Better Than Chocolate

Friday almost all Nissan HQ'ers gathered in Cuba to say goodbye to Mark and Mike. It had been a weird and emotional day in the office, and for me the evening was also a bit sad. Both have inspired me greatly, and I was hoping to gain from working with them for more time to come. I hope their paths will cross mine again at some point.

Saturday my eye was getting a bit better, and I went to town to hook up with Deb and David for a pre-noon beer and some crafts shopping. While David ventured out to find a shirt for their wedding, Deb introduced me to a little yarn emporium in Helsinki, and I left the store with Aida fabric for all the cross stitch patterns I have been waiting to start, as well as knitting needles and yarn for two starting projects. After this I was even introduced to an English pub! In Helsinki! Praise the lord and say bye-bye to crap Finnish draft beer! :)

Returning from town yesterday it quickly became clear that my immune system was not completely done with creating havoc, so evening plans were cancelled in favor of an early night in bed. Today has also been a bit shaky, but it feels like I'm returning to my normal self. The upside of this was that I could wrap myself in blankets, find a webpage to remind me of how to cast on masks, and suddenly I was knitting :) Very simple knitting, mind you, but still! Deb has promised to teach me more advanced techniques, and I can hardly wait. There will be _socks_, I tell you! SOCKS! *mad scientist laughter*

To accompany the knitting I've finally started listening to A Thousand Splendid Suns (same author as The Kite Runner) on audio cd. I've had it since Christmas, but audio books have never been my thing. As entertainment while working with your hands it is, however, brilliant, and I am almost through all ten discs.

I now only have one working day left in Distribution - Tuesday I start my new job. Am a little nervous, but mostly just extremely excited :) Wednesday Arsenal takes on Liverpool in the CL, and I'll watch the game with a couple of friends in Elmo. Thursday The Kite Runner is featured on movie night, and then Friday is off before Arsenal and Liverpool go head to head again in the Premier League on Saturday, again a game I will enjoy with great company in Elmo.

Life, give or take a sick day or two, is very, very good :)

The Apple Of My Eye

Getting rid of the cold and going to the movies, my ass! Still have a cold, and to top it off I have adopted the albino look. My eye looks so bad Miia had to tell me to go talk to someone else today, and I scared three people shitless in the coffee room at work. Have antibiotics, and hopefully it'll be back to normal during tomorrow. If not, I will have to swallow all vanity and show myself in public (outside the office) looking like something out of an early Marilyn Manson-video.

My sleeping has been messed up all week, so I finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini in two days (or nights, rather). Because I'm usually not a big fan of books that deal too much with reality, I've kind of stayed clear of this one, but believe me, it was worth the read. Very well written, and you get very carried away with the characters. The story hurts a bit, but not to an extent where you have to stop reading. Am now starting Out, a novel by Japanese writer Natsuo Kirino. Bought it in Tallinn last summer but haven't got around to reading it.

So, no movies for me today, but thankfully Deb agreed to host in my place. I'll try to see the movie early next week, if work doesn't weigh me down too much. Don't know what I should do now. Two hours before next eye dripping. Crap.

I Can't Get No Sleep

For unknown reasons I am once again back in insomnia land. No work hang-ups this time around, but my mind battles the weirdest things when I am supposed to sleep. Last night I woke up something like twenty times because there was a guy in a ski mask on the bus. Finally I had no other choice than turn the lights on and read for a while. The counting backwards from 100 technique seems to be working all right once I get my mind away from whatever it is it's working on, though.

Anyway, as I finally had some time to read, I finished The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. I started this book straight after finishing American Gods, and it's kept me rather entertained. It's about fairytales and the dark turns a child's imagination can take when faced with the hard realities of life. Side by side with my fascination for religion and mythology walks the thing I have for folklore, so off course this one was also right down my alley. It is a bit dark and depressive, though, so I wouldn't recommend it to all. Also, if you don't like unrealistic stuff it's definitely not for you.

