The Best of the Best – TV Characters

I did the list of my favourite TV series a while ago and now, after finally I finished watching House M.D. that has one of the most memorable characters in TV history, I wanted to make a list of my favourite fictional characters in television. And I want to highlight that it is the list of my favourite people, not necessarily the most iconic ones or the original ones, but the ones that I want or wanted to be at some point of my life, I wanted to marry or have sex with or at least have them as my best friends. The ones who stuck with me. The ones that made me feel tonight weirdly happy while I was trying to find suitable clips for every lovely person that has made me fall in love with them. They make me still smile.

The first of all, it was again surprisingly hard. I asked my Facebook friends to name their favourites, so I wouldn’t forget anyone and boy, how many answers I got. Some of them really great ones. I had totally forgotten Dempsey & Makepeace that I watched when I was a child, Dempsey was so hot and Makepeace so beautiful. Back in those years I also wanted to be an antique dealer because of Lovejoy. Sonny Crockett from Miami Vice was so cool and same goes for Fonzie of Happy Days too. Maddie Hayes and David Addison of Moonlighting had a great chemistry and Jeeves was (and to be honest, is more so today) so funny! Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are the funniest guys. And MacGyver! That man, if anybody, totally was a genius!

Even though I really liked Sex and the City, none of the ladies made it to my list but especially Samantha and Carrie are worth to mention. Same goes for Willow from Buffy and Sue Silvester of Glee. And without plastic wrapped Laura Palmer, there wouldn’t be Twin Peaks. And then there’s always a bunch of guys I probably wouldn’t want to marry but anyways have “the special contact” with, like Sawyer of Lost, Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl, Hand Moody of Californication and Eric from True Blood. I might marry The Mentalist’s Patrick Jane or Tyrion from Game of Thrones if he lived in this world. And I’d like to get to know to Sheldon Cooper, he seems to be the one that a lot of people love (I really should start watching Big Bang Theory, I probably will like it). And the list goes on and on and on because to be honest, I love almost all the characters in my favourite shows. But here we go. Spoiler warning in case you haven’t watched the shows at all or don’t know at all the big story lines.

10) Spencer Reed – Criminal Minds

This cutie is the cherry on the top of the best serial killer show on telly. I did debate with myself if I should choose him or Dexter. The latter is my number 11 choice and mostly because I’ve seen only first two seasons and few episodes of the third one. When it comes to Dr Reed, I’ve watched him for eight seasons and I’m still hoping to watch a lot more (I haven’t seen the ninth season, so please, don’t spoil it to me!). What’s not to like in this character. He’s very nice looking, he’s cute but unbelievably smart and he has this sensitive side to him. There’s always something endearing in broken people. The following clip includes also Amber Heard in bikini (didn’t realise it before that it’s her) and contains a minor spoiler from season 1.

9) Pacey Witter – Dawson’s Creek

I grew up watching this. I was already so called adult but these teen never really were teens anyway. Pacey is the ultimate boy next door (well, in the series Dawson actually is but still), he’s really quite normal. Not spectacularly good-looking, not the smartest, not the one that has huge dreams or gets the most beautiful girl but in the end, he seemed to be the one that had that all and even more. Every girl should have their Pacey, so they good feel good about themselves. And hey, Pacey gets the older ladies as well:

8) Fox Mulder – The X Files

David Duchovny is still hot (check Hank Moody) but he was hot already 20 years ago in a very fine series. Mulder was a weirdo but so handsome and interesting one that it was really hard not to like him. And the chemistry he shared with Scully! I don’t know if there’s ever been such a great thing going on in platonic relationship between a man and a woman in the history of television. Mulder was a man of my dreams in my teen years. The clip is fan vid made by Sarah.

 

7) Barney Stinson – How I Met Your Mother

From this on this is hard one. These seven characters got to my list straight away and it’s really hard to put them in order. I chose Barney as the last because he is the newest friend to me. And I really like Ted too. But Barney cracks me up. And he is already legen – wait for it! – dary! HIMYM is my favourite series to watch. I never get bored to it and I never get bored of Barney. And I do like my men in suits.

