summer's almost gone

Summer's almost gone
Summer's almost gone
Almost gone
Yeah, it's almost gone
Where will we be
When the summer's gone? 

- The Doors

 Yes, summer is indeed almost gone. Four months of work at the cemetery ended last Friday, this is the first Monday in four months I didn't get up 6:04 AM. It feels weird. I mean... I think it's always like that, for me at least: you look forward to lazy days when you can do whatever you want (or do nothing) but when the time finally arrives, you feel kind of lost.

Well, as often happens to me, I wasn't much online this summer (except for updating GetGlue, which is currently my biggest Internet addiction). I'm sorry for not reading your blogs, following your Twitters and all that - I simply don't have energy for those lovely little things during the summer. I don't mind, actually. I spend so much time online during the dark and cold winter days anyway. So, since it's my summer holiday now (which is pretty awesome - it's September, and right now it's raining cats and dogs outside), it's time for me to catch up with my Internet life - I've missed all my favorite bloggers, writing nonsense updates to Twitter etc. However, I'll start by offering you a summary of my summer.
Here goes (yes, I still love writing lists)...

Summer 2012

Books I read...

• Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club (1989)
• Ray Bradbury: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962)
• Jack London: The Road (1907)
• Torey Hayden: The Sunflower Forest (1984)
• Joyce Carol Oates: Rape - A Love Story (2003)
• Kurt Vonnegut: Deadeye Dick (1982)
• Jared Cade: Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days (1999)
• Åsa Moberg: Florence Nightingale - biography (2012)
• Oliver Sacks: The Mind's Eye (2010)
• Barbara Demick: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2009)
• Helen Keller: The Story of my Life (1903)
• Shlomo Venezia: Inside the Gas Chambers - Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz (2007)
• Stephen King: Duma Key (2008)
• Stephen King: Lisey's Story (2006) 
• + currently reading Sophie's Choice by William Styron & Room by Emma Donoghue

TV Shows I was addicted to...

• House, M.D.
• Bones
• The Amazing Race
• Hex
• New Girl
• Little Mosque on the Prairie
• Trauma
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? (USA)
• Bedlam
• Eureka
• 18 to Life
• Whitechapel
• Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
• Rizzoli & Isles
• The Twilight Zone
• Murder, She Wrote
• + currently 100% addicted to PERSON OF INTEREST!

Music I listened to...

•  AC/DC
• The Cornell Hurd Band
• Emmylou Harris
• Guns 'N Roses
• Hurts
• Judas Priest
• Keith Urban
• Lady Gaga
• Melissa Etheridge
• Melissa Ferrick
• My Chemical Romance
• Nanci Griffith
• Nickelback
• P!nk
• Reckless Kelly
• Rodney Atkins
• Secret Sisters
• Sheryl Crow
• Willie Nelson

Random Stuff I Did...

• WORK, WORK, WORK - I think I've never worked this many hours in a summer. That's how I am - always volunteering for working over time and doing weekend shifts. That's the Uncle Scrooge in me
• Lost 12KG (26 lbs) and now I feel great about my weight! :-)
• At this age of 26 I finally learnt how to crochet. I also learnt to read crochet instructions both in Finnish and English (ohh I'm so proud of myself!) - I'm so addicted to crocheting that I'm actually planning on putting up a Craft Blog where I could collect photos of all the stuff I've done :-)
• For some reason I argued over nothing with my sister more than in years )-: Nothing serious really and at the moment we're best friends again, it's just... ohh well, we're both such nasty bitches when we get annoyed, and we're both a little too good at hurting each others feelings when we want to. Blah.
• Applied for a flat in Luumäki like I planned! I'm so excited about moving back here permanently. Sadly, I haven't found a perfect flat yet, but I'm not in a hurry. They offered me one place, but it was too expensive for my taste, and then there was a flat I loved but in the end I didn't get it... Well, I know I'll find my dream flat occassionally, but sometimes it's difficult to be patience in these things, right?
• In four months, I've managed to put a side over 2,000 euros for that crazy Chevrolet Impala dream of mine. I know I have a looooong road in front of me, but I'll get there. 

Hmph, that's pretty much all I have to say about this summer. I think I spent 40% of the time sleeping, 45% working, and above I've described how I spent the remaining 15%. Nothing exciting, just simple Apple Pie Life, you know.