Tomorrow I will _not_ be going to the weekly welcome (!), as my random fever has turned into a cold I need to get rid of asap. Thursday's movie is Love in the time of cholera, and I'm a bit ambivalent about it. The book comes recommended, but I haven't had time to read it - and the soundtrack of the movie is by Shakira! Well, worst case I guess I still have a good read to look forward to :)

Friday is Mark S/Mike W/Fredrik H's leaving work party, and I'm all set to cry my eyes out. Note to self: Wear water proof mascara. Saturday is Mike (JD)'s leaving party no II, and Sunday I plan to be immobile and read some more. Received a tip from Deb on a handicraft store in town that I need to check out - I need Aida fabric for a couple of cross stitching patterns I'd like to start working on. Also, I've decided to learn how to knit! Next Christmas there will be socks for all! (Or at least scarves, in case I fail miserably in the sock department.)

Closer To God

Sometimes I wonder what happened to people that damaged them, gave them the wrinkles and bruises they have. I guess in most cases it's simple - life happened. Yet I can't help but think we sometimes help life create the means of our own demise. How often do we willingly play the role of rabbit in the headlights? Makes it even more tragic that we rarely learn from past mistakes.

Today I've had a very random fever attack, and ravelling in self pity I watched two movies. The first - The Oh in Ohio - was a parody of everything sensual. Parker Posey plays a frigid "ice queen" (or uptight house wife/control freak if you ask me), married to poor Jake who can not for the heart of him give her an orgasm.

Ten minutes in I was tempted to throw in the towel. The movie is a downright Cosmo article - "Own your orgasm, and 10 ways to make your man happy in the kitchen!". Wifey gets a vibrator (yay, orgasm!) and sleeps with half the city including the girl who sold her the vibe (oh no, no orgasm). Husband leaves and hooks up with teenage science geek/vixen (Misha Barton), before regretting everything sorely and begging wife to come back to him.

Alas, she has by then hooked up with past-middle-aged anti-hunk Wayne the Pool Guy (Danny DeVito), who finally enables her to come without the aid of batteries (yay!), and all is joy. I am sorry for the amount of grown-up words in this review, but screenplays don't come much more blatantly daft than this one.

Romance (also known as Romance X) is the much talked about (banned and heavily censored in many countries) 1999 movie of French Catherine Breillat. It features a bunch of (to me) unknown French actors and pornstar Rocco Siffredi (also unknown to me). It is said to have inspired a trail of sexually explicit mainstream movies over the last years, such as Shortbus and 9 Songs (one of my favorite films). I bet it had something to do with the above mentioned orgasm tragedy as well...

Romance is, however, a good film. The main character, Marie, is in a relationship where her boyfriend has tired of her - the chase is over and he is simply bored. She decides to take things into her own hands and goes manhunting (this is where Rocco comes into play).

The movie also dabbles in bondage, risky sex ending in rape, and masturbation (oooh, my blog will probably get blacklisted in several US states after this entry). It sounds a bit borderline, but what makes the movie good is Maria's overlying narrative of her own thoughts around her relationship and men in general. The end of the movie is a bit icky, but I guess it is a good visual kick in the b*lls for all men who figured they were watching a soft porn flick.

There, now it would seem I'm a right pervert with my choice of Monday entertainment, but in my defence I have to say both movies have been waiting for over a year and I figured I might as well do both in one go.

Lust For Life

Snow happened overnight, and Finland is covered in white for one of the first times this winter. I hope it passes quickly and goes back to being spring. I had the adorable Anu with me to Sebastian's place on Saturday, it was very nice and I was home in good time for a good night's sleep. Swedish aquavit is to prefer if the alternative is Danish aquavit. Today I got a chance to experience some Monkeyhouse cooking, and I am a believer.

Todays' topic is a purely musical one.
My mother mainly dealt with my musical upbringing. My father listened to music as well, but it was mostly Baccara, Cliff Richard or himself playing Beatles tunes on an out-of-tune guitar. Also, you have no idea how often I had to sit through Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel. Always a charmer.

One of the neatest things about learning to love music would be when, on dark, stormy nights, my mother and I would turn off all the lights, light candles and lie on the floor listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. There is still, to this day, nothing I can imagine would be more soothing. Favorites like Water Music and Fireworks Music by Händel, Vivaldi's Four Seasons and most of Beethoven's work were intervowen with great artists like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Nat "King" Cole and his daughter Natalie, The Righteous Brothers, Roy Orbison, Marvin Gaye, Dolly Parton and Chuck Berry.

