Everything sophisticated

As some of you might’ve noticed, this time I took my travel notes, instead of writing blog posts from the way, as tweets. I shall see how well I am able to compose a blog post using these but it is very possible that I’ll keep using this technique from now on, due to the practicality and the accessibility through mobile internet. This way I don’t have to spend long times writing when travelling, I can concentrate on experiencing, and yet I have something to work on (besides photographs), when I’m home.

notes from way to morocco 1: baby sheep are cute and there is a lot of them on the way from edinburgh to london.
This one refers to a future adventure. Next summer me and my good friend Helmi are going to travel around Europe for about one and a half months. This includes a wwoofing week on a cute cottage/farm in Northern Ireland, where there’s apparently 100 baby sheep right now. I’m excited.

note 2: it's still very light even though it's half seven. Summer's on its way.
Light is my thing, I don’t mind cold and windy and all that, just give me long, bright days. These notes are sent from a first class train from Edinburgh to London – the difference between first and second class is sometimes (like this time) around three pounds, and the first class provides you with food, drinks and free wi-fi. And space, a lot of space. Worth a try, definitely.

note 3: in the land of tasty cider i think it's a crime the trains only have rekordelig (however it is spelt).
I had to explain this one a lot earlier already. In Finland ciders are a teenager girls’ drink, mainly because the ciders we have are sweet like soft drinks instead of being refined like the British ciders. Rekordeligs are probably the worst. I never drank cider before I left Finland, and for a while I was happy realising that ciders are not always that candy-like. Until the Rekordeligs followed me.

note 4: if you see an airport bus just leaving, don't stop to take a photo, the buses might only go once in every two hours.
Haha, this was just as it sounded like. I knew the airport buses leave 24 hours a day from Liverpool Street and Victoria. I took the underground to Liverpool Street, because it was closer. When I got near the bus stop I saw a but there and obviously assumed that it’s not just my luck that I arrived exactly when the bus left but that they go relatively frequently. So instead of running to the bus I stopped to take a picture of a restaurant I had seen last time I was in London, because I felt it was necessary (Eric, if you’re reading this, feel free to ask which one). This happened around midnight. The bus left and when I went to check the schedule, I realised the next bus was going to leave at 2.10am. Also, at the time when I realised they actually left more frequently from Victoria, the underground was already closed. So there I waited. Luckily it wasn’t cold.

note 5: in marrakech you have to avoid getting run over by cars, motorcycles, donkeys and horse carts.
It’s amazing actually, how the horse carts drive alongside the cars no the city streets, it’s not like one or two carts for the tourists but just a normal way of transport. And oh, the motorcycles, everywhere and far too fast for the amount of space. It’s hard for me to believe that there wouldn’t be dozens of motorcycle accidents every single day. Also the variety of motorcycle drivers is impressive, you’d see these matrons in full gowns and hair hidden driving a
side-saddle motorcycle, they were too fast for photos but the image inside my head is eternal.

note 6: seen: snake charmers, monkeys, a goat, leather making, a mosque, countless pink buildings and a mandarine tree.
Actually it was an orange tree, not the colour but the fruit, but next to the pink buildings I was afraid it might be unclear as to which one I meant. We got super excited about the tree. Snake charmers were charming, though the snakes tended to look pretty unimpressed. The mosque was the most important one, but after that one countless of others followed. Also we heard a lot of prayer calls, which, I admit, do sound amusing when you don’t understand the language. Except in the middle of the night, when they are something between confusing and irritating.

note 7: jma el fna is one of the most amazing things i've experienced with the smells, the sounds of drums and shouts,the light of lanterns.
Jma el Fna is the main square of Marrakech. Daily it’s full of snake charmers, people selling different useful and useless things, performers etc. Walking through you have to be prepared to decline countless of offers of buying something or oteher, especially if you look as  tourist as we tended to look. But night-time it was at its most amazing, with half of the square becoming an outdoors restaurant with a lot of different stalls competing for your attention, food being prepared on the spot and thus creating a smoke all around the place. On the other side of the square there are performers with circles of audience around them. The lantern-sellers light their lanterns and kids wander around selling sweet cakes, various toys and light sticks, which are meant to be thrown in the air, creating the impression of small fireworks. It is very, very impressive.