6) Gregory House – House M.D.

I first thought he would be my number one but as you can see, he’s not. Hugh Laurie is a genius. House is masterly made character and even though you can thank the writers as well but without the actor making it totally his own, it would never work. I do have a thing for smart people as you can see from my choices and House of course is on top of that bunch. He’s also good-looking and troubled. Badly. Guess it’s the bad boy meets smart that does it for me. Oh, he also has a voice you could listen forever. Btw, I right now realized that House quotes Barney in this clip:

5) Dean Winchester – Supernatural

Check my list for best series to see why everyone should like Dean (and Sam). But besides the look, he’s the bad boy with very cool car; he takes care of his brother and has a lot of meaningless sex. But he’s not afraid to cry and that breaks your heart. And he’s probably the funniest guy in television and knows his pop-culture references. And what the heck, no need to check my earlier post, here’s another reason and after that the clip where he (well, Jensen Ackles) sings Eye of the Tiger, worth to watch.

4) Buffy Summers – Buffy the Vampire Slayer

She kicks asses. A lot. She’s hot, tiny and pretty. She’s a vampire slayer in one of the best series ever made. The growing up that she makes during the series is beautiful to watch. And it’s nice that she saves the world a lot. And she also knows her pop-culture and has always a good comeback one-liner. And she’s funny. Basically the female version on Dean. I can’t enough say it but if you have not watched these series, do so.

3) Lorelai Gilmore – Gilmore Girls

Lorelai Gilmore is the name of both of the main characters of Gilmore Girls. Really. The mother has named her daughter after her. But I chose the mother. She’s the kind of mother I want to be. Though I’m probably too old for that. Lorelai could be the pain in the ass but she’s smart, she knows how to make your life work for you, she gets easily excited, she loves movies, she’s funny and also has those pop-culture filled speeches and snappy comebacks. I’d like to be Lorelai. She’s about everything without being too perfect. And she loves winter like I do:

2) Spike – Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Spike. William the Bloody. The best character Joss Whedon has ever created. I think I still love him. He’s the ultimate bad boy who becomes something totally else when the series go on. Again, he got the look but more importantly he owns the night. There’s just something very alluring in a cocky English accent and that long leather jacket. He’s very rock n’ roll. And he’s a vampire, they’re always hot. Oh, and he has his tunes; check the musical episode of Buffy, Once More with the Feeling, and his song “Rest in Peace”. But do watch the earlier episodes before that or you’ll get spoiled. Same goes for this clip:

1) Chandler Bing, Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Tribbiani, Ross Geller & Rachel Green – Friends

Ok, I cheated but you just can’t separate them. Without funny sarcastic Chandler there wouldn’t be the one of the realistic love stories of television between him and Monica. Without Monica there wouldn’t be lasagne for Joey. Without Joey you would never have learned how the one should ask “how you doing?” Without Joey Ross would never have understood what’s important. And without that you would not have Ross & Rachel. And without Phoebe it all might have gotten too serious. And without (my) Friends I would never have thought of having my own Thanksgiving dinner like I am going to have tomorrow for the first time. So happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Photo credits to Fanpop, Khojakhujee

Advertisements

How NOT to (Budget) Travel

¡Hola! Greetings from Madrid! 

I left to Spain on 9th of October. The day before I got off from work at 9pm or something like it and went to my “living room” aka the bar I always go and where I also work sometimes. Well anyway, I had worked a lot during the last three weeks. Had all the deadlines at school (and met all of them!) and also did quite a few shifts at works. So, I went to the bar and called out straight away that I have a holiday now, so gimme a beer! I had a plan to have few beers and then go to home and wake up fresh the next day. Didn’t happen. I ended up to some after parties at my own home (I blame my roommate in that matter) and reputedly went to bed about half five or something like it. So, you can imagine, if you’ve ever drank too many, how it feels the next day.

