This is what you get when you carry out unplanned ideas

Yesterday I made a perfect shopping list and went to a grocery store to buy everything on it. But while I was shopping my daily necessities I started to think how lovely and motherly it would be to have a closet stocked with cookies and other things I could serve with tea. This thought soon transformed to an idea to fill the freezer with home-made muffins. And it sounded like an idea good enough to carry out, so in my head I added chocolate buttons to my shopping list.

But when I got home I realize that I actually need more than just chocolate buttons to bake muffins. I only got two eggs and I was seriously running out of sugar and oil too. So I had no other choice than go back to the store..

But when I got home again I realize that I didn't have flour... Luckily the store is near.

Every reader counts

According to Hannes his good friend reads my blog. I don't know much about her, except that her name is Sanna and she lives somewhere like 500 kilometers away. Anyway. Since I know you're there, I just wanted to welcome you. So welcome. And feel free to drop me a comment sometime. I would totally appreciate that. And please make Hannes to drop me some comments too. He's been reading my blog since forever and he has never commented me!

First set of first impressions

I really enjoy listening to new bands but it takes a lot of work to find them by yourself. That's why I was more than happy to snatch so many albums from my sister's laptop. She listens to metal too so there is actually a big chance that I might find something I could really like.

I don't often have the patience to get to know new bands at home. I just download some samples but never really listen to them. It doesn't work that way. That's why I decided to listen to these new albums at work where I can really concentrate.

I have now listened to six new albums (that's pretty much all I can fit to my mp3-player) and I'm ready to write down some first impressions. Notice that these are not supposed to be reviews or recommendations, just lazy scribbles to document my musical journey. I hope that later I can look back to these and see how my taste of music has developed (and hopefully extended too).

Trivium - The Crusade



The Crusade it's indeed a very decent album... if you happen to like trash metal. I just don't like. I tried to listen to this with an open mind though, because this was something my sister especially wanted me to try out. But I just couldn't really enjoy this. It was too Metallica-like, and if I want to listen to something that sounds like Metallica, I listen to Metallica.

Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked



I'm not sure if metal music is supposed to make you feel good, but that is the main reason why I listen to it. Annihilation of the Wicked certainly did not made me feel good; It made me want to kill myself by being way too boring for my taste. Hell yeah, it's aggressive. But not in a good way. It was more like totally meaningless background noise, with no melody or anything that you could actually catch on. This album just made me yawn and I couldn't find anything good from it even though I listened to it twice. The cover art is quite cool, though.

The Gathering - Home



This album got me hypnotized from the very first song. And it just kept getting better song by song. I'd say that Home sounds a bit like No Need to Argue by the Cranberries but with a beat and rougher vocals. In fewer words: it's just perfect. Listen to yourself:



Carcass - Heartwork



I know that these bands don't exactly walk hand in hand, but somehow Carcass reminds me of Dimmu Borgir. It was the very first metal band I ever listened so I guess it's a good thing even though I don't really listen to it anymore. Anyway. Heartwork is quite basic melodic death metal album and therefore highly enjoyable if you're into that. I think I still have to work with this one even though I already like it. I just think I could like it more if I could listen to it when I'm on the right mood for it.

Porcupine Tree - Deadwing



I knew in advance that I was going to love Deadwing. I'm not psychic or anything. I've just seen this happen before; Amarth likes Vast. Then Amoena likes Vast. Amarth likes Katatonia. Then Amoena likes Katatonia. Amarth likes Porcupine Tree... Yeah. There's a pattern. I'm not trying to copy his taste of music, it just keeps happening. And it wasn't even Amarth who made me listen to this album in the first place!



Summoning - Stronghold



If Nile was an anti-feel-good metal, this is the exact opposite. Stronghold definitely makes you feel good. It will also make your imagination flowing. It sounds like a soundtrack and it will fill your head with awesome ideas and pictures. At least it worked for me and left me feeling totally creative. Now I just need to find out where to use such creativeness.