note 8: the goal is to sweat mint tea and orange juice by the time we leave.
Thanks, Jenn, for all these smart comments. This one refers to the huge amount of super-sweet mint tea we ended up drinking every day. At the hostel they prepared it for us every single time we came in to drop stuff, use the toilet or anything else. Also the outdoors restaurants had free mint tea. Fresh orange juice was also cheap and easily accessible, and one time, instead of buying a couple of glasses, the stallkeeper talked us (well, me) into buying a full bottle. 1,5 litres of fresh squeezed orange juice. It costed me 20 dirhams, which is the equivalent of 2 euros. Not bad, I think.

note 9: getting lost is the best way to see cool things. It's also the best way to end up in sketchy places.
This was often the technique we used. With a couple of people with relatively working senses of direction and me with my free gps we could just go somewhere, wander around, and when we wanted to get back it wasn’t that big of a problem. We did end up to somewhat weird places though, and unlike when in other places you leave touristy areas and blend in, in Marrakech we were even more clearly tourists in the local areas due to the lack of scarves and robes.
note 10: after wandering a lot of creepy neighborhoods it's actually nice to find some foreigners and blend in again.
We did have sketchy people follow us in the creepier places, and the tourist mass, if annoying, is also the only place where a westernly dressed woman can disappear in a Muslim country.

note 11: don't have a staring contest with a moroccan man, he'll win.
The hostel guys were amazing. There was one really quiet one, one super-cute, also pretty quiet one with not-too-good English, and then one, apparently the main one, who was extremely social and very flirty. Also often very hard to comprehend, culture differences and all that. He had a habit of looking at you very intensely, and one time I stared back, we stared each other probably for several minutes. It was weird.

note 12: juggling is hard here, the bright juggling balls blend in to the colourful surroundings.
Already when I left I was aware that I would be spending a lot of time on several airports due to the ridiculous flight times of Ryanair. Knowing this I decided that I could as well use that time for something more interesting and borrowed juggling balls from a friend. And this is true – in the hostel it was actually hard to juggle, because the walls and the tables were so bright you couldn’t notice the bals well enough. On the airport I think I was just amusing, mainly because I definitely wasn’t able to juggle, especially with the lack of sleep I was having. Now I am, because as well as spending time at the airport, juggling balls are also good for procrastination, and that’s what I’ve been doing recently.

note 13: this place is definitely more aladdin than lion king.
As in, very much more an Arabic country than what I’d imagine an African country would be. Disney movies are just a good example. The Arabian Nights (song from Aladdin) haunted me throughout the trip.

The Spring is fastly approaching the beautiful city of Edinburgh, getting the students out to the Meadows and to George Square Gardens to have picnics and study. With the spring come the holidays and the exams, as well as essay deadlines and other such pleasant things. This changes the vibe of student life - would change, anyway, had I experienced any of so called everyday life at any point. However, with all the friends visiting and so many different weekend trips, nothing in this Spring has felt everyday, it's been a wonderful mixture of pleasant people and pleasant things. Lack of sleep, yes, and no time to clean up nor to write, but other than that, very pleasant indeed.

I guess I should brag a bit - in the Annual General Meeting of my dance society, I was voted the secretary. Okay, no actual voting took place, since I was the only one applying for the position, but even then I think it is very cool. And I've been enjoying it. It's funny how things differ - I've had places of responsibility before, but this is the first time that I actually very much want to be involved, want to know what's going on and try to do as much as I can. It's lovely when you actually care about the life of a group, enough to devote a lot of time and energy for the good of yourself and other people. My role is very ideal for myself as well, I wouldn't want to be a president and I hate dealing with money, but I want to have power and have things to do, and as a secretary I'm in the middle of everything.

