Summer - with Ruu II

Not the best time for me to be writing anything (I'm afraid of the possible undertone), but well, it'll be all over with this one. I also can't remember the exact order, so I'll have to list everything randomly.

I took a train from Ylivieska to Oulu. I barely made it in time; I had to wait in the line for way too long. For some reason, everyone had gathered to buy tickets for all their trips for the next month. And, of course, no one would give way to us even when they heard the announcement "-- train x now arriving on track 3 --". Panic wasn't far.

Then: "Train x is late." Phew. o___o I never thought I'd be this glad to hear that.

Otherwise, this last trip had a promising start. The train was fairly quiet, I had my MP3 with me and there was enough room for all of my stuff. I had a lot, even if I'd forgotten half of it back home. orz;; Ruu was at the station waiting for me. ♥ We walked and talked for a while, we even had time to stop by Fantasiapelit ( the artbooks... ;_____; ) on the way to her mom and the car.

Then. We went to the sea. More specifically, she drove us there on her scooter while I sat behind her. Barefoot. It was one of the first things we really did besides talking and watching music videos. You probably don't even know how much that meant to me, having so many of my favourite things rolled into one. I felt a bit guilty, though, I was sure she was awfully bored. But I'm glad I got to swim and see the boat, which really was impressive. Her dad did a fine job~ The dogs were cute too. Just like the grey little furball that tries to bark me up a tree whenever I dare set foot in the house. .__. Oh well, he hated me less this time.

We met up with my old neighbour as well. It's slowly becoming something of a tradition, going back... well, two visits after a particular conversation on messenger. x'3 We usually talk about 'girl stuff' - more than I do in any company. It's confusing, but extremely fun. I can't even explain it all, but for some reason, the two of them let me be another side of myself without making me forget who I am. Everything I do with them just somehow comes naturally to me, and we joke about things most wouldn't bother mentioning.

... not to mention they're two excellent examples of how I'm different from my friends. I don't think I'll ever forget the view in the ice cream café. XD ♥ I'm sorry, but you're adorable.

We stopped by Zeppelin one day. What were we looking for, exactly..? Or were we? I only remember I'd promised to go to an Arnolds café with her earlier. Other than that, we "shopped" for clothes and went around the bookstores. I found a sale... but ended up not buying them. How could I have carried all of them home, anyway? ;______;

Ahh. I still kind of wish I'd bought them.

If my memory isn't failing altogther, it was after this that we went to see Ruu's aunt. And uncle (he tried to trick me .__.). And cousin. And their dangerously hyperactive tiny dog, aww. XD Such a cute kid. We were only supposed to drop something off, but ended up staying for a bit, chatting with the cousin and eating ice cream. I think we also borrowed a movie. Oh, going fuzzy again. ,__,

We did watch a movie, at least. Later. At night. The Crow, something we'd been talking about before when Ruu showed me a picture of Gackt 'cosplaying' the main character. I loved the movie. I knew nothing of it before, as usual, and really enjoyed watching it.


At some point, we visited Oulu as well. I went to look for Tolkien's books (again) and some fabric destine needed for her next cosplay. I had no idea finding black fake fur was so... well, impossible. .__.;; I blame the season. Didn't find the books either, but I already knew to expect that. Other than those, we shopped for a while, bought candy, a milkshake and an ice-cream. Discussed weird things and read a book in a store. As usual. It was a fun day~

She even let me drive the scooter. *______* It gave another slight push to getting my license. For motorcycles, though, since I grew up with the one we have 'in the family' - meaning it belongs to my father and will go to me at some point. An older Suzuki Savage, from when bikes weren't all either plastic or ridiculously bulky.

I couldn't stay with her very long. Even if it wasn't rude to the rest of the family, I needed to get home before school started. So yes, unless I forgot something big, this marked the end of this summer. Back to the routine, then.

Even though I've had some extremely bad luck this year, I also got heaps of great memories. It's all thanks to you people. ♥

Summer - Ylivieska

Almost completely copy-pasta from a file saved just a little before I wrote the thing about the book fiasco.

I went to see my other grandmother right after the weekend. I squeezed into a car heading to the right direction. The three children in the backseat, including me, spent around 40 minutes watching Doctor Who on my laptop at the beginning. And, unfortunately, proved my fears of the battery slowly dying right. Poor little thing. ;__; Uh. Still, the parents seemed to appreciate me silencing the siblings as well. No, it's not that I was the oldest, brothers just don't usually survive closed spaces without some bristling.


