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Showing results for tags 'My Life'.
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Yesterday night, I went to a Sun Devils football game. I was my friend's birthday. Here, he is known as Toa Aleron, even though he has been on in forever. Still, I was awesome. We won 34 - 13. These two kids (My friends and I were up in the top.)threw a cup over the edge of the stadium and it hit someone down below. But a sercurity guard saw it and gave them a ticket and walked 'em down to their parents. Not fun. But still, my favorite part was the fireworks. It was awesome and that was me weekend.
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I just got done playing Laser Tag at a water park and it was awesome! I played with a bunch of other people, and I whipped them, BAD! Out of 10 people, I took first place with 37 kills in a 7 minute 30 second round, and I only died 4 times. The arena we were in was really cool too. It was about 100 feet by 200 feet, and it was pitch black, except for a few blacklights. There were walls, mirrors, and fog machines too. I already want to go back again!
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I may enter two of my MOCs to the Brickcon. I just need a little more info from Roa. -- SA-X
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For all of those wondering, I am fluent in Guy, Girl, Geek and Nerd. I am going to learn French, Italian and Spanish. -- SA-X
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I don't know if ye have heard but I am homeschooled this year! I like it 'cause I can sleep in. I can't want to see what will happen this year! -- SA-X
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I never thought about it until now, but do you remember the Free the Band contest Bionicle had last year? That was a great contest, wasn't it?
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I'm in a position right now to buy either Toa Mahri Nuparu, or Toa Mahri Hewkii. The only problem is... I don't know which one to get. Can any of you provide any suggestions?
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School starts on Tuesday!!!! I didn't even realize this until I posted my last post. The awful realization hits me like a bus. BAM! I'm 15 1/2 years old and I want to cry... just kidding, but it is depressing. Stupid school. Oh well, it's necessary for life, and I am looking forward to a few of my classes. How about the rest of you great people that are taking valuable time to read my humble blog?
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I start Aims today. It's a big test over a period of 4 days. GRRRR!!!!
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Now that I have your undivided attention, LIFE IS!* Here in Nowhere, Finland, we've been suffering (or, if you're from rainy Vancouver like me, half enjoying) a winter of record high temperatures. The last time we had such a warm December was back in about 1929. I'll leave the economists to make the requisite doomsday remarks about abnormal weather and stock market crashes, but the upshot of all this unseasonable heat is that only this past week did we get the kind of frigid weather systems that normally enable ice fishing in mid-to-late November. So now the million bogs in this country are finally frozen stiff enough that the machine harvesters can get in to cut the trees that our economically vital wood products industry has been desperately needing. That's a good thing, folks. But the other good thing is that on Saturday I got my first taste of walking on a lake (like Jesus, but not). You know Fabian: he's the Alaskan exchange student at my school of forestry. (Instead of returning home like he'd originally planned, he's staying for the spring semester and graduating this year. Yeah!) We have a new arrival as well: Jan (pronounced Yahn) from Czech, male, age 23. We three decided to check out the local outdoor recreation center three miles north of town. What we did: hiked some trailssaw a church with walls but no roof and 7 trees growing out of the floortested the sliding and bouncing qualities of a suspension bridgewrote our nicknames on the snow-dusted lake iceheld a distance championship for sliding on the lake iceclimbed a way-too-tempting pair of pine trees for the pleasure of endangering life and limb (just me; Fabian took pictures)snacked on tasty meatballs made by Master Chef Mespotted a bird (not a woodpecker) pecking bugs out of a standing dead birchchecked out an infamous Scandinavian phenomenon: the swimming hole at the end of the sauna dock. Approached with fear and trepidation, did not enter water.All in all, a half day well spent. Especially since the lakes are now covered with 4-6 inches of snow after last night's blizzard. We seized the moment, folks! We seized on a unique opportunity to act like kids! Aren't you jealous? ..Wait, I'm talking to people who most likely play with Lego bricks. Yay for Lego! -BC *From the Finnish, "Elämä on," that's life, c'est la vie. Celebrate life!
