What does it mean to be single? What does it mean to be not? Can a contract really restrain us from our emotions? Must we obey the moral laws set by others who does not understand our conditions? Or should we listen to our hearts?
If you feel single because you are ignored, should you not be considered single at all? Or does the social constraints necessary apply to every angle of our lives? Should people be judged by merely these things, or should there be more to their being?
I suppose it's all about emotional attachments. The more attached, the less single. The less attached, the more single. It's mutual, no?
Friday, April 28, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Poem of the day
-Parting- by Emily Dickinson
My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
--
This season in Helsinki. It is the most beautiful. It is the most painful. It is the most gathering. It is the most parting.
For Rod, my lovely Colombian.
My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
--
This season in Helsinki. It is the most beautiful. It is the most painful. It is the most gathering. It is the most parting.
For Rod, my lovely Colombian.
T-time extension
What happens when you have t-time with philosophy students who knows more about the world than you imagine you will ever know? What happens if these particular persons also happen to be one of those people you find easy to communicate with? What more happens if one of them, like you, have an aesthetic obsession?
T-time extension is one of those things I most adore and will most miss of my time in Helsinki. An array of topics displayed across the table for you to dandy your hands in. Dip a few of these topics in coffee or green tea milked and you'll have a heaven of an afternoon, something like ecstasy. Raging through beauty, language, emotion, history, culture, words, music and everything else that might come through your mind, the 2 hour t-time felt like one long extension of brain-exercise (in the relaxing way) where you consume the informations the more intelligent provides and experiment with your own ideas and questions.
The best part of any t-time extension, is the actual extension. At t-times people normally put on a certain type of guard. Usually because your focus is on the topic at hand, or probably because you have more time to observe other's reactions (since you are facing each other). The extension after the sitting hours, those few minutes when you walk out of the locations, when you finally feel relaxed and without fear of the eye contacts, that's when the really interesting conversations normally strike! When people finally run out of supposively interesting / exciting stories to make their friends laugh, that's when they can come up with the most genuine things about themselves. At least that's normally the case with me. After t-times, that's when I get really intimate, for the few minutes after, I am relaxed enough to just be me (aka none of the excited, crazy laughing dolly stuff).
Today's t-time extension was interesting for me. It was culturally interesting and visually thrilling. Since I am a very visual person, proven by the fact that I tend to have more movies / pictures in store than music. And since I normally don't notice too much about who did the music as I do about who painted the picture. And especially since I describe everything according to visual senses (aka the music is sharp, like a pointy metal things). For most of the t-time, though talking, I was observing the expressions and gestures of both my counter-parts as we chattered on about language (mostly). Quite an interesting experience. Yet, the most interesting part of the t-time extension was when I walked down towards the railway station with Jannos (?), a Swedish-speaking Finn. I have been considering the cultural influences between different nations for awhile. Japanese and Chinese culture seems extremely popular in Europe, with Japanese culture winning big time. Maybe it's all the commercialization, I am unsure. The interesting thing came when he said that he actually practices martial arts (okay, you have to see the person to be as surprised as me). Basically, I would have thought he looked much like a tender gentleman type, which produced the shock. What came more interesting was that he had practiced 少林 style before, and is not doing "monkey" style. I felt all of a sudden quite the more smaller than I did previously as these are things belonging to my own culture, but I didn't care enough to understand them (hence, double shock).
Is culture really that big of a boundary then? If a Finn can learn martial arts (I was also considering the probable difference in physical built and its affect in martial art participations), and a Taiwanese can know more about European Rock than Europeans do, what is the boundary of the contemporary world? What makes Finns finns... Taiwanese taiwanese... Chinese chinese... Germans german...? It's all a very big blob for a very small container to spin around.
T-time extension is one of those things I most adore and will most miss of my time in Helsinki. An array of topics displayed across the table for you to dandy your hands in. Dip a few of these topics in coffee or green tea milked and you'll have a heaven of an afternoon, something like ecstasy. Raging through beauty, language, emotion, history, culture, words, music and everything else that might come through your mind, the 2 hour t-time felt like one long extension of brain-exercise (in the relaxing way) where you consume the informations the more intelligent provides and experiment with your own ideas and questions.
The best part of any t-time extension, is the actual extension. At t-times people normally put on a certain type of guard. Usually because your focus is on the topic at hand, or probably because you have more time to observe other's reactions (since you are facing each other). The extension after the sitting hours, those few minutes when you walk out of the locations, when you finally feel relaxed and without fear of the eye contacts, that's when the really interesting conversations normally strike! When people finally run out of supposively interesting / exciting stories to make their friends laugh, that's when they can come up with the most genuine things about themselves. At least that's normally the case with me. After t-times, that's when I get really intimate, for the few minutes after, I am relaxed enough to just be me (aka none of the excited, crazy laughing dolly stuff).
Today's t-time extension was interesting for me. It was culturally interesting and visually thrilling. Since I am a very visual person, proven by the fact that I tend to have more movies / pictures in store than music. And since I normally don't notice too much about who did the music as I do about who painted the picture. And especially since I describe everything according to visual senses (aka the music is sharp, like a pointy metal things). For most of the t-time, though talking, I was observing the expressions and gestures of both my counter-parts as we chattered on about language (mostly). Quite an interesting experience. Yet, the most interesting part of the t-time extension was when I walked down towards the railway station with Jannos (?), a Swedish-speaking Finn. I have been considering the cultural influences between different nations for awhile. Japanese and Chinese culture seems extremely popular in Europe, with Japanese culture winning big time. Maybe it's all the commercialization, I am unsure. The interesting thing came when he said that he actually practices martial arts (okay, you have to see the person to be as surprised as me). Basically, I would have thought he looked much like a tender gentleman type, which produced the shock. What came more interesting was that he had practiced 少林 style before, and is not doing "monkey" style. I felt all of a sudden quite the more smaller than I did previously as these are things belonging to my own culture, but I didn't care enough to understand them (hence, double shock).
Is culture really that big of a boundary then? If a Finn can learn martial arts (I was also considering the probable difference in physical built and its affect in martial art participations), and a Taiwanese can know more about European Rock than Europeans do, what is the boundary of the contemporary world? What makes Finns finns... Taiwanese taiwanese... Chinese chinese... Germans german...? It's all a very big blob for a very small container to spin around.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Guess what I digged up!
Nice interesting blogs from Sun.com
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan
I guess Business Week Online can get quite interesting and exciting at times...Zszszszszs (Lukas language pick-ups)
Also check out the stories about the "Blooks". We are all bloggers, I guess we can all also call ourselves writers. Makes one think about a new form of publication (Ginks!). Maybe it's direct-sales' philosophy working. Ads ads ads... (disoriented)
Heading off to bed. See what I discover tomorrow!
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan
I guess Business Week Online can get quite interesting and exciting at times...Zszszszszs (Lukas language pick-ups)
Also check out the stories about the "Blooks". We are all bloggers, I guess we can all also call ourselves writers. Makes one think about a new form of publication (Ginks!). Maybe it's direct-sales' philosophy working. Ads ads ads... (disoriented)
Heading off to bed. See what I discover tomorrow!
Some Guy...
Met quite Some Guy today. French-Nigerian named Adga (I think) who studies political science at the moment but has a degree in Law and Economics. Looks something like 40-ish. Didn't look like one of those dangerous perverted old guy (plus I ran into him in Aleksanderia), but looked like one nervous guy who just enjoyed talking with whoever he find interesting or odd. Still, he chased after me from second floor in Aleksanderia (the heck?!) and caught me off guard on the escalator down to Kaisa with "Where are you from?" My natural reactions is, stare for 3 seconds, smile for three more, recollect my thoughts, "Taiwan." Flash big friendly smile. Evaluate amount of danger. Remind myself I am in Finland, it's not that dangerous. SMILE.
"Oh, I've never met anyone from Taiwan before. I was just wondering if you were Chinese or not. You didn't look very Chinese."
(I wasn't expecting for that comment, but then, no one thought I looked Chinese anyway... Including the Chinese. My next expectation would be that he'd say I'm Japanese or something.)
"No, I am not. I'm from Taiwan."
"Taiwan. As in Taiwan, China?"
(Not AGAIN!!!!!!!)
"Well..." (Bleemy!)
"Is Taiwan an independent country?"
By this point I was wondering if he just wanted to start a political debate with me. Well, he didn't look hostile, and I wasn't in the mind to be hostile myself, so I just smiled and gave him the nice truth.
"Yes. It is." (Okay, China friends don't bash me.)
"Oh. Wasn't Taiwan a part of China?"
(Bleemy! What the heck is this about?!)
"Well..."
"I know Taiwan is not a part of China, but wasn't it a part of China?"
"Well... It used to be a part of the Imperial China, but not the communist China."
*sigh* My feet hurts. I guess there are always some bad with dangerously painful but dangerously beautiful new high heels. I wonder how Carrie survived all these years in Sex and City. Don't matter, I was quite determined to find out what does this guy want from me. Call it adventure, at least he looked like a friendly guy who won't end up taking me to a dark corner in the forest and show me the door to heaven. (Yes, I will go to Heaven one day)
"I'm sorry if I surprised you. (Good manners) I was just curious about where you come from. You didn't look very Chinese. I mean, I was thinking if you were Finnish-Chinese, you know, a mix between the two, but you didn't look very Finnish either. You know, I've met some Chinese before, but never a Taiwanese (all this time I could only smile and nodd). You see, you seem quite well built for a Chinese. The Chinese girls seemed quite thin (he drew two straight lines with his hands... I kept smiling). But you seemed too fat to be a Chinese (the heck?! you chased me 2 floors to tell me I am fat?) I was wondering if you could be from Morocco (I kept smiling and started to shake my head). I guess maybe it's because Taiwan is more rich (I wondered), you know, more hamburgers (I had to cut in)."
