FUCK YES! Chelsea 1 - Arsenal 2! A great win at Stamford Bridge. Just what the doctor ordered. This is what the team, the players, we fans need. Looks like our new captain is some kind of good luck charm. Feels so fucking great right now. A win. I´ll get you another update tomorrow, after I´ve actually had time to analyze this match a bit more. I just needed to burst this magnificent feeling out. Let´s all celebrate the win over Chelsea. YES!
Believe me, I had a much better title in mind, but now that I actually need it, I can´t remember it. Anyway, all of you should know what I´m on today as last night was UCL day. First of all, congratulation to Captain Fabtastic to leading his side to a victory. This is going to be slightly fangirlish today, but I am ok with that and so should you. Arsenal wasn´t playing thrilling footbaal against Kiev, rather the normal passing they do. And actually, nothing happened until the last minutes, if you don´t count the chances our young star Aaron Ramsey couldn´t use. But I still need to highlight the fact that he is very young and no doubt will be a great player eventually. Seeing Carlos Vela start was something nice, but he wasn´t on his best gear last night, I have seen him do much better. Introducing 16 year old Jack Wilshere as the youngest Arsenal player in European match was lovely, I think I haven´t seen him since preseason... And he has the talent, he really has.
Eventually it was our Danish friend Nicky Bendtner who netted the ball in the 87th minute. Highlights are here, courtesy of 101 Great Goals. The pass Fabregas gives him i
s purely brilliant. The reason why Cesc is our best player. And thank all the football gods that Nicky actually managed to score, he has a record of not doing that... But against all odds, Cesc passed the long ball to him and it was 1-0 to the Gunners. I still disapprove Nicky removing his shirt when celebrating (for the future, he is one of those people I do not want to see without their shirts), but it was the only goal and it was enough. Before I start praising Cesc (which I´ll do), a few words about the others. Clichy was once again playing excellent game, as he usually is. Almunia gets a huge thumbs up for keeping his back clear and no matter how big a prick he is, the team needs Gallas. And I´m glad no one buued him. That is what fans do. Also, the Kiev player taking a red when startong to abuse the ref, very clever move don´t you think?
And the praise our captain part. I am going to quote the SMS conversation Emmi and I had last night during the second half (started by me when I needed to whine about the commentator not getting the name of the stadium right), so Emmi, you can kill me for this good when we see each other next time. She stated that she was proud of Cesc "as if he was her own son" (I was too, still am) and I replied that I would have probably cried if I had seen them come out of the tunnel. Which I missed, but I might have sighed a couple of times when seeing the band on his arm... Then we kept going on how odd it was feel the pride and how cute it was to see Wilshere on the pitch. I also think that Cesc with the band was somehow really cute, at one point he seemed even younger with it than he is. But Captain Fabtastic did extremely well, he needs to keep working like that and we all will love him even more. I could go on and on, but I´m sparing you. I just need to point out that Cesc´s expression on that picture is, well, priceless.
I am listening to the self titled Glasvegas album now that I finally got around to buy it. I like it, very much. Maybe it´s the accent, because I haven´t listened to the lyrics that much yet. Not the most original band in the world, but I happen to like it. And so do all the critics here while everyone else complains they are nothing. This is something I will like to listen to for a long while. Check it out.
I need to redo my Christmas wishlist a bit. I can cross the ring off, as I got it yesterday. Two actually. Silver, really pretty and I can´t believe I need to wait a month to get to wear them. It took quite a while to pick out the one I like and I couldn´t so ended up buying the other one myself. I feel sorry for the poor guy who ever ends up becoming my husband (not in a while, I guess I´ll be needing a boyfriend first :p). It will take ages for me to pick out the ring I want to wear for the rest of my life. I can´t choose, I never can. Everyone who knows me knows making decicions is one of the things I´m not very good at. But I also have a couple of additions to the list.
- The Dark Knight DVD. It was a great movie, visually too, so I can´t wait to see it on my TV. I bet I´ll enjoy it even more. Not to mention the plot and the characters. This far probably the best movie I´ve seen this year. Maybe I´ll hint my brother on this one...
- The Kent CD Box. That might actually have some name. All the albums of my favourite band in one box with songs never heard before and with new artwork by Jocke Berg. What more can one ask for?
- Arsenal Monopoly. Unfortunately they are put of stock, but this is just something so bizarre. My first thought when I saw this was WTF? I mean, what do you buy in this version? Players? If so, then what do you build? This keeps on baffling me until I actually get one. Or at least get around to play this.
I might have something more to say, but my head is empty right now, so I´ll spare you. Waiting for Sunday already, not having my hopes up, but still. And it was a good thing Fab was suspended last weekend, because the first time he is captain in the Prem will be his 150th Prem appearance in the Gunners shirt. One more moment to feel proud. I´m off now, have fun and take care!
