<3 SNOW! and Epic Fail.

Namely, physics. I'm hoping I'll get either 3 or less or then 6 - could be either. Boo.

I got my SAT scores a few hours ago. Good thing, too, because otherwise my mood would be even worse. Bio was great, and lit and chem went well too. Goody. Bio rules. Who really cares about higher quantum physics, anyhow?

Now all I need to care about is finishing the damn essay for common app and send my Viksu entry. Oh, and my math, chem and bio exams next week. But really? Who cares? Those are easy sevens.

I saw the cutest ankle boots ever. And only 150e, too. I'll buy them next week when I get paid.

It's snowing! Finally! It was so pretty this morning.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Oh dear. I'm beginning to understand why people say that the IB2 year is hard. As in, really hard. Really, really hard. Only 100 gazillion deadlines, lab reports, math portfolios and lord knows what else. Chances are, I've forgotten quite a few things I should've done. Anyhow, the stress on lab reports and stuff is decreasing. I've got less things to do than six weeks ago - yay! Ok, not that I had too much free time now, either, but at least I have some free time. Goody. All I need to care about right now is my Viksu entry and the exam week. Ok, so the exam week isn't too nice now that I have a slight pressure on getting a 7.0 GPA. It's fully manageable. Kind of. If I get a 7 from physics, it's as good as done. But physics... not fun. Especially when it's the HL physics course on higher quantum and particle physics and digital technology. Yay. Then again, If I manage a 7, the few top-notch colleges should love me. Do I have any options? Nah.

Also, I'm kind of busy with other stuff. As in, cycling. My new training program is kind of hard. But if that means that I beat everyone else (apart from the pros) next year, it's worth it. Maybe. I might even start practising track. Or then not. Probably not. Track has always seemed kind of dumb.

But my dreadful fall full of too much stuff was made a lot better by a random newsletter. I had been really disappointed about my bad luck - one of my favorite bands, Von Hertzen Brothers, has a live tour going on, and the K-18 tour finishes - but of course - one day before my 18th birthday. Yes, one day. Sucky. Talk about bad timing. But when I read my email a few hours ago I noticed that as the last night of the tour had been sold out so quickly, they had decided to go for one extra night. The day after. As in, on my b-day. Ha. Oh yes, I definately know where I am on my birthday. What fun.

Right now I love my life. Apart from physics HL. But that doesn't count.

Also

I wish Barack Obama wins the Presidential Election next week.

Edit: Barack Obama won. What jolly fun.

Supernouveau - quantum physics and biochemistry for dummies

It all started on my physics lesson. My teacher, a non-native English speaker, asked us what is the plural form of "supernova". The right answer is "supernovas" or "supernovae". So, anyhow some genius shouted "supernouveau" as a joke. That saved my lesson. HL physics is interesting *cough*, especially as the last lesson of the day after a bunch of other interesting subjects like ToK and Maths. NOT.

I'm returning to my normal sleeping rhythm now, after turning the clock back and the slight disturbance of the ToK cruise - or, as we say to our teachers&parents, the Theory of Knowledge Seminar.

The cruise was great fun, though. Some highlights:

• My high school's debate team won the debate competition. Screw u, SYK team (and especially JK)
• Tax-free shopping - need I say more? I spent about 100e on makeup, alcoholic beverages and chocolate. I love my new Lancôme lip gloss. And Estonian cranberry vodka.
• Our cabin hadn't been properly cleaned. Seriously, I don't want to know what the dodgy-looking substance on my friend's bed was. Not to mention the full trash can or dirty shower curtains. So, we complained to the reception - and got free drink coupons! Complaining is definitely worth it <3
• I will never ever go on a cruise in a B-cabin. This was the first and last time ever. Hello-o, it didn't even have a blow dryer, for crying out loud. How sad is that? Or maybe it's just me.
• Karaoke. 
• A friend of mine (guy) got totally wasted. We were all like "Whoa". It wasn't something we would have expected from him. It was quite a job getting him back to the cabin. Seriously. It must have taken an hour. And I must say I've never seen anyone crawl that quickly. Maybe drinkind 0.5 bottles of red wine, a beer, 2 gins and about 5 drinks (sex on the beach etc.) actually improves athletic performance. Who'd have guessed?
• On the other hand, I wasn't drunk. I remember every single thing I did on Sunday night and Monday morning. And I didn't suffer from hangover. Then again, I didn't drink that much (a small bottle of champagne, cranberry vodka from Estonia and a Marianne drink). But at least I ate dinner.
• I had no clue I was this popular among guys. Seriously. I've never turned down this many guys in one night. *counts with fingers* Haha. But I must say two of them were especially pathetic. Namely, 
• 1. The guy who had his friend (a girl with rather long and pointed fingernails, which left a nasty cut on my hand) literally drag me to him. Boo. I shoved the girl away, after she explained that her friend wanted to speak to me "in private". Needless to say, I didn't bother. (He was clearly a coward and he wasn't even good-looking). I'm a bit picky, I guess.
• 2. Then the stalker guy. Whoa. I so wanted to kill him, but I'm pretty sure it would have been illegal, even though rather fair in the situation. Die, stalker, die. I hope you fell off the deck. Would serve you right for feeling my ass. Thanks to my "bodyguards" E, E, N, A, M, U and S for helping me out<3.
• I ended sleeping 4 hours. 2 hours between 4pm and 6 pm when I was bored and me and my roommates wanted to have more energy for the night (besides, the restaurants & tax free were closed anyhow), and 2 hours on the bus back to Helsinki.
• Was great fun<3

Random notices:

• My Extended Essay and World Lit analysis essay are done. No more jellyfish, A Handmaid's tale or Woman at point zero. Ever. Success!
  
• The TV program was a great success. Love me, Ivy League...
• My GPA is now 6.8 on the IB scale. Score.
  
• I'm taking the SAT II on saturday. Boo. No fun. Although the math 2, bio and chem seemed like a joke. 
  
• More dieting. For the next 4 days. And weeks. And months. (No, I didn't hear any coughing)
  
• My dad got invited to Stocka's super buyer night - discount on everything and free buffet. My parents didn't seem too keen on going there, so I'm going instead. Shop-a-holic at your service.
  
