Top 10 Hype List

1. "Like this, Like that" SE:SA feat. Sharon Phillips
2. "About You Now" Sugababes
3. "Radar" Britney Spears
4. "What Planet You On" Bodyrox feat. Luciana
5. "Hot as Ice" Britney Spears
6. "Breakfast in Bed" Nicole Kea
7. "Puttin' on the Ritz" Shiny Toy Guns
8. "The Girl From Ipenema" Frank Sinatra
9. "Gela" Abyssinia Infinite
10. "I Found You (Remode)" Axwell feat. Charles Salter

No Wings but Fireworks

Well as you might have guessed I didn't get my Friday wings this week (but we are going today, yay!) because Samuli said that I'll get them when I finish my essay. Of course I took all day to do it and when I finally was almost done he said we could go. But it was too late, the place was packed so we ended up at Hesburger. There were so many people out last night everywhere was full! About ten minutes after we got to Hese there was a line of hungry families almost to the door! It's been a while since we went out on Friday evening so either I've forgotten how it is or there were people out because of the opening of Valoviikot.

Valoviikot (Lightweeks) is the yearly opening of the 'Christmas-like' light decorations on the streets of Tampere and each year they open with fireworks! Yay! I'd been given an assignment by one of my photography courses to go and take pictures. Now, I've never taken pictures of fireworks, at least not seriously. I don't really enjoy the course anyway so my attempt this time was half assed too I didn't even take my camera stand with me. Still I did enjoy the fireworks, they were pretty cool! And then I came back home to drink beer and finish my essay (ended up being at 1:25).

Doggie Decisions

We just got an answer from the Spanish dogs place saying that Kika and Risa are still available. The last time I heard from the puppy in Helsinki was yesterday morning when the owner sent me an e-mail he would get back to me later that evening. Still no reply. This is kind of stressful since I do want one of these dogs but at the same time if I'm too eager I may end up with two and at some point I have to chose which one to pursue. So, I was hoping I could get some helpful advice again.

Here are our two candidates at the moment:

RISAStats:

• 2 years old
• female
• 30cm high and weighs 6kg
  

Pros:

• The following is included in Risa's payment:

1. microchip
2. EU-passport
3. rabies vaccination
4. some triple vaccination
5. some ekinokokkoos treatment
6. Leishmania test
7. Heartworm test
8. sterilization
9. airfare to Helsinki

• We would be giving an abandoned dog a home

Cons:

• She is a rescue dog so she may have different problems (mental and physical).
  
• We don't yet know if we can have her and there are issues outside our control which might influence that.

PUPPY

• 

Stats:

• 3 months old
  
• Father is a corgi-kleinspitz-mix and mother is a papillon-like-mix so she will be a small 'toy' dog size

Pros:

• She is a puppy
• Since she is not a rescue dog we wouldn't have to prepare for those 'special' kinds of problems that those kinds of dogs might have.
• She's had her first check up and has also received two vaccinations.
• Has not been in a 'stressful' environment (been in someones home with mother)

Cons:

• Does not come with all the checkups and vaccinations as Risa (and so we would have to pay for those later)
  
• Owner hasn't replied to e-mail so maybe she found a home already.

Ugh... difficult decisions, especially when the outcome isn't even really up to me. Frustrating...

Banks and Dogs

So, boring stuff first. The chain of shops that we have a 'loyal'-customer card to recently changed the bonus money program into a shop owned bank. This means that I now have 5 different kind of bank cards from four different banks, three of which are in Finland. Pretty weird stuff. The reason I am a customer at so many banks is because I wasn't satisfied with Sampo so I was planning on changing all activity to OP and that's now in a 'transitional' phase. Anyway what this bank thing also means is that I will have a joint bank account with Samuli, this should be very interesting. I once had one of my ex-boyfriends tell me that even if we were married he would not want a joint account with me... nice...

And then on to more interesting stuff! I really want a dog! I've been desperately going through all possible adverts in magazines and online trying to find the perfect new member to our small family. The thing is I'm pretty scared of big dogs and so my number one criteria is that the dog should be small i.e. manageable even for me. Thing is that there are way more big dogs available than small ones and thus also price is a major issue.

Fibi from Espanjan Kulkukoirat

One of the places I've been looking at has been this great thing called Espanjan Kulkukoirat, which is basically a Finnish couple who runs a rescue center for dogs in Spain. They're really good, they check the dogs and give them all the possible shots and treatment at the vets in Spain before they are brought to Finland. You get a dog passport and one of those microchip things too and all this for 250e! They have some adorable small dogs and yesterday I found the perfect one for us, the only problem is that they have set an age limit of 23 for people wanting to adopt. Such a bummer!!

(from top left-->right) Kiko, Rubi, Risa and Kika from Espanjan Koirat

I found this other very similar website and there I found 4 dogs I would be interested in. They don't, to my knowledge, have an age limit but the dogs there are 290e (includes shots, medication, tests and airfare). I sent them an e-mail but they seem very strict about who they choose to give the dogs to.