I guess I don't do girls then

Every now and then Hannes kindly suggests me to get a girlfriend. Of course he doesn't mean that I should turn to a lesbian but he thinks I should hang out with girls too. In a way I agree with him. I have started to feel way too comfortable with boys. They just make better friends. But that's not the only reason why the vast majority of my friends are boys.

The real reason is that other girls at my age make me feel insecure. And I really don't like to feel that way. I've never felt as insecure with boys than I have with girls. I know that boys get me. They understand what I'm talking about since most of the time I'm talking their language anyway.

And other girls make me feel ugly which of course make me even more insecure. But I can't help it. I'm like totally clueless when it comes to clothes and make-up and hair and other girl shit. I just don't know how to do it properly. And it doesn't help that I happen to have like bad hair day every single day and a problem skin. So it's like no matter how hard I try I always feel myself somehow less pretty.

And then there is this one thing that I lead a very different life than other girls usually do. It's not exactly easy to be a girl nerd. I know other girl nerds exist but I've chosen to believe it only when I actually meet one. And so far I have met none. I simply can't imagine myself befriending with someone who doesn't understand nerdism. And I'm not sure if I ever even want to. And once again my strict teetotalism is not helping. I wouldn't want to hang out with girls who are into partying and stuff. I want to stay home drinking tea and watching silly movies and not hear a shit about how my life's lame.

And let's face it: girls are back-stabbing bitches. That's what I meant earlier when I said that boys make better friends. They don't talk dirty things about you behind your back or... anything that girls tend to do to each other. They're just above all that shit. And I rather stay out of it too. Don't get me wrong here. I'm totally bitchy too, but not to boys since they're not bitchy to me.

I know that my view of girls is totally stereotypical. And I do know that there are plenty of girls out there who are actually really nice. Like Elina for example! They're just not coming to me and I always rather befriend with boys if possible. Btw, if you're nice and you think you wouldn't intimidate me, feel free to drop me a comment or something.

New music and new plans

Last year my sister bought herself a quite decent laptop.It was a surprise to everyone because she's definitely not a nerd of any kind. So we used to make fun of her and questioning her purposes. Like did she bought a laptop because she thought it was like a super modern microwave oven or something. Anyway. She has becoming more nerdy since. She even knows how to use Ctrl+C nowadays.

When I took my own laptop to Viiala I asked my sister to brought hers too. We share a similar taste of music so I thought it would be fun to exchange some of our favorites. I gave her some VAST and Katatonia and other shit I like and she gave me... nothing. She got bored so she went out to play with her dog. But meanwhile I took like 35 random albums from her laptop so now I'm seriously loaded with new music. I'm way too lazy to actually count but I think I have like 60 albums I have never listened to. That's a project, if you ask me.

It's also a project I will blog about. Here's the deal:

1. I upload as many albums to my mp3-player as possible and listen to them while I work.
2. When I have listened to every album once, I come here and briefly write down my first impressions.

My Little Pony: mane and tail grooming

My mom is, among many other things, a My Little Pony collector. I guess it's my fault. I told her once how my Surprise Twins Pony (it's a mommy pony that gives birth to two tiny baby ponies. It's sick, I know) is worth some money since there are actually people who are seriously into these toys. And suddenly she was into these toys too.

She buys all her ponies from flea markets so they're usually looking old and dirty. But there is actually one simple trick that can transform even the dirtiest pony to a real beauty. If your pony is clean but having a serious bad hair day, you may want to try this:


You need an iron, some water and a thick comb.


This is how the tail looked before my magic. It's frizzy and dry and not shiny at all.


First I wet the tale thoroughly.


I work with small sections flat against the ironing board.


I keep the sections tight as I iron over them. I add some heat if the tail is not hot after I've ironed over it or if the ironing doesn't seem to make any difference.


