You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes

Today was the Thrill the World day! You know, the worldwide event where people dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller, dressed up as zombies, trying to break world records. Since the event was held here, I actually considered joining the dance, but I was simply too lazy to practice the routine. I watched one video tutorial and was like "d'oh", but seriously, I can only blame my laziness. If I had tried, I would have learnt it quickly, I do know I'm quick to learn things like dance routines and such by heart.

However, I went to see the show! I had considered taking a good camera with me, but got second thoughts because of the early winter and extremely slippery roads! I mean, SERIOUSLY, I was afraid I'd come crashing down to the street if I had had an expensive camera hanging around my neck or even in my bag (taking a cushioned camera bag would have been too much). (And I don't have safe shoes! Even warboots (or ESPECIALLY those) fail me!) And as a side note I can say, I really hope the whole winter won't be like that. :| My home street is particularly awful with sloping sidewalks.

Took some lousy photos with my phone anyway. :D After the dance some man behind me in the audience asked why I wasn't dancing, and I really began to wonder if it was a random question to a random stranger or if he thought I looked like one of them. He even asked if I was going to their afterparty... well, no? I wasn't exactly dressed up for Halloween, though my makeup was like this:

I've showed a bunch of makeup photos like this (at least I think so) but what was at least semi-exceptional tonight was the way I applied pink eyeshadow around my eyes, so on bottom lids as well. Perhaps I looked like a zombie when I was freezing out there... :0 So long!

The Case of the Syphilitic Sister

Do you still remember when I wrote a review of The New Death and others? The author of that collection, James Hutchings, is working on another project – a detective / superhero story set in the 1930's. The first chapter of The Case of the Syphilitic Sister is available at JukePop Serials, with more chapters to come.

I can recommend this especially if you read and enjoyed The New Death and others, but you might also want to check it out if crimes and superheroes fascinate you. Take a look at the tag list at the beginning of the chapter! I really like the wit and the humor and am looking forward to read more.

Of hope and hopelessness

♫ Iron Maiden – Ghost Of The Navigator

Oh hi... I'm still alive. Life's been busy and stressful. With some good moments and sad moments. I can start with the worst news and leave the best for last.

My grandmother passed away. She was my last grandparent alive and probably the closest too since she was always living so near. The funeral was on Friday, it was quite a beautiful and warm yet naturally sad event. She will be missed for sure, but she was 87.

I've been down with a flu too, probably fell ill again within such a short period of time because of all the stress. Being laid-off is tough, but I've been looking for work and I've been to many job interviews. :0 It's been motivating at least – making my way to the top three most potential applicants out of two hundred has helped me believe in myself a bit more. Or to be precise: the first two jobs I applied for right after my unemployment period began didn't result in job interview invitations, but after those... I've been invited to interviews for every position I've applied for. Sure, I've already been rejected after interviews for being "too competent", but I don't care. I'm still waiting, feeling nervous and hopeful and desperate at the same time, but at least I know all the interviews have gone well and I've done my best, if someone still is just a bit better, then... that's how it is.

Yesterday was also my birthday! I like being born on 13th since it's sometimes Friday, though Saturday is also good for practical reasons. We went out for dinner and a few (or a few more) drinks and had a great time. I shall post a photo, you can also see my new hair which I had redone last Tuesday at a hairdresser's.

...well it's not my fault you cannot see my delicious portion, but on the other hand the quality of the photo isn't so breathtaking to begin with, and I blame it on the phone and its flashlight. Anyways, so long, it's about the time I do something useful today!

Time stands still

♫ Heavy Metal Perse – Heavy Metal Perse

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to present my best flea market find EVER.

Coasters. Beer mats. Absolutely lovely! Six coasters and a stand, all for 4 €! Perfect for me.

Pocket watches. Wood, metal, cork. Signs of use. Perfect!

Right now I cannot think of anything better to host my glasses of Captain Morgan. Perfect!

Minutely Metal

♫ Battle Beast – Enter The Metal World

We started a new collaboration blog: 23.58 – Minutely Metal. 2-min.blogspot.com

Mostly metal news, reviews, gig reports and stuff like that, occasionally maybe something else as well. We're not too strict. The blog's in English, so metalheads from all over the world may enjoy it!

I will still keep posting about music in this blog as well, my style here is quite different after all. But you're welcome aboard another ship as well!

P.S: A piece of metal news here, related to the song I was listening to: Nitte has left Battle Beast. For a while I was shocked, but the new vocalist doesn't sound so bad after all.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning

♫ Voyager – Times Like These

Well, everything happened quite fast, I went shopping on Ebay... Then one day maybe a week later a courier came rapping at my chamber door and brought these beautiful posters. Consequently, I went frame-shopping, which was slightly more difficult since our default frames are not really made to fit (supposedly) standard poster sizes measured in inches. Although I do find smaller top and bottom margins slightly awkward, it was the best compromise.

You can admire my furnishing solutions. :> No, not really. I'm not too fond of my bed, let alone the cover blanket. I would own a nightstand, but there are... reasons which prevent me from placing it next to my bed, which results in awkward piles of random stuff next to my bed – the modem for example, just because the only socket for it is right there.

The reason for these solutions is right in the foreground. The reason why I had to take the photo from this angle is the fact that the glass of the frames reflects quite a lot, which is probably very natural, of course a bit frustrating too. In many lighting conditions the darker poster is just a solid black box. :E

Revamping sanity again

♫ Vroudenspil – Lebenselexier

I started a blog layout renewal project again, this time with the intention of making it very, very simple. I wanted something which would draw the attention to the blog posts and photos. I figured I would rather make individual posts seem as fancy as possible with high quality photos instead of the layout because, well, the content is what matters.

This project is probably not complete, I may still create some sort of a simple background image. Some of you may wonder if I've ever had one – well yes, I have, but Blogger has occasionally refused to display it.

I'm frustrated now. First: I hate WYSIWYG-editors with a passion. In the end I couldn't even use it. Then, I just hate this whole system with a passion. Especially this text editor. Hey come on, you cannot seriously style the text or image elements within the html tags. Seriously.

I have a friendly message to the Blogger developers, but since it's not particularly civilized, I will only write it in Finnish. It's the best way to express how I feel at the moment. And those of you who didn't understand – I assure you, you don't need to.

"Nyt vittu oikeesti."