I'm going to spend this week in Luumäki; simply relaxing and getting used to have much more spare time in my hands. Then I'm driving to Joensuu / North Karelia for a week or two. I obviously have a lot to do there before moving away; boring office stuff etc. Kind of stuff I just want to get done with, get rid of it. Then I'll go back to work on first of October, so by then I'll be back in Luumäki. Gosh, I have so many plans for the winter I feel my head is going to explode (in a positive way, if that's possible)! I have high hopes of starting to update this blog regularly again, so... so we'll see.

Anyway, I hope you all had a nice summer;
see you around,

yours truly-

photos from Google

a weekend off with the BFF

Last weekend was awesome! After working for 2 busy months, I was desperately in need of some time off. So, I booked a room from a hotel I've always wanted to stay in, and invited my best friend Silje to join me for a real Girls' Spa Weekend ❤ Actually, we had quite a lot to celebrate:

• my Anti-Graduation party
• Silje's recent engagement, and most of all
• our friendship!

 You might wonder what I mean by anti-graduation. Well, simply this: I've been studying in university for 5 years, and next fall I'm going to resign, because I just... hate all of it (I'm not going to repeat all I've written about the subject earlier, no worries). So, I'm quitting, but not graduating. BUT in my opinion, after surviving 5 years in university, I deserved a party, whether I graduated or not -- Losers need parties too! So yeah, I wanted to give myself a closure to this whole university thing, and what would have been a better way than celebrating my decision with my best friend - she's the one with whom I started my academic studies in the first place, back in A.D. 2006.

Our hotel was the castle hotel Grand Hôtel Cascade (in Finnish: Valtionhotelli) in Imatra. I've been kind of obsessed about the place for ages, and this was the very first time I actually stayed there for a night. It was brilliant! The hotel was built in 1903, and its history is more than just a little interesting -- including everything from tragic suicides to Russian aristocrates, and from miserable artists to forbidden love. It even served as a military hospital during the first World War. Well, yes, I do find all the unpleasant deaths interesting. With all the amazing ghost stories I've heard ever since I was a kid, of course we had our own little ghost hunt, but sadly (or maybe "luckily"!) we didn't encounter anything supernatural, not even the famous Grey Lady (although we're pretty sure she tried to call our hotel room in the morning - our hotel room phone kept on ringing and when I answered, someone just said "heeellooo" on the other end and nothing more... hmph).

Anyway, even without ghosts, our weekend was a success - enjoying the spa, having a few drinks in the garden, and most of all - just enjoying each others company, gossiping and making new plans. Once again, I was reminded why Silje truly is my best friend - it's just so easy, nice, funny, and relaxing to hang out with her <3  lovely, lovely, lovely. Here's some photos...

artsy photo of our hotel

you can see our balcony - it's on the 2nd floor, right next to the tower!

Vuoksi Rapid; right next to our hotel (a popular suicide place in early 1900s..)

enjoying the evening by the rapid

good times... good times.

"who you gonna call..." GHOSTBUSTERS! :DD (in the middle of our hunt)

...it was pretty creepy

seriously - I had to try and sit in every cool chair in the hotel! xD

Ghostbusters, part II

And in the end... you know how people have their own photos framed in the livingroom or something, like "this was taken when I graduated from there-and-there..."? Well, I got this brilliant idea to make my anti-graduation celebrations perfect, and asked Silje to take my anti-graduation photos. Next I'm seriously going to get one of these photos framed, and then I'm going to tell everyone "This was taken when I did NOT graduate from university!" Maybe it's just my weird sense of humour, but it sounds AWESOME to me! ;-)

Yeah, my short vacation in Imatra was great, and hanging out with Silje was so nice<3 Hopefully we'll meet soon again (ohh, maybe another spa weekend during the winter or something?)

Take care & enjoy the summer,
yours truly-

ps. so, from now on the university is officially a CLOSED CASE! Yippee!!

my USA roadtrip

Authors Notes: 

1. in the end I created a backup blog for myself, so this official blog of mine won't be completely taken over by my american dreams. Don't bother following the backup blog, if/when I use it, it will all go through this blog anyway (I'm planning to use it with my upcoming travels as well). Nonetheless, you're more than welcome to leave comments to the backup blog as well ;-)
2. Since the backup blog is brand new, please let me know if something there isn't working right so I can fix it!
3. Photos are mostly taken by yours truly or Caroline (thank you so much for borrowing your memory card!)
4.  I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings as much as I enjoyed writing them - in the end this whole USA Blog operation took around 16 hours of my not-so-precious time... and right now I'm too tired to read it all through - forgive me all the spelling mistakes and other weird stuff - I'll fix it all later!
5. Everything written in italics is uncencored and straight from my travel journal. 