IWFT
This post is here only for one reason. Say hello to the new Arsenal captain, Cesc Fabregas! It was about time. He should have been given the band months ago. Well, finally he has it. Now I really hope he can take the pressure and unite the team to be the team we all so dearly love. Tomorrow´s match against Kiev will be tricky as hell, and I´m not expecting miracles. Right now it just feels that Wenger took a step to the right direction. I hope Cesc proves he is worth the band (nah, he´s already done that) and won´t pull a Henry at the end of the season. After all, at the moment he is one of the most loved players the team has. Suddenly tomorrow can´t come fast enough. Gallas will still be playing, which doesn´t thrill me, but the team kind of needs him so...
Every single Gunner blogger is typing as fast as they can I am sure of that. Like I am an exception, because I am not. Maybe this insanity can now stop and they can start acting like a Big Four team they are. And no matter what happens, fans won´t leave them. You choose the team with heart and you´re bound to it for good. Now, let´s see what this new era brings to us. Come on you Gunners!
IWFT
Expect nothing, get nothing in return. Arsenal is playing so un-Arsenal right now. Another loss, and I´me getting used to it. The thing I was most interested today was wether Gallas is benched - no, he was excluded from the entire team and if Bendtner actually has those ravishing pink booths I´ve been hearing about all week - yes, he had. They don´t have the chemistry in the team to make them winners and people, remember to watch Gunners play Dynamo Kiev on UCL on Tuesday, because chances of seeing them next season are getting smiller every weekend. A one win this year would make me more than happy.
Ok, there were two things that made me happy today. Two people, I am not objectifying anyone. Vela and Ramsey. I might not know much about great players and stuff, but I can see the huge potential on those two. The minute Ramsey stepped on pitch, the team found a new gear and Vela is a hell of a lot a better striker than Bendtner. Hopefully next season´s team will be build around them. Hoping it would be build around Fabregas is more than wishful thinking, because every day I´m starting to believe more and more that he´ll be a Barcelona star next season. As much as I hate to say this, letting Flamini leave this summer was one of the biggest mistakes Wenger has ever made. I guess now I know what Spurs fans were feeling the first ten rounds or so. Not so happy now. (And I just read this lovely piece of news telling Gallas has lost the captain´s band for good. Thank God, it was about time. He managed to make himself the most hated person on the team. Provided he ever is part of the team again.)
I was at Grandma´s today, again. Cleaning up her house with Mom. And Dad was visiting his Mum I guess. I´m not very much in touch with his side of the family, I don´t know, maybe because they don´t live within a half an hours drive. It´s an hours drive... Maybe I´ll pay them a visit sometime during the Holidays.
I actually chose the title on purpose. I´m posting my Christmas gift wishlist. With some links and all. Most of the will be in Finnish, as I´m too lazy to search for them in English. Sorry, it´s my bad, I know.
- A new camera. I have set my eyes on Canon PowerShot G10. But then again, PowerShot SX1 Is has a xoom to die for. I guess I´ll end up having either one of those. The former one has more megapixels, but it´s not just about them you know.
- Marimekko´s Makoto bag. Not in that colour though, I think I´d go for the black/grey version of it, even the orange/black version is better than that pictured. It´s one of those bags that fits perfectly on your shoulder and has enough space for everything. And it´s expensive as hell.
- The Cathedral of The Sea by Ildefonso Falcones. A novel set in medieval Barcelona. I haven´t checked the plot, because I actually want to read it. I just took a quick look at the back cover.
- A Pure Drop. The Life of Jeff Buckley by Jeff Apter. I love Buckley, so this one is quite obvious. And Apter is a good writer, I liked his book about Dave Grohl. This would be so great.
- Someone to pay me Huvfudstadsbladet for the next year. I´d love to read it, but it´s a bit too expensive for me to get it myself.
- A ring. And this one is the one i know I´ll get as Mom promised to buy me one. She just needs my fingers when she is buying it. I totally understand. It´s going to be silver, but I´ll know more when I actually visit a jewelry store and find a ring I´ll like.
- Plane tickets and accommondation. To Spain and in Spain. And from Spain eventually. This is one of those funny ideas that just has to be made real. Like a trip to Monaco except this one will cost a lot more. One day, my dears, one day.
I´ll update this when I come up with things I´d like to have. The list isn´t long, but we have an agreement with my family not to buy anything silly that no one needs. This also means candy in every size and shape and form. I have eaten all the candy I want to eat this year. Even thinking about having to eat chocolate, no.
