soundtrack | Pulp: Feeling Called Love

It's very relieving to know that there are some non-variables in this world: coffee tastes good even if it didn't taste good. ...You know what I mean. Right now I'm helding my Nightmare-Before-X-mas-Jack-mug on the other hand (christmas present from my brother, which I received after a long and complicated journey just about one week ago - the mug's journey, not mine) and write with another. Not very comfortable. But there is no space in my work desk for my mug and the floor is filled with papers, cds and all...


I had a few holidays during Easter. On Friday I visited my parents and practically sleeping through the whole day. On Saturday evening (after a good day's work) I went to visit my parents again and left yesterday. Two whole days without doing anything work-related. Odd!


Reality check today: many smaller updates and some bigger ones. Alvar Aalto Society, Alvar Aalto Foundation, The Craft Museum of Finland and Kirsi Neuvonen's website.


Kirsi has made an introduction to her present exhibition in Becker (only in Finnish) and when I coded the page I had this strange flashback. I've always considered the moment I first called Kirsi about her web pages as a turning point of my professional career: it was after that call I decided to concentrate on making sites for cultural projects, artists, artisans and such trying to stay away from big firms and projects that don't give me anything. There was one text in Kirsi's text that brought that moment back to me very powerfully. Somehow it also gave me some extra power for other work projects - I've actually managed to stay away from strongly commercial projects.


So that's about it. Värillä colour-zine for Värjärikilta is still unfinished (deadline last week), some small icons for Sibelius Academy project made but still offline, Papiina updates are still unfinished... Jani will come tomorrow so the situation will be propably the same tomorrow... Still no rest for the wicked.

soundtrack | Eliot Smith: Waltz #2 (XO)

Yesterday, after three hour trip to visit a doctor (waiting, waiting, waiting...) I went to The Arts Council of Central Finland hoping to collect some ultimate pity-points (read: to get some coffee) - and the plan worked well. I actually had a couple of work things there: I had a meeting with Jari about ArsLab3 project and then I printed out some MediaDesk application forms for Spirited Herring projects. I walked home with Seija via Gallery Becker and the writer's house (where I have never visited before), then visited Aalto Museum/Teija shortly and we set some lunch plans for today.


Today I managed to make some small updates before we left to thai restaurant for lunch. After lunch Teija and I talked a bit about Aalto site renewing - Teija will be leaving Aalto museum at the end of this month. For good. Our co-work has been so close that I'm a bit worried about the change Teija's absence will make... But we'll see.


I'm living in some kind of updating continuum. Everytime I update something and consider the job done a new update awaits and I'm updating the same page. Bigger projects are on stand-by-mode as I can't concentrate well enough to finish them.
Maybe tomorrow.

soundtrack | Rufus Wainwright: The One You Love

Working working. The usual ones updated again: Gallery Becker and Alvar Aalto Foundation, The Craft Museum of Finland.
Last week Kirsi Neuvonen got finally a new front page - although it's still the temporary one.


We'll meet soon with Kirsi and take the site renewal to a next level.

Värjärikilta's dyeing-zine Värillä is under it's way but right now I'm having small problems with it. I should have finished it last weekend but I'm running late with every project possible. ...So what's new in this world? Nothing.

At the beginning of April I'm about to lecture about colours in Helsinki (TAIK/Continuing Education and Development centre). Everything is ok otherwise but I still have to check some material... I'm quite excited actually.

...I just made some chicken wings: emptied the vacuumed package and put it in the owen, that is. Only I read the instructions wrong: it was 20 mins instead of 1 hour and 20 mins... ¬_¬ Well, they are quite crispy now. O_o Hmph. Better to stick with my job. Luckily I had coffee with Teija today at university. Some energy still left inside.

soundtrack | Head Automatica: Brooklyn Is Burning

Total designer's block here. Void mind - thoughless head - brainless brain. Angst-fest at its best.

I'm actually trying to have some free time to heal my foot but somehow I found myself working. Work-a-holic? Arctic & Fabulous Film Festival announced new competition for Finnish film makers - I updated the page. Small adjustments to new Aalto site. Several small updates to many sites.

