A bit broken

There's more than one version of breakups and goodbyes and no one can put a number on any of them or judge which one is more painful... In many ways it's an end of an era and i'm not entirely sure what it all means and where it all leads.

Here i am, listening to Angie Jones "Wish I Didn't Miss You", Kansas "Dust in the Wind" and Johnny Cash "Hurt" (why this selection, i'm not sure, but it does the job) over and over again and crying it all out...

"Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, all your money won't another minute buy..."

Naughty or nice

I guess it's not very hard to figure out whether i've been naughty or nice. I got almost everything i'd put down on Santa's list and interestingly none of the presents were double. Even though my family did not cooperate with my friends or vice versa. And, even more interestingly i got something from PM that was not on the list, but which i had only verbally mentioned to N, who had not mentioned it to PM. She must be psychic (psycho?:).

Thank everybody for all the nice presents Luv'em!

Mundane things

They changed the smell of my fabric softener. I bought the same brand, same colour of bottle...and wtf, the smell's different. I am not happy at all, i liked the previous one. And you know i'm a bit anal about it, as the smell of freshly washed clothes is the best in the world, so it has to be just right. Now i'm stuck with this one for a couple of months.

This morning i had another of my blonde moments. It's surprising how "strange" ideas i sometimes get, being the smart girl i am. Anyway, i seemed to have lost one of the metal thingies of the electrical adapter, you know, the 2 thingies plugged into a socket. Well, it was stuck in the socket under my office table. Tried getting it out with everything i had at hand, e.g. using 2 plastic paper clips, a wooden clothes peg etc, but the thingy was stuck and since it was so frustrating i thought i'd try with my fingers.....zzzz....got a slight electro shock treatment:) And the little fcker is still stuck there and i cannot charge my mobile phone.

Pamparamparam

This has been a truly shitty week at work and i'm not just saying it. Even after a massage on Wednesday, i still had the worst stress backache on Thursday. I'd already forgotten how tiring it is to feel like shit. At least it's weekend now. It's gonna be better.

I haven't been grocery shopping for over a week and my refrigerator is totally empty, except for half a bottle of Martini, a full bottle of French cider, a jar of jam and an onion:) I really have to get around buying stuff. I hope writing it down here makes me actually do it tomorrow.

On a more positive note, when i go x-mas shopping with N tomorrow, i only have to tag along, i've got almost all the gifts already, yipii.

Tune the radars, reclaim the modjo

Approximately a year ago i introduced MIKA in my blog. Here. He was virtually unknown back then and i prediced bright future for him. I said he'd be big all over Europe. Well, he's done even better, he's big all over the world. I'm so happy for him.

I would like to introduce another artist and there are many not so well-known talents that i like but none of them has given me the right vibe that they'll be big in let's say a year. Lately my radars are down and i seem to have lost my modjo....

Where should i go to get it back?

Vote for Estonia!

Go on now and vote for the Estonian street fashion blog to win the bloody competition:)!

You can vote every day this week and then Tallinn can be in the final.

Vote here: streetclash.blogspot.com

Make reservations

It's this time of year, when the social calendar is filling up. Concerts, parties, dinners, spa visits etc. It's only 27th of November and here's the list of already booked dates:

29.11 BD party of a radio station ...Edit: An OK event, nothing special though.
30.11 J-s BD and Paul Oakenfold Concert ...Edit: J's bd was perfect, except for one incident, fakit, Oakenfold sucked, sorry, but that's the truth, awful location, bad organisation and wrong crowd.
5.12 BD of a client ...Edit: I didn't go
7.12 probably another BD party ...Edit: Yep, another bd, despite some controversy, i did go. The night lasted til 8 in the morning. Alcohol is (d)evil.
9.12 Bond Gala concert ...Edit: ppretty good! Despite my ongoing hangover.
10.12 a TV event ...Edit: Not bad but not as good as last year. No actually, i still say rather good, thanks to all the dancing at the end.
12.12 SPA treatment and dinner
21.12 company X-mas party
22.12 hopefully another concert

...and then there's the film festival for which i definitely have to find time and then there are the salsa classes every Tuesday and Thursday.

But, hey, there are still some vacancies:) Let me know, if you have some good ideas and i'll book a date in my schedule:)

Salsa in Tallinn

I googled "salsa in tallinn" to see what comes up....not the best overview of things, to be honest. Lot's of outdated and lacking info. Here's how i see things.

If you want to really learn salsa, there's Casa de Baile, check out the training schedules. Thankfully their page is both in Estonian and English.

If you want to just go out and dance some salsa and meet some of the Estonian salsa crowd, there's 3 possibilities a week:
Wednesdays at Kolumbus Krisostomus (Viru 24) - in old town, next to McDonalds.
Saturdays at Casa de Baile (Estonia pst 7) - right across the street from Estonia theatre. They usually have a party there, but check their website just in case there's a been a change of plans.
Sundays at Clazz (Vana turg 2) - in old town, right across from the Olde Hansa restaurant.

Not much, i know, but better than nothing. So, go and salsa away. I'll try to keep this updated.

Gay bars in Tallinn

I think i've been to most of the gay bars in Tallinn. What can you do if they are often more fun than testosterone-smelling, bimbo-filled, bad-music night clubs.

In the olden times there was Nightman. It was a good place to go with a whole group of friends after some other party. No one ever went to NM before 1 o'clock, 2 or 3 or 4 a.m. was more like it. So when the party ended it was light outside and the first trams were driving by. The place was big and the music was excellent and it was the only place where you could see drunken celebrites dancing on the bar counters or falling off the stage. That's because everybody was feeling free and there were no photographers around. NM closed at some point. I don't know the reason but i think the gaylords were getting sick of their crib being over crowded with all the straight people.

After NM came Angel. Angel has a better location and a nice little upstairs cafe, where you can have an after party snack at 6 in the morning. On the downside, the club's too small, but it's still a good venue with, of course, great disco music and half-naked, very fit barmen(boys) dancing on the counter, pouring liqueur all over them. And of course you see many stars and starlets and wannabes, i guess it's always the case with popular gay clubs.

Some friends once dragged me to a bar called G-spot, which was a dump. It looked cheap, had no air and no class, the people were not the best looking and even the music couldn't save the day. I put it down as sociological experiment as it's not a place to return to.

Last Friday i got lured to another gay bar, called X-bar. It's right next to Angel and has been there for ever, but i've never been in. A invited me there for a drink, saying that it was like being in some god-forsaken village bar. It kind of is, you can quite forget you are in the middle of town. It's very kitschy, has mirrors and a pole in the middle of the small dance floor... well, you get the drift. The drinks really were cheaper than in the rest of the places in old town and the music was good, but the place was full of ugly lesbians. And when i say ugly, i'm not being cruel or arrogant. If a woman is overweight, with unattended short hair, no make-up and wears over-sized sports jumper, she can not look good. I wish someone could give a logical explanation to why the male gays are mostly (not generalizing here, but it is mostly) taking really good care of themselves and are prettier than average, whereas the female gays are just the opposite.

Important things that are (not) happening in my life

N is getting a new home. I still haven't bought a new car. My sis has a new job and therefore is staying at my place for some nights every week. I missed my salsa class yesterday because of my boss's birthday. The salsa course is close to ending. I work a lot. I haven't made any plans for holiday, though i need it (i want it).

Lovely London day 3

Ok, i must admit, it's almost ridiculous to write about my third day in London after more than a week has passed but i'm still gonna do it because it was a good day.