More text will come when I have something more to ramble about. Until that, have fun and take care! It´s a winter out here, so don´t crash your cars or break your limbs. Enjoy the snow, it might not last.
IWFT
Haven´t done much today, but at least I got a good sleep last night. I did hit the sack almost two hours earlier than I have lately, just after the Spain-Chile friendly match was over. A fine game, but as it was a friendly I still think there wasn´t that much of a point playing it. And it is official by now that Walcoot will be out three months. Sigh, absolutely fucking faboulous.
I pointed out to John last night on my mail that I am suffering of the photography equivalent of a writers block, so I tried to do something to ease it today. I took a grand total of five pictures. I thought the first snow of the year might be worth picturing. Photos turned out okay, I´ll let you see two of them.
This one is taken while I standing on our front yard. I don´t know why, but that street just somehow fascinates me. Nothing ever happens on it, but as it is pretty much the only thing you can see when looking out from our kitchen window...
Our backyard. Well, the part I can see when I take a look out my window. As you can see, we have a fair bit of snow on the ground already. I am just hoping it sticks and doesn´t melt by tomorrow.
I was playing with iTunes again. I ended up buying songs I didn´t know I wanted. Well, in a way I still don´t, but I felt the need to have them. At least the R.E.M. song is great. I was actually looking for INXS´ Suicide Blonde, but was let down because Apple does not have it. I was reminded of the piece of music last night and as I somehow had completely forgotten it, I decided I´d like to have it. Well, I didn´t and it pisses me off a bit. Anyone where I could get it? Yes, INXS is one of my dirty little secrets. Fine, so much of the secret part for now. I don´t even know wether any one else of my age knows the band. Apart from the ones that I´ve been telling about it.
And I just paid to get to watch more football and movies and TV shows next month. Funny thing is, when I ordered this Pay TV, the launched a campaign of "Order the set, get a phone for free" about three days later. Apparently they aren´t that picky on the days, as I am a owner of the cell phone they advertised. I don´t need it, I have three phones right now. And I am using only one of them. Maybe I really should get rid off one of them. The one that has survived a couple of festivals, an Interrail and several other trips to abroad. But then again, it has some extremely odd sentimental value. Gosh...
I don´t have anything more to say here right now. I´ll go spam my Finnish blog with random thoughts of nothing and everything. Because this is too well organized blog for that kind of action. See you when I something new. Take care!
IWFT
Have I done something today? Let´s see... No. Have I done something on Monday or Tuesday? No. I am useless. I haven´t even read. That´s just because I do not have the books (so I´ll be taking the exam in February apparently), did study some Spanish though. Actually, I got wrapped in the world of Spanish nicknames. I mean, how the hell can Jose´s nickname be Pepe? I just don´t get it. Not that these Spaniards get it any better themselves.
The first snow is here, I was so happy to see it this morning. Fine, I knew it had snowed during the night, as I saw the white ground when I was going to bed. At 3 AM. I know, my sleeping times are horrible. From 3 AM to 10 AM. I don´t sleep enough, I´d love to sleep until noon and not get up until I feel like it, but since Mom gets home around 2 PM, I don´t have that choice. But enough of my sleeping or not sleeping and more about the snow. I was so pleased to see some of it was still left when I got up. I like snow, but not when it´s all wet and the roads are slippery. That I hate. And right now it seems to be like that. Yeah, can´t even tell if I like the snow or not.
I have been improving my English, if you can call reading novels online that. But this one just sucked me into it. Way too well written. Really, someone should come and kick my ass and tell me to do something else than waste my time. Maybe it´s the month, I have never been fond of November. If only I could hibernate...
I am also a little worried about my Grandma. I just saw her on Monday (ok, I did something, Christmas shopping with her). I mean, she is closer to 90 than 80, but I think she isn´t doing that well anymore. She messes up the days and forgets things and tells the same things over and over again... I know all this goes with the age, but she is living alone. Maybe I´m worried for no reason, but I wouldn´t like to lose another grandparent this year.
I am going to spend the rest of the evening watching some footy. International friendlies suck, especially when no one gains nothing from them. Just more crocked stars. Walcott got his shoulder into a not-nice shape again and doing the rest of the year without him... Like Gunners are top notch at the moment. East Lower sums it up perfectly.
Now, if you excuse me, I´ll do nothing for the rest of the evening. You have fun and take care!
IWFT
I´m getting used to this and it is not a good thing. Arsenal losing. Again. I didn´t have my hopes that up, so I shouldn´t bitch. But I feel like it. 2-0 to Aston Villa. Maybe Wenger finally admits the squad just isn´t old enough to win big? Or maybe the kids should be playing the Prem... It´s like the team is bipolaric. Awesome, horrible, mediocre, awesome, horrible... I am not going to blame anyone (except Bendtner-no faith anymore, get him the fuck out) and until the 60th minute or so, I was thinking Almunia was probably the best player on the team. Actually, he was, I don´t know if he could have saved those goals. Odd. Thinking he is the best part of the team. And I think you can pick out the problem, if Gallas, a defender, is playing more forward than the forward himself.