When I have ironed all the small sections I start to iron the whole tail as once. I keep ironing it until I get bored or until it looks straight and shiny enough. Then I do the same with the mane too. If the hair looks too uneven I take my scissors and cut them even.


Here is my model, Curly Locks, with wet hair.


The hair will look as good as new when dried.




Here's my pretty pony with a shiny mane and a shiny tail!

I saw this one coming

I'm not sure if this is a smart move but I bought a personal scale. Honestly... I've been quite happy without. I wasn't able to weight myself on a daily basis so I wasn't able to worry about my weight either. But eventually I had to face the truth. I have gained weight, more than I expected actually. I have never, not once in my life, weight this much. I feel slightly disgusted even though I know I'm not even fat yet. Anyway. I guess I just need to pull myself together and get through this. I've done this before and I should be able to do this again.

I've already stocked my kitchen closet with everything healthy.

Rebooting in Viiala

I got two days off from work so I traveled to Viiala to visit my parents. I took my laptop with me because they have WLAN nowadays. No more dial-up, hooray! It feels so good to be here. This is indeed in the middle of nowhere, but my family lives here. And it seems that the older and wiser I get the more this place feels like home and these people close to me.

I've been hitting flea markets with my mom. She's really good at finding awesome stuff and she usually finds awesome stuff for me too. Here are some of my latest finds:


This is a Kosmos tea mug by Arabia. I have three of them now. My mom also found me a nice Kosmos pan. I guess I have to learn how to make casseroles now. Behind the tea mug you can see a glimpse of my new tea cozy. It's really cute but I'm not sure if it fits my current tea pot.


I'm really liking the delicate flower patterns on the sides of this jar. I'm going to store some tea bags in it.

I used to hate this place when I was younger. But as soon as I moved out of here I found myself talking about this place with certain warmth in my voice. I grew up in here. I certainly didn't have a happy childhood but at least I got an amazing place to live in. All my friends have heard so much about this place that they probably think this is something peculiar. This is not. This is just a house. The only thing that makes this interesting is that I used to live here. Anyway. Here are some pictures from our front yard:


This place is pretty green, as you can see. By the way the red shed under the pines is our summer guest house.


Here is the house. It's big and white. And, oh, my sister is giving me the finger. With both of her hands. She simply doesn't like to get photographed. That's something we have in common.

I has a hotdog

I thought that Stuff On My Mutt was cute and funny. But it's nothing compared to Loldogs!

Routines, routines

I can be really spontaneous if I want to and that's how people usually see me. I'm the Amoena who climbs into places and does crazy shit and gives a damn about the norms. But that's not entirely true. I also love my routines and I go very anxious without them. For example I have to have the exact same lunch everyday otherwise my whole day can get ruined.

But I tend to make routines only when there is something I have to choose from. I'm not good at making decisions. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm Libra. Anyway. When I finally manage to choose something I stick to it. Simply because I don't want to have to choose again. And here we have a routine. I choose one thing for lunch, I eat that every day.

This is not really a routine, but every Monday I watch Desperate Housewives and Californication with Hannes. I really like to watch these shows with him and I'm already worried what happens when they both stop or go on a break. There is apparently only one episode left of Californication. But I'm not going to think about that now. Instead I will think about these muffins I made yesterday:


Featuring the flower crochet made by ia.

I support Colour Me!

Once upon a time there was a blog called Turhamaisuutta. It was the first Finnish fashion blog that gained notable popularity among teenage girls. About two years have passed and now we have a Finnish fashion blogosphere. And all this time I have watched it grow. And I feel honored that I have gotten a chance to participate. For example Focus on Fashion, one of the most popular fashion blogs, is still using a template made by me. That's big for me.

Anyway.

I'm not so into Finnish fashion blogosphere anymore. I'm definitely keeping an eye on it, but I rather do it from the back seat. But I really love Colour Me! so when ia started to sell crochet flowers I just had to have one. Not because I needed or wanted a crochet flower but because I wanted to support my favorite blog. She's writing great stuff and taking seriously cute pictures. The least I can do is to throw some money at her and taking a cool crochet flower in exchange. And of course I can always blog about her so she can have some link love from me.


