Parallel universe

I swear there's no end to this coldness during this winter. I remember that a few years ago everyone was damned afraid of global warming, and people got all freaked about the coming changes to weather. I kinda started believing in it myself, cause the following winters the weather indeed changed. It wasn't that cold around here anymore, either. So, I was like "cool" - maybe we'll be like California in a few years and can waltz around in shorts during Christmas. I was all for global warming.

But now it turns out that it's been very cold since I got discharged - or as my military pass says "date of mustering out". You've got to dress pretty warmly out there. So much for the big promises of "weather getting warmer even during the winters".

Life's kinda boring at the moment in all aspects. I'm trying to figure out about what to do next. I'm not going to go back to the university for full time, that's for sure. The way that place treated me sucked, and it took me a long time to realize that the subject that I had been studying there had been the wrong choice for me. Infact, coming to this part of the country was the wrong choice. I only came here because of a girl, and since we broke up about nine months ago my presence here has.. Umm.. Been kinda pointless. I've been aching a living though, but not a very comfortable one at that, though.

I suppose I made the wrong choice to begin with. Moving because of a girl. That's one of those mistakes that people make only in love - and I'm willing to admit that I was way much in love to even consider the reality behind it. And the reality behind it was, that relationships don't always last. Infact, in my experience most often than not do they not last. The latest "bigger" relationship I had lasted on-and-off for about five years. But even during that time we broke up at least twice. A wiser man would've probably understood the message after the first break up, but you can't blame a guy for trying, now can you? I thought the relationship was very much worth preserving, but yet again the reality behind it was - That it never was and never would be.

A friend of mine's kinda having the same situation himself. He's also planning to move to another part of the country because of a woman. I told him not to, because it's his first relationship and those sorts of things very rarely have a chance of working out in the long term. He said that he took my advice in a positive way, but was willing to take a chance despite my experiences. I told him to be careful.

On positive news, living here doesn't really bother me that much. I've lived in this part of the country for about three years now, and have settled in quite well, I might say. I've got friends and all, but naturally one has to wonder if things could've turned out better. I mean, I would've liked to study, but not in that place and definitely not that subject. I hate Vaasa.

Anywas, during my time in the army we used to go to the evening leave lasting from 18.00 PM to 22.00 PM. During that time an insane amount of guys would force themselves into the available taxi-cabs and drive to the center of town. This small concentration of bars in Kajaani, known as the "Kuoleman Kuja" (Alley of Death) was the place where all the bars were located neatly beside each other. So, we'd go into the bars and drink, try to chat up the girls there and get their numbers. We also sang Karaoke, and generally just hang out there for three to four hours a night. One of the bars also had Guitar Hero. The only downside to this bar-hopping was, that the bars there usually didn't last that long. The last time I was out on town a few months ago, this one bars called "Blues" had been sacked and some sort of "hippier" bar had replaced it. I guess Blues wasn't attracting the right kind of crowd, although I remember the bartenderess there especially well. She was this cute blond girl, who once told me about how she used to love White Russians (the drink, people!) when she was in her early twenties as I ordered the same drink. Now, I doubt that she was even over twentyfive, but she was definitely older than me. Blues was a nice bar with it's seedy dark atmosphere and all. I really liked it, too bad it was replaced with that more spacy "modern" establishment. The last time I visited that trendier Blues, there was just some bald middle-aged guy there trying to pick up girls. What a disgrace, man.

Anyways, after a night of drinking, the Turkish/Kurdish-owned Pizzeria's were also located in the same alley - where we'd go. So, we'd go and grab a Pizza, Kebab roll etc. to go and then retreat back to the barracks via a cab. I remember when we did this during the warm summer months: the late-afternoon sun gleaming on us as a group of us NCO's just sat outside and drank beer. We discussed a bunch of shit, and everyone had fun. Once I remember we even went to this little park near a lake located smack dab in the middle of Kajaani, and proceeded to drink there. The cops showed up, but they didn't really care about our business - I guess they were looking for regular Hobos and drunkards hanging about town. Not us shiny hopes of the Fatherland just enjoying a night out in town. Those were probably the best times in the army, to tell you readers the truth.