Good drunks

I´m rather delusional when it comes to alcohol and drunkenness. Being not much of a drinker myself, I don´t really know what goes on in the mind of a drunk. According to my experiences a person can either be annoyingly happy or aggressive and moody. I´m also poor at dealing with drunken friends: I don´t know if I should leave them be or crudely take the bottle away.

Of course my view has slightly changed with my current job. I meet merry drunks all the time. Since I´m the person feeding them in their worst hunger they usually have the patience to behave like human beings. Who would want to piss off the girl of the grill?? But there are always people who get childish and provocative and rude. Especially closing of the customer area provokes a lot of anger...

- Why is the customer area not open???

- We closed it at half 11.

- Why???

- Umm... that´s just the policy.

- Why??? etc...

Last Monday I did, however, learn that one doesn´t always need to be so rejective and suspicious towards drunks. Not always do they behave in an unpredictable way. It can even be pleasant to mix with them. A drunk can be childish but also open and curious which is highly welcome in this coldest one of the cold countries.

A group of guys came in. The tallest one of them had a bottle of some yellow spirit with him. I immediately thought they could be trouble. The guy did put the bottle away in my request and seemed very good-natured altogether. He ordered a big burger to his mate. As I started cooking, the tall guy started a conversation. He asked how long my hair was and then wanted to order a fried egg for himself. He was very pleased as I also gave him garlic mayo.

He was tipsy unlike his mates. I heard him talking to the other customers, asking “how are you doing”. I could imagine people stepping back and avoiding his eye contact. Who would want to talk to a tipsy big man?

Later on he came back to talk to me and all the time was extremely polite and even apologized for disturbing me. The dude told me all the three of them were frequent visitors in Norway and I told them I´ve been there too. The guy eating the burger was their “driver” who had many times driven to Norway with the other fellows drinking in the backseat. This image made me laugh...

And so we chatted and I almost forgot him ever having booze with him. I never found him flirty or annoying. As the driver finished his meal, the bunch of Norway-fans thanked me for great customer service (although I didn´t do anything special). On his way out the tall guy greeted another frightened customer.

That experience helped me with my fear of drunks, I think. To sum up I would say that it pays back to treat drunks as “normal” people because they respond to rudeness and also get offended more easily. Although some drunks do get upset with no reason. But if you expect good behavior, you more likely will get it. Applies also to kids and some pets... Those guys might even remember me being nice to them and come again on another Monday night.

From now on I won´t judge drunks only because they´re drunk. Isn´t this a great new year´s promise?

”Towns must be terminated and scattered.”

This is what a ”green radicalist” thinks according to an article in the latest issue of Image. The article sheds light on the Green party which is an enviromental and political organisation in Finland. The green party in the parliament has nothing to do with them: actually they disagree in most issues.

I like to think that I´m an environmentally aware person and I´d like to make a difference in the world. But after reading the article I find my recycling and vegetarianism pointless. It´s not going to advance the green revolution the Green party goes on about. It can´t be realised without getting rid of capitalism and abolishing towns: the society must be brought into accordance with the nature. In one hand I agree with them. The world today is greedy and the nature is only exploited. And we need to do something drastic to make the chance. But am I a horrible person if I also like urban culture? Imagine not being able to pop in a coffee shop or a pub in the end of the day. I would go home somewhere in the outback, light a fire and make that cup of coffee myself.

Extremely ecological way of life is a lot of trouble. It´s not realistic or possible to completely abolish the modern society. It´s the result of development. Do I have to be radical to save the planet? If we want to go ecological, why can´t we just develop more and find solutions with help of science and high technology? I think it´s a bit too late to go back to the time when people were self-sufficient. Althoug I´m also of the opinion that constant development(-> that only increases consuming) isn´t necessary.

I also believe in actions on the grassroots even if many people seem to question it. The leader of the Green party doesn´t even recycle because “the bins will mix eventually anyway”. A friend of mine finds organic waste recycling very amusing and even came up with an ironic slogan “saving the planet one bucket at a time”. I, however, think that these seemingly minor things count a lot. The power is in the hands of people, consumers. If you doubt the effect of everyday choices, imagine the whole population doing the opposite thing: eating meat everyday, not returning empty bottles to the shop, driving own cars... Of course it has an effect.

Sometimes people do these things just to buy a good conscience. But why does the motive matter as long as you´re doing the right thing? Radicalists in the Green party surely have the right motives and a real urge to change the world. I do admire them for being so brave and caring about the world but I find it too drastic to try to change the world for once and for good. I wish I knew who´s “right” in the end: those who raise funds for pandas and buy FairTrade or those who riot in the streets?

Edit: Watch while you still can this thought-provoking documentary about saving the world.