Kirsi Neuvonen came by to pick up her image cd's. Her exhibition opening will be in Becker next Saturday and I promised to try to make a new front page for her website. It's been already over five years when we first started making her site - it hasn't been changed after opening, so it's about time...

And of course working with Muhi - and I wont mention this again before I really get something done. My recent layouts + graphics have been so horrifying that I'm really ashamed.

I haven't been out for almost a week because of my foot. It starts to show. Last week I found myself watching football, on Saturday evening I watched Sweden's selections for Eurovision song contest and today I *almost* watched Dr.Phil.

Somebody please get me a coffee and life.

soundtrack | Kyuss: Green

Grrrr.... I've been so frustrated with this c-ter half of the time that I don't feel I have any energy left on my body at all. I've managed to make some small updates but nothing big, nothing finished. Last weekend I stole some time from my work projects and made some Coloria updates.

Yesterday Sari called me and asked if I wanted to go to eat something and then to go with her to exhibition opening - and I did. First of all: I hadn't seen Sari for a couple of weeks. Secondly: it was so refreshing to get out after almost one week (true nerd here - fresh air just might kill one) although it propably wasn't the most wisest thing on earth - now it feels like my foot was in fire. It's *so* beautiful winter day outside, the sun is shining and all, but maybe I'll stay inside this day and try to recover.

Now back to Sibelius Academy Muhi -project...

soundtrack | Louis XIV: Finding Out True Love Is Blind

Nothing.

I'm not dead yet, thank you for asking.

At the beginning of this week I got one project finished and after that I've been zombiezed. Totally. There are only small updates I've been able to make but everything else is standing still.

Plus: my email is refusing connection and all that &/%/&¤¤¤### - all emails are not coming through right now (only those who are wondering if I'm ok...?) and I'm not in the mood for reason-for-malfunction-hunting. I have to leave it for tomorrow.
Well, I really haven't had a holiday for a long time...

soundtrack | Bloc Party: Helicopter

I've propably told about this but I say it again: I work usually listening to BBC Radio 6. Good music - and not to mention the English accent... A couple of days ago I realized one more good thing: it's so refreshing to have others living same time as I - to hear some one saying 'Good Morning' when my computer clock shows 1pm. Physically I might be in Finland but mentally I'm not near the not CET+1 (or CET+2) Helsinki timeline. True Londoner I am...


I've spent a LOT of time with Muhi -project slicing finished images and saving them to web usable format. But still there are few layouts unsure and unfinished. And of course: when I try to transfer them to a temp directory to Coloria - the whole site is down.


Some other updates: The Craft Museum of Finland, The Arts Council of Central Finland, Väripaletti... + demo site for Architecture+Art2005, soon to be published.


I just made some Dalai Lama personality test Teija send me. Well: my priorities are: pride, love, home, money and career; I'm considering myself alerted, my loved one sleepy, my enemies fast... Please, stop sending me those tests. I usually trash them right away but sometimes when there is hurry and I really don't have time, I find myself answering questionnaires. Oh, and I consider my life to be fluffy.


I'm a bit tired, my foot hurts and - Oscars are live on television. I use them all as an excuse and leave my c-ter right now.

soundtrack | Disco Ensemble: We Might Fall Apart

Outburst coming up:
Some small updates yesterday: Riiminka, Aino-K. Pajari + Kirsi Neuvonen's press photos and other press stuff prepared. I tried to concentrate on some bigger projects but...


There are two big projects I'm working daily with and feeling that I'm getting nowhere: Muhi-project for Sibelius Academy and some new layouts for Aalto Foundation. Plus one project about national costumes which, at this point, is pure copy-pasting - if I try too much my head explodes and I propably end up putting wrong information somewhere. With all these small updates and some of these large projects I sometimes feel so not-accomplishish (uh, I know you can't find that word on official dictionaries but I'm for buffynism... Create your own words if you don't know the right ones.) And because I basicly like of what I'm doing and like the idea of seeing the *finished* sites, it makes the whole situation worse.


