HB COLD

Normally I wouldn't share this information, but this is a little too much for me not to tell.  I have a program in the template of this blog that allows me to track how my blog was reached.  In other words, if someone does a search on Google for HBCOLD and clicks onto my blog, then I am able to see that this was how they were directed there.  Nothing more.  It's a way of tracking the statistics of the blog.

There have been some funny ones "Palm trees for sale that can live through cold winter", some random ones "China Deli", but never any naughty ones, until now.  Today's winner is "Sex with girls passed out cold".  Now you all read this blog and I write this blog, so I have a question, "How the hell does my blog get brought up on this search?"  Sure it was number 94 in the search, but still, "Sex with girls passed out cold?" Come on. 

Changing subjects now, there's been some exciting new developments on the job front.  A production company from India would like to come here and shoot a few scenes for their upcoming film.  So we've been scouting locations and I've been writing invitations for the crew.  It could be a real deal, which would mean a lot to everyone involved.  So, in order to acquaint myself with Indian films I watched Monsoon Wedding last night.  It would be a lot of fun to have that kind of film shot here.  Apparently they need a birth place of the heroine of the film and they need it to not be Indian.  Well, they'll be coming to the right place. 

You know, there are just some days where you're gonna get hit in the nuts and on those days you don't get hit just once, but many, many times. Well, today is one of those days for me. Second game of basketball today and Jaari drives to the basket, doing his scoop move before he takes his shot - his scoop move means that he takes the ball low and makes a circle with it before shooting. Guess what happened when he went low. Guess. Well let me tell you what happened...he got me in the nuts. And it was one of those almost hits, which are a hundred times worse than a direct hit, cause the pain creeps and keeps creeping and it lasts a while. A couple of minutes later everything was everything and I was back to playing full speed.

Next game, and for the record we play for close to two hours and we take five minute breaks in between. On the bike coming home I thought that even pro's get a break between periods and a half-time and like 10 time outs...not with us. Here it's get some water, towel off a bit and get back to it. So we're back to it and Olli is in-bounding the ball and throws it at me hard and guess what? Guess. Well let me tell you what happened...he got me in the nuts. It's just one of those days.

I used to make fun of Phil cause he would wear a cup for anything that involved any physical avtivity whatsoever. Now I'm thinking he had something there. But he would wear for anything, come on now, let's all make fun of him a little bit. It's fun.

Bicycle ride yesterday was just gorgeous.  I rode along the river for a few miles and then turned back to ride along the lake.  I got to see some parts of the town that I had never been to before and I was glad that I did.  I only wish I had brought my camera with me.  However, after a couple of hours of riding and sweating, it was probably better that I didn't bring it along. 

I had only been to the beach near our place, there are two others locally and they are all very nice.  I think our beach has the least amount of sand, but has the most amount of grass for sports, picnics, what have you.  I also think that the beach near us is the one where most families go; as there were countless naked babies running around.  I wonder at what age do parents start covering up their babies.  When does it go from being kind of cute to being kind of disgusting?  Is it 2 years, 1 1/2?  Maybe it's the size of the kid that makes the difference.  Or maybe it's when they are potty-trained.  I think I'm on to something here, when the kid can hold it in and not ruin a bathing suit, then the kid gets to wear one.  Otherwise, it's just more stuff for mom and pop to clean.  Better to do it in the water than in the bathing suit. 

This was a fact I had trouble learning.  I can remember running with pop and I think Tricia, but I'm not too sure, in South Padre from the Gulf to the hotel because I just couldn't go in the water.  I remember the ground being so hot that dad would jump into pool after pool on the way to the bathroom to keep cool, on the outside and maybe on the inside.  I mean, after all what is the ocean but a giant toilet? 

Now another time, much later in life, Karoliina and I were in the Gulf near Biloxi, Mississippi.  We were far from shore out on a sand dune so we decided to crouch down and take care of business.  Well, a few seconds later we both got this awful stinging sensation all over our bodies and it kept getting worse and worse.  We looked around and noticed jelly fish everywhere.  K knew what to do, rub sand everywhere.  Shore and all its sand loomed far in the  distance and the pain kept coming.  We ran as fast as we could to get there and when we did we grabbed as much sand as we could and rubbed it everywhere.  I just now realized that we must have been a very funny sight to see for the people on the beach.   Two people screaming / laughing, running like crazy out of the water and then rubbing sand all over themselves.  Wish I'd seen it.

