Raskasta Joulua
22 December 2008 02:23![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darnaguenHome again after another weekend-long adventure in Helsinki.
Feels good to be back home, clean clothes and proper showers are always a plus, but on the other hand I somehow once again miss the feeling of community. It was nice hanging out with Santtu and Ville and Karri & co. again, and sleeping alone in your own bed feels rather weird after spending two nights snuggled contently in between your sister and a pretty male of the species. ;p
In whole, the weekend was a pretty mixed bag.
On Friday was the "Company Xmas Party", something of a collective Christmas party of the Finnish larp elite, and somehow me and Ella and Janina ended up going there as the Näätälä Brothers (näätä = weasel in Finnish ;)), the Company IT Department. Surprisingly, I made a rather fetching bad boy rocker, the eldest brother Ville Näätälä. *grin*
But well, because I am me and there was a whole bunch of people I don't know who mostly ignored us weirdos from Turku ("Excuse me, sir, your bloody dreadlocks are on my shoulder. Care to move them, or at least acknowledge that I'm sitting right here?" *chuckle*), I ended up having anxiety attacks and also being in rather foul mood. Good thing Ville and Santtu offered us a place to stay and we could GTFO the party before I murdered someone. ;p I also got introduced to Kaisla, the local equivalent of our Cosmic Comic Café (as in, a watering hole where the larp crowd likes to hang out). Nice place. :)
The next day we started by eating well (a grilled steak with garlic potatoes for breakfast FTW) with the whole ensemble (me, Ella, Aarne, Karri, Santtu, the Saranpää brothers and Ville's roommate Miksa) and dissing various Finnish towns after which me and sis went on our way to Tavastia after joining forces with Veera and Samuli at Kamppi. We donned our black metal elf hats and climbed up to the balcony to get the best possible view. The gig started appropriately enough with Christmas Time In Hell as the intro tape, after which Jarkko Ahola opened the night of amazing singing, excellent musicianship and metal brotherhood in the spirit of Christmas. Even Ari was pretty good. \,,/ But to us the most anticipated ones were of course Mssrs. Hietala and Leppäluoto, both of whom naturally delivered the goods.
I was mildly miffed that Ilja sang Tonttu instead of JP, but at least I heard him sing Joululaulu. <3 It was also fun to witness JP on fire with more up-tempo pieces like Petteri Punakuono and Nisse-polkka. The boy was clearly enjoying every minute. :) Jarkko also "stole" Ave Maria from Marco, but he's forgiven because his version was amazing.
We still had the Graveyard Party to attend, so we left pretty much right away (but not before we gifted Ilja with one of our black metal elf hats, which allegedly ended up on top of one of the decorative Christmas trees on the stage :D), stopping briefly at Kaisla again on our way to Gloria.
Once we got there we immediately ran into Turmion Kätilöt at the door, and then discovered Tommi's long-lost twin brother fronting Vanity Beach. Seriously, that guy bore a striking resemblance, he even had same gestures. :D Though he was just a bit more emo and gay. :p
Anyway, Ella had a terrible flu and didn't have much energy for dancing and crowds so she and I retreated up to the balcony at some point, which turned out to be a good idea (though the Christmas trees hanging upside down from the ceiling blocked the view a bit) as we had space to dance and could sit down and just chill whenever we felt like it. Plus, sorry to say but a certain couple was starting to get rather insufferable in their self-absorbed arrogance. Unpleasant echoes from a couple of years ago.*sigh* Cut the crap and drop the act, please. You're only fooling yourselves.
However, Black Light Discipline was a cool new musical discovery. A group basically born of the unholy union of Turmion Kätilöt and Proteus. \,,/ TK was of course as great as ever and made me almost dance myself unconscious. Luckily the sound mixer dude in the next lodge offered us some Red Bull. The balcony (and upstairs in general) was also favored by the performers, staff etc. and at some point I glanced in their direction and was pretty sure I saw a rather familiar face. Should have guessed he might appear to check out his friends on stage. But never mind him, we kept dancing and minding our own business. :p
After that we were rather spent, Ella especially, and once again walked to Hakaniemi for the night (of which I am ever grateful). Sunday was pretty much a "hangover day". Ella kept nodding off and acting like a cranky four-year-old and I wasn't feeling much better, so after some comatose hanging around in Kamppi and Molly Malone's we took a train back to dear old Turku. Home sweet home...