After the night in bar of the year and some rather expensive and fancy drinks (preceded by some less expensice drinks at home and some Cava on the tube to town) we were bound to be slightly hung over. That means it's better to keep any kind of compulsory activities to the minimum and just chill. We headed to Camden Town. After a roaring review from N i already knew what to expect but it still blew me away. The diversity of people that you see in London is multiplied 10 times in Camden - from punks to classy old ladies. Even the tourists are varied. And then there's the merchandise - you can buy almost everything - from antiques to sex toys. And let's not forget the merchants - they're a class of their own, mostly with attitude. For instance, there was an old man, 70+, reading a paper, wearing tiny reading glasses, i was going through the old biscuit tins in his shop, unable to decide which to pick. Suddenly the man, without even looking up from the paper, says: "So, is the tin lady going to pick one out or is this taking for ever?"

Anyways, i went there with no expectations and ended up buying a lovely coat (which was a real bargain), gorgeous blue, very high heeled shoes and a necklace. Plus, we ate some excellent African food, some doughnuts and mulled wine and topped it all up with strawberries in white chocolate. It sure was a delicious day.

Superhero interlude

I dreamt i was a superhero. I've always thought my superpower would be flying. It almost was. I jumped from a very high cliff, glided for a while and dived gracefully into a deep blue ocean. The enemy, however, jumped after me and managed to grab me by my foot at the last minute. So my superpower was actually staying alive in water without breathing. The enemy died.

Lovely London day 2

a.k.a Where to meet all the Estonians in London

Day 2 went as promised, under the tagline of heavy shopping. Shopping is most efficient with no more than 2 people. It's also possible alone but you need someone who helps you make decisions or sometimes decides for you. That's why we separated and i got S as a shopping pal. We started off at Primark, which is the new and cheaper H&M and let me tell you, it's a madhouse and i would spare myself from the hassle but since it's so cheap it makes it worth while. This is how you shop in Primark - you see sth you like, you bag it, you move skilfully though the store and collect things, not looking back, you find a mirror and take a first thorough look at all the stuff and pick the ones to buy. You only try on things which can be tried on without using the fitting rooms, since queuing for those is a total waste of time.

Some fellow Primarkers (image from google)

After such an exhausting first stop it was time for a coffee and after that some high end stores. Looking at Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags with a huge Primark paper bag in the other hand was a bit weird but that is exactly what we did. Note to fellow shoppers - when the bag is already chained to the counter that means trouble, or let's say, that means prices over £250 pounds.

In a little boutique an older man was sitting on the floor, knackered, while his somewhat younger other half was trying on fur coats. He looked like a perfect exaple of how tough it must be to keep up with a younger wife. Well, serves him right:)

In the evening we went out to a bar, but not just any bar....to London's "bar of the year" called Lounge Lover, where Madonna celebrated her birthday last year. The bar was rather nice, a total mixture - 21st century meets 18th century meets hunting lounge - but somehow, the mixture worked. The coctails were delicious and expensive. We had a nice waitress, who'd been bringing us drinks all night when suddenly Jazz, the only English-born among us, asked her whether she didn't happen to be Estonian. He later said he thought her accent sounded Estonian. And would you look at that, not only was she Estonian, she was from Tartu and she used to go to school a couple of hundred meters from where i used to live. And then there was another Estonian girl in the table next to us and who knows how many more were scattered around the bar:) As it turns out, you need to go to one of the most expensive and popular places in London to find all the Estonians. Poor post-soviet country....riight...

Lovely London day 1

London's lovely, as always. They've been havin an unusually warm November and a perfect 14 degree sunny day is awaiting for us today. We didn't do much yesterday, just chilled in Covent Garden, met up with S and J for after work drinks and came home after that. I managed to give and interview to some guys from an advertising agency and A claims to have seen Noel Gallagher, even though, he always sees the celebrities when the others are not around. This time i was buying my coffee in Starbucks. So i'm not one hundred percent sure, it's all not happening in his head:)

Today's gonna be heavy shopping, hopefully we'll also be able to take a look at Camden market and in the evening ...party time! S's birthday needs celebrating.

Bedwetters

So looong.....Bedwetters won and i'm going to celebrate...in London, for a couple of days.

9000 calories

It was a lovely Wednesday evening and i had a lovely way of spending it. N and PM came over and we were baking 3 totally old-school delicacies, which taste like heaven but are asolutely evil when it comes to keeping the figure. The sum total of all the three delicacies was approx 9000 calories. Mind you, we did not eat them all:) God forbid! Most of it will be used for journalistic experiment. However, we tasted all of them and got such a sugar rush that we were giggling the whole evening.

So, what did we bake? They're all such old-school Estonian things that it's almost impossible to translate them into english without totally losing the meaning. Like for instance "Kirju koer", which was in a cafe in Estonia translated as "Multicoloured dog":) - a tasty bite consisting of butter, cocoa, nuts, jellied fruit and bisquits. Or a childhood sweet with many names "Sipelgapesa", "Kass Arturi kook" etc - made only with corn puffs, butter and toffee. And last, but not least - the "Walnut biscuits" - walnut shaped (figures, right!) biscuits filled with cooked condensed milk. Yummy!

50 questions, 10 answers

There were those question someone sent me and said I should answer, there were 50 of them. 50 is too many. I picked randomly only 10 of them.

When did you last cry?
A bit more than 2 weeks ago, after my car accident.
Do you untie the shoelaces when taking off shoes?
No
Do you think you’re strong?
Yes, I do. Especially physically:)
Red or pink?
Red
What do you miss at the moment?
Travelling (and food, it’s almost lunch time).
What’s your favourite scent?
Freshly washed bed linen.
Last movie you watched?
Estonian movie “Kuhu põgenevad hinged”. My advice: don’t pay money for watching it!
Hugs or kisses?
Hugs
Sports?
Yes, please.
Name one blogger you’d like to meet in real life.
Belle de Jour

Can you smell your memories?

The smell of fallen leaves on a sunny day - that is my favourite autumn smell. I walked through my neighbourhood this morning. I've been doing a lot more walking lately, with the car gone. The sun was shining but there were almost no people. All of them probably cuddled up at their homes having sunday morning coffee. It was rather crisp outside and it was beautiful. The smell of the leaves was mixing with the smell of smoke coming from some chimneys. It brought back memories, reminding me of my childhood when i used to stay at my grandparents' in the country. And my parents are wondering how i can like living in Tallinn. It's all about which part of the city you live in, isn't it.

"Can you smell your memories?"
"Of course you can!"

My saturday activities

This is what i did last Saturday. It was an event organized by Cosmpolitan, called Cosmo glam market. I sold and bought stuff. It's amazing how much smoother sales go if champagne is included. The evening continued quite glamorously cruising through the clubs with miz E. all-in-all, had a really good time!

Shit happens...twice!

There are days, which are absolutely great, everything goes smoothly and life is a peach. And then there are days, that suck as hard as a street hooker. You can take a wild guess which of these two options was today.

It started in the morning with an incident in the parking lot of my office. A Porsche Cayenne was too big to turn out of the parking spot next to me and took a corner of my car with it. Anyway, the guy was not a complete prick, we filled some papers and he admitted his fault. The only problem was all the hassle with the insurance and the paperwork. I took care of it at noon, went through the red tape and made an appointment at the repair place.

In the afternoon, however, when i was driving to a meeting, i decided not to run the yellow light, as i've already got a warning from the police for doing it once. I breaked. The guy behind me didn't and hit me hard. Luckily i'm fine, and i hope N is fine too, though she is getting herself checked at the hospital as i'm writing this. She has a bit of a headache and i'm pretty sure it's the result of the accident. Fingers crossed that all's good. N was a big help in keeping my calm and dealing with the whole situation. My car, however, is trashed. It's hurt in so many places that the nice insurance guy was not sure it's worth repairing it:( He'll have more info tomorrow.