 

Nothing to report here. Just cleaning the house and stuff. Gotta have it clean before K comes back or there could be trouble. The sun is just now peaking through the clouds, so I think I will go for a bike ride into town and then cruise along the river. Hope the sun stays out. I gotta keep my head tan with this real short hair.

Lots of love,
hb

I've decided against shaving the head - not that I was ever going to REALLY shave it, but I had intended on using the clippers on a longer setting - instead, I will simply get a cut shorter than usual.  You know, a testing length.  Besides, I saw a couple of pictures of myself lately and the hair wasn't too bad, so maybe I will hold off a little while longer.  I was hoping to be able to keep some modicum of hair until I turned 30, maybe that'll be my goal again.  Could be I just really needed a haircut and got a little dramatic.

There's not a whole lot going on right now so I think I fill this space with some boring stuff.  I plan on buying some soil and plates and stuff and I will try to grow some herbs on the balcony.  If I succeed I'll move onto move substantial plant life.  Although I have to be quick about it, I think we have only 3 more months of decent light left.  Now that's a wonderfully uplifting thought.  I'll go out and buy some stuff this weekend, it'll give me something to do.  What else can I bore you with today?  Not much, really boring here.

The next day, Sunday, we decided to do the tourist stuff that you have to do, just so you can say you did it. We started out at the London Bridge and I have one thing to say about that bridge, "They made a song about that one?" Well it must have been something before it fell because it's not much of anything right now. It is however, next to the Tower Bridge, which is the more visually striking and well-known of the two, without the lyrics. We walked along the footpath of the River Thames which carried us past the milennium bridge, Waterloo bridge, past Shakespeare's Globe theatre and onto Westminster where a huge myth in my life was shattered. Much to my disappointment, there is no round about where Chevy Chase told his children, "Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament" I looked all over for it and could not find it. Well, that's not entirely true, we sat at one corner of the building and looked around, saw that there were simply way too many people to enjoy anything and we took off, back to the more quiet neighborhood.

The rest of the trip was more shops, streets, pubs and restaurants. With one stop in Finsbury Park to check out Wes' old neighborhood, I will send some pics tomorrow and try to get a link here. I thought that his neighborhood was quite similar to the neighborhood K and I lived in in Brooklyn, Park Slope.

By the time Thursday came about we were more than ready to get back to Finland. It was certainly a long 6 days, followed by 2 days at the summer cottege and completed by a Stevie Wonder show at Pori Jazz. Summer cottege was very relaxing and although it rained in every square meter around the lake, it very rarely rained on us. Pori was nice, but the concert was a let down. It didn't seem like...I don't know, there just wasn't much energy and funk to it. But it was fun to see him there and to watch the crazy Finns jam like Stevie.

Now it's 2 weeks of down time and the next big thing is the Air Guitar Championships where I will have two friends from the States participating in the event, one as reigning world champion and the other as a visiting judge. No conspiracy theories please.

hb rigging a competition.

So we got there... I have to admit, I just wrote this whole thing like a few minutes ago, but it was lost on my computer - human error I confess, but it still stinks.  Well anyway, we got there and it was pretty cool to get into a London taxi, as they are designed - even the modern ones - to look quite old fashioned.  And it was fun to be in a car with the wheel on the right side of the car, or the wrong side, depending on where you live.  Yet the reversal of traffic had more of an effect as we crossed the street on foot.  Fortunately this reorientation is predicted by the right people and at each crosswalk, "LOOK RIGHT" or "LOOK LEFT" was painted on the ground and I was thankful for the last second advice.  I didn't realize how ingrained that aspect of everyday life is in my head.  To tell the truth, I don't think I ever fixed the impulse to look the other way first, I just did so real fast and then looked the other way. 
 
Man I am still a little pissed that I lost all the stuff I just wrote - yeah I didn't think of that last paragraph and probably would have omitted it from the entry, but still, I am about to go into the routine I just wrote and would much prefer to cut and paste. 
 
