The strangest wakeup

Imagine you wake up to the opening of your door. You see someone standing in the doorway, carrying something clunky. When you manage to force your eyes open you realize the clunky thing is a coffee maker. 0_O

Yeah, so today Masse thought it would be a nice idea to plant the whole coffee maker on me!

=D

Now to clean up some more while waiting for the dishwasher to do its thing.

And the day turned to night

So today rolled on pretty well. We had some good experiences while going downhill, despite that we got some drinks confiscated due to our own sillyness, and met some interesting people (to say the least). We used Masses sports tracker to see how high speeds we'd get going downhill and turned out we managed to get past 70 km/h. Not bad on a snowboard. Pretty scary thought to think what might happen if you mess up and wreck yourself at that speed. Well, at least it gave us the adrenalin we needed to stay awake. I tried to get in some airs, like in the picture posted earlier but managed to fuck up almost every single time, most probably due to the excessive tiredness that has been accompanying us for a while now. However, we got a damn funny video where i get totalled by a skiier in the art of airs. Of course that is the only video my friends decided to take. Well gotta show those twin toothpick swooping bastards the next time. ~__^

Kari was unfortunately still pretty badly ill so he could not join us but still treated us to burgers at the finest burger restaurant iv visited so far. If you ever go to Tahko make sure you grab a burger or two at Syväri, you won't regret it. Although you should be careful as the staff seems to be pretty witty. When we ordered the hungover burger (yes, it's actually called like that, or well, the day after burger literally) the waiter asked if we were preparing for tomorrow, to this i replied that we weren't but that we simply tried to fix what had gone amiss the past three days.

After Syväri we hit Karhu, the same place we spent the late evening yesterday. Some singing, some drinking and some hellos and goodbyes to the friends we made. That was the evening in short.

So all in all, a pretty damn good, despite pretty slow and calm ending for a great holiday. Tomorrow morning will be early wake up for cleaning, packing and for taking the long way home.

Still, its nice to go home too. Been missing my family. Been missing a good deal of other friends. And mostly i guess I've been missing Jonna despite the occasional calls. Well, we will meet on Monday if all is well.

Thanks to Kari, Jazza, Masse and Teemu for an awesome time, as well as to all the nice people we met.

Lasto day

So today I wake up to something glowing hot touching my chin. After the short WTF?!? Whats attacking!?! moment i realize its Masse who planted a fresh cup of coffee and a glass of water as its company straight into my face. NAISO!

So last night was great in epic proportions. We hit the pub/bar/club that the locals seem to prefer. As soon as we stepped in the doorman made sure we'd get to order ASAP and get at least a beer in our hand so we wouldn't walk out the door before we even got in, now that's good service. After noticing an acquaintance of Jazzas from the night before we sat down and after a while sat in the table with some locals in our age and seemed as welcomed as the locals.

And I tell you. There were people of all ages, and people seemed to enjoy themselves despite some rowdiness (saw a guy sitting in a feeding chair for small children 0_O and a guy crashing behind the bar desk). And people were singing, and no one cared how you sang, as long as someone was singing, the first song i was about to sing I had messed up so I just sang some random words for a while and then asked them to kill the song. I lost count of the amount of songs I sang and I kept going on until closing time and got the honor of the last song. I even seemed to gather a following of 40+ (age, not number of people) dames who i politely took some dancing steps with in order to get them out of my face so i once again could see the lyrics of the songs. =D

The singing also turned out to be profitable for me. When i ran out of money, the bartender just sold me a drink for the last of my coins with a great discount and didn't seem to mind it at all.

Once back at the cabin we cooked some rice and tossed the leftovers from the days meal into that. Very good, taste! All in all, we all agreed on the fact that we had enjoyed the evening a great deal.

Today the temperature is far milder, going from -20 to -5, so going downhill should be pretty damn enjoyable. First some chocolate porridge and some more coffee. Then a phone call to my dear who also seemed optimistic about today. And then, forwards, into Lasto Day.

Huuh!?! That was an adventure!

So this morning i wake up with the question, where the hell am I? After remembering the answer to that question the next thing in my mind was, who am I with? After remembering the answer to that one too my next thought was, how the hell do i get away from here, followed by why the hell is my throat so dry and why is my head hurting?

Oh right!