"I am kind of on the vegetarian side. I don't eat hamburgers. (He looked surprised) And I don't really like fried food in general. (He looked more surprised) But yes, generally Taiwanese people don't look quite that much like Chinese."
Okay. I feel like I've shamed my fellow country ladies. Now he's going to think all Taiwanese girls are as fat as me. I spent the rest of my time coming home thinking about this incident and wishing that I weighed something like 20 kgs less. Resisted the attempt to buy something to eat, though I was quite hungry and decided to go on a diet. The whole conversation lasted for nearly 20 minutes and ended with the conclusion that Chinese people are secretly trying to take over the world. That and that I am not Chinese because I am fat =.=. But anyway, I smiled a lot, and a lot, and a lot, and very brightly.
Dominik suggested that I kick him with my high heels, but darling, I don't really want to ruin my heels like that. But I did accidentally kick Rod today and I suppose maybe sometimes girls wear heels not only to look good, but also as a protective mechanism.
"Oh, I've never met anyone from Taiwan before. I was just wondering if you were Chinese or not. You didn't look very Chinese."
(I wasn't expecting for that comment, but then, no one thought I looked Chinese anyway... Including the Chinese. My next expectation would be that he'd say I'm Japanese or something.)
"No, I am not. I'm from Taiwan."
"Taiwan. As in Taiwan, China?"
(Not AGAIN!!!!!!!)
"Well..." (Bleemy!)
"Is Taiwan an independent country?"
By this point I was wondering if he just wanted to start a political debate with me. Well, he didn't look hostile, and I wasn't in the mind to be hostile myself, so I just smiled and gave him the nice truth.
"Yes. It is." (Okay, China friends don't bash me.)
"Oh. Wasn't Taiwan a part of China?"
(Bleemy! What the heck is this about?!)
"Well..."
"I know Taiwan is not a part of China, but wasn't it a part of China?"
"Well... It used to be a part of the Imperial China, but not the communist China."
*sigh* My feet hurts. I guess there are always some bad with dangerously painful but dangerously beautiful new high heels. I wonder how Carrie survived all these years in Sex and City. Don't matter, I was quite determined to find out what does this guy want from me. Call it adventure, at least he looked like a friendly guy who won't end up taking me to a dark corner in the forest and show me the door to heaven. (Yes, I will go to Heaven one day)
"I'm sorry if I surprised you. (Good manners) I was just curious about where you come from. You didn't look very Chinese. I mean, I was thinking if you were Finnish-Chinese, you know, a mix between the two, but you didn't look very Finnish either. You know, I've met some Chinese before, but never a Taiwanese (all this time I could only smile and nodd). You see, you seem quite well built for a Chinese. The Chinese girls seemed quite thin (he drew two straight lines with his hands... I kept smiling). But you seemed too fat to be a Chinese (the heck?! you chased me 2 floors to tell me I am fat?) I was wondering if you could be from Morocco (I kept smiling and started to shake my head). I guess maybe it's because Taiwan is more rich (I wondered), you know, more hamburgers (I had to cut in)."
"I am kind of on the vegetarian side. I don't eat hamburgers. (He looked surprised) And I don't really like fried food in general. (He looked more surprised) But yes, generally Taiwanese people don't look quite that much like Chinese."
Okay. I feel like I've shamed my fellow country ladies. Now he's going to think all Taiwanese girls are as fat as me. I spent the rest of my time coming home thinking about this incident and wishing that I weighed something like 20 kgs less. Resisted the attempt to buy something to eat, though I was quite hungry and decided to go on a diet. The whole conversation lasted for nearly 20 minutes and ended with the conclusion that Chinese people are secretly trying to take over the world. That and that I am not Chinese because I am fat =.=. But anyway, I smiled a lot, and a lot, and a lot, and very brightly.
Dominik suggested that I kick him with my high heels, but darling, I don't really want to ruin my heels like that. But I did accidentally kick Rod today and I suppose maybe sometimes girls wear heels not only to look good, but also as a protective mechanism.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
從跌倒的地方站起來飛翔
影約記得我小時候常跟我爸辯論
討論一些小朋友理論上不太會去想的人生大道理
或許是因為小時候的時間都花在體驗大人生活
所以反而變成大人之後不知道該怎樣生活
自從上了大學之後 我反而變成了一個大小孩
在工作上到是還好
遇到了感情卻是一無所知
在我國小的時候 有一段我特別懷念也特別珍惜的時光
不是那種跟朋友在一起看電影或是購物的那種友情回憶
而是那種跟老爸兩個人聊天說話看電影聽音樂作曲的那種親情
從小我就一直跟我老爸比較親近 要說了解我 他或許才是真正了解我的人
有一段回憶我特別容易想起 而那段回憶也讓我確定我人生去向
我忘記從哪裡冒出來了一套劉庸的演講錄音帶 從那天開始我家就常常放著這套錄音帶
因為我喜歡 所以常常聽 聽到差點把演講內容從頭背到尾
而最棒的時候就是在吃完晚餐 天還沒有全黑
我跟我爸就在夕陽的斜線下 躺在客廳的地板 一邊聽劉庸
一邊聽我爸 我爸的人生就像是劉庸的人生 那是多美麗的故事阿?
其中劉庸說一句話我最記得
從跌倒的地方站起來飛翔
我爸跟劉庸一樣 都是在人生中跌過很多次的人
但是每一次他們都不放棄的站起來
就像是Carrie在有一集Sex and City裡面在伸展台上跌倒又站起來
雖然每個人都不斷的告訴我們這個事實
但是我們有多少時間是在煩惱跌倒的那一刻?
有多少人願意去面對跌倒的事實
然後在提起勇氣站起來飛翔?
現在想起來這段話特別有感覺
記的有很多朋友跟我說劉庸很沒意思 盡說一些大家都了解的道理
但是再想想 了解跟面對是兩個多大的差別?
就跟我現在讀哲學的東西時的感覺一樣
雖然說有很多東西是我本來就了解的想法
但是有多少是真正深入在我腦袋裡面的?
就像是每個人都知道要努力才會有成果
要付出
但是有多少個我們卻總是在逃避付出?
就像是每個人都知道有付出就會有受傷的機會
但是有多少人是逃避面對受傷的可能?
我們有多少勇氣去面對自己?去面對人生?
或許表面上是一個樣子
但是心裡 有多少人敢面對真正的自己?
--
中文急速退化
我看回台灣真的要去上中國文學史才行
For my English reading friends... I'll translate later... ><
討論一些小朋友理論上不太會去想的人生大道理
或許是因為小時候的時間都花在體驗大人生活
所以反而變成大人之後不知道該怎樣生活
自從上了大學之後 我反而變成了一個大小孩
在工作上到是還好
遇到了感情卻是一無所知
在我國小的時候 有一段我特別懷念也特別珍惜的時光
不是那種跟朋友在一起看電影或是購物的那種友情回憶
而是那種跟老爸兩個人聊天說話看電影聽音樂作曲的那種親情
從小我就一直跟我老爸比較親近 要說了解我 他或許才是真正了解我的人
有一段回憶我特別容易想起 而那段回憶也讓我確定我人生去向
我忘記從哪裡冒出來了一套劉庸的演講錄音帶 從那天開始我家就常常放著這套錄音帶
因為我喜歡 所以常常聽 聽到差點把演講內容從頭背到尾
而最棒的時候就是在吃完晚餐 天還沒有全黑
我跟我爸就在夕陽的斜線下 躺在客廳的地板 一邊聽劉庸
一邊聽我爸 我爸的人生就像是劉庸的人生 那是多美麗的故事阿?
其中劉庸說一句話我最記得
從跌倒的地方站起來飛翔
我爸跟劉庸一樣 都是在人生中跌過很多次的人
但是每一次他們都不放棄的站起來
就像是Carrie在有一集Sex and City裡面在伸展台上跌倒又站起來
雖然每個人都不斷的告訴我們這個事實
但是我們有多少時間是在煩惱跌倒的那一刻?
有多少人願意去面對跌倒的事實
然後在提起勇氣站起來飛翔?
現在想起來這段話特別有感覺
記的有很多朋友跟我說劉庸很沒意思 盡說一些大家都了解的道理
但是再想想 了解跟面對是兩個多大的差別?
就跟我現在讀哲學的東西時的感覺一樣
雖然說有很多東西是我本來就了解的想法
但是有多少是真正深入在我腦袋裡面的?
就像是每個人都知道要努力才會有成果
要付出
但是有多少個我們卻總是在逃避付出?
就像是每個人都知道有付出就會有受傷的機會
但是有多少人是逃避面對受傷的可能?
我們有多少勇氣去面對自己?去面對人生?
或許表面上是一個樣子
但是心裡 有多少人敢面對真正的自己?
--
中文急速退化
我看回台灣真的要去上中國文學史才行
For my English reading friends... I'll translate later... ><
Hint, remember, take it!
"Falling in love, but not Dropping in love, so it takes time.
Make friends, not have friends, so you have to Do something to Make.
We appreciate what you cook (to make) for us, which is much valuable than
things you bought (to have) from the store."
Reading some past e-mails which I cannot read at home (okay, some problems with my MAC and reading Chinese which I'll have to seriously deal with when I get back to Taiwan). Found this in one of my emails. Thought it might be something nice to share with my darling friends.
Been reading "Love is the Killer App" and remembering how I got the book. I suggested it to a friend when I was in Taiwan after I scanned parts of it. He read it, and then he did the one unexpected thing. He went ahead and bought the book (since I at the time didn't have the cash to do it myself just yet) and gave it to me. My initial reaction of course was to not allow him to do that (so I paid him), but now that I reread the book, I understood one thing, I should have let him give me the book instead. Appreciation for a person can be shown in both giving and taking. I have long learned to give help, but have lacked much in accepting help. This in many ways became a form of rejection toward people, and also somewhat, ignorantly, a sign of arrogance. Give and take, that's what it takes to form a true and coherent network.
