HB COLD

This time last week I was laying out by the pool at the Aladdin resort in Las Vegas, soaking up the sun, the warmth and the quarters that kept pouring out of the Wheel of Fortune machine. Today, I am wiping the wet mud off of my jeans and shoes and preparing to get back out into the cold, wet mud of the forest as I make my way home from work. What the hell?

Crawfish cookout was fun, but the crawfish itself was no cajun cookout. Just boiled crawfish, no spices, nothing. However, after the event I had a sneaking suspicion that it was the free booze that brought the crowd and not the fish.

I had to pace myself that night because I had an early morning meeting with the deputy mayor and the Israeli ambassador on a boat the next day and the last thing that I wanted was a hangover for an early morning boat meeting. The meeting went well, the man and his wife were a sweet couple and they were very interested in the film festival that we will have in a couple of weeks.

On Sunday I threw the football with a guy that used to play football professionally in Finland. It was great! The weather was crappy, which is good for playing football and the guy is nice, which also helps. Hopefully we will be able to get a few more guys together before the snow covers the playing field for the next 6-7 months. Speaking of snow, it has already struck the North of Finland and will probably be waiting for me when I get back from sunny California and the desert of Vegas.

Man I am getting excited for this trip tomorrow, but the plane ride is going to be hellish. Amsterdam to LA is a 15 hour trip. That's 5 hours more than the most time I have ever spent on a plane. I could watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy and still have enough time to watch Titanic and Lawrence of Arabia. Man, I am depressed now. I have to stop writing and cry.

The beginning of fall is here. The Indian Summer was only one week long. It is now officially getting cold. With high's in the 50's and lows near freezing, I am about to break out the long-johns. Yesterday I wore my wool cap on the way home. This is not a minor detail. I think there is some type of competition among the locals to be the last man standing, or shivering in this case, before you submit to the chill and start wearing warmer clothes. Fortunately my ego is in check and now that my hair is no longer able to keep my head warm (nor is it able to prevent my scalp from getting sunburn) I have decided to forgo bravery and heed sanity.

That being said, I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to go to sunny California and then to the desert of Vegas, where summer is still raging. It will be an increase of temperature by 50 degrees, but it will be fleeting. I will be shopping for a fall jacket while baking in the heat in Vegas.

Tonight K and I are going to a crawfish cookout, J-town style and let me tell you...

My first column has been officially published online, you can check it out here:

http://www.6d.fi/life_style/reflections

I am hoping to be able to contribute to this website at least once a month, with the eventual goal of getting into the print publication.

Onto another topic, contact lenses. I have finally, after years of copping out for whatever excuse I could find, started to wear contact lenses. I suppose I had this enormous fear that the lenses would get lost somewhere in there, but after experiencing that a couple of times I realized that it's not such a big deal. Sure it stings a bit, and it is more than a little disgusting to try and locate the lens and shift it back into place, but overall the pros out weigh the cons.

I usually wear them for sports and the gym and for those purposes, the difference is amazing. I can only imagine how it feels to have successful laser correction, but until I get there I will just have to enjoy what I have. It was great to finally play a game of basketball without having my glasses strapped to my head and having to constantly clean them off.

However, there is one thing that I guess I took for granted about glasses, they act as a windshield for my eys from all the damn bugs. Lately I have had to ride my bike with my hat pulled down as low as it can go without totally obstructing my view. And breathing through the mouth? Fuggedaboudit. Those little bastards are simply everywhere.

Have you ever understood those people who are really in to Monster Metal? For those who may not be aware what Monster Metal is, it is when a band dresses up like monsters and plays heavy metal, usually with some sort of monster theme. Well backstage at the Air Guitar Competition last weekend I got a first-hand glimpse of the men and women behind the bloody masks, the furry capes, the wolf's head and mummy skin, and let me tell you, they were a bunch of nice guys.

Before the competition started there were crowds of kids dressed for Halloween, except these kids were ready to rock and not trick or treat. I knew we wouldn't stay for the concert, but I was hoping to see the band backstage before we left. As the contestants were performing their air routine and as we watched from backstage a group of monsters crept up behind us. Karoliina turned around and screamed. Behind me was a mummy with no face and a mouth dripping with gross. After the initial shock I decided to talk with him. I told him that I don't speak much Finnish and he replied, in English, that that was not necessary.

So our conversation went something like this...

"Do you like to perform in the summer or winter?"

"Winter, these costumes get too hot in the summer"

"How long have you been in the band?"

"Four years, I was glad when Lordi called" (Lordi is the name of the lead singer, and the name of the band - he designs all the costumes and writes the songs)

"Did you ever imagine when you were growing up and wanting to be in a band, that you would have to dress like a zombie mummy?"

"No"

After that I grew tired of the mummy and wanted to speak with the main man of monster metal, Lordi, who sat alone and in darkness under the beer tent.

I approached him and began the same line of questioning. Once I felt comfortable enough to get personal, I asked him what his mother thinks of his presentation. He said that his mom is very proud of him and follows him everywhere. For a werewolf skull monster, Lordi sure was cute and friendly. I was talking about the meeting outside after the show and his publicist was listening in and dropped a Lordi double cd in my lap... I know what'll be playing at our next party..."The Hounds of Hell Return" that's what.

That was easily the highlight of the weekend, which also saw scandal at the judges booth. The votes were miscounted and the championship was wrongly awarded to Miri, the American champion rather than the New Zealander. The press release announced that they would share the award and the producer of the competition resigned in disgrace...I ask you, do these people take this thing a little too seriously? Maybe, just maybe. Still, K and I are already working on our routines for next year.

I got to hang with C-Diddy, the returning champ and my friend from New York. He had film crews following him everywhere and was not able to have a single conversation until well past 4am when the crew was too tired to keep working.

We all went to the karoke bar, where Karoliina forced me to sing the hardest song I have sang ever, The Scientist by Coldplay. It was the first time since high school choir when I used my falsetto in public, it wasn't pretty.

As always it was good to get out of J-town, but after a hectic festival schedule, J-town is a relaxing place to be.