We stopped by the Vaskikello restaurant after driving for a while. So many bells... o__o You'd think that's nothing special, at least I did, before a chance to see it. I'd never been particularly interested in the place before, and yeah, I was like a kid in a candy store. The bells on the outside were impressive, no doubt about it, but what I really fell in love with were the countless smaller bells inside the restaurant. Ceramic bells, golden and silver bells, tiny bells in clusters, bells made of glass (nice and sparkly)... I'm almost glad my camera was so low on battery, I wouldn't have been able to get out for hours.


Grandma put us to work the moment I arrived. I ended up helping my uncle and aunt trim the hedge... and getting eaten by bugs in the process. I have a solid line of red along my stomach, not to mention my poor legs... orz;; This is why being allergic to everything isn't fun. Turns out we had some medicine in the house at least, so I've been coping. I didn't get assaulted like that again. Seems like the mosquitoes live in the hedge and have, like us humans, deemed the weather too hot for longer trips. The flies don't seem to mind, though, and I'm just glad I have no need to mind them either. Lovely little things, not leaving itchy blobs everywhere.

So yes, the weather. It's been way hotter than usual this summer. I thought I smelled a storm the moment I got out of the car, but it didn't rain until late at night. Most of the time it's been hot, sunny and humid without any rain. This house is pretty unbelievable, though: We have it nice and cool in here. Of course, she doesn't mind the heat and works all the time. >___>

Then, one night... we had a real storm. I don't remember ever hearing thunder like that before. When I woke up, I thought for a moment we'd been hit... except I hadn't seen the flash, and when I counted from the next one to the following rumble I realized it wasn't even close. Not to mention the speed. It was far gone soon enough. I don't know wether to be relieved or disappointed.

Although it has been raining a little the past couple of days.

Regardless of the weather I've been swimming every day. And guess what? 8D I just learned to swim! By myself and all. Now I can swim more quietly. And I can do longer distances without stopping to float on the way. XD;

It's most likely because I had enough time to practise on my own that one morning. We went straight from the gym to the beach and surprise - no one else there at such an hour. I was very happy about it. Swam and floated around for over 30 minutes. Then I even got to do jumps for a while~

It's the night before my departure now. Oblivion just crashed on me for the first time. After finishing Suikoden, that's what I've been playing. My laptop just proved its worth all over again, you wouldn't believe how well it's been running. ♥ And oh, I just adore the game. And all the references.


Sure, it has clumsy bits, but. But. The views. I can't even limit it to 'graphics', it's amazing. I still remember that one sunrise... And I didn't even have any mods (but now I kinda want to). And and the weather changes. And months and even weekdays.


On a less "ohmygod it's so PRETTY" note: the saving system is really neat, the game has so much to research and playing in first person is easier than in other games.

I have to admit, I do get the occasional urge to pick up flowers while taking a walk. >__>; (By the time I wrote this, I'd been playing non-stop for a while.)

The next trip will be to Oulunsalo, the area I was born in. I can't exactly regret giving the ok to the move from there, but... I do miss the place. Maybe not all the people, but I got attached to the spot of land. And our house. I really miss it. The new one might be more practical, but it's not unique at all. I liked the old one and its oddities

Another thing I miss is the sea. Our family was never one for boats, nor did we go to a real beach often, but I could have gone to see the shores every day if I'd wanted to. It was so close. And the air; every area has its own smells for every season.

That's that, then. Not sure when this'll get posted and wether it will be together with the previous or next report, but... About time to get it wrapped up.

Summer - Pahkat

a.k.a. when I proved I can't do anything normally by finally managing to make a stone skim the surface neatly... the stone just happened to be a freaking brick.

So then, Pahkat. Or PAHKAT... pahkat? Umm. I don't think I've even seen it written. In any case, it's a combination of the initials of the founders. The... thing is an annual gathering of old friends [and their kids (and their spouses and/or kids, eventually, though I'm not sure wether all the kids want to continue the tradition our parents started)]. Our families live all across the country, so there's no point in having a 'permanent' place for it. We take turns organising it, though everyone participates in some way. We meet up, hang out for a couple of days and (mostly) nights, eat great food and go home. It's always fun, even if 'the girls' decide to skip more ofen than not these days.

The location is always somewhere relatively remote. By a lake. Or a river. Or something. This time, we actually had two buildings. They were rented out separately, but didn't really have much in between them. Even if there weren't so many of us, we thought it better to book both to save potential neighbours.