• Physics HL was cancelled today. Whoa, big news. About every second HL physics lesson is cancelled.

I'm tired. I better go sleep away the rest of my debt from the cruise.

Lab reports must look pretty

... said my biology teacher. So very true. And speaking of lab reports, I have a lot of pretty little labs to write. Namely, about 10. In the past few weeks. What fun. 

My extended essay on very dumb jellyfish is doing well - good thing, since the deadline is 2.5 weeks from now. And my WLA is showing some process too - 1.5 weeks before the final deadline. So much to do, so little time. 

I saw the most beautiful ankle boots ever. I might buy them. Or then not. They were a tad expensive on my scale (150e), but then again the quality is good. Not that I bought sucky clothes. Or shoes. Or make-up. Or anything.

As of some time ago, I noticed that I've read loads of russian books. Mainly thanks to the IB diploma program, but I've read some even voluntarily. I didn't think about it until very recently. But not going any further to these reasons of this sudden discovery. Anyhow, russian literature is v. nice.

Dear Few Very Selective Universities In The World's Top 50, thou shall want me and my extracurriculars v. much. Otherwise I'm killing myself under this workload all for nothing. Yup. Only an idiot decides to be responsible of this HUGE prime-time election program on channel 1. Especially on a way too tight schedule (read = 4 weeks). And all the other things an IB senior needs to do. Oh dear. I'm so dead. And I need to continue writing my way cool Extended Essay on jellyfish. 

Questionable Motivation, Epic fail & The Dreadful WDD

I tend to get ill on very inappropriate occasions. Like the week with my EE and bio lab report deadline, and the Finlandia MTB. Boo. And yes, I know it's not too clever to do sports when you have a respiratory inflammation, fever, and a too small dose of asthma medicine. But did I care? Oh noes. What would one not do for CAS hours (another sucky IB thing)? Seriously, I have never ever cycled that slow. Never. Or felt that bad after cycling only 35km. Ok, 35km of XC in a horrible weather, but still. Geh. Not that I even tried to cycle too fast, but still. 2h19min is really bad. Shame on me. Boo. And the Extended Essay and bio lab? My bio teacher likes me. So who cares about one first draft being bad? And it took 2 seconds to move the deadline by a week, even though I was 30 minutes late from my lesson, ill and absent during the revision exam and didn't find ane jellyfish. And guess what? I'm still getting a 7 (on a 1-7 scale) as my bio predicted grade. Ha! And a 7 from chemistry as well. What fun.
I decided to start to study Russian. Such an interesting language and culture. Also, such interesting and WAY HOT university students. So far, my vocabulary consists of "yes", "no" and "vodka, please", but I've always been a quick learner. Also, I have a feeling I'll be attending ALL of the NÄT meetings this fall. Yes, definately.
My pretty white dress got dirty. Boo. And I still have one more lesson of school. Not fun. And this is like the first time ever in years that I've spilled food on my clothes. Boo^10 gazillion.

Go me

Back to school. One more year of hell, also known as the IB Diploma program. What jolly fun. Goodbye life, welcome 10 billion gazillion lab reports, written tasks and lord knows what else.

Our bio trip was a success - or at least the grilling evening was. Seriously, those coaches were idiots. Haha. Too bad for them. Anyhow we had loads of fun. The mornings lectures weren't that fun, though. And then there was THE PANCAKE. Seriously, when there is nothing better to use, it is NOT a good idea to put foil around the oven pan so that the pancake doesn't stick. It took about 20 minutes to wash. But you just aren't capable of logical thinking at 2.30 am after consuming some alcohol. Duhh. But still. Besides, we didn't have anything to eat with the pancake in first place. Talk about clever.

Also, I came third in the mtb nationals. Not bad, considering the asthma attack I got in the start and having had the medicines for only a few weeks. It is more than obvious that a certain university must want me to its cycling team. AND I'll get a road bike (yay). Good thing, since the bike I got from my cycling club was cruelly and with unfair reasons taken away from me. Hello-o, which one of us needs a road bike more? Me, in women elite next year or the little kid who joined the club a year ago and already had a road bike, for crying out loud. Geh. Screw little kids who take my stuff away from me. Mine. MINE! Although I'll get a lot better bike. Actually the club's bike pretty much sucked. It weighed more than my MTB bike (11 kg, my mtb bike is less than 10). Ha. Still. Nice cycling club and so on. Boo.

I feel like comforting myself because of the bike (yeah right), so I'll go shopping. More like, I'll need comforting tomorrow because my bank account will be empty.

Jellyfish.

Well. I spent this week counting jellyfish on a SYKE research trip. And doing a lot of other stufff too, but I was there to count jellyfish for my Extended Essay. And the results? We didn't find any jellyfish! Boo. Now I'll have to write my EE on why I didn't see any. A lot more complicated than my original idea.

But other than my dumb experiment giving unwanted results, the trip was awesome. The weather was great - suhnny and warm all the time, and I wasn't too busy, so I could spend ages on the sundeck. I got a gorgeous tan.

Also, I was dumb enough to say I'd go to the nationals. Dumb me. Well, if the antidoping papers aren't back by wednesday I won't go, since otherwise I'm not allowed to use my asthma medication and I'll suffocate or something. Not fun.

I'm leading an arts camp next week. It'll be totally fun. Also, I'll get paid. Even more fun, if possible.

I bought the most beautiful pair of shoes. I'm totally in love with them. And they're surprisingly easy to walk with, when considering the 8cm heel. And they were on sale too. Could my life possibly get any better?

Actually, in a lot of ways. First of all, I could win the nationals. And get rid of my asthma. And get my CAS program in order. And get a lot more money. And be accepted to Stanford U. And lose weight (screw people who say I'm already thin). And get a new laptop. And... and... a lot of things.

*yawn*

I'm so-oo tired. I can't believe I woke up at like 8 AM. Something is seriously wrong with me. I do hope it's exercise-induced asthma. No, really. Not that it had anything to do with me waking up too realy, but still. I have another appointment with my doctor (I love private healthcare, once again) tonight, and with any luck I'll finally get the diagnosis I want. The horrible histamine test should have been enough proof. Geh.

