30.08.2005   So weird. Being at home, being in Finland... Both in a good and in a bad way. This summer has so far proved to be my most traveled one. All in all I spent about 41 days away from home. Thats a lot, for me. And now I feel disconnected and a bit lost... Depressed, too. Naturally.   My travels were less than impressive. Not by mileage, no. Seen in that light, I traveled far and wide. Thousands of kilometers, traveled in a proper old-school style, not falling back on that modern-day equivalent of a teleport, the aircraft. So no, it's not that I didn't go far. It's just that I didn't really have a good time, plus I wasted a few days being sick, lying lonely on my "death bed" instead of being up and about, enjoying the dry heat of the south and soaking in the sun.   But yeah. Having spent two days chugging merrily across wide Mother Russia with a young Lieutenant from the Engineering Corps as my accidental companion, I arrived in Abinsk in the early hours of August the 12th, just in time for the wedding preparations. For that was the main reason I departed, even though I had a feeling that this particular match was forged in hell rather than heaven, and could not conceivably last longer than a year. But I still had to attend. Hell, I thought it might even be fun, since my other cousins wedding last October went so well.   I guess it was fun, in the end. However, the novelty pretty much wore off by the second time. The program was pretty much the same, and I didn't want to drink buckets of vodka, like the last time. Its not that I suddenly went dry or anything, but the thing is that last wedding showed me how bad a hangover can be, if induced by a 3 day non-stop binge... But I digress. The wedding reception included all sorts of silly games, shows and general public interaction helped along by the tamada (a sort of wedding co-ordinator/host). Before that we've had the usual wedding ceremony, starting with the "buying" of the bride, where the brides side of the family has to "haggle" and try to get a good price, with the groom's side doing the same. Afterwards its off to the registrate, where the whole sordid affair is then made legal in the eyes of the law by the Judge, who, surprisingly, didn't even appear bored!   The general impression I've left the wedding party with was negative. The newlyweds were poorly matched, she too anxious to get "hitched" before 30, he just a macho kid with no real idea of what marriage really is, or should be. The guests all seemed to sense the futility of this union, and the atmosphere was that of insincerity and unease, although that didn't reflect badly on the amount of money the newlyweds were showered with. Or perhaps it was a way to compensate for that creeping unease... Money fixes everything, right? Right.   The wedding left me sick and sore. I managed to catch cold in the reception hall, where temperatures soared to 45C, along with my cousin, Petya, and some other guests. I guess it was due to the fact that, when night fell, we went outside without our shirts on to cool down, and this sudden change of temperatures brought on the malady... Petya was in a really bad shape for a few days, since he could not rest due to his work as a Salesman for a local Nestle branch. So he almost croaked one night, when his temperature rose to 40C, and we had to wrap him in a wet, ice-cold sheet to bring it down, since all them Ibuprofens and other painkillers didn't work. A few days were wasted in that fashion, doing nothing, except for a short trip to Krasnodar, a large city that is also the capital of the region. A dusty, polluted, anti-sanitary oven... Like all the large cities down south.   In the end I did manage to make it to the sea side, for the first time since 1998. We went to a posh hotel/resort called Nadezhda ("Hope"), an extremely expensive place, by local standards (prices same as in, say, 3+ star resorts in Spain). It even looked and felt European, not dilapidated and run-down like everything else. They even trained the staff up to the rigorous international standards usually not seen on the territory of Russia. I felt right at home. And the sea... The sea was perfect. I forgot how wonderful it is to swim in the sea and not having to worry about your legs cramping from the cold, or about your cock drawing itself so far in that you're afraid you'll never see it again.   After that it was already time to leave. Not a minute too soon, I must say, since by then I was already pretty sick of travel, but a part of me wanted to stay on for another week, and do all the things I hadn't had the time to do... Which cab pretty much be summed up by spending more time at the sea and making a few trips up in the mountains.   I finally came home on the 23rd. You can imagine the hectic and stressful nature of the past week or so by the fact that it took me this long to write this half-assed update. Things were happening everywhere. School, work, home... And not all of them good, by far. Those who know, don't tell, and those who tell... Well, you know the rest.   I am now studying at Helia, doing my Multilingual Management Assistant programme. So far I love it. So much better than anything I ever did in my other attempts at higher education. We have a good class, and so far it seems I've found a few good people to spend time with. I am really busy, too, which is both a good and a bad thing. I have grown so used to slacking off that its rather hard to get back in the "groove", but it will do me good, I believe.   And so concludes this update. Oh yes, I will have to get my boat from Z's island at some near date, before it sinks under the weight of all the guano that the industrious bloody birdies deposit on her pearly-white plastic decks... It shall be an interesting September sail back to Helsinki, no doubt.   Let me dole out some links now, just like the good old times... Here, learn the inner workings of a pistol, a Beretta, I believe. To continue on our scientific track, let's find out how much water can a condom hold! You can then continue your education with a game of geographical darts... Won't work with Opera or Firefox... That's that, then. I'm off to practice my Spanish!	Iron roosters. Drop her and run, fool! One of the rare pretty places... Ze sea, she pretty, no? View towards Novorossiysk.