My first LP was Dollie de Lux' Which Witch album, which was quite good. After that a rather more conspicuous period followed, with Milli Vanilli and Michael Jackson's Dangerous. On cassettes I would have Vikingarna neatly stacked up alongside Prince & the new Power Generation, Paula Abdul, NKOTB and Roxette. I would make mixtapes at every chance I got, often recording tunes from the radio. Wish I had some of those still.

My first ever CD was Crash! Boom! Bang! by Roxette. I got it for my birthday, alongside Carrie by Stephen King, and I still can not listen to that record without reliving the first time I read that book. Celine Dion followed, and I was a true disciple of hers until 1999, when her Christmas record finally poured petrol on my passion for her voice and lit a match. *poof*! it went. She wasn't a bad artist to grow up with, though.

I had quite a few records in my collection before my real fascination with albums started around -98. Nine Inch Nails' Downward Spiral, Garbage's Version 2.0 and Manson's Mechanical Animals sidetracked me from my hang-ups with ballads, and my love for indie/alternative/industrial was born. I constantly find new records I like and let live with me, but rarely does anything measure up the the first throes of musical glee :)

I really miss making those mix tapes...

Mein Herz Brennt

I have completely forgotten to review Fur, a movie I watched last weekend. It is an imaginary portait of the photographer Diane Arbus, starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. Arbus made a name for herself portraying the "weird" (transvestites, little people, giants, prostitutes, people with physical abnormalities...), and the movie is based on theories of the photographer's intimate knowledge of the things she chose to photograph.

I am a fan of Arbus' work - and love it when references to her pictures are made in pop culture. You will find a striking blueprint of the portrayal of the scary twins in The Shining (which again was copied in the 30 Seconds to Mars video The Kill), and any Lynch fan will recognize a certain giant from a red walled room. Critics have said the movie is too imaginary and that it does not in the slightest hint to the tragic end of Arbus' life (killed herself in 1971). I think this critizism is rather pointless, as the point of the film is not to biography her life as much as to artistically speculate in what the basis of her fascination with the unusual was. I liked it very much, it is a beautiful film and a very Alice in Wonderland-like script.

I believe everyone has something that makes them tick, a fetish of sorts. This is a private thing for most, and unconscious for many, while some wear their hearts on their sleeves. I don't think any way is right or wrong, but I do think it is a highly interesting and attractive feature of the human race*. Imagine how many people have lead deeply unhappy lives because they have not been free to live out their dreams. Artists/movies/books that make it easier by shedding light on what we find weird are beautiful things.

* Please note there's a very thick line between what is acceptable and unacceptable. There is, for instance, no beauty in forcing others to do what they won't, child molesting, nor murder.

Love Replaces Fear

I got my new car yesterday, and I have to say I love it. No more silvery or grayish cars for me for a while. This one lets me plug my mp3 player to the soundsystem, which is a good thing as it means I no longer have to load the entire car with CDs.

A lot of job training this week, it's starting to take form and I can hardly wait to start the new position. Wednesday was weekly welcome day, as usual, but this time with D&D. Hilarious evening, my stomach muscles were hurting on Thursday... and unfortunately so was my head :p

Hallam Foe was a quirky affair. Hallam's mother dies, and kiddo goes mental. Lives in a tree house, wears his mothers dress and paints lipstick circles around his nipples before randomly scaring people shitless. Spies on everyone and has a thing for stepmom. Sounds crazy, and it kind of was, but I really liked it. Feelgood movie, and definitely worth seeing. The soundtrack was good as well.

After the movie yesterday there was beer, but somewhere inside I found the strength to leave rather early and was actually in good form this morning. Have been to the Helsinki cathedral for a 3 hour Bach concert (St Matthew Passion), which was very lovely. Tomorrow we're having Easter lunch at Sebastian's place with the team and some friends, and Sunday there's Easter lunch in Vantaa. Food and good company makes for a lovely weekend :)

In Trouble Is Where I'm Going To Be

My head is suffering violently today, have to try to stay clear of the crap draft beer they serve in Helsinki. Football was not specifically good again, 1-1 against Middlesbrough, a game that should have ended in Arsenal's favor. We are now second in the league and Chelsea is closing in fast. Next weekend's game should be very interesting indeed. But before that, an action packed week designed to deprive yours truly further of sleep and brain cells.