Another thing that has changed in my life is the sheer amount of different holiday plans I've ended up with during the past while or so. First, on the actual Spring Break I'm heading to Morocco. This is very exciting, there's markets and heat and awesome clothes, spices etc. and we're planning to go camel trekking. It's going to be a fun trip with fun people and in an amazing destination. I've never been to Africa before and even though it is questionable whether Morocco can be counted as a part of Africa (instead of a Mediterranian country), it is in many ways culturally very different than anywhere I've ever been before. Expect a lot of fabulous photos and new tan for me (even though since it's a muslim country, the tan is not quite as fabulous as it could be somewhere where you can walk your shoulders bare). 

After Morocco, and after the exam period, I'll be heading to Greece for a week. This is a completely different holiday, even though it also includes heat and general sunny and summery atmosphere. This is, the general consensus would seem, all about beach and lying in the sun and doing nothing. We actually have a hotel instead of a hostel, something I rarely experience. I'm excited of the both of these. But before I can start relaxing, I still have one large essay, two smaller essays as well as two exams to go through. It will indeed be an earned vacation. Gladly I have a gym membership so I can go when I need a break from studying, and pretend that I'm still doing something productive. 

That's it for now - cleaning up in process and after that a wee nap and maybe gym before looking at various Russian excercises and hopefully reading some essay readings. I'm so glad to have a weekend to catch up with everyday life, it's been such a hazzle recently.

 Apparently I'm creating myself a habit of blogging on various special days.

Today it's Women's Day. Already my facebook is filling with "Happy Women's Day"'s and a pile of "Remember we're still on our way to equality"'s from the more politically active friends. I want to celebrate this day as a reminder of differences. It is easy to forget the actual meaning of equality and associate it with similarity, for the women's right to wear trousers, have a career, have money of their own, remain single etc. These are all important goals. But what is often forgotten that besides having the right to wear trousers, we should also have the right to wear dresses, and that doesn't mean that we have accepted our fate as the 'lower gender'. True equality would mean that we can be whatever we want, as feminine or as masculine as we feel like (and this applies to both men and women) and we are considered just as _valuable_. 

I know that doesn't fully happen either. In many instances of my life I have encountered thoughts of  'Oh, this could be so much easier, if I were a man'. I am fully aware that women are still paid less for the same work even in the most equal countries, and that women encounter domestic violence. But equality doesn't mean that we have the right to hit back, it means that no-one should encounter violence, be it a woman or a man. It means that everyone can dress just as they want to and that violence can't be explained by some manly traits ('she was dressed like that, and you know how men are, he just can't help himself') just like it can't be explained by womanly traits ('she always becomes violent with her PMS, you just have to know to stay away from her during that time, it's your fault if she hits you with a kitchen knife').

Now I like to get flowers and chocolate. I also like to give gifts. There's no reason to believe that in order to become equal, I should refrain from either or both of those things. Equality is not that I have the possibility to be something that I am not. Equality is that I can be MYSELF and be valued for that.

P.S. Lately I have been playing with a thought, that goes as follows. Women are over a half of the population of the world. Still we feel like we need to struggle for equality. Is it not that we're just waiting for men to see us as equals, and thus, do we not still consider them as having the power to do so? What if we would just start seeing ourselves as equals, that would already mean that over a half of the world would be doing so, and at some point, men would just have to do so as well? Is not the problem here that as it has been so far, it still is - women are looking at men in order to be recognised valuable, instead of taking that right of rating people to their own hands?

 A middle-aged man steals my chair, apparently on accident, in a pub. I ask him about it. He goes to search through the whole pub, finally finds a free one, brings that one to me. "I changed a plain one to a padded one, so you win in the change". For the following 5-10 minutes he keeps apologising me, saying that he didn't mean to take it, he thought no-one was sitting there. He's sorry.