Truth be told, Gunners sucked today and Aston Villa really deserved to win. The only good thing was seeing Vela, flashing what damage he might do if he got to play more than 15 minutes... But the sad side. Sagna busted some part of his foot/leg again and is likely to be out and Fabregas got his 5th yellow and will be out against Man City. Thank god Adebayor is fit. Sort of. Interesting times are ahead.
And hey, the Harry-magic is finally wearing off, Spurs lost to Fulham. And because all my teams need to lose if one does, HSV was beaten by Hertha. So, according to this trend, Getafe should tear down Sevilla tomorrow. Apparently I´ve missed a piece of news while reading Marca. Ramos´ red card didn´t stand then, huh? Because if you believe the aforementioned magazine, he will be playing tonight.
I am starting to think my dreams are a bad luck charm. Last time I dreamt of Corluka being slaughtered and Stoke run over Gunners. Last night I dreamt of my home town after a nuclear explosion (that didn´t affect everyone, just some people died) and what happened... Ok, I´m not serious, but this just seems like a curious coincidence. I also slept way too little last night and am feeling not so good at all.
Queuing for a free breakfast at way too early on a Saturday morning wasn´t that great. Ok, it was free and the IKEA breakfast is guaranteed to taste good, but still. Though, the peppermint tea was great, a faint reminder from night train to Florence. (A night train resembling a minor nightmare...) And no, I didn´t buy anything. I did spot a lovely bookshelf that I really want to have someday. And I am still in love with that one sofa they´re selling, but I´m not buying. Yet. Just because I can´t get it to fit in my room. Unless I place it in the middle of the floor. Which I am not intending to do.
Oh, The Godfather is on TV. I´m skipping it once again. I am just going to Google a lot of people and find some transport information. The latter will be a pain in the ass, I am sure of it. And I really should be studying hard, but I there is something that prevents me from picking up the book and reading. It is not the subject, and it is not even the thing I spend most of my time with. Maybe this just hasn´t been my week. I feel like crawling into bed and spending the rest of the weekend there, entertaining myself with a bad movie or horrible Youtube videos. I know, I could do that, but then I´d be called lazy.
Actually, this hasn´t been my week. I don´t have a proper lighting in my room because one of the lamps of my spot is out, I have a headache, I get nothing done and to top this all, the weather is once again awful. I am not going to post until next week. It has to be better than this one. Take care until that.
IWFT
First of all, I don´t know what to think of the fact that ManU needed Tevez to bring them a win over QPR. Tevez, a first team regular (not to mention the other first team regs they had). I mean, no offense to QPR and their fans, I am sure it is a fine team, but they play in the Championship and United is the Premier League champion... As for Arsenal, the kids did it again. Young Guns beat Wigan 3-0. And Young Guns did an excellent job from what I hear (didn´t stay up to watch it, I know, I know...) and they had one of the best strikers Amr Zaki against them. Just watched the highlights, absolutely amazing and Fabianski and his saves, wow. (The interviewer asking Wenger: "Was it past his bedtime? cracked me up.) These kids are superb. (I just feel a little dirty because after all I am older than most of these boywonders...) Also, I can´t help but laught at Real Madrid´s struggling. :D
And Tomas Rosicky has undergone a routine surgery in Germany. He should be fine, there should be a slight chance of seeing him some time in the future. Only God (and maybe Wenger) know when. I really want to see Mozart play. Once more with feeling.
And now to the topic I came here to write about. That sweet football part just came along, as always. I finished a book yesterday. Yeah, no biggie if the book hadn´t had such an impact on me that it had. It must be one of the best stories I´ve read this year, at least it is one of those that touched me the most. The book? The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne.
I am not going in depth with the plot, because this is a book you have to read yourself. Absolutely have to. It is about a boy called Bruno, a son of a Nazi officer. He moves to Out-With (Auschwitz) with his family and befriends with a nine-year-old boy called Shmuel. Bruno is naive, thinks only of himself and no one else, and doesn´t understand what his Father does. Neither knows he nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. At the end of the book he agrees to help Shmuel to find his dad. You might guess what happens in the end, but this is as much I am going to tell. And do not check the Wikipedia entry on this book as it reveals the ending. Unfortunately.
