Movie Recommendation: The Good, The Bad, The Weird

We saw this Korean movie the other day and it was funny, though definitely not for children he he...It's an Oriental Western (cowboy) movie. In the beginning it was a bit confusing as I thought the location was Korea and there were people speaking Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Turned out the location is Manchuria. It's funny because my husband can't distinguish the three languages, but I grew up watching Chinese series and Japanese anime on VHS and then Korean series started booming on TV, so even though I don't understand the languages, I can more or less tell which is which. 

Anyway, The Weird dude in the movie is the one who's making things so funny. And then when I checked him out online, I realized that he was in Snowpiercer as well. Snowpiercer is quite a movie, but it's kinda dark as it depicts a dystopian world. In the beginning of Snowpiercer, I almost didn't recognize Chris Evans (Captain America) as the main character there, but I think the one that really plays her part so brilliantly is Tilda Swinton. Man, she really rocked her role there!

But I digress. The Good, The Bad, The Weird is very entertaining and there are a lot of stunning scenes other than the many funny bits and the lively action. Word of warning: the ending of the movie came after a few seconds of empty (black) screen, so make sure to watch it until the end.

Here's the trailer: 

Movie Memory: Moulin Rouge

You know how finding old songs can bring out a certain memory or flashback, right? Well, the other day I was suddenly in the mood to listen to a song in Moulin Rouge again and it brought me back to the past. I saw the movie with my mom at the cinema. I used to be able to go out with my mom every now and then, treat her food or go to the cinema with me. This was one of the movies that she liked. Yep, not all of the movies I took her to were her taste (though she always let me decide) ha ha ha ha ha...If she didn't really like the movie, she didn't complain, but she'd fall asleep in the middle of it LOL!!! Funny how seeing her fall asleep on the chair reminded me of my grandma (her mom) dozing off so many times on the couch. Whenever we told her to lie down in bed, she'd refuse and pretend that she wasn't sleeping, though every single time she'd fall right back to sleep on the couch ha ha ha ha...

Anyway, I saw Moulin Rouge with my mom but during the last scene my bladder was screaming like crazy. I had no idea how much longer the movie was going to be and the toilet was a bit far away, but I took a chance because I was afraid there'd be a long queue if I waited until the movie ended (as what usually was the case). When I came back, I found out that I had missed the climax. Doh! My mom had to tell me what was going on. She said it was a good story. :-D 

Any movie/song memory you'd like to share with me?

Here's one lovely song from the movie: 

Movie Recommendation: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Years ago I wrote about wanting to watch this movie. I bought the DVD months ago, but I only watched it the other day. I knew I had to prepare myself mentally to watch the movie because of the heavy subject, but it was worth watching. The visuals are stunning and cinematography was sublime! I was so amazed at how well it was made because they really made me feel I was him. 

Here's the imdb page: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 

Synopsis: "The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed." 

The beginning of the movie made me feel trapped. It was hard to breathe. I couldn't help thinking that if someone else were in that condition and he/she didn't have access to such a brilliant group of people to help out, then it would be devastating.

Still I admired his tenacity and the patience and brilliance of the people who helped him. I'm not going to say too much about the movie for fear of ruining it, but I have to warn you that if you're planning to watch it, better do it when you're in a good mood and you're prepared mentally to watch a heavy movie.


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P.S. I was browsing through the images of the movie to put here, but found this article instead. Warning: read this only after you watch the movie: The Real Love Story Behind The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Spooked

A few days ago we watched "The Descent" again simply because we wanted to. Or actually, I wanted to watch it again. I remember watching it a few years ago and the images were so disturbing to me that even when I was in bed already, I was in their grip. The images kept on floating in my mind that I had a hard time trying to go to sleep ha ha...To me, that's one of the signs of an awesome horror movie. Ahem. So I wanted to know if the movie managed to spook me the second time.

It was disturbing still, but not as spooky as the first time. I suppose because I knew already what would happen, but still good enough to watch again. After watching the movie, I moved to the computer room and I was sitting in front of my computer the whole time, whereas R2 was preparing himself to go to bed. While brushing his teeth, he went from the toilet to the living room and back to the toilet again and once he was done, he asked me if I had moved to the living room from the computer room. I said no. He said, "SPPOOOKKKYYY!!! I could have sworn that while I was walking from the toilet to the living room, I saw you sitting there."

