Painting the Horizon

Just got back from a little weekend-holiday with my mom and my sister. Left on Friday, flew to Helsinki and sailed to Stockholm overnight, spent Saturday there, sailed back to Helsinki the next night, spent most of today in Helsinki before flying back.

Things of note:

We had a bus tour of Stockholm on Saturday, and that city is so beautiful. It was all gorgeous architechture and well-tended parks and gardens and wow. Helsinki has its share of cool architechture (the central railway station comes to mind) and even the occasional park, but somehow it's not half as coordinated as Stockholm is. However, I'm inclined to think that Stockholm doesn't have quite as much charm as Copenhagen.

We went to Linnanmäki (=an amusement park in Helsinki) while we had the time, and I was brutally mandhandled by one of the newer rides. No ride has ever made me nauseous, but damned if that thing didn't try. It left both of my shoulders sore and quite a fetching bruise on my left one. Never getting on that one again, thanks.

Also sampled octopus at the ship's dinner. It was like eating a piece of rubber and it didn't really taste like anything.

I spotted a Toys R Us (from a distance) in Helsinki on Friday. I had no clue we even had those in Finland. Granted, that could've been the only one there is, it being Helsinki, but still. A bit of a "wait, what?" moment, there.

I'm not much of a shopper, but I did score Terry Pratchett's A Hat Full of Sky and a WoW game card (three euros cheaper in a certain gameshop in Helsinki than what I usually pay for them). Also, my mom bought Making Money, which I read through on the way back home (great book), and my sister bought Good Omens, which I've read in Finnish some time ago, but have been trying to find in English for a while now.

And. Um. I think that's it.

It occurs to me that I seem to be the only artistic person I know that doesn't carry a sketchbook around. I mean, I've owned sketchbooks, but I never feel quite right drawing in one. I usually just carry a supply of clean A4 sheets with me in a folder that goes everywhere I go (no kidding, I can barely go shopping without that thing).

So anyway. Arts. Not an OMGHUGE dump but whatever.

( Whoopee )

Heh, WoW sure is fun... I've been playing for two days and I have an Orc Hunter (my main), Night Elf and Tauren Druids, a Troll Warrior, a Dwarf Rogue and an Undead Warlock, although I swore I would not create an Undead character. Or a Warlock, for that matter.

Well I had to try everything, didn't I? They're all female, but I'll probably create a male character sooner or later. This game eats your SOUL*.

I found Thrall today (as the Orc Hunter) and I swear I haven never been so happy about a voice as I was when I realized he sounds the same as he did in WC3. I also emoted at him like crazy. THAT'S how much of a fangirl I am.


*Though I don't suppose the fact that I play it for hours at a time counts as a proof of anything, seeing as how I play Pokémon, The Sims, We ♥ Katamari and pretty much any game in much the same way: I pick it up, I don't put it down for a while.

Oh, well time to play with the Moria Orc figurines go to sleep.


P.S. Oona, sain sen lopulta hyväksymään itseni kun vaihdoin maksutavan pankkikortiksi. Hähää.

LOST started on Nelonen (Finnish channel four) yesterday. I think that for the first time since certain idiots stopped showing Stargate SG-1 sometime in 2003, there'll be a show I'll actually want to watch.

I also got a book in the post. ^_^ This is a big deal, because it's in English, and books that are in English usually have to be shipped and take two weeks to arrive. It's a Warcraft novel, Lord of the Clans to be precise, which I don't think is terribly well-written (it reads like a semi-decent fanfic at times). I find myself rolling my eyes at some sentences. I read some of them aloud to my sister, who thought that the author might be on of those people who have been told that more adjectives in random places make the story better. The dialogue is also kind of awkward in some places. I keep reading on, though, because I want to know Thrall's story, and because there are few things cuter than a six-year-old orc intimidated by his own shadow. Although I still wish someone else would have authored this book, or that they'd at least let me have a look at it before it got published.

But, not all of today was fun and games. The new One Piece was supposed to come out today, and it didn't. Woe.