10.08.2005   Ah yes. Another five days pass in various activities, inactivities and anguishing bickering. Oh, and I found out that I got into a college, the one I wanted to go to! The only one I applied to, actually... Yeah. This time I've got to stick it through.   But this post is not another diary-esque update marvel. The event I want to relate will take place less than an hour away. Without further ado, then, I announce that I have another (almost, honey, almost) two weeks of travel ahead of me, this time through the heart of European Russia.  Although the term "European Russia" might be a bit of an oxymoron. I am going to Russia to attend another wedding, a cousin of mine is getting married, the poor thing. Second marriage in a year, it is... The account of my first trip to Abinsk, Russia, can be found here. Should it interest anyone. Anyway, off I go, to spend roughly four days in a train, if counting the bit from Helsinki to St.Petersburg in. Let's see if I make it back in one piece...	Fly, fiskie, fly!!!
05.08.2005   Meh. It's already August. Bloody hell. The summer is just about over! Now comes the bit that I've always dreaded, the dark, wet, and occasionally freezing winter. Then it's another summer, and you're a year older, and it's over even quicker than usual... Darn, I should really move to warmer climes... Would be nice if I could take my friends along, too. Girly can stay behind.   But I have not been wasting time after I got back home from that epic sailing voyage to Sweden. Since I am leaving Finland on the 10th, and girlie has her summer leave now, we've been trying to do a lot of stuff. Went to an aquapark, Serena, frolicked there for a few hours... Hard work, that. All that climbing stairs and trying to stay afloat, you know. In any case, it would be nicer if Serena was bigger, more diverse. Now there are maybe a few rides that you can go on, and the whole thing gets old in a few hours. On the other hand, a few hours usually saps me of all the energy I have. Good, healthy fun, that. My girlfriend even ripped some nubile teen's top off, exposing what she termed to be "Juicy and perky young tits with awesome nipples". Or something along those lines. I was in the sauna at the time, so I missed it all. Just my luck.   And yeah, I just came back from Sweden. Again. But this time I went with my girlfriend, and the boat was somewhat bigger. About 29 times bigger, actually. It was an okay trip. First time in 10 years for my girly, too. We didn't really do much on our way there, falling asleep after a plentiful, if a tad expensive, meal. We blame it on doing a bit of drinking before eating. We fell asleep at about 10pm. At least we had a lot of sleep... The next morning it was time to "tourist" our way around Stockholm. And get presents for people... Not bad. Witnessed a change of guard, I think. A lot of frothing horses and pissed off guards passed us by, at any rate. Mismatched buggers. I mean, who puts a 5'2", 100 pound girl next to a 6'4" 300 pound man? Swedish army does, apparently. Ridiculous. After walking around for a few hours we had our (second) lunch, and crawled off towards the bus terminal, only to find our last bus gone. So had to take a metro instead. 60 kroner! More expensive than the Silja bus! The man behind the counter, seeing our surprised expressions, said "Welcome to Sweden. We are born free but then taxed to death."...   The ship, then... I took part in a magician's show. He looked like a toad. But I guess you ain't a proper magician if you're not intolerably full of yourself. We explored the bars, sat around at discos, got ourselves a friend, and then it was high time for our usual drunken fight. Oh what joy... But on the other hand, if it wasn't for that, it'd have been a great trip.   Now, trying to cram as much action as possible into as few days as possible, we're going to an amusement park, or a theme park, called Särkänniemi. Let's hope the weather holds. I've heard they have some awesome new rides... And lets hope my bank account holds out, too. Although, I must say, the poor thing is just about dead due to malnutrition.   Yeah. So hey, a few links... Here's something cool you can do with a box of matches. And a list of top 100 novels according to The Observer. Yawn.	The waterpark and its sexy clientelle. The prancing guardsmen. Nice helmets, though.

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