That place was just something else. I loved the 'main house' to bits. ;w; It was like a huge maze~ Doors everywhere and more rooms lined up you'd think possible - until you got to the kitchens in the middle. You could go anywhere from there. All in all it must've had over ten doors leading out. And big windows and enough bathrooms, which is pretty much a miracle.

Me and one other 'kid' slept in the other building, however - it had lovely windows too. Surprisingly maze-ish for a cottage that size, too. Then, there were storage buildings. Both at least partly abandoned - missing doors, walls or floors. Alternatively, with doors nailed, bolted and otherwise jammed shut on both sides. It was way awesome~


I had to climb through collapsed shelves to get anywhere from the main door. Then I got to a bigger room that... made noises. Creepy. Ee, it was so cool~~

Then we (me and the oldest boy) stumbled into the smallest room. It was so completely isolated not even dust could gather. The whole building must have been left alone for decades. We found enough materials to build three saunas, two barbecue stalls and various other things. >__> It was just bursting with unwanted things.


... did I mention I like exploring? I'll just shut up now.

So yeah. If we're far away from others, no one has to look their best. The adults also like to drink. And then sing. And talk and play guitar and laugh and cry. Us kids... we bring the PlayStation 2 with us every time. My laptop, too. It's fun, sure, and since there were four of us (three ditched) not everyone could play. This naturally leads to discussion. Of games, often. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (which I got from the boys then), Guitar Hero, Left 4 Dead and Assassins Creed for the most part. It's sad, really, I haven't even got to play all of those yet.


When I did play, it was either Guitar Hero Metallica or Ape Escape 3 (couldn't bring anything you'd need to focus on, having to take turns and all). I'd forgotten how entertaining that can be. @____@ And the music, uhh, it stays with you for weeks. Some way or other, the combination of those, Doctor Who and Which late at night led to the most confusing nightmare comedy I've seen in a while. It involved a giant zombie ape with crazy tank strength down in the sewers. >__>; It smelled bad. I think I laughed out loud when I woke up.


I spent time with the adults as well, of course. It's just not that easy to keep up with them when they've been drinking (and your aunt is trying to get you to drink cider). But well, they have some style. I've never seen them throwing up for all this. X'3

So I sat down near someone and the discussion drifted to swimming. Then... I got an offer. An old one repeated, really, but with something new thrown in. I did mention I liked water,
right? That someone often goes diving and, nowadays, works in Thailand at times. He invited me to go see him. Again.

So now I was seriously considering going there for a week or so to get a diving license, either to 18m or to 30m depending on how long I'd be there. This 'someone' is the one who brought up the idea in the first place and later made it possible, he even offered to find me a place to stay and pay for the course if necessary (so all I'd need to do would be along the lines 'run when your mum's not looking'. She didn't appreciate the idea very much). The offer is likely to become a yearly tradition unless I get to go or have to flat-out reject it. Both of which I failed to do, thanks to my parents.


I've wanted to be able to explore underwater ever since I was a child. I hope one day I'll have a real chance.

Summer - guests (= time-in-between)

(Originally written at 1 AM a few days ago)

It's funny what you can do to keep your mind from wandering. Listening to music, singing along and beating my Tetris highscore at the same time wasn't even nearly enough, so here I am, magically overcoming my fear of writing. Way to go.

Now we get to the part I'm not even sure about. I think I was ready to hop on the first bus to Ylivieska (from where I would've continued to Oulu) right away, but stuff came up and oh hey, now we have guests coming. Messed with my plans pretty bad.

I think it was around this time I met up with ttuw as well. What happened, anyway? My memory seems to be failing me. I remember searching for Tolkien's works in English at every second-hand bookstore I could find, eating something and sitting in a car (she was driving) but I've lost most of the details. All I remember clearly are the conversations.

I hope this isn't permanent. ,____,;;;

Um. Yeah. I didn't find the books. I went to the library with dad later so I could at least read them. We took Bilbo's Last Song, The Children of Húrin, The Silmarillion and The Hobbit. ♥ Old, beautiful versions. I wish I could just go and buy them...


The visitors. They were family, from Oulu. Two adults and four children, the eldest a girl around my age. They didn't stay long, they were just here for the third child's baseball camp. We did get to spend some time together anyway, playing Guitar Hero World Tour and discussing 'this and that', including manga. Apparently, the first child is pretty much running a club for the local younger 'fans'. Not one she started or has to collect funds for, but still. Huh. I had no idea something like that was going on in other towns.

