Hyvinkää Revisited (Photo Post)

I just spent a few days with Laura in Hyvinkää, the place where I grew up. My relationship with the place is a tad...strange.

I used to feel angry and bitter towards not only the people, but the town itself, yet still harbour a sort of grudging fondness. These days, it's mostly the latter.

This wasn't the first time I have gone back there, nor will it be the last. I'm already discovering much more hidden charms now that I can see with a more objective eye.

One thing that hasn't changed much is my love for this library. I used to carry stacks and stacks of books home and then in no time go right back for more.

There is an actual mall in the town now, right next to the library. I wasn't too sure what to think of this at first, but I suppose growth is a good thing. The mall itself isn't bad, either, although I'm kind of worried that it will sooner or later completely make redundant Jussintori. It is one of the many scattered little clutters of shops that I used to think of as mini-malls.

Somehow I feel like this cat is not too impressed with its hometown, whatever its improvements in the last decade or so.

Since Laura is taking a Spanish course this month, I got to spend a little quality time with this bugger...

...but mum is always the best human in Oodi's mind, of course.

Helsinki Pride 2014

Saturday. Waiting for the parade to begin.

As usual, I participated in Helsinki Pride. I did end up missing a couple of the events I intended to attend, but the opening ceremony on Monday and the parade on Saturday are the most important in any case. Perhaps next year I'll manage to go to the bubble party.

Pride week is important to me not only because of my values, but also because I can reach that inexplicable sense of belonging. I'm a bisexual oddball who has felt more or less like an outsider for most of her life; this one week in June is one of the things that makes it okay.

What incensed many of us during Pride is the fact that the Legal Affairs Committee — one of the many committees in the Parliament — turned down the bill for gender neutral marriage. Thanks a lot, arseholes. However, the matter will still come in front of the Parliament sometime during the autumn, so not all is lost. We might get there within the next couple of years.

Anyway...want to know something amazing? We were 20,000 strong on Saturday. The people were definitely voting with their feet.

All of the photos are from Saturday, because I was a fail-kitty and sadly neglected to take any during the other events. Well, any worth sharing. I do, however, intend to retrace the route we took on the Rainbow City Walk (touring some of the important places in the LGBT history of Helsinki) and snap away, especially towards the end. And then snap a few (dozen) unrelated shots because Embassies and villas and... I just have an appreciation for architecture, okay.

Photos. Yes.

♥

Beware! A homosexual might treat or perform surgery on you!

Mr. Floral McSassypants. He noticed I was photographing him, so he struck a pose. Then we gave each other a smile and a thumbs-up. wh00t for random short connections.

The parade always ends at a park, where we then sit and listen to performers and see what goodies participating organisations have brought with them. As you can see, there were loads of people.

Artsy picture is artsy.

Sunset Variations

Most of these photos look nothing like they did in their raw form. Truth be told, I couldn't get them to resemble the originals while fiddling in UFRaw, so I started experimenting with colour settings instead. I kind of like the results; especially the blue one is rather... magical.

 

Lomography

Lomography is a term that some people have begun to use to distinguish analogue photography from digital, the latter being pretty much the norm these days when one speaks of photography.

I haven't done lomography much since the parentals bought our first digital camera; the one significant instance was when I took my dad's old Asahi Pentax with me to Oulu in 2009 and shot a couple of rolls. Still, I do like using film. It has its own challenges, but definitely also its rewards. That is why I take a chance when I am given one. Marc was gracious enough to allow me the use of one of his analogue cameras back in May, when I was brought to Helsinki to keep Laura company while he was away on a business trip. Some of the pictures ended up being kind of a "meh" quality, but other shots were quite successful. Yesterday, I finally managed to scan a few.

That face is frickin' priceless.

She's a biter, this girl.

Time for honesty? This photo is making it easier for me to accept Marc. I'm also warming up to him via interaction, but this does have a little bit of an effect.

These fellows were brilliant!

We saw a street magician. He was pretty good, and funny to boot.

...and then he made an orange appear under his hat out of thin air.

