the Horned Satyr

Ships, seafood and sleeping in

2005-11-12T09:23:00.000+02:00

Well, almost a week of the holiday has passed now, and most of it has been spent relaxing and being lazy. The fact that there is no hurry to get up in the morning, has really been great, with all the past few months lack of sleep and stressful workpace. Hence, very few early morning activities for the past week. The promised storm waned to a few nighttime rain showers and even without strong winds. The last two days have been really nice, sunny and warm.

Yesterday we went to see the San Diego Maritime Museum, which consists of a few old sailing ships, an old steam ferry and a Russian submarine. The two largest of the tall ships were the Star of India (formerly Euterpe) and the Surprise. The first was a three-masted bark, which had among other things, transported emigrants to New Zealand. A very beautiful old ship. The Surprise had originally been a ship called "Rose", but it had been rebuilt to the Surprise for the filming of "Master and Commander, the Far Side of the World". So, many familiar sights inside the ship and on the deck, too. The Russian Foxtrot-class submarine was also very interesting. Inside the incredibly crammed u-boat the luxury of personal space had been extremely rare. The captain's cabin was about 2x3 meters and the bunk was so short even I coudn't fit to sleep in it with my feet straight. It was still the largest personal cabin in the whole sub. Enlisted crewmen had to "hotbunk", which means that they had about 1 bunk per 3 crew, so every bunk had someone sleeping in it all the time. The watches were 4 hours long, 8 hours of work, 4 of sleep and repeat ad nauseam. The last ship we visited was an old steam ferry called "Berkeley", which we Finnish-speaking tourists found somewhat amusing. Some cheap laughs there, ha ha. On the ferry there was a multitude of exquisit ship models of all shapes and sizes medieval sailships to modern battleships. A 3 meters long model of USS Missouri (sunk in Pearl Harbor by the Japanese) particularly caught my interest. I have a huge load of photos from the ships, but so far no place to post them over the Net. Maybe later.

After the ships we popped for dinner in a seafood restaurant right next to the museum ships called "Anthony's". Really good food, very nice service. I'm not a great fan of shellfish, but their Clam Chowder soup was delicious. Also, they had a really good drink for wintertime, the Caramel Apple Martini. Ingredients as follows:

- Crown Royal (Gin)
- Butterscotch Schnapps
- Apple pucker
- Cranberry Juice

Served chilled in a coctail glass with a cinnamon stick. Tastes just like caramel apples.

Today, we went to see the USS Midway, a museum aircraft carrier in the San Diego port. The ship was huge, and nowadays there are even larger carriers than the Nimiz class. The Midway had a 4500 person crew and its flight deck was roughly the size of a football field, only narrower. Again, like in the Russian sub, I was astounded by the amount of pipes and tubes crawling all over the ship. Jet fuel in this pipe, steam in that one and hydraulic oil over there.. There must have been tens of miles of piping for different fluids and gases, plus at least a hundred miles of electrical wiring. Could be even more. I was simply awed by the size and complexity of the monster.

We finally set up the schedule for our road trip. We start in Sunday morning for Anaheim and Disneyland, maybe come back to Diego for the night, and visit California Adventure Park in Monday. They are right next to each other, Disneyland is more show and California park is more rides and rollercoasters. Monday afternoon/evening we drive halfway to Grand Canyon, stay the night in a motel, then on Tuesday continue to see the Canyon. Wednesday morning we start from Grand Canyon towards Las Vegas, over the Hoover Dam, and should be in Vegas some time in the afternoon. In the evening we go to see Cirque du Soleil's "Ka" show and then stay at Caesar's Palace casino hotel. It all costs a small fortune but this is a 'once in a lifetime' chance to do this, so we'll worry about it later. Thursday is mostly driving, as we aim to be back in San Diego before night.

Our homeward flight is in Saturday, so that leaves Friday for packing and last minute shopping.

Tomorrow we are going to visit San Diego Wildlife Park, and hit the bars in the evening.

More updates after something happens.