In Finland this would be extremely annoying, because it would include extreme drunkenness and a bunch of failed flirting attempts from his side. Because you don't talk to strangers if you're not wasted, and you don't talk to anyone in pubs except your own group if  you don't try to get something, usually get laid. I mean, what's the point? You have your friends, you hang around with your friends, that's not what pubs are for, getting to know new people. No - in Finland people go to pubs to either hunt or watch hunters. You start by getting drunk, because otherwise you'll just sit in the corner and whine (even if you get drunk, this is a possible outcome). Then you start looking around - pretty women, good-looking guys around? It should be mentioned that this happens mainly in the age-group of about 30-50 - the men and women who have realised that it would be about time to find a mate and who no more have universities, schools, new jobs to try and find someone, who have to settle on the bars. The targets might be younger, though, as me and my attractive friends have found out during a couple of bar visits (why do we go? That's a question). And the hunt starts. Looks, but more often straight action. Coming too close, asking for a dance, begging for a dance, and in successful cases, a lot of touching. It's actually somewhat disgusting.

So mainly I go to pubs to watch bands. Observing the above tends to be a funny side activity, a study on the bar and mating culture in Finland. But here it's different. Because here you DO speak to strangers, even if you're not wasted. Here you don't actually become wasted in pubs, that belongs to clubs and parties. Here there's live music in a lot of pubs, but it doesn't have to be specific - a musician in the corner, playing his own bit, not highlighted in any way. It is like - and I hate to use this, because it's such a cliche - like a big living room, where you can hang around and just be, in peace with the others who have come to spend a lovely afternoon out there, with other people, instead if sitting in their own homes and being lonely.

I love it here. At first I was slightly afraid because all the clubs and societies advertised their weekly pub meetings and I was daunted by the idea that I'd sit in a pub every night. But it's not like that. Because here you can go for one and it actually is one instead of crawling home wasted at three in the morning, alone or with someone whose name you don't know. Here it's just an extended public space. Gosh, I'd hate to be underage here.

 So it's Valentine's Day. Right. It's funny how different the ideology behind it is here and in Finland, even though I guess we got it from the same source. In Finland it's called Friend's Day. And that is a lot more user-friendly concept. I mean, Valentine's Day as it here is, with all the cute girlfriend-boyfriend-lover stuff, it excludes a big chunk of the people, leaving them more lonely than ever with all the pink balloons and chocolate boxes around. Not just singles, but also widows and widowers (I never remember which one is which) and the people who's loved one is far away, and I'm sure a lot of other situations I can't even think about. But there they are, feeling slightly or more miserable. I decided to avoid that.

I think it is most important to remember that there's one person who should be your best friend, who you're going to have to spend all the rest of your life with, and that's yourself. They say that the Western culture is all about yourself, but this is different. When have you last time sat down, bought a huge bar of chocolate and done absolutely nothing, or done something really exciting you've always wanted to try? That's what I'm planning - enjoying the independence of being just me and not a part of a couple, watch some Doctor Who, eat a lot of chocolate, indulge myself. Avoid doing homework, avoid going somewhere just because I have to, lie in bed all day if I feel like it. Because knowing how to be with yourself is extremely important, and when you know that, you'll never feel completely alone, because it doesn't bother you. Buy yourself a balloon and wear that with pride. Don't let yourself feel ashamed by it. I mean, it does need a lot of attitude to, say, go out to eat by yourself - you easily get pitied by other people. But it's not a pity thing. Because this life is not only about finding a lover. It could be said that this world is about finding the right lover, but that's also a task in which your skills don't matter, so it's not a fault in you if you haven't found him/her yet. It'll come. Meanwhile, love what you have - yourself and those dear to you.

As I said, in Finland this is called Friend's Day. Have a wonderful day, all my friends!

As a certain number of you may know, I'm doing this application for an internship at BBC. It started with a feeling about trying something, where I could put all that is me at stake, do my very best, invest time and energy, care and love to something and hopefully succeed, but if not, at least, you know, try. This inspiration of mine to put myself at stake started with my friend celebrating her music diploma and another one celebrating an internship at google. Suddenly I felt the loss of an arts high school, my high school, more than I have in a while. There you could give all that you have, put enormous amounts of energy into doing something and finally make it work. It is an enormously energising feeling, that giving a 100% gives you. So I wanted to do something that would somehow create that experience. It's scary, though, that now that the high school's gone, somehow the safe days are gone, it's bigger things that are at stakes than just the audience approving or disapproving one production. It's you - it's me out there, being rejected or accepted, it's jobs, it's relationships.

