Came back from school yesterday to find this exhillirating little mail in my inbox. I knew it would be in March, and that it would be fairly early, but now I have the figures it's far scarier than before. Even so, I couldn't help grinning. So, the countdown begins, 88 days to go...

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.  

Today was a special day for a number of reasons. I realised I did not have to open my jacket slightly as I cycled furiously up the hill to school, and was not uncomfortably hot afterwards as usual. This was of course due to the approaching winter, and my lack of sweat was compensated with freezing ears. Not just any old freezing ears either. It wasn't long after my shower, and I must have had some water in my ear, because I have never felt such high precision stinging  coldness. Imagine someone dropping a drop of liquid nitrogen into your ear. It would actually probably be a lot worse than what I felt, but at least you would  have a great story to tell your friends. Today was also specical because I had remembered for the first time (honestly!) to do my Physics homework, the neglecting of which is always a risk with The Dark Man of a Thousand Impending Dooms! henceforth referred to as TMTID.

After school I went out to Tapiola with Elf Boy. Elf Boy is a poor American exchange student who I have got to know fairly well. "Poor" because he has the misfortune of falling prey to my notorious creativity and being nicknamed Elf Boy for the purposes of this blog. "Elf Boy" because he does, among other things, an awfully good impression of elves in doing various things, such as cooking pastry. My apologies if you happen to be reading.

My special day continued, as during our time in Tapiola we were approached by three different people! I've never been approached by a single stranger in Tapiola, and I've lived here for almost five years. Three people! The first was a small woman who wanted to ask us the question: "What do you feel is restricting your life?" for a Christian Youth magazine (and so the mystery behind today's post title is revealed!) She also took pictures of us for the magazine. Will be interesting to hunt down said magazine in a few weeks time perhaps.

The other strangers weren't quite as extraordinary. Both were old people asking for directions from an apparently "nice looking young man" or as Elf Boy put it "Chirstian Youth" -_- One was looking for an expensive café, and the other for Hesburger. I told him Hesburger had been replaced by SubWay, at which he was somewhat annoyed, seemingly because I was picky enough to distinguish between Hesburger and McDonalds. So, I then pointed him towards the large McDonalds sign about 50m away. What a respectable old man such as he wanted to do at McDonalds is a good question. Perhaps he was on his way to meet his spoiled grandchildren or similar, the favourite hangout of Tapiola's resident oldies being Kaisan Café, the home the the legendary huge pulla, a Finnish pastry traditionaly baked by elves.

The special content of my day ends there, although I could go onto describing my depressingly futile attempts at homework today. From that however, refrain I will.