You ain't seen nothing yet... Oh baby baby baby..

Years ago I used to think that autumn was the best time of the year. I used to like rain and the darkening nights.

Now I've grown to dislike them. For some reason autumn doesnt't seem like the best time of the year anymore. Whenever there's autumn it's bound to be cold soon. Snow. Snowfall and cold days. The winter almost seems endless in the country. I hate it.

I must admit usually - and more or less statistically - I've had more good days whenever it rains than when it's a sunny day. Somehow rain is relaxing. Not to mention how everything just seems so much more peaceful then. Perhaps my view of rain is alot different from other people's views , I'll even admit it. But you know , it doesn't really matter at all either. I'd like to keep the rain but switch my preferred time of the year from autumn to summer. Since summer - I've understood now - is alot better in every way. The nights are not dim but full of light. And the forests actually smell like forests. During winter everything smells like nothing no matter how hard you try. It's a bit confusing. But not so during the summers where the whol outdoors seem much more alive. Have you seen it ? Felt it ? Like I said , I hate the winter.

Anyway , my life's normal for a change. My last class of Finnish literature has been infiltrated by a pair of people from my own municipality. Now normally people from my municipality are few in that school even though they are neighbouring municipalities. But somehow these two men have managed to get to my school. And the funniest thing is that I can't remember them being in that school before. I would have recognised them earlier.

It's quite eerie to say the least. I can remember them quite clearly since they were in the same upper level ( 7th , 8th , 9th grades) of my elementary school several years ago. It's eerie - as I said - to look them in the face and quietly think to yourself "I can remember who they are but they surely cannot know how I am". I sometimes chuckle to myself on the thought. Now , these two gentlemen are several centimetres shorter than I am and I've now concluded that the reason they are in my school must be since they must in a student transaction - program from the so-called "commerce school" (I can't remember/don't know the exact term for it) in the same town. Afterall I think I can remember seeing them getting on the same bus bound for home from the bus-stop situated close to this school they go to. Now they must be roughly of the same age as I am too.

The reason why I picked the high school from the neighbouring municipality instead of the one in my own was anonymosity. Although I must admit that a certain rather distant relative was in the same school at the time but he graduated last summer. I wanted no-one to know me "that well" despite the fact that I did know several people from the little city that I was going to go to school into. I wanted a fresh start. I wanted to "wipe the slate clean". I managed to do it but now seeing these two men walking around the halls makes me wonder. "What goes around comes around" as they say , or perhaps it's "what you leave behind will appear in front of you sooner or later".

These two haven't done anything to me , mind you. But it feels uncomfortable to see them. I am sorry to admit it but it truly does. In any case I'll be very happy once the last course of Finnish literature will be done and over with in a few weeks. Then I can relax and hopefully never again run into those two men again. I don't like seeing relics from my past anymore. Not in a place like the one I am in now.

But let's move on to more pleasant subjects.

I was pretty bored last night and feeling lazy. I didn't feel like cooking food like normal people do on a stove with a regular pan. Being a rather tired of a young man that I am I decided to cook myself some noodles along with little meatballs in an army issue collapsable cooking stove. They call them "Jaeger-kitchens" here. I decided from the moment the idea came to my head that when my parents arrived at home they would not - under any circumstances - hear of my little gastronomic adventure.

The whole "Jaeger-kitchen" consists of just three very simple pieces. The mess tin where you will place the food along with water , a black "holder" that has a small opening under it where you will place the actual "cooker" and an opening large enough for the mess tin to fit above. Then you will pour something flammable in the form of a liquid inside the cooker. A preffered substance is something that burns long and doesn't emit toxic fumes that would slowly kill you while you're just sitting there making some food. I used a special liquid used to light outdoor grills. I've found out that it works reasonably well although I'm sure there are much better ones suited for the job than the one I use. Once the initial phase was over I used a match to light the cooker and afterwards placed the mess ting above the black holder. The open flame then started to boil the water inside the mess tin. Now that was the moment when I threw in the noodles and the meatballs.