So I started a project. Because the BBC application asked for people who should be interviewed, and I had hard times finding good candidates, so I asked my friends. Ad I'm so glad I did this. Because through the suggestions I got, I've been encountered with so many amazing people. I'm not going to share them with you yet, since my application is not ready and I've yet to choose whom to pick, but many of these people have pretty much said the same that was the reason for me starting this project in the first place. Give all. Bring yourself into situations where you're not sure, where you can't be certain about the outcome, and don't give 80% to have the buffer in case of rejection, give it all and be afraid, be scared of the solutions. Not only is that the only way to actually accomplish something. It's also the only way to accomplish something within yourself, the amazing feeling when your all is actually enough.

Huh, this becomes deep. I'm feeling super-emotional after a couple of very cool talks and texts from very impressive people. Now for some more research and then I think it might be time to do something completely different.

School? Can wait.

Sometimes I feel like all I live for is the creation of good memories.

I've realised quite a while ago that the above is true. If someone dares to question, there's a list of activities that at least I do only for the sake of something that lasts, but that's not physical. Taking photos of trips and events. Writing diaries. Travelling in uncomfortable conditions, mountain-expeditions, interrails (I mean, I've never done that, but I'm sure there's more comfortable places in this world than a train cabinet after a few weeks of travelling). Going to new places and experiencing new things, in general. At least for me a lot of my life is about being uncomfortable for the sake of that some future moment, when you can say "Well, it was horrible, but you know, it's a cool memory, I'm glad I did it" Then, one day, I can write a memoir or something and it shall be Very Cool because I have such cool memories.

And after this wonderful start, we can end up with my actual point, which is Stories. Going through my past few blog entries and stories are the most important point in them. The Story of the Rise of Pekka Haavisto, the stories that someone has created in the form of movies and TV-series, the (oh well, not every single one apparently, I just stumbled trying to figure out a link between stories and Innovations, but anyway). The point I'm trying to make here is that Everything in this world is about stories, not only my life. Hopefully. It should be a thing known to anyone who's studied rhetorics, because people accept stories way easier than a lot of other ways of convincing. This is visible in the Fair Trade logic where "the poor little farmer somewhere in Africa is now very happy because of your donation, he was born poor but now he can send his children to school"  or on the other hand in something like "Welcome to the University! You're now a part of the great line that starts far away, includes all these awesome people that are now kind of co-stars in this story where you are and blablablaa". Doesn't that create emotions? So just for the point to be made, if you guys ever have to make someone do something, give it a name, give it a story, and things start happening. 

I ran into this idea by reading Zadie Smith's White Teeth. I don't remember how it was stated in the book, but there was an idea of the main character not being the main character of his own life. And that reminds me of the fact which sometimes seems to be forgotten, that is, everyone is the main character of their own lives. Even the people who seriously feel like supporting characters, the funny guy in that one club, the quiet girl, all these people you easily take as cliches. They are there. They are within their own heads all the time, they have their lives apart from you, they might be completely different in some other company but you just see a sidekick, an extra, that guy that has definitely starred a lot of scenes in this story but doesn't have a speaking role apparently. They are there.

After this bit of philosophical pondering back to The Story of My Life. Not that there would be anything extremely exciting. I go to school, I go to societies, I try to remember to go to gym and excercise and climb a bit. I'm starting the every year summerjob hunting, which might mean that I will write another blog entry tomorrow or sunday, being completely exhausted by all that fun stuff. Though this year I've decided to make the process, if not fun, then at least a little bit more inspiring than so far. Hope it happens. More about that when I've actually started. And since the election day is on Sunday, there is also going to be the ending (or the beginning? Who knows) of the Story of Pekka Haavisto.

I feel bad. My last blog-post was about my two favourite men, and yet I didn't mention the man that has been in my mind the most these past few weeks. Because today is the pre-election day for the Finnish Presidential Election in Scotland and because I feel the need to explain this to all the people who don't already know about it (that is, all my friends not from Finland), this blog post is about Pekka Haavisto. 

