The Other World

--->(spoiler warning!)<---

I'm happy. More than happy, actually. Rowling managed to make me cry twice. Only one book has ever made me squeeze a tear, nothing even remotely compared to my sobbing reactions to this. There was a point when I thought the story got a bit scattered but I'm glad to annonce I was completely wrong, and I was merely jumping into conclusions. 'The Deathly Hallows' may be the best of the seven Potters, at least in my opinion.

Rowling's writing is as spellbounding as ever, and the tiny puns (one continuous one will cause Kapari a little trouble, I assume) and other humorous bits remain as hilarious as in the other novels. But the true magic in this particular part, of all of the seven, is that everyone reveals their true colour: mean characters attain more profound traits, glorious characters get fallible traits, all of these making them more human than before. And for the record, I was right about Snape, although I could never even dream of having something, something concrete, in common with him.

I can't wait for the translation to come out. I'll be (again) lining up in front of Suomalainen in the morning, getting resentful glances from all the kids dressed up in Gryffindor colours due to my green-and-silver scarf and the snake ring, both indicating belonging to Slytherin of which I am proud of, especially now!

I think it'll be the third chapter of 'The Deathly Hallows' I'll translate in Finnish and give to my little brother as a Christmas gift (I did this same thing with 'The Half-Blood Prince). I'm sure he appreciates it much more than something bought from a store. The third chapter I chose due to it's contents. Those of you who know what it contains and know about the graduation day events are probably capable of making out the connection and my intentions.

At eight a.m. tomorrow morning I will be queueing up to get my copy of the final Potter book. I can't wait! Rowling said she would kill some of the main characters; the one whose eventual destiny I'm interested in is our (un-?)beloved (ex-?)professor Severus Snape. He either gets to clear his reputation or gets killed in the final battle between Harry and Voldemort while protecting Harry. That's my guess. Now I need to spend that thirteen hours before I get to queue (yeeha...). Too bad it's summer, I would have wanted to wear my Slytherin scarf (I knitted it myself, fact forbid!). Well, I guess I'll have to settle with my silver snake ring, then. That won't stir up as many emotions amongst the red-and-yellow dressed enthusiasts but I can't exactly wear a woolen cloth around my neck in about twenty degree sunshine in the middle of July without attracting much more attention than I'm comfortable with.

Anyway, tomorrow (or the day after), when I have managed to emerge from the Potter world to the reality (or something closely resembling one at least) I'll probably want to express my initial thoughts of the last book here so in case you're not planning to read the book in anywhere near future... well, ye be warned.

- - -

Here's a lot of Potter (did you really expect anything else?) stuff I found while trying to spend that thirteen hours away.

The classic aka. the "Which Harry Potter character are you?" quiz (http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=hpcharacter) – I appear to have most in common with, as I suspected, Severus Snape.

Here's another one (http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/harrypotter/) – Snape again.

Okay, now we know the main character resemblance. How about the minor characters (http://atypically.net/hp/lesser.shtml)? – The centaur Firenze; " You're so different from most humans that you're an entirely different species. Still, your beliefs are unusual even for beings of your sort - although concerned with the future and the stars, you're willing to defy standard practices for the common good."

What about the Houses (http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=sortinghat)? - for some utterly incomprehensible reason I got sorted into Gryffindor. Come on!

At Mugglenet (http://www.mugglenet.com/games/puzzles.shtml) you'll find jigsaw puzzles, hangman and word searches. Have fun (even though the puzzles have no options of Snape)!

Hello, my little sunshines!

I did it. As the (almost qualified) nurse suggested I went to a doctor and got the terrifying gynaecological examination. It turned out I wasn't worried for nothing last night, but it isn't anything so serious that couldn't be cured by simply taking a medicine for a week.

But more importantly; the doctor was a very nice young woman, who kept talking to me all the time, asking if everything's okay, if something hurts, and explaining what she's going to do. Now, to torture the cliché (points to those who recognise the movie), I'm all smiles. And when I was leaving she asked if it was as bad as I had thought. No, not even near. Okay, I am perfectly aware that my future gynaecological examination experiences may not be as relieving but at least I know it can be tolerable, like now. Thank you, Doctor L, you saved my day (and pretty much rest of the following month, too)!

Now that I go see the actual gynaecologist in August I won't be so nervous to get to the bottom of my irregular periods. I think I should do this more often; an ex tempore thing so that I didn't have time to dwell upon it and get it all out of proportion.

