Ch-ch-ch-changes...

As i understand, some people ( i mean S) are getting pissed off that i don't upload my blog. What can i say, i've been a bit busy.

The thing is, there are big changes in my life and all's new in September. I'm starting a new job!!! Almost 6 years at the old place are over. 5 years and 11 months, to be precise. It's time to move on. I have one more day at the old office, cleaning out my desk and making sure i've managed to flfil all the necessary people in on my projects and on tuesday i'm already at the new place. Mind you, it's not such a sudden change as i make it sound here. I've known it for a month now, i just haven't written about it. And i've already had the farewell party.

And, if you want to know what it is that i'm going to do....just give me a call or write me an email and i'l fill you in. As a hint i'll just say that i'm going to change sides and be on the client end for a while, get a chance to whine about the media plans and strategies:) in addition to loads of other stuff. It's very exciting!

Öölaulupidu tegi rekordi!

Kui öölaulupidu läbi sai, tulin koju ja riputasin Koidu video üles. 24 tunniga kogus see üle 5000 vaataja. Väike asi on see, et sellega tõusis ta koheselt kõigist minu videotest esikohale. Suurem asi on see, et see tõstis ta ka päeva kõige vaadatumate "muusika" kategooria videode seas 70 kohale. Ja see on tõesti suur asi, arvestades, et YouTube'is vaadatakse iga päev üle 100 miljoni video ning päevas laetaks üles üle 65 000 erineva salvestise. Erilisemaks teeb selle ka tõsiasi, et vaatajad on tõenäoliselt 99% ulatuses eestlased. Äge, igatahes.

Vaata videot ja tema statistikuid, SIIT.

Edit:

Ohoo, ja siis leidsin sellise video, mis levib ka jutuubis nagu kulutuli. WOW! Samuti Koit, aga ETV salvestus. Nii võimas laul ja nii võõimas üritus peabki maailma jõudma.

Öölaulupidu 20 a hiljem: Koit

Video at around 2 a.m.

It was 20 years ago when we had the same kind of events. People gathered at the night song festivals to sing about the wish to be a free country. It mattered sth then. It was important. I wasn't sure it would matter as much today, but i guess it does. Especially in the light of what's been happening in Georgia. I can't explain the feeling when you have thousands of singers and tens of thousands of spectators and they all sing along to the same songs as 20 years ago and they all still know the words. For one night you can really feel the strenght and unity of a small nation. I may get a bit emotional here but it truly was beautiful.
We were tired and thirsty and hungry but we managed to wait til 2 at night to hear this one song, the most important one.
Happy re-independence day, Estonia!

Olympic fever

I have been totally in Olympic fever. That's pretty much all i've been watching on TV. Not that i's so very exciting because i mostly see the events after knowing the results, but it's just fun to watch, especially swimming, well, to be more precise - men's swimming:) My favourite TV programme is the Beijing Express on Eurosport - one hour packed with day's events plus best pictures of the day in zapping. Oh, the bliss. And Estonia got a medal, so that's good too, we're in the list of medalwinning countries, yey! And Phelps got his 8 golds. Congratulations! And i have a new favourite athlete - Usain Bolt - the Boltman, the Boltergeist! He's just so good to look at. The almost 2-meter guy runs 100 m like it's a walk in the park, gets a new world record and has time to spread his arms, look around and actually slow down right before crossing the finish line. That's some good entertainment in 9,69 seconds!

Edit: Oh, i almost forgot, i absolutely LOVE the modern techical wonders. Like the fact that when the swimmer is about to break the world record, the digital green record line is visible on the screen or when the athletes are throwing the javelin, their last attempt is shown with a subtle red line or the fact that i am on a train right now, watching the live coverage from Beijing as i write this.

Kana-kana-kana...hakkliha!

Believe it or not, but this commercial is at number 4 in the viral spreading ads top of last 7 days.

Spread it!

Long weekend

I've had a really good weekend...and yes, it lasted til today, in case you were wondering.

Tallinn weather

Click on pic to see it bigger.