Sunny San Diego, California

2005-11-09T20:21:00.000+02:00

Well, not really. The sky is overcast, and there is a forecast of somekind of a tropical storm on its way here, but it's still nice enough. Even though it's bordering on winter, you still can survive outside in a T-shirt. In the evenings it's better to have a long-sleeved shirt, but it's not cold, unless it's really windy.

The trip was OK, and the worst of jetlag seems to be dealt with. I'm told it's worse on the way back, but I guess we'll find out. The journey took some 16+ hours of sitting in a plane, and there was an extra half an hour of waiting on Chicago O'Hare runway for a thunderstorm to pass. No scenery worth mentioning could be seen, since everywhere along the whole trip the clouds were so dense you could see nothing. Only strip of land we caught a glimpse of, was somewhere west of Labrador, and there really isn't that much to see. Mainly snow, rocks and a few scattered trees.

I really must commend the pilots on their skills, since in Stockholm and Chicago the visibility was non-existent and still the landings were very smooth. Extra thanks go to Blue1 personnel for that nice little surprise of a bottle of champagne, when they heard it was our honeymoon trip, and to United Airlines personnel for being good sports and patiently trying to keep us all in good humour during that wait in Chicago.

The time here is 10 hours less than in Finland, and I still keep waking up at 7 AM, but I'm not as dead in the evenings as I were yesterday and the day before. Until now, we've been mainly resting, but we're beginning to take in sights from now. The zoo, museums, movies... We have planned a road trip to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon in the beginning of next week. That'll take a few days. Maybe we'll even squeeze California Adventure Park and Disneyland in some niche, just to be able to see what they're like. Los Angeles would be great to visit, too, but we'll have to see if we have time.

I will probably update soon, if something worth telling about happens. And I hope it will.

Take care, all

-ameba

War, what's it good for?

2005-09-14T18:52:00.000+03:00

This is a rant.

The original version of the song mentioned in the title offers "absolutely nothing" as an answer for the question, but we all know that isn't true. A more accurate answer can be found in Laibach's version.. "GM, IBM, Newsweek, CNN..." War is good for publicity. War is good for international corporations. War is good for commerce.

Usually the only party who really wins in a war is the one who sold the guns to the warring factions and didn't take part in the war itself. Often the same people sell guns to both/all sides. In terms of publicity there are more winners. It doesn't matter if you really won the war, if you had a crushing advantage in numbers or if you were hopelessly outnumbered.. it's all about how it is presented in media.

Anybody who has seen the movie Wag the Dog has an idea what this is all about. In the film, the President of USA is caught in a sex scandal, which threatens to crash his public appeal, thus preventing him to be re-elected. A group of people cook up a made-up war to boost the President's popularity. A strong leader during troubled times helps people forget such things as scandals. The film came out in 1997.

All this would have been just a ludicrous fantasy, but the following year saw the eruption of a scandal very similar to the one in the film. President Bill Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, thus committing adultery. Shortly after this the President ordered a cruise missile strike to Sudan and Afghanistan, claiming that the bombed factories manufactured chemical weapons and that they had connections to known terrorist factions. It seemed a touch too convenient to be a coincidence. After that, of course, Clinton regained his popularity for being a strong leader and able to make such important decicions as to bomb another country on the other side of the planet for being BAD.

The alledged reasons are generally just that. Somebody is BAD, gives support to BAD people or oppresses GOOD people. This is enough for the glorious and helpful USA to reach out a helping Tomahawk missile and blast the bad people into oblivion. USA has taken a role of World Police, helping small hapless countries, where democracy is threatened. There might be real militant tyrants trying to enslave other countries, but personally i don't think Uncle Sam would not be interested to take part unless there was a significant economical or political advantage to be gained, or taken away from someone else. Being the rescuer of helpless people is a good public reason to wage war, but the real reasons are far more capitalistic.

USA declared war on Iraq for invading Kuwait. Later for producing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorists. Now after two wars the small country producing a whole lot of oil is liberated from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein but enslaved under USA-dictated financial policy. The whole of Iraq is occupied by American soldiers to enforce democracy and see to that the resources allocated for rebuilding the country are divided as they should be. (that is, most of it goes to American contractors, keeping the cashflow and oilflow inbound) War on terrorism is another good reason to fight EVIL people and get economical and political gain as byproduct.