Miyavi performed at Tavastia a few weeks ago. Was totally great. Besides, thanks to way good luck me and my friend got an awesome queue number so we werte in first row. I'd have given anything for it to be k18, though. The younger fans were a complete nightmare, especially a certain blue-haired girl and another black-haired girl. Boo. Next time, behave. Or go back to the end row where people with sucky numbers belong. Oh, and I was in tv because they apparently thought that 800 people in a line around the block for 3 hours was funny. Or something. The people interviewev were complete idiots. No offense, but really. Grow up. Sorry. I'm such a b*tch sometimes.

Screw.Public.Healthcare

After spending several months on trying to get through to calling to the local clinic, having the doctor cancel my appointments on the previous day, going through loo-ong queues for different tests, waiting for new appointments and so on (and the whole process started in March), I didn't really get anything out of it. Ok, I know I don't have any pollen or animal allergies, but that was to be expected. Besides, that was found out over a month ago. The last weeks I've been monitoring my breathing with the PEF meter thingy. And what for? To find out whether I have ordinary asthma. I never thought I had it, only that I have exercise-induced asthma. And what did the doctor say? Sorry, the public health care has no ways of finding out whether I have exercise induced asthma - you must go to a private clinic. So I've wasted almost 4 months - 4 vital months considering cycling - for a slow and useless thing which didn't get me anywhere. Ok, so I know that I don't have some nasty conditions, but that doesn't really help me. The doctor was also kind enough to say that the queues at private clinics might be long as well. And, needless to say, a private clinic is more expensive. Oh well. That's what my parents take care of. It's not like I couldn't afford treatment and tests on the private side. Anyhow: Lesson of the day: Public health care services are not that fun. Boo.

Also. The nationals for road cycling are on right now. Should I have been allowed to use the damn medicine, I'd have done pretty well. Considering the winner's time, great weather conditions and my own skills.

Speaking of cycling, I got into this "slightly" uncomfortable situation the day before yesterday - I had gone home for the change, on my bike of course. It was sunny, so I didn't bother turning off the electricity from the computer&Internet devices of the TV/DVD/Stereos/home theater thingy set. The moment I got home, I noticed that there was a huge ominous dark rumbling cloud approaching at an alarming speed. Remembering how a pretty much nonexistent thunder storm had broken down my modem & router & pretty much everything needed for my Internet connection to work, I got pretty scared. This was a huge storm coming. So, I was left with no chances but to get back to the place where I'm currently living, and fast enough to turn off the electricity before the thunder storm would break the equipment. It's not my place, I'm just living here for this week. And these people don't have cheapo equipment. Far from it. I'd be pretty much dead if anything happened. They had even told me to close the electricity if a thunder storm came by. Go me.

Anyhow, I cycled back pretty fast, despite an asthma attack. It wasn't that bad, really. Maybe I'm just a whiner. After all, considering the 11 km trip, it rained loads only during the last 9km, it hailed (<- is that a word) for the last 4 km only and the hailstones were of an about 1-2cm diameter for only the last 3.5 km. And needless to stay, I had to stop at every single crossing with traffic lights. And with a surprisingly huge amount of traffic, there was no way I'd be able to cross the road on red lights. And there were a lot of crossings. Also, the ordinary people who hid under trees or bus stops or something must have thought I was a maniac. This is fully possible, but still. And mark my word, there was an unusually large amount of people outside, despite the sucky weather. If I had had any extra time, I'd have shown an international and rather rude finger gesture in more than one occasion. Hello, it was not funny. And dumb bald guy who was trying to be funny: I was fully aware of the damn storm. Was not funny. You'd have deserved to be hit by lightning.

Oh. And what happened? Surprisingly enough, the storm hadn't broken down anything before I came. Meaning that I'm not in a huge debt right not. Good thing. Also, it only took me 18 minutes for the trip, not counting all the times I had to stop, or taking into account the weather conditions, that is an average speed of almost 37km/h - not bad. And on a mountain bike, which is slower than a road bike when on asphalt. And the weather and traffic lights slowed me down. Not bad at all.

Trust me, it hurts like hell when you're cycling in this hailstorm with a short-sleeved top and short shorts. My arms and legs ached for several hours. The skin remained red for more than an hour, too. Not to mention that the rain had made every single piece of clothing I had on soaking wet. They must have soaked in several liters of water, considering their weight afterwards.

Oh well. Considering my experiences in hail/rain/blizzard/etc. conditions, I sure hope the weather conditions are extreme and wet on the day of the MTB nationals. I've got some experience.

I have to write my EE a lot next week. I need to email my supervisor a draft by next week's Sunday. Boo. As if I didn't have enough stuff to worry about without this deadline. I so hate mnemiopsis leidyi.

And back to cycling - I'll go play this nice game called "let's-go-cycle-up-and-down-this-stupid-yet-huge-hill-without-taking-my-asthma-medication-and-let's-see-how-long-it-takes-me-before-I-suffocate". Yay. I better go. What fun.

Oh Noes

After a certain weather phenomenon (also known as nonexistent thunderstorm - hello, it didn't even rain and I only heard the thunder once) broke down all of our Internet equipment, the connection is working again. Nice.

It's raining, and I should take the dog out. Boo. Not fun. I had to cycle to work yesterday with my mountain bike. Must have looked pretty dumb. And it's surprisingly hard to cycle with my Shimano pedals (to be used with special cycling shoes only) with ordinary shoes. And it rained, so I was pretty soaked. Or more like, my hair and legs were soaked, since my coat is supposedly water-proof.

I'm living this week alone, which means - dieting. Otherwise I'd end up snacking or something, and gaining weight. Geh. The diet food tastes like sh*t, but last time I actually got rid of some weight. Nice. And that was only for 2 days. This time I'm in it for a week. That is, if I won't stop for some unknown reason before that. Which is very likely. Boo. And a good thing is that I'm spending now about 3 hours per day running with this dog, which ought to burn some more energy.