Poor dear!!! I think he must've seen a shadow or something, although he was pretty sure he saw me there...hmmmm...anyway, I've been living as a night owl these days because I have more evening shifts, so I've been reading and browsing stuff online till late and then I get up super late, as well. Yesterday morning I wanted to pee, so I woke up with my eyes still closed, went to the toilet next door without switching on the light or locking the door (the door was closed but it wasn't locked) and while I was wiping myself dry, R2 went upstairs, opened the toilet door, and let out a short shout, "WOAAAAHH!" when he saw my dark figure in the dark toilet HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

I was half asleep and half laughing with my eyes still closed. I didn't mean to spook him at all, but I just happened to be in the toilet at the perfect time to make him spooked. Sorry, honey!!!! We hugged and then I went back to sleep he he he he...
 

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Good Ol' Days: Movie Queuing

In the good ol' days of my youth, we went to watch the movies a lot - me and my friends. The movie theatres are usually located in the malls. Back then there was no internet yet and there was no ticket machine (only VHS movies where one can rent from VHS movie rentals), so the only possible way to buy movie tickets was to queue in front of the ticket booths. For some weird reason, though, the ticket booths would only start opening up about an hour prior to screening time (if I remember correctly) and if you want to buy a ticket for the later showtime, then you had to queue later (not possible to buy a ticket for a later showtime earlier). The problem was that for popular movies, people would start queuing at least two hours prior to screening time. For popular movies, usually there would be such a LOOOOONNNNGGGG line of people zig-zagging like a snake and because we couldn't possibly reserve any seats beforehand, that meant that if one wanted to get the best seats, one had to queue in the front.

I remember going to some popular movies with my friends and to make sure we got to choose any seats we wanted (usually the back middle seats), we had to be there already 3-4 hours prior to screening time. And to make sure we didn't get leg cramps, we'd just sit on the floor right in front of the ticket booth and usually once we sat there, other people would start doing the same thing behind us LOL LOL!!!

One possible way to "skip through" the line was to find someone you know who was queuing already and then pay him/her for your ticket(s), but after some time the officials found out about this practice and so they limited the amount of tickets that each person in the line could buy (for example max. 5 tickets/person). We never really did this a lot, though. I only remember one occasion when we had to do this 'coz my friends had some classes at that time that they couldn't really skip, so we were there rather late and the line was already WAY too long. Fortunately one friend's boyfriend found a friend in line and he could get us the tickets he he he he...But all in all it was actually a FUN thing to do because my friends and I could chit-chat to our heart's delight for hours. Yeah, I know, women!!! LOL LOL LOL!!! And I suppose we talked even more when we were teenagers 'coz there were less distractions (no kids, no spouses, no jobs, etc.).


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Ahhhh...the good ol' days...I also remember one time I was there with two other friends and not long after the movie started, one of them kept on leaning to my side of the seat, whispering that the guy sitting next to her smelled so bad that she just had to try to get as far away from him as possible. Apparently it seemed as though the guy had stepped on cat's dung or something 'coz she claimed that it smelled just like that. Fortunately for me, I didn't even smell anything throughout the movie LOL!!! My nose is notorious for not being sensitive at all he he he he he...

The same friend was also once laughing too much during a movie (even after other people had stopped laughing) that somebody from the back threw some popcorn at her he he he he he...

Another time I managed to spill my Coke on the seat in the middle of the movie, so I had wet my jeans and I had to sit in the most unnatural way for the rest of the movie. Definitely not nice! I tried to dry up the wet part with some tissue, but it was too hard...so I just resorted to covering it up with the plastic bag that I had with me to make sure that the person who was coming after me wouldn't get his/her pants wet. I sure hope the person who came after me realized that it was wet, though!

