Boy bands

Every single girl on this planet, whether gay or straight, has that one boy band that they crushed on when they were teenagers, whose songs bring all the teenage angst and love and hate and all those other feelings forth. For my generation (that just makes me sound old) depending on which continent you grew up in, it's between NKOTB and Take That, or other british boy bands. I think I was just few years or a year too young to really get on the NKOTB bandwagon but really LOVED Take That.

I was so crazy about Take That, that I called a friend who subscribed to Finnish teen magazine "Suosikki" and asked her if she would sell the Take That posters to me that were in one weeks/months magazine and when she said yes I left her on the phone while I rode my bicycle to her house about 20 minutes from mine. When I got there I asked her mom where she was and she said still on the phone waiting to hear from me. Oops! My room was plastered with Take That posters. I loved the music. Gary and Howard were my favorites. Was so sad when they broke up. No major feelings when they regrouped few years back.

Reason why I'm writing about this is because I have been listening to my iTunes and once in a while their songs pop up. And it's kind of, how should I say this? Not-worth-calling-your-friend-and-asking-her-to-sell-her-posters...It can still make me remember all those things I felt when I first started listening to them but now it's like if you were just coming out with these songs you'd never make it.

I never saw Take That in a concert but I did see Mark Owen in Swansea at "Party in the Park" while me and Laura were volunteering there in the summer of 2003.

We also saw Liberty X, Girls Aloud and another girl band whose name I can't remember and the pictures are all kind of blurry so I can't even try to recognize them.

Anyways, just thought I'd share. It was something that I have been thinking about for few weeks now. Also, went and voted for Pekka Haavisto for president today. Now we'll just wait till the 5th to hear the results. Let's make history again Finland!

This and that

I bought a scale today. I really wanted to see how much the kittens weigh because the Veterinarian didn't weigh them and Ybi's scale wasn't calibrated so those results were tentative. And it might be good for me and my life style stomach to know when to stop eating and maybe, maybe start exercising.

When I brought the kittens home I was given starter packages for them, sponsored by Science Plan cat food brand. They also included a little health booklets for both where you can follow their development, healthy weight etc. I'm sure you know that I think my kittens are kinda skinny, I mean I have been talking about it. They're kinda long and now that they are shedding some of their baby kitten fur, Brooklyn especially is looking really thin. DD has the advantage of long hair so she at least looks fluffy and since she's smaller than BK, with the extra fluff she looks stockier. More like the norm that I got used to with Sox and Bailey. Well, looks like I was totally wrong about their skinniness. According to the booklet male kittens 5,5 months old should be about 2,7kg on average. Brooklyn is 3kg. Females at this point should be about 2kg. DD is 2,7kg! She's so big that she's not even in the female chart anymore! And seriously, I check their forms everyday and they definitely do NOT have any extra fat anywhere! But, few of my friends who've seen them have said they think they'll be big cats so hopefully this is just because of that.

We are still on course to have the first openly gay president in Finland. He was able to come in second at the first round so for the next 2 weeks both of them will be running around all over Finland to make their case. Early voting starts tomorrow and I'm gonna go vote before or after my hair appointment tomorrow. Pekka Haavisto for President!

Presidential Election

Today is the first round of Finnish Presidential Election. When I turned 18 and was eligible to vote My mom told me to always vote for a woman because men will not represent the things that are important to me, as a woman. And I have. Until this election. There are 8 candidates, 6 men and 2 women. I will NEVER vote a christian democrat, even if the online "election machines" make me out to be one and Eva Biaudet was not "it" for me. My vote went for Pekka Haavisto and if he makes it to the second round my vote will go to him again.

I am now watching the election broadcast at MTV3 and they have already have a little mishap. They were interviewing Paavo Väyrynen with his wife and afterwards the hostess said that "behind every successful man is a wife or a woman". As she was saying this they had a screen with Pekka Haavisto waiting to be interviewed and as a gay man in a registered partnership I thought it was extremely heteronormative.

The final results are over an hour away and as of right now Pekka Haavisto is in 3rd place. A lot of urban votes are yet to be counted so this will hopefully change and he will move to second place and into the second round. The people speculating on TV are saying that many of the feminist votes are going to Pekka Haavisto instead of the 2 female candidates because of his sexuality and they feel that he's the best of the men. That's part of the reason why I am voting for him. Part is that he has international experience and I feel that he could represent Finland in a positive manner. President may not have a lot of power anymore but he/she is still the figurehead of this country and I would much rather see someone "hip" representing Finland than some grumpy old man.

But whatever happens, Finland has taken a huge step ahead in the equality department with an openly gay man being so successful in an election which is more about the person than a party. Go Pekka!

Dunkin Donuts playing fetch

I though the pretty face needed a post of her own. I uploaded both of the videos on youtube yesterday but for some reason the one with just DD took a way too long so I couldn't post it yesterday. But here it is now. Sorry about the quality but my camera sucks!