On 9th of October I woke up probably still a bit drunk and started packing (that’s common to me to pack just before leaving but usually I’m sober…). I did even back my dirty clothes to wash them at my friends place in Fuengirola but for some reason I wanted to leave my passport at home. And notice that when already in a bus going to the airport. And my home is about two hours from the airport, so no way turning back. I also had to take the taxi to the bus station because I was running late. No surprise there. Well, I finally got to the airport and straight away to the police station and thankfully they gave me the temporary passport valid until end of this month. Not so thankfully, a person can be a beholder of only one passport from one country at the same time, so my proper passport is not valid anymore. So that’s about 150 euros more to my budget. What was supposed to be a budget traveller’s budget…

At the airport I realized I hadn’t printed my shuttle bus ticket from Malaga airport to Fuengirola (approximately 25 kilometres). And my flight was landing at 00.05, so I really should have it. Well, I got it and paid nice five euros more for it because the only place to get print outs was the lobby of some hotel at the airport. And while doing all this extra stuff, it was already 40 minutes in to my flight time. And when I went to check in, of course the machine doesn’t work with the temporary passport. So to the desk and because I was travelling through Gatwick in London, (what I kinda didn’t take in account) I got a nice lecture from the flight officer at the check-in desk how I should be on time. She was a quite bitch because I tried to be sorry for all of the inconvenience.

The cutest colour ever for the passport.

But, in the end, I wasn’t even in a hurry. Had total of 10 minutes of extra time before boarding and everything went quite smoothly at Gatwick (well, they had a few extra questions why I was travelling with that passport) and at Malaga airport (well, I did walk past the desk I was supposed to enter after landing and because it was in the baggage hall and I read the instructions after coming to the public area, I couldn’t get back. The number I was supposed to call, didn’t work and I was running out of the battery of my mobile because I wasn’t able to charge it at the Gatwick because I didn’t thought of that that they have the different power junction there. But I did find my driver after some panicking.).

So, I got to Fuengirola and to the street my friend lives. But when I was supposed to call her, I did run out of battery. So there I am, on the some street in somewhere in Fuengirola in the middle of the night. No means to call her. But thankfully there’s a restaurant semi-open and some guys sitting in front of it. And again, thankfully, they are British, so I get to charge my phone and meantime they invited me to join them for a beer and have a nice chat. And after that everything went smoothly for that day.

Day number two started well, we went to see Benalmadena (the pic above) and had a nice stroll on the streets. But in the evening I went to have a dinner with my step sis and her friends and gosh, the wine in Spain is cheap. Like really cheap. And good. So, when I went back to my friend’s place I was quite tipsy (again!) and I met her roommates for the first time (not the best first glance). The evening ended to that that while walking hand in hand back to home, we kind of fell (why I’m telling you all of this?) and I ended up hurting my toes that way that one of then might have an infection at the moment. Though, it’s not hurting that much anymore. Oh, I also ripped my only jeans…

The next two days went ok, I think. We did run out of gas on Sunday (no stores open) and I had not that nice cold shower the morning I needed to leave. I was going to take the bus from Malaga to Madrid and I already had printed the ticket while printing the ticket I needed for the shuttle bus. And I even checked from the map that the train station in Malaga is right next to the bus station. But here’s the catch, there are few train stations at Malaga. So, you can probably already guess, I missed my bus and got to pay for another ticket. To a bus that took almost couple of hours longer to get here. The silver lining is there that the ticket
at least was the same price as the original. So, I got here, an hour late and the hostel couldn’t find my reservation (again, do read the instruction from the web page when you reserve something!) perhaps because I did not reconfirm it. But because this hostel seems nice, I got my bed and I even got total of 20 minutes to get to the last screening of Prisoners last night. Going to the movies soothes me. And it did again.

Today everything has gone fine (except I couldn’t find the grocery store 50 meters from the hostel because it was in the basement but I did find Starbucks and five movie theatres!). Hopefully it will continue going good. I travel a lot and I have never ever been this bad at it. Oh btw, this all started when I booked the flight ticket from Paris to Helsinki for wrong dates back in August.