Back then nobody had a mobile phone, so it was nice to watch movies without the distractions of having bright small screens in the middle of a dark theatre. However, I must admit that it's nicer to buy movie tickets these days 'coz one can do it online or through a ticket machine and the ticket booths are open non-stop, so one can buy the tickets for whichever showtime one wants. BUT there's another big issue I don't like about "modern" movie theatres. Back then we could bring any food we wanted (that we bought from a supermarket for example), but these days they wouldn't only let us bring the food and drinks sold inside the theatre complex. It wouldn't be such a big issue if it hadn't been for the outrageous price, you know? The prices for food and drinks sold inside the theatre complexes are just horrendous!


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Fate, Love...

My Mom loves telling me stories about people, including love stories about our relatives. One particular story that I'm reminiscing today is about a long-distance relative of ours. I don't even know the person and I don't remember too well anymore how he's linked to us in the huge family tree, but I always feel "awwwwwww" whenever I remember the story.

When this guy was young, he fell in love with this girl, but his parents didn't approve of her because they were from different races. So the guy got married to a woman whom his parents approved of and the girl also got married to someone else. Both of them had children of their own and perhaps even grandkids and their spouses died before them. One day as fate would have it, they met again and they rekindled the long-lost love. 

I hoped that in the end they were happy together, even though I also hoped they were happy with their own spouses and families before they could reunite.

In Indonesia, it's considered a bit "inappropriate" for older people to get married again (after their spouses have died, I mean). A few years ago I heard some uproar in a family because the mother (a widow) was courted by this widower. If this happened here in Finland, nobody would have said anything about it, but in the end the widow and the widower didn't get together because the widower's sons disapproved of the relationship. 

Anyway, speaking of a love movie, here's a different take on love: Fireproof.


The Love Dare in the movie can be found here: Fireproof My Marriage. 

The Scale of the Universe + Intouchables

Yesterday R2 sent me a very cool link. I LOVE the fact that it doesn't only show the scale of the universe, but if you click on each object, you will be able to read some info on them, too. Plus the music is very soothing. :-D

Here goes:

The Scale of the Universe 2

I've also been meaning to give a movie recommendation, but I kept forgetting about it ha ha...It's a very touching story based on real life experience of two men (of course there are some changes to the original story, but it's still worth watching!). It's funny in places, it's heart-wrenching, it's poignant...The actors playing both men were REALLY convincing. I just loved it...It's called: Intouchables.

Here's the trailer:


I searched for some info on both men after I finished watching the movie and I just love what I found. :-D If you want to know more, click here to read about the original two men, but if you're considering watching the movie, you should only read the info after you've watched the movie. :-D

IF Glasses

I have to tell you one weird thing about IF (infertility). It's like ever since I joined the club, I have an added layer to the lens of view towards the world. As if I owned an IF glasses. Why did I say I "joined" the club? Because some people have wondered (esp. in the beginning) why I used the term "infertile" for myself. One practical reason for that is that it helps me connect with other people who're in the same boat and they've been helping me SO MUCH in making me feel SANE. 

Anyway...ever since I have this kind of glasses, I've been subconsciously trying to seek parallel stories that would relate to the infertility part in myself. Another weird thing about IF is that I can't help but feel that every time I bring up this subject, some people would roll their eyes and say, "Poor dear. Here she goes again." But I can't help it. I own the IF glasses, after all. And I don't want to help it 'coz I've learnt so many things because I have these glasses anyway he he...

The other day I watched "At First Sight" and I was really into it, because I could see myself substituting the word "blind" with "infertile". OK, from this point onward, I'm gonna start telling you about the movie that may contain spoilers, so SPOILER ALERT. STOP READING if you haven't watched the movie and yet you want to go watch it later. 




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Here's the link to the movie anyway: At First Sight. 

What I didn't know about it before watching was that it was loosely based on a real person, but I love the fact that the movie did depict crucial point in the blind person's life well. Here's the link to the article concerning what the real person experienced: Almost A Sight for Sore Eyes.

OK, so now let me start talking about the movie. The movie tells the story about Virgil (Val Kilmer), a blind masseur who works in a resort/hotel and Amy (Mira Sorvino), who is having a holiday in the resort and then they end up falling in love with each other. 

Once they start thinking of a future together, though, Amy finds some articles about the latest treatment for the blind (by way of surgery) to help them regain sight. Amy tries to encourage Virgil to try out the surgery and at first Virgil is really upset and he just feels that she's not accepting him just as he is (because he's lived his life until then by accepting his condition). And he's sick and tired of being prodded and examined by different doctors during his childhood to help him "get better" - with no result.