You fall in love, you accept the other person's being a part of your life, you let them hold their arms to catch you. You don't drop to the ground, you don't throw away everything and give up yourself, you just lean back carefully, and feel the pressure of his arms around you in your moments of need. You depend because you are independent enough to judge the dependency. You fall, because you know you will be safe in this fall.
Make friend, it's friendship in the making. Here now, as an exchange student, this feeling might be greater than anything else. How are we to keep the friendships for the long years after? How do we continue to make and remake our friendships? It takes work, it takes emotional devotions and most of all, it takes love.
How beautiful Helsinki is with these words in my mind. I have fallen in love with this city and its people. It's not love at first sight, but it certainly is intense. I have taken from this city so many things, and one day, I will contribute something to it.
Make friends, not have friends, so you have to Do something to Make.
We appreciate what you cook (to make) for us, which is much valuable than
things you bought (to have) from the store."
Reading some past e-mails which I cannot read at home (okay, some problems with my MAC and reading Chinese which I'll have to seriously deal with when I get back to Taiwan). Found this in one of my emails. Thought it might be something nice to share with my darling friends.
Been reading "Love is the Killer App" and remembering how I got the book. I suggested it to a friend when I was in Taiwan after I scanned parts of it. He read it, and then he did the one unexpected thing. He went ahead and bought the book (since I at the time didn't have the cash to do it myself just yet) and gave it to me. My initial reaction of course was to not allow him to do that (so I paid him), but now that I reread the book, I understood one thing, I should have let him give me the book instead. Appreciation for a person can be shown in both giving and taking. I have long learned to give help, but have lacked much in accepting help. This in many ways became a form of rejection toward people, and also somewhat, ignorantly, a sign of arrogance. Give and take, that's what it takes to form a true and coherent network.
You fall in love, you accept the other person's being a part of your life, you let them hold their arms to catch you. You don't drop to the ground, you don't throw away everything and give up yourself, you just lean back carefully, and feel the pressure of his arms around you in your moments of need. You depend because you are independent enough to judge the dependency. You fall, because you know you will be safe in this fall.
Make friend, it's friendship in the making. Here now, as an exchange student, this feeling might be greater than anything else. How are we to keep the friendships for the long years after? How do we continue to make and remake our friendships? It takes work, it takes emotional devotions and most of all, it takes love.
How beautiful Helsinki is with these words in my mind. I have fallen in love with this city and its people. It's not love at first sight, but it certainly is intense. I have taken from this city so many things, and one day, I will contribute something to it.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Running on Taipei Time
It's been a sunny day, a very sunny day.
Been running on Taipei time for two days now. Going well, keep it up.
Hours of sleep: 4
Awakeness: 8
When the official Finnish summer arrives, I will either have to migrate down south, or else I think I'll have insomnia for sure (not that I am not having it already).
Running on Taipei time practically means: don't sleep, don't eat, over hyperactive. That and a lot of heels with a lot of caffine.
Took a late night walk, or more like took my shoes out for a walk, after the tragic discovery that I forgot one important book source at the library (which luckily turmed out less important at about 2am). Was out for about 40 minutes before reattacking assignment with 80 % force and a nicely done laundry.
Well, just a short report. Back to work. I look forward to the day when I will be running on New York time instead!
Been running on Taipei time for two days now. Going well, keep it up.
Hours of sleep: 4
Awakeness: 8
When the official Finnish summer arrives, I will either have to migrate down south, or else I think I'll have insomnia for sure (not that I am not having it already).
Running on Taipei time practically means: don't sleep, don't eat, over hyperactive. That and a lot of heels with a lot of caffine.
Took a late night walk, or more like took my shoes out for a walk, after the tragic discovery that I forgot one important book source at the library (which luckily turmed out less important at about 2am). Was out for about 40 minutes before reattacking assignment with 80 % force and a nicely done laundry.
Well, just a short report. Back to work. I look forward to the day when I will be running on New York time instead!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
New Shoes
What does a new pair of shoes mean?
Mission: American Lit Report.
Woke up at 8, was too tired and wanted to sleep more. Woke up again at 10, finally out of house by 11 with Jennifer. To the Library we go! Got to study.
Ended up checking out stores and looking at clothes. I need to do more shopping. Finally arrived at Library at 12:30. Stuck myself in Aleksanderia until 16 and felt quite nice since I finally accomplished something today. Everything is still quite a mess though, but I will be finished hopefully before midnight on Sunday.
Mission completion: Well.. Good enough for the moment...
Original plan was to continue studying, since I was in a perfect mode. Yet, ended up with Jennifer looking at shoes. That's one big weakness. I don't have much weakness with shirts and dresses or that kind of things, but I have something of a weakness with shoes and accessories. Checked out several shoes and found the ultimate perfect looking one (for the time being). Since I've decided to stop with the low heels and again rejoin my high heel profile, it was time to get it really high for a bit. About 7-9 cm heels, brown leather with a bit of spring/autumn look to it. perfect fit for my feet and even more perfect for my jeans. Back to old routine, buy the shoes first, next the pants to go with it, and then the shirts and jacket... Eventually I'll get my new looks together again! Yippy! I'm back in Taipei time.
Geesh. New shoes sort of hurts, but I feel too splendid to take them off. I'll wear it down, soon. Only two things are left in my head after the shopping spree --> Earn more money to buy the pretties that I am so fond of / Diet so that I can wear the pretties I am so fond of.
There is a lot of fix up to do when I get back to Taiwan. Hair cuts and things. Going to have to find a new stylist, which will hopefully up my style a bit. I look practically old and boring here. Talked with Dominik the night before about stylists. Don't everyone have a stylist / hair stylist once they get into university? At least you'd have someone you regularly go to for check ups and stuff, no?
Lee is leaving on Sunday, so we went to last minute coffee at Cafe Engel. Just 5 girls, 4 from China, me from Taiwan, but who cares, girls are girls, no politics here. The most lively chat, and totally stress releasing. All boys are the same, such bothers, sometimes I really wonder what's the point of their existence? Except maybe to offer more annoyances (actually, maybe to always offer annoyances). Reminds me of the saying: The only good guys are either gay, taken, dead or not born. I think we need to rephrase it simply to. The only good guys are either gay, dead or not born.
Horoscope talk, nice and fun. This is back to Taipei time again. That also seems to make everything else more exciting. Taipei is an exciting city, after all. But I still love Helsinki, and I will definitely be back here eventually.
Late for party at Tania's. Well... complications on the way.
Talked to Miguel most of the night and got totally hyped about my summer trip. Architectures! Ah! Buildings! The very sexiest thing human have created other than, well, maybe certain paintings. It's a Hobbie... hehe... Now I really want to go to Berlin and Paris and Barcelona. Going to do a lot of researched in May. Very excited.
Positivity: 9
The negative things, we can just ignore for the moment being.
Mission: American Lit Report.
Woke up at 8, was too tired and wanted to sleep more. Woke up again at 10, finally out of house by 11 with Jennifer. To the Library we go! Got to study.
Ended up checking out stores and looking at clothes. I need to do more shopping. Finally arrived at Library at 12:30. Stuck myself in Aleksanderia until 16 and felt quite nice since I finally accomplished something today. Everything is still quite a mess though, but I will be finished hopefully before midnight on Sunday.
Mission completion: Well.. Good enough for the moment...
Original plan was to continue studying, since I was in a perfect mode. Yet, ended up with Jennifer looking at shoes. That's one big weakness. I don't have much weakness with shirts and dresses or that kind of things, but I have something of a weakness with shoes and accessories. Checked out several shoes and found the ultimate perfect looking one (for the time being). Since I've decided to stop with the low heels and again rejoin my high heel profile, it was time to get it really high for a bit. About 7-9 cm heels, brown leather with a bit of spring/autumn look to it. perfect fit for my feet and even more perfect for my jeans. Back to old routine, buy the shoes first, next the pants to go with it, and then the shirts and jacket... Eventually I'll get my new looks together again! Yippy! I'm back in Taipei time.
Geesh. New shoes sort of hurts, but I feel too splendid to take them off. I'll wear it down, soon. Only two things are left in my head after the shopping spree --> Earn more money to buy the pretties that I am so fond of / Diet so that I can wear the pretties I am so fond of.
There is a lot of fix up to do when I get back to Taiwan. Hair cuts and things. Going to have to find a new stylist, which will hopefully up my style a bit. I look practically old and boring here. Talked with Dominik the night before about stylists. Don't everyone have a stylist / hair stylist once they get into university? At least you'd have someone you regularly go to for check ups and stuff, no?
Lee is leaving on Sunday, so we went to last minute coffee at Cafe Engel. Just 5 girls, 4 from China, me from Taiwan, but who cares, girls are girls, no politics here. The most lively chat, and totally stress releasing. All boys are the same, such bothers, sometimes I really wonder what's the point of their existence? Except maybe to offer more annoyances (actually, maybe to always offer annoyances). Reminds me of the saying: The only good guys are either gay, taken, dead or not born. I think we need to rephrase it simply to. The only good guys are either gay, dead or not born.
Horoscope talk, nice and fun. This is back to Taipei time again. That also seems to make everything else more exciting. Taipei is an exciting city, after all. But I still love Helsinki, and I will definitely be back here eventually.
Late for party at Tania's. Well... complications on the way.
Talked to Miguel most of the night and got totally hyped about my summer trip. Architectures! Ah! Buildings! The very sexiest thing human have created other than, well, maybe certain paintings. It's a Hobbie... hehe... Now I really want to go to Berlin and Paris and Barcelona. Going to do a lot of researched in May. Very excited.
Positivity: 9
The negative things, we can just ignore for the moment being.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Aleksandria
Aleksandria.