I'm finally home and having a glass of wine. Haven't eaten anything since morning. Hoping nothing's wrong with N... Stay tuned.

It's salsa time!

Photo: Laura

Dance has always been inside of me. Now it's time to really let it out. I've finally taken up learning salsa! I've got the rhythm but i need the moves, too. I've already had 2 classes and i'm absolutely loving it. So are all the rest of the 50 people or so:) I am very proud of Estonians for such big interest in this latin dance. Let's see how many are left by the end of the 2-month beginners' course. I'll surely let you know when i reach the level when i'm the one dancing in the middle.

If you feel like you don't wanna be left behind and got a little bit of salsa livin inside of you, take a look HERE for more info.

A spot of bother

I've finished reading A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. All through the reading i thought it was an ok book, until the very end. During the last, let's say 20 pages, i actually found that it was a great book! In addition to some very deep realisations i laughed out loud several times. Books've been known to do that to me but it's been a while since "book lol" has happened lately.

George.....my love!

Be the first to take a sneak peek;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na4gyBCLKOM

Why i like autumn

Photos: A

People, please, turn on the heating, feeling the need to wear gloves inside is beyond normal. Now that i got this off my chest i can go on telling you why i like autumn...

...the changes - i love watching the trees turning yellow one by one, occasionally theres some which turn red instead. It's beautiful. Even the gutters are beautiful, filled with colorful leaves.
...the rain - the evenings when the rain is tapping on the window and you can just stay in with a bottle of wine and some good food.
...mushrooms - it's mushroom season and we know i like them. I should go and pick some but right now it's clashing with the second item on the list. Tough call.
...new beginnings - autumn is as good a season as any other to take up new hobbies and generally start something new.
...the clothes - i must admit, summer dresses and flipflops are my top favourite items of outfit but wearing the coats, high heels and stockings is not so bad either.

...that's it for now. Can someone please turn on the heating now!!??

Commercial break

Last week i got myself an Ipod....and i must say...it's brilliant!

Changes

This is how my blog will look like for a while. It should make at least 2 of my readers smile:)

It's not my fault

I have no idea what happened to the design of my blog. And i don't know how to fix it. Have to find a new background template. I'll deal with it this weekend, alright.

21 grams?

How do people become so small when they die? My brother says it's because we're mostly water and people just dry. It must be. Because, as i've heard, the soul only weighs 21 grams. And they age, too. Anybody in a casket looks 20 years or so older. That must be because of the soullessness.

Have you ever thought that unless you've been at a funeral, you've actually no idea what a dead person looks like. It's the live ones that play the dead in the movies.

Do the big fat rappers also shrink in size after they die?

Fragile 2

I've been doing some fun stuff lately. On Friday i took part in making a mini-movie in an old prison. That was fun. And i've been partying and i spent a very nice Sunday. Just lately i was saying how important it is to do the things that make you feel good. Live your life to the fullest. I'm gonna have to repeat myself and emphasize it again, only this time the reason for it is a sad one.

Love your life, it's fragile.

Party, party!

Finally! Friday! Boys and girls! Tonight we go dancing!

People never go to the toilet in the films

Have you noticed how the characters in the films almost never go to the toilet? Another thing that they don't do is eating. Unless it's a film about food or in rare occasions a romantic comedy involving first date. But they never eat in action films, if anything, they have a coffee. Take, for instance, the new Bourne masterpiece. They run around like crazy for 24 hours and when they actually have a chance to sit down in a café they have one tiny coffee and that's it. Come to think of it, those two things may be interrelated. When you don't eat or drink, there's no reason of going to the toilet.

Ricky Martin - Pegate

This man can really shake his booty! Pure sex! There's nothing like a really good latino song once in a while. You can't feel down listening to this music.

Flow-feeling

It's 10 C degrees outside. This is the coldest some countries ever get, even though it's still summer here, supposedly. It's cold and rainy and i can feel the early morning depression sneaking in, the i-don't-wanna-get-out-of-bed feeling.

However, there's a little something i learned at the creativity training. In order to keep your body constantly producing pheromones or the natural in-built happy drugs, we have to keep doing the things that make us feel good. And, from there on, our creativity improves as a side-effect. Which are the moments or what are the actions during which you feel good, when you feel you can forget about time and space...i.e. when you get the the flow sensation?

I wrote a whole list of the things that take me to the flow-feeling. Such as good music (especially live), dancing, travelling, dreaming, sex, spending time with my friends, sometimes writing, sports, even some sections of my work etc.

Negative thoughts are supposed to be a major downer, so i plan to do a whole lot of the things i like, in order to get through this autumn and winter. You're welcome to join me in some of these actions and also tell me what your "flow-feeling things" are!

It's still not better than sex

Went to watch football yesterday. Some people say it's better than sex. Well, i beg to differ. I have watched Estonia play...and lose several times. Even if there is some consolation in saying "It was a good game and we should've won", there's nothing better than actually winning the match. Even if it's winning over a country as small as a peanut. with 9 yellow and 2 red cards, 3 goals (2 of them in our favour), couple of fights and guys taking off theis shirts, it was good entertainment.

Mycology

Yesterday i went picking mushrooms. There weren't many. My god, this is starting to sound like Karl Pilkington diary already. However, the weather was excellent and add 2 friends and a picnic to the formula and you get a great day. Definitely a good way to celebrate the re-independence day. Or as Mr M would put it: "The day you told the Russians to f*** off." For the second time.

...just a little bit of history repeating

High heels, heavy rain and gobbled streets of the old town do not go together. Mental note made. However, i loved every bit of thursday night. TJ was back in town after around 5 years and thanks to that i also got to see Miz M and Mr A again. And, we discovered a new place in old town. Once again, it was an excellent night.

Some people don't dance, if they don't know who's singing,
why ask your head, it's your hips that are swinging

Propellerheads "History repeating"

As the weekend's coming closer...

This is how i spent my last weekend:) Ok, there were more people, it wasn't just me and 2 guys. There was loads of fun, laughing til my abs hurt, lots of board games, a trip to wax museum, negotiations, perfect weather, chill'n'grill... i wouldn't mind more of weekends like the last one.

Could this be my new hobby?

I think I’ve found my own. An extravagant sports/hobby, that I could really be hooked on. I have tried scuba diving but the psychological resistance to breathe through my mouth is too big. Even though the under-water world is captivating and very surreal. I have also tried golf, but golf has too many rules. Even though the whole ball kicking and aiming is good fun.
Yesterday, a friendly TV channel treated us to a windsurfing training. Now this is what I call really good fun. There are only about 8,5 basic rules to get the hang of it. It requires strong arms and legs and good balance, which I’ve got covered. It all takes place on water, so even when you fall, it won’t hurt. There is, of course, the occasional chance of getting hit by the pole when falling off, but that’s why we have arms to cover the head, right.
After the basic training on dry land we were allowed to start catching the wind on sea. I think it took me about 4 times of falling off before becoming good friends with the board and sail. As a general observation – all the girls seemed to master the techniques a lot faster than the guys. It must be the lighter weight and better balance thing. However, it may also have to do with the ability of multitasking:) I wonder if it’s also connected to dancing skills. There’s a lot of dancing around on board when turning it.
The feeling that you get, when catching a good wind and surfing over the water under a glaring sun…it’s almost like flying, definitely the closest to flying I’ve ever felt. I think I spent around 3 hours on water and would have loved to do it longer but the beginner’s exhaustion was taking over. Today my muscles are hurting and I’m tired but I definitely want to do it again. I just wish Estonian summer would last longer!