This is the weather forecast for the next 4 days in Tallinn Estonia, taken from different websites. Can't they agree on anything? Well, forgive me, but i choose to believe the first one, thank you very much! (and i don't care that it's the odd one out, i like that odd one the best)

That familiar smell

I don't want to alarm you, people, but i smelt something this morning. You know how i am - sniffing everything and with a rather sensitive nose. Lately it's been the linden blossoming and some summer flowers and alike. The smell today was different, it's something i haven't smelt since.....last AUTUMN. It was the smell of first leaves turning from green to colour. I kid you not. I think it's the chesnuts that give up first. The smell itself was pleasant but the meaning wasn't. Hang on there, summer, just for a little longer!

Sushi

(This is an older sushi pic by N)

On Friday night the 4 of us gathered to N's place (again!) and we made some sushi to celebrate my news. Sushi takes a small 1-time investment in the material - sushi mat, sticks, vinegar, ginger, soy sauce, wasabi; and a small every-time investment - rice, nori, fish and some other stuff for filling, but all-in-all it's not very expensive and you can make loads of rolls for not that much money. It's way over-priced at the restaurants! And it's so much fun to do it with a small group of friends. Add to that 3 bottles of wine and you have an excellent night :)

(During last week i have visited N more times than did in her old place altogether. And it'll only be a week from her move tomorrow. What can i say, the location is perfect.)

Howdy, neighbour!

N has a new home! Finally! It's been long time coming. I mean, after all the trouble with the previous "potential new home", it's only fair this one came to her as easily and quickly as it did. She found it last week and it was love at first sight and already yesterday we were moving her stuff and having champagne at her place.

She lives exactly 1000 m from me, 90 m from A & K and 900 m from AJ. All i can say is: "Welcome to the neighbourhood. Next brunch at your place!"

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The indian wedding

The indian wedding was not exactly a wedding, as there was no official ceremony, so it was pretty much just a big party. For this one, i hope the pictures will do a great job in telling you the story. In this party, there were 2 couples, in addition to S and J, there were also J's brother and his wife, who'd also already gotten married earlier this year.

The whole preparation process was taking place at J's parents' house and i am not exagerrating when i say there were moments when the house was literally full of people. The brides' hair and henna was done in one room, then there were some women who were cooking some food in kitchen, the TV room was full and there was just awful lot of dashing about.

The party itself was for 400 guests! But i think around 350 showed up. I believe i have never been to such a big private party. And it was all very easy, there were food and drinks and DJs playing music, so there was eating, drinking and a lot of dancing. The brides loked great in the traditional red wedding gowns and i looked great in my blue sari:) Near the end of the party there was a fire alarm and we had to evacuate and at some point there was a near-fight between 2 distant relatives and one of them was arrested. Well, you know, the normal party:)

The warm-up party

Photos by: Me and PM

After the big day we had just a couple of days “off” and then it was time to head for England ang get ready for the Indian wedding. Thursday night was for London and me, PM, S and P went out for a meal in Camden Town. For some reason we talked about tape worm ang maggots during the whole meal while eating stuff which kind of looked like our conversation topics. That didn’t ruin our appetite, though:)

And n Friday it was time to head for Bradford, where J’s parents live. We only managed to get out of London half past 4, as S still had to get a new Brazilian visa to her new passport. Did i mention she managed to lose (misplace) her passport just days before the wedding?! Anyway, this whole business was a bit of a stress matter but finally it worked out fine.

But it meant we only got to Bradford at around 8 and had 10 mins to get ready for a party at a restaurant. This pre-wedding party was just for closest family and friends, meaning there were approx 100 people present. I can’t believe how warm and welcoming this family is. Each one of them who’d been to the Estonian wedding came greeting and hugging us. Even if we hadn’t even spoken. You just feel a lot of love when spending time with this family.

We pretty much just ate, drank, mingled and danced. And then there was this traditional thing where the girls had to dance with a whole chandelier with candles on their heads. This was for good luck for the couple. You can see on the photos that i tried it too.