Does my choice of color surprise anyone? Hell yeah I'm taking it black!

But I wanted Pedo Size!

Am I the only one who associates "pedo" with "philia"?

Why Pidgin is better than Windows Live Messenger

Never used anything beside Windows Messenger? Then it's time to try out some alternatives! There are several of them, for example Digsby, Miranda and Trillian, but I just love Pidgin.


Absolutely irresistible mascot!

I have a confession to make: When I was considering my switch to Ubuntu I was mostly concerned if I was able to let go of Windows Live Messenger. I was blinded by it's flashiness. It was pretty and even a bit customizable. But I decided I can live few months without it and along came Ubuntu and Pidgin.

I didn't like Pidgin at first. I quite desperately tried to seek for a prettier alternative but there were none. I had no other choice than to stick with Pidgin. But it didn't took long until my eyes opened. It wasn't flashy, it was classy. It wasn't lame, it was user friendly. And eventually I fell in love with it.

There are dozens of reasons why I think Pidgin is better than Windows Live Messenger, but here are the most important ones in my opinion:

1. Pidgin is better because there is no ads

I was always bothered by the ads on Live Messenger. They were annoying and simply everywhere. And I found it quite unethical that there were ads for alcoholic beverages. There are kids using Live Messenger too and they should keep that in mind too when choosing advertisements.

2. Pidgin is better because it doesn't have any super duper cool but useless extra features

Did I ever used any of the Live Messenger extra features? I'm afraid I did not. Though I did accidentally click the nudge button for several times! I only want to talk with my friends, not to bother them with all those strange activities that Live Messenger offers. Don't get this wrong, Pidgin is very versatile too and it has some cool features as well.

3. Pidgin is better because it's a multi-protocol client

Live Messenger allows you to log in with one MSN account at one time. That's so uncool. I have two active MSN accounts and I want to use them seamlessly in the same time. And with Pidgin that is possible. And I could be using these too: AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo! and Zephyr. Pretty awesome, right?

GO GET PIDGIN (runs on all Windows and UNIX platforms)

NB: Pidgin may crash down occasionally on Windows Vista, but it works perfectly fine on XP and Ubuntu.

Uudistuneen laajakaistaliittymän käyttöönotosta aiheutuu lyhyt käyttökatkos, joka kestää enintään 48 tuntia.

About a week ago I received a short notice about new HOASnet subscriptions. HOASnet is provided by Sonera and it's a free Internet access to everyone who lives on HOAS (Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region). It's sounds pretty awesome, free and everything, but it has always been totally unreliable. So when the notice came I knew there will be problems.

And now it has been off for a week. It's not like I'm dying here. I've been watching movies and taking long walks by myself. But I have started to feel isolated, so please fix it soon.

PS: Thanks to Elina and J.J. for being online on forenoons too! I'd be crazy without you.

I'm not dead

It's just my Internet access that has been dead for three four days now. Yeah. It sucks.

Note to self

Don't sleep on a kitchen floor. Just don't.

Encounter

I saw my high school student counselor when I was waiting for my train to leave. We didn't exchange any words. She looked at me, smiling. I looked at her, smiling too. She knew me well back then. I was a writer as well as a thinker in high school so she picked me to participate in some research. I can't remember what it was about, but because of that I had to meet her often. She also asked me to write a diary for her. Not like a real diary, but I had to write down what I enjoyed and valued in life.

I'm glad she didn't stop to say "hi". Seeing me like that, smiling happily. She probably thought I'm doing fine. And I am doing fine, despite the fact that I skipped school, broke up with Aleksi and oh, I'm soon becoming homeless too.

Sometimes I feel like such a loser. But then I remember that's what life is all about. When it sucks, it's called living.