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First I would like to introduce you my lovely group:

from left: blond Louise, Fiona, Becca, Caroline, me, dark Louise. The tall guy is Flo, and the one kneeling is our leader Art.

Louises were danish, Fiona & Becca british, Caroline from Switzerland, and Flo from Germany. There was also an Austrilian guy, Will, but unfortunately he had to leave us in Santa Fe )-: I started my USA adventure in Boston, and you can read about it HERE. Then I took a bus to New York City, and from NYC a train to New Jersey, where our trek officially begun. Click the links, my ramblings will pop up in new windows.

this is my ADVENTURE IN AMERICA!


Washington D.C.


Wytheville, Virginia


Nashville, Tennessee


Memphis, Tennessee


New Orleans, Louisiana


Houston, San Antonio, Austin - Texas


Roswell & Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico


Santa Fe, New Mexico


Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona


Grand Canyon, Arizona


Las Vegas, Nevada - Part 1


Las Vegas, Nevada - Part 2


San Diego, California - Part 1


San Diego, California - Part 2


Los Angeles, California


Reyakjavik, Iceland

YES, it was the best trip I've had so far, and my heart is still aching to get back to America. Oh, one more cliché - I feel I'm not the same I was before I went to America for the first time! I... I really loved it. USA is amazing, and I cannot wait to get back.


yours truly-

xxo

aftermath

Yay, I'm alive..! o/ Okay, first I had bronchitis, then I had migraine for 2 days, and now I have a cold sore on my lip (L0L). Anyway & overall, now I'm finally feeling like a humanbeing again. Still coughing my lungs out (did you know it's perfectly normal that bronchitis symptoms last up to 2 months?), but I can manage. Hopefully I don't get that sick any time soon again, because it really sucked, a big time. Looking for a silver lining? I'm now officially addicted to The Simpsons, I've watched almost 2 seasons in less than a week! The Simpsons has always been my more or less guilty pleasure, and now I've challenged myself to watch all the episodes - that's more than 20 seasons and 500+ episodes! OMG. Erm, well, time to move on, let's say me having bronchitis is now a closed case.

Yesterday was the first day I really felt better, and Emilia made my day even better by dropping by for a coffee. In case you've forgotten / don't know, Emilia is a friend of mine who used to be my flat mate, and after she moved out, we became friends instead of flat mates. We're both pretty busy in general, so even we live in the same city, we only meet maybe once a month or so, but every time we do - even if it's only for a quick cup of coffee - we have a good time together. She's the only one of my friends who's into photographing, so sometimes we go photographing together - eventhough she's a Canonist and I'm a Nikonist ;-) Anyway, yesterday Emilia came over for a nice little C&G (Coffee & Gossip). Damn it was great to have someone around after laying in bed for a week!

I also spent almost on hour on the phone yesterday, taking care of everything that got postponed because of me being sick last week. In the end I was very pleased with myself, this is everything I took care of yesterday:

• cancelled TOEFL (taking the test now doesn't really make sense, hence my changed plans about the next year)
• informed Itella that I want my mail delivered to Luumäki till the end of August (I won't be much in Joensuu from now on, hence the US and then summer job in Luumäki)
• called the boss of my boss and asked if I can come to work at the cemetery again next summer, and he said YES! :-) I'm so happy about this. I mean, I kind of knew I would get the job back, after working there for so long and all, but still it was great to hear it out aloud, you know. So, now my life is sorted out till the end of October.
• booked a hairdresser for tomorrow (my bangs are so long I can barely see!) 
• booked a cosmetologist for tomorrow (eeeeeep, I'm going to get my bikini line and legs waxed, which is pretty damn scary idea, L0L. Already had a nightmare about it last night xD but I'm sure it'll be worth of pain, I mean, ladies... who's up for shaving all the time while being on the road for month?)
• booked a massage for Thursday - it'll do me so good, I'm pretty damn sore after laying in bed for a week... besides, I think I'm addicted to massages.
• (and I also download like 10 albums - I'm building my very own USA road trip soundtrack)