Copenheaven

I’ve been fortunate enough to been able to travel the two best cities in Europe in a very short time. The first to Prague and then to Copenhagen. The cities are very different, like a night and a day but both are as lovely as a place (that’s not New York) can be. Copenhagen, the day, was so welcoming and sunny. The weather wasn’t the sunniest the whole time we stayed in the city but people were. They tend to smile a lot. A rarity to a Finnish girl like me. And the food! Oh, the food! Copenhagen IS the food capital of Europe! I don’t think I ate anything mediocre. Well, the kebab in Tivoli when we were in a hurry but otherwise the food was every time a top-notch. Amazing! And I love food as you might know from my previous posts. So here’s a round around Copenhagen via my cam and me. Enjoy!

The first day we arrived really early so we needed to spend time somewhere before the checking time. We decided to take a canal tour with DFDS and that was the best decision ever. We got to know a lot to Copenhagen by sitting still while seeing the city from the sea hosted by the very entertaining Nico, the guide of our boat.

The tour started from Nyhavn that used to be the red-light district of Copenhagen.

 

The Opera House

 

Den Lille Havfrue aka The Little Mermaid, the 100-year-old lady by the sea and a few tourists…

… We being two of them.

The cutest thing to live in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The canals are not the widest ones.

Amalienhaven and Frederik’s Church that’s right next to Amalienborg that is a home to Danish Royalty. You can see the Danish flag, Dannebrog, on the right side. It means the Crown Prince was home at the time. 

After the tour we got the room from the hostel, Copenhagen Downtown, where the location was perfect but because I was totally spoiled by my hostel in Prague, I found it a bit too expensive compared to what it had to offer. But I still might go again, not just book the private room.

The next day we slept in after drowning few beers at the bar called Drop Inn that was right next to our hostel and had a very very very good brunch at RizRaz to start a day.

 

After the brunch we took a long walking tour around the city on the hottest day of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cock’s and Cows had the best sign I’ve seen in a while:

 

 

 

 

Some guy sitting on the front of the Royal Danish Theatre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Absalon

King Frederick V at Amalienborg Square. The Prince is still home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, I have a thing for statues but this one really is one of my favourites so far.

Kastellet, the fortress in the middle of the city.

The windmill at the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view from the top of Kastellet.

 

The laid back attitude of the Danes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The King’s Garden was full.

 

 

 

 

 

They guard the crown jewels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The man himself, Hans Christian Andersen, the storyteller of our childhood.

In Copenhagen, you need to rent bikes at least for a day. And we did. The city is just a right size to ride around and get to know to the parts that are not right in the centre.

The first we went to the Church of Our Saviour to climb to the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have absolutely no idea why I keep putting myself to the places that I don’t want to be. And it’s always about churches like in Rome too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though the view was great again!

The next up was Christiania, the free town.

The entry is at the Princess Street with the mural that invites you in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For apparent reasons I don’t have many pics of Christiania. This is the one of the rare ones.

 

 

 

Back to Copenhagen.

I really don’t know what they were doing?!

 

They were racing. With the toilets.

In Copenhagen there were A LOT of fathers and children to be seen together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitty

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cocks on the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to a picnic to H.C. Andersen grave at Assistens Cemetery. It’s normal, they said.

Some piggy (me) having a bun.

Some grave, I liked how the sun was shining.

To Tivoli!

Where we, by very pleasant surprise, ended up seeing the band called 30 Seconds to Mars.

 

 

 

 

 

Friend of mine, whom I was travelling with, had her birthday that day, so it was kinda perfect ending for the perfect day. And Jared Leto is very much hot. Still.

Hope you enjoyed my trip to Copenhagen. I surely did and will go back again. To the next time! Good night.

P.S. Talking about the food: the best dessert I’ve ever eaten. The dark bread, the softest gorgonzola and plum jelly. AMAZING. I cried.