No, i wasn't kidnapped and sent to a forced labor camp in Siberia but simply happened to be kind-hearted enough with Masse not to leave two poor girls from Turku lost in the freezing night. It all started with Jazza and Masse picking up some discussion company at the last bar we visited last evening. When it was closing time and we aimed to go to yet another bar that we believed would still be open it turned out the girls had no clue where they were going. Great!

After a lot of fuzz about as to what the hell we should do Jazza eventually did the only right thing and called a cab. Well, drunk as we were, it ended with no one else actually realizing we should have taken the cab. Still after a fair amount of confusion, and some useless plowing trough snow thanks to Masses stubbornness, and a great navigating device (yeah, we all had googlemaps on our phones but no one had of course thought about the fact that we could just use them), we managed to arrive at the cottage of these Turku dwellers. My first thought was that it was some sort of religious cult as the house was just full of people, however, it turned out they were all classmates or something from a school. So I thought it was safe enough and as we already were very tired, didn't want to pay for a cab and they owed us a favor we decided to bunk in a room that was left empty by a few of their friends that couldn't join them.

Anyhow, once i had come to terms with my own situation and existence i decided with Masse that it was time to roll out in the same grandeur we had arrived. Saying thanks and goodbye we walked out the door and to a parking lot where Jazzas father Kari kindly agreed to pick us up from.

When we were safe and sound back at our own cabin i decided to check up what was up on the interwebs, thinking, no way there would have been anything new since last eve. Well, i was wrong as my memory had failed me, yet again. I was greeted by Jonnas blog, by an entry that made all the mishaps of the evening feel like a fun and silly adventure. And what was even better was that even if it was morning hours i could trade a few words with her before i headed to bed for a few more hours of sleep.

^______^ - 3 9 <3

The rest of the day has passed with all of us lagging greatly behind schedule as we also had to take care of a few practical matters during the day. Still we got in some skiing, boarding, drinks as well as good food despite we had to cancel our restaurant visit as Kari wasn't feeling too well. Now we're chillin' out a while, listening to some laid back tracks before were going to grab some beers and bathe sauna. Later were going to hit the last club/bar we haven't yet visited here. We're all pretty tired so I guess well just have to see how much party energy there's left in us.

Hyvästi selvä päivä!

Hello, good morning Diplodocus, shake that jalluu, kossuu ja kaljaa.
- A mishmas of songs

Snowboarding, drinking, friends, car rides in the frosty countryside, music, food, drinking again, sauna and hitting the road once more. Can't count the number of times i've shouted Kanpai! today.

And yeah, thats me. =D
- Creds. to Jazza for photo!

A good day, to say the least.

Selvästi hyvä päivä!

So, seven hours or so of driving, a plenty of stops and were finally at our destination, hours behind schedule despite constant speeding. Fortunately after five hours Masse took over and i could kick back and enjoy a beer. Kanpai!

But yeah, we finally arrived at the most awesome of destinations. Jazzas family cottage, at a skiing resort. With the sauna warm we hit it immediately.

Tomorrow there will be pre-ski, ski and after-ski. Especially the prefixes and suffixes should be pretty enjoyable although i wont be complaining when i can swoop down the slopes on my board. =D

Well what else is there to say of this day?

I enjoy my time with my friends.
I miss my family a little.
I miss my love.

Good night and good luck.

Sunday on Tuesday

So today i am at peace. I call these days Sundays.

Japan has been part of my mind for the past while. Today, to accompany my morning coffee i chose an article about Japanese gardens and AKB 48 as music. It must be something about the Japanese ways, the politeness, a thing Finnish people know to respect, the love for life despite sky high suicide rates in the country and the ability to stop in the middle of the most hectic of moments to find a corner of peace and calm.

Then a sudden phone call from my grandpa that i should drive my car to the local gas station ASAP if i wanted a free machine car wash for my car. It really needed it after the shitty weather we've had lately. Actually, driving with a clean car is just such a great feeling, you feel like a king, no matter if your car is the size of a shoebox.

I also picked up some things for my latest project and managed to complete the first clock i've scratched together from this and that. Not sure i like the digits that much but next time I'm going to try something different, actually, going to try a lot of different ideas as long as i find materials cheap enough.

This one goes to my friend Jazza who promised me some drinks as payment and who's cottage were going to with some friends to spend some days of the winter holidays! =D

3 9 Baka

Maybe is should blog about things that are interesting, about topics that matter in the big whole, and stuff people find to be of importance. But i wont. Cause today was too good a day for such trivial matters to be of any weight to me. What matters is the clockwork i bought.