Well dining in London was pretty forgettable, except for the fact that Karoliina and I are fools and when fools go out on the town, anything can happen.   First dinner out, we order two glasses of champagne as an apertif, I suggested them because next champagne on the menu was the number 2 and I figured that this represented the price, 2 pounds.  A decent price for a glass, so why not order?  Well a few horrifying seconds later Karoliina realizes that the 2 means page number, not price.  Immediately thoughts of Dom Perignon floated about my head along with a price tag of 15 pounds per glass.  We were saved, they were only like 7 pounds per glass, which is more than I have ever spent on one glass of champagne, but at least it wasn't 15, that's something right?
 
Next time out, we were in Notting Hill and running as fast as we could from the hordes of antique buying fools at the Portabello market - no offense to any antique buying fools who may or may not be reading this - but it was like an Antique's Road Show from hell and we fled as fast as possible.   We made our way to the Cow and ordered a couple of pints, I had a smoked trout and potato salad and K ordered pasta.  Until, a moment later we realized that we did not see the daily specials.  Without looking, Karoliina jumps up and goes to the waitress asking her if she can change her order (this is very un-Karoliina like, but I think she figured that the grass might be greener) looks quickly at the list and orders the dressed crab.  Now let me just say this, if ever you are fleeing the Portabello Market, find yourself at the Cow and dressed crap is on the menu, avoid it.  It was a crab shell filled with this weird, brown, goo-like stuff, that tasted exactly as one would imagine weird, brown goo-like stuff to taste.  Sure there were some pieces of crab sticking out of the crab crap, but man.  Oh, and it was really expensive too. 
 
OK, so I am going to stop here and pick up later today.  Time to go home.

Tired, out of shape, badly in need of some grooming and finally back in Joensuu. The travels are winding down for a while and for that I am thankful. Not to say I haven't enjoyed it all, but when I walked in the door today I felt like I had been gone for months. For the next two weeks it'll be nothing but fish, chicken, fruits and vegetables and lots and lots of exercise. If I am going to go with the real short hair, I will need to get into shape. Bald dudes who are in shape can usually pull off the bald part and so therein lies the mission.

Can't really concentrate enough to write about London except to say that it was without a doubt the most expensive place I have ever been. The only thing that was cheap in London were all the half-pints of beer we bought while on our daily pub crawl and after too many half-pints each day, even that got a little pricey. And after daily pub crawls in London we were off to the summer cottege for two days. Let me just say this about that, I have asked around and I don't know if there is a single person in this whole country who can go to the summer cottege and not drink. I think I am going to try an experiment next time I am there and stay dry, we'll see how it goes. Well, regardless, I am going to work tomorrow and getting a hair cut. I am really thinking about cutting it real close, like a long shave if that makes sense. At least I had the desire to do it in London, we'll see if courage holds long enough.

Lots of love to everyone and I will pick this up in the morning.

hb back, for now.

I need some help here. I can't tell if this has been a good day or a bad day. It's only 9am and I just got to work, but already there have been moments of both. I am hoping for a little clarity on the subject. Good news first...today is beautiful. The sun is shining and there is a nice breeze, which allowed for a real pleasant sleep - masks to block out the sun help too. It's the first pretty day this week and one of only a handful this summer. I'm not too upset that I am at work and will be missing it, that's not the bad part of the day, so I'll get to it now.

I'm having my breakfast: toast and cottege cheese, yogurt, oj, coffee and water. I sit down to the computer to read the paper (sounds a bit strange) and begin to eat. The toast is dry, but that's what the oj is for, right? Well, as I am finishing the first slice of toast I get a slight, but funny taste...kinda like mold. I begin to think about when I purchased the cottege cheese - yesterday - and then the bread (this is not normal bread, but it is only a few days old, I think). So I glance at the second slice of bread and there it was like a big old piece of snot, mold. I check the remains of the slice that is currently in my hand and there is a matching slob of snot on this one. I gag, but don't puke and then down my oj, get a fresh slice of bread and continue on with my breakfast. Now I am sitting here and typing and I keep trying not to think about it, but since I am writing about it right now, that is a hard thing to do.

But, it is sunny out. K and I have tickets to see Spider Man 2 tonight. I can't tell if I am excited to see the movie, of if I am simply excited that it is playing so soon after opening in the States. We are off to London on Friday and these are all good things. But I did eat mold. Good or bad?