Once you get used to the place, it can be quite a thrilling location to be in. Sometimes you can feel so isolated in this amount of studious people that you don't quite realize you are here until the person next to you starts to talk to you in Finnish or walks by talking in some other language you don't understand. Then you suddenly draw youself back into the room in real time and stare at your computer with awe.
Of course it can also become a problem if it, in turn, eventually became your habit to use the computers here. Then it will be hard to actually only study, as I am presently still connected to you, my blog...and through you, my friends/viewers...
Once you get used to the place, it can be quite a thrilling location to be in. Sometimes you can feel so isolated in this amount of studious people that you don't quite realize you are here until the person next to you starts to talk to you in Finnish or walks by talking in some other language you don't understand. Then you suddenly draw youself back into the room in real time and stare at your computer with awe.
Of course it can also become a problem if it, in turn, eventually became your habit to use the computers here. Then it will be hard to actually only study, as I am presently still connected to you, my blog...and through you, my friends/viewers...
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
St. P Day 2
Definitely tired alreaday in the morning. We didn't manage to leave the hostel until noon. In fact, we had our nice brunch at 11:30. Not entirely the best idea timing for visiting cities, especially not a city as large or as amazing as St. P. Got into the light and down the streets eventually and we separated into two groups as each of us wanted to go to different locations. Dominik, Janos, Inga and me went to the Mosque at first. It was the first Mosque I've ever been to, a very interesting experience. Felt a bit shy because I didn't have a scarf on my head, but otherwise I just carefully observed. Inga posed a question about if these people really understood the Koran or not. I believe that even if they did no understand it in its original language, they understand it in their heart. Amazing the power of religion, how it moves and changes people. Amazing even more the power of religion, how it builds beautiful churches and mosques and locations. There were a lot of old people and handicaps lined up outside and a lot of vendors. In a way, the Muslim community seems to be taking care of their poor and the needed much better than seen as the Christian churches, or maybe I just haven't seen enough. To see these people makes me sad, makes me think about how lucky I am and how I should have been far more thankful in my life. As we walked out we talked about religion, but just chats. I bet if we had a Christian in the group, we would have had quite a debate and quite a conversation. Sometimes I wonder if there really is a God up there and if He can really hear our prayers. If there is someone up there, can He hear my prayers?
We walked quite briskly to the Peter and Paul Fortress . On the way we ran into Sebastien, Björn and Sara. At the fortress (under renovation) I started a conversation with Dominik about renovations of buildings. I don't understand the particular need, I mean I like it but I don't understand it, of renovating old buildings. If history is a representation of time, why correct time? Dominik said that if people still live in it, then it is just like renovating your house. I was thinking, if we keep always building new buildings and renovating old buildings, there's only so much space left in the world. Maybe for some of the historical ones, it seems rather fine and brilliant to renovate them because then we can pass the culture on, but on the other hand, isn't it just another kind of nostalgia? Humans are naturally nostalgic. What we have lost we cherish the most, but how often do we really look into the future? We just keep repeating the past, like fashion, like writing, like everything else...
The Peter and Paul Cathederal was inside the fortress. A lot of GOLD! Not extremely impressive except for all the Romanoffs burried within it. Noblity, aristocrasy... The world is full of these class differentiations, even if we try our hardest to break through it, it is still there. The only thing we can do is try to propel ourselves for the higher and the better and let the rest settle as it should.
Got out of the cathederal rather tired and nicely cold. Winter have not left the world entirely at this latitude. We walked over to the City History Museum and walked through the building of the city and the fortress. Apparently there had always been people in the location, just different groups. Saw armory from the BC times and was quite impressed by the degree of protection and agility these armours carried. Compared with the armours from the medieval era or even the more present days, the armours just grew harder and harder to move in. Maybe that is also the way the world had slowly developed, more and more on the appearance, less and less on the actual use. Saw some videos about the revolution, some old army things, some old swords. I was thinking about Exciliber, how one sword lead the kingdom. We all need symbols to hold ourselves together, things to live on, to live by, to believe in. In every way, like Frank had once said, we are all dependent, even if we want to be independent.
Walked to the side of Neva River and looked over to the city. From faraway it is indeed a beautiful city, but it is a harsh place to live in. I wondered inside, silently, how lucky Europe is in this sense. It seems to be such a wonderful place to live in, and its history still intact, no one had stolen anything quite entirely. Pollution is low in Europe, comparatively, but they consume so much of the world. Walked to the Cruiser Aurora but couldn't get in. I wasn't much keen on seeing it in the first place, I wanted more to see the Churches, to see the markets, to see the people, to see the city. If there was time and if I could chose for just myself, I would have chose a cafe and sat there staring at the street for just one afternoon, even if we were there for just three days. Still, the cruiser was impressive in its historical way. Such a small cruiser yet it is the starting place of such a revolutionary part of the world history, the Red October. I felt quite small at the moment, I knew nothing about it, though it probably affected my life more than I imagined.
The walk back was tiring. I am quite a few centimeters smaller than the rest of the group, that makes quite a bit less quick in my walking. For most of the next few days I felt like I didn't just walk briskly, but I was skipping a little here and there, half running most of the times. We saw Lenin's statue, it wasn't impressive. I was a bit disappointed, but also amazed. Such a statue, something that now seems to be passed by for nothing than a man standing there eternally, had once been so forceful and so authoritative. I wondered, as I took pictures, what it would be like if I was a Russian at the time, or even if I am a Russian just now, looking at the statue of Lenin. He looked so small and so like just a normal man, but he had so much power, so much power that he changed the world.
Finally reached meeting point after getting lost with the others. Instead we went into a chocolate museum and saw a lot of different kinds of chocolate cookings. It was more of a shop, really, but still, it was nice and sweet. I was thinking about how people see the city as I observed with hunger the chocolates in front of my eyes. I tried hard to catch up with everyone, but I really didn't want to travel this way. On the way to the meeting point there was a man fishing at the river in the middle of the city. I wanted to stop and just watch him fish, just see what he is doing and imagine why he did it. I can imagine how he brings the fish back home to his wife and they cook it for their three children as the main course of the night. What I cannot imagine is how they eat the fish from the water. Dominik questioned if the fish was even living at all (joking, of course). I don't question it, I was just surprised. At least now I won't complain so much the living condition in Taiwan. And I don't see how anyone can complain about Helsinki at all. We are all just too lucky and too damn lucky to see how lucky we really are.
Lucky first day, that's for sure. We finally reached the Palace Square. I had thought that man were supposed to be better than woman in map reading, but I guess I was wrong. In a way this trip I was glad for all the things my parents had taught me before, they taught me how to survive in many ways, for one, reading a map and remembering the pathes we walked. At first I was wondering why there are so many soldiers walking around (of course I later found that there are just always so many soldiers walking around in St. P) then I was shocked to find something like 1000 soldiers standing in formation on the square, surrounding our meeting point. My first reaction is if something was wrong, then I hear the music and noticed the shouting and saluting. We walked right into some ceremony appearantly. Unfortunately I have no clue what exactly it was, but it was impressive. All the soldiers standing there. They were freezing cold, that was for sure. It took about 15 to 30 minutes before the marching ended. By that time we've already walked to the front of the soldiers and I could see the band. These were not scary people, but just lively young men. One band performer started a penguin march right as soon as they were dismissed. To wave off the cold, Dominik said. Just regular soldiers and one day if they are lucky they will find themselve with a gun in their hands fighting for someone else's benefits. It's always someone else's benefit, it seems.
Started looking for a Internet Cafe so Inga can write to Frederico to see if he's going to join us in Russia or not. Found one, and it happened to be the rebirth party of the cafe, so, it was free. Everything was free. Free drinks, free food and free Internet. Russian parties, hum... You see a lot of really rich and posh people in St. P, people who walk around spending money like as if they don't care less. You see girls walking around looking for guys to spend the night with. You see such a society based on consumerism, commercials everywhere... It's like Taiwan, but not entirely. People here are also rather friendly, though I would have preferred a lot less staring...
Went and tried to find a Georgian restraunt, but it was full. Left and went looking for other places to eat, but couldn't find any. Or more like everyone was too dependent on books instead of just trying things out by random. I felt actually quite at home in St. P because it was a real metropolis like Taipei, and in the same chaotic situation as in Taipei, not the same peacefulness of the other European Cities I've visited so far. Ended up at a bliny chain store, not particularly interested in the food, but since it seems to be a popular fast food chain in Russia, it was interesting to attach it anyway. Afterward we split up again and Dominik and I went back to the Georgian restraunt while the others went looking for a bar. I didn't feel like clubbing particularly this night, it was late and I was tired. Had Lavash with hot cheese and egg on it, dumplings filled with cheese and a Georgian lemonade that turned out to be of some weird grass instead. Green drink... not a particular favorite. The food was great, but too much cheese for me, my stomache is still trying to live with it. The waiter was funny. Didn't speak much English and looked obviously annoyed by us non-russian speaking tourists. The funny thing was he actually complained about us in Russian in front of us to another lady. Okay... Dominik understands a little bit, I think, of Russian.
Positivity: 8
Great day...
We walked quite briskly to the Peter and Paul Fortress . On the way we ran into Sebastien, Björn and Sara. At the fortress (under renovation) I started a conversation with Dominik about renovations of buildings. I don't understand the particular need, I mean I like it but I don't understand it, of renovating old buildings. If history is a representation of time, why correct time? Dominik said that if people still live in it, then it is just like renovating your house. I was thinking, if we keep always building new buildings and renovating old buildings, there's only so much space left in the world. Maybe for some of the historical ones, it seems rather fine and brilliant to renovate them because then we can pass the culture on, but on the other hand, isn't it just another kind of nostalgia? Humans are naturally nostalgic. What we have lost we cherish the most, but how often do we really look into the future? We just keep repeating the past, like fashion, like writing, like everything else...