Now I can JUST visualise a similar situation for the infertile. How many times have people tried to induce the infertile to be hopeful about the future? About "the latest treatment/procedure/herbal/doctor"? How many times have the infertile hear "It'll happen when it happens" or "You still have time" or "Miracle pregnancies do happen, you know. I know a couple who had a miracle pregnancy just after they (adopted, gave up, stopped trying anymore, tried Chinese herbals, etc.)"

But you see, I'm like Virgil. In the past I did want to have a child/children SO badly, but now I'm used to the thought that me and R2 = a complete family, just like Virgil who's used to managing life in a blind state. I know both conditions are different, but the point I'm trying to make is OUR (mine and R2's) state of mind. We've moved on from that road. Sometimes I regretted telling people that we did want children so badly at one point in time 'coz then it's hard for THEM to stop visualising us with kids.

A few months ago my MIL said in passing about this neighbour couple who did get a miracle pregnancy. And a few weeks ago my own Mom said in passing about another couple who did get the same miracle pregnancy. I think because in life, there are more pregnancies happening than non-pregnancies, it is EASIER for people to believe that "it'll happen". And I've heard some strangers say to me, "It'll happen when it happens."


What they don't understand is that after accepting life without children, we feel that our life isn't lacking anymore in that department. So whenever they infuse us with stories about miracle pregnancies, nowadays instead of feeling encouraged, I personally feel like they're telling us that our marriage is lacking something. I guess that's a dichotomy in the life of an infertile like myself (who once felt that way herself - that there was a hole in our lives due to the lack of children), but I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. And don't get me wrong. I KNOW they all mean well, esp. for those who knew that we did want kids so much at one point - just like Amy who only tries her best to help Virgil have a chance to see the world.

But like Virgil who's been prodded and examined during his childhood by various doctors, we don't want to go through all the disappointment that we went through month after month after month when we were trying to have a baby, because it took a hell of a journey to get to the point where we are now: to have peace with what we don't have and to believe that me + R2 = a complete family. 




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For those who have kids, try to erase your kids from your lives and try to think of you and your hubby as a complete family. Can you view yourselves as a complete family without your kids?

I know it's a crazy thing to ask for and I can hear some people protesting already by saying, "But you've never had kids. You wouldn't know how it feels like." Yes, that's true, but you've experienced all the joys and lovely memories with your kids, whereas I experienced (at least when we were trying) the deaths of the dream of having a kid, of being able to hold him/her in my arms and I had to bury that dream over and over and over again. 


But anyway, the point of the exercise is to try to make you understand that we're IF survivors here and that the road to accepting that we're a complete family is not an easy one. And that you should CELEBRATE this with us instead!!! :-D :-D :-D






P.S. I can only speak from my own experience, but I know some people who've told me directly about a similar case - of how they just want people to stop infusing hope because they've surrendered to life without kids. And that's the awareness I'd like to raise here in this post.

Temple Grandin: Movie Recommendation

Last night I finally got the chance to watch "Temple Grandin". Had been dying to watch it ever since I accidentally saw it in imdb a while back he he...

I HIGHLY recommend the movie. It's now officially one of my fave movies of all time. Claire Danes did a BRILLIANT job on becoming Temple Grandin. I hardly recognized her at all. Even Temple Grandin herself had stated that she was very pleased with Claire Danes' portrayal of herself. 

The movie is brilliant in many ways, especially in taking me to view the world through a highly functional autistic woman's eyes. Here's a quote from the movie:

I know I was different, but NOT less!

Anyway, here's the trailer:




And if you're interested in watching this long video clip of the real Temple Grandin (the speech starts at 6:20 if you want to skip the introduction), here goes:

Finnish-English Translation Update

During the week when I was not feeling very well, I got lazy and I didn't do any translation at all, but now I've started focusing on it again. I must say that it's a really challenging task. There are just some things that sound natural in Finnish and the English translation of it would sound a bit weird. Plus in Finnish you can write such a loooooonnnngggg sentence that just can't be translated into English without my chopping them up into at least two sentences. 