Estonia is beautiful

Family time

I had the best time with my family this weekend. We, the kids, cooked for the ‘rents. Italian food was on the menu – bruschettas, salad, pasta Bolognese – the whole shebang. (Note to self: Never ever taste fresh chilli pepper, even if it looks as innocent as a paprika!) After the fun-filled meal it was time for the kids to go out and play. As we get older, our ages get more similar. I mean, me and my sister, we’ve stopped aging, of course and our brother is just catching up with us. That means we all get to go out together, talk about loads of stuff and have a couple of drinks. I think I ended up paying for the drinks, being the only one with a steady job. It was either that or we left without paying. I sometimes forget to pay in outdoor places. But I think we still did.

The rest of the night went by, flying. Whenever I go out in Tartu, I always meet so many people I know – be it the old friends and acquaintances or the new ones who also have a strong connection with the town. Stasik was there, our new secretary, Ms. T, was there. Turns out we have some friends in common. Several people who I know through my sis were there, some shadows from my youth were there and on top of everything I made some new acquaintances. When I’m in Tartu, I feel I haven’t aged at all – it’s like going back to the time I left town, which was around the time I graduated from the uni. It’s strange, yet refreshing once in a while.

Bratwurst, Alps and hemp fields

Switzerland – the land of chocolate, clocks and banks….right, and why on earth did I go there, you may ask? Because I had people to visit and no plans for my holiday. And, as Estonian weather is as unreliable as a ….there really is no comparison, Estonian weather is the most unreliable thing I know… then it’s wiser to get away from here for a holiday.
So I bought the ticket and flew over, without planning anything other than 2 nights’ stay in Zurich. All the rest was up to Mr. M (a.k.a. the kiwi), my host, who took really good care of me. We saw the towns (Luzern, Zurich, Stein am Rhein etc) and the countryside and the lakes and Europe’s largest plain waterfalls, took a walk in the Alps, did some camping, ate schnitzel and bratwurst and Lindt chocolate and basically just had a good time.
Switzerland is everything you think it is with a little extras and surprising aspects. It’s very neat and clean and pretty and green – you will not see any rubbish anywhere, all the houses have flowers on pretty much all the window sills. The nature is beautiful with all the variations of green you can imagine and the Alps are impressive. All the cows really do have bells on them and so do the sheep. People in countryside are extremely traditional and xenophobic. Zurich, however, is rather cosmopolitan and free spirited city. For instance you can easily catch a whiff of weed walking on the streets of old town and I saw more gay couples than I’ve seen anywhere lately. Then again, maybe they were all just really good friends:) The countryside also has a few surprises to offer. M took me to one of the best tourist attractions anyone’s ever taken me. A local farmer was growing a huge field of ….really tall green grass. It was as like I got lost in The Beach movie. It wasn’t hidden or anything. I hear that the local policeman lives down the street and is a good friend of the farmer.
Couple of things worth pointing out, what I really liked, were:
- evening and night at the lake Zurich
- the Rheinfall waterfalls
- the clear air in the Alps
- the field, of course
- Mr. M
- meeting up with Mr Acorn
About the last item, I almost forgot to mention. The legendary Swede/Estonian Mr. Acorn is staying in Zurich for a while and of course I met up with him. He’s as adorable as he used to be and it was great to have secret conversations with him in Estonian. There was lots to talk about as he is probably one of the most curious men I know.

B-in-b

I am back from Switzerland. I had an excellent time and will write more about it soon. Stay with me. Btw, i managed to get sick, in the middle of summer, not pleasant at all!

The ongoing weekend

Photo: Mark

The busier i get, the shorter my posts get. I think, for the sake of savouring my holiday, i have to start using catch phrases to communicate. S is in town, Ms. S. We are pretty much living her busy schedule. However, i manage to sneak in some fun things, like a party in Pärnu etc. Photo: Mark
The recap:
- we have driven 700 km and that pretty much covers whole Estonia
- when the weather is good, Estonian summer is the best (pictures will follow soon)
- and yes, i am definitely living thorugh my second youth OR entering some new interesting level of my development
- we've seen several good places for organizing a wedding (not mine) and probably picked one out
- ended up dancing on a stage with the lead singer of Kokolo
- managed to refresh my tan lines
- received one of the strangest compliments i've ever received "Look at that cute nose, many people in LA would pay good money for it."
- had an excellent party

Photo: N

Do it with feeling

Just a bit of a final advertising. It starts today, one of the best parties of this summer.

Take a look HERE.

Mario Biondi - This is what you are

love it how songs return to me. This has been the case with 3 last songs i've posted. This one i first heard when we were travelling in Catalunia. It was the first song from one of Allan's records but it had no name, since it was a compilation, sth like Chill cocktail songs or alike. Now that we were in Tuscany, it was one of the hit songs on our favourite radio stations calle Lavori in corso.
Let me introduce you - Mario Biondi. More about him here: www.myspace.com/mariobiondi

Prison party

I think I’m going through my second youth. I know that I’m not even done with my first one but how else could I explain all this partying and the crazy things I’m doing.

And so that my brother wouldn’t think that this place is a constant party and booze review, I worked last week too, but what’s there to write about, work’s work…and it’s slow right now, the only slow month in the whole year. Let’s enjoy it.

On Friday we were invited to a birthday party. Respect to the birthday child for the venue, most original birthday venue ever. The party took place at a prison (not operating as one any more), but not just a prison, but a prison with a view to the sea. We were outside, watching the sunset through the barbed wire fence, eating snacks, drinking and listening to the DJ play music. (Some pics HERE). At midnight, a bus took us to a party, free entrance for the birthday guests. The party was moderately good, but I did meet VK again after a long while and it was good to see him. At 3 we headed back to the prison for an afterparty, which, for me, lasted til 6, for N til 8 and for VK, as I heard the next day, til 10.

On Saturday there was a very low key party at A’s place, more of a get-together than a party. Said good-bye to the Swedes and just chilled a bit. On Sunday I did almost nothing. However, I managed to write an article and buy the tickets to my next destination and I salute myself for that.

Edit: More pics HERE.

Juvelen - Hanna

I think Juvelen was first introduced to me by Mr.S. I discarded him back then because apart from Hanna all the songs sounded a bit juvenile (interesting selection of words, right:). I still stick to my opinion but i must also say that Hanna is one of the best dance songs lately and definitely worth checking out. And while you're at it, They don't love you is also worth listening to.
www.myspace.com/juvelen

5 men in boxers a.k.a how to get out of a flat in old town

I have to tell you the story about the Saturday night when I arrived home from Tuscany. I got home around 10.30 PM, didn’t even bother to unpack, showered, and headed to A’s place for a party. As mentioned already, the legendary Swedes – Mr. Acorn and Mr. S are back in town for a week. The rest of the night went as quickly and crazily as a Guy Ritchie movie.

The house party was extremely interesting, especially because I was the only girl with 5 guys, khm khm. Those people are crazy, but in a good way. When I went to the party I remember thinking, let them not want to go to a club too soon. I wouldn’t want to go but I want to party. The party was kicking off nicely – talking, drinking and dancing to Juvelen. (I think I have to make a formal introduction of Juvelen, too, but later). At some point all the guys felt it was time for a party in boxer shorts, so off went the trousers. I’m not gonna tell you if I followed suit or not.

Pretty soon it was still time to head for a club, suddenly it didn’t seem like a bad idea to me. Mr. A had the best outfit – he was wearing pyjama pants, a tank top, white jacket and blue shoes. The only problem the club security had with his outfit was that he had rolled the pyjamas up to his knees. “No shorts in our club.” No problem, we roll them down. At least you let people in pyjamas in, that’s nice of you.