The Peter and Paul Cathederal was inside the fortress. A lot of GOLD! Not extremely impressive except for all the Romanoffs burried within it. Noblity, aristocrasy... The world is full of these class differentiations, even if we try our hardest to break through it, it is still there. The only thing we can do is try to propel ourselves for the higher and the better and let the rest settle as it should.
Got out of the cathederal rather tired and nicely cold. Winter have not left the world entirely at this latitude. We walked over to the City History Museum and walked through the building of the city and the fortress. Apparently there had always been people in the location, just different groups. Saw armory from the BC times and was quite impressed by the degree of protection and agility these armours carried. Compared with the armours from the medieval era or even the more present days, the armours just grew harder and harder to move in. Maybe that is also the way the world had slowly developed, more and more on the appearance, less and less on the actual use. Saw some videos about the revolution, some old army things, some old swords. I was thinking about Exciliber, how one sword lead the kingdom. We all need symbols to hold ourselves together, things to live on, to live by, to believe in. In every way, like Frank had once said, we are all dependent, even if we want to be independent.
Walked to the side of Neva River and looked over to the city. From faraway it is indeed a beautiful city, but it is a harsh place to live in. I wondered inside, silently, how lucky Europe is in this sense. It seems to be such a wonderful place to live in, and its history still intact, no one had stolen anything quite entirely. Pollution is low in Europe, comparatively, but they consume so much of the world. Walked to the Cruiser Aurora but couldn't get in. I wasn't much keen on seeing it in the first place, I wanted more to see the Churches, to see the markets, to see the people, to see the city. If there was time and if I could chose for just myself, I would have chose a cafe and sat there staring at the street for just one afternoon, even if we were there for just three days. Still, the cruiser was impressive in its historical way. Such a small cruiser yet it is the starting place of such a revolutionary part of the world history, the Red October. I felt quite small at the moment, I knew nothing about it, though it probably affected my life more than I imagined.
The walk back was tiring. I am quite a few centimeters smaller than the rest of the group, that makes quite a bit less quick in my walking. For most of the next few days I felt like I didn't just walk briskly, but I was skipping a little here and there, half running most of the times. We saw Lenin's statue, it wasn't impressive. I was a bit disappointed, but also amazed. Such a statue, something that now seems to be passed by for nothing than a man standing there eternally, had once been so forceful and so authoritative. I wondered, as I took pictures, what it would be like if I was a Russian at the time, or even if I am a Russian just now, looking at the statue of Lenin. He looked so small and so like just a normal man, but he had so much power, so much power that he changed the world.
Finally reached meeting point after getting lost with the others. Instead we went into a chocolate museum and saw a lot of different kinds of chocolate cookings. It was more of a shop, really, but still, it was nice and sweet. I was thinking about how people see the city as I observed with hunger the chocolates in front of my eyes. I tried hard to catch up with everyone, but I really didn't want to travel this way. On the way to the meeting point there was a man fishing at the river in the middle of the city. I wanted to stop and just watch him fish, just see what he is doing and imagine why he did it. I can imagine how he brings the fish back home to his wife and they cook it for their three children as the main course of the night. What I cannot imagine is how they eat the fish from the water. Dominik questioned if the fish was even living at all (joking, of course). I don't question it, I was just surprised. At least now I won't complain so much the living condition in Taiwan. And I don't see how anyone can complain about Helsinki at all. We are all just too lucky and too damn lucky to see how lucky we really are.
Lucky first day, that's for sure. We finally reached the Palace Square. I had thought that man were supposed to be better than woman in map reading, but I guess I was wrong. In a way this trip I was glad for all the things my parents had taught me before, they taught me how to survive in many ways, for one, reading a map and remembering the pathes we walked. At first I was wondering why there are so many soldiers walking around (of course I later found that there are just always so many soldiers walking around in St. P) then I was shocked to find something like 1000 soldiers standing in formation on the square, surrounding our meeting point. My first reaction is if something was wrong, then I hear the music and noticed the shouting and saluting. We walked right into some ceremony appearantly. Unfortunately I have no clue what exactly it was, but it was impressive. All the soldiers standing there. They were freezing cold, that was for sure. It took about 15 to 30 minutes before the marching ended. By that time we've already walked to the front of the soldiers and I could see the band. These were not scary people, but just lively young men. One band performer started a penguin march right as soon as they were dismissed. To wave off the cold, Dominik said. Just regular soldiers and one day if they are lucky they will find themselve with a gun in their hands fighting for someone else's benefits. It's always someone else's benefit, it seems.
Started looking for a Internet Cafe so Inga can write to Frederico to see if he's going to join us in Russia or not. Found one, and it happened to be the rebirth party of the cafe, so, it was free. Everything was free. Free drinks, free food and free Internet. Russian parties, hum... You see a lot of really rich and posh people in St. P, people who walk around spending money like as if they don't care less. You see girls walking around looking for guys to spend the night with. You see such a society based on consumerism, commercials everywhere... It's like Taiwan, but not entirely. People here are also rather friendly, though I would have preferred a lot less staring...
Went and tried to find a Georgian restraunt, but it was full. Left and went looking for other places to eat, but couldn't find any. Or more like everyone was too dependent on books instead of just trying things out by random. I felt actually quite at home in St. P because it was a real metropolis like Taipei, and in the same chaotic situation as in Taipei, not the same peacefulness of the other European Cities I've visited so far. Ended up at a bliny chain store, not particularly interested in the food, but since it seems to be a popular fast food chain in Russia, it was interesting to attach it anyway. Afterward we split up again and Dominik and I went back to the Georgian restraunt while the others went looking for a bar. I didn't feel like clubbing particularly this night, it was late and I was tired. Had Lavash with hot cheese and egg on it, dumplings filled with cheese and a Georgian lemonade that turned out to be of some weird grass instead. Green drink... not a particular favorite. The food was great, but too much cheese for me, my stomache is still trying to live with it. The waiter was funny. Didn't speak much English and looked obviously annoyed by us non-russian speaking tourists. The funny thing was he actually complained about us in Russian in front of us to another lady. Okay... Dominik understands a little bit, I think, of Russian.
Positivity: 8
Great day...
Friday, April 14, 2006
First day to St. Petersburg
Woke up at 7:30 in the morning and got into the shower with a terrible headache. Greatest hangover in the world, all thanks to Miguel's 80 % Vodka...
Was 20 minutes late to the meeting place. Felt really bad because I once got angry at Dominik for being 5 minutes late.
The bus left at 11:30, damn it! We met at 9:30 in the morning. Hangover made me a bit edgy, but I promised myself that I won't be a big irritated bitch anymore.
The bus ride was about 8 hours. First half of the ride they played really horrible Russian Comedy which didn't make any sense at all (American English Speaking Germany). Did nothing but try to cure my headache the whole time. Got off at the boarder and get my Passport checked. I feel a bit frightened, but I got through alright. Thank GODS! At one point they took my passport and started talking to me in Russian and I totally didn't know how to react. Thanks for Lativ, I was saved.
Got to St. Petersburg in the late afternoon. Finally arrived at Hostel. Nice and interesting Hostel, if not frightening a little bit. A bit old. Took us near 30 minutes to find the right door to our rooms. Everything smells of dust and age in this city. So far I still prefer Helsinki. Got out later for some shopping, but didn't see anything that seemed favorable to buy, so bought nothing except water and juice. Went later to a local kafe for late late dinner. Had Dumpling, Navy pasta and Chicken a la Kiev. Dumplings were great, with a little tilli and butter. Navy pasta was like the simple stir-fry noodles in Taiwan only with different kind of noodles. Chicken a la Kiev was just okay, I didn't particularly favor it. Went home around 1 am and had one hell of a taxi ride. The driver must have been one of the best drivers I have yet met. It was like a roller coaster ride. I love speed, for sure. The only problem is that we didn't properly negotiate the prices in the first place, therefore we quite nicely got chiped off with 300 rubbles when we could have easily gotten away with just 100 r. I guess we all learned a lesson in bargining, at least I for sure did. Got to bed too late...
Positivity: 7
Was 20 minutes late to the meeting place. Felt really bad because I once got angry at Dominik for being 5 minutes late.
The bus left at 11:30, damn it! We met at 9:30 in the morning. Hangover made me a bit edgy, but I promised myself that I won't be a big irritated bitch anymore.
The bus ride was about 8 hours. First half of the ride they played really horrible Russian Comedy which didn't make any sense at all (American English Speaking Germany). Did nothing but try to cure my headache the whole time. Got off at the boarder and get my Passport checked. I feel a bit frightened, but I got through alright. Thank GODS! At one point they took my passport and started talking to me in Russian and I totally didn't know how to react. Thanks for Lativ, I was saved.
Got to St. Petersburg in the late afternoon. Finally arrived at Hostel. Nice and interesting Hostel, if not frightening a little bit. A bit old. Took us near 30 minutes to find the right door to our rooms. Everything smells of dust and age in this city. So far I still prefer Helsinki. Got out later for some shopping, but didn't see anything that seemed favorable to buy, so bought nothing except water and juice. Went later to a local kafe for late late dinner. Had Dumpling, Navy pasta and Chicken a la Kiev. Dumplings were great, with a little tilli and butter. Navy pasta was like the simple stir-fry noodles in Taiwan only with different kind of noodles. Chicken a la Kiev was just okay, I didn't particularly favor it. Went home around 1 am and had one hell of a taxi ride. The driver must have been one of the best drivers I have yet met. It was like a roller coaster ride. I love speed, for sure. The only problem is that we didn't properly negotiate the prices in the first place, therefore we quite nicely got chiped off with 300 rubbles when we could have easily gotten away with just 100 r. I guess we all learned a lesson in bargining, at least I for sure did. Got to bed too late...
Positivity: 7
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Out Tonight!
Finally out!
Did laundry 4 in the morning. Slept until 12. Tea at 4 with Ana-Maria. All about guys.
