To beijing over christmas. Hyvää Joulua!

Looking at my office mailbox today.. Got my first 2005 calendar (thanks forrester!)

There are few karaoke places in helsinki. Of course, they’re nothing comparable to ones i’ve been/seen in korea- they’re different. This one impressed me with uninhibited people who sing in turns, and casually dance in crowed space. They cheer, sing along, and compliments or interact with the singer after each song. Unique atmosphere.

The old bookstore on fredrikinkatu. These skulls appeared in the shop window before, and now they came back in an outfit for christmas. All of these skulls accompany tags listing owner’s name, job (with my short swedish, most of them related to or owned the bookstore), and years born/deceased.

Thursday after-work beer at the local pub. The place was well prepared with all kinds of special christmas beer. Consequently we stayed on. And consequently i found that 3 pints of strong beer are a little bit of overdose.
(Photo taken by the revered Andreas, used here without permission..)

‘gnomes’ book cover. I realised the the deer fur boots shown in the illustration are in fact very similar to the ones that are in fashion lately (ugg or whatever). Long live tomtar/tonttu/gnome!

I got a bulb of amaryllis a few weeks ago from a friend. When the second set of flowers were in full bloom, i couldnt help trying ‘artificial pollenation’ looking at their overly produced pollen. Now, i got this: something unusual is growing. Unlike other flowers which simply withered away after the full blossom, 3 out of 4 pollenated flowers are growing healthy-looking green balls. I’m going to consult the florist friend to find out what will happen to these…

Lesson: never play with the living!

Dec 6. The president always hosts a party in the evening, which is broadcast on tv. If you dont know the finnish celebs, it could be very boring. On the other hand, it’s still entertaining to be able to sneak at people’s behaviors at the party – tho most of participants are probably too conscious about cameras.

Now bridges to the small nearby islands of helsinki are back! Functional, till the sea freezes..