I haven't been translating long texts in a LONG time, so my translation brain is kinda rusty. Oftentimes I get stuck because I have the image of the word in my head, but I can't bring myself to remember the word. It feels frustrating to be able to view the image in your mind without being able to voice it.

Another challenge for me is the vocabulary (obviously). The main character goes fishing and some fishing gears are mentioned along with names of fishes or animals that I don't know 'coz they don't exist in Indonesia. THANK GOD there's Google and free online dictionaries. Otherwise I wouldn't have survived (so far I've only translated 3 stories). *GRIN*

The writer also has a certain style of writing that I'm not familiar with. After all, most of the time I've been reading translated novels (English to Finnish), so I haven't got too much experience reading novels written by Finnish writers (I did start reading Puhdistus by Sofi Oksanen, but then as usual*** I switched book in the middle - my bad!!! But I shall get back to that book someday he he...).

*** Confession: I'm not really a "good reader". I do LOVE collecting books, but I switch books A LOT while reading them. There are only a few novels (among all the novels I've read in my lifetime) that I read without switching and stopping in between. And yeah, that meant that lots of time I had to reread the books I had left behind from the beginning again ha ha ha ha ha...

P.S. I'd love to recommend Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal". It's VERY FUNNY and I LOVE all the characters. For some reason I enjoy this one better than Pratchett's Colour of Magic. Here's the trailer:

3BT: Random Days

1. An old woman looking so happily surprised to see me at work. She said, "Oh, I haven't seen you in a long time. I'm GLAD you're still working!" ---> Honestly I don't even remember her, but I'm HAPPY to hear that she's SO happy to know that I'm still working in the same place. :-D

2. Free youtube exercise video clips. They really help me in doing different types of exercises when I'm bored with the exercise routines I've been doing.

3. Fast and reliable internet access that enables me to watch those said youtube video clips.

4. Receiving this lovely homemade Christmas decoration present from a friend.



5. More snowwwww!!! And the weekly temperature forecast showing below 0'C even during the day! :-D

6. Watching two squirrels playing in and around the branches of a tree.

7. Cleaning up the snow from the yard. There's something so serene about doing that in the middle of Winter Wonderland.



8. Lovely lovemaking - plus the fact that hubby just knows what to do TENDERLY! :-D

9. Watching "While You Were Sleeping" again that made me feel mushy mushy inside. :-D

10. Hubby buying pizza so that I didn't have to cook he he he he...It's nice not having to cook sometimes. :-D

11. Putting up Christmas lights. (Yep, the picture below #7 is the close-up look of the Christmas lights below)

August Rush

The other day I watched "August Rush" and one thing that really hit me was when Wizard (played by Robin Williams) asked Evan/August, "Close your eyes and tell me what you want to be when you grow up. It can be anything. What do you want to be?"

Evan/August answers, "Found."

Why did it hit me? Because the story is about an orphan boy whose mother and father didn't even know he existed. How could that be? I'm not going to spoil the story to you he he he...but anyhow, can you imagine his wish to be found by his own birth parents? He's always got this strong feeling that his own parents want him, thus he wants to be found by them.

This part hit me so much 'coz I've always known that I'm wanted by my parents. Even my Dad (a Chinese who usually wants boys as heir) had always wanted to have a girl as a first child. I just want to cherish that fact that I've always been wanted, 'coz not everybody is wanted that way.

To those of you who feel unwanted, I hope that out there in this big big world you'll find people who WANT you just the way you are.

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P.S. The movie is not a regular movie 'coz it incorporates lots of music in it, but it makes it different than other movies.

Accident Prone

Nothing much happening here. Work, enjoying free time, work, enjoying free time he he...The other day I cooked frozen duck from scratch. In the past, the frozen ducks I had bought had already been spicy, so I only had to put them in the oven. This time, though, I had to think of what to do with it. A recipe I found mentioned using some lemon juice, salt, and pepper, but I wanted it to be more spicy. Good thing I had this package of Bak Kut Teh spice mix, so I boiled some water with the spice mix and pour it all over the duck and shove the baking pan into the oven along with the "broth". I also added sliced garlic and onion all over and inside the duck.