This is the point where people like my doctor would say that I shouldn't lose any weight, since I'm underweight on her scale, but she happens to think that the Body Mass Index range for normal weight is 20-25. Hello-o, it's 18.5-24. I wouldn't be surprised if the doctors started to comfort-size the Body Mass Index scales just like clothes. Boo.

Also, I should practise cycling - a part of my must-get-into-a-certain-college-plan. My chances of getting in would be greatly increased if I win the nationals - in about 1.5 months. Yay. Not. knowing that the competition site has this nice little hill with a height difference of 200 meters isn't that nice.

I have an Extended Essay meeting on Friday - I should maybe write something about the M. leidyi. Not fun. I got this way cool scientific article from my supervisor, but it's pretty horrible to read. I've never seen that many scientific terms (or any words in general) stuffed into 6 sheets of paper. Not fun.

I'll go shopping now, just to get my mind away from the dumb little jellyfish and dieting.

SUMMER

Finally. my first year of the "real" IB is over. No more exams, books to analyze, lab reports to write... in the next 10 weeks. What fun. Apart from the SATs next saturday *sigh* and the damn Extended Essay.

Anyhow, the doctor finally called - and sent me to more asthma tests. Cool. Not. But at least I'll get a medicine to use for the time being. Hope it works.

I'm planning to use my summer to have fun, go to work (bah), practise cycling (when I get the medicine) hang out with friends and so on. And eat strawberries. A lot of them.

DONE. And talk about bad timing

Whew. Exam week is finally over (ok, I do have a Theory of Knowledge presentation tomorrow, but that doesn't count. And only this week before summer break - yay!

The lazy and insufficiently operating public health system hasn't contacted me about my asthma results, even though they had promised that I'd get to know the results within a week - and that's what they said two weeks ago. Boo.

But the bad timing I happened to experience last Friday was quite bad. Really. I had wanted to see the Monet paintings at EMMA, so I went there. Little did I know that on the exactly same day and time my school had arranged a recreational day for it's teachers and other staff. Well. I ended up being at the exhibition for about 20 minutes, hiding from my student councillor, maths teachger, homeroom teacher and so on. Talk about bad timing...

also

• the physics teacher still hasn't put the exam to the web page. My guess is it'll be there 2 hours before we need to return it...
• apparently there's some weird rumours about teräsbetoni doing well in the semifinals of the Eurovision song contest. Hmm. That would be weird. Helloo, it was pretty horrible.

*yawn*

I'm tired. My sleeping rhythm is way off, but who cares? only one week of school left, if you can even call it school. Seems pretty easy.
I've slept altogether about 15 hours this week (most of them last night). That might be the cause of my problem. Maybe. Maybe not. You never know.
It's a really nice day, so I'll wear my pretty new white dress. What fun. I'll go to the museum today, because I didn't have time before.
I'm totally random. Must be because of being tired.

Haha. Almost done

Well, well, well. One secured 7/7 as a predicted grade. Namely, Chemistry. I had my chemistry exam today. Knowing my oh-so-excellent study habits, trust me to have left the studying for the last night. Yup, that's me. But when else would I have had the time? I had to go to NÄT and then I studied for my Bio exam the night before. What, the weekend? or earlier?. I pretend I didn't notice my better self saying that. I always plan to study really well and prepare early and all - usually it's the night before when I actually open the books for the first time. Bad me. For my good luck, I've been blessed with a good memory. And a skill to manage with a very small amount of sleep. The last two nights I've slept altogether 3 hours. And that was partly because I fell asleep accidentally. Didn't mean to. But I can sleep late tomorrow. And for the rest of the week actually, because I don't have any exams -> no school. Fun stuff. Now I only have maths (easy) exam and the physics exam. Otherwise the physics might be a problem, but our teacher decided to be nice and give the exam for us for the week. As in, open book test. Way fun. That's another 7. Go me!

I'm going to a museum tomorrow. I really want to see this imressionist exhibition at EMMA before the exhibition ends on Sunday. I also need to do my maths portfolio tomorrow. Bah. That sucks.

I'll be getting the asthma results any day now. I do hope I'll get the meds soon so that I get to actually practise. I might have missed a lot of important training time (two months and counting), so the road nationals won't be for me. No way I'm back in form in less than a month, but I still have hope concerning the XC nationals in August.

Will take some time to get back to normal

Holy sh*t! I saw my homeroom teacher outside school! At a same event I was. I feel - weird. Geh. I was at a same place with my homeroom teacher. Voluntarily. Boo. This would seem really bad for me if I hadn't been at the event because of a school project. But still.

And I had always thought that teachers live at school like 24/7. Whoa. It was big news to me that this wasn't true. I will probably spend most of next week just to recover from the shock.

Oh. And the event? The Baltic Sea-event arranged by Helsingin Sanomat. I went there in case I'd get some useful information for my Extended Essay, but it ended up being a waste of time. Boo.

Also, I've lately made friends with this guy I met at a website. Nothing wrong with that, except - he's 26. That's "slightly" older. More accurately like 1.5x my age. He might be a pedophile or something. Hmm. This might be a problem. As all these people tell you all the time, you can never know who you meet online really is. He could just as well be 68 or something. Or more likely 13, pretending to be older and cooler. Geh. Besides, who cares? The good point is, he's living nowhere nearby. Or so he says.

Only a few more days and I'll get the results of my first lab tests for asthma and allergies. Yay. I do hope they found the reason for my breathing problems. I really wouldn't want to spend the rest of the competing season doing nothing just because I don't have the correct medication to be able to breathe.

Me Is Superstar!

I almost forgot. I went to watch Tuntematon Sotilas (the new national theatre version directed by Kristian Smeds) with our Finnish A1 group. It was totally great. Probably the best theatre performance I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few. Also, the actors dragged me to the stage to dance at one point, together with about 5 others. What fun. I'm a superstar in making...

