Rainy Days

Stuff

Sheesh, it's been nearly four months since my last update. I guess that's a definite sign of me being too busy. I began civil service at the library of University of Arts and Design Helsinki about three weeks ago. So far I've really enjoyed it. The people are nice and, I mean, it's a library! How could I not like it? Since the civil service place resides in Helsinki, I moved. Right now I'm living in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki. My internet connection was activated today, and that's why I'm typing this right now.

I have some photos pending from the summer. I should post them at some point. See you soon!

I'm still alive!

I'm sorry for neglecting my site for a while. I've been busy with a lot of stuff lately and thus haven't had time to keep things updated.

So. I graduated from Lohja High School, Upper Secondary School or whatever you want to call it in English. And I graduated with pretty good grades too. The grade scale is:

Improbatur (Disapproved)
Approbatur (Accepted)
Lubenter Approbatur (Readily accepted)
Cum Laude Approbatur (Accepted, with commendations)
Magna Cum Laude Approbatur (Accepted, with many commendations)
Eximia Cum Laude Approbatur (Accepted, with extraordinary commendations)
Laudatur (Praised)

I got LLLCC. An L for Finnish language, maths and English, and C for philosophy and comparative religion. The school also gave me (and about 50 other people) a considerable scholarship cheque.

After the matriculation exams I started studying the upper secondary school physics course books on my own to prepare for entrance exams to the Helsinki University of Technology. I think I did pretty well in the exams too. Everyone's been saying that studying the courses on my own is a pretty big feat, but I don't know. It's not that big of a deal. I've always been pretty good at studying and learning. I'm just too lazy sometimes. I'll get the exam results at some point of July. If I get in, I'll probably postpone my civil service for three years. If I don't get in, I'll just do my civil service year and try my luck again at the exams.

Oh! I found a small batch of photos from the Azores I had forgotten to sift through. I'll post the good ones soon, so keep tuned.

The Azores photo batch

Here they are, enjoy:

Trip to the Azores

As most of you know, I left for the Azores with my family about a week ago. We returned on Monday. The Azores are a small Portuguese archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We spent the whole time touring the biggest island, S�o Miguel, also known as Ilha Verde, the Green Island. The scenery and landscapes were unbelievably beautiful and the atmosphere calm. The whole island was very rural, just the way I like it. I naturally had my camera with me, and I snapped several gigabytes worth of photos on the trip. I'll probably spend a few days browsing through and processing them. Then I'll pick out the best ones and post 'em here, so keep yer eyes peeled!

More photography

We've been having a cloudy period for a while now, but yesterday it cleared. I spent a couple of hours outside with the telescope, just gazing and photographing. I think I got my best Saturn-photos so far (I haven't taken many of those yet).

Earlier in the day I went out for a stroll with the camera. I veered off the road into the woods and managed to snap some nice shots of birds. I also found a nice, high cliff. It was useful for making a panorama.

Orbiter - A Free Space Flight Simulator

For the past few days I've been really hooked on Orbiter, a free space simulator. I'm really psyched, since I've learned a lot. So far I've been able to transfer from the space station Mir to the ISS, and from there to Moon's orbit. Orbiter's learning curve is pretty steep, but it's really worth it. Especially with the sound add-on the simulator is really atmospheric and nice. Every space enthusiast should give it a go.

Birds

My sister and her boyfriend (and his family) were supposed to come visit us today, but they had to cancel. So I decided to be productive and go out with the camera. The weather was really nice; clear skies and lots of sunshine. I got some pretty good shots of birds, animal tracks and such. And the neighbour's dog! I'll upload more pictures later. Here are the birds:

The Best Movie Idea Ever. Period.

http://www.blacksheep-themovie.com/

Christmas and so forth

Christmas came and went (It's a Finnish saying. That's why it sounds silly in English). This year I didn't have that usual Christmas hype on that I usually do. It's probably because of the weather. We've had unusually warm weather for a while now. There's arely any snow on the ground.
I got pretty nice gifts, a tripod and a camera bag among others. Those have already come in handy.
Yesterday I spent six hours in my cousin's wedding. It was pretty fun. I only knew a handful of people there, though. Many of the guests were actors or other performers, so there was a lot of show stuff in the wedding celebrations.

A couple of days ago I managed to snap a pretty good picture of the moon (again, with my telescope). It's definitely a lot better than the previous one. I'll post it in the Media-section a bit later.

Anyways, happy new year!

Out in the night photographing

Lately we've had some more clear nights, so I've tried to use the opportunity to take photos. I roughly aligned my telescope using drift alignment and then I piggybacked my camera on the telescope. Focusing was a pain, as usual. Here's what I got: