the second disc. It was a document made for the History Channel and I got quite annoyed with it. But not so much with the contents as the structure of the document and the host of the show. Ick. The same dull graphics of fortifications and I suppose Jerusalem were repeated time and again, blech. I got so tired by watching it (I watched it already a week ago, and not with Tytti) that when I began to watch the other history doc (which seemed to be slightly better), I ended up falling asleep. Oh well, if the other document doesn't turn out to be any better after all, I won't have any problems selling my copy of the DVD to someone when I need to buy the director's cut...

So there. A proper update of random thoughts. Now I'm going to go and enjoy an evening of doing nothing. Wonderful. Next week promises to be a busy one again, as usual. Meetings, essays to grade, social commitments... Expect the next blog entry some day in December... :)

Dilemma

2005-10-21T12:41:00.000+03:00

Aaagh! What am I going to wear??

We're going to see Nightwish tonight in Helsinki and I haven't got anything nice and "goth chic" enough to wear! A quick run through the stores didn't help at all. Dammit.

Oh well. I guess I'll just settle for as much black as possible. With a touch of purple or burgundy. Should be able to blend in that way.

Another year went by, I got older and my problems are still ridiculous. Go figure.

How to prepare for the inevitable?

2005-10-12T19:34:00.000+03:00

Grandpa is in the hospital, due to very serious heart problems. Mom and dad visited him yesterday and told me today that all of us should begin to mentally prepare ourselves for the worst.

But how do you do that, for real? Is there any point to it, really? I don't think that any amount of preparedness will make the inevitable any easier to face, when the moment comes.

In a way I hope the day isn't going to be quite yet, but isn't that a bit selfish? On the other hand, whether it is or not, I do hope grandpa has some living to do yet in this world. He's still hopeful he can get his knees operated, so I guess that as long as there is something he's got his mind set on, he'll have some strength to fight yet. Although the sad part of it is, naturally, that most likely his other health problems will prevent the operation anyway.

Time will tell.

I'll finish with a poem. Sad, beautiful and touching. And so true.

Jokainen yksinään maan sydämellä
auringonsäteen lävistämänä:
ja äkkiä on ilta.

Everyone stands alone on the heart of the earth
Transfixed by a sun-ray:
And it is suddenly night.

(Salvatore Quasimodo, 1930)

Another week went by

2005-10-09T22:18:00.000+03:00

And made a swooshing sound as it went... I don't know how I'm ever going to catch up with time, because lately it has felt more like I'm just a twig in a rapid - and not enjoying the ride that much at all. Too much to do, too little time to do it in.

This naturally means that I currently live under the shadow of a huge mountain of dishes, among a well-doing population of dustbunnies. Annoys the heck out of me, too, but after having graded essays for 8 hours straight on a beautiful Sunday, I'm darned if I'm going to touch the vacuum cleaner at 9 p.m. after I've gulped down a whole pizza, because I didn't have time to eat before that. No wonder I'm feeling a bit dull at the moment... My brainwave must be nearing a flatline about now.

Just to get some waves into that brainwave, I do have to mention a couple of things from this past weekend.

First of all, this was the weekend of the Turku Book Fair. Marvellous! I sat behind the desk in our small booth a couple of hours, was interviewed by the local TV-channel (I didn't see the program I probably was in, though) and met a very nice author, Jeff Long. Perhaps most amazingly of all, I managed to spend only 3,50 euros during my stay at the fair. Yay me for sticking to a strict budget!

Jeff Long was invited to the Fair by Like and he was kind enough to come and attend a program item organised by the SF-society. There weren't that many people present, but nevertheless he gave a nice little "GoH speech" and then we had a very interesting q&a, which was actually a lot more like a coffee klatsch than a q&a-session (because of the small number of people there). It was definitely refreshing to listen to his opinions and stories behind his works. He had some very hard words to say about his own government at the moment, about the wars in Vietnam and Iraq and about the American corporate publishing business. And also a few words about Dan Brown. He seemed to be a person who is very widely read and aware of the world around him. It would've most certainly been fun to chat with him a bit longer, that'll have to wait till he comes back to Finland some day. (I did suggest he could maybe plan his schedule around the time when we might be having Finncon in Turku in 2008... He seemed to think it was a good idea, heh.)

So yet again, a book fair weekend during which I met a famous author. :) I wonder who's going to be on the list next year? Hmm. I'm hoping for an author whose books I would've already read before the fair...

One more thing before I go. Clothing. It's pretty funny how people seem to have a certain idea of how other people should look in certain situations. Apparently I didn't look like I was supposed to yesterday. I guess I didn't look like an editor of an sf-fanzine, but instead more like a senior high school teacher. Or something. I just have to wonder why the two have to be different since in my case the two roles are quite effectively merged into one package. However, it was kind of fun to notice that one of my friends didn't even seem to recognise me at first and when I greeted him, he just sort of stared at me and gasped something like "What the hell are you wearing?" Umm, say what? Thanks. I think it looks good, too...

So in case this means that I can't wear nice clothes and look like an sf-fan, I'm going to wear nice clothes and be happy about looking like a teacher. ;)

Go, Amazing Race, Go!

2005-10-02T21:59:00.000+03:00

Whee! One of my absolute favorite reality shows is on again! It's the Amazing Race, all new season! Yay!

I think I've mentioned my addiction to this particular show earlier also, but I think it deserves to be mentioned again. The show's pure fun, as the teams travel around the globe - with most of the entertainment coming from pure amazement on my part: how arrogant / dumb / irritating / whatever can the people be?

Too bad there will probably never be a Finnish production of the show, because it has to be too expensive - I'd so try to get to that show with my brother. :) After selling my car, which quite effectively bans me from participating in Pimp My Ride as I don't have a ride anymore, the Amazing Race remains the only reality show I could ever even imagine taking part in. But until then, I'll just sit glued to my sofa on every Sunday evening watching who will be the winners this time. I didn't find a favorite team yet, based on the first episode. Last time there were the twin male models, who caught my eye. Ahem. Maybe I'll cheer for the two clowns this season.

Anyhow, it's been an exhausting day. Mostly for my sitting muscles, that is. I woke up at freakin' 5 a.m. in order to be ready to leave at 6 a.m. to Lahti, for my cousin's confirmation. Aarggh. Dad is his godfather and he had to be at church already at 9.30 a.m. which meant that we had to leave inhumanly early to be there on time. No fun.

So, cousin got confirmed (in a very traditionally dull service), we met some relatives, ate some delicious food and cake and I very nearly fell asleep while trying to be sociable with the before mentioned relatives. That was my day, in a nutshell. Except for the tiny detail of having sat for very nearly 12 hours today, in the car, in the church, at my cousin's home, in the car again, at my other cousins' home and in the car again. And then on the sofa and now by my desk. Ouch. My bum is numb. :)

I think I need to go to the gym tomorrow. Pace awaits, me thinks.

How I found out that the world is indeed a small place

2005-09-28T22:01:00.000+03:00

Hosting international people in Finland is always interesting. It gives perspective on one's own culture as well as the culture of the non-Finnish visitor. And in these days of incredibly fast communications and the general feel of a "global village" (obviously including the "blogosphere") it's always good to have perspective, because otherwise one could lose the sense of appreciation for one's own background and surroundings in general.

It's quite natural that we tend to become somewhat blind to our own life, and especially things like sceneries in it, because they're always there. The memories attached to different places aren't exactly something you can erase from your mind. Once you've lived in certain surroundings for all your life, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to get a fresh view of all of it. This was demonstrated to me once more as I hosted my Maltese friend this past week.

The different seasons are about the only other way to see the surrounding view freshly. Not a day has gone by this week when I haven't admired the beautiful colors (red, orange, yellow) of the trees - the trees that have been familiarly green for a few months now. The last time I really paid any attention to the trees was, naturally, in the spring, when the barrenness of the winter was cast aside by the light green of the new foliage. But still, even though the colors of the nature change, it's still the same old trees and fields and such that I see daily. I don't think about them that much at all. Until there's someone who voices an opinion that the scenery is something special. My response is most likely something along the lines of "Oh, you think so? Oh, wow, I haven't thought about it that way..." It's very refreshing.

Makes me want to travel so badly, though. I'm seriously lacking fresh sceneries to experience for the first time.

However, experiencing my surroundings in a new way wasn't exactly the only thing I was left pondering about when my friend's flight departed from the Turku airport. One other observation I had been amused to make was that the world is so small it's unreal.

Or what would you say about a coincidence like this. There's a Finnish person blogging about random silly things. She knows some people. Like a certain Italian professor, who shares her interest in all things chivalric. Then there's a person on the other side of the continent, who just happens to bump into this silly Finnish blog and for some reason begins to read the posts somewhat regularly. The person happens to live on an island, that once was the home for the chivalric order of knights that the Finnish blogger is doing research on (we're talking about Malta here, of course). So far, nothing too amazing, right? Such coincidences probably aren't that rare in the cosmic scale of things.

But then, let's get all these three above mentioned people together. Let's have them attend a seminar about Kosovo in Turku, of all places. They meet for the first time and very soon find out that the Italian professor knows one of the Maltese person's closest friends very well. Of all the people in Italy, Malta and Finland there are these three people (four, if you count the other Maltese fellow, who wasn't in the seminar, heh) who are connected by a very odd coincidence.

Needless to say, I was baffled. In case anyone needs to prove that the theory about all the people in the world being connected by what is it, less than six steps(?), actually works, could maybe start here. I never imagined I'd be connected to a Maltese author by such a few steps. A funny, exciting and mindboggling thought, that. But then again, I think we once figured out that some of us girls are actually connected to Orlando Bloom by less than six steps, thanks to Sarin's relations. Which, naturally, is even more entertaining a thought. ;)

Anyhow, that's not the end of funny coincidences of last week, actually. We were having a very nice dinner in a local Italian restaurant (Sergio's, in case you're interested) after the seminar on Thursday evening. There were about 15 or so of us (the conversations were carried on in at least five different languages at almost all times; English, Finnish, Swedish, Italian and German), and with us was also the Archduchess Walburga von Habsburg-Douglas (she had been a guest speaker at the seminar). She, just so you know, is very closely related to the last emperor of the Habsburg dynasty of the Austrian-Hungarian empire.

Anyhow, this makes her also a relative of the empress Elizabeth, or Sissi, as she also was called. (You may (or may not) remember the old movies about her life with Romy Schneider playing the name role.) As it happened, the musical about Sissi's life was to have its premiere in Turku city theatre last Friday. The organisers of the seminar had tried to get tickets for the Archduchess to see the premiere, but had unfortunately failed miserably and made other plans for Friday.

But what happened was that later that Thursday evening, a small group of people came in the restaurant, sort of at the last moment. I noticed one of them looked familiar, and pretty soon recognised the (very handsome) actor who plays Franz Joseph (the male lead) in the musical. It didn't take too long for the rest of our group to recognise also the actress, who plays Sissi herself. The third person we didn't know, but just to notice these two actors was enough to get a buzz going on. Mrs von Habsburg-Douglas was informed of the situation too, and so were the people from the theatre.

Which then lead to a very surreal conversation between the third person from the next table and the Archduchess. ("So, what's the story? How are you related to Sissi? Why are you here? Please explain once more how you're related to the late emperor?" and so on.) We were all, I'm sure, equally amused by the coincidence and since Mrs vH-D was very kind and polite, she didn't seem to mind the fact that the people didn't really introduce themselves and that she was asked to write a short note for the actors for the next evening's premiere. All the three people from the play did, btw, very eagerly state that they could arrange tickets for her to see the premiere. Just to smooth out the indeniably odd response from the head of the theatre, who had refused to arrange tickets earlier.

But think of this coincidence from the point of view of the actors of the play. Here they are, preparing for their premiere, coming to have late dinner in a local restaurant and who do they meet? A person who is related to their protagonist in real life. I'm thinking they probably had a few incredulous laughs when they told about their encounter with the duchess.

I'm thinking I need to reserve some tickets for myself to go and see the production. I had thought about it before, but now it seems I really do need to see it. :) If for no other reason but to ogle the handsome actor, eh. Unfortunately the show's all sold out till February, so I need to wait for my turn a while yet.

So, to wrap all this up: it's a small world after all...

ETA: No matter how little time I have to read anything, I did end up dragging three new preciouses home from the booksale. A book about the crusades (ergo, thesis related), an encyclopedia of the Third Reich (ergo, work related) and Neil Gaiman's latest novel, Anansi Boys, which I was absolutely thrilled to find in the shelf. Can't wait to dig into it in the very near future...

Too much to read, not enough time

2005-09-17T20:58:00.000+03:00

Aaarrggghhhh! Hear me groan in frustration and despair. I've got a serious problem of not having enough hours in a day to read all the interesting books and other texts I've got piled up around my place. (Literally!)

It's not at all unusual that I have two, three or even four books that I'm reading at the same time, any given time. Take today's situation, for example. I'm in the middle of four novels (among them one book of the Lymond Chronicles that I'm trying to read very slowly so that it'd last as long as possible and one novel that I'm reading actually because of work - but it's a very good novel, nevertheless) and about as many history books. And I have zero time units to concentrate on them.

And here's a list of things that make my situation even worse:

* I know that a friend of mine has several books she's recommended to me and I'd love to get to them asap. The temptation, the temptation...

* I borrowed yet another book today, after hearing a presentation in which the novel was mentioned. The book seems to be my future favorite, at least based on the description I heard. (I'm talking about Keith Roberts' Pavane which is an alternative history in which queen Elisabeth I is murdered in 1588 and the Catholic church reigns supreme till the 20th century - sounds absolutely fascinating! I can't believe I've missed out on this one before.)

* I got a bag full of short stories from this year's Nova writing competition to go through, as the results were announced today and I'm supposed to be picking the stories that I want to publish in Spin later on. This means that I've got to be sort of quick about this, too. I don't want to keep the authors waiting.

* I've got to work! Today I've been grading even more book reports by my students. Luckily I was quite a hard worker today and I've only got a few more to grade. I'll get those done tomorrow morning and then I can give them back on Monday. Which then means that I'll be collecting the notebooks of the students to go through before their exams. Which means I've got plenty of work to do at home, too. Plenty of work that takes lots and lots of time.