That I shared a thing i could not just keep to myself with a brother of mine. That I learned acceptance from a family that i am now tied to. That I gazed up at stars in the darkness of a cold night with the warmth of passion and curiosity next to me. Why worry and look back at what was, when there is a future that will be, waiting, right ahead of us.

QFT

"I stopped believing in coincidence." - The Emperor of Japan

Memory Lane

Old letters.
Old post cards.
Stories of the Fearghals.

Going down that path alone would have been scary as hell.

Eden

So if you cant go to the tropical weather, bring the tropical weather to where you are.

Tropical warmth under a glass dome while it's tens of degrees below zero outdoors.
Some great music with a live DJ.
Hot chocolate with rum.
Water slides.
Sauna.

And yet, among all this i still have a wish about that i could share it with You. =D

And the latest just in... Going to a ski resort with some friends at the end of the week! Ya-Ha!!
Now, to see the greatest sketch show on TV. I unfortunately missed the live airing of it but who cares, there's web TV.

^_____^

Alphabetical Tape A

So I've got this idea. Yeah, I've started my share of disasters with those words, this time, who knows what it yields. Anyhow, I've got this idea, that since I'm pretty crappy at planning and love to spin records by just tossing one after the other onto the platter (metaphorically though as i use a DVS), I'd just start going trough my library by the alphabet, picking songs starting with one letter at a time, just to see if its possible to make any sensible sets by that. And yes, I generally record a set as I go and don't really practice ahead, keeps things interesting.

The set is, as I tend to stick to a certain personal style, similar to others I've made. Moody and soulful yet energetic should be the words to describe it, you be the judge. Its also got the usual errors that come with my stubbornness to stick to the low tech end of digital DJing, using manual mixing with turntables topped with only the occasional looping and effect, which sometime mess up royally, from the software side.

Nuff' words. I hope you will enjoy these beats and waves despite the occasional technical hiccups. Its the start of a long series of tapes and I'm personally looking forward to see how much I've improved my rusty skills when i hit X,Y and Z. =D

Alphabetical Tape A
47.38 ~130

Amour - French Government
A1 (Main Mix) - Tigran Oganezov
Absolutely - Eddie Williams
Afterworld (Dimension Remix) - Arctic Moon
Alimos Man - DJ Coslow
Arabe (Milton Channels Remix) - Hector Couto
Adagio For Strings 2009 (Phil Green Reworked) - DJ Yvan
Another Heater - Siedel van Riel and Radion 6
Air Of Doubt (Subtara Remix) - Blufield
Alone (Ashley Wallbridge Vocal Remix) - Michael Angelo and Solo featuring Denise Riviera
A 50 - Maarten de Jong

The ones that get away, They always come back

So taking a morning swim at the spa turned out to be not so nice with a good hundred or two other people to share the pools with. It was like rush hour but in water. Sauna was nice though.

Last night i had trouble sleeping and my mind was filled with thoughts about people that i care a lot about. Somehow in my busy daily life i tend to forget so many of them.

First and foremost i lay there thinking about my family. About my parents who have always been a supporting force despite the rough words that we trade, they have shown me what it means to care about others beyond what is good for oneself. About my sisters who i always know to count on, come what may, and who i will do anything for, no matter what. And about my grandparents who i do spend too little time with but who i always know i can trust in every matter. These are the people who are the foundation of everything i believe in.

Then i thought about my friends, the ones i went to school with and the ones that i share my interests with. Some of them, i can talk to every evening, sit and drink beer with even though some of them are spread all over Europe and the world, playing games, sharing laughs. Others i only see once in a while, some i only hear from once half a year. Yet, most of these im pretty sure would bury a corpse for me if the need ever would arise. That's what good friends are made of. These are the people i want to share the world with.

Then as my thoughts drifted forward i found myself thinking of Johanna, the girl i shared so much with the past two years. All the time, all the hardships as well as all the most beautiful of moments. I have not heard from her since I received a letter from her, she always was traditional and poetic in her ways, i really do miss her.

