Apologies for the recent lack of content, I tend to plan on writing after more important work, and then I find myself too tired. So today, in honour of my evening's as of yet fruitless procrastination, I have decided to get around to some writing. No guarantees for the entertainament value of this text however...

I feel somewhat obliged to write about the events at Jokela school, something no doubt everyone has heard about. It was a melancholy day when we heard the news. We were getting changed for PE in the locker room when we heard the rumours. Shocked we were, yet not entirely convinced, until one of us called his brother to confirm it to be true. Three casualties we heard, and I watched the desperate disbelief on everyones faces. It did take time to sink in. Simple comments were exchanged as we stretched,  but the football game was one of the most enjoyable we have had. I'm not a fan on football, but we separated into two games, and the other seemed to have all the pros, which meant our game was filled with the just as zealous, but often quite incompetent players. Hilarity ensued. I even recruited a lone little kid who was waiting for his practice onto our side. Certainly something comical about a little boy dominating a game of 15-16 year olds ^^

As I said it took time to really sink in; every now and then you would remember the news, and it was like feeling a weight drop in your stomach, until the weights gathered and you really had to stop to think about it. I got home, talked about it with my parents, read the news on BBC, and shared my horror with friends on MSN. It just so happened that an unusal amount of melancholy songs played on my itunes... maybe it's just me? By now the casualties had mounted to eight.

The next day at school was oddly hollow too. Our first lesson was music, but the teacher was nowhere to be seen. I sat at the back talking with a friend. She said she heard an speech begin on the PA system, so we went outside the sound proof room to listen. Slowly people followed from the class, all sitting silently outside. We stood up for the moment of silence. There was something hopeful in that... seeing our gathered rabble and the few other people in the corridor stand up for those who suffered. The teacher came eventually, apologised, and mumbled about having been reading news or something. She has my sympathies.

The news might have vanished from worldwide news by now... but it isn't something anyone here will forget. It's odd how much this has effected me. I wasn't distressed during 9/11, perhaps I was too young then... even the tsunami disaster didn't much shake me. It probably should have.

Click here if you would like to light a candle for the victims at Jokela.  

As I was writing iTunes picked me the song by Flogging Molly, "It's been the worst day since yesterday." Fitting.