My memory really is all fuzzy. I wonder what I forgot. Or how(/why).

I suppose I can edit this later. I can't and won't post anything until I'm done with these, so it's about time these got out.

Summer - with Ruu

Note (to self): these aren't always written in the order they happened, so I might get something wrong. It's enough to remember most of it for now.

Well then. Cultural differences. It's relatively common for people here to have (or at least know someone who has) summer villas. saying it like that makes it sound too impressive, though, seeing as the very very literal translation would be 'summer cottage'. Every teacher recommends the word 'cabin', but that makes me think of something even less impressive. Whatever they are, my family had one booked for a week. (Just like any other year, except we had Ruu with us. To be honest, she was the only reason I didn't just skip the whole thing; I don't exactly enjoy spending time with my family.)

Luckily, this time the place actually was as house-ish as 'villa' suggests.

Not specifically built for the purpose, but an old house. A whole house, very much livable even now. It had enough room for all of us, a nice yard with forest to three directions and a sauna by the lake. The 'beach' was... well, it could've been worse. Really. It just hadn't been visited often enough, which meant it got really slimy a few meters into the lake. Nothing dangerous, though, and it didn't get in the way while swimming. Well... not when we didn't get head first into some plant thing right in the middle of it. Still. Not poisonous.


We spent a lot of time indoors. The weather just... ugh. It was hot. Horribly so. We went to sleep late and didn't really wake up until noon. Ruu spent even more time sleeping than I did, she could sleep through the sun trying to boil us alive and take a nap later. I pretty much finished reading the book during those times. Mostly we just kept lazing around anyway; we watched anime on my laptop, read manga, listened to music, roasted marshmallows and drew. Or scribbled.

Second floor. One of the few pictures with no extra people in it. (We could climb out of that window!)

The cottage had a boat. A very basic rowing boat for up to four people. Ruu and me took off with it for a while and went to explore the nearby island... thing. It was tiny, that's for sure, but someone had made a fire there anyway. We didn't go very far, someone was cooking for us already and getting the boat to stay still wasn't easy. There was barely enough rope to tie to the tree closest to the water. We got more later when we visited our house with dad. After that, we had the chance to go further across the lake.

... That was amazing. ;w; ♥

Simple, really, but it had been such a long time since I last got to do any real exploring. We got across our side of the lake, to an inlet of sorts, went through and started looking for a place to leave the boat. For whatever reason, someone had left a makeshift raft on the shore. We followed the path from that spot and eventually got to another cottage. The old couple there were rather surprised to see two girls pop out of the woods. X'3 We asked them where we were and, following the instructions, continued along the road for a bit. We found an abandoned (or very close; the place was shut off with a chain across the driveway and the yard looked more like a meadow) group of houses and an old sauna by the lake. And a tiny frog. We turned back after a while and took another path to our boat.

It doesn't sound much like an adventure when simply recorded like this, but that's the point. Anyone else remember those old books for young boys? Books of adventures, small things made big the atmosphere? Mysterious paths, hideouts, rafts and independence?

... Anyone else noticed how no one writes them anymore?

I suppose they wouldn't be very popular. Instead, the books for that audience today are easy to read, simple, with less pages than I would have considered a book worth reading... stories of football, computers, skating and the like. Nothing wrong with those. I just wish someone would still be willing to read the old ones as well.

... you know, this isn't making any sense.

Anyway. We also watched 'proper' movies. Like Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The first one is the best. The others... aren't bad, but they can't compare. ♥

Even so, we had to finish the trilogy when we got home. Meaning Ruu and me, the others stayed at the cottage for some more days. We got some time for ourselves, as well as a chance to visit Joensuu before she had to go back home. I don't even remember how that idea surfaced, but we decided to bike there instead of taking the bus.

... good idea, healthy too, but just you try to do that in that kind of temperatures fully clothed to keep from getting a tan.

Oh well, the day was pretty fun anyway. Biking back was a lot more fun in the evening, after we'd already eaten ice-cream, shopped, bristled at some drunken racist-jerkface trying to pick a fight with innocent people, gone swimming with people (including Kazume) and the sun had... well, not set, it doesn't do that in the summer. Gone lower, in any case. I wish I had more photos from that day. We discovered an area that looked absolutely stupid on maps and absolutely beautiful in person. And ducks.