* I don't have too much time to work at home this week. I've got a visitor coming on Wednesday and I need to get all of this weeks work (lesson plans and so on) done before that. Phew.

* You should see the pile of other books I've borrowed / bought and that I'm dying to read, like, right away! Extremely high pile. Many books. Shiny preciouses.

Thus, a very frustrated aaaarrrgggghhh. Goshdarnit.

On the other hand, if this is as serious a problem I can think of right now, I probably shouldn't worry too much. :) For just this once, time really will make it better.

Or will it? More time, even more books to read? And come to think of it, I've got two book fairs to visit in October and the bookstores will have their sales soon... Oh world of literature, have pity on me (and my budget and my schedules)!

A very first anniversary!

2005-09-13T18:20:00.000+03:00

Or maybe I should say "bloggiversary" or something. Exactly a year ago I posted my first ever blog post, yay!

In my first post I wondered whether or not I'll have the energy to keep posting. Well, as this is my 138th post, I'd say I've had at least some energy to keep posting. Lately a bit less, thanks to work, but I'm still very positively surprised. And I plan to go on for quite some time, too. You're more than welcome to stay with me and continue this adventure which, unfortunately, isn't always such a thriller...

Lots going on at the moment, though. Lots of social activities, for example. Last Saturday I went to Helsinki with a few friends. We went to see the author M. John Harrison, who was a guest of honor at the Tähtivaeltaja Day (a mini sf-con). I participated in a panel discussion about current events, politics and science fiction and felt like a complete dummy. Probably mostly because I'm not an active party politician, and the discussion veered into the direction of "what color is sf" pretty fast. Oh well, it was just one panel and I survived it, so I shouldn't complain. Actually I'm pretty pleased that I was asked in the first place, so I really am not complaining either.

The day was a lot of fun. It's been a while since I went to one of these fandom events, and especially since I totally missed out on this year's Worldcon in Glasgow, this compact con was just what the doctor described.

I get a huge kick out of the general energy and atmosphere of these events. Tähtivaeltaja Day was no exception. The enthusiasm, in fact, seemed to be very contagious and we ended up making all sorts of plans about the (possible) next Finncon in Turku. Only time will tell if we get enough crazy people to join the project so that we'll actually be able to begin serious planning.

Sf-fandom is such a fun bunch of people. Really. A bit predictable, for sure, but fun nevertheless. Predictable, for example, in their fashions. :) When you walk into the con room (in this case the Dubrovnik Lounge in Helsinki) you'll immediately notice the various shades of black present in the area. I sometimes try to be a rebel and wear a white shirt or a red one, but this time I did end up wearing my black jeans and dark purple shirt for the occasion. My version of sf-black.

Next weekend will include yet another sf-event. On Saturday the SF-society will present the Atorox Award to the best Finnish sf-short story published in 2004 and the Nova writing competition's results will be revealed too. Should be a nice afternoon, if I don't get any sicker than I already am (a bit of fever and a very sore throat at the moment). I'll also be able to do some editor's work there. I need to talk to some of the writers about publishing their work in Spin. Things are looking good but busy now. :)

And because I have a pile of book reports to grade, I'll leave it at that now. From here begins the second year of the Pool. Scary how fast the time goes... Aikakärpäset pitävät nuolesta, eikö vaan?

Thoughts on the big T

2005-09-02T15:13:00.000+03:00

Thesis, that is. Duh.

I just found out that one of the first English sisters of the Order was named Sister Johanna. :) Isn't that funny? However, I don't think she had to answer the question "Did you join the Order of St. John because your name is Johanna?" a lot. I've had to answer that more than once, explaining that I'm not researching the Order because my name is the female equivalent of John. Sorry to disappoint.

The reasons why I chose to research this Order instead of, say, the Templars, are simple. The Templars don't exist anymore, whereas the Order of St. John does (which then brings the wonderful aspect of a milennia of continuity into the research); the Templars have been studied in plenty, whereas the Order of St. John isn't as well known and finally, I know a person who actually is a Knight of the Order and can help me with my research. Funnily enough this little project of mine has even resulted in me getting a new friend from Malta, too. *waves to Rob*

So I'd say I made a fairly good pick when I decided I wouldn't want to dig into the history of the Templars, or the Teutonic knights, for that matter. Granted, both those topics would probably have been easier to research in Turku, but what the heck, I'm not well known for my lack of determination... :)

Nearly finished the background chapter today. Only nearly, because I had serious difficulties concentrating, with a million things on my mind demanding my attention (but then again, what's new?). Like for example the very exciting piece of news I heard from my professor. He told me there is indeed going to be a visiting lecturer from Malta University later this fall and that he'll make sure I get to meet him. I'm hoping meeting him will give me some insights into the topic of my thesis. Maybe I should write an English summary on what I've got so far, so I could show him... Hmm. Could be worth the effort.

At the same time my professor told me that the visit had been confirmed, he also suggested that I should apply for the Erasmus exchange program for next spring. They still have one place available in Malta University. Sigh. I'd love to go. I've been dreaming about some of the courses they teach there. But I have my priorities set for this year and I won't be able to quit my job to go to Malta for 5 months.

However, it's not in any way sure that I'll have anything to teach in Nousiainen come next fall, so maybe I can apply for the place then. There'd be the added bonus of probably being able to begin a licenciate thesis while in Malta, which is a tempting thought. But honestly, I shoudn't be getting ahead of myself. There's still about 80 pages to write for my master's thesis, so I should just concentrate really hard on that one and getting all the rest of my studies finished as soon as possible. (Which is a goal I'm a huge step closer to now, because I've gotten the results of most of my summer exams. Didn't pass the f***ing business econ exam, but passed all my history ones with flying colours. Yay for that, at least.)

Oh well. Better to go read a research. Had to skip the first dance class of the fall today, because I'm feeling a bit feverish, so I might as well use the time to study. Right? :)

Sigh.

2005-08-31T19:04:00.000+03:00

As nice as my students are, they don't seem to have a clue about Finnish grammar... I've been grading papers and I'm about ready to throw in the towel. These poor kids can't tell a verb from a noun, a particle from a pronoun and they have very little idea of attributes, adverbials and predicatives. *sigh*

And that's the stuff they're supposed to know already, since there's absolutely no time in the curriculum to go over all the basic grammar rules they should know after junior high. I'm going to have to give them a little speech about how the basic grammar knowledge will be essential for them to learn any language, not just in Finnish class. I suppose most of them still couldn't care less, but maybe some of them will revise a bit...

Other than this slight disappointment, work has been good. I enjoy having something meaningful to do. I've noticed I also enjoy taking the bus to work. Gives me about a half an hour to think about things without anything else to do. Unless I decide to read instead - I've got a bunch of work related novels to read, for example. But if I don't read, my mind just basically wanders pretty idly. Which I happily allow it to do. I've got a lot on my mind these days and the time on the bus a few times a week seems like a good form of therapy. Self-reflections and other odd thoughts, with as few stressfull topics as possible. :)

Today, however, I wasn't idly thinking about random matters. I was reading a delightful novel by Erlend Loe. It's been published originally quite a few years ago, and I've been meaning to read it for some time already, but haven't gotten to it until now. The novel is called Naive. Super. and it's quite charming. In a very weird and odd way, though.

In the novel the protagonist suffers from a loss of interest and meaning to his life. He decides he wants to buy a ball and bounce it off the wall in the evenings, which basically brings him some comfort and satisfaction. During the daytime he sometimes ventures into reading a book about time. He, for example, ponders the possibility of thinking infinite amount of thoughts and is a bit doubtful whether his brains would be capable of such. He ponders this after having read in his book that if the universe is given an infinite amount of time, everything will happen. Every single thing, no matter how unprobable, will happen, if given enough time. Which, in my opinion as well, is a mindboggling thought. So it's no wonder the protagonist ends up questioning his brains - mine could get stuck trying to understand that, too.

(On the other hand, I suppose I don't really have to understand it, because it's not like I'm going to be here infinitely to see how everything happens. I just get my finite slice of infinity and I need to make the most of it, with the probabilities available.)

Ah. I really appreciate good literature for such mindboggling thoughts and I think I need to stop writing nonsense and go finish up the novel in question. :)

Oops.

2005-08-28T13:54:00.000+03:00

This is what happens when I am too busy. I lose the track of time and suddenly notice that the whatever event I had thought about as being in the vague future hits me in the face. *thud*

Luckily no irreparable damage this time. I had simply forgotten that my cousin is supposed to come and stay with me for a couple of days starting today, because she hasn't got the keys to her new apartment yet. I had made plans of going to Nousiainen to stay over, so I wouldn't have to spend yet another 4,60 euros for a busride to work tomorrow, but I guess I'm abandoning those plans now. I certainly hope I haven't forgotten anything else...

Just watched a fascinating document on tv. It was the second part of a document in which two groups of scientists were reconstructing Leonardo da Vinci's inventions. One group was building a huge crossbow for shooting cannonballs and the other team was hoping to build a glider according to da Vinci's plans.

The crossbow was one mean piece of work. Unfortunately the team failed to get the thing to work properly. Instead of hurtling the cannonball to a distance of some 150 metres, the ball fell to the ground after flying only about 25 metres at most. Understandably the modern engineers were bitterly disappointed, because they realised they themselves were to blame. They had made alterations to Leonardo's drawings, according to more modern knowledge of engineering, and they proved to be too radical. It seemed that the kind of skill the builders had in Leonardo's time was lost to the modern engineers and woodworkers.

On the other hand, the team that was building the glider was very successfull. They were able to follow Leonardo's plans more accurately and were able to put together a functional glider. They actually broke the first flying records of the Wright brothers with the thing. In other words, if Leonardo would've been a man to finish his projects and build the machines he visualized, he probably would've been the first man to fly. A staggering 400 years before the first flight was eventually a reality. Very impressive.

My heart just breaks when I think how much of Leonardo's (and other great minds') works have been lost forever. Today it's estimated that only about a quarter of Leonardo's papers have survived the centuries. And since it's most likely that at least some of the destroyed materials included the more radical ideas Leonardo had, it's even more heartbreaking. Did he really have extensive plans on making a mechanical man? There is some surviving evidence of it, for sure. But those plans, for the most part, must've been the ones to awaken the wrath of the church, especially during the purification period of Milan. What else might those papers reveal to modern researchers, were they to be found somewhere? Oh, what I'd give sometimes to have a time machine...

I love these kinds of documents where modern men try to figure out how the earlier generations did things. It never fails to amaze me how clever human beings have been throughout history. How wrong it is for us to point out to an older culture and label it primitive, when it's obvious that we might be able to learn quite a lot from the intellectual victories of previous bright minds of which ever period in history.

Keeping that in mind, I must say I can't understand the politics of some countries. A couple of weeks ago I was watching a document about the great seafarers, the Phoenicians. In the document they also interviewed a marine archeologist who had found the remains of I think a couple of Phoenician ships. The ships were situated close to the coastline of Israel. However, when he returned to the site of the wrecks a year or so later to begin his research, he was told to leave immediately. Turned out that the site had become a part of Egyptian local waters, after some rearranging of the marine borders of the two countries. The Egyptian government stated that the research of this archeologist was "a threat to the national security of Egypt".

Excuse me? Can someone explain to me how the discovery of two Phoenician ships and the following historical research is a threat to any nation's security? I felt so bad for the archeologist who had to turn his ship around and go back to scanning the seabed around the Mediterranean sea routes between Malta and Carthage used by the Phoenicians. To scan thousands of miles of seabed, when he knew exactly where there'd be magnificent remains to research. I can only imagine the bitterness, when he finally had to give up and sail back to the States without finding any significant Phoenician remains. Poor guy.

But honestly, to be so suspicious that the excavations of a few ships a couple of milennia old would look like a threat to national security... My mind boggles. I wasn't made to understand the reasons behind such statements. I would understand if they'd posted some kind of restrictions on the time the archeologist could spend doing his research in their local waters or something of the sort, but to completely forbid the whole project? I just don't get it.

I suppose I'm going to be left wondering in my extremely naive way why we all can't just appreciate history and live in peace... :)

No loitering

2005-08-21T20:36:00.000+03:00

Dear me, what a week. Feels like I've been riding on a rocket. Whoosh!

First there was the beginning of work and the birth of little Aure. In other words, the week started out with me having serious issues of spinning in my head. Do this, plan that, coo at the baby bundle.

Work, btw, has been good so far. Now I'm really looking forward to settling down, so to say. To get to the daily routines of getting to work somehow, teaching the daily dose of Finnish or legal matters and figuring out how to get home in the afternoon.

It's funny how quickly I've noticed that I really miss my old car. It's so much more convenient to hop in your own car, drive to work according to your own schedules and not having to figure out which bus goes where and when. But to be honest, I'd be cursing the car (my old one, that is) to the lowest levels of Dante's charming hell as soon as the temperatures begin to sink below zero during the night. (Which, I'm happy to say, isn't quite yet.)

But the car issue is going to have to be solved later. For now I'll settle for bus hopping (at least I can get some reading done during the 40 minute drive to/from Nousiainen), borrowing grandpa's car and commuting with co-workers when their schedules fit mine. Which they really don't do that often, unfortunately. I'm sure I'll appreciate having a car all the more after having to do without for some time.

Ah, back on track. On Wednesday I got some very interesting guests. The Australian GUFF-travellers came to stay over at my place for a night and naturally there was some programming to be done to entertain them. G(oing)U(nder)F(an)F(und) is a way to promote fannish cooperation between Australia&NZ and Europe. This year's Australian winners, Damien and Juliette, had already met people in Britain, visited the Worldcon in Glasgow (obviously) and were planning on going further to Sweden, Denmark and Germany to meet the local fans.

A small delegation of us Turku fans gathered with D&J to have dinner in Harald, where the brave Aussies had a taste of weird Finnish beverages like tar schnaps. Either they really sort of liked it or they put up a very polite face, since they did admit it "wasn't as bad as one could've thought". Heh.

On Thursday after work it was time for touristy stuff. D&J had found out that two other Australians were visiting in Tampere at the same time, so on that afternoon I found myself in the company of four nice Australians instead of just two, when Dave and Karen joined us after a quick train trip to Turku.