I don´t know why the novel affected me so much. Maybe it is because I have visited, not just Auschwitz-Birkenau, but also the Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin. And those places are really far from fun. While reading the book I couldn´t help but think last summer´s visit to the camp (a 
nice way to spend the Midsummer fest) and the house of Rudolf Höss that is just outside the wall. The book says it´s all fictional, but of course it has some factual things in it too. The Holocaust was real. I know the author has said the book should be read without knowing the context, meaning the reader should be just like Bruno, who doesn´t understand why he can´t be friends with the boy in the striped pyjamas on the other side of the fence.
These pictures of mine won´t depict the horrors of the camp at all. You need to see the exhibitions to understand how awful and cruel it was. I have just attached them to remind you this place actually exists. Not that any of you should need the reminder... I seriously read the last two chapters of the book with tears in my eyes. It doesn´t take much to make me weep, but I don´t do that often when reading. If you still haven´t read this book, get your hands on it and read it. The last phrases of the book remind us of something that cannot be forgotten. "Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age."
The movie is coming, I think it´s already out somewhere. Here we get to see it in January 2009. I don´t know if I would let small children see it or read the book, but teenagers should check it out. And as it was just revealed that the original blue print of the Auschwitz camp have been found and they date back earlier than has been believed, this is very current story to read.
Oh, it´s pouring down again. Well, a typical weather for November I guess. (OMG I think I just saw a reasonably good picture of Rosicky, who never takes a good picture. This is worth mentioning.) And I should be reading my history book, which doesn´t suck as much as I thought it would. It has some interesting parts actually. Now I have to go write a couple of e-mails and do some reading. I´ll be writing some time soon, take care until that.
IWFT
(I am fully aware the word politik isn´t English, but I am using a Manu Chao song as a title and that should explain a lot...)
Blame The Daily Mail of my today´s post and ponderings. They compared Arsenal´s defence to the Maginot line yesterday and that got me reading my illustrated book of world history. (The comparison isn´t all that bad, as much as I hate to admit it. You don´t remember your World War II history as well as I do? Don´t worry, Wikipedia is here to help.) Flipping through the book and reading the most interesting parts raised questions. Or, more precisely, could this happen now -kind of thoughts.
Germany was the first one I stumbled up, the RAF especially. I started to think, wether a group like this could be formed today and wether they would use as extreme actions as these Germans did back in the time of Cold War. They were terrorists, yes, but they also had a thing they believed in. I believe that Europe won´t see another group like this because the time of the bipolar world is over, as Europe is more integral than it has ever been. But could something like this stem from the actions of neo-nazis or the right wing extremists (the Right seems to be somewhat popular in Austria, which was a shocker for me)? They are not the same, I know that. But is there a group in Europe that feels that the police and other officials need to be opposed?
That pondering, of course, reminded me of the murder of Aldo Moro. I don´t think that there will be a terrorist group that would want to kidnapp and murder their own prime minister, but one can never know. I mean, what are the odds that somewhere in Europe is a faction so desperate that they´ll arrange this kind of full scale operation just to make their voices heard?
I understand the schools have limits and they cannot teach us all this, but I frankly believe I´m not the only one who is remotedly interested in these incidents. Also, I have been following the news of the soaring facism symphaties in Italy. i have understood they aren´t the 30s kind of symphaties, but more like the home, religion, Fatherland, foundation of the country kind of things. Still, they are a bit frightening. On the forefront have been some Italian footballers, declaring some basic ideas of facism might not be so bad after all. Hello, there are people trying to fight against racism and discrimination, trying to prove we are all equal. This doesn´t help their job very much, does it? (Oh, talking about racism, you might want to check out Kick It Out.)
One of the most interesting things of the European history in the 20th century must be the dictatorships in Portugal and Spain. The WWII was over, all the other dictators had seen their end, so how could Salazar and Franco still have the power? I am not all that familiar with the situation with Portugal, but know a fair bit of the Spanish one. I remember reading Franco offered the crown to the king who declined thus making Franco the head of state. And you know the rest, not happy times, but the authoritarian ruling as you might expect. The thing that astonishes me the most is the fact that he named Juan Carlos as his successor. Did he actually believe the king wouldn´t bring democracy to the country? One of the questions that just makes me love history...
Then there are a lot of these What Ifs. What if there still were two Germany´s? What if the Soviet Union had never fallen? History isn´t about guessing what might have happened, but come on, there must be times when you think that what if the world was still the same it was during the latter half of the 20th century. I can´t be the only one equivocating these questions?
And what do we really know about the countries in Asia? Kazakhstan, Azerdaizhan, Turkemnistan... those places. I can admit, I know nothing. They seem to be surrounded by some kind of mist of mystery. Not to mention North Korea that is one of the most bizarre countries in thw entire world. I would love to visit the country, just to see what it is like. If it is so strange I have always thought it is. Also, what is the situation in Belarus? The state hasn´t been in the news for ages, so I have no idea who´s in charge and how the people are living there.
