Right. Tracon. As you know or may have guessed: I didn't get to go. I did push off the final decision until the night/morning before the supposed trip, though I'm not sure wether it was "not feeling so bad" or "plain stubborness" anymore.
After that... I tidied up the house a bit after making some painfully slow progress on Lyon. Had to call it a day too soon, I couldn't keep up with all the required thinking and planning. Went back to sleep (coma, more like) and tried to recover from the flu or whatever.
After a few days of rest and slow recovery (mostly in the form of RuneScape, which by the way is awesome despite the reputation it has here in Finland, and Suikoden)... well, I'm not completely sure to be honest. Something or other happened, I remembered I was supposed to be in Kajaani visiting my grandparents, started packing and hopped on the first bus. The way there was okay; horribly hot, but since the back seats were all free and no one seemed to be going there, I got myself some shade to lie down in. I'd grabbed the Lord of the Rings trilogy (In Finnish, sadly. The translators did a fine job, I can't complain... but. I mean, just look at the damn thing.) so I'd have something to read in case I got bored, and well, that's how I spent the bus ride.
Now that I mentioned Tolkien... I'm pretty sure I spent one of the "rest and recovery" days with Kazume-chan and ended up watching the first movie (These versions aren't even my fault. ?) of the trilogy as well. That must have been the reason I decided to read the books again so suddenly.
Anyway. When I got to Kajaani, I found out there was an event of sorts going on. Once again. I always seem to drop by at times like those. This time it was "Vihreät Niityt". Not something I'd take an interest in, but it meant a whole street was closed down to make space for a large amount of stands, shops, tables and stuff of the sort. I had so much fun~ I've always liked shiny stuff (Even when I went through my "ew, girly" phase: I just pretended they were magic crystals... no, not every single time.), but I'm this interested in jewellery - especially rings - only while in my Tolkien quick-phases. Or whatever I should call them. >__>; Every language I know seems to be lacking the word.
Some of the rings were absolutely beautiful. (I didn't buy any; it's not like I could wear them anyway. Even if I didn't hate my fingers. I'm not too big on jewellry.) I have pictures, but I doubt the keeper would like me spreading quality photos of her merchandise... So I'll just spam you with the stuff I did buy.
Such as this pendant - the bead is completely transparent, except when the light hits it the right way and it just... flares up.It's from the same stall as the best rings; I felt I had to buy something after practically living there for a while. They had a lot of these with beads of various colours (shiny stuff *w*) and different creatures wrapped around them. The most common seemed to be a more western kind of a dragon with a sea blue bead, but they had monkeys and tigers as well. And scorpions. I just liked that one.
And this strap - I wasn't sure wether I should buy it or not, but when I looked up... the salesman was the spitting image of Remus Lupin. I couldn't just leave after that.Though my time there was fun, I couldn't just forget everything. I started to really realize what it means to be sick for a month: all the excercize before was for nothing. I'd barely just got the hang of it, and suddenly... everything was wiped clean. To be honest, I'm still not completely back on track.
I did swear to swim every day, though, and apart from a couple of really-not-my-fault days, that's what I've done. (I bike every chance I get as well.) It's not even really work, I've loved water ever since I was a child. Maybe a little too much. Still, getting to swim this often (especially with the weather being what it is) is just... amazing. I could live in the water and be happy.
... but, uh, I still can't really... swim. >__>;; (I'm kinda trying to learn but it's not as easy as you think.) The only actual style I can do is the most basic and most tiring of them all. I learned to move well underwater before I learned to 'swim' anyway, so, uh, yeah. I can float though, it's the easiest thing I've done since breathing.
So I either keep my head below the surface or stay still most of the time. XD; In any case: I love being in the water, more than I can put into words.
We spotted the sign to the stables I used to go to for camps, Kajaanin Hevosharrastekeskus, and I realized just how much I miss being around horses. A few minutes later I found myself in front of the main building arranging for a lesson. Seriously, grandparents are a bit too eager to pamper us. ;w; Not to mention my grandfather; he's unlike anyone else in his kindness. From what I've heard, it's how he's always been. I've met countless 'kind people', some amazingly so, but he seems to be in his own league.
Wait. The lesson. Yeah. The best chance was the one late in the next evening. It was introduced to me as an advanced class of show riding, meaning jumping over fences. Let's just say it had me worried; I did always like those classes, but I'd never specialized in it or encountered high fences. I had some luck for once, though. Turns out I was the only one who showed up at all and I got to go to the woods alone with the instructor. So in the end, I got to do exactly what I'd always liked the most. Naturally, none of 'my' horses were left at the stables, but they still had quite a few of those I'd at least seen in my time. I got one of them, Hallikainen.
I admit, the whole thing made me want to get back to the hobby. I'm afraid I don't have the time for that, though, and I'm not that willing to make any by cutting down on other things.