It was so much fun to show them around town. We went to the Turku Castle, walked around and had coffee in the castle courtyard. We didn't take the tour inside the castle, because that would've been sort of expensive and taken a lot of time. After that we walked back to the center of town. It was a nice walk on the bank of river Aura. We discussed, among other things, arranging cons the Finnish and Australian ways. It was very interesting to compare them. (There were a few other interesting matters to compare between the Finnish and Aussie living. Like for example Karen told me that she thought that the Finnish bumblebees were huge. I would've thought Australian bumblebees would be bigger. I don't know why, but just feels like it should be like that, Australia being warmer and all. And it was even more fun to compare ideal winter days. For them Thursday's weather, sunny and about 23 degrees C, was a very nice wintery weather. I would consider -5 degrees, 20 cm of snow on the ground and sunshine from a blue sky to be a perfect winter day...)

I can't even begin to describe how crazy I feel when I have to admit that after discussing con organising, I'm really getting excited about possibly arranging Finncon in Turku again, in 2008. I must be flat out mad to consider a project of that magnitude now, but as we already agreed that there'd be Australian visitors (hehheh), I suppose we'll have to get down to it pretty soon. Time for a first con committee meeting, yup. No escaping the fact that it's a heck of a lot of fun (there is no buzz like the buzz I get during the con week) even though it's also a heck of a lot of stress and work, on so many levels. But crazy is as crazy does, and I think I want to do another Finncon. :) (Somebody just please shoot me now, ok?)

(Be comforted. We're nearing the end of the week in this lengthy post.) During this part of the semester I have no classes to teach on Fridays, so instead I spent my first free Friday desperately trying to find brown dressy shoes to wear with my outfit for Saturday's wedding.

Considering that brown is the black of the day in clothing, it was amazingly frustrating to try to find brown shoes to match. Grr. Ended up buying no shoes. Decided to compromise my elegance by wearing black strappy shoes instead. (Oh, woe, what a fashion disaster!)

The wedding on Saturday was very charming. Kirsi and Matti had invited some 50 guests, which was (so I was told) a compromise between Matti's idea of a wedding for 100 people and Kirsi's idea of eloping without no guests at all. :) I'm so happy they decided to have a wedding!

The ceremony was held in the beautiful, medieval church of Nousiainen. The exact same church I met Kirsi in some 13 years ago. It all seemed so appropriate. Kirsi was wearing an absolutely gorgeous dark red silk dress, just like she'd always wanted. I remember us talking about my mom's red wedding dress already in high school and Kirsi being very convinced that she'd want a red one too. So she did. It was perfect for her. Matti also looked very handsome.

The reception was held in the old railway station of Nousiainen. A beautiful old building, which created a very intimate and well, rural (in a positive sense!), atmosphere to the whole reception. Everything was just like I'd imagined Kirsi would want it to be. She did seem pleased with all the arrangements when I talked with her during the evening.

Finally, everything was crowned by the most stunning full moon rising. I can't imagine a more perfect August night. As I drove home (I had dad's adorable VW Beetle, squee!), I felt so happy for my dear old friend. She used to be so scared of not finding anyone and there she was, beautiful on her wedding day, with her husband and their utterly, completely gorgeous little daughter Amanda. It's wonderful, when people's worst fears dissolve like the mist on a lake when the sun rises. Congratulations once more to the whole family! If I die tomorrow, I'll know I've done at least some good in this world by matching you two way back when... :)

Ah, I'm getting awfully sentimental here. Weddings do that to me, you know.

Anyhow, now it's time I begin thinking about the upcoming week, which should be somewhat calmer, thank goodness. I think I may even have a "free" weekend coming up, when it comes to prearranged social events. I'm thinking of going to Kurala to watch the primitive weapons' competitions instead. :) But that's not before I've taught a few lessons to a bunch of students, heh.

That's my girl!

2005-08-16T20:38:00.000+03:00

She's adorable. Utterly adorable. She frowns when people take pictures (the flashes are eeevil), pouts her little mouth and likes to stretch her legs. I haven't yet seen her eyes, as she was asleep all the time we were visiting. I'm sure she'll be one charming little girl when she grows older, because she had us all cooing in less than five seconds. :)

Her parents were appropriately dazed with happiness (Kirsi probably also partly because of the painkillers she was still on, heh) and very much enchanted by the wee bitty bundle. As were we all. I bought her a fairytale book, a purple little shirt that says "I am gorgeous" and a small toy-lamb (which rattles). I thought that no goddaughter of mine will begin her journey in this world without a proper book of fairytales. :) These were the traditional Finnish animal tales, about the wily fox, the dumb bear and so on. I promised I'd also read the stories for her later.

Oh dear. I still don't have a "baby fever" myself, but as far as babies go, Aure sure was cute as a button. :) Tytti will probably post some of the pictures she took today in the hospital, so check her blog for pics. Mine will be available after considerably longer time. Unfortunately.

However cute the baby was, I have to move on with the program. Finishing touches to tomorrow's lesson plans and then frantic dishwashing and other cleaning before I fall down to bed exhausted. The Australian couple will be coming this way tomorrow afternoon and my apartment is a mess. I need to make my place more presentable so I can let them in... Although I'd much rather go to bed right now and sleep till morning... *yawn* But because that would cause me to fall into fits of sheer panic tomorrow, I won't do that quite yet.

New beginnings

2005-08-15T22:02:00.000+03:00

What a wonderful day it has been. I began at my new workplace and became a godmother to a little wee princess.

First things first. My goddaughter Aure Eeva Johanna, Kirsi and Mikko's firstborn, saw the world for the first time today at 8.50 am. Strategic measurements are 3,425 kg and 51 cm. She and her proud parents are doing well, which makes me very happy. I'm going to get to go and see her for the first time tomorrow! Awwwww!

I got the message announcing the birth of the wee girl to work and for the rest of the day my thoughts kept wandering (and I kept smiling like a loon). As soon as I got home, I decided I needed to go giftshopping for my little goddaughter. There are sooo many utterly adorable babyclothes and stuff that it was not a quick trip to the stores. But I found some nice presents - I hope she (and her parents...) will like them. :)

Work was good, too. Today was a planning day for us teachers, or as my dad so fondly says, the day when the surroundings are optimal for a teacher. There are no students around! So basically it was a teachers' meeting and then some course planning and running about two separate school buildings for me today. Tomorrow I'll have the first lessons.

The first day did have some surprises (non-baby related) for me, too. Firstly, the course books I ordered for myself hadn't arrived to the school. When I called the publisher, the friendly lady of the customer services told me my order hadn't been completed. Why? Because the area representative who told me she would take care of the matter hadn't done what she was supposed to... So I'm going to have to begin the Finnish course without proper materials. Luckily mom's there to help - I got to borrow some of her materials.

And yes, I had been preparing mentally (and by reading a few novels!) for a seniors' course. So when it dawned on me that it wasn't the course I'd be teaching, I was a bit surprised. Turns out that I'll be spending my seven odd weeks from now on with first year students and their first senior high Finnish course. Well, it's fine by me, it's a nice course and it'll be fun to get to know some of the "freshmen".

But as it happens, I still have some lesson planning to do, so I'd better cut this short. However, I must confess that I'm very excited about this week, there's just so much to look forward to! Work, meeting my goddaughter, hosting two Australian fan fund -travellers for one night and my friends wedding on Saturday. Busy, busy, busy. Happy, happy, happy! :)

Just out of curiosity

2005-08-11T11:20:00.000+03:00

There's been this "Do you read me?" -meme going around at various LJ's I read. The point of it being that everyone reading that particular lj would "turn themselves in" by commenting.

As it's getting pretty near the first birthday of my blog, I decided it's time to find out who visits the Pool. I'm sure most of the people reading my ponderings are my friends and have commented at least once, but nevertheless, I'd like to find out if there are people just lurking around. :)

In other words, if you read my blog, please drop me a comment. Don't be shy, just say hi or something. I'd be delighted to hear from you. All of you. :)

Raindrops keep falling

2005-08-10T21:19:00.000+03:00

Funny times I'm living. I seem to have so much going on and so much to think about that I don't seem to be able to express myself in words. Which is somewhat unusual. Or maybe it's just that I haven't really had time to sit down and ponder about, well, anything lately.

It's been miserably grey these past few days, with almost constant rain pouring down. It's beginning to look and feel like fall and that's just what I was afraid of - this year the summer hasn't really happened for me. In the spring I was worried about not having enough time this summer to do everything I needed to get done, in June or so I was worrying that the summer would come to an end before I could get anything done and well, now it seems that the summer really is coming to an end and I haven't had time to enjoy it, not really.

I'm not saying I haven't done anything. Because I have. This is probably the first time during my years at the University when I've actually managed to take the full set of summer exams. And double exams, too, to be more exact. Usually I've planned to take all four possible exams and ended up taking two at the most. So instead of that routine, I've already beaten all my old records - if I pass all of the altogether six exams I've taken this summer. The last trial is to be on Friday, and I'm very aggravated about that one already. It's the dreaded and whole-heartedly hated accounting and business econ exam. I hate it, I hate it, I HATE it. Oh, and did I mention that I loathe it, too? Blergh. But if I manage to drag myself to the exam on Friday and somehow miraculously manage to pass it too, I'm all done with economics after that. So I try to motivate myself with the thought of no more accounting when this is done...

In other words, I'm pretty happy about the way my studies are progressing. All of the exams I manage to pass are a step closer to graduating. Which is definitely good.

Unfortunately things aren't as great with my thesis. It's beginning to really dawn on me that I simply cannot concentrate on multiple (demanding, study-related) projects at the same time. This summer began with ridiculously optimistic plans about working, studying and writing my thesis, but I should've known better. I really, really should've known better. Because I should've learned by now that if I have exams to study for and work to go to, there's just no time to concentrate on doing serious research. It's really like having three jobs (or four) at the same time. I simply can't manage that. So, no matter how much it pains me to admit that I can't do it all at once, I probably should give myself a break.

Not literally, of course. I couldn't help but to give it a little dry laughter, when the principal of the junior high I'm going to be working at this year asked me if I'd had time to have a vacation this summer. Umm, well, lemmesee. No, not really. And it's a bit too late now. I'm sure most of the teachers that I meet on Monday when work begins are going to tell all kinds of wonderful stories about "reloading their batteries" and relaxing and doing only enjoyable stuff for all summer long. They're going to be well rested and so on, whereas I'm boasting with black rings around my eyes and stress levels of hungry squirrels whose nuts have been stolen from them. Yay, me. Isn't it fun to be young - you have so much energy! Gaah. I'm so looking forward to the time in my life when I really do have 10 weeks of paid summer vacation to use just as I please. *sigh*

After all that ranting I must admit that I'm getting both excited and anxious about work. I dropped by the school today, to see if my workbooks and materials had already arrived there (I ordered all the course books and such from the publisher some time ago) and heard that I'd been given more courses to teach during the year. Yay, says I. :) More lessons, more euros. I still don't know what kind of courses I'll have in the junior high (except for the course that begins on Tuesday) and I'm not sure what extra course I got from senior high, but it doesn't matter that much. I'll find out on Monday.

It is, however, just a touch bittersweet, this change in plans at the school. The fact that I got more lessons from the junior high is just great, but the extra course I got from senior high is actually taken from mom's work. Which makes me feel oddly guilty for being there. I had nothing to do with it, it's got to do with the lesson plans the principals make, but somehow I couldn't help but feel a bit bad that I'd been given that extra course. It'll be even worse, if dad's courses are cut (for a complicated school bureaucratic reason) and those end up falling to my lap. But I'm sure that won't happen, so I probably shouldn't be worrying about that in advance. Besides, I really shouldn't feel guilty at all, because I'm not the one behind the changes. Argh, it's so frustrating...

Does it seem to you that I'm a bit wound up about all of this? Yes, my thoughts exactly...

On a lighter note, then. I spent a few hours shopping in the local mall on Monday. I had dad's car for a couple of days (folks went to Stockholm) and I decided to cheer myself up on a miserably rainy day by giving my Visa a swing. I was (and to be honest, still am) in need of proper clothes for work. What's sad about it was that I went through all the shops and ended up finding only a scarf and a jacket. (I was planning on spending on shoes and jeans and slacks, too.) Darn it, I'm even a lousy shopper... :)

But that's not what I was going to confess, really. I was going to confess that I had a serious attack of "aaawwwww, how adorable" while shopping. :) No, I didn't go shopping for my future godson/daughter's clothes or anything, but instead I bumped into one of my students from the prep course.

He was one of my favorites from the course and when I noticed him in a store I just had to go and congratulate him for getting in the uni. Here's the best part, though. After very nicely thanking me for my help (first "awww"), he said there was something he'd been wondering about and wanted to ask my advice (enter the second "awww" here). He had a few questions about his minors and the student allowance and while talking with him, I felt like a big sister / guidance councellor. Here's this young man who is pondering about his future and he thinks I can be of help! (All together now: awwww!) We did chat for quite a while and when I left, I had a warm, fuzzy feeling inside and a wide smile on my face. I had mattered to this kid (well, young man, heh) and he thought I could help. Silly me, but honestly, at that moment I felt so appreciated that I could've just burst from happiness and on the other hand I felt oddly grateful, too, for some reason. Awww. :)

That's a good note to end my ramblings on this time. I think I need to go and ponder about average variable costs and such for a while more. Blech.

Nothing much

2005-08-07T14:21:00.000+03:00

I have a rock festival going on in my back yard. Honestly, I do. Or actually, no. Not in the back yard, but in the neighbouring park. It's an annual joy, a kids' rock weekend. Which means I get to listen to all sorts of kiddie music played very loud and even some young kids performing themselves. Just a couple of hours ago I was reading my newspaper to the sound of old Finnish pop and rock songs performed by a little girl, judging by the sound she must've been something like 12 years old. Perhaps. Very endearing, but honestly, no matter who sings them, I just don't like the songs of the 1980's favourite Dingo. Urgh.

What left me wondering though, was the choice of music that was played in between the kiddie stuff. Or what would you say to the dj who played "gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight" to an audience of toddlers and pre-teens? It's not like they really understand what the song is about and they probably just enjoy (at least the older kids) the sound of more "adult" music. But still. I found it somehow a bit odd.