As a curious sidenote, the US government had been previously giving Iraq considerable monetary support on their war effort against their neighbouring Iran. Only later, when Saddam Hussein got too greedy and stepped on Uncle Sams economical toes by trying to take over Kuwait's oil production, they decided to declare war against Iraq.

Now USA:s old Nemesis Iran has given Uncle Sam a real blow below the belt. Without any terror act, without any military aggression, the whole American economy is at stake. USA has been solving its problems by throwing money at them for too long. When short of money, they have simply printed more. Other countries willingly take dollars, since they are the currency of the oil market. Both New York and London Oil Exchanges trade barrells in dollars. Recently Iran announced starting their own oil exchange, which would be Euro-based. Chances are that many oil-producing arab countries and even China would be glad to trade in Euros, since none of them are really happy about USA:s great influence on the oil market. Most of European countries would probably join in after the oil producers, leaving the New York and London oil exchanges virtually deserted.

This would lead to a massive drop in dollar's exchange value. Many countries would return the dollars to USA and demand other currency in stead, but USA has no financial means to comply for that. They have simply too much money abroad to answer for. All this would be an economical catastrophe for the USA, so they can't allow it to happen. But this is capitalism. This is free commerce.. USA can't fight a war against that, since their own economy is wholly based on free enterprise and free commerce. They have to come up with another reason. How about nuclear weapons? Weapons of mass destruction are always a good reason to start a war. Even if there aren't any. There is always a chance that there MIGHT be. Iran has a nuclear programme. So, they must be planning on manufacturing nuclear weapons. BAD Iranian people. They can't be allowed to have nuclear weapons because they are BAD and unreliable, giving support to terrorists AND they even worship the wrong god. EVIL people. Only GOOD and reliable countries such as USA should be allowed to have nuclear weapons. USA would never actually use their nuclear weapons unless they really, really have to. Like when some country is manufacturing weapons of mass destruction in an intent to launch an attack on the USA or giving them to a terrorist faction for that purpose or supports them in aquiring such weapons for that purpose. In that case, as a "Pre-emptive Nuclear Strike" could be launched to thwart any immediate threat to the USA.

How's that for tyranny and despotism? My guess is that if Iran starts their own Oil Exchange, USA will do their best to come up with a reason good enought to start a full scale war there to regain control of oil prices.

Hermann Göring (Hitler's Reich-marshall) said in Nürnberg trials after WWII that "Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Quod Erat Demonstrandum

< /rant >

More Changes

2005-09-08T18:33:00.000+03:00

A lot has happened lately. I've been far too busy to do anything but work, and far too messed up to do even that properly. If my holidays hadn't begun when tey did, I'm not sure if if would have had to get some sickleave for being so stressed out.

We organized a trip to Visby, an old Hanseatic town on the island of Gotland off the coast of Sweden. It's been a tradition for us to visit Visby during the Medieval Week (usually the first week of August) and stay at a medieval encampment with other re-enactment people. So, off we went this year, too, and with a larger group than before. A total of 16 people were in our travel group. Everything went resonably well until on saturday morning we reached Visby and discovered that we had left our pavilion walls back home in Finland. (We have a large pavilion tent with two poles and separate walls, roomy and comfy for 6 people, measures about 4 x 7 meters)

After noticing the walls missing, (and after throwing a tantrum and kicking things around) we managed to arrange temporary accommodation in a friend's pavilion until we could get the walls again. My parents took to the role of saving angels and on a moments notice decided to take a cruise to Visby from Helsinki. So, thanks to these marvelous people we got our walls already the next day. (quicker even than CargoExpress or UPS)

Rest of the week was tolerable, although it was a lot colder this year than before and it rained a lot. The rainstorm that cancelled one day of the World Championships in sports in Helsinki ploughed its way right over us on its way north, did a U-turn over Helsinki and came pounding on us again on its way south. Inside our pavilion we kept the fire pit embers glowing and listened to howling wind and pouring rain while playing chess and enjoying waterpipe and whiskey. (tobacco, you naughty people.. it's not a bong. I've never even smoked a joint yet) I don't know if it was the stress or the coldness, but I got the flu somewhat terrible and coughed my lungs out for almost the whole week. About half the camp got it, but luckily we got a good cough syrup recipe from a local doctor. The medicine had ethylmorphine hydrochloride in it, so I guess it was somewhat strong stuff, but hey, it worked!

