I'm SO furious at my hometown! The local councillors want to close down eight schools here, leaving only five upper secondary schools (/high schools), which would change into huge high school complexes.
AND OF COURSE, THEY WANT TO SHUT DOWN ALL THE UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS WITH A SPECIAL CURRICULUM.

MEANING E.G. TAMMERKOSKI UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL, SPECIALIZED IN ART.

WHICH WAS THE SCHOOL I ATTENDED.

No fucking way, goddamn idiotic coalition councillors.

The best thing about this town are the high-quality and versatile education possibilities it offers. We have schools specialized in e.g. maths, visual art, communication, drama and IT, and young people move here all the way from Lapland because of those possibilities. And now they want to change all this into a town with five basic, all-round, huge, faceless institutions?
I CAN'T SEE THE LOGIC IN THIS. Tampere is the third biggest town in Finland and growing rapidly, so why cut down the amount of schools by half? WHAT ARE THEY THINKING.

Tammerkoski upper secondary school is a wonderful school with amazingly gifted students. Not only does it offer awesome possibilities for those interested in visual arts, but also has a great community spirit and ranks high nationwide. If it shuts down, there'll be only one art high school in the whole of Finland.

I'm so going to fight for this. Demonstrations, petitions, you name it.

... actually, I can't find words to describe this. I think the link says it all.

Gay Puerto Rican Teen Decapitated, Dismembered, and Burned

"The police agent that is handling this case said on a public televised statement that 'people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen'."



I'm aware this is a few days old piece of news, and that these kinds of things really ruin one's mood. I apologize, but I think that sometimes we need one of those "stop and think" -moments, even if it's hard and depressing.
(it's somehow fitting that the movie "Boys Don't Cry" is aired tonight on TV)

I'm probably terribly late, but I just noticed a couple of people have added me as their friend. I love new friends, but I'd like to be informed about it so I can friend them back. :)

So hello, beck_li and utenatai! I've got no idea how long I've been on your f-list, so forgive me as I'm probably thiiiis much late.

Onto other topics. I found a cute 60s vintage coat in a second hand shop yesterday, whee. ♥ Old clothes are made with such care and are so high-quality compared to some of today's rags. I also find second hand clothes very intriguing, I love to ponder what kind of a person has worn this and that piece of garment before.
Old things are pieces of history and always tell something about the Good Old Days. And the best part is that they're mysterious. For example, a second-hand jacket I bought about five years ago had a 20 years old Swedish five-crown piece in its pocket. How captivating is that?

Finally some fangirling. I've, once again, found and EXCELLENT Wolverine/Rogue fic, More Than A Rogue by september_chic. Man, I never grow tired of Wolvie/Rogue. ♥ Too bad I have tons of schoolwork and don't have time to read fics too often. :/

Omg it's snowing! ♥ ♥ ♥

Making even the first, preparatory plan for my essay of media criticism took me, what, five hours? :,D I'm not too inspired, can you tell?

BUT. Something very interesting and ironical happened today.

I love writing prose. I attended a writing club for seven years, and I miss it really much. I haven't written practically anything for a few years now, though I've really really wanted to. Just never had the time/idea/inspiration for it.
Yesterday, while listening to the heroic music of Baldur's Gate 2, a familiar feeling struck me: It would be so fun to write fantasy - plain entertaining, cliché-filled fantasy. (Just for my own amusement, not for publishing or anything like that.)
Today I woke up at 5 am - an indication of how stressed I am. While trying to fall asleep again, I started thinking about an ideal live role play, like "it'd be so cool if that and that and that'd happen and if it would continue like..." I managed to sleep for one more hour.

And in the morning, sitting in the über boring grammar/spelling rules lesson, I got a rush of inspiration. :D
(now the question is, why does this happen only every five years and always when I have tons of other things to do? 8,,D)

I'll probably never finish this story - I haven't even started it, just written one scene - but I'm happy nevertheless. It's so fun to be childishly inspired again. ♥

Ooh. Man. *wipes tears*

The last episode of BBC's Tess of the D'urbervilles was the saddest and most heartbreaking thing I've seen on TV for some time. I haven't read Thomas Hardy's novel and didn't have a clue what the outcome would be, so the ending was a real slap on the face for me.
I just... couldn't expect anything that depressing.