Impressions of the cold

I took my camera out on one of the coldest days of the week. On a day like this I remember why I live in this country. I don´t think there are many places where you can find beauty like this right outside the town centre. These pictures were taken while walking down a jogging path about 0,5 km from the centre of Vaasa... This is how much snow we got in just a couple of days!

Sun is going down in the Gulf of Bothnia and it´s not even 4 pm. Unfortunately all the brightest days are also the coldest. You can´t see breath-taking sceneries like this without freezing. (Except through a window.)

It´s the blue moment. Snow ain´t always white... Such a vast and open space makes your mind wander somewhere far far far away.

Today it´s not that crispy cold anymore and it´s even bearable to ride a bike. Last pre-Christmas party is behind and now there´s only the actual Christmas to get through. As usually I´ve pretty much ignored the whole thing because of being busy and occupied worrying about more important things such as exams. I bought only two gifts but that´s doesn´t equal the number of nice people I know. There´s actually plenty of people who would deserve a gift. But since I´m such a non-materialistic (= stingy) person, I´ll settle for spreading good vibes and peace all around me.

I didn´t even write a wish list to Santa. I´ve come to think that it´s not wise to let friends and relatives buy you goods because they might not be the right kind, colour, model, etc. I know, it´s horrible to say that but I´m just trying to be smart!

If I did write to Santa, the letter would look like this:

Dear mr. Santa,

I know you´re a busy man and I´m almost a grown-up who might not even count into your usual clientele. However, I´ve done a lot of good deeds this year and continued being a veggie-eater. This is what would fulfill my materialistic needs:

• Green Apple iPod nano
• Nokia mobile phone (model doesn´t really matter)
• Ralph Lauren´s Notorious-fragrance
• white teapot
• Enough-book by John Naish
• acoustic guitar

Yep, I know I´m expensive. But thank god I can live without all that stuff! (Atleast ´till the next salary.)

Mandatory art report !!

On my visit to London in the beginning of December I chose to spend my visiting hours in the National Gallery. Strangely enough, the weather was looking quite good for once and I even thought to myself I should stay outside taking pictures. It turned out to be a good choice to go to the gallery after all. The rain was coming down big time when I left the place a couple of hours later.

www.nationalgallery.org.uk

Anyway, back to the National Gallery. It´s located on Trafalgar Square where I´ve been before about 5 years ago. (Remember the lion statues, Vuokko??) There was a nice Christmas lighting at the fountain and for the first time I was actully having good time in the capital of GB. My previous visits have included heavy rain, masses of Japanese tourists, laptop theft, etc.

So, the gallery! Worth mentioning is the central hall where there were fresh flowers in big vases and the scent was amazing! The collection of the gallery includes western art from last millennium. I found only few interesting paintings there because I´m tired of portraits of Madonnas, Jesuses and other saints from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Of course they are significant and valuable art works but they simply don´t please my artistic eye.

I got more excited in the departement of the 19th and 20th century. Unfortunately it was prohibited to take pictures. Cézanne, Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh and even one piece from Finnish Akseli Gallen-Kallela (Lake Keitele). Some of Monet´s waterlilies are in the gallery and also Van Gogh´s famous (and exploited) Sunflowers.

However, my personal favourite was another painting. Whistlejacket by George Stubbs is a life-sized portrait of a race horse. Typical, I know... I´ve seen that painting before, in a book I guess, but I never knew the name or the artist. It was kind of cool to find out that way.

It´s funny how I felt guilty for harshly passing by so many paintings without one single look. For me galleries are like supermarkets: I know what I want and I go for it. I don´t browse. I think most people go through the whole gallery only because "you´re supposed to". Atleast they look bored to death. Especially youngsters on their school trip. They practically run through the gallery like they were in a race.

There are plenty more galleries in London I got to visit. Although I´m sure it can´t beat Paris...

Winter news

Welcome to my new website. This will be mostly a blog because I can´t take the pressure of not publishing my comics etc. Haha. No, really. Let´s just get things off my busy mind.

One or two awesome things (response to 1000 awesome things)

You go to a shop where there used to be this certain particularly tasty walnut cake you haven´t had for a long time. Then you notice that it´s not sold anymore. You grieve for some time because it was your favourite cake ever. If only you had bought it more often, maybe it would still be in the shop... Next day you happen to go to another shop. And there it is! Walnut-coffee cake. And this particular flavour is on offer. Awesome!

It´s a cold winter´s day and you ought to make your way to the uni by bike. You go down to the basement, unlock your bike and open the door to the biting cold outdoors. Everything´s icy and frosty but your bike is warm and goes smoothly down the road. No frozen breaks or gear. Awesome!

There´s not much awesomeness in this time of the year apart from upcoming holidays. However, I really enjoy drinking tea in cold mornings and even colder nights. I also discovered sunflower seeds as human food. You should try. They´re very nice. Maybe this should be a cooking blog.

One important thing I learned today is that it´s good to sign up to exams. And real freedom is not thinking too much.