The middle East is, to everyone who is interesting in history, a place that just brings up new questions. Can Israel and Palestine ever get their things sorted out? Do they even want to? What is the life in Iran like? To me, the islamic revolution there has been one of the oddest incidents, not to mention everything that has happened after it.
Oh, and have you noticed how all these organized groups seem to love names that have three parts and are easy to abbreviate. RAF, IRA, ETA... Man, has the 20th century European (and world) history been interesting or what? All of this can be summarized in one word: Switzerland. If the country hasn´t been neutral and thus the odd one, I don´t know what has. I could go on and on about this subject, but I don´t want this post to be a novel.
This is all for now, I´ll be back to post more when I have a new subject. Until that, take care.
IWFT
Christiano Ronaldo, who? Wayne Rooney, who? Dimitar Berbatov, who? Manchester United, who? Who was it today that ruled? A fan´s faith has been restored. Fine, by no means was it a fantastic match and Arsenal gave Mancs way too many places, but who cares? Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United. I really feel the need to gloat after a disasterous week and a half. I was prepared for ManUs ugly win, who wasn´t... Gallas, Almunia and Denilson had decided to show every single person doubting them that they can do it. And they did. I can´t remember when was the last time the Brazilian played that well, even with Fabregas. The Spaniard seems to be struggling a bit, but now he can improve.
I have to give a huge thumbs up for Clichy for keeping Ronaldo in control. At times I forgot the most annoying player in the world was there. The referee was an ass, on the Mancs side, but I don´t care. Nasri was stellar, two goals, no one else could have been the Man of the Match. He is so worth it. And yes, I dislike Rooney and Ronaldo now even more. The fucking bright side, ManU has 1 point from three games against the Big Four after playing all of them. Arsenal has 3 points and they have played just one. In your face. I´m jubilant right now, who isn´t, but they need to keep up with this. See you next week beating Aston Villa, thank you.
And to top the great football day, HSV took a 2-1 over Dortmund. Some kind of lucky numbers today. Thank god I didn´t put a bet in, I would have lost. That much I trust my own...
I have found myself extremely busy in the last two days. Weird. Ok, yesterday was the "studying" day. Which, like always was so much fun. The right answers could be a good puchase, two people trying to guess what the right answer is. Not the best way to learn.
And Thursday was a day to be spent in a mall. Trying to find Dad a Father´s Day gift. In the end I did, but wandering in a bookstore trying to guess what he might want to read was pain. I would read half of the books on display, but my Dad wouldn´t. And I just couldn´t pick up the Swedish thriller I´d love to read, because he probably wouldn´t like it. I did find a book about motorbikes he´ll most likely will love, so in the end, I got the problem solved. And I did get the Swedish thriller to myself, but I have three books to be read before I can start with it. Enough until Christmas I think.
Wandering in the mall (a small one) was fun. Window shopping at the jewelry stores... Yes, I would love to get a new ring. And I was looking for a present for my Mum too. I just cannot get why everything I like is so expensive. I saw this lovely handbag that cost 68 euros... Not exactly fitting into my budget. At least I now have a Christmas gift -list of some kind :D.
I finished reading The Carpenter´s Pen and I liked it very much. Rivas is very good at depicting little things and his characters were all interesting. I kind of wish the book had had more pages. Now it ended too soon. I have started my next book, but I´m not saying anything of it before I´ve read more then three chapters. But it seems to be an excellent novel. A really excellent.
I should actually do some studying too, maybe now that I have my wonderful bed back. And my back is fine again, not killing me. A nice warm bed... Actually, I got up so late this morning my Mum looked surprised to see me home. She seriously had thought I had spent my night somewhere else. I didn´t ask where she thought I was. I didn´t want to know.
I´m off to treat my obsession, after I have written an email. Next time I promise to have something to say. Until that, take care.
IWFT
First of all, congratulations to the United States of America for choosing the right man to vacate the White House for the next four years. I hope Barack Obama can solve some of your problems and you don´t need to be ashamed to be Americans. Right now, you can be proud of yourselves. While I might not agree with everything Obama endorses, most of us Europeans are happy right now. And as much as I´d like to see the war in Iraq to be over soon, I hope the US government realises the country needs a proper civil regime before all the troops can leave the country. Seriously, a full throttle civil war in Iraq must be the last thing everyone wants to see.
Enough with politics. Oh no, sorry, it´s not. Osama bin Laden´s son seeks asulym in Spain. What? I got to say, I really hope they don´t give him asylum. They have enough stuff to sort out without that. For once I´m interested in Spain in historical sense, I´m so gald to hear the are finally going through their civil war achives and sorting that out. One of the most interesting periods of that country´s history, with Franco´s time too. I´d love to learn more about that.