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I just had to add this pic too. Here's the best man making the maid of honour drink. Classy.

The wedding

The whole big day went by fast and smoothly. I had no time for eating til the wedding dinner. You’d think that there’s not much to do with everything organized already but you’de be surprised. I was running constantly between upstairs, downstairs, bride’s room, groom’s room, my room, outside. Answering the questions of the restaurant people, the video guy, the photographer etc.

And then it was time for “the moment”. S and J both looked absolutely gorgeous and they were ready on time, so was the lovely flower girl and the ring boy and so was i and the best man. It rained a bit, but even that didn’t matter. It was beautiful! My respect also goes out to the photographer who was doing an excellent job. And before you knew it, it was time for the dinner and the party. Soon after the speeches were over and the dinner ending, i had a bit of a stress-relief-pressure-drop and i believe i got a bit drunk. Some might say it’s an understatement but i’ll argue because i was still fit enough to answer the calls of the fireworks’ people and get that sorted. But i’m still glad P took me to bed before i was totally out of it. It was a good party.
(Photos by N)

And there it was then, S and J were married! Congratulations!

The weekend before

From Friday on it all went non-stop. People started arriving from all over the world. J’s family from England and friends from even as far as New York and New Zealand. That means, even though the Estonian wedding was only on Monday we had a full program for the weekend before.

On Saturday there was dinner at restaurant Elevant. Sadly there was one small hickup, meaning that 8 of J’s relatives had missed the plane, ooops!, but all the brotehrs and sisters and their families and most of the friends were already present and it was a very good night. Knocking back vodka shots with J’s brothers till 2 at night was probably not the best idea, though:)

On Sunday we had the compulsory guided tour in Old Town and i must say it was quite good to take part in it and actually hear some things about my own city. The family had also arrived and the weather was brilliant. In the afternoon it was spa for the ladies and go-karting for the guys. Spa was far better choice for a hangover day, i’d say. Then there were some more wedding preparations in the evening and off to bed to be ready for the big day.

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Photos: Oleg Hartsenko

The hen night

Photo: Oleg Hartsenko

Now that the 10-day wedding marathon is over it is time to reflect and look back. It all started with S’s hen night on July 11th and ended with the Indian wedding in England on July 19th. I’ll try to break it up event by event and experience by experience.

The hen night

When we decided we were still going to organize a hen night for S we knew it wouldn’t be some kind of stupid thing, which always ends with a bunch of drunken girls and the bride humiliated because she has to sell condoms on the street or watch an ugly stripper dance. No, we wanted an event, which all the girls would enjoy, especially S. So it had to be something classy. The org-committee – me, N and PM – came up with an idea and negotiated the prices and cooked the food and got the drinks.

We decided that as a present to S, all the girls would shoot a calendar and do it in a photo studio with a professional photographer, make-up artist and necessary props. Something a little bit in style of Calendar Girls without the nudity (well, optional:) and a little bit in the style of America’s Next Top Model without the elimination.

We had champagne for more relaxed and natural photos and some snacks to keep us energized. We had the greatest make-up girl and the nicest photographer and it was all a proper photo shoot. The event lasted more than 4 hours, instead of the planned 2 hours. I guess it wasn’t just us who was enjoying it but also the photographer;) S had no idea what was going to happen, she only knew the address where she had to show up Friday evening at 8. And, she was quite positively surprised, even if I say so myself. We all had a great time and the pics came out really nice. Afterwards we made our way to town and met up with the guys and just chilled.

Signed, sealed, delivered

"Ooohhhh...,"she let go a sigh of relief and got drunk at the wedding party when the official part was over. "She" being me, of course.

The first one from our closest gang has married and it was a wonderful wedding indeed. The bride looked gorgeous, the groom was calm and the party was excellent. There were no major hickups and the guests were happy.

And another stressful matter is all better now and so i am happy and don't even care about the awful weather outside.

I will write more about the whole wedding business when i get some photos.

Hernes is busy

Busy times! A wedding to be had and loads of other stuff on my mind. Stress!