Also, I've regained faith in human honesty. Nice people out there! I had forgotten my rather expensive sunglasses to a fitting room, and after a half an hour or so later when I noticed them missing the staff members of the shop told me they had noticed them and gave them back to me. What nice people^^. The last time I lost something at a shop (a new knit that had not been too cheap, see post from last year), I never saw it again. Then again the shop I lost my sunglasses at was this rather expensive one with really good customer service. The previous one was a cheaper shop which has never heard the words "customer service". Lord knows why I even went there. Anyhow: lesson of the day: Only go to nice expensive shops - they sell nices stuff anyhow. Or then that was not the point, I just missed it. Might be.

Also, the Deadline Nightmare is nowhere near ending - my CAS diary is for tomorrow. Boo. And the Extended Essay first draft is for Monday. Bah. No good. I might have to do something about them.

A lot of stuff

Whoa. A huge amount of stuff going on.

1. Asthma etc. testing. After being on hold on the phone service of the local health station and weeks of waiting for my appointment, the doctor called yesterday and cancelled my original time for tomorrow. BAH. Evil doctor. She then offered a time today, at a time where it would completely mess up my schedule. I was in for a "hard" decision between skipping school and going to asthma testing, which I really want to get done as soon as possible. Needless to say, I took the appointment today, and was absent from school. I might go to my chemistry class if I get my lab report written. The queue at the lab was huge, because they had a lot of workers off today. No clue why. So it actually took me hours to wait for a few blood tests and an x-ray picture of my lungs. This time the x-ray doctor was female, thank god.
2. Exam week coming up. Boo. But now that I think about it, it's not really that bad. Ok, it starts with Bio next Monday and Chemistry on Tuesday, then the rest of the week off, and finally Math on the next Monday. I have a TOK presentation on the Tuesday (should be a piece of cake). That's it. Or well, we get our physics exams tomorrow, and have to return them before the end of the exam week. Ha! The easiest 100% grade ever. A great thing, considering my predicted grade for physics.
3. Physics lab hour day - we went to Linnanmäki last Saturday. It was fun, in general. Highlights of the day:
• The new roller coaster broke down temporarily after we had been in the queue for about an hour - and when we finally were the first on the queue. Boo
• people staring us and our Vernier probes. What, never seen people with high-tech physics equipment in a theme park before? No, me neither. Some tourists actually took pictures.
  
• The guys screaming all sorts of stuff on the rides. My personal favorite, by M, "Ohmygod this f*cking thing castrated me!". That was funny. And so was a lot of other stuff. And yes, a lot of people stared at us. But hey, who cares? Besides, considering how well an average Finnish person speaks or understands English, they probably had no clue what we were saying.
• These little pervy guys poking my (and my firend's) ass. Hello? Was this close I didn't kill you or arrange you into condition which would have required the Intensive care unit. Besides, they were like 15. That's kids. Scary.
• When the new ride was finally operating again, it was totally great. One of my favorites, without a question.
• We noticed a really important thing with my friend: the area has loads of restaurants and cafes and such, but you couldn't get really healthy food from anywhere. Ok, the one place had overprized and rather nasty-looking salads. But the ingredients seemed to be weeks old. I ended up eating a tiny sandwich (3.50e) which had two small pieces of rye bread and tiny amounts of salad and tomato (raw). What great nourishment. Then again, at least I didn't have to eat pizza or french fries or something else like that with 10 gazillion calories. Good stuff. Yay for tiny sanwiches!
• The free game included in the all-day ticket. Ha. Starting from this year, the all-da ticket contains a free game (choice of five different games). Anyhow, we decided to go for this game called Rollen ajot (yes, I know the name is dumb, but I didn't pick it). The others had weird stuffed animals as prizes. Hello, what would I do with a hyper-sized dust bunny? So, we went for the game with candy as prizes. The point of the game was to roll small tennis balls to small holes. The more accurate you were, the faster your "car" moved. I beat 6 others and won 600 grams of candy. My friend went to the next round but won "only" 300g because there were less people competing. I know a little brother who will obey my every single word for the next few days...
  
• We saw a few guys we knew - who had also played the same game. There had been 3 of them, and they had decided to play on the same round and share the prize. They lost (to 6-years old brats, as one of them said). Ha!
  

Glada Vappen!

Ha. Finally the first of may. or actually the eve of 1.5, but still. And that means only one thing: Par-tay! Our last lessons of the day were cancelled, and tomorrow is a day off (thank god). Our teachers were "nice" enough to wish us a "nice" night:
"Have a nice vappu! No reproduction excercises, then!" (yes, that was my bio teacher. We happen to be covering the topic of reproduction right now)
"Well, I wouldn't know what you're doing tonight, but I won't give you any homework for friday. You won't be in a condition to do it anyhow..."
"Remember: Kaveria ei jätetä!"
"Klara vappen!"
And so on... what a nice bunch of people my teachers are. Sure.

Sunny. Warm. Nice. Spring!

Spring and summer have both good and bad sides. In general, I like them. They do, however, have some catches.

The ever-so-nasty microparticles in the air. From pollen, Russian forest fires or just street dust. Bah. They totally destroy my nice training program. Sucky. I'll also have to go to asthma and allergy and whatever testing. As soon as I'll manage to get through the phone service of some health clinic and get an appointment, followed by testing and more appointments, with any luck it'll only be next spring and I'll get the medicine for next year's cycling season. Love the public health care... Not. I wonder if my parents would pay for a private clinic?

Also, the fact that its nice and warm tends to result in wearing less clothes, which leads to men staring at me or any other attractive human female in sight. One word: Don't. At least if you are clearly more than 10 years my senior. Go hit on someone your age, please?

Maybe I should dress like a nun or something to avoid all the stares. Or then not. With my luck, I'll just become stalked by a horde of nun fetish people. Or something.

Error! A certain catering service lacks intelligence

Hello-o, there is one very clear rule in school food. I don't actually eat school food too often, but still. This should be a universal way to do thing, but apparently not. Boop. Wrong.

Oh. And to the actual crime against poor high schoolers: Serving blackcurrant jam with spinach pancakes instead of lingonberry jam. Way wrong. That's about the worst catering mistake ever. No, cross that. A friend of mine told that they had had strawberry jam with spinach pancakes when she was in junior high. Why?