Little girl.

Finally our third possibility at the moment is this sweet little thing that we found for sale on a message board. Her father is a corgi-kleinspitz -mix and her mother is a papillon-like-mix, so yes a really messed up mix :) I sent an e-mail to the current owner and he gave me some information. She's been to the vet and got some shots and meds and is 3 months old. She is in Helsinkin so if this works out we can easily go get her from there. The price they are asking is 280e.

So, all you dog people I need your opinions/comments!

You know you're in Finland when...

it's the beginning of October and you wake up at 5 am to go to the bathroom and realize that it's snowing outside.

Thief Found

Aha! I got a picture of my flower bulb and bird feed thief:

see, I'm not insane! Someone is raiding my garden!! Hmm... but now I can't be mad at something that cute. I mean look at that little adorable face!!

*waah*

Bella Roma, Squirrels and LOLing

I think I just LOLed in the bus. I was listening to this podcast (KCRW Good Food) and this guy was going on about cocktails and it was funny. I mean I was sitting there having my Chai Latte really getting into the show forgetting where I was and I think I LOLed... very loud, because this lady across from me was giving me this 'are-you-psycho'-esque look.

Anyhow, on Saturday we decided to have lunner or dinch (lunch/dinner) at Bella Roma (we had a 2for1 coupon, what a surprise). Bella Roma have two restaurants one in Siperia in the center and one in Hervanta. The one in Hervanta is kind of like one of those cheap pizza kebab places, but the one in Siperia is more of a sit down place. The coupon was valid in the one in the center, so that's naturally where we headed. I was pretty lazy and I hadn't called to reserved a table so we decided to pick a time when we assumed that there wouldn't be that many people.

We arrived at 16:55 on Saturday and the place was pretty packed, although it was difficult to figure out just how much space they had since they have a small flight of stairs going up to a half floor at the back. When the lady came to seat us she pointed to two of the worst possible tables. One was right next to where people waited before being seated and the other one was in front of the kitchen like many meters away from any other table (plus there was only one seat). As a third option she said we could go sit 'outside' since they do have some tables outside the restaurant (but inside Siperia). I opted for the table next to the people queuing up since I had looked at the tables outside and they seemed kind of full. Now I wouldn't have had a problem with the tables if these were the only ones available, I mean it was my fault for not reserving in advance, however after us there came many parties of twos who did NOT have a reservation who were seated up in the back and no one after us during the time we were there was offered the crummy seat next to the kitchen.

Notice how close the kitchen 'window' is (where the woman is) and the phone was where that bar starts (curvy brick thing).

Needless to say the atmosphere was not very nice. First of all we were right where the people waiting to be seated were standing. Soon we realized that we were right next to the phone too, with the woman taking reservations and yelling to the waiters to see if there was still seating. Oh yeah and the waiters going to and from the kitchen walked right past us too. So, basically it was noisy and hectic and I was pissed off that they had seated us there and given all the people who came after us better seats.

Steak and Potatoes

We decided to forget the starters and just use the coupon, eat and go. We had the BISTECCA PER AFFAMATO 23,70e an entrecôte steak with potatoes, bacon beans and red wine sauce. The food came really quickly considering how full they were and the food was OK. I ordered my steak medium and it was almost cooked through so that was another disappointment and also the red wine sauce tasted like the one we had the week before from a package.

All in all the seating really ticked me off and it contributed not only to the atmosphere but also to the overall mood. The service after the seating however was quick and pleasant. The food, had it not been an offer would not have been worth 23.70e. My verdict is that call ahead and request a GOOD table and either stick to the pizza (which is apparently good value) or just stick to Speakeasy's orgasmic wings which is right across from Bella Roma.

Therapy (and no, not all those cups are ours, honest).

After that some what disappointing dinch I needed some therapy so we headed to have a Chai Latte at Wayne's Coffee (we have no Starbucks in Finland) which soothed my disappointed nerves.

Then on Sunday I finally got round to planting the flower bulbs I had ordered. I dug and planted out in the cold, windy rain for what seemed like hours, till they were all nicely in the ground. I even planned the beds according to color, size and time of flowering. So when I woke up this morning and peered out the window and was greeted with HOLES! Yes HOLES in my beautifully crafted flower beds I pretty much flipped. It's that same damn squirrel that I saw digging up these bulbs I planted earlier. OMG!!! Speaking of the little devil I just turned around and IT WAS RIGHT THERE EATING FROM THE BIRD FEEDER. Damn, it didn't even scare when I opened the porch door, I could have whacked it on the head. Oh well. At least it is eating the bird feed not my bulbs. I have to think of something ARGH it's back!! Ugh... ran away. Yes, so must think of something less painful that whacking it on the head. Still it did eat ALL my Puschkinias and some of my big tulips...

Why do so many annoying things happen at the same time? Well, at least I did LOL on the bus.

PS. Must remember to write the next post about crazy cult meeting we were conned into going to last night.