"It's just another day
the shame is gone.
Hard to believe
that I've let it go."

'Swamped' by Lacuna Coil

- - -

I once put a list of the all-time-best-movies that I had seen. Well, listening to X3M pays back; it appears that Internet Movie Database has not only listed the movies voted by the users as the best, but they also have a similar list of the hundred worst films, listed here (http://www.imdb.com/chart/bottom) as the "Bottom 100" as listed today. Again, the asterisk marks that I have seen the movie in question. For the sake or reve… ahem, *clarity*, only the forst fifty listed here.

1. Surf School (2006)
2. The Tony Blair Witch Project (2000)
3. Dünyayi kurtaran adam'in oglu (2006)
4. Crossover (2006)
5. Anne B. Real (2003)
6. The Hillz (2004)
7. From Justin to Kelly (2003)
8. SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)
9. Keloglan kara prens'e karsi (2006)
10. Going Overboard (1989)
11. Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
12. Bottoms Up (2006)
13. Car 54, Where Are You? (1994)
14. Santa with Muscles (1996)
15. Snowboard Academy (1996)
16. Chairman of the Board (1998)
17. Pledge This! (2006)
18. Love in Paris (1997)
*19. House of the Dead (2003)
20. Glitter (2001)
21. Troll 2 (1990)
22. Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998)
23. Cool as Ice (1991)
24. Ghosts Can't Do It (1990)
25. Delta Farce (2007)
26. Son of the Mask (2005)
27. In the Mix (2005)
28. Leonard Part 6 (1987)
29. Simon Sez (1999)
30. Creepshow III (2006)
31. Yûgiô: Gekijô-ban (2004)
32. Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)
33. Phat Girlz (2006)
34. Baby Geniuses (1999)
35. Kazaam (1996)
36. Alone in the Dark (2005)
37. You Got Served (2004)
*38. Ed (1996)
39. Are We Done Yet? (2007)
40. Angels' Brigade (1979)
41. Galaxina (1980)
42. The Smokers (2000)
43. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007)
44. The Honeymooners (2005)
45. It's Pat (1994)
46. Dis - en historie om kjærlighet (1995)
47. American Soldiers (2005)
48. Gigli (2003)
49. The Bat People (1974)
50. Epic Movie (2007)

Note 'Hercules in New York' in the 74th place; this was Guvernator's very first film. I heard an excerpt taken from it yesterday and I couldn't help noticing (whether or not it was intentional, that I don't know) that Schwarzenegger's pronunciation was terrible. You know, if you've had the dubious pleasure to see the film yourself.

This has been a terrible day, and I'm growing more and more concerned about my health now that I actually have got an appointment to the feared gynaecologist. But if this what I found today really is something, instead of something I just haven't noticed before... then that one month to the gynaecologist appointment is far too long. I just have to check this thing every day and if it changes in any way... I have to come up with something. I really don't want to go to the public sector when the worry concerns my genitalia, but there is no way I get an emergency appointment to any of the private sector gynaecologist, either.

I'm beginning to suspect that now, a month afterwards, the emotional stress caused by my father's death is starting to come tumbling down on me. I've been moody the entire day, even gone as far as thinking about suicide, and now I just want to go to bed, go to sleep. I've been like this before, sleeping as much as the circumstances allow me to sleep, sometimes up to fifteen hours. I didn't see it then but now I am quite sure I was depressed.

I should have more friends. Someone living close to me that I could confide in, no matter how tiny the thing causing me anxiety, someone to give me a hug when I'm feeling down like this. But it's my fault I don't have a friend. I'm just not easy enough.

I got a text message a while ago:

"Toivo jotain...
Älä lue kauemmas ennenkuin olet toivonut!
Sano ääneen toivomuksesi...
Taivaan keijut tulevat luoksesi ja antavat sinun toteuttaa toiveesi jos lähetät tämän viestin parhaimmille ystäville joille haluat kaikkea hyvää. Jos et lähetä viidelle, toiveesi tapahtuu päin vastoin."

Save the three grammatical mistakes, the contents of this message can be described with one word: cruel. Unless those heavenly fairies work for phone companies (which I doubt) there is no way no religion mankind has ever invented promotes the ailment of a kind person. Whoever came up with this chain message very obviously has an assumption that the wish people make concerns themselves. But what if it doesn't? Mine didn't.