We went to the botanical garden with my Bio HL group today. Wouldn't have been bad otherwise, but they had the "summer" climate settings on, meaning that the temperature in most rooms was around 30C and the moisture values were at 100 percent. What jolly fun. Also, a great day to wear your favorite cashmere v-neck sweater. Not quite.

I found the cutest summer dress at Motivi. It wasn't even too expensive, only about 70e. I'll buy it tomorrow. Happy times.

... Except... I'll have to write a lab report for tomorrow. Bah. I better go do it.

Shopping, nostalgy and school

Have I ever said that studying the IB program is hell? I think I have. Multiple times, too. I'll have to take a bit of that back. Not even HL physics is really that bad. A few weeks from now we'll go "doing some field experiments" to Linnanmäki. Also, we'll get our monday lessons (first in the morning) off for the rest of the year because of this. Fun stuff, and to top it all, my school pays for the Linnanmäki trip. Ok, so I might take an accelerating meter to a roller coaster or something, but... not too bad.

Also, I got a nice amount of money. Knowing me, this means only one thing: shopping. What fun. I spent considerably little, too. I bought new jewellery and expensive make-up (not that I ever bought cheap make-up. The quality is just horrible). I'll maybe buy this totally hot stetson hat as well. I just didn't have time today. And a bunch of new clothes and shoes and...

I went to see a cycling competition today... It's hard to believe I was competing just there only a few years ago... feels like ages. I had a great time with some others from my cycling team. Shame that I didn't get a chance to go chat with some random cycling hotties... Hmm. Actually, were there any? Hmm. This might lead to slight problems concerning my master plan - oh no. Quelle shame.

No, actually that one guy was pretty hot. Who the hell was he? Then again, hanging out with these kids from our cycling team might totall crush my chances. Boo.

Note to kids: Hello? The slightly offensive Finnish version of Rihanna's "Umbrella" by lord knows who (I checked: Sir Iivo Alone Orchestra, no comments on the name *sudden coughing fit with some words audible*) is way tacky. Don't play it again when I'm present. Pretty please? Not that I personally cared (or weighed 500kg), but it might make me seem like a childish idiot as well. Ok?

Also, its almost Vappu soon. So far, I've got no ideas on what I'll do. This is a serious problem. I don't want to just hang around at a certain park with random people. I better come up with something with my friends.

<3 Spring

Ah. Finally the nicer, warmer season after a so-called "winter" consisting mainly of rain and wind. Boo. That wasn't fun. Also, the nights aren't as dark anymore, not to mention daytime, meaning I won't be as tired. Great thing. Although the weather could be a bit more springy, if you ask me. Well, this is nice enough. At least it's not snowing right now. *Touches wood and glances out of window*.

I'm at the library again, waiting for my work shift to start. Yay. More easy money, I hope. Also, some idiot bought my extra tickets for Miyavi @ Tavastia for 250e. Quite an idiot. I should have asked for more. Hmm. Anyhow, this means that I have even more money to spend on all sorts of lovely stuff. Like the L'Occitane orange and salt body scrub, or a new bag or dress or shoes or... *Enters shopping nirvana*

Anyhow, it was retake day today. Bah. I had bio and math, because of that dumb flu I caught in the middle of exam week. Why, I ask. Why??? Bio went well, I think I'll get a 7 or at least a 6. And math... I'm pretty positive I got at least a 5, more likely a 6. Shall see.

I slept really badly last night. I was planning to go to sleep early (that's 22:30), but I only fell asleep a bit past midnight. That's not a problem on itself, really. A pretty normal time to go to bed. But I had planned to get a lot of sleep because of the dumb retake. Ha. I wish! The next thing I know, it's 2 AM and I'm wide awake. Yay! NOT. Of course I didn't catch sleep, so I spend the rest of the night (morning?) reading Bio and Maths.

Surprisingly enough, I'm still awake. I haven't even consumed any caffeine today. My guess is, either I'll be completely hyper for the rest of today, or I'll fall asleep during my shift when some customer calls. What jolly fun. But hey, at least the extra 5 hours of study time most likely saved my Bio and Math grades. Not a totally bad thing in the end.

I'll go watch a cycling competition tomorrow. I can hardly wait - after all, I was competing on the same track about exactly three years ago. Ahh, the nostalgy... Also, I'm keeping my hopes up I'll meet some totally hot cycling guy... Me and my questionable motives.

Almost forgot

Oh. I almost forgot the seminar I was at. It wasn't that bad, actually. Not at all bad. The beginning wasn't that great, when all I saw was a bunch of 50+ professors and toilet clubs' (yes, I'm serious) members waiting for the seminar to start.

Then a bunch of students from Tampere U appeared. My mood rose instantly. A few of them tried to hit on me. Tragically enough this guy's mobile phone rang just as he was flirting with me - with a ringtone which was a dumb version of a certain children's song. Lol. There went his chances. Talk about bad timing for him. Haha.

Also, the last speaker was pretty effing hot. I'm joining WWF's oil prevention troops like today. Seriously. I've always wanted to wash some crude oil off rocks and dead birds. It's the company that matters.


As a conclusion: The seminar was great, and some parts were actually interesting. Not to mention that I gained a vast amount of respect from my bio teacher by going to the seminar voluntarily. If I'll keep this up she'll probably praise me to the Stanford and Harvard applications people so that they'll have to beg for me to come there. I sure hope so.

Money money money

Yes. I just made a very profitable purchase. Namely, bought extra tickets to see Miyavi on the 2nd of July. Im' going there with my friend, but I booked two extra tickets to sell at an online auction. Haha.

Also, my extended essay is doing well. I actually have a clue of what I'm researching. Yay! Also, the scientist at SYKE actually answered to my email. I'll get to use really pro equipment. Not to mention get some professional to help me. This is going well.

And I'll get my new bike on Thursday. Fun.

I'd have school on next Saturday. Not surprisingly, I arranged a really important scouts event on top of it. Too bad I'll miss school. Such a shame.

Right now my life seems great. Par-tay!

About a Seminar, a Job, School, the Weather and Stuff

Still raining. Is this what global warming is all about? Rain in April, when it's supposed to be sunny and nice and warm and all, and no snow whatsoever in the winter. Bah.