After the episode had ended I ran quickly to my room so my mom wouldn't see me weeping like a baby.

That story really makes you want to lay a good kick on someone's balls. The male vharacters make me sick, I actually despise Angel way more than Alec.

And yeah, the acting in this version is superb. Makes this story even more poweful.

I really need a happy-go-lucky Austen adaptation to rise my spirits again.

(Nothing is more annoyning than the basic IT skills course. "This is how you use e-mail.")

I guess summer's now officially over when I've watched all 'Road to Avonlea' episodes. I've not dared to erase the recorded episodes yet, but I know I'll have to do it soon. I just want to watch the opening and the end of the last episode once more. The ending was quite...sad. It left me feeling very wistful; the children had grown up, many of them are leaving Avonlea, the first world war was about to start in a few years... sigh. The world changed so quickly after the big war, it must've been such a shock. (..why can't women still wear dresses and bonnets? ;_; ) Such elegancy was lost.
Avonlea didn't REALLY become a part of Carmody, did it? *sob*

Thank heavens I have a new (though short) series to ease this sad goodbye: the BBC's newest take on Thomas Hardy's Tess of D'Urbervilles. I watched the first episode today. Well, just as autumn isn't as full of sunshine, flowers and butterflies as summer, Tess isn't the least romanticized or peacefully naive as Avonlea was(duh, clearly).
Although I knew what was going to happen, the episode still managed to shock me. I wonder if the 19th century men realised the connection between having sex and getting pregnant? Phew.
I loved how symbolic the colours were - Tess no longer wore a white dress like the young girls at the end of the episode.
Well, looking forward to seeing the rest of the episodes.

(BTW, was it just me or was lady D'Urbervilles the same actress who played lady Catherine de Bourgh on P&P (1995)? :D)

Still alive. Barely, though.

Started university last tuesday, although the real studies will start tomorrow (we've had mostly tutorial stuff thus far). I've been awfully stressed and it's not getting any better. ._. 99,5% of the new journalism/mass media students blabber about how they "want to do this so bad" and "have always dreamed about becoming a journalist" and "got so inspired by the first lectures" and so on, while I certainly don't want to become a journalist (at least for a newspaper) and the first lessons only make me anxious.
I know it's way too early to say anything, but I just really, really hate the feeling of not having found what I want to do with my life. I don't have any kind of "dream job" and thus I can't think of any subject I'd REALLY want to study.
The only thing I feel like I want in my life is to get to live in a small, quiet, old house somewhere in the countryside. And write and do arts for my own delight. (I have waaaay too little talent and competetive spirit to really do arts for a living)

So where's the nearest school that educates you to become a pensioner? :)

(I __DON'T WANT___ TO DO A STUDY OF 'AN INTERESTING PHENOMENON IN MEDIA'. I CAN'T. AGH. {and again, everybody else were like "omg I'm so excited I have tons of ideas and don't know which one to choose omg I'm going straight to the library to collect material"})



I need an episode of Road to Avonlea.

I'm baaack!

I've cried way too much today, for three reasons:

1. I'm back from Hungary, and it's a terrible shock to return to rainy Finland, from +35 to +15 C, from a little Hungarian village to Finland's second biggest town. I also miss my grandma, and my mom, who's staying in Hungary till september 27th.

2. UNIVERSITY. Goddmanit, it hasn't even started and I'm already at the edge of burnout.

3. I WATCHED ROAD TO AVONLEA EPISODES "Return to Me" and "So Dear to My Heart", which is the series finale. "Return to Me"...I wept throughout the episode. If something's bittersweet, then it's this episode of this series. I had accidently spoiled myself about poor little Gus's fate, but I was still as shocked and sad as ever. Micheal Mahonen is such a wonderful actor, he doesn't play Gus Pike, he IS Gus Pike! He REALLY cried, he didn't fake it.
And... a crying man = makes me squee and feel pity. A crying, handsome, heartbreaking, sad Gus = BWAAAH. I watched every kissing/hugging/crying scene twice. 8,,,)

"I'll never see your face again." ---> *yours truly goes coocoo*

Now I'll have to hurry and catch my bus. Felicity/Gus is the cutest, most bittersweet and heartbreaking couple ever. ASDF.