St. Petersburg is not so faraway. Good!
Out tonight! First to Ana-Maria's for a preparty. Darlings! The Norweign guy really IS cute! Sweet sweet Miguel came with 80 % vodka. Had two small shots, not bad. Prefer whiskey. Got shopping list. Quintin's farewell party on May 6th, don't forget.
Away to Alex's farewell party. Actually don't know him well, but anyway, the bunch were there. Miguel got dead drunk. Btw, darling Miguel, your room is fabulous! Totally adorably fabulous! Never saw you drunk before though. Rod is even more drunk. Totally turning straight? Miriam looks a doll, but a drunk doll. We were all on the wasted side. Screaming and running around like little kids, nuts! Still, extra fun! Been locked up too much lately. Going to be locked up again after return from St. Petersburg. Work work work!
Will load pictures later. Got some really nice ones, especially of dear Rod and Miriam. You guys would make such a pretty couple. You should consider it, really.
And Rod... you really are the only other guy I know who looks great in girls' jeans. First being Frank.
Went to Studio 51 eventually, very very very dizzy, but still, decided to dance. Bad music. Can't dance. Saw Robert with new hair. Met a Dutch guy on the way to the place. We still strongly believe that Dutch are weird. He tried to convince the girls otherwise, but... Dutch are weird...
I wonder what Miguel will be like the next time I see him... especially if I decide to put pictures of him drunk on this blog. Looks like such a doll when drunk. Marcela looked like his big sister... Sweethearts.
Still a bit drunk... but since I won't be posting that much (well... maybe not) for the next few days... Doing my best at the moment... sweet!
Positivity: 9
Coffe consumption: 1
Food: too much
Packing: DONE
I'm a cherry now~ totally cheery~ yippy!
Did laundry 4 in the morning. Slept until 12. Tea at 4 with Ana-Maria. All about guys.
St. Petersburg is not so faraway. Good!
Out tonight! First to Ana-Maria's for a preparty. Darlings! The Norweign guy really IS cute! Sweet sweet Miguel came with 80 % vodka. Had two small shots, not bad. Prefer whiskey. Got shopping list. Quintin's farewell party on May 6th, don't forget.
Away to Alex's farewell party. Actually don't know him well, but anyway, the bunch were there. Miguel got dead drunk. Btw, darling Miguel, your room is fabulous! Totally adorably fabulous! Never saw you drunk before though. Rod is even more drunk. Totally turning straight? Miriam looks a doll, but a drunk doll. We were all on the wasted side. Screaming and running around like little kids, nuts! Still, extra fun! Been locked up too much lately. Going to be locked up again after return from St. Petersburg. Work work work!
Will load pictures later. Got some really nice ones, especially of dear Rod and Miriam. You guys would make such a pretty couple. You should consider it, really.
And Rod... you really are the only other guy I know who looks great in girls' jeans. First being Frank.
Went to Studio 51 eventually, very very very dizzy, but still, decided to dance. Bad music. Can't dance. Saw Robert with new hair. Met a Dutch guy on the way to the place. We still strongly believe that Dutch are weird. He tried to convince the girls otherwise, but... Dutch are weird...
I wonder what Miguel will be like the next time I see him... especially if I decide to put pictures of him drunk on this blog. Looks like such a doll when drunk. Marcela looked like his big sister... Sweethearts.
Still a bit drunk... but since I won't be posting that much (well... maybe not) for the next few days... Doing my best at the moment... sweet!
Positivity: 9
Coffe consumption: 1
Food: too much
Packing: DONE
I'm a cherry now~ totally cheery~ yippy!
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Stop thinking
Never think too much on a tiring day. That never ends up in anything.
No particular mission today. Just another day of school. Miguel looked as bad as I did. Fell asleep on the couch outside the classrrom reading Asimov. Why was I so tired? Did a bad job with Seminar Essay. Tried to explain myself in seminar, didn't succeed. "Murder......." vibrates in my head. Went to a class in which I wanted desparately to fall asleep. Fixed a dinner I didn't like, but ate part of it. Washed off my tattoo. Fought. Went to bed. Did laundry in the dead night. Epiphany.
Completed nothing, did nothing, gained everything.
Epiphany happens when you least expect. Once you know what you want and what to do, everything seems alright.
Positivity: 5
No particular mission today. Just another day of school. Miguel looked as bad as I did. Fell asleep on the couch outside the classrrom reading Asimov. Why was I so tired? Did a bad job with Seminar Essay. Tried to explain myself in seminar, didn't succeed. "Murder......." vibrates in my head. Went to a class in which I wanted desparately to fall asleep. Fixed a dinner I didn't like, but ate part of it. Washed off my tattoo. Fought. Went to bed. Did laundry in the dead night. Epiphany.
Completed nothing, did nothing, gained everything.
Epiphany happens when you least expect. Once you know what you want and what to do, everything seems alright.
Positivity: 5
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
My mind is forgetful
Very very very tiring day. Main reason? Blame it on Korea.
Mission: Seminar Essay / Ethics: East and West / Get passport / Seminar reading / Hemingway reading / 2 pages writing / Bar Moscov
Was in Aleksanderiaan, writing blog instead of essay. Reason? Didn't feel like doing my essay. In a bit of an annoyed moode. What's wrong with Confucious culture anyway? Are the West really better? Are anyone really better?
Went to class. Didn't turn in essay. Oh well, I never do anything unless I feel like doing it, and I never not do something when I feel like doing it, normally. The professor again looked more bored than the rest of the class. We should probably hold her a party to cheer her up. Drew three words on my hand: Strength, Strict, Smile. They don't come together too well, but they are three things to keep in mind.
Lunch with Rod, Miguel, Johanna, her friend from Germany. Ended up talking about boys, beauty, morality and possessiveness. Eventually Aurelien joined us after Miguel left. Darling Miguel, you seriously are the hottest geek there is around. Please take that as a compliment. I ran to meet Aurelien, miss him dearly, my darling squirrel. Ate weird lunch food. Oh well.
Went to Rustravel to pick up passport. Now I can go to bars again. Good lords! I need to party bad. Leaving for St. Petersburg on Thursday. I hope I will make it back alive.
Went again to Cafe Engel. The best time of the day, prolly, except for a few minutes in the afternoon when we started talking about fashion and clothing. Coffee with Eeva, finally, talked about our girl problems. Bad coffee today, quite bad. Called Ana-Maria and heard about the hot Norweign guy. Oh darlings, you are in love.
Met Dominik at 21:00 and went to find Bar Moscov together. Found it, eventually, tiny and weird as hell. Spent the next an hour and half, almost, talking about quite nothing. Bjorn don't seem to know anything about the trip and was too busy talking to Sarah, Inga looked more lost than any one of us.
Ended up at Flavian's birthday party. Nice cake by someone I don't know. Quite a, well, oddly quiet party. Half guys and half girls, but for some unknown reason I am not quite sure the girls are all enjoying themselves so much. Ate cake, didn't like it but it was good enough of a cake I should think. I prefer moist cakes.
Actually was a bad day. Didn't manage to finish anything. Bad coffee. Bad conversations. Quite annoyed by my readings.
Completion: Seminar Essay 30 % / Ethics: East and West attended / Got passport / Seminar reading 30 % / Hemingway reading 0 % / 3 pages writing / Bar Moscov went
Coffee consumption: 1½ cups
Positivity (1-10): 3
Mission: Seminar Essay / Ethics: East and West / Get passport / Seminar reading / Hemingway reading / 2 pages writing / Bar Moscov
Was in Aleksanderiaan, writing blog instead of essay. Reason? Didn't feel like doing my essay. In a bit of an annoyed moode. What's wrong with Confucious culture anyway? Are the West really better? Are anyone really better?
Went to class. Didn't turn in essay. Oh well, I never do anything unless I feel like doing it, and I never not do something when I feel like doing it, normally. The professor again looked more bored than the rest of the class. We should probably hold her a party to cheer her up. Drew three words on my hand: Strength, Strict, Smile. They don't come together too well, but they are three things to keep in mind.
Lunch with Rod, Miguel, Johanna, her friend from Germany. Ended up talking about boys, beauty, morality and possessiveness. Eventually Aurelien joined us after Miguel left. Darling Miguel, you seriously are the hottest geek there is around. Please take that as a compliment. I ran to meet Aurelien, miss him dearly, my darling squirrel. Ate weird lunch food. Oh well.
Went to Rustravel to pick up passport. Now I can go to bars again. Good lords! I need to party bad. Leaving for St. Petersburg on Thursday. I hope I will make it back alive.
Went again to Cafe Engel. The best time of the day, prolly, except for a few minutes in the afternoon when we started talking about fashion and clothing. Coffee with Eeva, finally, talked about our girl problems. Bad coffee today, quite bad. Called Ana-Maria and heard about the hot Norweign guy. Oh darlings, you are in love.
Met Dominik at 21:00 and went to find Bar Moscov together. Found it, eventually, tiny and weird as hell. Spent the next an hour and half, almost, talking about quite nothing. Bjorn don't seem to know anything about the trip and was too busy talking to Sarah, Inga looked more lost than any one of us.
Ended up at Flavian's birthday party. Nice cake by someone I don't know. Quite a, well, oddly quiet party. Half guys and half girls, but for some unknown reason I am not quite sure the girls are all enjoying themselves so much. Ate cake, didn't like it but it was good enough of a cake I should think. I prefer moist cakes.
Actually was a bad day. Didn't manage to finish anything. Bad coffee. Bad conversations. Quite annoyed by my readings.
Completion: Seminar Essay 30 % / Ethics: East and West attended / Got passport / Seminar reading 30 % / Hemingway reading 0 % / 3 pages writing / Bar Moscov went
Coffee consumption: 1½ cups
Positivity (1-10): 3
Monday, April 10, 2006
Romanoff and Juliet
Set in the so called tinies country (or maybe the largest, in a sense) in Europe, the story is about the love between Igor Romanoff of the Russian Embassy and Juliet Moulsworth of the American Embassy. The play was set in 1956 and highlights the tension of the Cold War. Well, not so much detail about the play, that you can check online yourself.