So luckily I'm got something done and proved that some projects CAN end - eventually:


I finished www.coloria.net/salekivi yesterday. The site is propably temporary (eh, slight usability problems maybe) but it's easier to handle now since it's made with css. The old site was over four years old, so it was about time to make some changes.

soundtrack | Led Zeppelin: Immigrant Song

Day started with some office working - bills and invoices, sending letters etc. I *never* seem to learn how much time it really takes to handle these small things. It was actually already afternoon when I got to do updates. So much work undone that I don't know how to continue. Blogger is a good place for pausing work.


A while ago I was chatting about desk top images and promised to make a pinkish one with flowers. Promises must always be kept. So...



Want one? Get one: 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024.

Other desk top images might be following: so far I have promised to make a 10-image flower series (this is the first) and 10-image ugly series...

soundtrack | Placebo: Twenty Years

I had thought that I could spend some quality time with Coloria this week... That's not going to happen. Instead of working non-stop during the weekend I ended up playing with Photoshop and made some images. View dig.art / right column.

Lot's of little boring things: last few days have been dotting and lashing uncorrect html-files (that is: adding dot to nameoffilehtm and slashes to directoryfile.htm). I haven't really bothered reading error reports from statistics site so when I finally did... There is still some work to be done. I updated Aino's webpage to work-o-matic but left some small sites out, I'll add them later. I should put my cv online (there has been some requests) but I think the one in dig.art page is enough. If people want more information, they can always mail and ask.

Websites of artists has been a topic here: I found unsent letter about Piitu's dollmaker website on my drafts - and I was wondering why she won't answer to me... Virpi's first layouts are *finally* finished. Hopefully there is the one we can work on. Timppa's new page will be propably online soon.

I have to start working with Art+Architecture2005 layout and finishing new Colour Association page (I started coding that one a month ago - - - I'm getting slow).

soundtrack | The Killers: Mr. Brightside

Nice. Yesterday I tried to keep one holiday but then I decided to try finishing Virpi's layouts for once and all (for some reason this has been really hard for me...) However, a couple of hours later I found myself making new layout for Timppa while I was downloading large press image to one work stuff. I actually finished the layout and started coding it - - - Noticing that dreamweaver had lost the sites AGAIN. This has happened to me once before. Now again. Only this time I didn't lose them all, only the one's alphabetically after k. I was just wondering if the site info still exists there somewhere. I couldn't find one to import to DW but when I installed Timppa's site again, it noted me about changing old settings... Someone wise - bring me the magic words with this.


I made some small code adjustments to Aino's page. It's now online and ready for viewing: personal.inet.fi/taide/aino-k.pajari.




Something almost fun happening on the working site. This could be THE best easter egg of my work history: I was so not in the work mood when I opened the Aalto Light Fittings envelope with image cd in it. There was no CD in it! One less work for this weekend! Ha!

soundtrack | My Chemical Romance: I'm Not Okay

Nothing has really happened in two days - just work. My life includes no life.

I got something finished though: the website for printmaker Aino-K. Pajari is online. Only in Finnish (English section is not finished yet) - but images work in any languages.

I've tried to make some layouts for Virpi Lehto, but my brain has like...freezed. No ideas, everything is either too wild or too sterile. It's hard to make web pages for artists - you can't really party with unconventional decoration etc because the web graphics should not remove the focus from the paintings. And I'm finding it difficult to make new minimalistic layouts without repeating myself. Anyway, Virpi's first layouts should be ready by tomorrow evening.

The biggest session of the last few days has been the Sibelius Academy Muhi-project. I'm finishing the article layout but there is something still not right. I'm not happy. grrrr The other thing I'm doing: I'm saving all the graphics to ready-to-use format which is slightly bigger job than I had thought. I've been working with that for TWO days.