I'm off to Hungary, babes. ♥

WITH BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL VOLUME 21 IN MY SUITCASE. BUAHAHAHAHAA~. *runs away*

...it's three and a half hours 'till my alarm clock is going to ring. Nice. :,D

Life's been splendid lately! The few YAY events that've happened in the past two weeks:

YAY #1:
I GOT ACCEPTED TO TAMPERE UNIVERSITY TO STUDY MASS MEDIA/JOURNALISM. :D I'm so relieved and happy about it! If I only found out where I have to be when the term starts at september 1st...

YAY #2: (most recent)
A group of Hungarians who study Finnish at a language camp came to Tampere today for sightseeing and dinner. My mom teaches Hungarian to Finnish people at the same camp and asked me and Mikko to come along to keep company/translate.
I was very nervous about it, but it turned out that 99% of the Hungarians were 19-29 years old, very talkative and their Finnish was great. :) While the rest of the group left at 20:20, the young wanted to stay a little bit longer and we ended up having a great time at a local restaurant/beerhall. They liked Finnish beer wtf
I hope I can go to the camp closing party on Saturday. :)

YAY #3:
I've met many of my friends several times. :D (hey, that's something considering that I've spent all the time I can at our summer cottage/on the countryside)

YAY #4:
I'm leaving for Hungary next thursday, be back in three weeks! Can't wait, I've never been there in August. (at least for this long)

Despite the mostly horrible weather, my summer holiday has been very nice thus far. After the two super-cold weeks we got a nice heatwave: two weeks of around +30 celsius. It was lovely. ♥ When June changed to July, the warmest month in Finland, mother nature started PMSing - it's been rainy and cold, yippee. Weather always has a huge impact on me, since I love beuty, especially in the summer. Finland's countryside would be ravishing in the summer - fresh green forests, bright yellow turnip rape fields surrounded by violet, purple and white flowers, little red cottages, glimmering lakes and a blue sky -, but one can hardly enjoy travelling when it's dark, rainy and cold.

Anyway, the days I spent on summer cottages (both ours and Mikko's) were warm and wonderful.

Today's my birthday, I've entered the dull age of 19. 17 and 19 are weird, in-between ages: when I was 17, I always thought about myself as a 16-year-old, and if someone asked about Mikko's age when he was 19, I automatically answered that he was 20.
My birthday mood and festive spirits aren't exactly rising due to this depressing weather and the fact that I'm sitting alone in our apartment which is surrounded by ugly blocks of flats.
But, never fear! I've decided to cheer myself up by going to the nearby grocery shop, buying a big, chocolate coated ice cream and watching at least two episodes of Avonlea in a row. Perhaps after that life isn't that bad after all.

...talking about life being bad, I'm horribly nervous about the university entrance exam results.
By attending the entrance exam of journalism and mass media, I applied to both Tampere and Jyväskylä university to study that subject, and the Jyväskylä results already came. I've been accepted to Jyväskylä alright, which is a smaller town and where it's considerably easier to get in, and my points are still only 2,5 points higher than the lowest accepted point sum.
So if I barely got accepted to Jyväskylä, I doubt I'd get in to Tampere. AND I DON'T WANT TO GO TO JYVÄSKYLÄ FOR GODSSAKE ARRRGH.

On a more important note, omg Avonlea is coming to its end, the last season is about to begin. I shed a few tears in the episode where Sara left Avonlea and feel melancholy every time I see Felix: the small, plump kid has become a tall, grown man. ;__; Felicity is such a beautiful young woman that I gasp every time I see her in the season six opening. Oh, kids grow up too fast, especially on TV.

Blade of the Immortal volume 21 is out in a week! :D I'm very excited, MOAR MANJI/RIN NAO PLZ. ♥♥♥

Quick update! Just to let you know that I'm trying very hard to stay away from the computer since the entrance exam is next monday. I've studied very, very much, but I still have the feeling that it's not enough. Goddammit.

To make matters worse, over 1000 people applied to study mass communication and journalism, and only 40 get in. AHAHA HA HA...HA. -_-

AND I really, really want to get in, especially now: a few days back I got a letter from Jyväskylä university informing that I got accepted to study history (since my history matriculation exam points were so good.). Yippee? No. I really dont' want to move to Jyväskylä for one year (since I'd change university as soon as I could). And if I don't get in to Tampere uni and want to turn down the opportunity to study SOMEWHERE, my family will have me hung, drawn and quartered.