Then I put on some Deep purple and lay down for a while. Just listening to music. The TV was showing a ghost-movie with Nicole Kidman in it. She had apparently used some sort of black magic to bring her deceased husband that had died from the second world war back to life. Then she shot some ghosts with a big-ass shotgun but it seems like she didn't know that they couldn't die from bullets. Stupid bitch. Everybody knows you'd need these weird paranormal laser guns like the Ghostbusters have in order to trap the ghosts , of course ! Exactlymondo ! You know , I think the plot of that movie was the lamest since that mediocre sequel to "from dusk till dawn" where the vampires , like , rob a bank and kill Mexican police with assault rifles.

While the food was brewing in the stove while I layed around in the floor I wondered if the army really had anything new to teach me anymore. Since you know , I've run up hills , made shelters , dug holes , been yelled at for sloppy work , I've cooked food in a mess tin several times , slept in a tent and in a sleeping bag and finally I can even do CPR if needed. To some degree I was even content with my experiences.

Then my food was apparently ready. I went upstairs and fetched a big spoon. Then I started to eat the contents inside the mess tin. And , boy oh boy , they were good alright. I couldn't remember how good it was to eat out of a mess tin like that. It had truly been ages. But you know , somehow , it was never a problem for me. I learned pretty quick too. After I had eaten I went upstairs and cleaned the mess tin and poured the rest of the liquid out of the cooker. My parents haven't been at home for over a week now. They're holed up in that little retreat of theirs in the bay of Sipoo which is not too far from here. Looks like one of them had actually stopped by the house when I was at school and left a small stash of Euro notes on my table. laying under it was a small piece of paper which read with small letters; "don't forget to go to the grocery store".

So I went there too. I took my bike from the extremely messy garage and hopped on it and pedaled to the small shop about a kilometre away. Thank god there's even a small shop near here. I remembered that there was a large stash of laundry stashed on one of the corners of my room. They needed cleanin' and fast. Somehow , though , doing laundry wasn't too high on my list either since I had plenty of clothes left anyway.

Once inside I wasn't really that sure on what to buy. I knew the freezer had some fish-sticks inside but I wasn't too keen on preparing them today. That made me think of my girlfriend who always cooks some fine food. I wish she could've made the choices of what to buy from the shop that day since I was sure as hell very disorientated. Anyway I quietly placed all sorts of stuff I thought I needed inside the small red basket that I picked up from a small pile of them opposite the door. I also saw a pretty peculiar looking man inside the shop. He didn't look like a local at all. He sure was no local farmer , school-boy or a middle-aged fisherman. I think he was full-blown Swedish. As in , a Swede from Sweden. I remember seeing men like him several weeks back in my vacation. He sure was an odd sight in the middle of all that country living attitude. He was so trendy.

After concluding my shopping I pedaled back home and strangely enough started to hum that "come on bring the noise" - song from the band called twisted sister. I think I haven't seen anything quite as horrible as the lead-singer of the band since Marilyn Manson. He sure is an ugly son of a gun but I bet he was the bomb during the 80's. Afterall , and the way I see it , everyone dressed like that back those days. But he nevertheless is a scary son o'bitch. But apparently I found his songs quite entertaining and hummed at that bad-ass song for a while. I almost felt like doing the "air guitar" - maneuvre but luckily my brains were awake enough to warn me not to - afterall , I was driving a fucking bike ! You know , it's quite funny , but 80's music has always held a special place in my heart. My mom always tells me that the 80's were the best days of her life. And afterall , I was born in those days. Too bad I can't remember too much about it since I was too young but I can only imagine how "cool" (and that's sarcasm right there, people) it must've been. But the music is cool. And Miami vice is cool. Along with "back to the future" - movies. Oh , and MacGayver.

It's night now. The nights are so dark here. It's almost like someone would have pulled a gigantic veil in front of the moon and decided that the people around these parts are not allowed to have any peeks at the moon at all. Luckily this area has street-lamps or else it would be like suicide to try to sneak over there during the night.

Well, that was my day in 22.8. 2005. A date that won't live in infamy since nothing too special happened. Tomorrow might be an interesting day since my girlfriend has threatened to dye her hair blond ! Oh my goodness ! This well be very interesting !

So let's wait.

Good night.