Now, enough with politics. On with movies. I am completely aware that Twilight is ment to be girls movie, but I can´t wrap my head around it. Seriously, have you girls seen Robert Pattinson? He is nothing Edward should be. I know I´ll go watch this movie, but the cast just gives me creeps. Don´t be that excited about a guy whos biggest merit this far must be playing dying Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In some cases I actually recuire the actors in the movie to be able to act. And Twilight is one of them. Just not going to happen, I am afraid.
I have to say a couple of words about this book I´m currently reading. The Carpenter´s Pen by Manuel Rivas, a galician writer. It´s great. I love the different layers on the story and Rivas brings the words to life. I hope there will be more novels by him translated into Finnish. I have to go check the library. Also, I can´t wait to get the books I bought on Monday. They all should be so good that I´m going to have a hard time deciding which one to read first.
Not to make this all happy-happy post, I have to complain. My back is killing me. And no, the normal lying on the floor to treat it doesn´t help. I´ve slept on this about 10 cm thick matress for three nights now and it doesn´t do me good. I love my grandma, but I´d like to get my own bed back. It would be nice to be able to spend ones evenings in ones own room instead of the living room, because I wouldn´t want to walk against my table again. It hurts. I want to keep the rest of my bones intact.
And appareantly not a single post can go without football. Lats night´s Champions League was interesting. Really surprising wins and even more surprising draws. Liverpool didn´t deserve the penalty they got, Gerrard´s dive was no where near worth a penalty. But the referee was Swedish, so I think that might explain a lot. Atletico Madrid was better. Hope tonight´s matches will be interesting.
//Late night update. Nah. Arsenal-Fenerbahce 0-0. Not good, not bad. On the negative side, Gunners didn´t score and RVP threw away about a dozen perfectly good goals. They need to improve big time to even threaten ManU (that drawed too), but I´m optimist and hope they´ll get there. On the positive side, Fenerbahce didn´t score, they weren´t even attacking that much. Arsenal kept the pressure, but true to their style, didn´t finish. Also positive, Gunners seemed to have some sort of defence. Not the best in the world, but a defence anyway. Fabianski was on the goal (I heard Almunia is sick... Wonder what imaginary illness he´s got...) and did well, as far as I can tell. Wenger didn´t play the usual pack, maybe he actually listens to the fans. The best part? Aaron Ramsay on opening XI. He played fairly well, he did try, went in and wasn´t afraid to take the ball. If he keeps doing like this, he´ll be big. Please Wenger, can we see him on Saturday? All in all, not a disaster, just boring and qualifying for the next stage just got a bit harder. Not a fantastic match, but they didn´t disappoint me completely. (The ref was Rosetti by the way. And we all love him, don´t we?) Going up again?
Oh, Real Madrid, losing to Juventus? Losing to Juventus twice? I was let to believe you are a good team.
I´m off to do some studying as I want to get that one book read as soon as possible. Until I have something new to say, take care.
IWFT
There is one reason why I like The Smiths. They have such great song titles. Maybe the best in the world. And this isn´t my topic today, not even close. Want to guess what it is?
I, like probably someone else too, am starting to think Arsene Wenger has lost some of his most important marbles. You all know we had a terrible weekend. Well, there are also more than one questions Wenger should answer. First. What the fuck was he thinking, letting Diaby, Song, Fabregas and Denilson start in the midfield? Never again. Denilson should never be in the starting XI aand neither should Song. Arsene, you have Nasri and Walcott and you decide they´ll start on the bench. Are you out of your mind? Even I realise that is not what you do if you want to win. Well, now you don´t have to worry about that as Theo is injured...
The midfield needs to be sorted out. Since Rosicky won´t be making a comeback anytime soon, how about buying some experience? Xavi has been hinting he might be interested, let´s just hope you make him an offer he can´t refuse and that he is a bit of a masochist.
Arsene, why do you still have faith in Almunia? No one else has, and last season Lehman saw the bench sooner than Almunia apparently will ever see during this season. If you want to put your money on young ones, take a look at Moscow or Hannover. There are some really imressing goalkeepers that might do wonders.
Why not replace our captain nicotine William Gallas (and vice-captain Kolo Toure too) with someone who can handles the responsibility? A certain Cesc comes to mind, and ask anyone, they´ll say the same thing. A captain needs to be someone the others respect, not someone like Toure who can´t even make Song do what he wants him to do...
