Set The Fire To The Third Bar

Last night the lovely people from Knyttiöt (not spelled like that, but I like how it sounds when I read it) put winter tires on my car, and hence I am well equipped to handle the upcoming snow, whenever it should decide to arrive. Speaking of snow (Patrol, that is), Mr Lightbody & co released a new album - A Hundred Million Suns (a bit out of season, that title...) last week. I'll try to get around to buying and reviewing it asap, although I must say I kind of have enough with my record collection as it is at the moment.

Yesterday I hooked up with Deb and Quinn for Bar 9 lemon chicken and knitting, a very enjoyable affair. I am knitting a shawl, and progressing like never before seen with any of my other projects, but unfortunately I do not have enough yarn and will hence soon run into troubles will it. This Saturday I'm going to drag Quinn with me to the Menita in Espoo, to see if I can finally pierce a hole in one of those vouchers of mine, and in the evening I have been invited to a Halloween party that I think will be good fun.

I'm looking forward to closing the month of October on Friday. We're pretty much in line with our forecast, so it should be smooth sailing *knock on wood*. The same day I'm turning a little bit older, and as usual I'm trying to let it go by in silence. Will start a new life on Monday next week, off course, with exercise and a healthy diet :p

Now, back to my steady companion Excel, and the joys it brings. Show me some love by suggesting what on earth I should dress up as on Saturday!

How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head?

The clocks turned back last night. An hour gained. How lovely wouldn't it be if that was true?
I have twenty Powerpoint slides that need polishing before I can head over to Vantaa and catch a flight that hopefully will not fall down in this lovely (read: icy, sideways rain) weather we're having.

After not sleeping most of the night I finally finished Sartre's Nausea this morning. It is a remarkable work of literature, and I believe I will at some point want to read it again. I strongly admire the strength with which the author must have entered into the ever growing panic of his main character. And I really wish I did not feel such affinity to Anny.

It's Written In A Language That Was Meant To Fuck You Up

Life between weekends is short and merciless :D

I've been working from Vantaa today, forcing the board of directors to sit down and agree on an obscene list of items in just five hours. A rush of blood to the organizational skills! Tomorrow I have the pleasure of hosting Deb, David, Quinn and Mika for knitting and cooking. Well, the women will be knitting while the men hang around the kitchen and do... manly stuff. First, however, I have the almost greater pleasure of hanging out in the office for three hours with Sanna for some first class Saturday working ;p

A Complete History of my Sexual Failures was rather peculiar. Although it was entertaining enough and I laughed out loud on several occassions, it seemed to only be really funny in the exact places where it was supposed to be really funny, and otherwise a bit over the top irresponsible-male-with-a-penis-fixation. Recommendable enough if you're looking to be entertained and like the documentary kind of genre, though. Movie Night reached a new all time high with 18 participants, almost a bit scary! Off course I was dreadfully late due to overtime work, but a merciful soul stepped up to the plate and saved me :)

I've still not managed to move on from Ryan Adams in my CD collection recap. Easy Tiger had me trapped for a couple of days, and then Cold Roses disc 1 for a week. Am now on my second day on the second disc, but as next-in-line is AFI I am hard pressed to leave Adams behind. I'm skipping my Aerosmith - Don't Want To Miss A Thing single... Don't remember buying it and have no intention of giving it playing time.

Sunday I'm going to Oslo again, although only for the night. Will be working in Norway on Monday, before I come back here for a back-breaking, career shaking mid-term review that will either leave me extremely motivated or once again totally baffled by what I'm doing with my life. Ei kivä!

Now: Dinner, movie and a beer :)

St. Anger

My weekend in Oslo is drawing to an end. Still have a presentation to finish for tomorrow, so I'll be plugging away on that one into the late hours, but the social part is over. It's been a good couple of days, have seen a lot of people I rarely see, and laughed a lot.

I'm not in a very good mood this evening. It was kind of in the cards that this weekend would be a bit weird, and I'm not sure I handled it very well. There's an anger in me that is so deeply rooted I doubt it'll ever go away. It's the sort of anger that used to make me believe I could commit horrible errors of judgement and not face the consequences. "If people do not believe I am good I will make them pay by being the worst I can be." ways of thinking quickly leads you down paths you don't even want to be on, but you are so far gone you can't see how to get back. It even takes you to the point where you yourself believe it rules you and that you're not a good person. So you start thinking no people are good, and to not expect anything from anyone. And you end up hurting yourself, the ones you love, and it breaks your heart to look in the mirror.