Speakeasy Friday

My favorite restaurant in Tampere is this bar and hot wings place called Speakeasy. Recently they expanded and are now on two floors and there have been coupons in the local papers for 12 wings for 5e which is an awesome deal if you ask me. So, of course I've been hoarding coupons and we've gone there 3 times now for the past 3 weeks (once a week). I swear the wings there are friggin wonderful, although Samuli isn't much of a fan but hey, what does he know! *hehe* Another bonus is that you can get a big beer there 0,6l for a fairly decent price considering that it is a restaurant and that it is Finland (the land of expensive state alcohol and alcoholics).

Other than eating I've been avoiding work and instead played Warcraft 3 for disgusting amounts of time and taken photographs, but that's nothing new really, although I seem to be in a nice spot of inspiration at the moment (surprise surprise with Period 1 ending and promises of essay writing ahead of me). I finally realized how great a tripod is, no more super blurry photos, and have been experimenting with taking pictures in the dark. It's been a lot of fun for me and not so much fun for my model Samuli, so if anyone else is willing to pose and is around Tampre then feel free to contact me. I've also found a new idol, Bryan Niven who takes incredible pictures, or should I say makes incredible pictures. He is a virtuous with Photoshop absolutely fantabulous!



I forgot to mention in my last post that I had an interesting cultural weekend in Pori with my dear friend Leslie. And I learnt so many wonderful things such as people in Pori are strange, Leslie's cat Kissa is kind of gross, small guys can be surprisingly strong, Vesa and Antti can ride many horses (at the same time), that Vesa has weird ass grabbing friends (OK one friend), that people in Pori are really strange and most importantly that ice hockey rocks! Yeah, we went to watch the Ässät-HIFK game (Ässät lost 2-3) and although it was a bit of a bummer for Pori it was still a fun experience! I have a team to support now, Ilves and would love to go watch a match but they're either during the week when I have things to do or on the weekend when I have things to do... so no luck yet. On top of this Samuli is not interested at all in going to watch a game so he's always making up excuses not to go... pfff.

Back by Popular Demand (aka. harrassement from 1 person)

This post is dedicated to my loyal fan Sandra Shakespear.

So, it's been a while again. School started so I've been busy with a lot of things but none which have been worth mentioning. I still can't believe it's already my 4th year! I guess I should be about finished by now but I figured what's the point in stressing.

Other than school I'm taking two photography courses. One in portrait photography and the other one seems to be mainly theory. The former course is a lot of fun and I've been one it 2 years ago and the guy who does it is really awesome. The second course I'm taking is really really sucky. The woman who does it is so annoying. You have no idea how much I would like to just...grrrr... ARGH, well you get the point. So, anyway not only has the course been just talking about photos, but it seems the only photo opportunity I'm going to get will be a... scary/embarassing/disturbing (?) one. You see 99% of those attending the course have been doing so for the past 2-3 years or so i.e. they're good buddies. They also decided last year that they would like to have a specific theme for this year, and the theme is... NUDE photography! OK, if you know me at all you'll know that nudity for me isn't really an issue, I'm a pervert. But just the idea of being in a room with a bunch of 50+ year old guys (and some ladies) and 1-2 naked people and attempting to get a good (NON-PORNO) picture is scary. I mean that lady doing the course has spent about 10 hours lecturing us about how nude photography is an art and she will kill anyone who takes a pornoish photo. Man, I'm SO DEAD.

Other than being scared shittless in case my pervertedness should come out we haven't really done much around Tampere City. Although we did end up at a cat show one weekend for a laugh. There were some really freaking hideous cats:


And some cute ones too:


On Saturday it was Oona's 1 year birthday party, you know Oona, Samuli's cousins baby girl. I still can't believe that it's already been a year! I swear it feels like Elina just told me she's pregnant... well, maybe because I just did hear that she's pregnant. She's pregnant again!

Oona and her mummy opening presents.

Anyway Oona's birthday was fun. It was a pity that her daddy had a show and couldn't be there (he plays the trumpet... or some other blow instrument...)

Oona and Elina blowing the candle out on the ice cream cake.

Oona playing with the push cart that her godmother (Samuli's sister) got her.

We got her a hat (above), a skirt and a skull t-shirt her grandmother did not approve of *hehe*

All in all it was a fun party and I'm not so scared of her anymore. She liked my camera, I can't be scared of someone who likes my camera now can I? However babies in general still scare the hell out of me.

Oona and her Mum

I have a new addition to the weird roadside attractions of Finland. On the Tampere-Lahti road there is a church with no roof.

See I did kid you not, no roof.

It's one of the 14 or so stone churches built around Pirkanmaa between 1480 and 1550's.

I'm not usually the type to stop at churches but this one was pretty neat. I mean seeing as it's so old... oh and the fact that there is no roof (also notice that it does have seats).

Samuli pretending to give a sermon.

Other than those things nothing else is going on in drab, cold, rainy Finland.