An entirely new defence line, Arsene. Fine, it might be ok to keep Sagna and Clichy (who, at the moment seems to be one of the best players in the team). But Toure and Gallas need to go. Or at least you need to get so tough guys to challenge their places that they´ll top themselves in every game.
Finally, if Carlos Vela and Aaron Ramsey are as good as you keep telling us, why can´t they play? Didn´t Ramsey prove something by scoring against Fener? Take risks with these young guns if you truly believe in them.
I don´t know what kind of team faces ManU on Saturday, but right now it looks like the two forwards will be Bendtner and Vela. In preseason they played amazingly together, but after that... And for the love of god, never play Nic as a lone forward. Then we will be absolutely fucked. He is a bit like Markus Rosenberg now that I start to think about it...
Every single person working at and with Arsenal Football Club so many of us love, take a reality check. Look in the mirror, ask what you are doing wrong and fix it. Arsene, in January, use as much money as you can to make us winners. Thank you.
And now that I got that off my chest (there have been dozens of entries like this over the weekend, to quote the USA presidential campaign, Change we need) I am using my opportunity to gloat at Liverpool. Losing to Spurs? Seriously, are you worse than Gunners? Hahaa. Hahaahaa. Suddenly, a draw feels like a victory. I want the Harry-effect on our team too. English Premier League - offering you such mixed emotions you can´t even name them. Also, Valencia losing to Racing and Real Madrid drawing with Almeria in La Liga. Hah.
A bit more about music. I decided to make myself a mix-tape, but iTunes is disappointing me. They don´t have any of the songs by Joy Division I would like to have and they only have the bad Italian artists. I like disovering new music, but to pick out random arstists and bands I have never heard of... Well, Google has been very helpful today.
Also, someone should put some videos to Youtube. I was watching the F1 press conference after the qualifyings and when Räikkönen was talking, all of the sudden Massa starts stroke him. I was like, what the hell just happened. It was so strange, I don´t have a clue what Räikkönen was talking about. That moment stole all my attention. But it´s not on Youtube. Shame.
Grandma is destroying my hearing. She is watching TV so loud I had to escape the room and put on my headphones, but I can still hear what she´s watching. And I can´t add the volume because my head would explode.
At least I did some studying today. Tho, the book has some ridiculous typos that are lowering its´ credibility. Mom keeps saying I should pop into the job agency, maybe I´ll do it tomorrow. We´ll see. I´ll post more when I have something to say. I´m going to go do some book shopping. Take care.
IWFT
I actually got around to watch a movie last night. The Crow. It has been over a year since I last saw it and I still like it. Fine, it certainly doesn´t have the most strong or original plot and no one has heard of the actors after that movie, but it fits perfectly a dark rainy night. And the story of Brandon Lee just is one of the saddest ever. I don´t need to explain why I like a mediocre movie, once a year I just find my inner gothic girl and enjoy for hour and a half. Visually it´s great and that is usually what matters to me. And I do claim that The Crow might have one of the best movie soundtracks of all times. Some of my big favourites on the same movie, couldn´t have it better. I just should organize my pictures a bit better so it wouldn´t take me five minutes to find one pic. Renaming would be fine.
And as I decided to have a bit of Halloween, I read Edgar Allan Poe. The Gold-Bug. I have the collected works and I haven´t read all of the stories, but I decided I´ll pick this one. I really like his works too, maybe I should go through the entire book and sit back and enjoy. Thank god they are short enough to be read on a Friday night when you aren´t on your best anymore.
I have gotten hooked. Damn JIM showing Miami Ink. I love tattoos though I don´t have any. Ok, sometimes the pieces people want on their skin are just horrible, but some of them are truly art. I love it when people know what they want to get tattooed and have some story to go with the picture. But for the love of all that is holy, why on Earth does everyone want huge angel wings on their back? Or tramp stamp? It just isn´t that classy. I wouldn´t take a picture of a family member either, but if you want to do it, then go ahead. I like words, names, letters, that kind of stuff.
I´m off to do some baking before I spend my evening joint with German Bundesliga (Hannover doesn´t stand a chance against HSV.) and EPL hoping that Gunners beat Stoke really ugly. // And this day was full of disasters. Hannover beat HSV 3-0, Hamburgers didn´t impress me at all. And Arsenal. Oh dear. 2-1 to Stoke. What can I say, it was a nightmare. To top all the misery, Ade, Sagna and Theo got injured and RVP got himself a three match ban with stupid red card. ManU will eat them alive next Saturday. No silverware this season and it´s starting to look like we´ll see them in the European League. Gunners, harden the fuck up. Clichy got his shit together and netted, but the rest of the team... Miracles need to happen. Why can´t it be January? The other good thing besides Gael´s goal is that Cesc´s got a new haircut. About time.
IWFT
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