Then back home and back to work, but just for a week. I had the last week of August off, because I was GETTING MARRIED!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am now a married man. On the 27th of August me and my girlfriend finally sealed our relationship with a Greek Orthodox ceremony in Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki.

More on that subject later, now the time is pressing and I have to go. I'll be updating soon, since I left so many things untold.

Addictions

2005-04-23T16:55:00.000+03:00

It's really been a loooong time since I last updated. I'm sorry for that. Explanation follows, as I plan to talk about addictions.

I am addicted. I've been hooked to the monkey on my back. This is not about alcohol or drugs, thank the powers for that, neither is it gambling, work or sex.. (though I am a bit addicted to the latter ) This little monkey is called WoW.

The acronym, for those of you unfamiliar with it, stands for World of Warcraft. (run a Google search on it, and you'll know everything about it) It is a MMORPG, i.e. a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. A game situated in a large fantasy world where you can create your own character and go adventuring with loads of other players all around the world.

For those of you, who haven't tried it, it might seem a bit silly or even plain stupid to get suckered into that kind of thing. But believe me, it is as addictive as coffee or cigarettes. The game itself is quite simple in its idea, although the world is graphically very beautiful and detailed to look at. You create a character, which looks you can modify to your preferences, choose a class for it (eg. warrior, priest, rogue etc...) and go do some quests. On these quests you run errands for somebody, search for lost artefacts or kill monsters. Or all of the above. And, as a result, you get better gear and equipment for your character and can go kill even more powerful monsters than before.

There is a major storyline in the background if you are interested enough to notice it, but mainly the game is all about your own character and its interactions with other players and the world. As it is said, "there's always a bigger fish". You gain levels, get better gear, complete quests that you previously were not able to. And there are always bigger monsters and more difficult quests. It just doesn't end. And when the game runs out of monsters, then the sequel or add-on will be published.

The game provides challenge and feelings of success. What more could anybody want? That's why it is so addictive. Just one more quest and then I'll go and get some sleep. Just one more. Or maybe two. Three at the most. I'll still be able to sleep at least four hours.

The downside is that the game eats away at your time. First, my girlfriend tried it with a friend, and decided she wants one for her own. So we bought one. I played some on her account, and now we both have our own game that we can play simultaneously and go questing together. Some "quality time", huh? Sleep has been a rare luxury lately, and I've been really tired at work, and I think it's beginning to affect what I can accomplish in RL. I simply must cut down on the gaming to get some REAL social life again. But on the other hand, it's fun. And so many of my friends are there anyway..

I guess you see the point.
This sucks. I want to have the cake and eat it too.

For those, who have not tried the game, a word of warning: You might get addicted if you do.. it tends to do that to people. But, for those who share my predicament, feel free to say hello to me, if you run into me in the game.. I play mostly on the European server of Thunderhorn and my main characters are on the Alliance side.. Isarra and Shadowstride.

That's it for now.. more again later.

Languages and barriers thereof

2005-02-15T16:04:00.000+02:00

A few days ago I received an e-mail that had an interesting question.

> I'm wondering, how have you learned English so well?

Well, It's not so easy to say. Fact is, that I have studied English in school since the third grade, that is, when I was 9 years old, but public schools never provide very in-depth education.. more of a "general knowledge" -sort. I've always had a certain adaptation ability to foreign languages, and even at young age, I've been able to comprehend other languages quite fast when listening to conversations. Especially so, if there is a translation available.

Being understood by others is often one of the basic necessities of life. If you can't communicate, it's very hard to convey your wishes to other people and interact with them. Language barriers are often very real obstacles between people. Imagine a Japanese man getting stuck in an elevator with a German man. If neither of them speaks the other's language at all, they would have a very hard time waiting for rescue without possibility of conversation. Being stuck with another person and not being able to communicate is one of the most annoying situations imaginable.

