Kimmo’s Blog 2.0

I turn 34 ugly ones today. I’m a year shy from being middle-aged. Damn.

How I spent this glorious day? In the morning I attended an Aikido practice conducted by Bruno Gonzalez (5.dan Aikikai) which with the practice from last night left me quite well-done. Since Helsinki is having an annual serial arts festival I felt it my duty to at least go and take a look at it.

I was too tired to get interested in any of it. I bought me some comics and headed up to coffee and some light shopping. I bought myself a DVD box of the Black Books -series, one of the funniest comedies ever. Then I came home, got me some chinese take away and watched two movies. Now I’m off to bed. Fascinating, isn’t it?

I went to see the new Batman movie, enticingly named close to one of the modern classics of serial arts (The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Returns respectively). I didn’t like the movie. I didn’t have much anticipation for it so I don’t think I was let down in anyway.

I’m left wondering WHY I didn’t like the film. There was nothing wrong with the film. It wasn’t bland. It wasn’t boring or alienating. A idea of an explanation came to me later. The film was somehow malignant, there was something deeply black about it. The film was in short depressing. There was something about the worldview of the film that rubbed me the wrong way, but my analysis stops there. I’m not interested in diging deeper into why that is. I can only suggest you to go and see the film itself.

It’s a very rare occasion when a film or any other kind of piece of art has almost a physical effect on me. Supposedly it happening verifies that I’m still alive?

This entry exists on the sole merit of the date it’s posted on. This entry wouldn’t have been tomorrow because it would be too late!

I’m left wondering why I feel compelled to do something just to get it done on a nice symmetrical date. I’d say there aren’t enough of magic numbers people use to celebrate things. For example, when you turn 32 you turn 100000 also. In binary. I’m sure there are suggestions too and I dare my readership to post them for me. Come on! There’s enough bots among you that at least one of you has reached self-awareness!

It all makes sense!

Greetings from the finnish backwaters. I’m currently spending first half of my summer leave in the Savo region, in the north-eastern part of Finland. So far most of my trip has been according to my plans, apart from the weather-malfunction which is always something you shouldn’t bet around these parts anyway. I have cycled two 60km trips, seem my first ever traditional, finnish summer theater plays.

The play was everything I expected, set in a nostalgic rural setting, in the 50’s with some romantic interests and general hope flying around, with some light entertainment in the form of some swearing and rude sayings. I’ve also painted a shed, demolished some wall and heard unruly stories about life in the finnish countryside. It took a bit of leg-work but finally I found a spot with some wifi so I could deliver this fascinating piece of summery information.

Yes, last weeks entry dated on the first of April was indeed a an April fools. If you fell for it, this time you were in good company, thanks to S. and B., both outstanding gentlemen.

I guess the secret this time was not to aim too wierd. The scenario proposed is entirely possible, albeit a slightly optimistic one.

Carry on.

The company I’m currently working in a project with, is set to renew all their laptops for their salesstaff. This means that they have to get rid of their old laptops. The IT-guy told me that I could buy some of them for 100€ á piece.

These are a few years old IBM ThinkPads with one gig memory and a celeron processor, I believe. The harddrives need to be wiped clean before they are sold, for obvious reasons, but the IT-guy I talked promised that he could put a Linux Ubuntu on them for no extra charge. Since these are surplus machines they are in mint condition!

If anyone is interested in buying of those those through me, or ask any questions, you know the drill.

Arthur C. Clarke died today 19. March 2008 at the age of 90. 8´-(

ACC was one of my favourite authors. Hes books filled me with hope when I had no evidence whatsoever that things would ever get better. But I also love his prose. It is a joy to read, to which I have seldomly ran into before or after. As a personality he was encouraging, he convinced me that this was a good time to be alive, to see the future happen infront of our eyes.