Went bowling last night. It was heaps of fun. This was, I think, the third time ever I tried bowling and the previous two times were in the States. Ten years ago. But seems it's a bit like riding a bike. Once you've got a hang of it, all you need is a few tries and you're back on track (on whatever track that may be). At least I didn't suck at it, because I had a few moments of triumph (four strikes, for example) and I think I may have had the best score of all of us 11 or so girls that were there. Heee. Not that I'm competitive or anything... (Well, let's see. Hmm. I think I am competitive after all. *grin*) So who's up to going bowling with me one of these days? ;)

Ah, I think I may have had something else in mind, too (although I can't remember what it may have been), but my dearest brother is coming to pick me up sometime soon and I think I need to get myself ready. He tends to inform me of his schedule within 5 minutes of his arrival. And then he's not too happy to be left waiting for long. :) In other words, gotta go.

Not something I see every day

2005-08-02T16:02:00.000+03:00

Current events (like about ten minutes ago). Eye-witness report. Here as follows:

Here I was, studying for my exam, concentrating on the power politics of Sweden, Poland and Russia in the 17th century. In other words, minding my own business in the peace and quiet of my own bedroom.

Suddenly I hear someone bellowing "hey" outside and curious as I am, I immediately went to the window to see what was going on.

And what did I see? A police car parked in front of our house. Police officers directing traffic (including pedestrians), away from "my" street. That's odd, I thought. What on Earth for? Wuzzgoingon?

Answer came to me quite soon. They were closing down my neighbouring block and quite a stretch of street because the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was to drive by. And how did I know this? Well, he's in town today and I live basically next door to Turku's top biotech centre plus some University facilities that the President could be visiting. And as I quickly browsed through the news from the local newspaper's website afterwards, my guess was confirmed.

So here I was, peeking from my kitchen window, when the police escort drove by, promptly followed by a huge black limo with the Russian and Finnish state flags, quite a few other big Finnish and Russian black cars, a dozen or so less luxurious vehicles and a few more police cars. Wow. Not something I see every day. :) According to the local newspaper the president travels with an entourage of about 200 people, and I suppose most of those people just passed my apartment from less than 50 metres away. Waah.

They're still redirecting traffic in the crossroads - I wonder if the whole procession will come back the same way? Maybe I should go and ask the nice police officers? Although I doubt it they'd tell me anything.

Oo, what excitement. :)

Oh the pain

2005-07-31T22:44:00.000+03:00

Well, well. I must say last night was about worth the half a year wait. That's how long it had been since I last went out partying with my darling friend Satu. We had a blast.

Sat back at my place first, drinking wine and talking girltalk, then proceeded into the nightlife of Turku. Which there was plenty of, thanks to the DBTL festival. We decided not to stay by the riverside, since there were loads and loads of people and definitely no places to sit and have a drink. Stand and have a drink, maybe, but we weren't feeling like it. So instead we went to a new bar called Edison for a beer. A nice place, not too crowded and not too loud at that point of the evening, either.

Since we both had an idea about dancing at some point during the evening, we did find ourselves in Börs Nightclub later on. I had almost forgotten how much fun it can be. Not that I like the huge crowd a whole lot, or the pieces of broken glass on the floor or the expensive drinks, but as far as it's not something I do every weekend, I don't mind.

I quite enjoyed watching people last night. I suppose we both, Satu and I, feel a bit detached from the "scene" nowadays, so it is interesting to observe the crowds. It's really funny, how most of the people (at least in this specific club) tend to look alike out there. It's the unwritten code of club fashions, naturally. There are the guys who want to look like cool surfers (they'll be wearing t-shirts of a very specific kind, combined to relaxed jeans), the girls who strut around looking anorectic in their tinytiny tops (the obvious man-hunters) and there are the people (both guys and girls) who look like they tried to achieve a certain look (whatever that look might be), but got it all slightly wrong. And oh yes, then there are people who just want to look ravishingly gorgeous (at least in their own minds) on the dance floor, which means they try not to look like they're having too much fun. It'd spoil the ultimate cool effect, because (omg) they might smile, or worse yet, laugh with their friends.

I do plenty of that. Smile and laugh, that is. It's the combination of me and music. Causes immediate happiness. It's something people have given me feedback about after seeing me perform oriental dance, too. They say I seem to look like I have fun while I dance. And heck yes, that's exactly the way I feel. And I'm very pleased if I manage to look like it, too. :)

Anyway, the evening was a success and the blisters in my feet, my aching knees and the sore muscles are a low price to pay for a good night out with a dear friend. Although I must admit I might have said something else about the feet part if asked about it when we were stumbling home around 3 a.m. My feet were killing me and I'm afraid Satu's situation was even worse. That was one of those moments when all the elegance fades away and all that is left is torture. But hey, the shoes were sexy (with high heels, of course) so as a woman I shouldn't complain. It is a universal truth that for beauty's sake we must suffer...

Time well spent

2005-07-29T22:52:00.000+03:00

What's there to do on a Friday night in a town that has a city rock festival going on? Well, you can always stay at home by yourself and rent a few excellent movies.

Which is exactly what I did tonight. :) I have to reserve my strength for tomorrow, because that'll be my party night. (I'm just hoping I'll stay awake past midnight... eh.)

So I rented two movies I'd been waiting for to appear in my neighbouring rental place. The first one was Stage Beauty, the other one Closer. (Spoilers ahead, so watch your step...)

Stage Beauty is a historical drama about the 17th century London and its theatre world. A story of a time, when the roles of women in all plays were played by men, and in the case of this movie, by a very eye-pleasing Billy Crudup. He is excellently cast into the role of Edward "Ned" Kynaston, an actor who specialises in the female roles. Kynaston's career is at its height as he plays Desdemona from Will Shakespeare's Othello night after night to cheering crowds. However, when the king issues a law forbidding men to perform on stage as women, he's left with talent he's not allowed to use and no will to live.

Add into this the character of Claire Danes' Maria, who has for years helped Mr Kynaston backstage and secretly adored the actor and dreamed of acting herself. The result is a situation, where Maria becomes the star, to much of Mr Kynaston's disbelief. And before the end credits roll, there are a few acting lessons both Maria and Mr Kynaston have to learn.

Shakespeare in Love has for years been a favourite of mine, but in some ways I liked Stage Beauty even more. I'm not sure I can point out specific reasons why, because the latter didn't (for example) make me cry, which is something SiL never fails to do. Nevertheless the story was on some level more touching in SB. Or maybe the portrayal of a man who is "the last one to do what he did", because the world happened to change and he got caught up in the turmoil is a bit more interesting than a "simple" love story. In my historian's world. Although I do admit that speculations about Shakespeare's life are always quite fascinating, too.

What was interesting about the film was that it did deal with the question of homosexuality a bit, too. There is a homosexual relationship between Kynaston and the Duke of Buckingham, even though later on, when Kynaston's days as the lady of the stage are over, the Duke quite coldly tells him off by saying he always thought of him as a woman. So there's one character who denies being gay. What about Kynaston, then?

I think the brave (and oh so right) decision would've been to let the character of Kynaston remain homosexual. Or at least make his bisexuality more apparent from the beginning. Because the way they handled his identity now just didn't feel quite right.

Here's this character, who clearly has had feelings (lust, if nothing else) for the Duke of Buckingham. He's dumped for a lady and ends up in bed with a woman himself. That scene, however, is one of the funniest and most endearing ones of the movie. Maria asks him what men do when they are with men. And Kynaston proceeds to demonstrate. :) Very cute, especially when he finally gets sort of confused about whether he's the man-woman or the man-man.

Unfortunately, the movie makers have decided to take the easy way out of a situation, where they'd have a movie with no female love interest for the handsome male lead and so the passion between Kynaston and Maria is what we end up with. No more slashy scenes with the Duke... *sigh*

So, in short, a delightful movie, despite some minor weaknesses. I'm definitely going to watch Billy Crudup a bit more closely from now on. I quite liked him in Big Fish, but turns out he's pretty good in period drama too! And I think I may have to buy the DVD for myself, too. Material for one of our girls' night, maybe. :)

Closer, then. Not an easy movie, that one. Full of angst, love, desperation, deceit and well, sex. The story evolves around four beautiful strangers (played by Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Cliwe Owen and Julia Roberts) who (to make the story short) mix and match and get hurt in the process.

My thoughts are a bit fuzzy about this movie experience still. I liked it a lot, but I suppose I need to ponder about it more to know why. I do know one reason, though. Natalie Portman. I'm beginning to like her more and more after every one of her films I see. I really loved her performance in Garden State and in this one as well. She's got real talent and when she's given proper dialogue and direction, she thrives. And I bet that it must've been a challenge to her to play a stripper - and oh my, does she do it well or what. (Or actually, how would I know since I've never seen a stripper in my life? Erm...)

Oops, I seem to have been pondering about movies for so long that it's sort of getting late. I can't even see the little bat flying about my window anymore. I think I need to go to bed, so I can have a good night's sleep. I mustn't be dead tired tomorrow... :)

A trip to the land of nostalgy

2005-07-25T23:01:00.000+03:00

I spent some time in Nousiainen this weekend. I was supposed to go and make arrows with dad, but turns out the store that sells the stuff I needed is closed for another week. Damnation.

I did, however, get to try dad's bow probably for the first time. He's got a modern olympic style bow (I'm not an expert on the terminology quite yet, heh) that weighs a whole lot more than my simple longbow and has all these equalizers and whatnot on it. And is basically impossible to use with my strength. It's a 40lb bow (about) and I honestly couldn't shoot with it. Dad got the bow strung for me, but I just couldn't draw the darned thing fully. Not enough strength in my back muscles quite yet... It will be interesting to try whether I'll be able to shoot with it later, because dad said he's going to build a target for us to put up in the back yard. Whee! But before that I really need to get some arrows for my own bow and do some test shooting, so we'll find out if the bow is fully balanced and doesn't need any more work on it.

Ah, but the nostalgy part. Well, I wasn't feeling like studying for my exam, so I decided I'd clean up a closet that's full of my (and my brother's) old toys and books and school stuff. I don't have enough room here in my own apartment to bring all that stuff here, but I'd been meaning to go through all of the clutter one day and maybe prevent everything from collapsing on top of some innocent closet-user. Sunday turned out to be the day for the clean-up.

I found my first ever diary, for example. I got it for my 8th birthday (it had a horse on the cover, naturally) and since I wasn't a very frequent writer, I used it up to the age of sweet sixteen or thereabouts. One of my earlier entries (I almost wrote "posts", ehheh) reminded me once again why Anakin Skywalker's "yippee" or "yahoo" or whatever the yelp was in Episode I when he gets the afternoon off, is in a way very realistic for a kid that age.

I had written down something in the lines of "Today was a nice day, because we had math in school. Yahoo!" (eli siis vielä suomeksi muotoiltuna "Jihuu!"). Later on there were a few literally expressed yelps of "Yippee" and so on. To make matters worse, the exact same entry almost shattered my carefully constructed self-image of a humanist. Math? Yippee?? Geez. I thought I specifically remembered never liking math that much, especially in elementary school when calculators weren't allowed. Huh, I'm so glad I realised there are more interesting things in life than math... ;)

I do have to wonder though, what is it that makes it relatively easy for me to have a blog (or two) and update it relatively regularly, because I never was much of a diary writer. It must be the idea of interacting with people that makes blogging so different from keeping a personal diary. I remember that most of my entries in my various diaries (even as late as during my exchange year in the States) are more like lists of things I did, not any philosophical ponderings on my inner feelings. Sure, there is a line I draw to what I blog about, too, but this media has definitely gotten me to elaborate a lot more on life. Could be also because it's so much easier (as in quicker) to type than it is to write so that the text is actually legible. :)

The closet also had other treasures in its belly. My old toy horses, for example. My precious, precious toy horses. My favorite, a big black and white mare with a carriage and the palomino foal that I instantly decided belonged to this mare. (They weren't a set or anything originally.) I never was into playing with dolls or Barbies, but I was always playing with the horses. I made all sorts of equipment for them (including saddles and such, believe it or not) and the few Barbies (or actually I think they were Daisy dolls) were involved only in the very marginal roles of the horse owners. Ah, such good memories.

And if there's something I love as much as I love the memories of playing with my toy horses, it's the memories of wonderful books. I took a bunch of my old favorites back home with me this time, so I can read some of my old favorite bedtime stories to any visiting toddler who is willing to listen. My godson or -daughter will not have a choice but to listen, though. ;)

It's such a warm feeling I get when I browse through some of the books. There was this one book, sort of sad really, called Talvinalle and I got all choked up and teary while reading some of the pages. (So in fact I'm not so sure at all I'm going to be able to read that stuff to anyone ever...) That has to be one of the absolute all time favorites in our family. It had to be read over and over again, we never got bored with it, me or my brother.

Of other books I distinctly remember some pictures and how they made me feel back when I was listening to mom reading the stories for me. There's a parrot I remember liking in that picture, I never did like that picture so much and so on. Just wonderful. Memories worth cherishing, for sure.

In case you haven't yet figured out my opinion about reading to kids - here's the short and sweet version. Always read to your children. The memories of those shared moments will be the treasures of their lives, for the rest of their years.

To finish up, the story of Talvinalle, just for the sake of pure nostalgy. And because I suddenly feel like a bedtime story. :) Am not going to translate it, sorry. (If you're interested, you can see if you can find the English original from 1974 by Ruth Craft, called The Winter Bear.)

***

Talvinalle

Missä on saapas?
Missä on nuttu?
Taas se sama
vanha juttu:
aina on hukassa
vaate jokin,
eteinen menee
sikin sokin.
Mutta talvikävelyllä
täytyy olla lämmintä yllä.

Nyt on lapsia kolme tässä
pakkasretkelle lähtemässä.
Kuljetaan etelään, länteen, itään,
tutkimatta ei jätetä mitään.
Pengotaan pensaat, kiivetään aidat,
nuuskitaan polut ja polkujen laidat.

Pensaat on paljaat, ruoho jäässä.
Kukkia löytyy, jos silmät on päässä:
ruohonkorsia, kiulukoita,
varpuja, hahtuvapalleroita.

Linnuille talvi on aikaa tiukkaa.
Vilu on ankara, ruoka niukkaa.
Löytyykö siementä, marjaa tai muuta?
Voi kuinka monta nälkäistä suuta!

Mansikki myöskin on kävelyllä
ruskea turkki yllä.
Kiltti lehmä, alahan tuosta
lämpimään navettaasi juosta!