I thought of Yoav, my brother, the only older brother i really ever had in a family of sorts, and our parents in Texas. Thought about my siblings there and what might have become of them. Thought about Taylor, who taught me what real happiness was and where to find it in life. And i once again remembered i should write her a letter about all the time that has passed since i last talked to her. And of Mia, Frida and Elias who somehow dragged me along onto that amazing trip a few years back, thank you.

And eventually i came back to thinking about Jonna who i didn't meet on friday. It always frustrates me a great deal when i fail to live up to something someone important to me expects of me. I really do hope there's time for us to meet before she heads on vacation trips too. She's a person who has grown to matter the world to me in a time i never thought it was possible for someone to do such a thing. Kaipaan sinua.

These are the people i love.

Thought of the day.

I
feel
stupid

Advertisment

So i thought it might be a good time for some advertising. A good friend of mine, well, he has gotten quite an awesome blog. The awesome part mainly comes from the fact that he is awesome at finding awesome music and is awesomely active with doing so. Thanks to him i noticed that i don't have to follow my old sources for finding music half as efficiently as i used to.

Im pretty sure some of the songs in upcoming tape A were found there too.

So yeah the blag of my friend Maitek. You will find him in the links section in the future.

Maitek Music Blag

Kanpai!

So today the kids got their grades and we had a sort of a small festivity for that in the classroom. Got cookies and warm words for everyone. It felt pretty good to get some similar words in return too, the great things with children is that their compliments are always honest as is their criticism. The poor small souls already worry about the fact that they might not be having me as their teacher next year. To hear something like that, is something that really breaks my heart as well as fills it with a bit of pride about my work.

Now onto holidays! A spa weekend will do some good despite the fact that the sudden nature of that trip means i wont get to spend this evening with someone i would have liked to spend it with. My apologies to You for that, ill make up for it when im back in town. =)

Work is life

Its time for me to pat myself on the shoulder again. Grades are set, printed and will be given out tomorrow. I compared my grading to what other teachers have done before me and it turned out i did pretty much as correct as i could have wished for. Ya-Ha! ^__^

Also saved my ass from almost getting into a car crash. Winter is just such a wonderful time for driving. They really should not let first time practice drivers drive around in conditions like this. They might not be a threat to themselves as much as they are for absolutely everyone around them. !__!

Also, the chief of cleaning had apparently gotten a note about her great taste of gifts so today she sent us a proper cake. Yet, again, our housekeeper got nothing. :/

Anywho. Tomorrow will be a good day i think. And then, holidays!

Simple things

Täydellinen

Katto.
Seinät.

Sohva.
TV.

Sinä.
Minä.

Ilta

I think im going to skip out on the nuggets...

So this is what i heard today while having break time watch on me.

"So you know that they use every single part of a chicken when they make the nuggets at McDonalds? Huh? They even use the balls of the hen..."

I wont eat no nuggets no more i think. Then again, not so sure about the anatomy of those hen. Must be something they've eaten. Well, one thing is certain, the food industry has gone too far. =D

The truth is spoken by the mouth of a child - Old Sayin'

We are all made of Stars

Grading work kids have done ain't no easy job. It never really occurred to me what an impact a teacher have on children before the past weekend when i spent hours trying to figure what would and what would not be fair to give my class in terms of grades.

In all its efficiency the school system doesn't quite cater to the ones it really should. It doesn't even do it to the mediocre and most average of students. Its like a dilemma, except all the answers are equally wrong. How can you nurture the excellent minds of the children who are years ahead of their classmates, how do you save them from boredom, or even worse, taking to the habit of laziness and underachieving? How do you give hours and hours of patience to the children who just don't understand, cant write properly with a pen or wont talk? And how, in between all this can you give the time and the effort as well as the help to the ones who just plow trough every day with hard work? They too do need it.

I do try to think that since i lack an education on the subject that perhaps the ones who possess one are better in this environment. I also try to see as my main role to be more of a guide or a leader on the path that these youngsters are on, if only for a short while. Yet, when i have to start systematically grading the children on the basis of how well they do in different fields, forgetting all about their great personalities, their strengths that lie outside those numbers and letters, i feel a bit unfair.

Now don't get me wrong. Grades are great. Nothing is so much fun as seeing some sort of solid proof of the work you have done, this applies to children especially. However, its a pity so much is so centered on the grades themselves instead of the things that really matter. The fact, who we are.

An artistic impression of me, i think

When it's dark, the stars come out
And for a moment we are saved
- Stars come out, ATB

Painting by J.H.