I would like to point out that even though she didn't exactly bring the balls back to ME, she did go after them and carried them back to my vicinity so that I didn't have to be the one to go get them in order for the play to continue. Which hasn't happened with DD before. Brooklyn brings the balls back to me if he's the one to catch them but if it was DD, he didn't bring them back. So now maybe the chances of the balls being returned to me have gone up slightly.

oh happy day!

My kittens are geniuses! There's no other way to describe them! And can you imagine how happy I am to discover that Dunkin Donuts is not just a pretty face! It might take her a little longer to learn these things but today, out of nowhere, she fetched the ball! 4 times in a row! And twice on camera! I'm downloading them on youtube as we speak! I'm so happy! I'm so proud!

Brooklyn and Dunkin Donuts fetch the ball

Walk down the memory lane with Emperor's fiancee

I was googling cat fur patterns and colors yesterday because I wanted to get a word to describe what type of cats I have and also what types Sox and Bailey were. Well Sox obviously is a tuxedo, same as Dunkin Donuts. Bailey is a tabby cat and now I have a confirmation for Brooklyn. According to wikipedia, the most accurate information site out there, he is, indeed, a "moo cat". Black and white cow pattern equals "moo cat". There you have it folks. As I was doing this I had to go to my files and look at the pictures of Sox and Bailey because I couldn't remember what they looked like exactly. It's a sad sad state we're in...can't even remember my poor babies anymore. But looking at those pictures I can now totally understand why I think Brooklyn and DD are too skinny. Sox and Bailey are big girls! I don't think I really understood their weight problems until now that I have DD and BK. And even though these 2 are just wee kittens and still growing, the difference is huge.

You know what else is sad? Adulthood! It's the stage in your life when you willingly do things you swore you'd NEVER do again when you were a kid. I have found myself having a bowl of oatmeal every night for I don't even remember how long. And as someone who spent 6 years in kindergarten eating breakfast there every morning, breakfast usually equalling oatmeal, I am totally disgusted with myself! Although the oatmeal they fed us was nothing like the flavored instant just-add-hot-water oatmeal I'm eating now but still. Oatmeal is oatmeal even if you fry it in butter. And back then you either just ate it as such or maybe added some sugar and a dollop of butter. No cinnamon, no apples, nothing. Plain oatmeal still tickles my gag-reflexes. Just like banana yogurt does and I used to eat it like crazy when I was a kid. It was the only flavor that didn't have fruit pieces in it. For some reason fruit pieces offended my sensibilities.

Wanna know what I drink with my oatmeal? A cup of TEA! Check out my profile on the upper right hand corner. What does it say? Something about being a coffee drinker and hating tea cuppers? Tea Party is giving tea drinkers a bad name. And for coffees sakes, I named my cat "Dunkin Donuts" after my favorite coffee chain! You can't get much further away from tea party/cuppers/drinkers. But, I do remember my friend Antti saying once upon a time that drinking tea was so gay. That was right before he himself started drinking it. And he's straight. So there seems to be a conflict of interest: on one hand there's the homophobic religious right of US political map who call themselves the tea party, which would just be so totally against everything I am or represent and on the other hand there's Antti, my straight friend saying drinking tea is gay. Should I listen to the people who hate me and who and what I am or my friend? Hmmmm...there's a problem if ever you encountered one! But I still maintain my coffee drinker status.

To go back to my tea drinking ways...The brand I drink is called "Emperor's fiancee". It's something that I drank at Janne's place when he was living next door at Linikkalankatu. It's also around the time when I had my first girl crush. Or obsession. potato-potato. And when I had the subsequental boy crush. When I projected my girl crush feelings to a boy so I wouldn't have to deal with the fact that I was totally crushing on a girl. Great survival mechanism. I was about 14 at the time. Time sure flies when you're gay. Or coming to terms with the fact that you're gay. As I came out at 24 so it only took me about 10 years to deal with it. Anyway, the taste and smell of the tea just brought all that back. So I thought I'd share. No reason for me to walk down memory lane by myself.

Have a blessed Tuesday! OYG, the tea is making me religious! Somebody come and take it away!!!

Till next time!

The perfect winter's day

Today is the first "real" winter's day of this winter and I feel like all is right in the world. You can't be sad, or depressed or gloomy in this weather. It's -12C/10F and the sun is shining. I just took the rugs outside, I'm enjoying my umpteenth cup of coffee of the morning and am about to vacuum. If I had a washing machine I would be doing laundry today and if I had food in the fridge I'd be cooking today. THIS is what perfect weather does to me. It motivates me. It makes me want to do things, finish things. Be productive. This is the weather we enjoyed the whole last winter. Snow, below freezing temperatures, sunshine. Perfect!

This is what you get when you "complain" about your winter weather and how pointless having your winter clothes are in Finland when there's no need for them. I should try to jinx these more often!

Let's hope more of days like these for this winter! Enjoy it while you can.

It's Swedish time again! YAY!