Pekka Haavisto. It's funny, because as cool as he is, as well suitable for the job he's applying for, as likable and lovely, what I love most about is the hype around him caused by other people. But now I'm starting from the end, I should start from the beginning. That is, last summer. 

Last summer there was a single candidate in the Finnish presidential elections that anyone thought had any chances of winning. Sauli Niinistö is a long-time politician, visible in Finnish national politics, seriously in the political right (as much as you can be in the right in a country like Finland that's generally very left). He was to win, there was no suspicion about that. The only thing that made anyone wonder was, where would we find anyone so good that they would have even the theoretical chances to get to the second round. In Finland the election is in two rounds - first with the candidates from every party, and after that, if no-one gets over 50% of the votes, with the two who got most votes on the first round. 

So there was Mr. Niinistö, alone in his highness. But something changed, I don't know what and I don't know when. There was this candidate from a small party, the Green Party of Finland (which is a very uncool party to represent, at least to most of the people), people hadn't really heard of him before because he hadn't worked with the Finnish national politics really and he didn't even have a huge election budget. But Something happened. Something that energised and inspired people pro and con in the whole of Finland. The Pekka Haavisto -phenomenon.

It must've started during the fall, because I'm pretty sure I was already here. When the election slowly drew closer and closer, we started learning things about this Pekka Haavisto - how he has worked in the UN, how he's been nominated as one of the internationally most influencial people from Finland. The amount ofhis supporters grew slowly but impressively throughout the fall. People started talking. Then the first election debates/discussions happened, and he was brilliant - calm but sure about his opinions, peaceful but strong. The critics praised him. And he continued by meeting the most questionable politicians, showing everyone that this shouldn't be about dividing the people btu about finding peace. He acted like he talked. People talked a bit more. Probably around this time the discussion first showed signs of being pro and against Pekka Haavisto instead of being pro him or pro someone else. The strogest support group for him were young, liberal city people - that seems to be, me and my facebook friends, because suddenly my facebook started filling up with stuff about his excellency.

But Pekka Haavisto was definitely bound to raise both positive and negative opinions. His party background only could already be a reason for a lot of people not to vote for him - the Green Party politicians tend to be considered unrealistic liberalists, that can't think about the real world and don't understand economics or such things. The fact that he wasn't a well-known character in the Finnish politics is another thing the Finns didn't like. And then there was his personal life - something that I didn't mention earlier, because I like to think that the reason for my votes lies somewhere else, in his opinions and his abilities in the foreign politics. But it can't go unmentioned here, because for many conserative men and women in Finland it is still hard to vote for a gay man, and more than that, a gay man who is practically married to an immigrant hairdresser. 

Thus the discussion became such as can only be assumed. There is the people who write in the internet "How can somebody want a gay president to Finland?" "How could we have a green hippie who has no experience in foreign politics as our president?" "How can they hold the independence day party when all the war veterans opt out, not wanting to come to a party hosted by two men?" and - this is my favourite one - "not that we'd here be intolerant, but they in the Arab countries, they won't welcome a gay" (because a) he's worked in those countries before, with no problems and b) we're voting for a president to ourselves, not to the Arab countries - and they are not even important trading partners, so why should we follow their rules?) And people answered. Suddenly it became a race against prejudice. People started devoting excessive amounts of time and energy to promote this politician, to show themselves and the society that they were liberal and understanding people. I'm not saying it has nothing to do with him being a good politician, because he definitely seems to be, but in many situations it wasn't only that, or even mainly that.

And after he, by a margin of just a bit more than one per cent, managed to get himself to the second round of the elections, suddenly an even bigger phenomenon emerged. He was seen as the biggest winner of the elections in most of the media - not the old favourite, who still had almost double the votes compared to him. There was a rush of private donations to his promotion, and the concert for the benefit of his campaign was sold out in hours, which was not surprising considering that multiple Finnish bands that had already broken up, some of them years ago, decided to play this one more gig to support the possible new direction to Finnish politics. People started creating number two's (which is his candidate number in the elections) and wearing them as earrings and t-shirts, baking cakes shaped as a 2, having post-it -note campaigns to promote knowledge of him. 