Pensaan latvassa
jotakin tummaa.
Sukka tai kenkä
tai muuta kummaa?
- Riittääpäs ihmettelemistä sulla,
ei siellä mitään, ala jo tulla.

Nuorimmainen on toista mieltä:
kyllä se alas on saatava sieltä.
Vaan kuinka oksalle korkeimmalle
joutunut on pikkuinen nalle?

Märkä ja likainen,
ressukka parka,
mutta niin kiltti
ja kovin arka.

Yhdessä katsellaan
löytölasta.
Pikkuinen karhu?
Tämäpä vasta.

Retkelle tulikin kumma loppu,
nyt on kotiin kiire ja hoppu,
- Hei äiti, löydettiin pikkuinen nalle
hautautumasta lumen alle!
Ihan alasti pakkassäällä,
ei edes villapaitaa päällä.

Ei ole ennen näillä mailla
karhua hoideltu tällä lailla.
Pestään ja pyyhitään,
kuivataan nenää.
Lääkkeen se ottaa
ilman tenää.

Sitten tyynylle parhaimmalle
pannaan istumaan Talvinalle.

(Ruth Craft 1974, suom. Marjatta Kurenniemi)
***

Hyvää yötä ja kauniita unia. :)

A little bit of sweat and just a sprinkle of sawdust

2005-07-19T22:57:00.000+03:00

I finished my bow today! Whee! It's beautiful, even if I say so myself. :) Tomorrow or on Thursday I think I need to go and shop for arrowheads and feathers, so I can make a pile of arrows during the weekend with the help of dad. And then - I'm all ready for archery practice! Can't wait. Later on I can figure out how I'm going to solve the quiver problem.

I had a really good day at work today, too. I'm hoping my last three days as a direct sales person go just as well, so I'll end up with a positive frame of mind (and at least some money coming my way) when I step out of that door on Friday at 7 p.m. Three more days. 12 hours. A piece of cake. :)

Then, it's a three week panic before school begins. Three weeks filled with studying for three exams, planning the first Finnish & literature course for the seniors, reading the novels the seniors were required to read during their vacation (which means I have to read at least three Finnish realist novels in just a few days) and possibly preparing also the first few weeks of teaching to some junior high history class. Oh, and putting together Spin no. 3 for 2005. Geez. Can I have a vacation of my "vacation"?

But seriously, I'm very excited about "real" work beginning, even though I may be a bit stressed out because of it now (and in the future). And I've still got almost a month to do all the preparations. Which is plenty of time, right? Gotta keep thinking positively. :)

Achievement Award of the day

2005-07-15T20:48:00.000+03:00

...goes to me and my prep course students! Today the university announced the names of the people who were accepted to study within the various departments of the Faculty of Humanities. The department of history was naturally included.

I was extremely curious about how my students had done and who had been accepted. Turns out that 9 of the 13 students I taught on the course were accepted! A mighty good percentage, I'd say. I had hoped for 4 or 5 of them to get in, but 9 was way more than I expected. I suppose I didn't do any irreparable damage to their process of preparing for the entrance exam, after all. :)

As a result of these wonderful news I spent most of the morning sending emails to congratulate the "kids". One girl had already emailed me a thank you note before I had even seen the results and three more had answered my emails during the day, thanking me for my help. It feels good that I had the possibility to help these kids to get forward in their life. I feel pretty accomplished myself, even though they were the ones that had to take the exam and study for it. But you know, it always feels good to get a few nice thank you notes even though the students themselves did most of the work. You know, were I a cat, I'd be purring right now. :)

A nice weekend ahead again. I had to cancel my trip to Tampere tomorrow, because frankly, I couldn't really afford it and I need to begin studying for my next exams (on Finnish history) for real. However, I don't know if the decision will save me any money (or give me any more time to study, for that matter), because tomorrow there's an archery event at Kurala (where I'm making my bow, which isn't quite yet finished, btw) and I'm afraid I might find something I need, heh. Like arrows or something. And even worse is the situation when I get to the book market event on Sunday. I hope I don't find any good books I'd need (read: want) to own... We'll see. Maybe I'll strategically forget my purse home. ;)

Sweat and sawdust

2005-07-13T22:32:00.000+03:00

In other words, I'm about halfway done making my longbow! Whee! I hope to finish it tomorrow so I can get to the shooting part...

It probably would've been smarter to wait for cooler weather for this whole process, but even though I spent most of my afternoon sweating in a small room with no windows and lots of sawdust and powertools today, it'll be worth it when I can show people I've actually made myself a longbow. Without cutting any of my fingers off or anything. In fact there were two of us making bows today, and the other one, the guy, did have a tiny accident with one of the machines. I didn't. :) Gosh that makes me so proud of myself, because the last time I did any kind of woodwork must've been in the 6th grade.

It's the small joys in life that count. ;)

Under the heatwave

2005-07-11T12:30:00.000+03:00

Huh. Finland is basking under a hot, hot Northern sun and I'm living on a diet of ice cream and Fanta Free. Temperatures have been around 25 to 29 degrees Celsius for about a week now without any signs of the weather getting cooler and it's wonderful and terrible all at the same time.

I, personally, tolerate the warmth quite well (except for at work, where there's no airconditioning whatsoever and it makes you feel tired and irritable as soon as you put your headset on), but I know people who really wouldn't mind a bit cooler weather. I do worry a bit about my grandparents, for example. And honestly, I'd rather tolerate the weather by the seashore myself...

Yesterday was good in that sense. After having spent the Saturday evening alone at home and bored to death, I was happily surprised by my brother. He called me around 11 a.m. and said "I'll be there in 5 minutes, get yourself ready." I of course started to protest, as I had just taken a shower and it'd take me at least 15 minutes to get ready, but then he informed me we'd make a few hour stop at the beach on our way to Nousiainen. Ahh. No need to dry my hair for a day at the beach.

I'm really not much of a sunbather, because the idea of lying in the sun doing nothing tends to make me feel frustrated (and it's not healthy, either), but the swimming part is absolutely fantastic. I love to swim and to float. My brother, the competition swimmer, doesn't like to "not go anywhere" while in water, so he went in and swam back and forth across the medium sized pond we were at, and naturally I had to do the same, too. But I took time to float in the middle of the pond, unlike the dolphin of our family.

Floating is so much fun. The sense of weightlessness is wonderful, in fact it's a feeling I sometimes have a physical craving for during the winter months. Floating in natural water. (Swimmingpools don't count for this.) And the silence of the water, when your ears are below the surface - I cannot think of many things more relaxing than that. In fact I've been thinking I may have to try that floating therapy thing sometime when I'm really stressed. Although I'm not sure I wouldn't get a claustrophobic attack in the dark "sense deprivation tank".

In addition to the beach life, yesterday turned out to be a really good summer day in at least one more way. I got to test drive dad's VW Beetle for the first time! That, if any, is a real summer car! It's as cute as a car can get and the "attitude" of it is from a whole different world than the attitude of my old Skoda, for example. It'll be fun to borrow the Beetle for some summery occasion. Maybe I'll ask dad if I can borrow it to go to my old friend's wedding in August. They'll be wed in Nousiainen, so I wouldn't have to drive too far.

Which brings me to the matter of weddings. I've already got two wedding invitations for the rest of the year. Whee! One wedding in August, the other in October. That particular October weekend is going to be like one long party, because my birthday's on Friday, the wedding's on Saturday and my cousin's confirmation is on Sunday. Yay.

But the wedding in August is going to be really special, too. This is, after all, one of my oldest friends getting married. We literally met at the same church they're going to have their wedding ceremony in. Some 13 years ago both me and Kirsi were attending a service in order to collect the necessary "points" to be confirmed and while sitting next to each other in the pew we noticed that we both had the same letters colored in our textbooks' cover. Turned out we both had a crush on a guy from 9th grade (we were 8th graders). Luckily not the same guy, though, they just had the same name. And that discovery marked a beginning of a long friendship. (Nothing ever happened with those teenage crushes, btw. We were both seriously shy and insecure girls, so we just watched from afar.)

We haven't been in touch very much lately, but every time we meet, we instantly fall back to the comfortable chitchat of old times. For me, that's a sign of a friendship that will survive through periods of time, when we don't meet that often. And since I sort of had something to do with Kirsi finding her significant other, I'm delighted to attend the wedding. I can't wait. I'll probably cry like a fountain in the church... :) And finally I get to say "I told you so!".

It was Kirsi who thought in the angsty times of our teenage years that I'd be the one of us who finds herself a good man right away and got married and had kids in a few years' time, while she'd still be waiting for her Prince Charming in her retirement years. Ha, I tell you. Now that she's going to be married, maybe the powers-that-be will feel pity for me and present me with a charming man to marry soon. :) You never know. *enter lots of wishful thinking here*

Oops, I've been rambling for so long that I'd better start getting ready to go to work. I'm so not in the mood now. I'd rather go to the beach. Anyone reading this between now and 7 p.m., feel free to drop me a text message in which you promise to take me to the beach around 8 p.m. today. Would be muchly appreciated, wink wink.

Go, London!

2005-07-08T21:10:00.000+03:00

Aino already had this link in her lj, but I'll post it here too. Go and read how the Londoners are reacting to the terrorist attacks of yesterday. Keep it up, you Brits, you!

Nothing remarkable going on in my life lately. Had a wonderful evening at Pub Bremer yesterday at the local sf-fandom's monthly meeting and had a delightful couple hours of chitchatting with my friend Heli today after work. Got Spin 2/05 out from the printing house on time (yay, I'm managing to stay in the planned publishing schedule!), but won't be able to deliver any of those to the Helsinki sf-meet tomorrow, since our driver Ben had to cancel the trip.

Which gives me a completely free Saturday. Nice. I'll clean up the apartment (I haven't had time for that in ages...) and read Lymond. And possibly visit Susanna, to see how she's doing and get some more Lymond to read... ;) I'd say this is a win-win situation. I would've liked to go to Helsinki for sure, but I appreciate the days I don't have anything planned. I'll use the day to recharge my batteries for the fall.

Oh, and tonight I'm going to wait if there's a real thunderstorm coming (looks promising) and then later in the evening I'm going to listen from my balcony if I hear Rammstein performing in Ruisrock. The sounds do travel quite nicely usually. Du, du hast, du hast mich! Rrraaaahh! Amusing. I've sort of learned to listen to the band. :)

That's it for now, folks. Don't have anything really to blog, so I won't keep you from your more important activities any longer. Ta ta.

I'm as innocent as they come

2005-07-04T20:38:00.000+03:00

Or at least innocent of such crimes as murder and manslaughter. How about that...

What is she rambling about this time, you wonder. Well, I received a copy of my criminal record in the mail today and now I'm just happy that the society knows I'm not a criminal. That's good. I could've told them that before, but I suppose an official stamp is needed to be sure. :)

But seriously, all of this is because I'm going to begin teaching kids under the age of 18 as a regular staff member in the junior high and high schools in Nousiainen. The law states that any person working with children (minors) has to provide this kind of document to the employer. And so I ordered one to send to the bureaucrats of my future workplace.

Of which I dream of daily now, since I'm getting really bored with talking to people who don't know how to speak up on the phone. Two guesses, everyone. Which kind of person answering the phone is the most difficult to understand?

The sleepy, the drunk and people from the Eastern parts of Finland are good guesses, but the winner in this category is teenage boys around the age of 16, approximately.

So here's a typical discussion that lasts for about 17 seconds (to make things easier for you, I've put the teenwords that have a meaning in italics):

The teen (as my computer program nicely has gotten him to come and answer the phone): "Mmmhellomummblemumble."
Me (cheery as a proper direct sales person should be): "Hello, this is My Name from The Company in Turku calling. I'd like to talk to Such And Such Person, is she available?"
The teen: "Mumbleynghmmmehno. Mommumblegruntworkungh."
Me (desperately racking my brain for the teenguy-Finnish-teenguy dictionary): "Umm, so she isn't at home at the moment? Ok, I'll call back later then. Thank you, bye."
The teen: Mruhmumble. *click*

Ferchrissakes. Teach your kids how to a-r-t-i-c-u-l-a-t-e! Or at least please do try to tell them that Finnish actually is a spoken language, not a grunted language... I think I should take my communications course students on a field trip next fall, to listen to the direct sales people and their customers. I'm sure I could get my point of good communication skills through, don't you think?

Getting medieval

2005-07-03T13:28:00.000+03:00

This weekend has surely been one of the best ones of the summer. I've spent three days wandering around the Turku Medieval Market, enjoying the atmosphere and (ahem) spending money...

The medieval market is my absolute favorite of the summer happenings in Turku. Every year I wish I had won in the lottery and could buy all the pretty goblets and cups and swords and bows and quivers and dresses and jewellery - but alas, I don't seem to win anything. (Note to self - maybe I should buy a lottery ticket one of these days? Might make the winning part easier?) This year I happily spent a moderate amount of money, since I had had my pay day on Thursday. Good timing, I'd say.

This year's medieval shoppingspree resulted in the following. First of all I bought a beautiful sterling silver Celtic pendant, which is shaped like Arwen's Evenstar pendant from the LotR movies. I just had to. I can't afford "the real thing", in other words a replica of the movie necklace, so this was like hitting two flies at one blow. I got a pendant that looks like Evenstar, but which on the other hand also looks Celtic enough to please my eyes in any case. Very pretty.

Then I decided I'd finally do something about my less than authentic medieval dress selection and bought some fabric for a surcot. Although I usually go for anything and everything burgundy and purple, this time I chose a beautiful blue to be the main color and an equally beautiful silvery grey to be the "highlight" color. Now the only problem is whether or not I'm actually able to make the surcot. It shouldn't be too difficult, but with me and a sewing machine, you never know. (And yes, I'm cheating a bit with the authenticity - there's no way I'm not using a sewing machine!) I'll definitely have to worry about the cotte part later. I may have to ask for help with it. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm not much of a magician with the fabrics...

My last purchase will, in a way, lead to more handicrafts done by yours truly. I bought a leather arm cover for my future archery practices, you see. I would've loved to buy a grey leather quiver from this seller too (the thing was just beautiful), but since I couldn't afford to pay 65 euros for it, I bought the (way) cheaper piece of protective gear instead. Just because I can come up with some other solution for the quiver problem later, but I'd hate to have my arm all blue again like I did last summer after an unlucky shot at the Fantasy Feast... :)

And yes, here comes the resulting handicraft project. I'm finally going to go and make myself a real longbow. Whee! I hope to get it done as soon as possible (within a couple of weeks) so I can start practicing for real.