Yesterday I had to take some time off and I spent some moments searching different kind of sentence generators. I was hoping to find something that should elevate my interviews with good artistic jargon but instead I found many others, like Ruåtsinkielisten lauseiden generaattori (makes random Swedish sentences - and you can even select if you want to use grammar right or do you want it to make mistakes...? Why not in my school time - perfect cheating machine). And the other one: Stupid translator (translates a sentence first to one language - badly - and then back or forward to another one. The results are hidious. If you have as lifeless life as I have, go and knock yourselves out with these. And the same translated with ST: If you it will have as the life liveless, as I have, goes mit_dieseno_yourselves_to beats for is.

Right now I'm waiting for some press photos Alvar Aalto Foundation to download. I'll propably fall into a sleep any moment now. ...Uh, here they are. Back to work.

soundtrack | Radiohead: Paranoid Android

Last Saturday I met Jani in Tampere. We set some plans for our net art festival, ate ourselves to near-to-death condition in Chinese restaurant and then headed to ex-TTVO multimedia student meeting. Next morning I took a train to Jyväskylä after three hour sleep. I got some good ideas in the train but now when I read my notes... The reality is harsh. The final conclusion is this: we really are not 24-hour party people. We are 24-hour megalomaniacs who have no life.

Some ancient projects are haunting me. Today I've called and mailed to some old ghosts that should already be over but which aren't - and not because of me. Irritating. I'd really like to move on to something new already.

Ryo just mailed me; there is a story of him in a local newspaper, Keskisuomalainen (in Finnish). It's been so great to see how the project has started and how he has managed to start his business in spite of the Finnish officers (nobody gave confirming answers to anything and always asked to call somewhere else - until we were at the same point where we started the whole thing). I made the original layout for Ryo's Muotoilu.com site but it wasn't commercial enough (today's layout is not mine).

I'm planning to work with the Sibelius Academy Muhi-project for the rest of today. I have to make a few adjustments and then I'll start to save images for Petteri who'll code the site. I'll propably make some kind of draft html page just to show how the elements should behave when using different resolutions. The project is quite demanding and I'm having temporary horror-momentums expecially with creating icons and buttons but still it's a saviour amongst other projects: they really want their graphics to be *something else* - in safe limits but anyways...

soundtrack | Kaiser Chiefs: Oh My God

Jeez. I checked Coloria stats today - I've never realized how popular work-o-matic is. Pressure to update.

These last few weeks have been hectic. I've made several small boring updates yesterday+today (f.ex. changed one photo of one site for four times because nobody could make the decision) and some boring bigger ones. I really shouldn't be whining - it's those updates which bring me my paycheck. Anyway, I've been like a high-productive factory here. A lot of unfinished small thingies got their deadline today. That eases a bit. On the other hand: I started a large scale panic after reading email from Jani - plans are getting bigger and bigger.

Anyway, I think it's going to be a bit easier from now on. This one killing project of mine is now partly finished - after this there is nothing I can do - I just have to wait and see if things went ok. I just have to find some happy thoughts.

Here is one: Timppa sold one painting a few days ago which means that we can afford to watch (reality) tv for yet another half a year.

soundtrack | Garbage: Stupid girl

Now I have two blogs, this one in English about my work related stuff and other one in Finnish where I try to sound intelligent and artistic, mostly about my own projects. Writing is a very purifying thing. So right now I'm wondering if I should start yet one more blog but with alias / secret identity. I'm having a big work dilemma of which I can't write because of the nature of the client (big one) + the top secret work (...even if I don't understand why). On the other hand I have this one sort of emotionally-heavy-stuff-own project that slowly eats me alive but of which I can't tell anything because there are other people involved. I really need the place to clear my mind. I tried to go non-digital - but hey - I can't write anymore with pen!

And then there are these killing projects I CAN talk about without reaching paranoia.

On Monday Jani and I met some people from University and Arctic & Fabulous/Nordic Glory and talked about organizing a small net exhibition event during Arctic & Fabulous film festival. The meeting was very promising and ...it's really happening. I've searched my panic button for a few days. It's hard to even breathe. Like I said in the meeting: there is a mention in our operating plan about some kind of small happening in the future but who could have known that the future would be here so soon.