Made a new kinda-friend too; I'm sorry, but I don't really know when it's appropriate to call someone 'friend'. Still, we had fun.

The next day Ruu had to leave. We met up with people, but didn't have much time to spend there. I did stay in the city after she left, though. I'd planned on going home and being miserable, but hell, why not. I was invited after all. Ended up having fun, again, we played football (bad idea), went swimming in the river in the middle of Joensuu and slid down a soap slide thing behind a church.

... What was it anyway? >__>;

Summer - Kajaani

Long, boring and not at all important babble about things that have been going on. Then again, I did give a fair warning earlier.

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.

The Better Part of My Christmas

I meant to write about this ages ago. Somehow I always missed my chance, ran out of time or found something else to do. I always have trouble writing these things, especially in the beginning, but I figured I should just do it for once and see where it goes. Writing tends to get easier after a while.

I stayed home for most of the Christmas vacation, as usual. However, this time there was one thing I really looked forward to: Ruu was coming to visit. To make things even better, my family went to see my grandmother, leaving the whole house for us. Can you guess what that means?

Living room invasion, of course. 8D

We had space. Amazing. We didn't need to stay in my room if we wanted to talk freely, we could stay awake, eat and sleep whenever we wanted to. With some help from my dad, we even managed to connect my laptop to our TV. *___*

Which brings me to the thing that ruled most of my vacation and is taking over my life even now...

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.
(Choosing just one picture to represent the whole show is impossible. Now excuse me while I take the easy way out and slap the one that looks the most official at you.)

The one day (night, actually) we didn't spend watching Code Geass was when Kazume-chan came over. We somehow managed to pack most of the random ideas, both good and bad, into that short time. Not to sound like we didn't do anything interesting at all otherwise, but... I have to say we did a pretty good job compressing all the stupid. In a good way, naturally.

Why yes, we took over the kitchen as well.

I'm pretty sure this is the reason for this piece of random. In any case, now we had an eggplant to cook. We didn't have any idea what to do with it (did you know they're technically berries?) until Kazume-chan said they're usually fried in slices. Oh. The more you know...

We then did as we were told. Also featured: slices of toast, fried eggs and leftover ham from Christmas.

I can't remember the time, so I'll just say it was "pretty late by then". I'm not much of a cook, so I let Ruu and Kazume-chan do the cooking. They made a fine mess of the place, too. Not that I minded, we cleaned up all right in the end. Right before watching a movie, going through a sleep attack and snoozing for hours. (Ruu woke up around one o'clock the next day.)

Now that I think about it, though... that must have been the only night that was almost normal. Not counting the first, because my parents were still home and we hadn't quite settled yet, we just exchanged presents, set the laptops up and talked for a while before going to sleep like we were supposed to. The other nights we barely slept at all. Random naps here and there, mostly during the day, in between episodes and snacks.

From the day she had to leave. Before going to sleep, mind you.

We were pretty worn out by then. We watched a few more episodes of Code Geass, I went to walk the dog and cleaned up while she slept for a bit. We couldn't quite finish the series, but we did get pretty close. We tidied up a bit and went to the city to get her to her bus. I felt like I could collapse any moment, but that didn't stop the melancholy from getting to me. It's the same every time we part.

It wasn't all over yet, though. I went home, opened the computer and tried to stay awake long enough to feed the dog. Attempted to catch up with dA and talked to ttuw (where am I supposed to link you? .__.) for a bit on MSN. Died on her a few times too, I lacked sleep pretty seriously by then... I did manage to crawl back in the end, though. Slept for 16 hours straight after that. The rest of the family had returned already.

I pretty much spent all of the next day on the computer and hey... a 25-hour MSN conversation. o__o; That has to be some kind of record.

Somewhere in the middle of it all ttuw managed to introduce me to a new MMORPG.

We spent quite a lot of time playing that, too. It worked well enough most of the time, not counting the times my laptop refused to co-operate. I was getting tired again (apparently 16 hours of sleep doesn't make up for a whole week), so I was pretty out of it. I did manage to stay up the whole time. However... I KO'd a short while after. I can't even call that falling asleep anymore, I just lost conciousness, utterly and completely. A rather interesting experience, though awfully rude. orz'' I have a feeling I'll never forget this one.

Then the year 2009 was over for good. All in all: this was the best Christmas vacation I remember having, ever. Thank you, everyone.