The 200m Barrier

Iv come to realize why 200m is generally seen as the bar for whether one knows how to swim or not. The first 50 meters are just great fun, then slowly one starts to feel the mass of the water and the pressure of all its vastness against ones body. However, once you pass 200m the feeling changes greatly. All of a sudden you feel as if you belong in water and then time and distance just starts to pass by with ease. Even the crappies of swimmers, that being me, can reach a good kilometer and more with ease once this barrier has been crossed.

So swimming. Top that off with a raid to my grandpas fridge for a beer. And then add to that the most wonderful of chaos today has brought.

Today, despite all the confusion, I feel like a winner.
KANPAI!

QFT

"The more you love, the more you suffer" - Vincent van Gogh

Cake, not so good

Last week the school had to plow trough the evening when all the new kids were to be registered for the coming fall (well it wasn't really that many but still some extra things to do). Its one of the last pieces of bureaucracy that isn't managed digitally.

Well, all well, except our housekeeper/cook (lets just call her housekeeper from now on) was ill. This meant that we got a substitute serving the food instead of her but no one to do the cleaning. As the cleaning still had to be done, knowing there was an important evening coming, our chief of staff (who of course is a teacher herself) had to take care of it all by herself. Well, things like these do happen and its not the whole world, if it wasn't for the fact that the one responsible for sending someone to clean, we can call her the chief of cleaning, decided not to admit any mistake had happened. Instead she decided to blame our housekeeper for lying and blackmailing only to eventually hear from the chief of staff that our housekeeper indeed was right.

Surprised as we were, today, we got a formal apology from the chief of cleaners that she had accidentally forgotten to take care of the matter. However our feeling of sympathy towards this particular individual quickly took a nose dive as we realized that no word of apology was ever directed to the one who really should have deserved it, the housekeeper. Not to mention that what she decided to send us as a gift was a ready made cake bottom (you know, one that you cut up and then make a cake off), that was half year past its best before date! At this point i was rolling around in my chair and laughing. Some people just never stop to amaze us it seems. In their stupidity.

Collecting the Pieces

There's very little in my so far short life i haven't gambled with yet. Still, there are some things that i would never dare to gamble out with. Despite what some people might tell you, i would not, among other things, sell my mom. However, yesterday i did. Not sell my mom that is, but gamble something i never thought I'd dare.

About a month ago, my life changed quite drastically. I realized why life was worth living again. And my old reckless self started kicking again. Its not necessarily a good thing as recklessness tends to cost dearly, it already did. But that very same recklessness is the only thing that ever kept me going. It has kept me going forward for as long back as i remember and when i traded it in for fear and insecurity i was close to saying goodbyes to the world, as i know it, for good. Its actually quite the serene feeling one gets when one lets everything fall out of place and out of ones own hands.

Now iv made promises, and promises i keep. Come what may, it's easier that way.
I will also promise to stop with these cryptic posts and start telling my story, as I live it.

Expect posts.
However, about that,
I will not promise a thing.

Wastebin profecies

When all that needs to be said has been said,
What remains is emotion,
What lies beyond?

Faith Hope Love

Nothing will be the same no more,
if it ever was.

Good Night and Good Luck

Good news everyone!

Forget about the canceled part. It might not be a great day, but at least things are brighter for the moment. Deo Volente.

Sunday was a bright day yesterday

Dark cloud has come into the way.

Yesterday when i logged onto the ever so addicting yet more so notorious Wastebin i was greeted by a status update by a distant acquaintance that not so cheerfully declared the message "FUCK valentine's day and all the mass consumerism it entails". I felt a little sad as i realized that the day when so many will be so happy and even more will work hard for the happiness of others this one person focuses on such a trivial thing as money. Since when has money ever meant love?

As a russian tennis star once said, "Money wont bring happiness, but its easier to sit around and wait for it when you have money". It sure must be great for the ones who can buy their loved ones all they ever could dream off, or at least a foil balloon. But after all, is it not the feeling of belonging together with others that itself gives you all the riches you can desire? Maybe I'm just a communist?

My valentines day, in all its humbleness, without balloons or fancy dining to go to was just canceled. All i can do now is wish all the best to the ones whos weren't and hope they find happiness in others, not in foil balloons. I still do.

I will not promise a thing!

Comic strip borrowed from XKCD