The most memorable characters, unfortunately, was neither Romanoff nor Juliet. It was the General and the Archbishop which caught my greatest attention. The General talks forever with his crazy accept, but is the voice of the playwright himself and the Archbishop... well... he was simply just as funny as hell.
What I find most amazing and interesting was the fact that most of the characters were played by Finns. If you have ever heard of Finnish English, you would know how amazing it is to hear them do Texas English (still don't understand why people associate Texas as American). I was thrilled by Hanna Aaltola who played Juliet Moulsworth and Riitta Itäkylä who played Beulah Moulsworth. The two of them not only threw the American characters of mother and daughter in a most convince combination, I actually didn't know they were Finns until I checked the cast. The most amazing would be Matti Keltanen who played Freddie, a Chicago American who thinks baseball as the most important thing in his life.
The stage was a bit in lacking, but considering the size of the producting, it was quite enough convincing although I would consider differentiating the two worlds with more details than just colors. It was enjoyable over all just the same.
I don't know enough about theaters to criticize or to say anything much about it and the topic it touches are rather old and somewhat of a cliche, but it is a nice play to watch on a Sunday afternoon.
The most memorable characters, unfortunately, was neither Romanoff nor Juliet. It was the General and the Archbishop which caught my greatest attention. The General talks forever with his crazy accept, but is the voice of the playwright himself and the Archbishop... well... he was simply just as funny as hell.
What I find most amazing and interesting was the fact that most of the characters were played by Finns. If you have ever heard of Finnish English, you would know how amazing it is to hear them do Texas English (still don't understand why people associate Texas as American). I was thrilled by Hanna Aaltola who played Juliet Moulsworth and Riitta Itäkylä who played Beulah Moulsworth. The two of them not only threw the American characters of mother and daughter in a most convince combination, I actually didn't know they were Finns until I checked the cast. The most amazing would be Matti Keltanen who played Freddie, a Chicago American who thinks baseball as the most important thing in his life.
The stage was a bit in lacking, but considering the size of the producting, it was quite enough convincing although I would consider differentiating the two worlds with more details than just colors. It was enjoyable over all just the same.
I don't know enough about theaters to criticize or to say anything much about it and the topic it touches are rather old and somewhat of a cliche, but it is a nice play to watch on a Sunday afternoon.
Naked man and the day
Nothing particular to start with. It was a usual day.
Mission: Seminar reading / Heminway reading / Romanoff and Juliet / Character formation / V niin kuin Verikosto
Locations: Aleksanderiaani / Narri (Hietaniemenkatu 9 C) / Cafe Engel / Finnkino
Start the day with a bannana.
Missed lunch.
Progress: Seminar reading complete
Ran off looking for Romanoff and Juliet at around 13:00. Got lost and ran down the wrong direction on Ruinebergegatan. The place ended up being right across from Domus. The poor result of being a person who doesn't travel enough. Interesting play. Nearly fell asleep in the first half, and nearly laughed my head off in the second half. There was a (I suppose) English guy, something like 30-ish, really nice and smiling sitting next to me. He changed sits with me in the first half because I was much shorter and therefore definitely will not be able to see anything. Talked a little between the first and the second half. He spent the second half staring at me, or more like smiling at me. It was a fatherly smile, only he's not quite old enough to be my father, I guess. Leaned a little against me. I backed off, and ran off at the end of the play. Not scared, a little flattered, but not interested.
Progress: Romanoff and Juliet got married safely
Went to Cafe Engels afterward to do some reading on Hemingway and a lot of writing. Character creation coming off better than I expected, but she's definitely taking her own life into her own hands. Weird epiphanies. For some unknown reasons she's becoming quite unexpected for me (going against many of my early wishes) and definitely going to be a girl with some psychotic problems. Maybe that's what happens to most child prodigies. Still unwill to reveal her age, talking like an aloft adult at the moment. Her life sounds like a tragedy, or at least she takes it rather tragically. Whatever is on her mind, I am sure she knows more than she say about her life and her position.
*note: I never know my own characters until they are quite developed, so don't think that I am crazy when I refer to them in third person...
Saw a naked man run down the Senate Square. Very naked and very fit. Called Rod. Was asked if the guy is any good looking. I wasn't sure until I saw, to my amazement, from such a distance, he's got six pacs. Okay, he looks pretty hot, he's got the right to run around naked then.
Got turned on by my tatoo (I drew it) on my hand. Decided that either I am too horny or just too emmersed in my character (see following).
Progress: Hemingway reading 20 %
Naked man: 1
Coffee consumption: 3 cups
Meal: 1
Ran off to Finnkino at around 20:00 and bought a pack of tickets. Well, I am quite into the movies lately. V niin Kuin Verikosta was interesting. Sat at Hessburg further developing the character and ended up writing one of the most pornographic chapter of her existence. What the heck is wrong with her head anyway? Anyway, she got attracted by a painting of Mari Rantanen called "Flirtation Walk" (Unfortunately I can't find the picture yet), and had her first sexual experience. Well... she's only getting odder by the days.
Progress: Character formation 10 % / V niin Kuin Verikosta viewed
Naked man: still only 1
Meal: still only 1
Got home around midnight. Not extremely tired, not extremely not tired either. Decided to go to bed and leave assignments for the morrow. Russian trip preparation on Monday. LAZY...>< Nothing extremely exciting happened. Will miss (already missed) American Literature class again.
Mission: Seminar reading / Heminway reading / Romanoff and Juliet / Character formation / V niin kuin Verikosto
Locations: Aleksanderiaani / Narri (Hietaniemenkatu 9 C) / Cafe Engel / Finnkino
Start the day with a bannana.
Missed lunch.
Progress: Seminar reading complete
Ran off looking for Romanoff and Juliet at around 13:00. Got lost and ran down the wrong direction on Ruinebergegatan. The place ended up being right across from Domus. The poor result of being a person who doesn't travel enough. Interesting play. Nearly fell asleep in the first half, and nearly laughed my head off in the second half. There was a (I suppose) English guy, something like 30-ish, really nice and smiling sitting next to me. He changed sits with me in the first half because I was much shorter and therefore definitely will not be able to see anything. Talked a little between the first and the second half. He spent the second half staring at me, or more like smiling at me. It was a fatherly smile, only he's not quite old enough to be my father, I guess. Leaned a little against me. I backed off, and ran off at the end of the play. Not scared, a little flattered, but not interested.
Progress: Romanoff and Juliet got married safely
Went to Cafe Engels afterward to do some reading on Hemingway and a lot of writing. Character creation coming off better than I expected, but she's definitely taking her own life into her own hands. Weird epiphanies. For some unknown reasons she's becoming quite unexpected for me (going against many of my early wishes) and definitely going to be a girl with some psychotic problems. Maybe that's what happens to most child prodigies. Still unwill to reveal her age, talking like an aloft adult at the moment. Her life sounds like a tragedy, or at least she takes it rather tragically. Whatever is on her mind, I am sure she knows more than she say about her life and her position.
*note: I never know my own characters until they are quite developed, so don't think that I am crazy when I refer to them in third person...
Saw a naked man run down the Senate Square. Very naked and very fit. Called Rod. Was asked if the guy is any good looking. I wasn't sure until I saw, to my amazement, from such a distance, he's got six pacs. Okay, he looks pretty hot, he's got the right to run around naked then.
Got turned on by my tatoo (I drew it) on my hand. Decided that either I am too horny or just too emmersed in my character (see following).
Progress: Hemingway reading 20 %
Naked man: 1
Coffee consumption: 3 cups
Meal: 1
Ran off to Finnkino at around 20:00 and bought a pack of tickets. Well, I am quite into the movies lately. V niin Kuin Verikosta was interesting. Sat at Hessburg further developing the character and ended up writing one of the most pornographic chapter of her existence. What the heck is wrong with her head anyway? Anyway, she got attracted by a painting of Mari Rantanen called "Flirtation Walk" (Unfortunately I can't find the picture yet), and had her first sexual experience. Well... she's only getting odder by the days.
Progress: Character formation 10 % / V niin Kuin Verikosta viewed
Naked man: still only 1
Meal: still only 1
Got home around midnight. Not extremely tired, not extremely not tired either. Decided to go to bed and leave assignments for the morrow. Russian trip preparation on Monday. LAZY...>< Nothing extremely exciting happened. Will miss (already missed) American Literature class again.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Sounding Day...
The sixth consecutive study day since the beginning of the week. In full preparation for the overload after return from St. Petersburg. Why the hell am I going to St. Petersburg anyway? Oh yeah, for the history and the beauty and the glory. Was planning on doing a study of the city planning of St. Petersburg, maybe I should still do that anyway.
Started the morning with much ado about nothing, loaded my bag with Hemingway's tragedies and Morals of Imperial China, scribbled hopefully meaningful monologue on scratch book and headed to the place I longed to be away from, the well known Alekandriaan, computer center for Helsinki University Students. Well, aside from the fact that it's so comfortable I spend half the day trying not to fall asleep and the other half hanging on the net doing nothing, it could be considered quite an academic location.
Mission: Imperial Chinese Law Essay, American Lit. Research Reading
Marching against the wind, I arrived downtown around 2 for a nice coffee with Rachel to start the day. Don't ask me why I am starting the day at 2 in the afternoon, we're exchange students, staying awake in the morning really doesn't sound entirely normal anymore. That, and I was exercising, running, all night in my dreams. No excuses.