The Best of the Best – Tv Shows

I’m just about to finish watching Gossip Girl and even though it’s not in my final top-10 of television shows, it inspired me to write this post, so let’s give a tiny salute to it by posting the hotness up above. I love those ladies. And their series too, it’s my favourite guilty pleasure. And what’s not to like: beautiful people, amazing clothes, ridiculous plot twists, scheming and the greatest city in the world.

I counted from my IMDb profile that I’ve given exactly ten shows 10 out of 10. And another 10 a nine. Gossip Girl is one of the nines. The others are Revenge that I’ve only watched one season so far, let’s see if it stays on the top. Heroes that I’ve watched two seasons and the second one was quite bad already but the first one was that good that I lowered it only to nine. I’ve already mentioned that I like Girls and it’s worth a nine as well. And so are True Blood, One Tree Hill, The Following and Homeland too. I also loved Dawson’s Creek, it’s the series that I grew up with. And it gave us the beautiful Michelle Williams. And the last on “the nine list” is House M.D. and probably the best lead character in television history played by utterly amazing Hugh Laurie. Albeit the series is repetitive I always end up watching the episodes in a row. Only one season for me to left.

Before hitting the actual top ten I got to mention that I still have few series to watch. That I haven’t watched a single episode. The ones that I think I will like like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and The Sopranos. So forgive me not adding those to my list.

10)SIX FEET UNDER

To me Alan Ball is genius. His gift of writing these quirky, weird yet lovable and genuine characters is a rare thing. Both, Six Feet Under and True Blood are funny but awfully sad at the same time. I know Ball likes to write about outcasts, especially sexual minorities as being one, but he manages to do it in a stunning way that does not irritate but is still so raucous that one can’t watch away. And in Six Feet Under, I totally love the deaths of the customers of the funeral house. How many ways there are to die?

9)DEXTER

Apparently I also love Michael C. Hall. Well, he is great. And so is his character in Dexter. The best serial killer of all time. And as you might know, I love serial killers. I have only watched the first and the second seasons and started a bit of the third one. But I can’t wait to get to the fourth season, I’ve read that John Lithgow is incredible.

8)CRIMINAL MINDS

I think I’ve mentioned I love serial killers. I also have reviewed this series already. Read it here. And check out the hotness of Matthew Gray Gubler at the same view.

7)TWIN PEAKS

The show is already 23 years old. But it does not feel like it. It’s still fantastically weird, the plot is excellent, the characters even better and the mood is always as enchanting as it was on the first view. To me, Twin Peaks, still causes the chills, Laura Palmer is still the most beautiful girl in the world and Bob the most terrifying thing in the world. Hooray for David Lynch, the genius.

6)GAME OF THRONES

I have mentioned a couple of times how much I love this show. And Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (there he is, again!). The third season got me floored like so many others: the link to the Red Wedding reactions. Don’t watch if you haven’t seen the ninth episode of the third season. It was the best television for ages. Forgettable. Game of Thrones is the best what television has to offer at the moment. And that’s a lot.

5)SUPERNATURAL

Do I need to explain or do the photos talking for themselves?

Naah. Supernatural is great in every single way, not just because of the hotness of Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. Though it does help. A lot. But they’re also very funny and their chemistry is almost touchable (I wish). I almost gave up watching the show because of the somewhat lame first season but thankfully my friend convinced me to give it another try. I’m so happy I did! Supernatural is Buffy of today. Except there are two superhot brothers instead of a tiny girl and they’re not in a high school anymore. Great dialogue and because I’m into all kind of supernatural things, this one is a treat. It even got me reading The Bible voluntarily.

4)HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

Today it’s a rare thing that I find something that funny yet moving that I want to experience it more than once or twice. How I Met Your Mother is one of those rare things. All of the series in top-5 are those that I watched again and again but HIMYM is the one that I watch almost daily. I love the gang, their even surpasses my real life friends when I don’t feel like being social. I just hope someday my Ted will cross paths with me.

3)FRIENDS

My older friends. I do spend a lot of time with them too. And they still make me laugh. And cry. And sigh. I’m so happy that the show ended the way it did. Perfectly. And I love that there’s always reruns of Friends in telly, that’s the way it should be.

