The voyeurism project is over and we are waiting to get the next briefs for new projects. So there's been dangerously much free time since last Thursday. The reading week started today, we aren't supposed to be in the uni but I still find myself sitting here in the digi lab.

Anyway, we had a nice dinner party yesterday. Except that I broke my nose just before it. That's what you get when you live with southern-European people! Only kidding. We were clearing the living room so that we could fit everybody around the table, I was walking up the stairs my hands full with stuff from the living room and Naroa was coming downstairs carrying a chair. She didn't see me, I didn't see her, so we bumped into each other and the chair hit my nose.
It got quite swollen so I was sitting the first half of the evening with frozen vegetables pressed to my nose. It's still a bit swollen today and I can feel it in my front teeth, but the cut is quite okay. Luckily my eyeglasses survived without wounds. And my eyes didn't get black. Wouldn't have been nice to go to Lisbon with black eyes. My nose is maybe even a bit more crooked than what it used to be, but I hope it just gives me some attitude... It'll make me look more like my dad and big(gest) brother with their broken noses. Emma said that it looks like a nose of a witch.
We'll see after couple of days how it looks like.


Here's some random polaroids from yesterday and other parties.




Hugo and his anti-Britain.



Andri.



Stripes with his party hat and party shades on his birthday.



Hugo in our front yard.



Tuubi.

It's been a better day today. On Wednesday we were talking about going somewhere out of here for couple of days on our reading week with Naroa, so yesterday we bought tickets and made a hostel reservation. We are going to Lisbon for 3 nights the week after next!

I woke up twice last night because there were mice in my room.
I'm hoping that the heating will start working now, it hasn't been working for over a month.
All this shit is getting a bit too much for me.

Yesterday I felt like I hadn't been in Chatham for months. Today I feel like I've been here for months.

Kaikille sureville ystäville:


Jos yksi pettää ja toinen jättää, niin kolmas ystävä on
vaan muista: hän on kyyneliisi täysin viaton.
Jos käännät selkäsi kolmannelle, ei neljäs tulekaan
on paha olla yksinään, sen tulet tuntemaan.
Siis tartu käteen kolmannen, hän ystäväsi on
ja muista: tuskin kelläkään on mieli huoleton.
Jo huomenna on paremmin, siis jaksa siihen asti
ja rakkaudesta puhu hiljaa, puhu varovasti.

Jos yksi pettää ja toinen jättää, niin kolmas ystävä on
vaan muista: hän on kyyneliisi täysin viaton.
On turha kostaa ja kaunaa kantaa, on turha valittaa
on turha katsella taivaanrantaa ja tuskaa kasvattaa.
Siis tartu käteen kolmannen, hän ystäväsi on
on hällä silmät lämpimät ja sydän peloton.
Voit ilon löytää nukkumasta suolaheinän alta
ja ruoho uusi nousta alkaa aina matalalta.

Jos yksi pettää ja toinen jättää, niin kolmas ystävä on
vaan muista: hän on kyyneliisi täysin viaton.
Pian päivä vaihtuu ja murhe taittuu, tutuksi vieras käy
et enää kerro tähdistä, jos tähtiä ei näy.
Siis tartu käteen kolmannen, hän ystäväsi on
on hällä silmät lämpimät ja sydän peloton,
ja kolmas jos on mennyt pois on vuoro neljännen
ja kenties yhä lähemmältä tuntuu ihminen.

- Aulikki Oksanen
(kiitos äiti).


Toivottavasti vuosi 2008 on meille kaikille onnellisempi.

It was so nice to be back in Finland this weekend. I had my sauna (at the twins’ house) and my rye bread (everywhere). Went to see Stereo Total on Saturday in Kuudes Linja (I don’t like that place though). I still think that Stereo Total is one of the coolest things in the world, although the gig wasn’t near as good as the one that I saw a couple of years ago. There was lots of drunken idiots on the gig this time, sadly that drew the attention from the band a bit. It was really annoying. I was also quite tired when I went there: my friends Ilya and Roosa had their now traditional Thanksgiving dinner. And I ate loads. Which was, of course, very nice, but not a good thing to do just before going to the sort of concert where the vocalist dives into the audience etc. (whatever the name of doing that thing is).
On Sunday we had a family dinner with all my brothers and sisters and my parents in Porvoo, it is a good thing to do, I recommend. And it was a nice dinner. I didn’t have time to meet my old friends in Porvoo, which was a shame, but I guess I will be seeing them after couple of weeks.
I had to spend the whole Monday doing my stupid essay and after that I was really brain-dead. On Tuesday I finally got out from Kallio for a bit. I just quickly did some food shopping before leaving to the airport. I tried to find winter shoes as well, but it felt stupid ‘cause I’m not sure if I need them. There isn’t going to be winter here in England. But then I’m coming to Finland for Christmas. How boring is this anyway?
Yesterday I went to London to see Roisin Murphy’s concert with Emma. The club (Koko in Camden) was so cool. I think it was an old theatre, a huge building with walls painted red and a massive disco ball hanging from the ceiling. The concert was good, although it got a bit lame in the middle, but then it got really good again towards the end. And Roisin Murphy is quite cool (not cool enough to get into my coolest things in the world list though), we were just talking with Emma after the concert how she has the ability of keeping all the power on the stage, she is not just some barbiedoll dancing there. I’m not sure if you understand what I’m talking about, I hope you do. (It’s just that I have been writing my essay about the gaze and power, and the relation between the viewer and the person who is being looked at. And we had been talking about those subjects with Emma just before the concert started.)

See you all soon in England and in Finland. And in Finland you have to remember to be as excited about me coming as you were now when I came. Ps. Sorry everybody that I didn’t tell that I was coming. I just thought that I haven’t really got time to see anyone, with the essay and all. But I’m really looking forward to seeing everybody now! I’ll be there on 14th.

I'm getting really lazy with updating.

It has been a really busy week again. We are organizing an exhibition with Tracy, Sophia and Saana (like all the other second year photography students, it's part of our studies). The private view is after two weeks and there's still loads to do. But it's fun, a bit stressing though, I have to say that my group is brilliant.
The pictures that I made for the show were actually sent to Nikon's competition. First we had to submit our portfolios to our tutors who then chose 5 persons from the course from every year course to enter the competition. And of course not everybody submitted their portfolios but it's still quite nice to have that credit for it, because I didn't have any tutorials or anyone to guide me with the project.



In case someone didn't know, I live in Chatham now with Naroa and two greek girls Angela and Felicia. Life in here is basically the same what it was last year, and yet so different. I feel happier here than what I did last year. Maybe I just got used to this place. Or maybe Chatham is just so much lovelier place than Rochester (just kidding, there isn't any difference).
There's also more people coming and going. Tuomo was here and left on monday, Angela's mom was here as well (she cleaned all the time!), Janne is coming from Dublin tomorrow for couple of days. Naroa left to Spain for the weekend... It's nice to have people visiting. Please do that in the future as well.

I think it's my bedtime now. I'm all excited about going to Maidstone tomorrow morning, even if it is only for half an hour, but you know, the life circle in here is kind of small. And yes, Janne is coming tomorrow and I should take him to a party later on, so I'm sure it'll be an exhausting day.