Flickr

I have been lured in by the promise of a terabyte of free space. That's not easy to resist, you know. So, I'm uploading my existing photos little by little — still not sure whether I should include shots where I'm not the principal photographer, though — and will try and remember to throw any future works in there. At the moment it's all stuff you have probably already seen.

Go here.

La Lune

Those of you interested in celestial matters will already know that there's been a super moon in our sky the last few days. On the day of the actual full moon — that would be Sunday — we had a fog here in Helsinki that obscured the view and negated pretty much any small chance of seeing the moon. Some people ended up hopping on a vehicle in search of our little companion. Me? I just stood by the sea and contented myself with a few misty shots instead.

Monday was not much more successful in terms of moon-gazing. However, yesterday evening, as I was typing up the Gen Silent post, Dad phoned and told me to come outside; he had found the moon, lurking behind a cloud cover and rising fast. Grabbed my camera and off I went... to be snacked upon by mosquitoes. Funnily enough, I took the best shots after I had already given up and begun to trudge back inside but happened to glance back anyway. Luna had decided to come out of hiding.

 

Hypothetical Possibilities

I love my boy. I really do. But when the possibility of us moving in together is brought up, doubts begin rearing their heads. And since his mother (as he told me) oh-so-subtly breached the topic and he mentioned this to me, the subject has now moved to a status where it has been acknowledged, prodded at, but temporarily left alone.

We're going to have to get back to it at some point. But I hope I won't have to decide any time soon. And, of course, it's not only up to me.

Nerr.

Still procrastinating, by the way. I'm supposed to be writing that article I mentioned earlier - which I ended up only starting this morning anyhow - but instead I'm sat here in the computer hall updating my blog. Sigh. I'll get to it soon enough, i.e. as soon as I've posted this.

Pello was nice. I met a few relatives and some friends of his, ate cake and tried a DSLR. It was quite lovely. The parentals might bring the camera with them this Friday if they decide to give it for Jussi to use full-time. Crossing my fingers here. Of course I'll be made to feel completely inferior on a regular basis because he's so much better at all this photography stuff than I am, from a technical point of view anyhow, but still. I might actually be able to learn something.



Right. Now to write something about the development of the English language.

Cold, Procrastination, and Did I Mention Cold?

It's currently -30 degrees Celsius in Oulu and various other parts of Finland. The nation is freezing its arse off, and I'm wheezing from a ten-minute walk to the uni. It's oh so very lovely. Well, at least the weather has been as clear as it has been cold these past few days, so I've had some splendid photography opportunities. Not that I'm quite insane enough to wield the camera while outside. Nay, I did some snapping through windows this morning. Turned out fairly well - although thanks in part to Jussi who fiddled with the settings. I still quite haven't got the handle of that. Anyhow, photos... are after the rest of this post! Ha!

I have yet to start that term paper for DevLit. I should do that sometime this week. The file exists on my USB stick but other than that... I seem to be stuck on Moll Flanders. I can't start working on whatever it is that I need to work on before I've finished that bloody thing, even though it's already been dealt with. What a time to develop strange neuroses.

Well, I do intend to begin writing this article that I need to write for the popularisation of science course I'm on, because the deadline for that is on Monday. There's no time of day set for it, so theoretically I could work on it all day then... but that never really works out. Better to at least get it started.

This continuing procrastination trend of course doesn't help with the mood rollercoaster I seem to have hopped on once again. My emotions have been all over the place this past week. It's almost enough to give me mental whiplash. Stress'll do that to you I suppose. I could gripe about the disappointment I had with an event I organised for Verba, but that would only serve to put me in a foul mood again and I'd rather not have that. Let's just say that it caused me great vexation and move on.

Half past midnight. Hmm. Perhaps I should really prepare for bed. Must update the Daily Poem on Elftown first, but then I can go off to La-La Land.

Ooh, yay! We'll have these same sort of temperatures for the rest of the week! Joy! I'm going off to a small town called Pello this coming weekend to visit Jussi's folks with him, but since it's two hours northward from Oulu, conditions won't improve much. And from what I've understood it gets boring rather quickly there. Ah, well. Books. Books are the answer to my life's problems. They also often are the problem but let's not be too picky on the details.

Frost is pretty.