2)BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

We had the hotness of Supernatural, here’s the hotness of Buffy. Or at least a bit of it. Sarah Michelle Gellar has been my girl crush since the beginning of the new millennium and I would still marry her if she just wanted me. What can you say about Buffy?! It’s made by the greatest dialogue writer of all time, Joss Whedon (who also wrote and directed The Avengers), so the script could not be better. The story of Buffy becoming a woman is layered with so many great episodes that it’s almost impossible to choose the best one. Or between Angel and Spike. Though the bad guy always wins. But there’s only one Buffy and if you haven’t watched the series you’re missing out.

1)GILMORE GIRLS

I had a hard time of choosing between my number two and one which one is the ultimately the best tv show of all time. But because, whenever I feel sad or tired or sick, I watch Gilmore Girls. It comforts me. It’s warm and fuzzy but the dialogue is the snappiest ever (I need to watch it with a subtitles or without breathing, I prefer the former). I love my mum but it would be so cool to have Lorelai Gilmore as your mum. Or one of Rory’s boyfriends as your guy (I got to take Jess, although if Dean grew up to be Sam in Supernatural…).

So, all in all it looks like I’m a fan of good dialogue, great characters, hot guys and girls, some suitable violence but the mostly I think I’m a fan of trust and friendship. As it is said in the theme of my favourite television show:

“If you’re out on the road
Feeling lonely, and so cold
All you have to do is call my name
And I’ll be there on the next train.”

And for the last the comic-relief, Eye of the Tiger by Jensen Ackles:

What are your favourite tv shows?

The List Lover on Holiday

Nyhavn at Copenhagen

To be honest, I’m not on a holiday anymore. But I thought I should probably  write this post before others I’ve planned, to explain why I’ve been somewhere else than here.

As I told you, I left my day job few weeks a go. It was the best decision for a while! I’m happy again. It feels unbelievably amazing to be able to feel free again. During the last six weeks, I’ve been working as a bartender that much I’m able to pay my rent, went to Prague, been participating as a volunteer to the film festivals and went to Copenhagen. I will post about the last two on next week. I’ve also been on a holiday. And it’s been fairly good summer so far weather-wise and it’s definitely been a great summer so far other wise!

My hometown Tampere on a bright summer day when we celebrated birthdays of our two friends.

As the readers that have been with me a while know, I have few challenges to accomplish. And I try to keep you updated about the task. It’s been a little while (…) since the last update (the one linked it the only one), so let’s do another.

I didn’t succeed to do anything from my Bucket List. Though Eetu, a friend of mine, came back to Finland, so I’m not going to visit him. And I also added one thing to the list. Travelling to Thailand and India. I’ve never had any interest to travel there but this spring couple of my friends travelled there and the other especially isn’t the type I would expect to like that kind of thing but she did. And the other is my ex/future-roommate and she loved it. So, I guess I need to go to check what’s the fuss. Plus I’m deadly seriously afraid of snakes, so it’s also going out of the comfort zone and that’s usually a good thing.

I didn’t watch any of the films from the IMDb-250. I think I need to have a week or a couple dedicated just for that to get it done.

I did manage to read two more books! (It’s still so unbelievably shameful how little I read…) The first one on the list (number three) was my reading for the entrance examination for the university. I applied to journalism. The fourth is the second book of the Mortal Instruments. The movie about the first part is in cinemas on 21st of August in the States and a week later in Finland. Here’s the trailer:

I also watched 15 more films for 50/50 challenge. Not much if you think it’s been seven weeks this one included. I reviewed some of the weeks and I will review the week that I spend on the film festival, the one beginning with Unbearable Lightness of Being. But it’s been kind of dry spell with the movies since Iron Man 3. Yes, I’ve watched few good or great ones but I haven’t seen a truly good new film since that one. I still need to catch the latest Star Trek, The Great Gatsby and Only God Forgives at the theatres. Have you seen any of those, which one I should absolutely see?