I went to see the new Harry Potter earlier tonight. I don't know... maybe after yesterday everything seems disappointing. The movie wasn't in and of itself a disappointment since I didn't expect much (curiously enough, I've had alot of other things to fill my mind with), but the result... the film just didn't stir up much emotions in me. Luna Lovegood was the only one interesting (I realised I sometimes behave *exactly* like her), especially since they had cut Alan Rickman and Snape to the minimum. Well, as a consolation I know for a fact they can't do that with the sixth movie, (warning - spoilers) after all Snape is the half-blood Prince (spoilers end here). I think the movie was good, some of the filmographic solutions very neat (such as using the Daily Prophet as means of sewing together small yet relevant details) but at the end of the day it didn't make my heart leap.

I left my bike in front of the movie theatre perfectly aware that amidst all the Saturday night fever some yahoo might steal it. As I came out of the theatre I was half-ecpecting Argo (I named it after Xena's horse) to be gone. It was there, to be sure, but the front tyre was entirely empty. Now I have to get it fixed. I have all the required theoretical knowledge to change the inner tyre myself but unfortunately it is the outer part of the tyre that is broken: the hole in it is visible to the eye. Well, doesn't really matter, I don't have all the equipment to fix it. Maybe I could inherit my father's toolbox; I have to ask my mother tomorrow (or, technically, today), they might have emptied the house and given it to someone else. Anyway, I need to go to some bike place to get it fixed on Monday, which means that I have to walk to work and back for several days: an hour per side. Lovely. Hopefully there is no heat wave about to strike the coast, or a thunder storm for that matter.

Damn it. What is it about braking bottles on the street? Does it inflict one's manhood in a way I cannot understand? Why men have to compensate their lack of self-confidence with destruction? Why? Talking about a Y chromosome.

Yours truly,
The half-blood (potentional) psychopath

It was amazing! Words are just not enough to describe the way I felt! It was just... AAAAAAAAHHH!!!

Have you ever seen pictures or video clips of people in some Christian get-togethers to start shaking and talking gibberish once they've been touched by a priest, and they believe that the holy spirit has entered them? I've always thought it has all been a show, something they acted to appear dyed-in-the-wool Christian in front of others. Now I'm not so sure. I believe I was close to that kind of experience today. I just cannot describe it sufficiently, words just aren't enough to do that.

I arrived in front of the stage half an hour before Sonata Arctica started and got a place in the second row. As it turned out, I wasn't the only one wearing an Sonata Arctica shirt. I think I saw every possible variation available on the web during the time I spent at the festival area. Anyway, as the started with 'In black and white' I was already getting very... positively edgy, in the lack of a better word. I kept singing aloud (although my voice very much drowned in all the others voices mingled with each other. After 'Victoria's secret' (yes, Wanderer, that one) they played, unexpectedly, 'Caleb'; I've grown to connect it with my father due to my own interpretation of the lyrics that I reflect greatly through my childhood. I kept singing the lyrics so loud I thought I would discover to have lost my voice althogether once I would try to speak. During 'Caleb'... okay, it might have been partially due to the smoke effects and the sudden explosions and the smoke following them that made me feel a little dizzy, but I am dead sure it was mainly a genuine physical reaction to the music and the whole event; Sonata Arctica has been a very important companion to me since I discovered the band and there I was, standing not five metres away from them, hearing them play live the songs which all carry some special, personal meaning to me, singing them with Tony right there, knowing he can see me too, see that I know all the lyrics by heart (literally, I should say), move with my eyes closed to the music despite the rain... this could be heaven. I kept having trouble breathing and occasionally I was actually worried I might faint. Once or twice a thought crossed my mind: I thought I would really die right there, feeling atmost happiness, something I've never felt before.

Afterwards one of my fellow English students had a chat with me. He said he had been standing behind me on my right, so that he had had a clear view to me most of the time Sonata Arctica was playing. He said I looked like I was in flames.

I think I was, and hopefully I will be some day again.

- - -

The approximate track list (for the reason described above I may remember the exact order wrong, but let's forgive that)

1. In black and white
2. Paid in full
3. Victoria's secret
4. Caleb
5. FullMoon
6. Tallulah
7. Black sheep
8. It won't fade
9. Don't say a word
10. The cage

Perhaps they will play the full Caleb-trilogy some time.

Well, not really. It just happens to be raining and in about two hours I'll be waiting for Sonata Arctica to begin their show in Rockperry. At least I get to go home and get changed into something less wet within twenty minutes when I decide to do so. But since I'm there I could go see some other bands, too. Amorphis, Poisonblack and The 69 Eyes maybe. Amorphis for sure, they begin after seven. We'll see.