I've always wanted to speak as good English as possible, and I try to enlarge my vocabulary all the time. Many of the words I use would probably seem quaint to most of the people.. with the exception of those who speak pure Oxford English, which is in its whole, quite quaint. Reading books in other languages is good training, and a good dictionary is an irreplacable asset. If you are interested in a language, it's not so difficult to pick up new words and phrases.

I think speaking a language is a form of art, and being eloquent and word-ready never hurt anyone. Thus, I use words and phrases more complicated than most, and feel truly ashamed every time I hear Mika Häkkinen speak "English" in TV.. With no idea whatsoever about correct
pronouciation he should really get himself a good teacher and learn to speak properly. Otherwise, he should have enough common sense to shut up and not make an ass aout of himself. I just hope that his style of speech will not be generalized to be that of all Finns.

Well.. most Finns do speak that way, so maybe it doesn't matter. It just vexes me to hear such rape of language. It's basically the same with finlandssvenka. Swedish is a beautiful language, and it has a very distinctive lilting sound to it, but most Finns, who speak Swedish, use an
awful lot of Finnish words directly inserted to Swedish sentences and as to their pronounciation, *CENSORED*. The language is Swedish, but they speak it like Finnish and it sounds just awful.

Maybe I'm just odd to think that every language should be spoken as correctly as possible.. (And, as a disclaimer: I don't see my English as perfect, far from it. I make mistakes and I do that often. I make typos and misspellings like anybody else, but hey, I'm learning) To be understood is, of course, the most important thing, but for me, it doesn't stop there. I have no objections to dialects or slang, but being able to use complicated sentences in stead of just "Me Tarzan. You Jane. Enough talk, now Zorg kill." is to be treasured. The richness of a language is in nuances and figures of speech, understanding idioms and puns. It makes everything just a lot more fun. Being able to understand wordplay in a movie in a way that could never be translated, or sensing the "hidden" emotions behind carefully selected words in stead of just understanding the litteral meaning of the words, being blind to what lies between the lines.

Everybody should learn more languages. Five is a good number to aim for, seven is even better. Some speak more than nine languages fluently and there is little chance that they would ever get in trouble anywhere in the World for not being able to communicate with others.

Fragile

2005-02-01T15:26:00.000+02:00

If there was a word for the last weekend (Sana viikonvaihteeksi) It would have to be fragile.

We attended the funeral of my girlfriend's grandmother. Being in a traditional Greek Orthodox funeral was a new experience for me. I think it is appropriate to explain some terms and traditions to those, who are new to the concept. In Greek Orthodox church it is traditional to hold services called panihida for those, who have passed on. This is usually done once a year. The panihida is a requiem, or a soul mass, where people pray that the souls of their relatives, parted from this world, would find their way to peace and eternal rest and bliss. The Orthodox funeral is basically the same, but the departed is participating in the service, as he/she is laid in an open coffin in the church and priests sing their prayers and people pay their last respects by the side of the coffin.

I have never actually seen a dead person before. I've attended many funerals, but all with a closed coffin. The fact that you see the deceased makes it all more concrete, more absolute than just looking at the surface of pleated silk or polished wood of the coffin. You can feel the death's presence on a gut level. Seeing an old woman, years wasted away in a hospital bed, makes you think. Her crooked hands, her whoole body, seemed brittle, as if all the essence in it had been drained away, so light and spidery.. in a word, fragile.

The human mind is also fragile. The relatives try to compose themselves and stoically stand in reverence, and then at the time of final good-bye, those fragile defences collapse, as the tears will themselves out. You can see how shattered the person is inside despite the calm outer image he/she is trying to project. It makes you appreciate what sanity you have left yourself. Later, people are bickering and blaming each other for not having made the arrangements properly, or whatever reason, in futile attempts to vent their own discomfort.

I don't fear death as such, but I dislike funerals. Tragedies tend to bring out the worst in people and funerals are often very fatiguing, both mentally and physically, even if you are not a close relative to the deceased yourself.

