Damn festivals!!

It's time again, for the annual Maritime Festival here in Kotka. Every year, from last Thursday of July to the next Sunday, our quiet little town's filled with people from all around Finland, who come here to drink, and to play their stereo equipment under our window. And they urinate all over the place, and puke, and shit, and doze off to sober up enough to be able to get back into a bar or a beer tent, and to keep hell of a noise, and generally to spoil my view of the streets with their physical presence.

The authorities call our town "an end of the world town", since we have huge debts, one of the highest unemployment ratings and people and businesses are moving out. And our city wastes money on something like this?! Even they say it isn't producing any profit after all the expenses for clean-up and repairs.

Ahh... only 4 years and I'm out of here. Hopefully.

That really sucks that your town loses money on an event like that. Do you ever go down and join the festivities?

No. Too many people. Besides, there really isn't anything I'd like. Few concerts, a fair, and lots of trinket sellers, plus that main even: Getting Drunk. I did go drink my ass off on the cheap beer the last two years, but now that I'm back to being stricly out of alcohol, I wonder what the fuck was so fun about it.

I just don't like any of the stuff most people think are 'fun' (parties, getting drunk, fooling around... (except some odd exceptions)), as I see them mostly as 'waste of time' and downright boring.

Yea, I don't like getting drunk just for the sake of getting drunk either. Especially when someone else gets stupid drunk before me, it happens all the time. As soon as I see the stupid drunk I'm sober almost immediately.

I used to look getting fucked up once in a while but only with a few close friends. That's what counts I guess.

Yea, that was what I liked back when I got drunk. Drinking your ass off has been the trend, or rather the tradition in this country for as long as there has been alcohol, so I don't think things'll change anytime soon.

I'd remember Ireland was the one country with a worse case of drunk preteens and teens than us. :/ (we need a smilie that fits that one ) At least that's a one tradition our people holds on to. Almost everything else seems to go in the american-style. We aren't called "The America of Europe" for nothing.

And is that such a bad thing?

Actually, it kind of sucks that your country hasn't held on to it's own traditions.

Yep. I hate it. I know people who have "stars and stirpes" hanging on the wall, and think all's great and fine in the mighty US of A.

Maybe it's because we were occupied by the Sweden and Russia for centuries. And while the other gained ground, people had to adapt to new culture and values, and then when the other was winning, they had to learn all over again. I guess that's why we're having quite a load of racist attitude here.

We only got independent in 1917, and now we're already being sold to the big world. Yeah, the scientists say that the tale of our country during it's independence is a fairytale with lots of close calls and an unbelievable reconstruction to an industry and science rich land, but I guess our people never had time to develop that feeling of nationalism. I don't mean a zealous one, but... I guess you get my point.

There's this one great song, by Ismo Alanko, called Suomi Putos Puusta (Finland Fell from the Tree), that pretty well describes it all.

It's lyrics contain many images of the past and present living in hand to hand in our current society, and how there's a patchwork of foregin things that have devoured those of our own. The lyrics themselves contain so many words and concepts that are very hard, if not impossible to translate, so I won't. There's this one part that has it all, and is translatable, though.

When Finland fell from the tree, the hands showed seven
at eight we ran, with a broken leg, to the living standard contest
Other foot's in the barn, other's on the tennis court
Other hand is on an udder, other lies upon remote

and in the first part of the repeat, there's a part which says: "when Finland fell from the tree, milk was milk and the nights were black" and uses the words "milk" and "black" among the finnish ones, obviously picking on the odd tendency for even the smallest of stores to use some english words in their name, or at least derive their name from some 'great' english word.

That's why I'm pissed at America: For marketing their own way of living to others, as the only good one. Thenagain, I'm also pissed off at people for buying it.

(Edited by Glacialis at 12:40 am on July 30, 2001)