The biggest surprise at the party was that the clubs are now smoke-free. They have this awful little see-through closet for smokers. Everyone who exits that thing smells like an ashtray, but my own hair and clothes staid smoke-free. However, during the smoking times smoke acted as camouflage for all the bodily odours, which cannot be avoided in a packed night club, and now they were all present. But even with my sensitive olfactory senses it wasn’t all that bad.

After the party, at around 6 or 7 o’clock we headed for the third Swede’s – Mr. Nui’s – old town flat. The others started to cook some food and I just fell asleep. When I woke up 8.30 in the morning I just had to get home, to my own bed, where I hadn’t slept for more than a week. But boy, has Mr Nui built a little trap for himself. You can get in but you can’t get out! The exit was in an inyard, there were 2 different gates to choose from, both of them closed with no way to open them. What was I to do, other than climb the fence. Imagine that – 8.30 in the morning, old town, early tourists walking by. Walked home, bought some milk for the morning coffee and went to sleep for 3 hours when the phone call from my mum woke me up.

Skinny-babies

I got myself a pair of skinny jeans! Me! Miss “i’ll never buy skinny jeans, they’ll never suit me!” I think the loss of blood was affecting my judgment. I’ll leave the judging, whether they suit me or not, to other people. However, I think I’m gonna have to give up eating altogether.

Blond and pink

Today was a day when i really felt my blond hair and the little pink number i was wearing was paying off when dealing with guys. First, at the car service, where i had my tyre fixed. The service guy pretty much dropped the other customer's (a man, naturally) car part to come and help me. Fixed it, replaced it and i could just stand there and be a girly girl.
Second, cutting the line in a traffic jam. Not intentionally, mind you, just didn't really see the little accident ahead, drove as close to them as possible and a nice man in the other line let me go first when the green light came on.
And as a bonus, a guy flirted with me at the blood donation center. Flirting with a blood donor is never a bad idea, at least you can already be sure he's really healthy;)

Toscana vol 2

Photo: N

Dear readers. I would like so much to write more about my Toscana experience but it takes too much time and new events and emotions are already flooding over with the Swedes back in town and all.

However, to the ones of you who are fluent in Estonian, N has written down everything. We shared a room and all the same experiences, the only difference being that some nights i partied longer and some nights she did.

Read more HERE.

Toscana vol 1

Photo: Nele

Greetings, Earthlings! This time from Toscana! Picture it - a perfect villa, very chill. Good company, great fun. Never-ending fields of sunflowers and warm weather. Could i ask for more?

During the first days i've managed to sing on tape, dance on table, almost strain myself doing a split, performing back flips (flops?) into a pool at night, wearing someone else's clothes etc.

Seen Pisa, Livorno, Firenze, Siena, Lucca........well, it's 2 at night so i can't remember all of it. Have to get back to playing what ever the rest of the people are playing:)

Ayo - Down on my knees

I first heard Ayo on Fashion TV but forgot to search her out. The next time i heard her from a small cafe in Cannes and thankfully the guy sitting in the bar knew who she was. Now let me introduce you - Ayo. Read more about her here: http://www.myspace.com/ayosound

Cannes-Cannes 2.3

Since I managed to not write anything meanwhile, the rest of Cannes experience I’ll jot down in just a few keywords. Since I only got 4 days to recover and live healthy and normal.

- I went swimming from a party with all my clothes on, which did not stop me from partying on afterwards
- South-African people rock your socks off
- Estonian people rock other people’s socks off
- In Monaco you can actually smell the money – the only cars you see are Bentleys, Rolss Royces, Maseratis, Porches and Ferraris and they have yachts which have pools and helicopters on them – filthy rich people
- I have walked through half a Cannes bare foot
- I saw Al Gore but sadly selpt through half of hid speech but I bet he was good
- my luggage was soaked wet when I got home

I know I’m still forgetting loads of things, but forgive me, I am still recovering…

Cannes-Cannes 2.1

Just a short overview of couple of highlights before new info pushes out the old stuff.

The other day, i think it was Wednesday, i crashed a South-African party. Getting good at the party crashing thing. Well, i was invited actually, since i've been bonding with the South-Africans. And i've learned a lot. Do you know more than 40 million people live in The republic of South Africa, 6 million out of them white and they have eleven official languages. Incredible.

Now i'm running out of my internet time and anyway i am a bit slow and hung over. Back later.

Cannes-Cannes 2.0

Everything is 2.0 here at Cannes seminars. Mankind 2.0, Creativity 2.0 etc. It's supposed to show that we're evolving to some new level. What's next year, everything is 3.0?

Anyhow, shortly on the key moments. Tuesday evening there was the opening gala. It was a huge party at the beach where the food tables were abundant but drinks were limited to wine. Note to self, wine may give you headaches. The gala looked spectacular and very high class and even though there was no red carpet for arriving, there were the tourist onlookers who were taking pics of the arriving made up people. I met some really nice people from South-Africa who embraced me as their first Estonian. I licked a golden radio lion and there's pics of it. And i crashed a young creatives' party (separate from the opening gala for some reason).

There's a joke about Cannes festivals. The festivals take place in this order: first it's the movie festival in May, the porno festival in the beginning of June and then the advertising festival. They are arranged in this order because each following one has lower morale.

Live report from Cannes

I have just got an autograph from Sir Bobby Charlton. It's for my brother, of course. For the ones of you who do not know who Sir Bobby is, he's one of the most legendary footballers and currently the director of Manchester United. He's something like an old version of Beckham, i'd say:) He was giving a seminar here.

I have not yet seen any of the Cruise family. N tells me they should also be in town. However, i expect to see them very soon:)

Cannes-Cannes

Greetings, Earthlings! I am sending you my best khappalah wishes from Cannes, France this time. La vie est belle! (Hope i got it right). Right now slight sea breeze is blowing from the open window of free internet area, the sun outside is shining and luckily a boring seminar is on, so i can spend a couple of minutes of my valuable time here.

Yesterday was spent on seminars and workshops and i only slept in only a couple of them. Which is a great accomplishment, considering i have a sleep debt of one whole night because of the tooth ache problem. Lucily it was also cloudy so the beach was not calling me and staying inside was not a problem.

During the day i managed to gather information about the night evets so in the evening we ended up at the Dutch young creative's party which turned out to be the most popular event in town. Dancing and mingling followed by a guitar and singing session on the beach til 4 o'clock. Like i said, life's good!

Tooth fairy

Dear Tooth fairy, please come and take my tooth ache away (but try to leave all the teeth in place). The pain is literally killing me. At least i got me some heavy-weight pain killers. I wonder if the effect is better with alcohol:)

Roisin Murphy - Overpowered

It's been a while since i posted any music here, but now she's back with a new song and i feel the need to share.

Yummy-scrummy weekend

My last weekend started on Thursday and was all packed until late Sunday night. That’s how summer weeks should look like – 3 days of work and 4 of leisure. Ask me what I did not do on this weekend. It was almost like a small holiday.

On Thursday we packed our bags and headed south. One of the TV channels was treating us to golf green card course. After 2 days of practicing under the hot Estonian sun, lots of excellent food and several aching muscles we were the proud possessors of green cards. Now I can play wherever I please to. I’m just not sure I will take it up. I liked the game and it was obviously a very good training for the whole body but there were just too many rules for my free spirit:)

After golfing we staid at N’s grandma’s for a night and day and did pretty much nothing at all. Our bodies needed the rest. Couple of disturbing phone calls from the police (long and unpleasant story with no severe consequences, don’t worry) and a toothache aside, it was a very chill time.
Photo: Mark

Back to the capital we headed then. Only to sleep in my own bed for one night and head to south-west (I just love it that Estonia is so small). Summer capital was on the menu. Appetizer – a relaxing voyage on a sailing boat with basic training (well, almost). Main course – the beach. Dessert – dinner provided by another Estonian TV channel and later watching the Pop Idol final show.