I still have the flu. M ybio teacher wasn't too happy about me missing yesterday's exam, but my over-enthusiasm about the Extended Essay in Bio might make her stop hating me. I sure hope so. I'll spend tomorrow at a Baltic Sea-seminar. Just for the EE. Also, I'm pretty sure all the other participants are professors in marine biology. They'll all look down at me and be like "what on earth is she doing here?". What jolly fun. Then again, I'll miss a chemistry lesson, which is great. And physics. And bio.

I got some of my exams back. So far, my GPA seems nice 2/4 exams returned, and I've got a 6/7 and a 7/7. English should have been a 6 or 7 as well, but physics... I'm hoping I'll get a 5. Or a 4, because that's the lowest passing grade.

I still haven't been able to test my new bike. Darn weather. And the flu, of course. And the microparticles from Russia's forest fires or something.

My new job is totally great. All I need is to talk on the phone. A huge number of as many as zero people called during my shift on Monday. And I still get paid.

Not that clever of me

It's not the brightest idea on the planet to get ill during exam week. Especially with only the few hardest exams remaining.

I caught a cold or something on friday or thursday, and I still feel like sh*t. What fun. Not.
Our school has a rule that you can only retake two exams on retake day. Stupid rule, I say. Anyhow, I missed my maths exam, and I wasn't sure did I pass physics (I think so, but it was pretty devilish). So, I had to come to chemistry today, despite the killer headache. Whoever invented painkillers should invent better ones - the ones I've eaten so far don't work that well. Oh, and I got a 7 (on a scale 1-7) from chemistry, despite the headache.

The meteorologist people sure are dumb. They said last weekend would be the prettiest the whole year. Was it? Well, if you happen to like a chilly temperature, wind and rain you'd have loved it. The good thing was that it cleared the air from all the microparticles from russia's forest fires, and the street dust. I can cycle again without getting an asthma attack. Yay. After I get better, that is.

Nice.

My brother just came. He brought pizza. Yum.

Also, my parents promised that if I get in the top 3 in the nationals and if I get to Stanford U, they'll buy me a new bike from there.

Lots of stuff

Well. Since the last post, there's been a lot of things going on:

1. I got a road bike!!! It's purple. Cute. Pretty good, too, and my family was nice enough to promise to buy better components to it
2. I got a new job.I can do it 1-3 nights a week, and it pays pretty well, considering that I only need to answer people's phone calls and direct them to different people. And last time I was there the phone rang six times. In 3 hours. Talk about easy money
3. My cycling coach has decided to quit. Boo. This led to a crisis meeting in our cycling team. It wasn't a completely bad thing either-
   
4. - Now I get to be the juniors' part-time coach. They're harmless enough, and it's pretty fun. BESIDES, it'll help me get to the university I'm applying to. Also, I have a fairly good reason to appear at numerous cycling events more. This obviously increases my chance of meeting some hot cycling guys. Fun stuff. How can such a master plan go wrong - except that are there any hot cycling guys in Finland? I better find out. This might turn out to be bad.
5. Exam week. The nasty thing which gives me a vast amount of trouble every six weeks. Bah. Chemistry on Monday and biology on Tuesday
6. Retake day. For the first time ever, I'll have to participate. Not that I failed an exam, though - I happened to be ill yesterday (I still am), so I missed my maths exam. Too bad. More study time.
7. Miyavi. 2.7.08. Tavastia.
8. Baking day! Old computer games-day! Movie day! Fun stuff!
9. Salad day! Quelle great thing
10. Baltic Sea-seminar. Impressive. Also, scary. I'm probably the least professional person taking part. I hope there's a lot of people, otherwise I'll really stick out. Boo.
    
11. Day's work. I happened to be able to cheat the new system. Yay. The teachers complained that students just paid the 10e by themselves to get a day off. So, they came up with this new rule that everyone needed to get a job at a real company with a real company code. Or something. Little did they know that I'll get a 'day off' despite the rule. My parents happen to have their own company. Ha! Although they suggested that I go to my aunt's and uncles to hang around at their work place (they're vets) and babysit their kids. I have the greatest cousins. This is so fun. I'll go to the seminar on Thursday, and then to my relatives' place and the day's work on Friday and then come back home on Friday night well in time for Baking/computer games/movie day on Saturday. Fun.
    
12. SAT:s. I'll take the language and reasoning test in June. Bah.
13. The whole f*cking Extended Essay. IBO, I hate you. Something on the pH of rain? Mnemiopsis leidyi? PhosphorusNitrogen load caused by agriculture? So far, no clue.
    
14. English debate. On the motion "Genetically engineered food should be used to solve the hunger problems". Or something. We were against the motion. WE WON. Yay!
    
15. I'm ill. So I couldn't spend today or yesterday at Hullut Päivät at Stockmann. Boohoo. On the other hand, I probably saved about 300e. Good thing.

What else. Probably something. Who cares? I've got a headache. That means I'll finish here.

These things don't happen in real life

No. Seriously.

I was coming back from a meeting and was in a hurry to catch my train. When I was almost at the station I noticed a train arriving at the platform my train always leaves from. I also knew that my train would be there at any minute, so it was a logical act to run to the train. Right?

Two seconds after the train left I noticed I had taken a train heading to a completely wrong direction. Go me...

So, I get off at the next station, which of course wasn't too close. Then I wait for 25 minutes for the next train, go back to the original station and then wait for another 15 minutes for my train.

Result? It took me an hour more that it should have taken to get back home. Boo. Lesson of the day: Always check that you take the correct train.

Whatever

Back here again. I should, of course, be doing one or preferably more than one of the following things:

• two chemistry lab reports
• physics lab report
• biology Extended Essay
• math portfolio, type 2
• Finnish World Literature Analysis essay
• English written task
• ordinary English essay
• preparing for Finnish Individual oral presentation
• preparing for English Debate on the genetic engineering of food

NOT TO MENTION

• a vast amount of cycling (only about 100 days to the nationals)
• pilates
• taking the dumb dog out
• an infinite amount of seemingly impressive stuff which just might help me get into one of the world's top 10 universities.
• and of course the ordinary schoolwork.