It's strange to experience all this hype from abroad. I read Finnish newspapers, which contain stuff about the elections practically every day. I follow facebook pages which are full of the supporters of Mr. Haavisto. But Finland being as small country as it is, it doesn't really matter anywhere else. I mean, there has been gay top politicians around Europe before. There has been big green parties. I guess it's relatively hard for anyone outside Finland understand what this means. Because it means a great deal - because it means that in the small, after all a relatively conservative country of Finland Something has started to happen. A change. A change towards caring, towards less prejudice, towards real chances for the minorities, for the people who care about the environment. Towards something that could be called Peace.

Hello again! I've spent so much time living recently, that my little free alone time hasn't been productive enough to produce blogposts. However, here we are again and the world is great and gives us a lot to write about.

First of all: Benedict Cumberbatch. That man is HOT. I finally caught up with Sherlock (but don't worry, I won't give spoilers) and I just can't get it how such a man with such a voice and such a name can possibly only be found now. Why didn't I know about him before? And British as well! So I've got my chances of running into him in the streets. I might die. "Smart is sexy". And, I don't know if you guys have followed Sherlock (Watch it) or, even more unlikely, seen him be himself, but the distinction between these two is crazy. The cool, cold, unemotional almost into scariness attitude is gone, puff! Into thin air. Sexiness stays, but coldness disappears. It's the voice. And to give you all the chance to enjoy him, here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmNt31Gwf4c is Benedict Cumberbatch reading a fairytale. I could sit in his feet, seriously, for hours. Days. Probably months.

This all has however created me a problem. For my love for Benedict Cumberbatch had not fully started when I found out he'll be the dragon in The Hobbit. At the time I thought that was wonderful. Now it's starting to freak me out a bit. One of the sexiest (sorry for the overuse of the word, but what can you do?) voices in the world, playing a dragon? I'm going to be on the dragon's side. Thinking about this I realised how dragons actually do symbolise everything that is sexy in the modern culture. I mean, the dangerous, the cunning, rich, well-known, in many cases agile creature, mysterious... Isn't this what people consider sexy in the first place? Hot. Fiery. I guess Benedict Cumberbatch keeps his place as the perfect dragon actor. I can't wait. Though the things I can't wait get more and more numerous with the just-announced new series of Sherlock as well. Thank God for the success of the first two, I don't know how I'm to manage when they stop making them.

From Benedict to something completely else (though I'm not sure if that transition can ever be a positive one). Posters. I haven't had posters on my wall for a very long time, and by this I mean posters about people, I've got nice images of a solar eclipse and landscapes and such, but people, no. Now, however, I was kindly sent a poster of my favourite band, a pretty good-conditioned one, and I felt it as my duty towards the band and towards my friends who sent it to put it on my wall. But it's actually really creepy. I've started changing in the other end of the room, because I feel like I'm being stared. I mean, four Finnish decently good-looking rock men staring at you, with eyes fixed and faces that seem to tell everything, I feel like blushing if I'm not fully dressed. My room is no more mine. I'll see how long I can keep that up before it becomes too much.

At the beginning of this term I felt that my musical talents have been wasted for too long a time, so I did two things: bought a guitar and joined a choir. With the choir we've had one practice so far, but I had completely forgotten how lovely it is. Singing. Together with people, it's even better. To be honest, I believe that everyone should experience a choir in their lives. Especially those who think they can't sing. I mean, I think choir-singing is very very cool when done professionally and with a strong focus, classical, auditioning choirs and such. But I think the important ones are the non-auditioning community projects, where you can go and sing and be merry and realise that the other voices support you enough so that you can actually be a part of something that sounds good. It's a wonderful feeling. My sentiments spring from my own experiences but also from this guy called Gareth Malone, who does TV-series for BBC about founding choirs in unlikely places. EVERYONE should check him out. Not only because of the choirs but because nothing beats it when someone is truly, fully enthusiastic and pursues their dreams without being afraid of limits. I mean, he goes and he stands outdoors giving out flyers in a town in which the only recreational activity is a boxing club? Then he goes to the boxing club, this cute, nerdy, skinny guy, fights with one of the leaders, gives up whatever coolness he had to make these people come to the choir. Creates festivals from nothing. Creates a first-selling single with his Military Wives choir. That guy is my hero. He reminds me that even though it's cooler not to care about anything and take everything as a joke, life is so much duller that way. And you will never achieve anything. Go where you have never been before! Don't accept other people's expectations, do what YOU need to do, and do it with 100%. That's what I learned from Gareth Malone. And he's not bad-looking either.