Naturally I would be the one to get the over-achieving kitten, right? And this time I'm not talking about Brooklyn. No, I'm talking about Dunkin Donuts and the fact that she just had to be in heat as soon as it's kittenly possible! The pamphlets said kittens start to be in heat between 4 and 6 months old...So whatcha know, DD just went right and in embraced it! But...if she's in heat NOW, it means that she can't be "with kittens", right? So me having to listen to this kitty cat concert and having to witness my babies in compromising positions and having to get up a 1000 times a day to go check what's up with her/them is worth is because we are not having baby kittens, right? I'm not gonna be a grandma, right? RIGHT?!?

I don't think Brooklyn's in heat yet, because he's not the one serenading nor is he marking his territory and he just looks kind of confused by what DD is doing and shaking her ass in his face but I think some of the pheromones are getting to him. He might not know exactly what or why he's doing it and I'm hoping there's no juice in his pistol but it does worry me. And we just went through this 2 weeks ago. I thought it should have been 3 weeks in between. But I will gladly listen to all of her concerts for the next month if it means she's not with kittens so we can get them neutered next month. February has never looked better as month!

I've come to the conclusion that cats are like gold fish. Their memory is reset every morning. Like when have I ever put their food in the trash can for them to eat? But still, every morning they insist on trying to get to the trash when I put the wrapping in there. And still, every morning they insist on checking what's gonna come out of the fridge when I open the door. And they both know which drawer is their food drawer.

Cats, I swear...

Illogical rationalization

Last Friday when I was walking home through the rain and slush from the grocery store with my backpack full of cat food I got it. I finally could understand the people who spend all their money on their pets, put them in diamond crusted collars and feed them more expensive foods than they themselves eat. As I don't have the means to give Brooklyn and Dunkin Donuts diamond crusted collars right now (nor would I ever do that no matter how many millions I was worth) I am just going to have to make sure they have enough food and toys and other equipment they need.

I didn't buy x-mas presents for anyone else except few toys for DD and BK and even those have not really been hits. I bought them these mouses that had catnip parcels in them and I think either the catnip had lost its mojo or my kittens don't react to catnip. The package also said that they could be used as activation toys, put treats in them and cats would try to get them. Well, as DD refuses to work for her food, it's kind of pointless. And BK chewed the tail from one of the mouses so I had to cut the tail from the other as well. What the hell kind of toys crumble like that? I of course immediately thought it will be dangerous for the kittens and their digestive systems to swallow plastic and this wasn't exactly my first scare thinking they ate something they weren't supposed to.

I gave the kittens the corks from plastic bottles and they have been the most treasured toys especially for DD. She can hunt them for hours! And she's very territorial of them. I've given them like 5 of them and then one day before x-mas I realized that I hadn't seen any of them for a while. I went through the whole apartment, all the nooks and crannies I could think of and nothing. I even went as far as feeling up the cats because I was certain they had swallowed them whole and soon they would start exhibiting signs of discomfort and basically die on me. The joys of single motherhood! As a last resort I took a flash light and looked under the couch again. And there they were, all of them. Phew! I was sweating like crazy at that point but thankful my babies were ok and I wouldn't have to dish out tons of money for the vet appointment and surgeries etc.

I've said this many times and I even thought I had it in my profile on Facebook in the "about me" sections but I don't.."Cat is not a cat unless it's fat"! I love fat cats. Sox and Bailey were just so cute and cuddly and I love the chubby stomachs of cats. I think it's some kind of disorder I have, genetic mutation or something. I obviously don't want my kittens to get sick so I want them to be regular weight and I also understand that they are growing like crazy right now but is it just me or do they look very skinny? The kitten pamphlets I got with the cats said that kitten is healthy and normal weight when you can feel it's ribs but not see them. That's what BK and DD are. And after their vet appointment a month ago when I put them on a scale they were between 2,2 and 2,6 kg. The scale was off a little so I can't be sure of the exact weights. And I think Brooklyn especially looks really skinny since DD is so fluffy. Every once in awhile I have to flatten DD's fur just to see that she's not actually fat. DD is very much a food nazi and always makes sure she eats enough so sometimes Brooklyn is kicked out of the food bowl. He doesn't want to fight with DD.

As part of my OCSFCD (Obsessive compulsive shopping-for-cats disorder I bought them cat milk. Because really, if kittens between 3 and 6 months old grow many times faster than human babies and human babies main dietary ingredient is milk, which is full of calcium for healthy bone growth...I need to give my kittens milk for calcium for...you get me? And since kittens cannot absorb cow milk they need their own concoction.  I bought Whiskas cat milk because I've given them Whiskas food and it's sexy to stay in-brand. And you know, just to make sure they like the milk and don't get sick by it. With 1,25 euros per 200ml bottle and me not made of money, I opted for cheaper brand. same size but 75 cents per bottle. And even cheaper with Arttu's discounts. Now I either need to give them both their own bowls for the milk or hold DD back while BK is drinking it because DD is crazy about her milk. I think DD has potential to become a fat cat unless she keeps running around like the crazy cat she is. But they're only 5 months old...we've got time!

There was supposed to be some kind of idea for this posting but I think I lost it somewhere along the way...

My lil mama's boy

Brooklyn's way of saying too much computer time, too little cuddling. He's such a mush!