I baked the duck at 160'C for about two and a half hours - in between I turned the duck around and around. The last 20 minutes, though, I took out almost all of the broth so that the duck could get a bit crispy on the outside and I turned the heat into 200'C. I should've probably let it sit there for a little longer, 'coz it wasn't too crispy yet, but it didn't matter 'coz I took out all the skin anyway 'coz R2 wouldn't want to eat skin or fat he he he...

And while trying to prepare the duck, I accidentally burnt my arm (it touched the oven) and cut my finger. Even in my workplace I sometimes bump into things accidentally and R2 keeps on worrying about me. Oh well...at least they are only minor "accidents". I've never really hurt myself so badly he he he...

I'm TRULY looking forward to this evening 'coz we're going to do a movie marathon tonight. We haven't been watching any movies in a LONG time. Due to my work schedule, we've only been able to watch TV series and we still have to catch up on them. So we have more than 10 movies to watch (the first we're going to watch tonight is Inception) besides the TV series. YAHOOOOOOO!!! Usually today is the day when R2 plays computer games with his buddies until morning, but now he's going to spend HOURS with me HE HE HE HE HE...YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!! ;-D

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Other than that, I've been doing fine. Been sneezing the past few days, but I hope it's nothing serious. Today I cooked beef teriyaki. Haven't eaten it yet, but I can't wait to eat it with chili sauce HO HO HO HO...Take care, people, and have a blessed weekend!

Two Beds and a Coffee Machine

I watched Precious the other day and I was surprised to see Mariah Carey in the movie he he...at first I didn't recognize her. I was doubtful if it was her 'coz she had dark hair and she didn't look "bling bling", but after a while I knew it was her 'coz I recognized her voice. The movie is serious, but I enjoyed it as well as the hopeful ending. I loved the fact that she managed to break through...

Anyway, here's a song that's related to the issue of child abuse by one of my fave bands, Savage Garden...it's called "Two Beds and a Coffee Machine":

Helsinki vs Sodankylä

1. I found out that -26'C in DRY Sodankylä feels BETTER than -13'C in MORE MOIST Helsinki (esp. when it's windy, too). Why? Because in Helsinki it felt that the cold air just seeped inside my jackets straight into my bones. Even R2 said it was cold!!! So I'd rather have cold weather in Sodankylä 'coz at least the coldness stays "outside" your body provided that you have enough layers of clothing.

1st pic: There are some Christmas lights left in Helsinki.

2. One thing I forgot about the big cities is the travel time to go from one place to another (plus the cost to travel from one place to another). Here in Sodankylä whenever I have to go "downtown", it takes but a few minutes (either walking or by bike) he he he he...

3. LOVE the fact that there are so many bookstores in Helsinki with an incredible collection of books (including English books) HA HA HA HA HA...whereas in Sodankylä there's only ONE small bookstore. Ahem.

2nd pic: More Christmas lights downtown Helsinki.

4. In Helsinki, everywhere you hear English and different languages spoken daily, whereas in Sodankylä you'll hear mostly only Finnish. They're definitely two different worlds apart!

5. Went to two museums in Helsinki (Kiasma Art Museum and Tennispalatsi Museum). In Kiasma they displayed contemporary art and we felt that many of them were way too contemporary for us ha ha ha...but we were both SO impressed with one particular art form.

This art form is located in one corner of the huge display room. The corner is VERY dark and it's an L-shaped. So from outside, you can't see anything but a plaque stating the title of the art form, the artist, etc. Anyway, the title of the art is: Foam. Then you have to walk inside the L-shaped corner (which is REALLY dark - I had such an ominous feeling when I entered) and then about 2 metres ahead of you there's a huge screen. When I entered the site, the screen showed a round-like figure (which is actually a red balloon) and some foam (like when you've spread some foam to shave a guy) and then you notice someone starting to shave that round-like figure, but before you realize what it's about, the balloon pops out (obviously) with a LOUD bang! I was SO shocked ha ha ha ha ha...so I told R2 about it and told him to go see it. And he was also SHOCKED by the loud bang HI HI HI HI HI...