I am in need of a gas stove and a wok. Am having waking dreams of gan bian'ed beef and green beans. See, if I ever marry it will be for either food, music or books. Personality or good sense of humor? Nah, overrated :p Oh, and now I just found out they gan bian potato slices as well. I'm dying here!

Hallam Foe is the movie next week, should be good. I also found out they are in fact putting up Funny Games, so that's on for one of the April movie nights. Saw Hot Fuzz in the comfort of my own living room on Friday, and liked it well enough. Don't agree with many of my friends who have it listed as the funniest movie ever, though. I'm not the biggest fan of Scandinavian film, but I prefer the Swedish cop spoof Kopps.

I was looking through old pictures this morning, and got an intense urge to go back to Laos. I know I'm on an Asia break, but ooh, it was so nice. I'd pack my backpack full of books, load my mp3 player with The National and The Magic Numbers, and just stay there without mobile coverage for a month. Still have to figure out where to vacation this summer, and am not getting anywhere with these Luang Nam Tha flashbacks... (I later discovered it will only cost me a little more than 1000 Euros for a return trip to Luang Prabang. Uuhhh, that's a good price... I think this is going south!)

Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking

There's a certain weirdness involved in getting to know new people. I mean, some you are just plain comfortable with and there's no hustle, whereas others are not so easy. I have a theory it all boils down to pheromones, that there's some animal instinct we have forgotten how to use that kicks in. Some people smell like "our" people, others scare the bejeezus out of some primal nerve.


This is probably also what kicks in when you encounter the love-at-first-sight phenomenon. I've had it happen to me, and it's just freaky. You have no idea who this toad is that you're looking at or where it came from, but you know you're going to love it for the rest of your life (or at least until it develops a funny smell). Basically what I'm saying is that I would gladly accept a smellobotomy if one was offered, because my instincts tend to suck.

It's been a while since I had the pleasure of Gary Lightbody streaming through my loudspeakers, but here he is again. I think Snow Patrol are supposed to come out with a new record this year, which would suit me perfectly as it probably means they will be touring again. Now, that's a nice piece of Irish hunk for you right there.

Today Arsenal and Liverpool were drawn to meet in the Champions League quarter finals. This means they will meet three times in a week - I shit you not. And it gets worse; the first of the three games is on my second day of the new job. Life is playing me a cruel hand when it comes to anxiety levels, that's for sure! :D

And not a word from anyone about the smellinessless of toads or that the above cartoon has nothing to do with love at first sight, thank you very much.

Follow Me Into Disaster

Cloverfield was not exactly what I had expected. To be fair, I had actually expected worse, seeing as how the last mainstream thing I dragged people along to was the horrible, horrible National Treasure 2. This one was a masterpiece in comparison.

The filming really was effective, I felt rather dizzy leaving the movie theathre, and it made everything seem a little more frightening. I might also end up having nightmares from the spiderlike creatures that bit people. I am not usually big on monster flicks, but I guess this one was ok. Will move back to the narrower shelves from now on, though, as the movies I have a good gut feeling of up front always turn out to be the best ones.

Speaking of nightmares, I woke up in the middle of the night last night screaming. There's this one older guy at my work who for some reason was in the spare bedroom of my apartment (although it wasn't him, it was some grey haired actor I don't remember the name of), and he was sitting in my office chair with his back turned to me.

I knew there was something horribly wrong with him, but I couldn't turn the chair around so he would look at me. And then there was something with his hair that I don't remember and I woke up with a scream halfway out my throat and my neighbours probably wondering who the hell was being murdered in our building. I kept on dreaming all through the night, but that is the only one I remember much of. Hope tonight will be a bit calmer, or I won't profit much from being home early today in the morning.

Tomorrow I have _nothing_ on my schedule. This is heaven. Saturday is the Middlesbrough game, and Sunday I again have _nothing_ :D

Should you want to tap into today's mood, Pete Yorn - Musicforthemorningafter is the right choice of record. It's always the right choice of record, actually, but some days more so than others. One of my most listened to albums ever.

She Says

Today's topic is (as usual) problems, and I have a musical one. Somehow I seem to have misplaced the previously mentioned Howie Day's Stop All The World Now. I can not find Du & Jag Döden by Kent nor Editors' An End Has A Start either. As all three are amongst my favorite records, this causes no small amount of distress, but at least it leads me to believe they are all in the same place, and likely to show up when I least expect it.