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Anyone faithfully following my blog since school started knows of my inside track with the über-cool exchange students here at Nikkarila. If, as is more likely the case, you have no idea, then these blog entries will fill you in: Overheard in a Moving VehicleFun With ForeignersSaturday With ForksChillin' Like a VillainCall Me The CollectorWell, in the immortal words of a world-famous walrus, the time has come. David, Fabian, and Alena are returning each to their respective homes in distant lands, saying fare-thee-well forever to fair Nikkarila. (Except Fabian, who's going on vacation to Germany and will return in the new year to say a few words on... something, I forget.) So goodbye and good luck to each of them as they continue their studies and return to their lives at home. I hope they remember their time here with fondness, as I do. As far as we have touched each other's lives, we have been enriched. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year as well! So long! -BC
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Wednesday, October 18, 2006 19:00 I receive a phone call from an acquaintance. I've been waiting for this call. She tells me what I already know: My Stuff has arrived. I'm thrilled to hear it. This dates back to my visit home last May. That's when I packed My Stuff. Too much of it to take back with me across the Atlantic. I filled a big cardboard box and still had a bunch unpacked. So I left My Stuff and flew back to resume my rite of manhood in the Finnish military. Meanwhile, my mother made arrangements with a friend who would soon be moving back to Finland after a year spent studying in Vancouver. My Stuff would find a space in her freight container. Moving is so much cheaper by ship than by plane, you know. So now, after all these months, it has arrived. In a few hours, I will find out just how thoroughly the folks at home have scoured the house for unpacked items of My Stuff. I hope my bike helmet is in there, I paid like eighty bucks for it. My mother tells me she threw in a present, too - I turn 22 on the 4th of November - so that'll be a surprise item. Eeee. Meanwhile, since I have nothing better with which to occupy my time, I shall ponder the meaning of physical possessions as they relate to all manner of humanity-defining concepts. Hogwash. 21:00 Four boxes. What does it have in its boxxes, precious? Comic book collections of Herman, Dilbert, The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, and Canadian editorial cartoons Treaure Island All Quiet on the Western Front The Catcher in the Rye People of the Deer The Life of Abraham Lincoln Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince The Oxford Paperback Dictionary The Case for a Creator Assorted clothes, old and new Old cross-trainers The army boots I forgot to take with me Photos A Valentine's Day card A handful of CDs Two jars of organic peanut butter, crunchy and smooth varieties Two bags of quick rice, Cheddar & Broccoli and Teriyaki varieties Arrowroot cookies SKOR Bites Enough LEGO bricks to give a dock worker a hernia This magnum opus (dubiously advertised as a cell phone charging station) But no bike helmet. Oh, well. I don't have a bike, either. -BC
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When did I last miss a Monday blog entry?! Circumstances beyond my control, folks. That's all I can say. I'm spending the week at my grandparents' place. My school has some kind of fall break going on; don't ask me why they couldn't just have us start a week later in August.... But I'm not complaining at all. With all the things going on in my social life at the moment, I'm glad not to have any homework. I met some Estonian choir girls on the weekend. Saturday night was a relaxed, informal, post-discussion-evening social gathering at my cousin's Oulu apartment. Sunday night we headed to said cousin's parents' place in the countryside for some real happenings. There were at least twenty people, aged 14 to 50 (parents hosting), half of whom were singers. Naturally, the evening's main event was a series of choral and musical performances. I muddled through the first song in the baritone section, and thereafter opted for an audience role. Words cannot describe the beauty of the sounds those practiced, enthusiastic, young singers made. I would have loved to participate, but my singing voice is the kind that sounds best in the shower. With headphones on. I assume no responsibility for anyone who tries that at home.... To return to the subject of the Estonians, they were members of a school choir on a non-competitive trip to Oulu. Their language sounds so crazy! Some words are exactly the same as in Finnish, some are similar, and some are totally different. We Finns laughed ourselves silly at some of their talk amongst themselves. The language of mutual conversation was, of course, English. We were very interested in each others' respective cultures. Estonia's independence from the Soviet Union is still young, and the socioeconomic situation is very Former Eastern Bloc. My class will be visiting there in the spring. On a marginally related note, the future looks worse than ever for the democratic experiment in Russia. On another marginally relevant note, I find that my "native" Canadian English makes me a commodity in demand, so to speak. It's nice to have a gift like that just fall into your lap. Everyone tells me how lucky I am. At the same time, my complete ignorance of Swedish goes a long way towards making up for it. I also regret my years wasted "studying" French in school. If I'd known it might actually be an asset now, I might have approached my studies with a further goal in mind than the next test. By the way, I am so happy right now that it scares me. Is that good or bad? -BC