I don't live by my anger anymore, but being back here kind of makes me remember what that was like. It wasn't very good, and I don't like to think about it. Maybe I've changed, but I still don't really have the guts to right the wrongs I once made. Might be it's not even possible in some cases. I have to believe it is, though, otherwise you will always be running. And that, friends and loved ones, I'm sick and tired of. So here's to making the right choices, saying "I'm sorry!", telling people you love them and to not be scared. Even though it opens you up to rejection.

Now, go tell someone you love them.

Life On A Train

Blogging from mobile phone? When bored, why not? Am on the airport train heading into the city centre of Oslo, where I'll spend the evening drinking beer and catching up with friends. Tomorrow brings café visits with more friends and the birthday party of four more in the evening. Sunday schedule: knitting, reading and being hung over in the hotel.

Haben Sie eine guten Wochenend, bitte!

Is It Snowing In Space?

I spent last Saturday in Tampere. Now, that place is a waste of space if I ever saw one! No, that's unfair. The weather was bad, and the "cathedral" was a piece of modernistic shit with naked men running around painted on the balcony. Not my taste, not my taste at all. Crazy Days in Stockmann saved it a bit, though, and once again I returned to my apartment with a bag full of records.

I've decided to go for the "listen to all the albums I never listen to" idea, and have started in alphabetical order. 2 Unlimited I skipped (am being adventurous, not masochistic), but Bryan Adams reminded me that I like his Inside Out (from On A Day Like Today, 1998), and ABBA got me dancing with When I Kissed The Teacher (from Arrival, 1976). Ryan Adams, however, has me parked for now. I drove to Tampere with nothing but six of his albums, and although during the day I got to Cold Roses (2005) disc 1 I returned to Love is Hell (2004) in the evening and is still there.

Ryan Adams stepped into my existence with So Alive from Rock N Roll (2003), one of my favorite songs to date. He quickly became one of my dreaded "completion artists" (look up The Byrds or Tom Waits in my shelves and you'll know what I mean), and as with many of those I haven't given most of his records much listening time - including Love Is Hell. Those days are over, my friends, and I'd definitely recommend this album. Cold Roses is also a great double album, and I expect that'll keep me busy for a couple of weeks after I move on from this one. His cover of Wonderwall is gorgeous.

This weekend I'm travelling to Oslo, and must say I'm looking forward to it. Haven't been there for ages, and it'll be good to see some old friends again.

Recipes for Disaster was a very entertaining documentary. It made me laugh out loud several times, and as I read Swedish I wasn't bothered by the occassional Finnish outburst in the dialogue. Definitely recommendable, although I left the movie theatre with a somewhat guilty conscience because of my line of work.

Even If You Know Me

Ah, fuck it. I'm in an airport, which in itself is nothing new in this live-out-of-a-bag existence of mine, but this time everything just sucks. I declined going to Tallinn by helicopter as I was worried the weather would be bad, and on the way here everything went fine. Finnair was on time, I was on time, everything in its' right order. The way back, however... Well, Finnair was on time. I was not. I should have flown out of here 17:55, but instead I'm now waiting for the 21:15 flight. My travel companions that went by chopper were home at six.

ARGH!
Ok, enough with the bitching. Deb had a birthday yesterday. *flowers and fireworks*

Am thinking of going to Tampere on Saturday, to check out local yarn (or rather record) stores. Friday I'll be going to check out the not yet opened café of the ever so lovely Tiia, and am quite exited about it :)

Will now try to close my computer before the battery dies and fucks up everything I've been working on. Catch you on the flipside!

You're Out Of My Heart, Get Out Of My Town!

"Man, I must have been blind
to carry your torch for most of my life!"
Starsailor - Fever (Love Is Here, 2002)

Hell And High Water

After closing up September I proceeded to start October with some very long days in the office. Handed in the first draft on one my exams for this semester, a discussion around how philosophers in the 1800's radically broke with their predecessors. Boring material, but this weekend I've been working on another one where I get to indulge myself in thoughts about individuals and society. The picture above is from Nummi, of a random church I saw from the main road to Turku. It was quite lovely.

Watched Wall-E and loved it. Next week brings Recipes for Disaster, an English/Finnish documentary about a family who tried to live a year without oil without giving up their lifestyle. Am looking forward to it :)

Thursday I went out socialising with the LCV team and my departing colleague, and was a tad tired on Friday. Friday I went out for pool, dinner and subsequent partying with Sales and Finance, and Saturday morning I felt like I'd been hit by a train. Then proceeded to celebrate Veera's birthday, and I swear to God I'm not going partying again any time soon :)

Have listened a bit to Starsailor this weekend. Definitely recommendable. Will now go on to start from A in my collection and listen to everything but the albums I love, meaning I have no choice but listen through all the hundreds of records I've bought on good faith or because I just like one of the songs. Hopefully I'll find a bunch of good stuff!