My jaw is behaving much better now, and tomorrow I will see Cloverfield. If it's bad I will leave well enough alone when it comes to mainstream picks (at least until the Sex & the City movie is comes out). Mr Big played the perfect man in The Perfect Man (Hilary Duff disaster), by the way. He really _is_ New York, isn't he...

One of the managers in our company, a guy I highly respect and was looking forward to learning more from, announced today that he will be going back to South Africa come April 1st. I guess it was no huge surprise, it's natural that he would stay almost three years and then head back after finishing a fiscal year, but still... I hate it when people leave, it's one thing I've never been able to deal with without becoming unbearably sad.

I also found out today that my blog audience is partly not what I think it is. Not that it matters at all, I've been blogging for too long to know what to put on here and not, but still a bit surprising. Kind of like when you hold the shift button on your keyboard in for too long and the handicap function sets in. You know it's not going to break anything, but all of a sudden you're all consious about your use of the button. Until you forget, off course, which is something like five seconds later.
So... I was saying?

Let Me Take You On A Trip

I am currently on drugs, as my screw-in-the-jaw-implant has been acting up, rendering me unable to perform in society except as a whining, feeling-sorry-for-oneself bitch from hell. Fortunately it turns out dentists can describe (here I should have written "prescribe", but is indeed good to know they can describe the stuff they want people to take as well) perkiness in tablet form.

To brighten up my day I started looking into vacationing, and I've come up with the following wish list (not in any specific order).

Cambodia
I was supposed to go there for Easter -07, but when planning I got carried away and we suddenly ended up going to Laos instead. Work of a mastermind, clearly, as I've never been anywhere that nice, but still off target. Am on an Asian break at the moment, but Cambodia will definitely be next stop when I start going back. Or maybe Vietnam... see, this is how I get sidetracked.

Romania
I want to go on a road trip through Romania. There are two problems with this; a) I don't want to go alone, and b) traffic in Romania is apparently insanely dangerous and I don't want to die on vacation after all. Found one blog with people that had backpacked off the beaten track from monastary to monastery, maybe that's an alternative that could fit me better?

Italy
Strangely similar to my plan B for Romania, I've for years wanted to go on a monastery-hopping vacation to Italy - alternatively go to just one and stay and work there for some weeks. This is a rather well established way of vacationing for people who are trying to retrieve sanity and/or have a major thing for churches and other religious sites (I belong to the latter group, in case you were worried).

New Orleans, USA
Granted, I should've gone before the hurricane hit, but that's a bit too late now, isn't it? I bet there's some jazz left in them ole streets yet, and if I'm lucky I might find a cure for my lust for Creole mysteries. Wouldn't mind submerging myself in the Creole and cajun cuisine for a while either. New Orleans is one of the places I could consider going when I get rich and old and am about to open my rock/book bar.

Ireland/Scotland/Wales
Weirdly enough, although I might just be the most ardent anglofile on the face of the planet, I have visited England as often as possible but never ventured to any of the neighbouring countries. Then again, I do have an ongoing lovestory with London, so maybe it's not all that weird after all.

Even The Wrong Words Seem To Rhyme

0-0 against Wigan Athletic. Good thing I'm not a gambling woman, 'cause my safe bets sometimes turn out to be not so safe.

I've watched a movie this evening - The Perfect Man. Horrid piece of sh*t (the fact that Hilary Duff plays the leading part should have tipped me off), but it featured Collide by Howie Day - a little piece of music miracle I hadn't heard for a while. Look it up on youtube, it's a good song that deserves a bit of attention.

Found a great blog today, written by a guy who does freelance work for Lonely Planet. Stumbled across it while looking into sites on Romania, and ended up reading for hours. The link is in the right hand column (Killing Batteries), also worth checking out. I'm sales pitching all kinds of stuff today, aren't I?

I am so tired again today, when is this going to end? Will now drag myself off to bed, it shall be good to have some sleep. Next week I'll try to start swimming again.

Fake Empire

This has been a very random weekend. Ended up not revolutionizing so much as blurring my life yesterday in Sini's place, and to make sure my Sunday would be hellish I had a bit of wine, a bit of champagne, a bit of hard liquor, truckloads of beer and went to sleep after eight this morning. Hyvä jutto!