Photo: Mark
Yummy, the weekend tasted good!

Summer wine

I’ve got a couple of announcements to make.

First, I am truly sorry for the people who for some reason cannot be part of our company parties. They are the best. Probably because we organize them not only for the guests, but also for ourselves. And since we want to have the best time, we go the extra mile:)

Second, it has finally started, the Estonian summer. Love it! It means sitting outside til the middle of the night, enjoying that it’s still warm and light outside, going to the beach even after the workday has finished and having lunchtime picnics...

Purification

I didn't know i'd be the girl crying watching Grey's Anatomy...but i am...Whatever the trigger, if there are tears inside, you should let them run...

Placebo

The concert was moderately good. They did not communicate with the audience and it was just a little bit too loud, but the true 16-year old fans seemed to be enjoying themselves. Every me, every you and Special K were the only songs that got me going.

Power nap

I’m not sure how I do it, but each time I feel like taking a nap in the office and lie down on the couch, I always manage to nap exactly 15 minutes. I check the watch every time before and after. Not 18 minutes or 10 minutes, always 15. It usually happens around 2 or 3 o’clock. Can't figure out the logic behind it…

Catalonia travel diary – Catalonia & Castellon

Saturday
We got the car, a bus really – Mercedes Benz, awful blue colour though. Magnus took the responsibilities of the driver, I was almost settled on the seat behind the driver, ready to take a little nap, when Alain decided the most logical of us should read the map…and offered me! Suddenly I am the logical one? Please! No sleeping in car for me then, though I’m the best at sleeping in car. Anyways, I managed very well with the map, even if I say so myself. We were takin it really easy, no plans, no goals, just to look around, chill and enjoy ourselves. The first day it meant taking a look at almost all the seaside little cities. Had lunch in a town called Villanova, where we had a pleasant surprise as a 10-year old boy new Estonia and Tallinn and we got the best map of Catalonia from the local tourist information office. Shopped for food and for the evening ended up in San Salvador, because it sounded cool. Found a camping place for the night. Thought they’d offer us a bungalo or sth similar but what we got was a caravan, meant for the family of 4 but accommodated 6 of us easily. As the beach was right across the street, we took our sleeping bags and food and wine and had a midnight picnic up to 2 a’clock…or so.
Sunday
Sunday we spent some time on the beach but were not patient enough to do it for long and kept on moving. Found a nice little 100 000 city Tarragona (again we first thought it bigger) with amazing view. Oh, and we saw the cemetery. I just have to include a pic of it, it’s so amazing and we still haven’t solved the mystery of how they bury people there. I mean, there are alcoves big enough for holding caskets, so they probably do not cremate them and then there are burial alcoves for a family or a couple. So they put 1 in and if the other dies later, open it and add the second casket!? I am practically the queen of internet and I still haven’t found an answer. For the night we settled in Sant Carles. I promise, we didn’t pick this one in anyway, it’s not like we were choosing some sanctuary places, it just happened this way. We found a nice hostel by the help of local rullnokk (drivin a BMW of course), who only spoke Catalan, but body language always helps and he was nice enough to drive in front of us and lead us there. In the evening we searched out the only open bar in town (somehow places tend to be closed on Sunday nights in small places). Made friends with Brasilian barmaid and staid until they closed the place.
Kox, Maku and Ane:)
Monday
The next day we kept moving and decided it was time to see a bigger city again. Valencia seemed a bit too far but so conveniently on the way was Castellon de la Plana. This finally gave me the reason for enthusiasm. It was an absolutely adorable town – nice houses, small streets, tidy, and the best part was that we were definitely the only tourists in town. However, the fact that it wasn’t so touristic made it harder to find a cheap hotel. But as good things happen to good people we found it right on time. I think it was almost exactly 9 p.m. and this place closed the reception at 9, but I only noticed that later. After settling down we went out on town again. Good luck finding a place on Monday night. We had to settle for a kebab place for a late night snack and were almost on our way back to the hostel…yet took a couple of drinks for the road and miraculously found 2 bars which were open – they were called The Artists and The Comics. I think we chose The Comics. The first thing we saw after entering was a transvestite sitting at the bar. I guess it was this guy’s way of spending the evenings – donning a red dress, a wig and some make-up and going to a bar. I’m quite sure that during the daytime he was a normal guy workin in some office or a shop, because his act was incomplete. He hadn’t even shaved his legs. Well, so we were sitting there and having some drinks, when Allan suddenly noted “Did you notice that woman is wearing a wig.” Khm, khm, excuse me, but he is a man, and that is very obvious:) I blame it on the alcohol because otherwise I worry for Allan, should he ever travel alone, especially in..let’s say… Thailand.
Tuesday
Sob! It’s going home day. Did some final shopping, food for the airport and some delicacies for taking home and off we went. For the way back we took the motorway and that is where we had to pay 3 times in total amount of 23,4 euros. Grrr. Reached the BRN airport, sent the postcards, got on the plane and in no time reached the Stansted in London. Found a nice spot for spending the night, had our airport picnic and got a couple of hours of sleep on the floor. Thank the almighty that we’d brought the sleeping bags with us. The next morning the iron bird brought us back home.

Catalonia travel diary - Barcelona

Photo by: Alain

Tuesday
On Tuesday we arrived rather late in the evening and headed for the flat, which was situated oh so conveniently in the very center of the town – on La Rambla. Rather quickly renamed into Ra Lamba. The only downside was the constant noise coming from the street throughout day and night. I tell you, it’s probably worse than living next to railway.
We didn’t even bother unpacking, found a little corner shop (the Paki shop), bought some food and mixers and had our first welcome drinks. After that we smoothly went on to have our first night on town and walked all the way to the beach where we met 2 drunk girls from Holland. One of them glued from lips to an equally drunk American guy, the 2 of them practically having an intercourse. What was really cool, was that they had some bubbly, real glasses and strawberries. We ate the berries and took off. Met some drunk Canadians on our way home and took loads of pics
Find me and the boys on the pic;)
Wednesday
In the morning Kox and Alasti went to sort out the documents for Alasti’s passport, which, as we discovered in Tallinn airport, was about to expire in a couple of days! Me and the boys hit the city, saw most of the old town and did some shopping. In the evening, I – the mum – cooked some spaghetti Bolognese and it was about time to hit the town again. After wandering around aimlessly we had us directed to a local club called Apollo. It truly was local – the people, the music, everything. For your information, all the guys in Barcelona have the same haircut. Short at sides, longer at the back of the head, sometimes having a couple of dread locks in it. The modern mullet. Being, as we were, three blonde girls, we were getting lots of attention but somehow our boys were not very popular. Probably out of sheer sadness the guys staid up and drank in the flat until 9.30 in the morning. Now, when I’m tired I can sleep through all kinds of noise but it’s rather difficult to sleep when someone keeps coming to you with half hour intervals, shaking you and asking whether it’s okey, and whether i can sleep with them being so loud:)

Thursday
On Thursday, the boys needed their beauty sleep, the girls went out on town and I decided to go for the beach. Did some people watching, witnessed drugs and money exchanging owners, took a nap. Later the boys joined me on the beach, after which we saw some more city close to the beach area, had a drink and tapas at a small bar. Allan fell in love with a random girl sitting in the bar, we saw some more old town, ate some kebab and headed home. In the evening we sort of kind of managed to have a house party with some more Estonians – Pipi, Tommy and Annika – who happened to be in Barcelona as well. Annika and Pipi left on a rather staggering pace.