It's raining and the temperature is SIX CELSIUS DEGREES. Can you believe that? In June! Four days ago it was 29 C and sunny! Mother Nature must be on crack.

The fourth season of Road to Avonlea will end soon. This is a big tragedy, because in season five Gus will appear in only a few episodes, while during the fourth season he's been in almost every episode. ;__; I'll miss my Goose. Gus/Felicity is so much love, jealous!Gus beating Arthur up was awesome. :,D *squees*

Alma (that's me), 18, just curled her hair succesfully for the first time in her life! :D

*bliss*

...WHAT? It's a big occasion!

Lämpörullat (ionic rollers), ILU. <3 If anyone struggles with curling their hair for the graduation party, I recommend this method. Easier, faster and safer than curling tongs. -__-

My life's so boring nowadays. D:

I spend 5-6 days a week studying for the uni entrance exams (or trying very hard to do that), I hate both books, especially the one about visual literacy. >_< The topic would be interesting, but WHY does it have to be written in such a difficult way?
Representaatio lähtee ajatuksesta, että merkki ja todellinen vastaavat toisiaan (jopa silloin kun tämä vastaavuus on utooppista, se on perustava aksiooma). Käänteisesti: simulaatio lähtee liikkeelle tämän vastaavuuden periaatteen utooppisuudesta, merkin arvon radikaalista kieltämisestä, merkistä jokaisen referenssin kääntymänä ja kuolemantuomiona.
ASDF QWERTY! I'm an immature high scool graduate, have mercy!
T____T

After studying I'm so tired I rarely have the strenght to even cheer myself up with some Wolverine/Rogue fics, and that's a serious symptom in my case!

But this busy spring has totally distracted me about Blade of the Immortal volume 21. Time's passed so quickly that it's only a little more than 2 months until it's released! :D *waits for Manji/Rin -goodness* ♥

Dad's testing our new fancy home theatre devices, so I couldn't watch another episode of Avonlea, though I really would've wanted to. :,/ So I cheered myself up with some spoiling of future events and looking up some Gus/Felicity material. ♥




*___* <3
Gus is just about the cutest thing I've seen in quite a while. As a fan said in a blog I stumbled upon: "-- Gus Pike, whom I have to say is probably the best romantic male character in all of history (he even rivals Austen's Mr. Darcy).

I've found yet another place I want to visit in my life! It's Prince Edward Island. ♥ The island where Lucy Maud Montgomery was born and where many of her books take place. Avonlea and Green Gables can be found there! *sigh* After I finish the book I'm currently reading, I'll reread Anne of Green Gables and go to the library and try to find other Montgomery's books. Shame on me, I haven't even read Emily of New Moon!
Anyway, I'm determined to visit Prince Edward Island at least once in my life! I already found a lovely Victorian hotel where I want to stay. Could be a perfect destination for a honeymoon, no? :)

I've started watching Road to Avonlea, which may have SOMETHING to do with me looking up Prince Edward Island. I hope I'll find a DVD box of the series since I can't always catch all the episodes (they're aired 9.30 am on weekdays. ><). As somebody commented on youtube, I wish life would still be like that. *sigh* What a blessing it would be to live in such a beautiful, idyllic place.
And Gus, Gus Pike! ♥ So adorable, so sincere, so heartbreaking is he in the series. (played by a 3/4 Finnish actor, haha. XD)

*romantic sighs*

I found the opening of Sense and Sensibility (2008 version)! I love the music, and since I can't find it as a mp3 anywhere, I just loop the opening. Anyone who loves beautiful scores, just listen to it! Here, from 0:50 on!
*loves it* *__* <3
I'm totally getting this on DVD. And Pride and Prejudice (BBC) too! And Road to Avonlea, so I can watch all the episodes!

Yes, I'm a romantic. A big, big romantic. *sighs* Everything 19th and early 20th century + beautiful landscapes turns me on.