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I'm in the middle of writing a short essay on being a student who abstains from alcohol amidst a drinking student population ("student drinking population" equally valid expression?). The Finnish title is only three words long, yet fully describes the subject. I love accretive grammar. The title of this entry, which is also three words long, refers to something I saw today as I walked home from the store. At this time of year, at this latitude, the lupins (dry brown hairy peas) are already splitting their seed pods. They grow in abundance on the median between the highway and the light traffic route. What was odd, yet beautiful, was that a couple of stalks out of the thousands were still in bloom. Hopelessly late to do any good; shucks, even the bugs that pollinate them are in torpor by now. But there they were, in spite of everything, just being as vividly violet as they could be against all that dry brown hairiness. For what, I wondered? Why, so that an autumn-swept person like me walking by could set his weary eyes on them, admire their spirit, and recall summer. If anything drives a point home, it's the tiny, ridiculous contradiction. Fall has truly arrived. -BC
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You know when you butter your toast in the morning, and then, when you reach over for the milk, you knock the toast off the table, and it falls to the floor, and you're like, "Shoot, my toast is toast!" but then you notice that it landed butter side up, so you pick it up and it's fine, and you know that today is a good day and nothing can mess it up? Today was a butter-side-up day. Unlike yesterday, I was able to spring out of bed and go for my morning run around the lake. Unlike yesterday's nightmare Forest Ecology written exam, which I may have failed, today's field exam was fun and easy. Unlike in yesterday's Finnish class, which I spent catching up on work that should have been done, I had my Mapping homework all done ahead of time. So while the teacher went through the assignment, I sketched Zaktan's head from memory. I rarely find the inspiration to draw, and I think this sketch turned out not bad for me. Unlike yesterday's dinner of four meetwurst-on-ryes, I went shopping for some ingredients and made the Mexican recipe I've been wanting to try out. It was delicious. The best part is that I knew today would be good before it even started. Because that's what makes the toast land butter side up. Seriously. -BC
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- So Tiia was put in charge of hitting everybody up for the money. Her tactics were quite admirable for a beginner in this line of work: discreet little cards with all the relevant information listed, nice and neat and legit, with just the right hint of the need to pay up on time or else. Her only problem was with those foreigners: they don't necessarily understand such subtleties and the absolute importance of the rules of the game. But you know me: foreigners are my specialty. So, naturally, she enlisted my help. - I must say, I handled it like a pro. I had the money within ten minutes of walking in the door. Once business was taken care of, we settled down for a relaxed evening of friendly chitchat. That's the way to work these guys: you have to build a solid rapport first, show them you're really working for their best interests. With that mutual understanding, the job gets done with a minimum of fuss. It's really unfortunate when you have to hassle people who don't get it. The bottom line is, when the boss says pay, you pay. It's really that simple. - Tiia was real pleased when I handed her the bulging envelope, not a penny short. What can I say? This job has its moments, I guess. -BC!!
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I went to Mikkeli today, a city 60 km to the south, the hallowed haunt of my school's main campus. The trip was mandatory, and, as far as the official "study term opening ceremony," a total waste of time. But it wasn't all bad: I met some more exchange students. Left to right: Girl From China, Girl From Kazakhstan, Guy From Nepal, Me. Girl From China showed me how to solve one of the several neurosis-inducing brain benders at one of the booths. Girl From Kazakhstan was beautiful. Way out of my league. Yours, too, for that matter. But I got my picture taken with her. Guy from Nepal regaled us with the tale of his intrepid leap from a 10-metres-high platform. I doubt he'd have been in shape to tell it were it not for the lake below the platform. Back at the Nikkarila home campus after the excursion, Fabian mentioned that Tiia was cute. Thanks a lot, Fabian. Thank goodness she has a boyfriend of 6 years... Then I went for a long run with my brand-new running shoes. Yay for new shoes! -BC
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I finally got my student grant approved. I have money now. What a difference that makes in life, eh? Superior Finnish social insurance, I love you. Mwa-mwa-mwah. -BC
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I suppose I should get those goals out of the way first: Way short. Doomed from the start. But it was worth a shot. Goal met. Met, but with serious qualifications. Fully met. The threat of that particular potential personal disaster has been averted for all time. I'm really glad I set this goal. - I'm glad you kept me on the straight and narrow, too. Were you even there? I hardly heard a peep out of you. Are you accusing me of something? No. Quite frankly, I don't care where you kept yourself. Now, where was I? Yes, about to go in depth on the field trip experience. But at the moment, I'm not quite feeling up to the task of writing an extended chronicle strewn with pale witticisms that maybe two people will read. Plus, I'm hungry. If you want details, I'll be happy to provide them in the comments. If not, then we all save precious time and lose only the potential for momentary amusement-- which is the same as nothing, really. Just to soothe my conscience, I'll post a photo of meself enjoying two ancient vices. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. But I think in this case, that figure is off by two orders of magnitude. "Tobacco and baked goods will be the death of ye." -BC