There's a real elegance to archery and I especially like watching the skilled archers who use the traditional longbows. I got really excited about this whole traditional archery stuff last summer, when we went to try out some of the weapons for the Fantasy Feast with Tytti. I loved the lot of them, the longbow, the crossbow and the really ancient spear thrower thingy. And to my utter delight I didn't suck at shooting at all! :) Especially the crossbow is relatively easy to use. But the challenge of the longbow is something else. I hope I manage to make a decent bow. I can't wait. :) Then I can have my own bow with me at next year's Fantasy Feast. Yay!

As this weekend is probably the closest thing I get to a vacation this summer, I've thoroughly enjoyed myself: lots of sunshine, meeting friends and absolutely no study related stuff to read. I was thinking about visiting the market once more today, but I'm not sure if I will after all. My legs are stiff from walking on cobble stones for four days in a row, for hours at a time and I would've liked to have some company this time, too. As on Friday we (Kirsi, Tytti, Maarit and I) went to the market all dressed up, which was fun, as usual. People kept stepping on my train and tourists took photos of us when we had stopped to talk for a while (I had my camera with me, too, but it's going to take me a while to get the whole film full, so I suggest you go and see Tytti's blog for pictures. She promised to post some later on.) and so on, but despite all of that (or maybe just because of it) the experience is so much more fun when you're properly dressed. We even had a few sellers bow to us behind their counter, because we all were wearing gowns of higher ranking ladies. Heee.

I was so born in the wrong century.

When the sun never sets

2005-06-27T23:45:00.000+03:00

Ahh. I had a most wonderful and relaxing long weekend at mom&dad's, very quietly celebrating the midsummer festivities. We ate a lot (dad is the best cook!), drank sparkly wine called Chevaliers de Malte (how very appropriate) and talked about all kinds of stuff, ranging from the paper workers strike to my future. I enjoy those discussions a lot.

In this atmosphere it didn't even seem a bummer to study for an exam on midsummer's eve. Sitting in our terrace-turned-into-a-summer-livingroom I managed to enjoy myself immensely. When reading for the exam, it did help that the study at hand was Intellectuals in the Middle Ages, which was a very interesting little book by Jacques Le Goff. Here's a quote I liked. In it Abelard ponders about teaching and the need to understand what one wants to learn.

"...of what use, they asked, were words devoid of intelligibility? One cannot believe in what one does not understand, and it is ridiculous to teach others what neither oneself nor one's listeners cannot understand through thought."

That, my friends, is the essence of teaching! Very wise words, indeed.

A post-midsummer entry wouldn't be anything without some utterly summery pics. Unfortunately I haven't taken these myself (and they were, in fact, taken a week before the midsummer eve), but these are just beautiful. Mom and dad took these pics while they were staying over at lake Saimaa. Two of the pictures have been taken around midnight, the third shows how a thunderstorm is coming and chasing away the sun. Pretty!

See the tiny moon? And how the lake is like glass? Just beautiful.

Wouldn't you want to be there? I sure would.

On the left, sunshine and on the right, thunder.

Finnish summer at its most beautiful.

Midsummer fun

2005-06-23T13:12:00.000+03:00

It' s time for me to shut down my computer and move my lazy bum to Nousiainen with a huge stack of books, to celebrate the midsummer festivities. Or to be more accurate, to relax, read and eat a lot of bbq food because midsummer provides a perfect excuse for it. Ahh. It's good to be Finnish. ;)

Siispä: rentouttavaa juhannusta kaikille! Ja ne teistä, jotka menevät jonnekin muun kuin kraanaveden äärelle, pitävät sitten huolta siitä, ettei vene keiku. Tai laituri katoa. Uppopalloakin leikitään sitten vain valvotuissa olosuhteissa. Nih.

I've got it again

2005-06-21T21:13:00.000+03:00

Heee, a lot better day at work today. Luckily so, because another day like yesterday and I would've been quite ready to think about other ways of making money... :)

Well, that's not exactly true, now is it? I think of other ways of making money all the time! Too bad I don't get paid for blogging. Or sleeping. Or for studying for exams. I'd be rich already, were these three my sources of income. If they paid well, that is. *grin*

I've lost it

2005-06-20T23:27:00.000+03:00

What a short joy it was to be able to sell mags. Today was the ultimate low point of my salesperson career. One lousy mag sold in four hours, sheesh. I've lost my golden touch or something. Boohoo. It might have had something to do with the fact that probably every single nice person was out of the reach of a phone (imagine the odds of that happening in this wonderland of Nokia...) and only the muttering, grumpy and rude people answered. And they were grumpy and rude probably because they had gotten sunburns or a heatstroke or something in the lovely weather today and they had forgotten to turn off their phones. Dumb sods.

Hopefully I can make up for my losses by selling at least 10 mags tomorrow. :) Optimism rules, even though I've had a bit of a headache for hours now (thank goodness I'm not one of the migraine suffering people, so I can cope with this ache) and today was no triumph in the telemarketing front.

However, I have to say I'm fairly happy about how the day turned out to be all in all. I found all the books for my next exam, and they seem to be very interesting, indeed. One about intellectuals in the middle ages, one about the early growth of European economy (meaning the period of seventh to twelfth centuries, which makes it more interesting than the topic seems) and one about using pictures as historical resources. I'm going to have a nice two weeks studying this stuff. I have higher hopes (and ambitions) for the result of this exam, since this is one of the last exams I'll ever have to take for my major. Whee.

And as a relating note, I have to say I did something to advance my thesis today, too. Go, me! :) I sat in the university library and read a thesis about the Finnish terminology that is appropriate when translating some of the terms that the Order of St. John uses.

It was quite useful, since there really aren't that many researches or studies about the Order available in Finnish and I've been struggling with the translations already. It's not like I can snap my fingers and come up with a credible and correct translation for a title like "a knight of magistral grace" just like that. Honestly, I can't. I'd love to, but I can't.

The Order's titles and the whole terminology is somewhat archaic and not very familiar in the context of Finnish history. Since there is virtually no chivalrous traditions as such in the Finnish history, most of the terms have never been properly translated and all kinds of terms have been used without any specific "rules". Which then makes it a problem I have to tackle before I can really get any further. Sometimes I think I would've been better off writing the darned thesis in English in the first place, but I suppose I'll have to translate it later, if need arises. :)

Oh, and more news on the same subject. Sort of. At the university today, I bumped into a professor of mine, who told me that in the fall there's probably going to be a visiting lecturer from Malta. Not only that, but this lecturer has apparently some plans that involve researching the Order of Malta and the professor thought I might like to meet this person and maybe even get involved in the project somehow! Yay! If I understood correctly, the guest lecturer is going to be someone who specializes in the history of the Order. Dear me, how I hope the professor was right and I get to meet this person.

I shouldn't get my hopes up too high, though, since this professor is very nice and helpful, but some of his plans don't actually have anything to do with reality. One of those academic oddities, hehe. However, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that this would turn out to be something I could get involved in. You never know.

Uagh, now I've gotta go and get some sleep.

Blues over a red car

2005-06-15T22:08:00.000+03:00

I don't have a car anymore. I sold my darling today. I hate to admit it, but I feel a bit sad. It was my somewhat loyal companion for nearly ten years and now it's gone. *sigh*

On the bright side, though, it couldn't have been bought at a better moment. I can go and buy some food now, which is always good fun. Eating, that is. I can even afford an ice cream. ;) So thank you, my irritating, endearing and surprising Skoda for this last service. (Personificating a car? Who, me?)

The buyer seemed nice enough and he'd had a car like that before, so I'm fairly confident that he'll take good care of it, at least for a while. It's really, really odd how I somehow think that's important...

So, my friends, no more Therapy-Skoda services or round trips to Ruissalo beach. Services will begin again when the resources have been renewed.

I'll go and stare out of the balcony door now, feeling carless. The guy said he'd come and pick the car up in a while, but it's still there in the parking lot. *snif*

Yummy

2005-06-14T22:04:00.000+03:00

Feeling like a good mom or housewife today. Baked some bread rolls myself. I very rarely do that, but this time I did it basically to save some money... Doesn't that sound sad? ;)

They turned out very yummy and my brother, who suddenly popped by to have a cup of coffee, ended up eating so many of them that he's probably about to burst now. Heh. Mom and dad aren't at home now, so there's no free food in Nousiainen, but at least he won't go hungry today. Aren't I a little darling feeding my brother?

Speaking of mom&dad. They're in Puumala, spending a week in a rented summer cottage by the beautiful lake Saimaa. Mom called me today and told that they've been having wonderful holiday weather up there. I'm so envious! I want to go on a holiday trip, too! To swim in a lake (ok, it's bound to be freezing cold still, but after sauna it wouldn't matter), canoe around listening to the birds singing and the water quietly splashing... I'd so love to have that option available for me right now. It'd be the relaxation I so desperately need.

Because, to be frank, I'm sick and tired of trying to study for my exam (as you can guess, I haven't been too efficient on that front), because the subject matter basically couldn't interest me less. But since I'm going to need that information when working as a history teacher, I'm forced to take the exam anyway. But I have nil motivation and just as much ambition considering the result of the exam, as long as I pass.

And what's even more annoying is that I now constantly feel like I'm wearing the headset from work. I've sold mags for ten hours this week and seriously, my ears seem to think I didn't leave the headset on the desk when I left. Annoying as heck. However, I've been getting decent income, so I suppose I'll have to count this to the hazards of work.

Ah well, I think I'd better go and try to get at least a few pages read yet. Blah, blah, blah.

Couch potato weekend

2005-06-12T20:33:00.000+03:00

I meant to do a lot of things this weekend. Mainly study for the political sciences exam I have next Friday. Well, total pages read for the exam is less than ten at the moment, plus some 20 articles of the Finnish constitution...

I don't know what got into me, but slacking has definitely been the theme lately. What I have been doing, is watching tv. I rented a few Jude Law -movies on Friday after work and watched them. Liked both of them, too. Alfie and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, that is.

After seeing Alfie I understood why my little brother liked the movie so much. The beginning of the movie would seem to be some sort of dream life for him. Very nice clothes, beautiful ladies and so on. I think I recall him saying he'd like some of Jude's clothes - well, he could pick a worse wardrobe, if I may say so. I quite liked Jude's clothes, too. ;)

Besides the nice suits and shirts, my brother set his eyes on Alfie's Vespa. Dear me. My brother's a dandy of some sorts. Heee. Were we born in a different era, I suppose he'd be the little lord entertaining a huge society and I'd be the older sister, who never gets married and settles down for a life of teaching history or something rather to my younger relatives.

Oh wait. That's us right now. The only thing missing is that I don't live off his income and the kids that I teach aren't of any relation to us. Duh.

Well, what can I say. He's my brother and I love him. Even though he knows half of the population of Turku and has money to buy nice tailored shirts and so on. I'll get to that point by the time I'm 60. By then I've taught so many kids in my life that I'm bound to bump into some of them all the time. Hopefully I'll have money to buy expensive clothes then, too. I don't think I should count on that, though, considering the salaries of teachers in Finland...

I digress. Sky Captain turned out to be a bit more interesting than what I had expected. I had heard some comments that weren't exactly praising, but as I said already, I did eventually like the movie. Sure, the plot was a wee bit thin (ahem), but I found the visual look very fascinating. The old film noir sort of style combined with a distinctively cartoonish visuals made the look of the film refreshingly different.

Hopefully I'll get something done about everything tomorrow. Because now I'll go and be a slacker to the end, since Spielberg's Taken is on tv right about now and I don't want to miss the beginning. Catch you all later. :)

Hooray for the victorious me!

2005-06-08T11:29:00.000+03:00

You have to forgive me for ranting about my work once more. I just have to boast a bit. I won the competition for selling 20 mags! I set out to sell nine mags today, and by gosh, I did it. Me, stubborn? Me, goal-oriented? Me, motivated by money? Heck yes. ;) Now I'm just going to wait for my gift certificate, whee!

Having said that the following test result may seem a bit out of place. But I can explain it. I'm usually like Yoda or Qui-Gon, but on some nights at work I seem to find my inner Watto...

Why water in the bathroom isn't always a good thing

2005-06-06T21:41:00.000+03:00

Problems with water today. Problems with everything but work today. In other words, a pretty lousy day today. "Blech" is the word to describe my feelings before work. Or maybe "blaah". Or possibly "yngh".

So why is water a problem in the bathroom? It's a good question and the answer is: the problem is the location of the water. You know you have a problem, when the paint in the ceiling bulges and feels like a water balloon. With water inside it, duh. Yup, my bathroom ceiling did just that today. Fun, fun.

Luckily it's none of my doings, but my new upstairs neighbours are the ones to blame. They're renovating their apartment and apparently they had managed to burst some kind of pipe somewhere, which then resulted in water seeping into all kinds of wrong places. Like under the paint in my ceiling, under the paint in the hallways downstairs and so on. Which then, most likely, results in renovating in my apartment.

I have thought about how nice it would be to renovate my bathroom, but to be honest, I didn't plan on doing it right now. If I'm lucky, all that needs to be done is to dry the ceiling and repaint it, but if I'm not lucky, the walls need to be redone, too. On the other hand, were that the case, I'd get the expenses paid by the insurance company of my neighbours, right? Not altogether a bad deal, either... ;) Ah, well, I don't think the watery accident was that serious, so I'll just get a newly painted ceiling, then.

Talked about the whole situation with my downstairs neighbours (who I know from the Uni, too) and we ended up pondering what kind of thick-headed morons the board of this apartment building consists of, because someone (with very little or no brain capacity at all) did make the decision that the small useless hallway balconies (the ones that are very rarely used when someone is dusting their carpets like once a year) were fixed last fall, but the pipes in the building are still the original ones from the sixties. It'll be a lot more expensive job, when the water pipes totally fall apart and have to be fixed after we all get that nice watery & floaty feeling in our apartments. Sure I like to canoe and swim, but I'd rather go outside for it...