...anything excluding Keira Knightley. I just watched a scene of the new Pride and Prejudice movie (Keira Knightley -version). The "If your feelings are the same as in April then please tell me etc" scene. Oh...lord. Keira Knightley is SO NOT LIZZY. Srsly. AND WHAT'S WITH THAT MISTER DARCY? I see no chemistry. I don't. None at all.
and...and...ARGH. that kiss. argh. *eyes burn*

Forgot the happy things -meme! XD

Things that made me happy #8
+ It's been a sunny day, the snow (what's left of it) is melting. Spring! :)
+ Thinking back to Hungary. ♥ *sigh* Sitting in the garden in summer clothes, reading and listening to the cocks' crow...
+ noticing that there're still a FEW layers in my hair. The hairdresser couldn't blow it COMPLETELY.
+ Speaking to my friend Suvi on the phone and waiting to meet celen :) Friends. ♥

On another note, my weight's risen in a few days though I haven't been eating more than usual plus I've started jogging too. O__o;

I'M ALIVE!

Ahaha ha ha ha...ha.

Matriculation exams done, upper secondary school done.

:D :D :D

The last exam was almost a month ago, but I've been so goddamn tired that somehow even updating my LJ felt too demanding. The matriculation exams went well though, it's possible I'll get the best grade from four subjects (out of five). (The grades being A, B, C, M, E, L, from worst to best. Yes, in Finland if you get an A from your finals, it means you almost failed. 8D) But I DID study like mad: I got up at 8 in the morning and studied from 9 am to 9-10 pm every day for almost six weeks. :,B Paaaiiinn. Thinking back, I can't imagine where that motivation came from.

So after this horrible studying I spend my days...studying. I applied to the local university to study media/journalism, and the entrance exam is on the first week of June. And you know what's the best part? I don't get ANY points from my good matriculation exam grades, since in media/journalism only the entrance exam matters. YIPPEEE~. 8D
The books I'll have to study for the exam are boring and difficult to understand. But I'll do my best! v_v/ And this time I only study about 7 hours per day, and even see Mikko during the weekends.

Oh right, I went to see Waltz with Bashir, finally. That's one movie that would've made me feel guilty if I hadn't watched it. It was really, really powerful. I think everyone ought to go see it, the situation in Gaza being what it is. If somebody isn't familiar with the movie, it's an animated documentary film about the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during the Lebanon war in 1982. The opening scene of the movie really sent chills down my spine, and I knew at that moment that this was going to be a deeply impressing film.

My trip to Hungary was lovely and relaxing. I loved that it was just me and my mom, things are so much easier when the men of our family (dad and brother) aren't with us. And if I couldn't have left Finland for a little while after the exams, I don't know if I had managed to start studying again at all.
But spending a week in the countryside of Hunagry, in a small, silent village, waking up in a sunlit room, with animals greeting you every morning... it was wonderful. And I don't think it's ever been this hard to come back to Finland. Hungary and especially Kenderes (the village where my grandma lives) mean ultimate relaxation to me, and I was just getting settled down when we already had to travel back to cold, rainy, stressing Finland.
And -after I get used to it- speaking Hungarian feels much more pleasant than speaking Finnish. So much...softer.

I also realized that the absence of computer has a really relaxing effect on me. I also loved leaving my mobile phone in my backpack for the whole week. Isolating yourself from the busy world is really good therapy.

Then, more resent news. I went to the hairdresser's and she skillfully destroyed my previous hairdo, even though I told her only to trim the ends a little. T__T In December a girl at our school cut me a layered, airy cut, which made my hair look thick and got the natural waves of my hair show themselves. The only downside was that she left the ends of my hair a little messy, that's why I now turned to a professional hairdresser. Like, if a self-taught high schooler can do it, then a real hairdresser should do it even better, right?
Well, uh, no. ( Cut for demonstrating comic (beware of 1337 ArT SkillZ) )
Wow, I didn't think it was even possible to flatten the look that much. Oh well. I'll just have to grow my hair out again and find a better hairdresser. >_>

Lol, long entry is loooong. :D I'll make a photoentry of Hungary, if I'm not as lazy as usual.
And soon I'll see celen, finally! :,DD It's been, like...six months?

I'm going to Hungary on March 29th! ♥

I've never been there at this time of the year!

I'll see my grandmother twice this year! (because I'm going there also in August)

I'm very, very happy!

Actually, decided to write an entry about Sense and Sensibility while I'm at it.

So, I just finished watching the first part. I've seen the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet movie version, so comparison is unevitable.

Oh right, if somebody who doesn't know the story stumbles across this, THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERSS. Naughty little hobbitsesss.
( Let's make a cut, just in case )

Okay, I'm eagerly waiting for the next episode.