We both agreed that it was the best display in the whole museum, though we also like two others. The other one is a gorgeous picture which I can't describe (believe me, it's just GORGEOUS!) and the other one is a replica of a WAVE. It's SUPER cool! :-D

In Tennispalatsi Museum there are two displays, but we went only to one of them. It displayed mostly Russian paintings. I LOVE many of them, though I found that there were too many melancholic faces portrayed there. In some pics they look SO real (like photos instead of paintings) so that we had to get as close as a few centimetres away to find out whether they were paintings or photos HA HA HA HA HA HA...We just had to make sure!!! ;-D

3rd pic: Light display which changes colour every errr...few minutes or so?

6. We also went to watch Avatar 3D movie in Helsinki, but alas...something horrible happened. My eyes couldn't take them. The special effect of the movie was such (hard to explain, but those who've seen it must understand what I'm talking about) that 10 minutes into the movie, I started feeling dizzy and SUPER nauseous already! I had to shut my eyes for almost the rest of the movie (which was about 2,5 hours long, imagine that!) so that I wouldn't puke. Note: Even R2 said that in some scenes he felt a bit dizzy 'coz of the way the movie was made.

I wanted to go to the toilet to puke, but we were sitting in the middle of the row and I didn't want to bother other people. So the only trick I could do was just shut my eyes - the nausea subsided only after 45 minutes of doing this, can you imagine that? It felt like a HORRIBLE case of sea-sickness. Ugh!!!

I wonder if anybody has experienced something like this? Or am I just the weird one out?

7. What did I buy in Helsinki? One Finnish novel on a discount (only €2), one Finnish Exercise book, and some chocolate he he he he he...

4th pic: The Indian food we had at Tandoor Resto in Salomonkatu (near the Tennispalatsi Cinema). We had lunch buffet for €8.50 each - the red meat is chicken and that's the BEST thing ever! ;-D

OK, I'll blog-hop either later today or the day after today 'coz I'll be busy tomorrow. My new passport is done and the Indo Embassy employee even sent it to our hotel the same day, can you believe it? I'm REALLY impressed and thankful for their help! ;-D But tomorrow I have to go to the police station to move my residence permit to the new passport and I need to cook and clean up the apartment, as well.

ABBA Fever!

Ever since I saw "Mamma Mia" (with the hilarious Pierce Brosnan singing hi hi hi...he's still handsome, by the way!), I've been having ABBA Fever.

I remember that my Dad had a cassette of their best songs ever and we used to listen to the songs every day when he took us to school (after he could buy a car), so you can say that I grew up listening to their songs he he he...

So here's a weekend song!!! Meryl Streep with Mamma Mia!

3BT: October 25, 2007

Today's shopping day for me. Yeah, I splurged a bit but I think I deserve to pamper myself every once in a while. Plus, it's my money anyway and I've been pretty good in budgeting myself lately he he he he he...

1. Bought small gifts for my Finnish teacher (X-mas gift) and a friend of mine who's gonna be helping me. She's coming home to Indo next March, so I'm sending her a few photo CDs and some clothes for my family. YIIPPPIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

2. Bought a pair of new winter trousers for me (€20). They're actually in the boys' section, but I don't care as long as they fit me well and they're not too expensive ha ha ha ha...

3. Found a CUTE Santa statue (for decoration) which cost only €0.40. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the price, so I grabbed it right away tightly in my arms so that nobody could take it HI HI HI HI HI HI...When I got home, I realized that the old price label was below the new one and it should've cost €1.50. YIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHAAAA!!! I'll take a pic of it later on and post it in another post, OK? ;-D

4. Hubby's home already (napping) 'coz he started the day earlier to go to another town to do some work there. He had to wake up at 5 am this morning. YIKES!!! Poor dear...but I'm glad he can come home earlier. Later on I think we're gonna be watching something together. I LOVE it when we watch movies together 'coz we'd be holding hands throughout the movie even though most of the times our other hands are busy with popcorn or chips or chocolate ha ha ha ha ha...LOVE holding hands with him!!! SO YUMMY!!!! Sometimes when I wanna get up to pee, he wouldn't let me go and I LOVE it, too he he he he...Ahem...Sweet, sweet, sweet!!! ;-D