Christmas 2008

After a very hectic December...with no less than 3 trips to Sweden, both for work & otherwise, it was time to board the plane back home to Glasgow for Christmas. I would like to say that it's been relaxing so far...but that's not strictly true! Seeing as how I was the most disorganised I'd ever been this year in terms of present-buying, I had to sort that out in the last days before Christmas...which was fine, albeit a bit mad with all the people rushing around last-minute. Anyway, I managed and we enjoyed a very chilled Christmas day, with our relatives from down south. Mum made an exquisite Christmas dinner; turkey and all the trimmings! The food all throughout the festive time has been outstanding, I must say. Completely yummy!!

Santa was very good to us all too. Personally, I got a new pair of glasses; a refreshing change after 5 years of the same frames! amongst other things like perfume, a massage, makeup and clothes etc :) Mum and dad both got new mobile phones (yes, I'm ashamed to say that they're not Nokia and are therefore quite clumsy to use...) and it was so entertaining to watch them try to work them out, call each other from 2 metres away, and forget all the tips I gave them in about 2 minutes! Other presents included the itouch ipod, very snazzy indeed!

Sadly we haven't had a white Christmas so in that sense it hasn't really felt all that like Christmas and it was all over so quickly. We're all just trying to get our heads around which day of the week it is and what we're gonna do for Hogmanay (New Year's Eve in Scotland). No plans as yet. I always find it a bit of an anti-climax anyway. It's too much hassle really to go out or you have to plan way in advance if you want tickets for the street festivals etc...so in the name of disorganisation, I haven't done any of the above! Watch this space...

Typically enough, I'm now loaded with the cold and feeling pretty miserable, which sucks because I can't fully enjoy the time with my cousins & family. We have been shopping and for a ncie curry but I couldn't really do it justice...tomorrow we will be celebrating an important milestone of one of our relatives and I just hope to be well for that...otherwise it's not much fun! There will be folk there who I haven't seen in ages and I have to look gorgeous!!

Innan Jul

One pikkujoulu down, a couple more to go ;) and this is all in the next 2 weeks before I head back to Glasgow for Christmas! The parties all seemed to begin in November and basically haven't stopped since. I'm certainly not complaining!

Just mid-week there, we had our work Christmas party on the cruise ship from Helsinki-Tallinn and it was crazy!!! We pulled an all-nighter, after our Hermia Oscar Gala (organised by our team, and presented by Juha and I), pre-party, party and after-party and went straight to breakfast in our gladrags! It was most entertaining! Needless to say I now fully comprehend the concept of the party cruises since I didn't get off the boat in Estonia to see Tallinn because at that point I was getting some shut-eye (the only opportunity!). Thankfully I had already visited Tallinn this summer, so nae worries!

I'm seriously still recovering...(getting so old) and trying to have a chilled weekend. Today is Finnish Independence Day, which meant that everything was shut (on a Saturday...yes.). Tomorrow I will try to begin my Christmas shopping, get prepared from my trip to Lund (Sweden) on Monday and go swimming and to the sauna :)

November rain

I'm currently on the train, heading north towards Ylivieska, approaching Kokkola I think. Well, I'm off to WAMS 2008, Wireless Applications for Machines and Systems seminar. It's as part of our BSR (Baltic Sea Region) project which we kicked off in Stockholm in May and this is the 2nd meeting now! So ,I figured I have a little spare time to update my blog. November is pretty empty.

On the social side of things, November is most certainly not empty! PARTIES galore! It's the only way to do it, because otherwise you will invariably become at least a wee bit depressed by the lack of sunshine, imminent constant darkness, lack of snow and the fact that it's not yet Christmas. So, the first weekend was Halloween, the second was the Italian party, hosted by the 3 Italians (their flat-warming actually); loads of fun!! Then this weekend just passed I had my slightly belated birthday party, which kicked ass...even if I do say so myself!! Ok, so I became a little intoxicated and "wild" but it's all good! 30 people came (I can't believe I have 30 friends here, I'd never have that many at a party in Scotland, hehe!) and we had good grub and a bowl of yummy punch. Actually we probably went through about 3 litres of vodka for that...maybe even more! My guests were so kind, bringing great gifts! Thank you all so much! I had great fun!

I'm smiling now.

LAst night I went to see Bo Kaspers Orkester http://www.bokaspers.com/ in concert at Tampere Talo. It was excellent!! What's more, after the gig, I bought their new album and then the whole band was there signing peoples' copies!! So, I waited, spoke to them all (in Swedish), told them how wonderful the concert was and then the signed the sleeve of my cd!!! helt otroligt bra! I was so chuffed (still am) :) It's great being in Finland, I get to see all the Swedish bands I would never get to see if I were in the UK, they don't tour that far, especially when they sing in Swedish! love it.

