THE T-SHIRT POEM

Some poetic moments again. Yet there is an important fact about this particular poem. Despite it is all about the T-shirt, I wrote the lines into my mobile phone. I do not know how exactly writing poems into a mobile affects the poetry itself, but nevertheless...

So many times I wear this T-shirt
Which I had when I hugged you for the last time
I do not care your body touched it
Your hands caressed its cotton surface
Band T-shirt it is
I wear it when I go to gigs alone
I do not care we hugged for the last time
When I was in this T-shirt
I did not put it away
I really like this T-shirt
There are traces of you still on it
I do not give a fuck
But wait a minute, o shit, perhaps I do
Too much

METALCAMP IN FINLAND

Yesterday I went to one metal gig. Apart for the music the local band Soulfallen was playing, I also got an old issue of Finnish raskaan rockin erikoislehti Inferno. Thus meaning pretty fancy magazine, entirely deducated to hard rock and metal. Have I ever expressed my brief observation that metal in Finland seems to be main-stream culture?

However, the magazine Inferno looked nice and I was happy to read some stuff. I came upon a whole section on summer festivals, Raskas festarikesä 2007 (Heavy Festivalsummer 2007). A series of reports from Finnish festivals. Provinssirock, Nummirock, Tuska Open Air, Ruisrock, Ilosaarirock, Ankkarock, Metalcamp. What the f***?! Metalcamp. Yes indeed. Among all those major Finnish festivals, there was a report on one and only Slovenian Metalcamp. No Wacken, no Ballingen - just Finnish festarit, and that Slovenian Headbanger's Hollidays.

The article itself is basically a report about the festival. The two female writers mention great scenery of the festival; mountains and turquoise river. They also say the selection of the bands was this year absolutely excellent. There are words about reasonable prices, especially for the coctails; yep, 3,5€ for a coctail seems to be a reasonable price considering the costs for alco in Finland. And there are words about good toilets, hehe. The rest is more or less about the bands and their performance.

Thus far, I have been slightly surprised when some people I have met here replied they knew Slovenia (and that they were pretty much sure it was not Slovakia) - or that they had even been in Ljubljana. However, it seems metal festivals (as well as reasonable prices of drinks and nice toliets) can also promote our little country... Metal on!

REFLECTIONS OF AUTUMN

Silent lies the lake, beyond all world it lies the world itself. Silent it lies in stillness, there is no time, and yet there is. Silent lies the lake, the mirror-water, always the same and yet each moment different...

A year has passed since this blog has started. Many things have changed. Some things have vanished into time and memory, vanished forever. Some of the readers do not read me no longer, some new have come. So it is. The lake stands still and silent, all happiness as well as all sorrows are just a passing-by reflection. Brief moments in eternity. And the lake stands still again...

Small photographic exhibition from Korpilahti surroundings, dedicated to the first autumn day - and to the nature itself.

Dear friends and fellow bloggers, have a nice autumn!

REFLECTIONS

TAMPERE

Tampere - Tammerkoski

Today, I went to Tampere. It takes a one and a half hour trip to get there. As I love trains and I can use the student discount, I traveled with the railway. The train I took in the morning continued the road to Turku. I have some memories of Turku, so it was a slight... well, I can say a slight sting in the heart. The train I took back to Jyväskylä also came all the way from Turku. Khm. But, however, my destination was Tampere. The city is a bit bigger, there is more people, more rushy feeling in the air. Also, it gives an impression of an industrial place; Tampere is actually referred as The Manchester of Finland. I walked around the city, checked out some shops, went for a coffee. Nice Saturday trip.

P.S.: The everchanging light in Finland shaped the Tampere-photos in its everchanging way.

Tammerkoski

Tammerkoski - other side

Tampereen Teatteri

City Hall

GOING COMMERCIAL

Ikea in Finland

Do you know Scandinavian god of cheap and sort of stylish furniture? First of all, I do not want to make any adds. However, this worldwide chain is by all means a cultural phenomena, worth of serious analysis.

The housing office, which provides flats for students in Jyväskylä, has organised a bus trip to - yep, Ikea. Despite Sweden is close (or just because of that), there are only two Ikeas in Finland. Okay, it would be reasonable to put one near Helsinki, and another one more up north. Like closer to us. Hell no, both current Finnish Ikeas are in Helsinki surroundings. The bus trip itself was cheap, but still we required a couple of hours to reach the promised land. It was Saturday and it looked like half of Finland decided to do such trip as well, nevermind several miles. And it also seemed bus pilgrimages to this house-item sanctuary were quite common.

It was my first time in Ikea, despite I could visit those close to Slovenian border some time ago. But for some reasons my first Ikea happened in Finland. And, well... the store itself is big. It took me an hour, I guess, to locate all the stuff I have been after. Finnish students usually hire unfurnished flats, so such a trip is really useful. Alright, I live in a furnished flat, but I required a couple of other basic things. So, my commercial self awoke...

Basically, I do not like myself going commercial. I like shopping, sometimes, but I also despise it. Kind of love-hate relationship. Once I was told - of course people need this and that, yet too much things, this is nonsense. Like piles of things lying around the house one do not even use... The sentence stayed well in my mind, though I am not in touch with the one who said it no longer. Perhaps it is even hard to tell. Bad conscience because I spend some money? Might be, too. I am ashamed of my commercial self, I even hate it - yet at some occasions, I would still behave commercial. Join the shopping crowd, howl with the wolves... and so on.

The shopping crowd was big. Saturday-like. Even when I let my commercial self out, I certainly do not like shopping in crowded mega markets. Nevertheless there was no other option. And I filled my trolley. So, now I am a proud owner of, for instance, two Ikea table lights. I actually needed two, but one of them I bought because its name in Swedish meant Darkness. And yes, it was really cheap.

Now my Roninmäki room looks cosy. Somehow, my commercial self would like to visit Ikea soon again, oh dear... but my modest self is also satisfied. Finally, the practical visit was useful by all means; we will be given a whole seriously theoretical lecture on cultural phenomena named Ikea within our studies.

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