 So here I am, back in Edinburgh. Love it. Busy, but love it, in fact it makes this even better. I think I'm late with schoolwork already, and more so with the TV series I follow (hard to go to facebook nowadays for the fear that someone blurts what's happening in the newest Sherlock, I'm two episodes behind). Got myself a gym pass (hope I'll have time to use that, at least - it cost a bit), a library card, finally, and a memory card to my phone. Trying to get into taking photos, which I lacked last year. I keep facebook posted, but here I'll probably make some "once a month or so" -photo updates. That is, hopefully - I'm not really good at keeping promises to myself. Trying my best, though.

Started on a new course today, Science and Society, replacing the Sustainable Development I had last term, and I think I might find it more agreeable than I was expecting. The reason I'm on that course is a lot of timetable clashes and such, gosh how I tried to get rid of those two 9am lectures, but no, they're to haunt me forever, or at least this first year through. I guess they keep my daily sleeping schedule somewhat in place, hope more so than less. It's the student life, you'll have to be awake day AND night, that's the problem. Which leads to problems in staying awake on the lectures, but espresso helps and it helps that Linguistics has finally moved on from stuff I know already because I've studied English grammar for nine years, into something more interesting. I half know that already as well from my psychology classes, but I think we're bordering something interesting, hope it will actually be such. This is semantics, which for those not in the know means the meaning, that is in Linguistics obviously the meaning of words, and we're going through prototypes now, prototypes and hyphemes, and I'll actually have you an example (or almost an example), it's something I've ended up thinking about lately...

...that is, Innovation. God, that word gives me shivers, and negative ones. The reason why it's up and around is that on the first lectures they obviously talk about the course structure, and when talking about course structure they of course have to mention The Innovative Learning Week, something someone has come up with recently, that is, a week in the middle of the second term, when they apparently teach us Innovative learning techniques. Now, Innovations and Innovativeness is something that's fashion today. I guess it should give an impression of something flashy, shiny, exciting, this modern-day of us young good-looking (well, that's the prototype anyway) Innovative adults, full with Ideas and Solutions and Experiments that will change the world. But what comes through (to me, anyway - and I'm pretty certain I'm not alone) is forcing something to happen that should happen naturally, without pressure. It's like Networking, another fashionable word. What happened to creativity? Too unproductive, too old-fashioned, too much associated with a process that can't be decided to happen under a certain timeframe, under pressure. Networking, I hate the idea! I guess it works, but having to make friends just so that they can be of use to you feels - feels horrible. Get what I mean?

Other than the Innovation Week, however, I'm quite happy with how things are going. And there's actually an Innovation I want to share with you, though I guess it's more creativity (what's that then, a creation?) because it happened by accident, besides I'm not really sure whether it's actually good idea, but anyway. I was in the Heathrow Underground changing terminals. They have these little TV screens that show TV while you're driving with the underground. With me so far? So, I didn't even notice them, until I accudentally looked up just when there was a nature program going, one in which this guy was going through a jungle in a boat, and the way it was being shot was from the front of a canoe. For a while I thought - what a brilliant idea! A little bit of adventure for the people who have thavelled to the rainy London to give them a little screen, looking at which they can imagine they have travelled somewhere a lot more exciting. During the train journey you could see all the wild animals in their natural habitats, from a boat like this was or from a safari car or such. Then, after that piece of Exciting Life they could emerge from the train to do whatever they have to do in London, feeling refreshed and somehow renewed as people. Spontaneous Travellers. (Watch Mamma Mia! to get that reference)

Obviously that TV just changed into showing BBC news after a while. Which felt like such an anti-climax, I was expecting to see some crocodiles.