Well I thought we might get lucky and have some nice weather in London. Seems as if I thought wrong. Seems as if the weather that we are having here is the same weather they are having in London. Cold and wet. K and I were lucky enough to have one nice day of weather this weekend. We got out to the lake and really enjoyed the sun and the breeze. It lasted all of one afternoon. Now it is cold and wet again and with no let up in sight. Good thing I'm not on a summer holiday here in Finland. Cause when I start to think about it, the summer is almost over and it hasn't really begun yet. I mean it's July 6th right now and it is like 60 degrees and rainy and has been this way every day except last Sunday - and I am not taking that day for granted as it might very well be the only nice day of the summer. I hope I'm wrong on that one, but apparently, since this winter was so warm and pleasant, it means that the summer will be cold, wet and utterly unpleasant.

First Saturday here in the house since I can remember and it seems as if mother weather is aware of this fact, because she is being overly generous. The weather is beautiful and the bugs are not swarming as of yet. It's possible that the only two people I know having better weather are Jen and Mark and they're in Hawaii. Although, while the girls are at the lake (Nina is in town and her boyfriend is coming later today) I am busily putting up mesh nets over the windows and I am about to go and get this plastic drape covering for the door and a table so that we can eat outside if we so choose.

Other than that, not too much to say. K and I are preparing for our trip to London and this will most certainly be a lesson in frugality. We's broke and London is expensive. I think picnics in Hyde Park will be the regular dining situation and that's not the worst thing that I can think of. I will have a couple days to myself while we are there because K has a class to go to while she's there, so I need to get a plan of action next week. But really, I think picking one cool spot and hanging out there for several hours will be just as fun as going all over the place and simply looking around at as much as possible.

That reminds me, Wes let me know where your old neighborhood is so I can go and have a pint or two and hang out there.

I hope everyone is doing really well.

hb relaxing

Meanwhile, back in Joensuu our hero dodges fireball after fireball spit from the angry, drooling mouth of the dragon. Singed by the heat, he moves quickly to the castle where the secret of the kingdom is protected by this beast of fire and fury. Scuttling underneath the outstretched legs of the enormous reptile, he lifts his blade and slashes at the soft underbelly of his menacing foe. Screams of pain ring in his ears as shouts of joy can be heard from the townsfolk in the background. "The beast is slain!"

This about sums up my day here at the office. There is not a whole helluva lot going on right now. I'm taking a break from the Vampire story and moving on to something a little less consuming. This weekend will mark the first weekend that K and I are in Joensuu since May 1, but alas we will have guests. So, as it stands, London follows this weekend and then Pori Jazz the following weekend where we will get to see Stevie Wonder. After that Karoliina will remain in Turku for a couple of weeks and then I will join her in Helsinki for a weekend before we return home on the 1st of August or Elokuu. That means, if my math is correct, we will not be in Joensuu alone together from May 1 until August 8 - so much for a relaxing summer. OK sure, we've traveled and seen all our friends, but man. I long for the day when we will be in Helsinki and traveling around Finland won't be nearly as time consuming and as expensive. Hopefully that day will come sooner than later - hence the work on the vampire story.

I am hoping to have a 7-10 page treatment ready to give to a production company and once I get a letter of interest from them, I can take both documents to the Finnish Film Foundation and get a grant to write the script full-time. I just have to complete the treatment, and since it takes me a long time to pitch in words - as there are so many details to the story (a good thing, mind you) - it will take a while to write well. But I should have ample time on my hands. And since the weather is still cold and wet it's not like I'll be spending all my time at the beach, which happens to be a five minute walk from our door.

Although, I will admit that yesterday I was a big fan of the cold and wet. It kept the bugs away and created a nice breeze which filled our house with cool air for the first time in weeks (I was going to say months, but it really is weeks. I shouldn't lie). Speaking of cool air, we won't be getting much of that in London. Apparently K realized that the reviews of the hotel that she got for us has rooms and suites and the suites have a/c whereas the rooms do not. Oh well, it's not like we're living with a/c now so I think we'll manage.

Apparently the hotel is in an excellent neighborhood, right near Kensington and Hyde Park. Admittedly, my London geography is novice at best, but I think I know that those are two cool places. And the more cool places the merrier because I aín't doing no shopping there. Done spent way too much cash in the US and I's got to be saving the dough. Word.

hb out