Rachel, always fashionably late (no offense, I really do find it fashionable), reached me under the Stockmann clock after I have briefly reviewed C.S. Lewis' Naria Cronicle in Suomenlinna Kirjakulpa (?) and found the book with a bit of a confusing start and a bit of a predictable middle. Of course, my attention ran quite quickly back into the Sci-Fi section (there was this saying that sci-fi fans never mix with fantasy fans... just like Star War fans never mix with Star Trek fans...). Douglas Adams, what a nice author that is, ridiculous but still with a sense of humor. Sadly dead for several years now, but still, his books are as refreshing as ever. I encountered Rachel after reluctantly dropping the book and we went to Cafe Engel for coffee. Organic Coffee is great there. The result of the coffe break was that I managed not to fall asleep for most of the coming hours and deep into the night. Good for studying, I guess. Ran through Zara with her afterwards, didn't see anything quite attractive. Same stuffs as last year, it seems. Ran into Rod and Peter again on my way back to the library and started a conversation on chocolates. Apparently chocolates are on sale at Stockmann, 1.5 kilo for something like 3,5 euro. There are people grabbing kilos after kilos. It is well known that Finns consumes something like 3 kilos of chocolate per year on average. There's an year's supply under 10 euro.
Hit the library at 6 in the evening.
Mission completion 0%
Coffee consumption 2.5 cups
Chocolate consumption 3 pieces (Thumb size)
Shopping 0
Alekanderiaan is nice and cool as always. I opened the computer and for some unknown reason ended up fixing this blog. (Not forgetting the fact that I actually already have two other blogs somewhere else...) Well, this is public space, just for the hell of it. Spent the following three hours reading something that I could have finished reading within 30 minutes. Left around 9pm in an attempt to find food before dying from starvation or drinking with an empty stomach (it's Saturday, of course we are going to be drinking). Landed myself in Subway at Hakaniemi 20 minutes later and walked out with a Turkey Sandwich at approximately 9:30pm. At around 9:35pm I found myself at Sörnääninen with Rod, Marcela and Miguel walking around eating my sandwich in hopes of finding Flavien. From this point on it was a wonder of walking deeper and deeper into an unknow area of Helsinki until we errupted into a sizable red brick house filled with already drunk and partying Finns. Time: 10:15pm. Known fact: Finns start drinking when they wake up, are drunk before 10pm, stays drunk until 6am and will still manage to outsmart you at midnight and drink you under the table around 2am. Basic statistics settled, let's wonder about the party. Original plan was to see a joggling deal, which ended up being a joggling party and finally landed to be a faculty party with some joggling people in it. For 6 euro and a person who does not drink, who does not have party clothes, who is carrying her backpack of Hemingway and Chinese morality, my logics decided against entering the bar and so I ended up walking Rod back (without the leashes, of course). By approximately 11pm we were again back at the metro station (what is it with people always doubting my sense of direction when I always manage to take people right back where we came from?) but neither of us managed to get on the metro until 11:30pm because of certain arguments about Bridget Jones.
Arrival time at home: 00:00
Mission completion: 20 %
Great... and now what am I doing again?
Started the morning with much ado about nothing, loaded my bag with Hemingway's tragedies and Morals of Imperial China, scribbled hopefully meaningful monologue on scratch book and headed to the place I longed to be away from, the well known Alekandriaan, computer center for Helsinki University Students. Well, aside from the fact that it's so comfortable I spend half the day trying not to fall asleep and the other half hanging on the net doing nothing, it could be considered quite an academic location.
Mission: Imperial Chinese Law Essay, American Lit. Research Reading
Marching against the wind, I arrived downtown around 2 for a nice coffee with Rachel to start the day. Don't ask me why I am starting the day at 2 in the afternoon, we're exchange students, staying awake in the morning really doesn't sound entirely normal anymore. That, and I was exercising, running, all night in my dreams. No excuses.
Rachel, always fashionably late (no offense, I really do find it fashionable), reached me under the Stockmann clock after I have briefly reviewed C.S. Lewis' Naria Cronicle in Suomenlinna Kirjakulpa (?) and found the book with a bit of a confusing start and a bit of a predictable middle. Of course, my attention ran quite quickly back into the Sci-Fi section (there was this saying that sci-fi fans never mix with fantasy fans... just like Star War fans never mix with Star Trek fans...). Douglas Adams, what a nice author that is, ridiculous but still with a sense of humor. Sadly dead for several years now, but still, his books are as refreshing as ever. I encountered Rachel after reluctantly dropping the book and we went to Cafe Engel for coffee. Organic Coffee is great there. The result of the coffe break was that I managed not to fall asleep for most of the coming hours and deep into the night. Good for studying, I guess. Ran through Zara with her afterwards, didn't see anything quite attractive. Same stuffs as last year, it seems. Ran into Rod and Peter again on my way back to the library and started a conversation on chocolates. Apparently chocolates are on sale at Stockmann, 1.5 kilo for something like 3,5 euro. There are people grabbing kilos after kilos. It is well known that Finns consumes something like 3 kilos of chocolate per year on average. There's an year's supply under 10 euro.
Hit the library at 6 in the evening.
Mission completion 0%
Coffee consumption 2.5 cups
Chocolate consumption 3 pieces (Thumb size)
Shopping 0
Alekanderiaan is nice and cool as always. I opened the computer and for some unknown reason ended up fixing this blog. (Not forgetting the fact that I actually already have two other blogs somewhere else...) Well, this is public space, just for the hell of it. Spent the following three hours reading something that I could have finished reading within 30 minutes. Left around 9pm in an attempt to find food before dying from starvation or drinking with an empty stomach (it's Saturday, of course we are going to be drinking). Landed myself in Subway at Hakaniemi 20 minutes later and walked out with a Turkey Sandwich at approximately 9:30pm. At around 9:35pm I found myself at Sörnääninen with Rod, Marcela and Miguel walking around eating my sandwich in hopes of finding Flavien. From this point on it was a wonder of walking deeper and deeper into an unknow area of Helsinki until we errupted into a sizable red brick house filled with already drunk and partying Finns. Time: 10:15pm. Known fact: Finns start drinking when they wake up, are drunk before 10pm, stays drunk until 6am and will still manage to outsmart you at midnight and drink you under the table around 2am. Basic statistics settled, let's wonder about the party. Original plan was to see a joggling deal, which ended up being a joggling party and finally landed to be a faculty party with some joggling people in it. For 6 euro and a person who does not drink, who does not have party clothes, who is carrying her backpack of Hemingway and Chinese morality, my logics decided against entering the bar and so I ended up walking Rod back (without the leashes, of course). By approximately 11pm we were again back at the metro station (what is it with people always doubting my sense of direction when I always manage to take people right back where we came from?) but neither of us managed to get on the metro until 11:30pm because of certain arguments about Bridget Jones.
Arrival time at home: 00:00
Mission completion: 20 %
Great... and now what am I doing again?
Bridget Jone's Diary
I am a bit late with these movies. As a matter of fact, quite a few years late. Still, however, I finally managed the courage and the strength to watch the acclaimed "Bridget Jone's Diary".
Based on one of my favorite stories, 'Pride and Prejudice', Bridget Jone's Diary seemed to carry somewhat a more comical view towards love. Despite the fact that it was claimed to be portraying a different view, of a fat, pathetic girl instead of a hot, darling sweetheart, I can't help but find this movie somewhat of a cliche. It lacked the wit portrayed in Pride and Prejudice, and lacked the content as well. Most of the characters also lacked the depth, and if not for the actors and actresses, it would have gone a bit flat, in various ways.
Maybe I was a bit effected by the second Bridget movie, which didn't make me laugh, nor did it make me feel in particular anything except a slight measure of depression (why? because it made me feel a bit worried and pathetic). It's a romantic story that cannot possibly happen in real life, or so it seems. The only question that arose in my head is why is it so bad to be a spinster at 32 or 35? What kind of a social value makes it a shame to be single at that age? And being fat myself, I wonder what is the matter with the world that so few people seems to be able to see through the surface of a person into the depth?
Bridget is special. She's not special because she is fat or because she is funny and silly. She's special because despite all that, she's a very strong and independent person. Surprisingly, though not from as lovely a background as say, Natasha, Bridget gave people a feeling of superiority. She might not be as classy nor as elegant, but when it comes to daringness to be truthful, when it comes to facing real challenges in life, she will be able to handle it much better. It doesn't take money and bundles of talent or skill to make a person truly capable in the world. The greatest potential is the capacity a person has to improve and to grow and to dare to try something new. Bridget has all that. How many of us in life has that?
Aside from that... Maybe it's because the story is based on Bridget... the rest of the characters seemed rather plain. Cleaver is a playboy to the end. Darcy is rigid (lol). Natasha is the villian.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
An Eden in Contemporary
After careful consideration (with perhaps actually no more than 2 days of ups and downs) a conclusion had been reached that there should be an extra space created for a more contemporary use. Rather than a more philosophical approach in life, which exists in excess in my other location (call it a private diary area), it seems, now that I am never in one location long enough, necessary to have a space purely to inform, especially those dear to me, of my 'contemporary' existence. (Somehow sounds like Faulkner... the never ending sentences)
In my last two months at Helsinki, I've finally reached the decision to keep my friends and families informed of my whereabouts and my doings. Hopefully I will be persistent enough to keep two things constantly appearing on this space, 1. a dutiful depiction of my life in its most foundamental and rather silly form and 2. the never-ending stories that has been the main work of my life since... never-ending past...
Oh, that, and the fact is I am starting to not have enough space on my other space for me to vomit idiotic writings and more idiotic ideas.
In my last two months at Helsinki, I've finally reached the decision to keep my friends and families informed of my whereabouts and my doings. Hopefully I will be persistent enough to keep two things constantly appearing on this space, 1. a dutiful depiction of my life in its most foundamental and rather silly form and 2. the never-ending stories that has been the main work of my life since... never-ending past...
Oh, that, and the fact is I am starting to not have enough space on my other space for me to vomit idiotic writings and more idiotic ideas.
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