And then to my very favourite challenge! 100 Things in 1001 Days. The first of all, I’ll be enrolling to school on August 21st. It’s not my first option that I wanted to go but not the least either. I’ll start to studying International Business in Tampere University of Applied Sciences. I’m so excited! Let’s see if I manage to stay there. I hope so.

I volunteered at the film festival (the number 5th on the list). To be exact at Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä. It was different! And so much fun. I will be going back. With visiting to Sodankylä, I also travelled to Lapland for the first time (# 74).

The staff party after the festival. Photo by Santeri Happonen

I still want to participate to Toronto or Sundance. Preferably the former because I met so many great Canadians in Prague and Copenhagen that I want to visit their country too.

I can also mark the number 58. I started changing my wardrobe from black hoodies, jeans and t-shirts to more feminine few months ago and these days it’s mostly colours (red, green and even yellow) and mostly dresses. I love my new style, even though there’s still lot to be done.

Photo shooting session at outside, not as easy as one could imagine.

I got a bit closer to some of the tasks. I’ve been to five restaurants and three bars (#36). I also shot one of my friends with the cam (#20) to practice. I also bought a gift card for massage (#88) and made a deal to get a bike for free if I just retrieve it (#85). It’s unbelievable how “hard” it is to achieve things even when they are the simplest one. I’m happy that I have my 100-list but I do hope I manage to fulfill those easy tasks on it as well. I travelled to Lapland and took part of the film festival but I didn’t manage to pick up the bike ten minutes from my home and get it repaired?! Really? I do hope I will accomplish some of those easier goals during the next month. I will start a summer job today, it’s night shifts at gas station, five shifts on a row, then five off, I should have plenty of time to carry out my list.

I’ll leave you with the promise of writing about Midnight Sun Film Festival and Copenhagen during the next week. And with the quote I read a while ago and liked a lot.

Changing Lanes

A summer has arrived and with it I decided to quit my job.
You might remember that I mentioned before that I’m not a huge fan of my job. And it has just gotten worse and worse. I’m a call center operator and I mostly have the same conversations again and again. Different people, same talk. That’s not for me. I’ve done this work surprisingly long time. I started back in March 2011 with another company and changed to this employer in September 2012. And today is my final day.

I had a plan to stay at my work until August when the school would (hopefully) start. But as said by Buddha, I couldn’t lose any more days to unhappiness. This job went under my skin the way that I just couldn’t be happy anymore. The most of the time I was really pissed off. Everyday I felt good about two hours after work and then I started to think the next day and felt annoyed again. The weekends went the same way. I needed to change it. And I did. I have multiple jobs, so I won’t be totally unemployed but as the economic is what it is, there might be a challenge ahead but I’m not too worried. After all it is a summer season on the way and it’s the best season for bartending that is my other position. Especially in Finland, we like to drink during the few summer months that we have.

I didn’t receive an invitation to the entry exams to the other of the Film Schools that I applied. That’s a big bummer. But I still have a change to get the invitation to the other one, the one that is my number one. Fingers crossed, please. I did got the invite to Joensuu that is a town in the Eastern Finland. I’ve never been there. But they teach Communications and specialize in Audio Visual Media. It’s kind of scary idea to go to study in place as tiny as that but then again there wouldn’t be that many disturbances. And they shoot quite a lot of Finnish films in Joensuu. I also had my entry exams for International Business in English. The one entry exam is for three different school, it’s so-called national exam. If I don’t get enough points for the first option, they will check my points for the second school on my list and so on. Kind of like in the US when applying to the colleges. You have your primary goal, then the ones that are on your level and the safety schools. But I got to admit, the exam was harder than I thought. But still reaching for my dreams.

And to add to the new beginning I decided to pursue for healthier life too. I drink way too much, I rarely exercise, I’m overweight and because of my indolence, I tend to buy too much of snacks and fast food even though I’m fairly good cook. That’s just laziness. I need to go more to the gym, I even have the season card until the end of July in my use. I have also always dreamed of running. To be able to run for like 10 kilometres. I even have started to jog and managed to keep it up for a few weeks but then I just slide back to my old (bad) habits. But maybe this time will be different. I need to do as Yoda said: “Do or do not. There is no try.”