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Field trips are an everyday experience at my school. Tomorrow we go on another one, but this time, it's not just for a couple of hours. Our destination is the innocuously named Hyytiälä Forest Field Station. What the name blithely glosses over is that Hyytiälä is a huge wetlands area: peatlands, bogs, whatever you want to call them. They're wet. So, in the spirit of preparation, I went out today and bought me a pair of Hog Hole Specials (rubber boots to you) and a Blogger Camo Ensemble. I'm packing extra batteries for my camera and several plastic bags, because you never know what rare and beautiful plant species may cross your path (also because I am in acute need of a large number of samples of non-rare, esthetically indifferent plant species). Goals of this trip: 1. Learn everything there is to know about wetlands forests. 2. Get to know my classmates better. (Starting with their names, in some cases.) 3. Have a blast. 4. Not make a move or appear to make a move on Tiia, under any circumstances. She is not the girl for me and there is no chance of anything good happening as a result of me making a move on her. I must remember the other girl, far away, to whom my heart belongs, and never mind that she suddenly and inexplicably cut off all contact just before school started. - What would she say if she caught you messing around, huh? Exactly. Wait, she isn't speaking to me anyway. But that's something we can work out, if I don't screw it all up in the meantime. But the fact remains... - ... You gotta stay away from Tiia. Yes. She's mine. *gasp!* You wouldn't dream of it, bub! -BC
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One of our familys great friends, Jim Mahon, died of lung cancer this evening. Three-Thirty PM. I might be takeing a little break from bzp for a tiny bit, this is just to much of a shock. Wil
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I invited the exchange students over for dinner on Saturday. David was back in Ireland for a bit, so Anssi, a non-student living in residence, took his place. The other two, as you know, are Alena from Czech and Fabian from Alaska. I set a reminder on my cell phone for 5:30 pm, in plenty of time to prepare for dinner at 7. Unfortunately, I fell asleep reading Dan Brown's Deception Point and woke up to my dinner guests knocking at the door. Talk about a power nap. I was supposed to be making a chicken wok (chicken walk?), but as I examined the bag of frozen "Paella," I realized my mistake: I should have bought actual "Wok Vegetables." This stuff was wok vegetables with sauce, chicken, shrimp, and rice: serve fried. Since my plan was to prepare it all from scratch, this basically destroyed any shred of balance and respectability the resulting dish would have. To sum up: dinner was a disaster. Thank goodness I had such good-humoured guests. They even refrained from forking me when I told them the chicken balls expired that day. Afterwards, Fabian and Alena showed their appreciation by putting on a diversionary display of strength and prowess: an Indian leg wrestling challenge. Finally, Anssi suggested they return to their place for the obligatory Saturday night imbibing of beverages bearing no less than 4.7% on the label. As they went out the door with a chorus of thank yous, despite having had a pleasant evening, I couldn't shake off the sense of... relief. Entertaining is one of the skills I need to seriously work on in this lifetime. The stress! As it happened, I'd received a surprise phone call during dinner. A friend invited me to join him and another guy in a late-evening fishing trip on a nearby lake. Of course, I accepted. The technique we used was an aquatic version of pitlamping: you lurk in a shallow, smooth section of water and pole the boat around slowly with a lamp illuminating the lakebed beside you. If buddy in the prow sees a big pike, he skewers it with a giant fork. We didn't see any. But it was an awesome experience. The night sky was bedecked with jewels and there was a veil of mist on the cold lake. We shot the breeze and had a good time. The night finished with a sauna, which is, take it from me, just about the perfect way to end a long day. -BC
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I just had an OK afternoon. I almost bought Matoro at Target and realized I had almost no money left. I don't like buying things when low on cash, unless I really, really want it. I wonder if this happens to anyone, or is it just me? When I got home and I started to skate, and ran a few of my normal lines. I'll probobly get that Matoro, or Hewkii, or well, I don't know which of the five Toa I don't have I should buy. But the question of the day!: Do you have Money problems or spending problems when it comes to Bionicle, or anything? Well, later. ~RK~
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Today wasn't so bad, just spent trying to fix up my MOC that I won't reveal yet . I have also scanned my first new artwort of bionicle to CG in almost a year! Yeah I procrastinate too much and I had a major artist's block. Now the summer has ended, I feel that I wasted it too much on, weeeeelll... being lazy. Yeah right!!! Well today was a good day, and I almost finished with that artwork I was talkin about. Later. ~RK~
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Yawn. I just stayed up until 12:30 last night workin on a new MOC and man I'm tired! I worked a new design for like one and a half hours and then I just put it all back together and now I'm back where I started. I'm not too mad, I was too tired to think to do anything, but I had a few good ideas though. Well I just woke up 10 minutes ago, I think I need a nap..... ~RK~