Oh well. The neighbours responsible for the damage did already inform us that the inspectors from their insurance company will come and evaluate the damage. I hope this isn't going to be a difficult case and I get my bathroom fixed. I don't want to end up with a moldy wall. Not good for your health, moldy walls.

I wouldn't have thought that selling mags on the phone would be the thing to cheer me up today. But oddly enough, it was. I got some nice customers and even some nice customers who bought something. Whee. I'm apparently doing pretty well in the job, because even before I had started today's shift I was offered a possibility to continue in the firm later in the fall, too. I kindly said "No thanks", because I'll get a steady pay from teaching from August on and shouldn't be needing extra income. However, if this selling thing turns out to pay reasonably well, who knows when I'll need more money. If I don't get any courses in the spring, I might consider returning to the telemarketing business. I might. I could work silly-long days and save up for a vacation or something... :)

I'm only 9 orders away from winning the gift certificate for 20 euros, which was set as a prize in a competition for us beginners to motivate us. I'm thinking I'm going to sell those nine mags on Wednesday and get me some money to buy food with! :) Yay. I just have to hope that this isn't just a fluke and that I can keep up the steady sales.

Life is really odd sometimes. It really, really is. Not in a million years would I have thought I could be blogging about telemarketing in a positive way. And what do you know, here I am, doing just that. I suppose stranger things could happen, but I can't think of any right now. No, wait, I can. But what are the odds of me bumping into, say, Mr. Dream Guy tomorrow? Slim to none, I'd say. I think it's more likely that I get those nine mags sold on Wednesday. *sigh*

What does that tell you about my life? Well, not much, really. ;)

Oddities of life

2005-06-02T21:32:00.000+03:00

I'd say I'm a fairly happy person. I'm not saying my life is perfect, but whose is? I'd say I'm content with my life as it is, most of the time, but I wouldn't mind if some things were to turn for the better. But it's not like I go around wailing and whining about being miserable, because I'm not. Miserable, that is.

However, once again, I was reminded by dreams that I may be missing out on something. I dreamt I was in love. Seriously, madly and completely in love. I'll spare you from the details of the dream (there weren't that many to begin with), because they aren't the point. The point of the dream for me was the wonderful warm feeling I had in the dream (I think I was quite recently fallen in love in the dream, which probably made the feeling even more warm, knowing how I react in such a situation). I was accepted as I am and I was so proud to have a significant other who was kind, loving and well, yes, handsome. I'm sure he had all kinds of other great qualities too, otherwise I wouldn't have loved him so much, but unfortunately, the dream was a bit short, so I didn't get to know the guy too well... :)

It's really been way too long ago when I felt anything like I did in that dream in real life. I don't fall for anyone too easily, but from the few times I've really had a serious crush on someone, I can vaguely remember what it felt like and this was that and then some. I miss the feeling, to be honest. And however odd it might sound, I think I miss the feeling I've never had for real. Or maybe the proper term would be "to long for" instead of "to miss", but somehow it doesn't really describe how I feel about the whole thing. Or something...

I don't really mind being single (as I've probably said before), because I like to do things my way and sometimes I think I'm too busy to even think about a relationship, but there are moments I wished things were a bit different. I still don't go about my life whining and wailing about the miseries of single life (when I do, I'm either very tired, hungry or in the worst case, both), but the occasional reminder of the additional happiness there is to be found in this world tend to make me feel a bit blue.

Having the blues isn't the worst part of it, though. The worst part is that sometimes I wonder if I'm too stuck with my own routines already and if there ever was a budding relationship, I'd panic and flee from the situation. I suppose I'm slowly becoming very, very skeptic about ever finding that dream guy from the waking world. I haven't given up hope, that's not it, but somehow I just don't see me writing wedding invitations in the near future - nor in the more distant future either, for that matter.

It'll be a happy day when I can proove to myself that I was wrong about all of this and that there was a real version of that dream guy after all, but until then, don't be holding your breath. ;) It won't be a fun wedding if I'm freshly out of the blues but half of my guests are blue ad infinitum. So the deal's this, you breath, I breath. No one stays blue. Ok?

Enough of that for now. I'm going to finish up with two things that I found odd or just plain curious today. First of all, and this is the oddest thing by far, I think I'm getting the hang of the whole telemarketing thing. So far I've sold 5 orders for different mags in about 2 hours of calling. I'm told that's a pretty good average. In any case I'm the "top seller" of us beginners, who have just begun working at this firm. Whee! And in addition to being able to actually sell something on the phone, I'm finding out it's actually somehow fun to talk to people. I'm guessing it can be a bit addictive on a good day. I never thought I'd be caught alive saying this, but here it is. I think I can be a good salesperson, too. Odd, odd, odd.

The other thing was just a fun detail I found out when (ahem) surfing the net for information on KoH's Hospitaller (you remember, my favorite character after Balian), David Thewlis. It turns out he lives in Clerkenwell, London, on the exact site where the 12th century priory of the Order of St. John (a.k.a. the Hospitaller Order or later the Order of Malta) was. That's also the place I'd need to go to do some research in the Order's archives. So if I ever get to go to Clerkenwell, as I'm sure I will, I may bump into Mr. Thewlis, too. Heeee. I could ask him a ton of questions about the making of the movie and how he prepared for the role. Not that I'd really dare to bother him with such questions, I think I'd be trying to be the "cool Finn" and not fuss about seeing a famous actor and definitely not intrude upon his privacy by doing anything at all... :) But it's a fun thought. Besides, I have already had lunch with Neil Gaiman, so I guess I should be thinking anything's possible.

Humm. Aren't I contradicting myself now by saying that? ;) Ah, the moment I learn to apply all these important principles in all of my life, I'll be the best possible sample of perfect happiness there ever was.

Bah.

2005-05-31T21:32:00.000+03:00

The person who was going to come and buy my car sent me a message saying he'd bought a camera instead... So no new shoes for me, because most people will rather use their 250 euros to buy a new cell phone or a camera instead of an old Skoda. What kind of priorities are those, I ask you? Bah, bah.

Yikes!

2005-05-30T22:00:00.000+03:00

Oh dear me. Looks like I'm going to have to part with my dear car tomorrow. I got a message from a potential buyer asking me if the car could be picked up tomorrow evening. And that was about it, the person didn't even ask me too much about the condition of the car or anything. Just if he (or she, I don't actually know since the phone number was registered to a firm's name) could pick it up tomorrow. Yikes.

Fine by me, I thought. If he ends up buying it, I'm going to ask him to pay me right away in cash and that way I can actually go and buy a new pair of shoes for my cousin's graduation party, which is on Saturday. I'm just going to have to try and not cry when he drives away in, well, his car... I knew my sentimental feelings about the darned thing would make me hate to sell it, even if I know it's the sensible thing to do. *sigh*

Lots of other stuff going on, too. I had a nice and hectic weekend, which included providing a bed and breakfast service to my cousin, who was in town to take the entrance exam for the medical schooling. She said she didn't intend to get in this year, she just wanted to see the exam, so she could study better for next year. We had a good time (in fact, she was with me at the movies on Friday and felt equally amazed by RotS as I did).

On Saturday evening it was time for TSFS's spring party, this time with a theme of Fantastic Inn. There was a reasonably nice crowd (there could've been more, as the rent of the medieval cellar we had set our Inn in, is somewhat larger than our budget normally tolerates) and lots of nice and interesting discussions were had. About Star Wars, about Kingdom of Heaven, about the Fantasy Feast weekend for next year and about amusement parks, among other things.

Amusement parks were a current topic for me, because yesterday I got to go to Särkänniemi (an amusement park in Tampere) with Maarit and her coworkers & their families. All expenses (the bus ride and the entry to the park) paid. A nice day, even though it was cold as heck and I didn't go to more than two rides. I'm ridiculously afraid of all the movers and shakers that twist you around and hurl you upside down or whatever. I barely made it through the ordinary rollercoaster ride without screaming too much. I think I only yelped once and not too loudly, either. :) I just don't enjoy the idea of being thus tortured, I have good enough time if I watch others get strapped into the most different kinds of hurricane/tornado/twister/whathaveyou machines and listen to them scream their lugns out. I don't need to do that to feel alive or anything. Maarit, on the other hand, was happy enough to try out the scariest rides, like the one that was called Trombi, which was basically a rollercoaster ride with multiple loops and twists, with everyone strapped into a seat that lets your feet hanging in the air. It scared the bejeezes out of me just watching...

However, I was more than happy about being invited to go with Maarit, because I got to see the dolphins and that was the best part by far anyway. I hadn't seen the dolphins perform in probably something like 15 years. The oldest dolphin is my age! They were just beautiful. I'd love to see free dolphins some day, preferably somewhere tropical, where I could go swimming with the cute creatures. I did envy the little boy, who got to go pet the dolphins by the poolside, just a little bit. I was never chosen as a volunteer to do that when I was a kid - I'm ever bitter about that...

Today was the first day of work for me. Or actually, the first evening of training for the job. The people seemed nice enough and I think I can actually manage selling mags for two months. We were told that we'd be making our first customer calls on Wednesday. Yikes, indeed. The guys who are basically our bosses sounded like they could sell you white sand in the Sahara. I don't know if I'd ever be that good, but at least the firm has some good motivational tools. There are bikes, phones and digicameras etc. to be won in the company competitions. I think I could use a digicamera! I just have to get as many Donald Duck -magazines sold as possible. :)

Well, I'm off to read my wonderful new book. It finally came in the mail today. "Kingdom of Heaven": The Ridley Scott Film and the History Behind the Story, yay! Maybe I'll also read a chapter or two of the next Horatio Hornblower novel I began reading yesterday on the bus. I have some maritime terms to re-learn, that much I noticed already. :)

Stuff nightmares are made of

2005-05-28T13:16:00.000+03:00

One word for you. Lava.

The ultimate scare for me. I dread even the thought of molten rock, just like I dread any thought of anything extremely hot and dangerous. Say, fire. I enjoy sitting by a campfire or a candle-lit room, but "wild" fire and burning hot metal or anything like that - not my part of the woods.

Luckily, no nightmares last night. Even though I saw plenty of ultra-scary lava flowing around and even burning a person up. *shivers*

Oh yes, I saw Star Wars Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith yesterday. OMG. I don't even know where to start unraveling the experience.

I think George Lucas really did what he was expected to - he tied the new movies and the original trilogy quite nicely together and delivered some seriously dark stuff into the saga.

How my heart broke for Anakin and his fall to the dark side. I felt so sorry for him, because he was so cleverly lured into a situation where he saw as his only chance to bow down to the Emperor. Ah, the angst, the angst!

I think I need to see this one again, to sort out my thoughts. (Although I wouldn't necessarily want to see all that lava again on a big screen...) But here are some odds and ends, random thoughts, if you like. Some spoilers ahead, be warned.

I did think Yoda kicked some serious butt in this one, but then again, he's always been a favorite of mine, along with young Obi-Wan. I did love the final scene where Luke is given to his aunt and uncle and they watch the twin suns - one of my favorite scenes from the original trilogy is the one, where Luke watches the same suns. Such a nice reference there. I didn't think the love between Anakin and Padmé was very convincingly portrayed, but on the other hand I think Anakin's struggle and fall was more convincing than I had hoped for.

I did like that Yoda explained with just one sentence how Qui-Gon had learned something very nifty... I could've cried my eyes out (I barely managed not to, btw) when it became apparent what Anakin would do to the younglings hiding in the jedi council room. I liked the fact that in the beginning of the movie, there were a few spots of lighter humour (I've always liked R2-D2, and I thought the adventures he had, were pretty funny) before all started to go seriously wrong.

It was nice to see Alderaan. And the other new planets. The sceneries were simply breath-taking. Wow.

My legs were a bit shaky when I got out of the theatre yesterday. Today I wore an old t-shirt to gym, with "The Force is strong with this one" printed on the back of the shirt, just to celebrate the event of seeing real Star Wars again. An absolute favorite of the new movies, most definitely.

I'm done

2005-05-25T10:44:00.000+03:00

Ahhh. One round of history prep course teaching finished. Yay!

I got excellent feedback from my students and I think it's going to be enough to get me the highest possible salary! Whee! Not that it'll solve all my money problems, but it's a start. :) And it really feels good that the kids thought I was a good and motivating teacher.

Now I've got some finishing touch-ups to do, mail the feedback forms and the books back to the office, fill in some other forms and so on. All in all a very interesting experience. Very stressfull, but fun nevertheless. I'm hoping next year at least one or two of the books are the same, so I'd have my materials all ready and done. But knowing the people and the ways of the history department, they'll probably choose all new books for next year and nothing I've done for this course will help me at all come the next batch of prep course students. Oh well, at least I'll have more time to prepare next time, since the books will be announced quite early on in the year and I can begin reading them well in advance.

But for now, no teaching for a while sounds like a relaxing scenario. :) Although I'm going to Nousiainen today to talk with the principals of the two schools I'm hopefully going to be teaching at next fall. It'll be interesting to see how my career begins. Apparently I may end up with a special course in legal stuff for 9th graders, so I've heard. That'd be interesting and challenging, because it's something I've never taught before for real. I'm not exactly sure what is involved in that course, but I'm thinking consumer awareness, family related issues, some basics of the criminal justice system and so on. Could be very interesting, indeed.

But I think I need to be getting on my way. I need to go and try to wake up my car - I haven't had time to drive it anywhere in three weeks or so, and I'm a bit worried how our cooperation will go. Nobody has wanted to buy it yet, sigh.

Edit: Almost didn't get the car running. Eventually (after about 10 minutes of struggling) my precious worked just fine. Found out in Nousiainen that in addition to the four Finnish courses I'm going to be teaching (including the extra fun course on communication) to high school students, I'm going to get four junior high history courses, too! Yay! I'm so excited! :)

Did you remember to bring your drums?

2005-05-22T22:09:00.000+03:00

I watched the annual Eurovision Song Contest last night with my friend (and dance teacher) Heli, who was staying over at my place over the weekend. We thought we wouldn't watch the whole program, since with the voting results the show went on till 1.20 a.m. and we didn't think we'd be interested enough to stay awake.

Funny things happen, it turned out. We did stay up till the winner was announced, but not because we would've been very enthusiastic about any particular song (in other words, none of the songs was as catchy as last years Wild Dance by Ruslana) but mainly because we were so baffled.