- - -

As I told in the previous entry I got accepted to study the nursing degree at the Polytechnic. On Wednesday I got the actual paper version with all the papers I need to fill in and hand in during the first day on 27th of August (nice, nine luxurious days for a summer holiday...). Anyway, among these questionnaires there was a more accurate division of all my points that helped me to get in. It appears that I got almost the maximum from my marticulation exam grades, almost maximum from the literary and mathematical tests we did during the entrance exam, but very little from the psychological test. Now I left a message for the psychologist to get more detailed information of my results.

Nice... what if I got accepted only because my overall points forced them to accept me, not because I would really "make a wonderful nurse"? I need to know the reasons behind the poor score of the psych test before I take the offered place officially; if they don't think I'm fit for a nurse or that I have some really bad obstacles otherwise that prevent me from becoming a good, professional and reliable nurse? There might be someone lining up a place that got a higher score from the psych test.

- - -

The Meme of the Day:
Since it it Friday the 13th (enjoy, the next won't be until in June 2008), I wanted to enlighten you with different phobias and their complex names. Here (http://www.phobialist.com) is a somewhat elaborate list of different phobias. Below a few examples I found interesting for one reason or another, the object of the fear in parentheses.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (the number 666)
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (long words; *evil grin*)
Nucleomituphobia (nuclear weapons)
Paraskavedekatriaphobia (Friday the 13th)
Venustraphobia (beautiful women; what?!)

"Candy girl
You're my world
You look so sweet
You're a special treat

WHOA!

Candy girl
All I want to say
When you're with me
You brighten up my day..."

You are currently reading the blog of as soon-to-be-nurse! I got accepted to the Polytechnic! Now begins the timetable struggles to complete the few courses in the university I have left before getting my Bachelor's Thesis papers out (I wrote the bloody thing a year ago). I think my current primary interest is undoubtedly the Polytechnic. Yay! I ROCK!!!

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The Meme of the Day:

At the present time I am in the middle of an X-Files marathon (three days and s i x t e e n episodes...). I have an inner battle in which I'm trying to decide which character I'm most like. I used this quiz (http://www.quizilla.com/users/ElvenAgain/quizzes/Which%20X%20Files%20character%20are%20you?/) to give me a little guidelines to determine the matter. It says I'm most like Mulder; "You are Fox Mulder. You're very intelligent, but also quite gullible. You're an annoyance to your superiors, a joke to your peers, they call you 'Spooky'. But not to worry, you'll show them all in the end!". I was actually expecting the picture of Nicholas Lea pop up on the screen.

Let's get another opinion, shall we? http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=xfiles says I *am* most like Alex "The Ratboy" Krycek. Nice. Well, at least not the Cancer Man.

The weather forecast said it should begin to thunder in a few hours and continue 'til next evening. Mmmm... bodycombat with sound effects and now also with light effects. Nice! Let us hope for some really frequent flashes of light!

- - -

After finding out about the chronic disease of someone I know, I was forced to face my own health status. I spent about half an hour last night thinking about whether or not to defy my irrational fear of gynaegologist and go see one. I'm getting closer to the age when the frequent pap tests would allow the detection of cervical cancer in its early stage when there still would be a lot to be done about it.

The problem is I've never been to a gynaecologist and I really wouldn't want to. The mere idea of a strange woman doing something around my intimate parts and pushing some cold, metallic objects inside of me in bright light... yack. My doctor once managed to talk me into seeing a gynaecologist due to my very irregular periods; I ended up calling my doctor two days before the appointment, begging her to tell me I don't have to do the gynaecological examination amidst all my crying (for real) and sobbing. I was absolutely terrified of the idea, and very anxious even when I entered the office of the gynaecologist.

Technically I wouldn't even need to get a pap test. In most cases of cervical cancer the human papillomavirus HPV has been present. But HPV is a sexually transmitted virus (mainly; all my sources, however, systematically left out the *other* possible sources of infection). This is why it is recommended to get the pap smear annually tested after starting your sex life. But I don't have a sex life. And if I continue not having one I could avoid going to a gynaecologist.

Sex is overrated.

It must be.

It is, isn't it?

Right?

Please?

Pretty please??!!

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The geeky Meme of the Day: http://bbspot.com/News/2003/01/os_quiz.php.