Friday
Friday was the main sightseeing day. Gaudi buildings, Sagrada Familia, Park Guell. I’d done it all before so it was old news for me, and however beautiful the sights are, I can’t find the same kind of enthusiasm in me, as for instance Allan was feeling. Then again, I guess it’s hard to find Alllan-Allan’s type of enthusiasm in anyone:) In park Guell we bought a couple of those head massage instruments, which the English call orgaminators. The name is rather fitting, I must say. We had some Sangria in a place called Mylka bar and headed home again. In the evening we somehow managed to have another house party, this time around we invited the neighbour over. It was nice to find out she was English, after we had tried to speak Spanish to her on the balcony for several times. Ilja fell in love, again! So we left him home and went on to a party in a club near the beach, called Catwalk. This is where we tried to convince the rather big and angular guys at the door that we were Kimi Räikkonen’s friends and we were on the list. We thought it a good idea, considering the Formula 1 race was coming up in BRN and all. We managed to get the girls in for free and the 2 guys had to buy the tickets. To compensate for that, we bought them drinks in the club. On our way home we found 2 Latvian chicks on the beach but ditched them as fast. Then we found some locals with a guitar and sang a couple of Robbie songs with them.

Catalonia travel diary - Intro

Click on the pic to get a closer look.

So we did some travelling. Let me introduce you to our travel party.
Me a.k.a Tigu a.k.a Mum
Jane a.k.a Dzhein a.k.a Ane a.k.a Alasti
Kox a.k.a Koxi a.k.a Koxi-Moxi
Magnus a.k.a Maku a.k.a Paki a.k.a Paco
Allan a.k.a Allan-Allan, a.k.a Alain a.k.a Ilja
Karle a.k.a Carlito a.k.a Garlic a.k.a Carlos

First we conquered Barcelona, then we took the whole Catalan seaside region and as a bonus, a bit of Castellon region as well. The only things we had planned previously were the flights, the car rental and the accommodation in BRN. All the rest we figured out on the way. The picture above shows you our route and marks the accommodation spots – Barcelona, San Salvador, Sant Carles and Castellon. First 4 days we spent in Barcelona and then started moving south, taking the toll-free roads close to the seaside and having a look at almost all the notable little towns and villages on the way. More of everything in the following posts but first, some important facts (Kiwi, I stole this idea from you, forgive me:)!

6 – number of people friends in the beginning of the journey
6 – number of people still friends with each other at the end of the journey
3 (at least) - number of transvestites met
¥ – amount of consumed alcohol
23,4 – amount of euros charged by the greedy catalan people for driving on their motorways
1 – number of passports with expired validation date
4 – number of my bed partners
0 – number of times any of us had sex
174 710 – population of Castellon city which we thought was at least a 500 000 city and which Alasti thought had a metro:)
1 – number of times we tried to get into a party, claiming to be Kimi Räikkonen’s friends and models
3 – number of people (out of 5) who got in for free after the aforementioned claim

Edit: Sources tell me that the number of sexual acts is wrong, but i am not sure if the sources know correctly:)

Back in business

I've been away, cruisin Catalonia for a week or so. Expect some travel stoories soon enough. First i gotta get some sleep.................

My city is broken

The pics are not mine but taken from the police web site. Can't give anyone credit for them.

I haven’t written anything here. I don’t know what to write. I hate what the vandals and marauders have done to my city. If you can trash your own town like this, it means you don’t consider it your home. So, why are you here?

Hooliganism and stealing is not a way to show your attitude towards the government policies. It’s just bad manners and sheer stupidity.

I hope the Estonians can go on keeping their calm and stay home, let the animals run around, tire them out, put them to cages and when it’s all over – go on with the normal lives.

The city needs a lot of time for healing:(

See post on Eestlastele

For a while I will also be operating on this site www.valior.ee/bacardimojito (sorry it’s in Estonian, aga Eestlased, vaadake järgi!). Because you know I love this coctail.

I will not be abandoning this place either, I promise:)

Day 3 - saving the Swede

We did some more of “taking it easy” – couple of tourist sights, lots of talking and getting updated on each others lives, good food and coffee and cakes. There’s always something going on in Prague. There was a film crew up at the grounds of the castle. And it wasn’t just some local documentary production, but a Hollywood movie shoot. I’ve found out by now that the movie they were filming was The Brothers Bloom with Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo and Rinko Kikuchi, to be released in 2008.

In the evening we decided to not give up of the salsa idea and headed towards another place on our list - Manes. This time we found the place rather easily, however, on the door we were greeted by a androgynous guy with heavy makeup, an inch long lashes, black finger nails….wearing an animal suit. I am not making this up. Guess not a salsa night in this club either.

So we headed downtown. On our way we found a Cuban bar, so it wasn’t exactly a dancing place but they had salsa music. We starting warming up with some mojitos – 5 euros per drink in this bar. The Cuban guy at the door told us that ‘twas definitely the night to go to Tropison. Who were we to argue. Back to Namesty Republiky then:) An yess, this time the music was right and we actually got to dance some salsa. However, let me tell you about the place and the people a little bit. The venue looked like an old soviet style restaurant with a dance floor, it was too light, too big, not cozy at all and really not going along with the real Cuban salsa feeling. There were, however, quite a few people who were very good at salsa. And some really bad. This night all the Prague Cuban guys were in that very spot. And of course there were the Czech women to dance with them.

It’s a salsa place, right, so you expect people to be, if not excellent at salsa, at least have good rhythm and be able to shake some booty. Never in my life have I seen so many women out of rhythm as in Prague:) There was a tall girl who moved as if she were obsessed by some dark powers. Maybe she was high, but would that make you lose rhythm?? It was almost painful to watch her, especially because she kept falling down. And then there was a girl, whose partner was a good dancer and tried really hard to teach her. Hopeless case, I’m afraid. Her hips were not moving and her shoulders were moving too much but in a very wrong way.

The music and many of the dancers were good but the place was getting on our nerves so we moved on at some point, to look for another party. While searching, we found a lost Swede at the verge of old town. God knows how he’d been left behind but all his friends were in some club near Charles Bridge. Boy was he off course. We thought we’d do our good deed for the day and take him to his people. With very lacking info from his side we managed to find the place. It turned out to be a bar/strip club – free entrance for girls but not for boys. So in we went to check whether his friends were there. All we had was the knowledge that they were Swedes and we’d seen a pic of one sleeping friend on the mobile. We see the first group of people…R goes: “Are you Swedish!?” I go “Are you Markus?”. Yes and Yes. You should have seen the looks on their faces! We go: “We’ve found your friend!” The rest of the evening was spent with the Swedes. I did not get any sleep that night before taking my plane in the morning.

It was a good weekend!

Day 2 - feeling the city

The second day was mostly spent chilling. You know I always say that instead of seeing all the tourist sites you should feel the city. We were feeling it alright. Feeling some shopping, feeling some sunburn on our faces, feeling the cobbled streets, the clock tower, the parks and the Charles bridge (Karluv Most). We also got ripped off by the exchange office. Take care in touristic places as they advertise the Euro selling price (like anyone would want to buy Euros in the middle of Prague old town!) and you see the miserable rate you’re getting only on the check and there’s nothing you can do then. Bad karma to the exchange guy!

In the evening we started off by having some drinks with friends and then headed for one of the 3 salsa places I had previously searched out from internet. This one was called Tropison. I can not believe the bad luck we were having with the salsa places! Finding the place was a challenge on it’s own. With the address being somewhere on Namesty Republiky this would be a great spot for orientation tracks. I think we saw the friggin Namesty Republiky from all it’s angles and for about 34 times during the whole weekend. So we finally found the place, took a tiny shaky lift upstairs (sounds promising, right!), entered the place…to be greeted by Turkish music. No salsa that night!

