I wonder what hides behind door 2008

Soon 2008 is upon us. A new year and with it new chances and new challenges. It's going to be interesting to see how 2008 turns out. At the moment I don't have any plans for New Years Eve, other than spending time with my gal and our four-legged friends. Oh yes, they are big celebraters, although not big fans of firework. At the end of '07 it's easy to let the thoughts start drifting and reminisce about what really happened during this year. What happened in your life? Did you experience more happy than sad moments? I hope so. And for those of you who didn't - I hope 2008 becomes will bring you waves of happiness.


2007 was a pretty good year for me, dare I say one of the best years of my life. I graduated from high school (with good grades too!), which was one of the biggest moments in my life. I can easily lie down in bed and think about the day I got my high school diploma handed over. It always brings a smile to my face. It really was a great day and dear friends of mine were there to spend that wonderful day with me. Nothing could really go wrong that day - the sun was shining, it was June, summer was ahead of us and worries was a word that didn't exist. Without a doubt the biggest day of the year for me. The rest of the summer was quite nice too - I spent it working in Norway. Time went quicker than you can say "fjord" backwards, but at least I earned money and I got to see my family (and those ever-so-beautiful Norwegian fjords). Although I disliked my job at first, I actually got used to it and enjoyed most days. I will admit it though - it was a bit nasty to have to stay to work when my sister and her family went on a summer holiday. The salary I got didn't last too long (and here I thought it would...), but at least I had plenty of fun with the money and I guess that's the most important thing. I went to Sweden (and from there to Finland) with one of my best friends. He was the driver and I was the annoying side passenger. Seriously though, it was great and without a doubt one of the most joyful weeks of dear '07. The weather was great, I honestly don't think there was a day where the temperature went beneath 25c. Crazy! So what did I do with the rest of the money? Surely I didn't just drink it away in Sweden? No way, Jose! I paid off some debts and had a helluva time. Well, I also got myself a brand-spanking new PC and a sexy flatscreen. I don't regret it - it was bought with well-deserved money.


Anyhow...if you read this, please leave a comment. Tell me about how 2007 was for you.

Waiting is the hardest part

Friday, a bit over a week ago, was a day full of activities. I barely had time to take a shower before the highlight of the evening; going out eating with my friends. Everything started the day before, on thursday. A good friend of mine was coming to visit me to celebrate me and my friend's birthday (I actually had my birthday on the 26.10, but that doesn't matter). This was one of my best friends, so naturally I looked forward to having him over. We had a pretty simple plan:

• To have a nice meal at some restaurant as soon as he arrived.

• To celebrate me and my friend's birthday on friday. The programme for friday mainly consisted of us having to find a costume (the bar we were planning to go to had a Halloween theme that weekend), go out eating (Again! Ridiculous really since we are both poor students...) and then proceed to a bar (to be laughed at for wearing silly costumes and to empty our wallets further).

Basically then, this was the reason my friend came all the way from Kuopio to Helsinki. Henceforth he'll be referred to as Timo, which is his real name. We didn't really have any specific plans for saturday and sunday; we just lived in the "now". The only thing causing dark clouds on the sky was the nervewrecking, terrifying and challenging anatomy test waiting for me friday morning. Now I'm not a total moron, so I had done a fair bit of reading, but I still didn't think I had a good chance of passing. My dreams consisted of long, sharp-toothed, drooling chemical formulas wanting to eat me. I had desperately tried to learn the names of the body's most important bones and muscles (which I didn't actually suck that bad at), but I was still clueless when it came to the names of many nerves, arteries and organs. The result of this? Well, there was a somewhat pessimistic Tommy sitting on the tram to school next morning. An even more pessimistic Tommy went into the classroom, but unbelievable as it may sound, a relieved and pleased Tommy walked out of that same classroom about 1.5 hours later. The test went better than I had expected (apart from the chemistry part) and it seemed the weekend was going to be great.

Timo (to the left) and me at the bar.

We managed to find our costumes in 40 minutes or so; I bought an Elvis wig and a moustache while Timo invested in a rocker wig and some cool sideburns. We were happy with what we had bought and spent a good hour or so waiting for another friend. Eventually he came, of course. We then had to find a costume for him too - he didn't need nearly as much time as we did deciding. He decided to buy a piggy mask (usually worn by 8 year olds) for 2.50 euros. Not a bad deal, that one. Now, at this time it was only 1.5 hours until me and Timo had to be back in the center again, to meet the others who wanted to join us at the restaurant. As if that wasn't enough, we still had to find birthday presents and I was dying to wash some sweat off my body before we went out dining. Crazy, but we actually made it (just ten minutes late), and I had even managed shave (without ending up with a bloody face). Phew.

After finally arriving at the restaurant and meeting up with the other group of friends (who came there with second birthday kid), we had to sit patiently and wait for a free table. Eventually we got one, but the amount of chairs didn't add up to the amount of asses. We weren't stupid, so we went looking for free chairs, which we found too! When everyone had gotten a chair we were ready to order. I don't know how hungry the rest of the pack of wolves were, but mine and Timo's stomachs were growling like fuck. Unfortunately the chef(s) didn't hear our stomachs desperate pledges, cause after one hour we still hadn't seen any food (except some Turkish bread which we were served - probably just to spare the restaurant staff from dragging out our corpses). After one and a half hour I wasn't the only one pissed off - we were paying a decent amount of money for the food and the service was nothing to write home about. I complained to both the waitress and the boss, but it didn't do much good. After approximately TWO friggin' hours we got our food. Now, the food was good - the size was just a bit disappointing. Why the heck are portions at nicer restaurants always so small? Later the same evening the restaurant boss walked by our table and asked if everything was as it should be and we told him the truth "no, it isn't." He tried to make us smile without any real success. As some sort of lame, pathethic birthday present (or was it an attempt to make us forget the bad service?) he offered us free drinks - but only for me and the other birthday kiddo. What did this drink consist of then? Let me tell you. Something as magnificent as water and anis. Wow. Incredible. It was bad. Maybe one of the worst things I've ever tasted - I mean the 0.2 dl I managed to drink without puking. Goddamnit. At least he could have offered us all free dessert. This is a restaurant I'll never visit again - I recommend YOU to boycott it as well (unless you call and order the food two years ahead - if you're lucly they might already have started frying your steak when you walk in the door).

It's hard to boycott this restaurant if you don't know it's name, so here you go (you get the address, too!):

Antiokiabar
Eerikinkatu 44 B
Helsinki

You are free to ignore what I think and take a chance. Maybe we were simply unlucky - who knows? I still think it's ridiculous to have to wait for food that long.

The rest of the evening was a success though! Everybody had a good time at the karaoke bar and it's always nice to catch up with friends. Saturday didn't consist of that much action. Me and Timo weren't feeling so good; I kept on walking from the bed to the toilet the first hours of the day. The following hours I tried to get rid of my headache just by sleeping it away. Needless to say we just chilled most of saturday and on sunday Timo headed home. It was a great weekend, with the exception of the waiting time at the restaurant. As Kelly Clarkson says "Never again..."