What jolly fun. I'll complain a bit more and then go do at least one of those.

My friend and I went shopping together last week. I spotted the cutest dress ever. I try it on and decide to buy it the next monday when I have more money om my bank account (this was saturday). Then today my friend tells me she bought the only XS dress. Thanks a whole lot

Not that that was such a huge deal. I'll find something nicer. For once I actually have a nice amount of money on my bank account, I know what I want to buy with it. *goes into shopping mode*

Also, my parents actually allow me to apply into one of the world's top 10 universities. Such a nice bunch of people. Or maybe it's their hint that I should move away. Quick.

Haha. I'll go take the dog out.

Phew

The dreaded Group 4 Project is finally over. Great. A week full of boring work on Driving Under Influence. The teachers told us not to do any practical experiments on the short-term effects of alcohol.

Also, Girugämesh performed here live last saturday. It was great. With the slight catch that a few of my frieds had managed to see them at their hotel. And posed in a bunch of photos with them. And gotten their autographs too. bah. Rub it in a bit more, will you?

The weather is indeed quite normal-

-for October. NOT January.

I wonder was there any point in spending quite a lot of money on winter cycling gear, since its not winter in terms of weather. And I have no need to buy a cycling trainer with magnetic resistors for winter practising if there is no snow or ice outside.

I actually woke up today to the nice sound of rain. What jolly fun.

Someone ought to tell the world that Finland isn't such an exotic place after all - no polar bears, no snow, only a couple hundred thousand reindeer...

Shopping... once again

I blame the location of my school and the amount of skip lessons in my schedule for the lack of money on my bank account. My skip only started 1.5 hours ago and I already bought a pair of jeans and a latte (from skimmed milk, of course). And I haven't even visited a half of the shops I'm planning to. Then again, I need the clothes.

Then I need to shop for all the boring yet necessary cycling stuff from an internet store - location: Germany. Fun. I'm sure I'll enjoy trying to figure out the size system there. NOT. Why are there a) about 15 different ways to show the sizes of clothes
b) so-called comfort sizes so that fat people feel thinner because the clothes are two or three sizes bigger than really. I can't even buy all brands because the smallest sizes happen to be two sizes too big. What jolly fun.

I should also practise cycling way more. Especially if I plan to do something about that dumb new year's resolution of mine. Why do I always make dumb resolutions? And apparently my coach thinks that I have nothing else to do - the expected cycling km in a year for me are 15000. Indeed jolly fun. That's over 40km/day, every single day. Helloo, ever heard of a thing called school? Work? Other hobbies? Social life?
No way I have an extra hour every day for cycling.

Also, exam week starts next weeks friday, but since I have the G4 project then most of my exams are on next week before the exam week officially begins. Indeed very fun.

I love my boots.

Seriously. And for more than one reason, too.

1. They look great. Who wouldn't love such a cute pair of black, kneehigh leather boots?

2. I can wear them with practically anything (jeans, skirt, dress ...)

3. They just got me into a way fun situation. I had broken the zipper on christmas break (trust me to break the zipper just before we get any snow here, and they happen to be my only decent shoes I can wear when there's a lot of snow on the ground. I have other pairs too, but when its more slippery its harder to walk with the 3-inch heels, and I get a lot of snow in my ankle boots if I try to use them with any snow on the ground.)
Back to the fun stuff. Because the zipper broke, I had to take it to the shoemaker guy for a new zipper. I took the boots there on wednesday, and picked them up about an hour ago. The shoewaker himself wasn't there, but there was this seriously hot guy who was studying to become a shoemaker. He was really nice too. (especially when compared to the grumpy at least 60 years old shoemaker who owns the shop). They guy had been on a break and had just come back to work. Lesson of the day: I should break my shoes more often.

Also, I just experienced the 8th wonder of the world. The girl who rejoined our scouts group and used to be a huge brat has changed a lot in almost a year. Right now she's really nice. I just started believing in miracles

NICE.

My week has been quite... interesting. So far:
To my surprise, a 6 from my Finnish oral commentary on Woman at point zero. That's the second-best possible grade. Even though the commentary was total bullsh*t. The IB grade boundaries are nice.

I won't be able to wear my darling boots in ages. The guy who fixes the zipper said that it will be done by friday afternoon or saturday. Fun. NOT

I didn't find new jeans, despite the hard trying. I did find a lot of ither stuff, but I couldn't buy it because I'll need the money for more important stuff like the iPod or jeans. Bah.

And to make things even worse, the most horrible brat ever informed me that she rejoins the scouts group I lead. She is a nightmare. She even threw a knife at me once. (and managed to hit my leg. My jeans broke). Speaking of scouts, I should go. The meeting starts in 15 minutes.Way not fun.

Bah. And back to school

As the title might tell, I had to return to the concentration camp (also known as IB World School) yesterday. The bore.

I had a great Christmas break, apart from the fact that most of the presents I got were lousy. The slight problem I noticed on saturday night was that I should maybe go to sleep a bit earlier - in order to wake up before lunch break at school. Going to sleep at 2 AM might mean that I get too little sleep or that I'll wake up at noon.

I did something I haven't done in years: made New Year's resolutions. No doubt they'll fail in a few months. Maybe that's why I haven't done any in the few last years. Might be.

It started snowing a few days ago. It's still snowing. Just my luck that the zipper of my boots broke just before. And the fixing will cost 30e. Or more. What jolly fun. The other thing is that I need to shovel all the snow off our stairs and front yard / parking lot. Even more fun. NOT. And since my brother is in the army, I'll have to do it all. GREAT.

I managed to call the rather expensive phone service. And also got one of the very last available tickets to see An Cafe on the 15th of March. Par-tay!

My little brother had his birthday party for our relatives on sunday. That wasn't too fun. I was happily talking on my cell phone when my second cousin, age 6, came and hit me for apparently no reason. I told him to stop, and he said: "Don't you whine!" What a great family. Right. I kind of pity my brother's girlfriend who was at our place too.