Searching for another club for partying we bumped into some Spaniards who took us to a place called Double Trouble. The place reminded me very much of that place in Ljubljana, where people were touching your ass. Anyways, the mojito was only 3 euros, which is very cheap for a place in centre of town, the music was good and we were having fun. Strange thing about the club was that half naked guys were dancing on the bar and on the tables, though it wasn’t a gay club. They weren’t dancers either, just random guests, some of them unaware that their six-pack has been ingeniously hidden under a thick bolster for years. The awful thing about the club was the non-existing ventilation, which forced us to leave the club at some point as the smoke was really starting to affect breathing and vision.

On our way home, avoiding taxis, 2 guys were helping us figure out the night transportation system. Generally, people were extremely helpful to us in Prague, we were constantly asking about things and even if some of them were the worst in giving directions, they were at least trying:)

Day 1 - The CSG meet again

We made it happen, the Cherry Sensation Girls finally met again. This time, in Prague. I last saw R in June 2006 when I visited her in Spain and Nk I haven’t seen since, what…September 2005 in Slovenia? Could that be? Yet, when we meet, it’s like it was 2 weeks ago since our last get-together. It’s easy and fun, we don’t need many words to make ourselves understood and we don’t need to baby-sit on one another. It’s all just natural and easy. You can imagine how many times we had to explain why an Estonka, a Slovenka and a Spanka meet up in Prague:)

So, Prague, I think it’s a nice city and has a good feeling about it, kind of cozy and homey, a bit like Tallinn with all the red roofs and the old town, only it’s about 4 times bigger. Someone once said in an article that Tallinn is the new Prague, god, I hope it will never be getting as many tourists as Prague. It’s awful, they’re everywhere! I’m pretty sure all the locals are staying away from the old town, at least during daytime. However, the perfect weather made it all good. It was like summer, we actually got sunburned, can you believe it, in the beginning of April. And they have an excellent public transport system, the trams go everywhere, even during the night. When you’re not staying like really in the outskirts, you won’t even need a metro and we didn’t take a taxi once, which is probably good cause from what I’ve heard you get ripped off by the taxi drivers.

The hostel we staid in, Sir Toby’s, was a perfect choice – cheap, yet clean and comfortable and very friendly and easygoing and obviously attracting the same type of people. That’s actually where most of the first day was spent. Just chillin with Nk, waiting for R to arrive, sipping some beer, the one and only bottle during the whole weekend. See, I don’t really drink beer, which is a pity as it was really cheap. We did go to an art museum in the neighbourhood, but it was a waste of time and money.

In the evening we started drinking some Vana Tallinn and The Cherry Sensation drink. Sharing some stories with a French and American guy. When it got dark, we moved from the yard to the kitchen and met the Kiwi gang. I keep saying New Zealanders cause I was never sure if kiwi was offensive or not. I thought it’s like calling a black guy nigger. Guess I learned a lot that night. We ran out of booze so we moved on to the pub downstairs. Then some of the friends of the kiwis showed up and so we had the aussies and a brit in our company. I was the first Estonian the aussies and the kiwis had ever met, so I hope I made a good impression. Aaanyway, it was a very entertaining evening and lasted long, thanks to the excellent company I was having;)

Reamonn concert

The story of a great concert experience a.k.a. how I ended up chatting with the bass player.

So I got the tickets to go and see the German-Irish rock-band Reamonn. Tallinn was the last one on their new album tour list. Since I got the tickets rather on last minute and all the friends I asked to come with me had to be somewhere else, I ended up going to this amazing event alone. However, I think that actually allowed me to enjoy the concert to the fullest. Some of my friends were a bit in darkness about who Reamonn is, but if I told them they’re the ones singing Supergirl and Tonight, they went like, yeah, sure, now I know. Some of them, and now I mean the ones groping in total darkness, were still perplexed and only after I played them one of the 2 songs they went like, oh, yeah, sure, of course I know them.

The venue was Rock Café, which was perfect, because it’s big enough for a loud enough crowd and small enough to still have the more intimate concert feeling. For the whole concert I was dancing right in front of the stage and I could have literally grabbed the singer by his leg, had I wanted to make a total fool of myself. I’ve liked the band since their very first single Supergirl and to tell you the truth I’d have gone to their concert even if Supergirl was their only hit ever, the song has such a power over me. But of course there’s more – Star, Alright, Only when you sleep etc. And I must say, their latest album Wish may be their best ever, at least for me. My favs are Starship, Seprentine, Tonight…

OK, back to the concert. Like I said, great experience – good vibe, good connection to the audience and I guess it doesn’t hurt that they’re as good or better live as on the album. The comments I heard from the audience after the guys finished playing were all superlative: “The best concert ever!”, “I’m definitely buying the album now!”, “Where’s their next gig?” etc.. As for me, I was really getting into the whole feeling starting from Starship, reaching the top of the emotions when Rea made the whole crowd sing along to Tonight and Serpentine and climaxing by Supergirl.

After the concert I lingered for a while, trying hopelessly to reach my friends by phone when all of a sudden Phil, the bass guitarist came back from backstage and I got a chance to thank him for the concert. And that’s how it happened that we ended up chatting for about half an hour. You know of course that the bass player’s always the coolest one in the band, right? We talked about the band, their best concerts, our lives and hobbies and nicknames etc. Sounds like a perfect first date, doesn’t it:)? The only thing missing was a dinner and a couple of drinks.

No more sleep

Now, the situation is following – I have to do whole week’s work in 3 days, plus write a couple of articles AND I definitely need to write about my great weekend here. So the thing is, I’m gonna have to start pinching from my sleeping time. Unbelievable! Bring on the caffeine!

Multitasking

Multitasking – the wonderful ability of doing several things at once. I think nowadays absolutely everybody is multitasking. We probably do it to save time, or at least to have the feeling we’re making the best of the limited 24 hours we have at our hands. Right now I am writing this post, at the same time downloading data for my work, chatting on MSN, eavesdropping on my colleagues’ brainstorming and listening to the radio. Oh, I forgot, I’m also drinking coffee and answering to my other colleague’s questions from time to time.

They say women are better at multitasking but I think men also have to be able to conform to it. I have actually seen a man writing an email and talking on MSN at the same time, however, when I tried to talk to him as well, he was lost. But, I keep on testing how good the men are at multitasking and whether there’s any further development.

Some of the older generation insists on multitasking being ineffective, and that the work results are actually better when doing one thing at a time. I beg to differ. I know that with normal work things I am more effective doing several tasks at once. When there’s something that demands my uttermost concentration, then I turn out like half of the distracting multitasks, put on my headphones, turn the volume up and bang, at least three of the distractors are gone, but I’d still be doing at least 2-3 things at the same time.

In the morning, multitasking’s also a blessing – drinking my coffee while doing my make-up, or brushing my teeth while putting on clothes. I need to do all the things simultaneously coz I’ve pushed the alarm clock further one too many times to pinch some more of the sleeping time. Sleeping and multitasking do not go together, I must admit there aren’t many things I can do at the same time as sleeping. Well, watching my dreams, of course, but that’s about it. Just chilling and being lazy also demands my full attention – no multitasking there. You know, the kind of “just-being-lazy-and-not-doing-s*it”, laying on the couch, watching TV, not even bothering to read, because that actually demands some thinking. I think that during the day I spend all my energy on multitasking and then need a lot of recovery time just being lazy and sleeeeeping a lot. But hey, is there any other way?!