Me and one of my best friends are participating this competition to win the interrail tickets for a month to tour Europe by train. Wish us luck!

Buon Appetito!

Ever since visiting Rome the last spring I’ve wanted to host this Italian dinner party. And I finally managed to get it together the last month for my birthday. Well, it wasn’t exactly the same day but close enough. Cooking is one of my hobbies and I’m quite good at it. To be modest, I’m that good that my step dad always asks me, whenever I cook for them, that why I don’t I make it as my profession. I enjoy it a lot but it’s not my passion like movies or television. I can go without proper cooking for a couple of weeks but I could never stop watching tv-series or films for that long. You need to have a passion for cooking if you want to be really good.

Well, anyway, as I said I finally managed to set the date and prepare a menu for the dinner. I had approximately 12 people coming and I only noticed the day before that if I’m going to offer everything I planned, I need to drop a visit to Ikea. And so I did.
I’m not a big fan of the place because everyone in the Western world has Ikea furnitures and other stuff at their homes. But I got to admit that when you need to buy three different kind of glasses for alcohol beverages and some other stuff for the kitchen basically only for one party, it’s nice to get them cheap. Plus now, that I have them, I can always organize another party again.

So, the menu for the evening was the following:

l’aperitivo: Bellini with Finnish twist (meaning I used this blueberry smoothie to them)

gli antipasti: marinated veggies, olives, focaccia, prosciutto, salami, cantaloupe and garlic shrimps

il primo piatto: spinach risotto

il secondo piatto: Italian style pork or mozzarella salmon and rustic root vegetables

i dolci: Tiramisu

il digestivo: Limoncello and cheeses with crackers

I did the most of the foods myself with a super-help from my friend and roommate. The first one on the list was Tiramisu because everyone said it’s better when done the day before.
So we made it the night before. I’ve never made it before, so I thought it would be difficult but it wasn’t at all. And apparently it was good as well. So, I most definitely will be making it again. I guess the secret of my recipe (well, Giulia’s) was that there were the same amounts of sugar, eggs and mascarpone. Here’s the end result of the first time:

The next one on the list was focaccia. I made that for the first time as well and also the night before. I used this recipe of Hans Välimäki who’s known cook in Finland. I couldn’t find his recipe in English but here’s one from Jamie Oliver. What I’ve read was that the main point is not to spare with the olive oil. And I didn’t as you can see from the “before going into the oven” pic:

For the flavor I used rosemary, black seedless olives and sea salt. Worked. And it’s also easy to made but will take much longer than Tiramisu because the dough needs to stand.

I should have made the marinated veggies the night before as well but they worked just fine after running them on the frying pan. All of the other courses and parts of them I made the next day. The schedule was way too tight, so I couldn’t concentrate on the guests at the beginning of the feast as well as I have hoped for and I also made some of the foods kind of “left-handed” but fortunately for me, they turn out to be good. Especially the spinach risotto. I only used spinach, salt and pepper to spice it. And I managed to buy a really good parmesan that of course was the huge part of the meal. Also very easy to made and you can always spice it up with pine nuts or mushrooms or whatever you like. I have lived with vegetarians for two years now, so I tend to make food that they can eat too.

While I was preparing the food my lovely roommate made the setting. Simple but working. We don’t have a huge apartment and that table for ten is usually shrinked to the normal size that is half of the size in the picture. We also don’t have that many chairs but the little extra tables next to wall worked as seats just well.

The Rustic root veggies included some potatoes, carrots and a little of parsnip seasoned with sea salt and a lot of thyme.

Unfortunately I don’t have proper pictures of the main courses because of the scheduling. And I couldn’t find recipes in English either but here are the ones in Finnish if you are interested: pork and salmon.

But all in all the Italian dinner was very succesful. We ate for approximately five hours, drank a lot of good wines and listened quite enough of Italian dinner music (that can be found from Spotify with that name).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salute!