What the hell was that show all about? About ladies singing ethnic / oriental songs in skimpy dresses, background dance groups and (ethnic) drum sections of variable sizes. I think half of the performers had some kind of ethnic drum set with them on stage. The exceptions to the rule seemed to be so few, that we couldn't help but wonder whether some of the performers felt embarrassed at all. *a song contestant to a staff member backstage pointing to a pile of darbukas, tablas, bodhrans and whathaveyou* "Erm, umm, you see, umm, we have those, eh, drums back there and we, you know, need them there, on stage. But our drums are, erm, different from the previous four sets of drums, and that's why we need our own. We're original, you see. Not copying anyone. Uh. Could you just help us?"

You know, we didn't really have that much to complain about, really. We're both, Heli and I, oriental dancers who liked the ethnic and oriental influences, but didn't you think there were just a few too many Ruslana/Shakira-wannabes last night? And how were you supposed to tell them apart from each other? Why did Greece win when Great Britain got a miserably low score, even if the song seemed to be made of exactly the same elements?

Ah, well. It was delightful to see, though, that the Maltese lady (she had a marvellous voice) did so well, since she didn't have ethnic drums or dancing girlies with her on stage. And talking about a different kind of performance - that Norwegian glamrock group was just beyond words. I'm not the least bit surprised that the lame and unremarkable song Finland had as a candidate this year didn't make it into the final. The Finns need to take a step toward a more bold direction. I do wonder what would've happened a few years back if Nightwish had indeed been chosen to represent Finland...

I still think Ruslana's Wild Dance rocks so hard, this year's winner hasn't got any of the primal fury and energy that makes it impossible for me to stay still. Too bad.

One set of essays down, two more to go. I may be able to do this before Tuesday evening after all... *knock on wood*

Kingdom of Heaven revisited

2005-05-21T11:25:00.000+03:00

It was even better the second time around. :) A second time watching a grand scale movie like this on the big screen is always fun because of the details you didn't notice on the first time around. Personally, I just loved to sink into the atmosphere of the movie, drink in the beauty of the scenery, the tragedy of the story and well, krhm, enjoy the eye candy that is so nicely offered by Orlando. ;)

Here's my list of 15 favorite moments / things from the movie. I took the idea from dangermousie (who actually listed 20 favorites, I'm settling for a bit less), I couldn't comment on her post before I had seen the movie twice myself. So here goes, in no particular order.

1. the character of Salah ad-Din
The intensity of his eyes is mezmerizing. And his figure, when he walks into Jerusalem is just powerful, in a quiet and wise sort of way.

2. the last wave of hand the Hospitaller gives to Balian before riding into the battle of Hattin
I had tears in my eyes. It's the last time Balian sees the wise Hospitaller alive. I became quite attached to his character. Not only because I'm partial to Hospitallers anyway, but because he's just an admirable Knight, who's got a sensible view of his faith and the situation in Jerusalem.

3. the Hospitaller crossing the stream hiding behind the galloping horse in the battle in the French woods
Well, as I just said, I liked the character and this is one of the moments when he shows he's not only a quiet, philosophical medicine man, but also a skilled warrior. And how he pats Balian with his sword when riding by and then turns and bows ever so slightly. Ah, perfect.

4. the very first cut to Balian's face when he has returned to France
A look to die for. So full of emotion.

5. when Ibelin's men recognise Balian as their new baron and they bow in front of him
I'm such a sucker for such little gestures of chivalry. "Come this way, my lord." Ah, ah, ah.

6. Balian's men riding into battle in Kerak
First they ride side by side, then they form two lines, which then divide into two fronts that are overwhelmed by the moslem cavalry. The aerial view over the battle is breathtaking.

7. the surrender of Jerusalem
The whole scene from the white flag to the moment when Balian asks what Jerusalem is worth and Salah ad-Din replies: "Nothing. - - Everything." Which by the way is one of my favorite Salah ad-Din moments, too.

8. the Templars and their warcry "God wills it!"
Deus lo vult - hasn't been heard in centuries and made shivers go down my spine. Especially when at one point one of the moslem warriors utters the exact same thing. Isn't it madness?

9. the Hospitallers and their hospital
Just because. :)

10. Balian's determined and (ahem) manly gait at any point when he wears Ibelin's / Jerusalem's colors
A completely fangirlish fave. I think all men should have coat of arms and a cloak every once and a while - it seems to do miracles to the manner they walk around. :)

11. Baldwin IV: "I am Jerusalem."
Very powerful.

12. Sibylla's coronation gown
Wow. Her clothes and jewellery were amazing at any time - what I did ponder was how the big hoods of her cloaks stayed on when she was galloping around on that beautiful horse of hers...

13. Balian riding to catch up with his father in France
The scene is very beautifully filmed. The desperate gallop over the fields, the road in the forest, the light snow fall... One of the most esthetically pleasing moments in the movie.

14. Godfrey asking for forgiveness from Balian
You can see he's not really comfortable doing it, but nevertheless, he's determined to say what he came to say.

15. Balian kneeling down to be knighted by his dying father
You didn't think I was going to get through my favorite moments without mentioning at least one kneeling, now did you? :) This is, without a doubt, one of the teariest moments of the movie for me. Chivalry and nobility just ooze from it.

So there's my fifteen. I sure could've listed at least those five additional fave moments (like the one where a single moslem rider appears in the dark before the battle in Jerusalem and his sword shines in the night) , but I'm thinking this post is about as long as it should be. (These are the situations in which I actually would like to have the cut-feature that lj has...)

Now I'm left eagerly waiting for the director's cut to come out on dvd! Let it be soon!

Unfortunately, what will come sooner, are the essays that my students are writing at the moment in the rehearsal exam. That'll be the rest of my weekend. Grading, grading.

Whee!

2005-05-19T22:19:00.000+03:00

I'm done! Or at least almost done! :) Today was the last actual lesson for the Eximia students and now I'm left with a pile of essays to grade and Tuesday's review to plan. But compared to everything I've already done, it's not too bad.

I'm actually going to have a 5-day "vacation" next week after I'm completely done with the history course and before I begin at the new place. Ah. I'm going to un-clutter my desk, which at the moment looks like a huge mountain of miscellaneous papers, books, cd's and stuff ready to fall all over me when I least expect them to. I'm going to clear space for my research materials so I can continue working on the big T. :)

Then I'm going to finish editing the second Spin of the year, answer loads of emails that I haven't had the time to concentrate on (more short story submissions and even a request for my fandom information for some international sf-fanlisting - how odd is that?) and maybe even go to the movies to see Episode III.

I can't even read some people's blogs/lj's at the moment, because I don't want to be too spoiled when I get there. Sure I know already that I'm going to have terrible nightmares about volcanoes after seeing the movie, but I'm not willingly going to find out more, not quite yet. After skimming through a few reviews and hearing a few opinions, I'm getting more excited all the time.

What else am I going to do with all the free time on my hands? Humm. I'm getting a haircut, because mom was kind enough to be my sponsor for the event. I'm going to hope that the weather forecast was spot on, because it said next week might see temperatures rising up to 25 degrees! Yay! Summer!! I might go out to the park to read my research books in the sun. That'd be nice.

I think that about covers all the free time I'm going to have... :)

No life without wife

2005-05-18T22:17:00.000+03:00

Today I bumped into an absolutely delightful piece of movie entertainment. I had had good hopes for Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice, but I was very happily surprised when the movie was even better than I had hoped for.

When I first heard of a Bollywood version being made of Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice, I immediately decided I had to see it. Preferably with Satu, who I share a common Austen past from our days in high school and a common taste in good music that makes us both want to dance. And what a good decision it was! We both left the movie theatre with wide smiles on our faces, humming the tunes and enthusing about the lovely saris and jewellery.

The movie was delightfully well adapted from the original text and worked well in Indian surroundings. But after teaching about the Western colonialistic view over the Orient (which ever Orient...) only a week ago on my history course, I couldn't help noticing how cleverly the director used those themes in the movie. There's Mr Darcy, who's a wealthy American who comes to India and doesn't give the Indian culture the chance to show what it can offer to a Westerner. Lalita Bakshi (Elizabeth Bennet Bollywood-style) even comments on it, and quite sharply too, when she says she thought India had already gotten rid of imperialists... A point well made.

The funniest and in many ways the most absurd situation of the movie was when the roles of different (movie) cultures were turned upside down. Will Darcy and Lalita are walking down a beach in the States when the traditional Bollywood trick of bursting into song and dance happens. What a scene! Suddenly the Californian surfers and the life guards from their "Baywatch" tower run forward to join the song. To top it all, the couple wanders ahead and suddenly there's a huge church choir of black singers (you know, with the robes and all) singing "Take them to love". Talking about stereotypes and making fun of them!

I couldn't stop laughing. Partly because I recognised how my brain worked: I immediately thought how absurd the scene was when it was set in Los Angeles (and how totally terrifying it would be if it really happened - I'd run screaming if I saw a blue-robed choir approaching me on a beach) and partly because it was just plain hilarious.

After I got home, I did a bit of googling and ended up downloading some of the songs for myself. Balle Balle and the other songs (like No Life Without Wife, which was spot on defining the requirements for a good husband) from the movie are now the first Bollywood songs I have on my computer. I've always found Indian music to be a lot of fun, but for some reason I haven't gone through the trouble of finding any to listen to at home. Maybe I'll get a load of good tips from vierran45 now! *hint, hint* ;)

Exhaustion...

2005-05-17T21:14:00.000+03:00

Small miracles do happen. Like the one that let me get through the day. I was so sure at 8 a.m. that I wouldn't be able to do everything I was supposed to and yet, lo and behold, I'm done.

I don't enjoy days like this a whole lot. I don't know if anyone does, but I sure don't. Days, when I'm too busy to eat and end up feeling soddin' awful because of it. Days, when I simply know there's too much to do within, say, 6 hours. Days, when I'm happy to be done with it, but when I have a nagging feeling I didn't do too well.

Blah. I most certainly am not completely satisfied with my work today. It probably has more to do with the fact that I'm basically starving and somewhat sleep deprivated than it has with my actual success today. Blah, blah, blah.

On the bright side, I now have only one more lesson left of the course (plus the review) and some of my students are writing pretty good essays by now. Good for them!

On an even brighter side - KoH soundtrack arrived today! Whee! I've been listening to it on constant repeat and it's so good! I love the more meditative, medieval-ish choir pieces and the light touch of oriental rhythms here and there, the songs that are more clearly of oriental origin... And Ibelin's theme (both versions of it, actually) is just beautiful!

Music can be such a strong mood setter. (Stating the obvious here, duh...) I literally was holding back tears when I heard the first songs for the first time today. Then again, that's nothing noticeably odd for me, since I tend to be a bit over-sensitive about a lot of things. Music being one of those things.

I think I've become definitely more sensitive about music and the peculiar kind of storytelling effect of music after I started dancing. I can't remember ever being so moved by music before I began to try and express the music through dancing. I don't know if it really has anything to do with it, but it could.

Actually, it must have something to do with it, because now I very easily "see" music as movement. Especially anything with an oriental influence or a strong rhythm in it. I did start planning a choreography to the above-mentioned Ibelin's theme already... :) But just because I need to change my solo music for next year's performance of our latest dance recital. The one where I'm Fikriya. Remember those pictures a while back? :)

As a fangirlish afterthought - it'll be nice to dance to Balian's themesong... Teeheee.

Which would nicely bring me to comment on the ponderings Tytti and Mari have posted in their blogs lately, but I think I'm too tired to analyze my fangirly sentiments about Orlando or any other stunning male actor in a very academic manner at the moment.

Wow. This must be real exhaustion. I'm too tired to rant about gorgeous guys? Dear me, I never would've thought the day would come...

First day of summer

2005-05-13T21:15:00.000+03:00

Ahh, how I love the blue sky and the sun! Today was, in my opinion, the first day of summer. Or at least the most summery day of the spring so far. I began my summer season by buying ice cream from the ice cream stand that has been brought back to the familiar corner by the park some weeks ago. As surely as the disappearance of that little stand was the sign of approaching winter, the first ice cream cone bought is always a sign of summer. :)

A good, although busybusy, day today. First there was the job interview. I don't know how much of it was a formality, but at least I got the job. I'm fairly happy about it. Only fairly happy, because I would've rather worked at a museum of some kind this summer, but happy nonetheless. I've now got a job that has very flexible working hours (I'm only required 48hrs of work a month, but am allowed to do more) , which allow me to dedicate time for my thesis and have a little bit of free time, too. Sure, I don't get paid much, but I'm positively sure I can sell some mags and therefore will be entitled to at least some bonuses. Besides, I'm there for only two months and in the fall I'm going to be doing what I actually want to do - so I can cope.

Had the fifth lesson with the history students today. Finished the second book. Phew. Poor kids, though. First they had to write down about 8 pages of notes from each other's transparencies (I had them do some independent studying and made them teach for a while) and then I slammed them with a pile of 11 transparencies... I felt a bit sorry for them, but I had to get all of the stuff covered.

Next week we're plunging into the history of Finland during the autonomy period. For me, this'll be the least exciting subject to teach, but at least it's older Finnish history and not modern political history. That'd be a killer. Three more regular lessons and one for final feedback and revision. Yay. :) Things are looking good.

A bit of fangirlish nonsense here at the end. I've got to get to the movies to see KoH again! The sooner the better. Dangermousie has just been fuel to the flames, so to say. Not that I mind it in the least. I've so needed the laughs and fangirly giggles (and bunch of other feelings better left unmentioned) her recent postings on KoH have provided for. Dear mother of all creation, how can there be a man that is as gorgeous Orlando? (Yes, yes, I feel a comment coming from Tero's direction, but oh well, that's a risk I'm willing to take.) Or as gorgeous as Ioan, for that matter. Having pondered this for a while yesterday, I put together a screensaver that has nothing but pictures of those two in it. Makes it reeally easy to blankly stare the screen for a few minutes just waiting for the screensaver to kick in. :) I think I have to cheer myself up a bit more and add a few pictures here to finish up a good day.

A nekkid knight, mmm.

A snowy knight with a bit too much clothing...

And, krhm, a white knight? Oh, heck, a drop-dead-gorgeous specimen of male hawtness...

More hawtness in soft earth tones, this time. *sigh*

As I've said before, I so want to see these two men in the same movie one of these days! *swoon*