So, things are looking pretty good right now. Now I only need to buy a sleeping bag and a new swimming suit for the US... Oh yes, and do laundry. Then I'll be ready to go! :-) I hope I'll get to leave for Luumäki by the end of this week, then I'd have a week for chilling out there before leaving for Helsinki and the US. I miss Luumäki so much... I just realized it's been over 3 months since my last visit which was in November after I got back to Finland from the Baltics tour. So I guess it's not a wonder I'm missing all my Luumäki people... On the other hand, now that my summer job is confirmed, I'll spend more than 4 months in South Karelia during the summer, and sooner or later I'll be whining how I'm sick of Luumäki and all its nosey people.

One more thing about yesterday - NORTHERN LIGHTS! We don't get to see much northern lights here in North Karelia (lol too much 'north' in that sentence) but last night the sky was lit up by the most beautiful northern lights I've ever seen. Took some photos too, but they aren't too good -- have you ever tried to photograph something that lingers in the sky, is constantly moving, fading away and reappearing somewhere else? Yeah, not too easy, especially because I was too lazy to use the tripod... Anyway, take my word - it was amazing, one of those rare moments which make think "Damn, this is worth of living up here in North - being able to see something like this from my own balcony."

yours truly -

Closed Case: 2011

Generally, I have always loved the whole concept of New Year. Every year around Christmas I get anxious, like I couldn't wait to get rid of the old year and start a new one. For me it has always been all about rebirth, a chance to start all over again, a tabula rasa to be filled with new experiences and adventures.

However, this year I feel sad when I realize that this really is the last day of 2011. Tomorrow 2011 will be history, it will be the "last year" and we'll have the whole new 2012 in front of us. Like I said, usually I would find this idea very comforting (even liberating), but 2011 in my life has been so different than any year before, that I'm finding it hard to let it go. If I could decide if I'd like to get a new year, or start 2011 all over again tomorrow, I wouldn't hesitate - I'd live 2011 again, each and every day and hour of it.

2011 was perfect.

I feel I could write a three volume novel about 2011, and still right now I have difficulties finding the right words to describe my year. After studying 16 years (elementary school, high school, boarding school and then university) I finally had a chance to take a year off and do whatever I wanted. Time to get to know myself and find out what I really want to do with my life. Time to travel, read, photograph... time to think. This year has really changed me, and I think right now I'm happier than I've ever been.

Because pictures speak more than words, let me show you some of my favorite memories from 2011...

 

I fell in love with Barcelona, and started studying Spanish.

I met Jeniffer in São Paulo, Brazil.

I took a new tattoo as a souvenier in Brazil.

I saw my favorite band 30 Seconds to Mars in Barcelona, São Paulo, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.

I worked at the cemetery for 4 months during the summer, and I still love the job & the team so much! This is a photo of Abby (my boss) and me at our gravedigger's (in the middle) farewell party when he retired.

I spent almost 5 months of the year in South Karelia. I finally had a chance to spend a lot of time with my nephew Shan. He's the coolest kid I know.

While in South Karelia, I also spent a lot of time with my sister Miia. I think we haven't been this close since the early childhood, and I love it. I love her so much (eventhough sometimes she's such a jerk, of course) The time I spend with her this year made me realize how much I've missed her, and I won't let us drift apart again.

The paradox of studying literature is that when you're studying, you don't have time to read. In 2011 I wasn't studying, so I had time to read A LOT, mainly modern American classics.

I bought a new camera, Nikon D3100.

I got the cutest car...

...and fell in love with the idea of a road trip. For starters I drove the car all alone from South Karelia to North Karelia - I think I've never felt more free. I simply love cars & driving.

I spent an awesome weekend in Tallinn, Estonia with my Echelon friends...

...and we took a friggin' limousine to the concert venue when we went to see 30 Seconds to Mars (Tallinn IS the Vegas of Europe, you know that) xD

I went for a holiday in Vienna with Abby, and that's where I really got into my hobby of photographing cemeteries.

I drove aimlessly around North Karelia, visited Koli national park and learnt that I don't always have to travel abroads - Finland is a pretty nice place too, and here's still a lot for me to discover.