If you wish to have your conscience expanded try these books by him:

• Rendezvous with Rama (1972) (suom. Uhka avaruudesta*)
• The Songs of Distant Earth (1986) (suom. Kaukaisen maan laulut)
• The Fountains of Paradise (1979) (suom. Paratiisin suihkulähteet)
• Childhood’s End (1953) (suom. Lapsuuden loppu)

Clarke told in an essay of his (The Memoirs of an Armchair Astronaut (Retired) (1993?)(suom.Nojatuoliastronautin (evp.) muistelmat)) about an encounter he had with J.R.R.Tolkien. ACC was a member of the British Interplanetary Society since the 1930’s. BIS were a fierce advocate of space exploration. Note that this was decades before we even scratched the earth orbit.

The members of the British Interplanetary Society and two opponents of extra-planetary research C.S.Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien had a discussion about the meaningfullness of space exploration, Lewis and Tolkien were vehemently opposed to the idea, claiming that it was madness to ruin this planet and then run off to ruin others. The two sides never reached an agreement and after the discussion Tolkien told Clarke that he was absolutely convinced that he (Clarke) was an evil person, but it would be extremely boring if everyone was good. Parahprased from memory.

(*) I know, it’s a terrible translation.

<o Good night, Sir!

I am still very much in the process of getting my life together. I have all of my earthly belongings with me now, which is important for nostalgics. I still don’t have a net-access at home, so I am writing this at a coffee shop. I had to come all the way to the centre to find one that was open on a Sunday and with a WLAN.

My only furniture at the moment is my sofa which doubles as a bed and a small table I made myself close to 20 years ago. I have practically no cash, but luck has it that I have a credit card, issued by my employer. I struggled this log without plastic money. I have yet to restart my Aikido practice, but it’s not for lack of dedicated clubs.

My short term plans are to buy a desk, a new harddrive and something of a bookstand. I have scores of plastic bags filled with books lying around. I also need a valuecard to be able to take advantage of the complementary washing machine in our building. The weather is nothing but wintery.  I blame pirates. I have seen Katja Tukiainen at my local shop (for local people). We exchanged glances.

Just so nobody gets me wrong: I’m doing good and I am happy.

Soon to come in this Blog: The Future of Computer Games!

My first week in Helsinki sees the gradual dissipation of the beginnings-panic. I have pretty much settled in, although th bulk of my belongings still sit in Tampere waiting to get hauled here. I have some cashflow problems because I didn’t supply my tax-card in time. That was 60% off my salary which was already only 3/4 of a pay since I started the 7th. My rent lease, however, began in 1. January. And I have to pay for the move as well… When I’m done with moving, I have to start thinking about how to buy more stuff into my illustrious apartment, currently all I have is a sofa (which unfolds into a bed) and a small self-made table.

No fear! I’ll manage. I’ll be spending one week in Riga as a part of my training, which should be interesting. I’m expecting conflicting schedules, missed dead-lines, un-announced meetings you need to attend to and so on. Just like in reality!

I’m almost done with adjusting to my new sleep schedule. I have found a working cycle-route to and fro my workplace (which is subject to change in few weeks) . The very nice aspect of all this is that the days are rapidly getting longer and temperature has been generally temperate.

My new life in Helsinki begins humbly. The bulk of my belongings still wait in Tampere to be moved. I took only what I could carry. That means sleeping on the floor and every now and then wondering why didn’t I bring this-and-that -thing with me.

I’m writing this in a cafe, it will be weeks before I get net connection to home. Money will be short for awhile too, so I have to resist all the urges that this city offers… I live in Kallio, a somewhat infamous former, now retiring working class homestead. It has slightly rowdy reputation, there are sex shops in every corner and if your thai-muscles ache you can get limbered up in several thai-massage-parlor. One of the streets even had a sign saying it was under polices technical supervision. I feel safer already.

I like the way Kallio looks though, it has that kind of charm that a place that has been as urban as you can get in Finland for closer to 70 years. My apartment is in one of those 70 year old buildings, it has plank floors and a very well equiped kitchen. If I ever come to possess more than one plate, I never have to wash it myself!