There will be no watching the Arsenal vs Wigan game today if I'm not able to move from this chair. If I tell myself this a sufficient number of times I might be able to get up. No? Darn.

I accidentally discovered that the line-up of Arvikafestivalen this year is totally brilliant. Wasn't intending on going this year, as, well, I always went there with Erlend, but now I'm going to go anyway. Death Cab are playing :D Also found out that The National are playing on the Thursday of Øyafestivalen, so I might try to squeeze that in as well this summer.

Basically, it'll be good to go to work tomorrow, these weekends are killing me.

This Is The Next Century

I am not a world class bowler, that's for sure. I just barely managed to beat Miia, whose wrists were so weak we were worried she would bowl herself down the lane in the end. Tapasta was great, as always, but after a couple of bottles of wine and sangria heads were spinning already at a very early stage of yesterday evening.

Today I would give a lot of money for a good game of football, but as Arsenal are playing tomorrow I might end up settling for Liverpool vs Newcastle at the local pizza joint. Am planning to revolutionize my life by having an alcohol free Saturday :p

Sweeney Todd was my kind of movie, I have to say. Loved the music, and loved the acting. The entire film was very, very Burton, and both leading actors were just right for their messed up roles. Before the film a trailer was shown for a movie that gave me very strong Clockwork Orange vibes - Funny Games. I hope they put it on in Finland at some point.

Speaking of A Clockwork Orange, I woke up this morning with The Universal in my head. Quite a good tune, that, I must say I've not listened to Blur for ages, maybe I should do some CD shelf rummaging today...

Heart-shaped Glasses

You know when someone breaks your heart and it's a total surprise? I had my heart broken a while ago, but it was nothing like that. I saw this one coming ages ago and the pinhole in my heart has been dripping pain for months already. So why on earth did I allow it to happen, you might ask? Well, because sometimes I just plain can't help myself. Welcome to rejection freak central, Espoo branch!

On a different Note (Nissan joke, pun intended), I am waiting for my new company car. It's an orange Micra, and I hope it will bring me as much good singing behind the wheel time as the current one has. Friday we are going bowling with my team, and I predict a difficult Saturday. I also managed to get myself into a well drunk state on Wednesday, rambling about in Vinyl with Kaisu and an Australian guy who was at his first WW. Judging from today's headache we took the welcoming very seriously.

Finally finished American Gods on Monday. One of my most talked about books, this was, and I will miss it. I wish Gaiman was more of a serial novel writer, so the characters would turn up again and again and again. At least they brought me much joy while it lasted, and I recommend the book to anyone. It is sharply clever, and Gaiman somehow manages to collect all the hundreds of little strings into a very coherent ending. I wonder what Shadow would think of the book if someone handed it to him while he was in prison.

The next meeting with the book club will tackle The Tipping Point, but after this excellent read I just can not bring myself to read a non fiction one, so I have now started on The Book of Lost Things.

Now, let's go make somebody's day better :)

When The Sun Shines We'll Shine Together

Have you ever had the feeling after waking up in the morning that you would give most anything to be back on Friday afternoon and just go to bed instead of starting a weekend full of insane partying? I think I have a friend or two who felt just like that this morning ;p My weekend was, however, surprisingly fine.

There Will Be Blood was an extreme contrast to the hopeless National Treasure from the week before. Superb acting, and the use of sounds and music was brilliant. The deaths in the mines fucked me up a bit, as they were rather brutal, but the brutality and lack of pink soft filters is exactly what makes this movie so good. Day-Lewis in the lead looks like he didn't have to lift a finger to step completely into the role. Next week we have Sweeney Todd!

Hair coloring on Friday went well, and I can see how people get hooked on this (once again thanks to the lovely Kaisu). Good dinner and beers in the evening followed, but was in bed rather early and hence had a good start to my Saturday where I met up with D&D in Stockmann to get tickets for this summer's R.E.M. concert! We also wanted to go see Bruce Springsteen, but he was sold out. Saturday night party featured almost all of my favorite people, and I again managed to get myself away from the hustle and bustle of partying until closing hours. Today I've had a lovely pizza in my neighbourhood football pub, and will soon retire to bed with the last pages of American Gods.

I was very happy to learn that one of the guys I've met through JD, Henrik, accepted a marriage proposal from his girlfriend on Friday. Lovely people who deserve all good things :)