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...

Uncertain times

Siis, on taas sunnuntai. aina sunnuntai. ce qui fait que je dois travailler demain! wunderbar! ;)

I'm not really any less tired than I was on Friday evening, since I went out last night and got to bed at 5am this morning. First I went to a friends birthday party and then we ended up in a club in Tampere called "groove". It's a hip-hop and R&B place...not entirely my scene but some of the music was ok. I missed Mia and her husband's house-warming but coincidentally caught up with her and a few others in the bar, they just happened to come to the same place! 2 birds 1 stone. kinda.

I've spent today re-arranging my room and sorting out my new things which I picked up in IKEA in Espoo on Thurs. I was there for a seminar and figuerd because I had the car, I'd head to IEKA for some shopping as well :) Got quite a few things; curtains, duvet set, warm duvet, mirror (!), rug, cushions, candles, a laundry basket and maybe a couple of other things which aren't springing to mind right now.

I'm very happy because since moving my bed, it now seems like I have loads more space in my room! result!

Had a change of flatmate this weekend. Andrea moved out yesterday and Olga, the new Aiesec trainee, arrived from Russia and moved in! She seems very cool indeed ;)

Yesterday I went for a wee walk with Andrea in the afternoon. We went to Suolijärvi in Hervanta, where she thought she'd already been but in actual fact had only been to Ahvenisjärvi. Of course the former is infintely more exciting! At least it has the outdoor gym to play on ;) "Ruska" in Finland, the autumnal time, is really pretty, even more so when the sun is shining

, but we're not having too much luck in the department unfortunately!

I need to get my ass in gear again. All I did this past week was go climbing on Monday, and even at that, it wasn't particularly strenuous because we were all really tired. We should go again tomorrow I guess. I missed yoga since I was in Espoo and didn't have frisbee, swimming or the gym or anything else to do...oh yeh, that 100 push-ups challenge, shouldn't forget that!

I'm off to see Karin in Skanör, Sweden on Thurs, until Monday! A nice long weekend, reason being, she's having her birthday party on Sat! So I'm definitely looking forward to that :) As soon as I come back it's straight into 3 days of MindTrek in Tampere, which will be hectic but fun as well I'm sure! bring it all on!

A flurry in Finnish

Mä luulen että nyt on hyvä aika yrittää kirjoittaa jotain suomeksi! Katsotaan miten menee...

NB. please excuse all spelling & grammar mistakes and interjections in English where I don't know the appropriate Finnish words.

Mulla oli suomikurssi tänään aamupäivänä ja oli hyvä. Nyt tiedään miten sanoa "I like..." ja modaali verbit kuin "tyykätä, osaa, voida" :) On todella hyvä tiettää! Tänään on ollut ei mitään ihmeellistä...vain minulla on aika tylsää töissä...ja viikonloppu tulee! Me aloitamme aina tanssimisestä kanssa (on the step mainia dance mats in the office ;))

Tämä viikonloppuna meinaan nukkua todella paljon koska mä on tosi, tosi väsynyt....jotain uuden?! Huomenna minä aion mennä ostoksillä koska tarvitsen uuden clothes ja tarvitsen ostaa myös pari synttärit-presents!!

Ok. that's about as much as my Friday-brain can take of Finnish. Mä ymmärrän ennemän kuin puhun. Nimenoma.

upps...almost forgot, jotain muuta Tampereelta: sää. Ilma on todella huono nyt. On kylmä (6 degrees) ja päivät tulevat pimeä kohta ja nopeasti :(