...I could add a thousand photos and a gazillion stories, but I think this will give you a picture of my year. It was great, and I will never forget all I've seen & experienced in 2011. I'm thankful for everything I've got. This year has taught me that I really can do whatever I want, and that in the end the only thing that matters, is that I'm happy and in peace with myself. Yes, I'm sad this adventure called 2011 is ending, but I'm also excited to see what happens in 2012. There will be some major changes in my life, but I'm confident it will all work out. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR ❤

yours truly*

Closed Case: Christmas 2011

Thank God the yuletide is almost over!

I'm not a Christmas person. It might have something to do with the fact that for the past 24 years my Christmasses have always been almost identical: my Mother trying too hard to make everything perfect, and my Father screwing it all up by getting too drunk. Usually ending with me and my Mother opening our gifts in my room, pretending not to hear Father yelling and swearing in livingroom, and in the end both me and my Mother sighing in relief when we heard Father going out and heading to some of his drinking buddies. All this got even worse when I moved to my own. Every year I would come back to my parents for Christmas, every year my Mother would try even harder to make it perfect, and every year (it seemed) my Father tried even harder to ruin it all.

So, maybe it's not a wonder I don't like Christmas time.

This year I decided to try something new - not going to my family for Christmas at all, but spending it all alone in my own home in Joensuu. It might sound depressing for most of people, but I'm not most people. I enjoy being on my own, and therefore I've already made a habit of spending New Years alone, so I thought Christmas would work out the same way just fine.

I admit I was pretty surprised how well everyone in my family took it when I told I'm not coming back to Luumäki for Christmas this year. Somehow I was expecting lectures about how Christmas is a family holiday which should never be spend alone. But no, everyone was like "Okay, if that's what you want." I guess everyone in my family is sick of those Christmasses too, and they've just kept trying because of me.

So, I stayed in Joensuu for Christmas. Both of my flat mates were gone for their families by 17th of December, and I enjoyed the silence (and finally had a chance to practice the speaking section of TOEFL without my flat mates thinking I've gone completely nuts). I had decided to take the Christmas Eve just like any other evening, no special plans whatsoever.

Much to my surprise, my Christmas Eve still sucked, a big time. I really don't know what happened, but as soon as I got up on 24th, I just knew it wasn't a good day, and as the hours passed, it just got worse. Now, there is one thing about me: I never feel lonely, and I'm only bored like once or twice a year. But on 24th I felt so goddamn lonely and miserable all day and I was bored out of my mind. I tried to think of it just as another evening, but somehow it didn't work out at all. It all just felt wrong.

I ended up watching TV series on DVD, episode after episode, just hoping I'd get tired enough to go to sleep and get rid of the damn day. Then suddenly (during the pilot of Sons of Anarchy, which I by the way didn't find as interesting as I had expected) I started sobbing. Here's one more fact: I don't cry. Seriously. I mean,  it's just not my thing. The last time I cried was maybe a few years back, and that was just for some dumbass reason because I was too tired, you know. But on Christmas Eve I found myself crying my eyes out because I felt so lonely and pathetic, and because I had a guilty conscious for not being with my family. SO NOT LIKE ME.

Well, the Christmas Eve finally came to an end. I went to bed, prayed I would feel better the next morning and... as I woke up on 25th, everything was back to normal again and I had a wonderful time! What's up with that? I was so miserable for the whole 24th, but as soon as it was over, I was fine again. Maybe I'm cursed or something. Maybe I should try spending the next Christmas abroads and see if it still sucks as much. Or maybe I will just go to my family, at least I'll know what to expect there.

The bottom line is, I'm extremely happy that Christmas is a closed case for another year once again. Soon it will be New Year, my favorite time of the year. Tonight my best friend Silje is coming over for a few days, and I know we'll have so much fun together, and I'll get over this Christmas disaster.

AND by telling you how my Christmas was, I've also got over the most difficult part of starting a new blog - writing the first entry. Thanks for reading, and see you soon again.

yours truly~

ps. I'm not a Christmas person, but I still love Christmas songs. Wanna hear my all-time favorite? It's Christmas in Dixie by Alabama. I remember walking down the streets of Barcelona and listening to this on repeat last year - good times... good times.