Feels good to be back home, clean clothes and proper showers are always a plus, but on the other hand I somehow once again miss the feeling of community. It was nice hanging out with Santtu and Ville and Karri & co. again, and sleeping alone in your own bed feels rather weird after spending two nights snuggled contently in between your sister and a pretty male of the species. ;p
In whole, the weekend was a pretty mixed bag.
On Friday was the "Company Xmas Party", something of a collective Christmas party of the Finnish larp elite, and somehow me and Ella and Janina ended up going there as the Näätälä Brothers (näätä = weasel in Finnish ;)), the Company IT Department. Surprisingly, I made a rather fetching bad boy rocker, the eldest brother Ville Näätälä. *grin*
But well, because I am me and there was a whole bunch of people I don't know who mostly ignored us weirdos from Turku ("Excuse me, sir, your bloody dreadlocks are on my shoulder. Care to move them, or at least acknowledge that I'm sitting right here?" *chuckle*), I ended up having anxiety attacks and also being in rather foul mood. Good thing Ville and Santtu offered us a place to stay and we could GTFO the party before I murdered someone. ;p I also got introduced to Kaisla, the local equivalent of our Cosmic Comic Café (as in, a watering hole where the larp crowd likes to hang out). Nice place. :)
The next day we started by eating well (a grilled steak with garlic potatoes for breakfast FTW) with the whole ensemble (me, Ella, Aarne, Karri, Santtu, the Saranpää brothers and Ville's roommate Miksa) and dissing various Finnish towns after which me and sis went on our way to Tavastia after joining forces with Veera and Samuli at Kamppi. We donned our black metal elf hats and climbed up to the balcony to get the best possible view. The gig started appropriately enough with Christmas Time In Hell as the intro tape, after which Jarkko Ahola opened the night of amazing singing, excellent musicianship and metal brotherhood in the spirit of Christmas. Even Ari was pretty good. \,,/ But to us the most anticipated ones were of course Mssrs. Hietala and Leppäluoto, both of whom naturally delivered the goods.
I was mildly miffed that Ilja sang Tonttu instead of JP, but at least I heard him sing Joululaulu. <3 It was also fun to witness JP on fire with more up-tempo pieces like Petteri Punakuono and Nisse-polkka. The boy was clearly enjoying every minute. :) Jarkko also "stole" Ave Maria from Marco, but he's forgiven because his version was amazing.
We still had the Graveyard Party to attend, so we left pretty much right away (but not before we gifted Ilja with one of our black metal elf hats, which allegedly ended up on top of one of the decorative Christmas trees on the stage :D), stopping briefly at Kaisla again on our way to Gloria.
Once we got there we immediately ran into Turmion Kätilöt at the door, and then discovered Tommi's long-lost twin brother fronting Vanity Beach. Seriously, that guy bore a striking resemblance, he even had same gestures. :D Though he was just a bit more emo and gay. :p
Anyway, Ella had a terrible flu and didn't have much energy for dancing and crowds so she and I retreated up to the balcony at some point, which turned out to be a good idea (though the Christmas trees hanging upside down from the ceiling blocked the view a bit) as we had space to dance and could sit down and just chill whenever we felt like it. Plus, sorry to say but a certain couple was starting to get rather insufferable in their self-absorbed arrogance. Unpleasant echoes from a couple of years ago.*sigh* Cut the crap and drop the act, please. You're only fooling yourselves.
However, Black Light Discipline was a cool new musical discovery. A group basically born of the unholy union of Turmion Kätilöt and Proteus. \,,/ TK was of course as great as ever and made me almost dance myself unconscious. Luckily the sound mixer dude in the next lodge offered us some Red Bull. The balcony (and upstairs in general) was also favored by the performers, staff etc. and at some point I glanced in their direction and was pretty sure I saw a rather familiar face. Should have guessed he might appear to check out his friends on stage. But never mind him, we kept dancing and minding our own business. :p
After that we were rather spent, Ella especially, and once again walked to Hakaniemi for the night (of which I am ever grateful). Sunday was pretty much a "hangover day". Ella kept nodding off and acting like a cranky four-year-old and I wasn't feeling much better, so after some comatose hanging around in Kamppi and Molly Malone's we took a train back to dear old Turku. Home sweet home...