We also paid a visit to a friend of ours in hospital. A younger brother of another friend. He had been on his way home on Wednesday night, when he had slipped on the very doorstep of the building he lives in. The building is old, and has beautiful old oak-framed doors with small glass panels in between. The granite stairs in front of the door were icy and slippery and he lost his foothold and fell forward, through the door. Or, more precisely, through one or two of the glass windows. He managed to raise his arms to protect his face, and sustained several deep cuts and severed the arteries in both of his arms. He also damaged the elbow nerve of his left arm and cut seven of his finger tendons. All by one shard of glass to the wrist. Luckily he managed to ring some of the doorbells and get some elderly woman to open her door and call an ambulance. He was operated for five hours and was doing quite well on Saturday despite all. The human body truly is fragile. The boy is only 14 years old, and could easily have died, if he hadn't had help so quickly. He lost something like one liter of blood. (That's one quarter of a gallon for you not familiar with the metric system) That's over a fifth of what he has. I'm really glad he survived.

So, this weekend has been a thought-raiser. Thoughts of how fragile all things are, and how fortunate I am, considering. They say time will heal all wounds, but the process is long and painful. It's true for all wounds, both physical and otherwise.

I hope my next update will be of happier things.

Things change, people change, times change

2005-01-24T15:22:00.000+02:00

I was given a reminder of my own mortality last friday, as my girlfriend's grandmother passed away. She had been bedbound in hospital for over a year, and badly demented, so I suppose it could be said to be a relief, at least for herself, to be rid of such unlife. And for all those, who remain, a time of stress and waiting is over. I just hope, that dividing her possessions between her descendants would go without bickering and malice. I fear that might not be the case, but it's still good to hope for the best.

Much remains to be done, that I haven't had the time for, or the energy. I managed to finish the katana sword-stand I was making for a friend, and that will improve my financial status somewhat.

I've been thinking about the future lately, too.

It is becoming obvious, that architecture isn't really my thing. I've studied it since '96 but the last 6 years I haven't done practically anything. Now the courses are getting old, and I have to do something about it in the next couple of years. I'm still too far from my degree to finish in time, and, in fact I really don't have the want to do it.

I have been thinking about applying to the Theater Academy, but it's really hard to get in. Less than 1% of the applicants make it. I've also thought about returning to industrial design studies, and maybe somehow combining them with the past architectural studies, not to throw them away.. But still, I really would like to be an actor.

I've also been thinking of joining the UN peacekeeping troops for a year.. mostly to improfe my financial situation and to allow my girlfriend to study freely for a year, not having to worry about getting a job. Also, the thought of joining has been in and out of my mind many times before, and I think it's just something I might have to do, not to regret not having done it afterwards.

For more news about things to happen, I'm getting married next summer. I don't think it will change much since we've been engaged for three years and living together for two and a half.. so much of the everyday things remain the same.

It still pisses me off like a bug in the pants that I don't have enough money to buy a decent digital camera. I have a craving need to take pictures and I'm in total agony since I have just an ordinary film camera. I also need to take photos of my projects (such as the sword stand) before they are taken away, so that I'll have something I can show of them.

I had to go to the dentist, again. Bedides having a large cavity filled, I was poked in one of my wisdom teeth by the dentist and the word "hollow" was mentioned. So, they are going to yank it out of my mouth in a month or so. I'm glad the tooth isn't aching, at least for now.

I SO hate dentists. But having a seen a few people with really bad teeth, I'll ljust swallow it and suffer the operations. Having teeth rot in your mouth is something I don't want to happen to myself, despite the dislike of dentalwork.

That's all for now.. more later, perhaps.

Yet another futile blog page

2005-01-12T14:19:00.000+02:00

So, I finally decided to stop fighting the tide and let the current carry me. I started my own blog. Not because it would be uncool not to have it, but because I have (at least at the moment) a fair amount of spare time at my job, Net access and since I lately have had some thoughts I had considered to be worth sharing, should somebody be interested.

I will probably be updating less than frequently. Sometimes I'm too busy to think about anything or to post it, sometimes I simply don't have any even vaguely interesting thoughts. I keep this blog mostly for myself, as sort of a diary. I don't really care that much if other people read it or not, but since you obviously are reading it now, it would be nice of you to leave some token of your visit. A comment would be nice.

That all said, there is nothing more to do in this post other than to bid you welcome. I hope you find something here worth your while.