Well, I guess the travelling is beginning now...until the end of the year. Next week I'm drivin my car back to the UK as far as the south of Sweden, where my folks will take it further by boat (they're amazing for having offered to do it). Then I'm back in Finland, we have our pikkujoulu on the boat to Tallinn, then back to Finland, then 1 day in Lund for work the week after, then back to Finland and then finally to Glasgow for Christmas and New Year!!

Echo

I want to be a rock star. I want to be a great photographer. I want to be a professional golfer.

It's profound of me, isn't it?! I wonder what I really have to lose though sometimes...surely everything is worth a try? Easier said than done I suppose.

By the way, the photo was taken by Olga last saturday in Telakka, Tampere.

You never know

I'm kind of "sitting all alone inside my head", trying to play the game...but damn, it's a tricky one!! Figuring out the rules...are there even any rules I wonder? It's some kind of anarchic game, apparently.

Yes, this blog will be one of those cryptic ones...some random thoughts, maybe lyrics...some things to which I can relate right now...



"for everything I am, there's a world to fill my hands"

"I got my defenses when it comes to your intentions for me"

"ung och stolt, jag är en krigare"

"tausend Straßen ohne Ziel, doch du kommst niemals an"

"what you feel is what you are and what you are is beautiful"

"you thought you were wise, but you were otherwise"

Some milestones

Well, it's been a hectic couple of weeks...last week I spent a long weekend in Skanör, Sweden, visiting Karin for her birthday. She (and I) hosted a dinner party there :) which was great! We put in a great deal of hard work preparing the food (Tjällknöl a.o.t!) and the house for the guests! It went really well and we deservedly chilled out afterwards. Apart from the party, we just caught up with one another, chatted a lot, spent 3 days doing the local newspapers' korsord (crossword)!, sleeping a lot and pretty much relaxing. The weather varied from being exceptionally windy and stormy to being calm, sunny and reasonably warm! It reminded me a bit of Scotland...It was actually the perfect time to visit Karin and to relax and sleep a lot because the day after I got back from Sweden, MindTrek started in Tampere....

MindTrek aka organised chaos ;) No, really, it was grand. It's a 3-day annual conference (attended by 700 people!) organised by some folks from our company. I actually attended it last year for 1 day, it was during my first ever week of work in Finland and I was so amazed by such a big event. That time I got to see some of the presentations, even though it all went a bit over my head then. One year on, I was fully engaged, working at the conference and all caught a quick peep at the very end of one of the sessions! It was a big success and the organisers can feel very proud I think :D Needless to say, in the end, we were all totally knackered, having worked long days, slept very little and been standing the whole time! The official party on Wed night was fun too, we got a limousine ride, arranged my Mahtava (one of the conference sponsors) to the venue (Yö-talo in Tampere) and enjoyed a nice buffet, free bar (!), a cool DJ (whose tunes I was most definitely appreciating!) and great company! Until next year!

This weekend is being spent chilling out, being a bit domestic and generally replenishing my energy for the rest of the month ;) Need ot get back into my exercise routine too, it seems to have suffered of late. On Monday we'll head back to the climbing wall, Thursday will yoga and tomorrow I'm planning to go swimming. I'm considering, despite my break from thai at the moment, to begin hitting the bag again. There's one in the gym at work and it could be a good start...provided my back is holding up ok.

Mun seuraava loma

My Finnish homework was to write about my next holiday, which incidentally is tomorrow! Off to Sweden!

Minä pidän kovasti matkustamisesta ja huomenna menen Ruotsiin. Minä aion käydä minun ystävän luona koska hänellä on syntymäpäivä ja hän järjestää bileet. Menen lentokoneella Kööpenhaminaan ja matka kestää vain 90 minuuttia. Sitten minä aion ylittää sillan Tanskasta Ruotsiin junalla koska minun kaveri asuu lounais-Ruotsissa. Minä matkustan yksin. Ennen matkaa minun on pakko keskustella minun kaverin kanssa ja hän kertoo minulle mitä minun tarvitsee ottaa mukaan. Ruotsissa on nyt syksy ja sataa vettä. Ei ole niin kylmä kuin Suomessa, joten minun ei tarvitse otta pipoa tai saappaita mutta minä luulen että minun täytyy ottaa sateenvarjo mukaan...