Last weekend somebody told me about the possible possibility (...eh) to visit Potsdam (was it?) next autumn. On Monday morning I was planning to call about it but after the meeting with Jani I understood that there won't be time to breath before the end of November. This Spirited Herring net event propably will stand on my way. You people who'll come to visit the happening: remember my sacrifices.

Some updates: Gallery Becker, Alvar Aalto Foundation, The Craft Museum of Finland. Some more Jyväskylä Artists' Association bloggies will be online soon, layouts for new Spirited Herring and textile artist Hannele Ollakka are finished. I promised to Aino Pajari that I'd make her website during the weekend (...last one) and I just remembered it. Place some ugly words here.

Tomorrow will start with Aino's site and I'll have to try to make some icons for Sibelius Academy project - once again. I'm quite happy with the layouts otherwise but icons... I suck. I've tried to draw something using old fashioned pen & paper but I can't draw anything. It's now proved: I can't write and I can't draw. This is lame.

---
And where is the reality ctrl+z when you most need it?

soundtrack | Ian Brown: Time Is My Everything

Yesterday sucked. My masterplan for the day was to go to have some coffee with Sari and Seija but I had to cancel. That won't happen too often. Because of a headache I slept through yesterday and got out of bed at about seven pm - to eat. Then I panic-updated National Dresses -project until about half past three in the morning. The project will be introduced today at Helsinki... It's not even nearly finished yet.

My head isn't aching anymore but I'm wondering around the flat like a zombie: no thoughts. There was a momentarily activity peak in the morning though, when I heard that Marilyn Manson will perform in Provinssi-rock in June. I called through all the hotels in Seinäjoki and mission impossible turned out to be possible: we got a room! A smoker's room above a noisy restaurant costing zillion euros - but who cares?

On Tuesday I visited first Centre for Cultural Affairs of Jyväskylä + Nordic Glory Association where we talked about organizing a Spirited Herring net art happening next autumn. Then I visited The Arts Council of Central Finland whose project Spirited Herring now is. And then there was a Jyväskylä Artists' Association meeting in Gallery Becker. Next day I had a meeting in Alvar Aalto Museum about their soon to be online net book store. Otherwise I've been home being radiated by my monitor.

Work projects are all in almost static mode. I've been working with them all the time but it's like nothing crucial is happening. The changes are so small. But I try... But then there are these small projects (that propably won't pay anything), like Teija's Daidalos to which I made a small front page (more to come soon) and Playce. One of these projects is also the Blog project of the Jyväskylä Artists' Association - I coded the basic layout for bloggers and how toed them. Of course, all those blogs are written in Finnish...

Now I'm working with Sibelius Academy -project. I've started to be a bit unsure with myself. Sometimes I feel like I'm totally lost with that one and I'm not good enough graphic designer to that project. But a girl's got to do what the girl's got to do...

soundtrack | Athlete: Wires

No rest for the wicked. I came back from Sari's birthday party at early morning, catched a few hour sleep and started staring at the monitor. 42 unread mails, most of them work related. Trying to catch up.

It would be so nice if all the Sundays were holidays. They really should be.

Hey... just wait a minute....

soundtrack | QOTSA: Auto Pilot

Today at Tampere. First we met (Anssi, Jani and I) to plan The Online Gallery Henkevä Silakka / Spirited Herring. Actually, I just sat there and drank cappuchino and tried to look at the ceiling while the boys discussed about ultimate techical plans. Well, I said yes at some points even though I'm not quite sure to what I have agreed to. No... the meeting was actually first one really pushing this project forward. I just realized how big this is going to be. Suddenly I'm sooooo scared about this. There is still time to screw this up completely. Hah, pessimism on its way... again.
Anssi left straight to home after the meeting but I stayed in Tampere for a few extra hours. Jani took me to meet Hanna whom I haven't seen for a long time. She toured us around her Super Star Collective offices. Envy. What a feeling.

And of course some purchasing-without-mind: the last boxset of the Babylon 5 series. I haven't even got the time to play Jak III and now this. And I just remembered that I was very oriented to take Jani's Kingdom of Hearts with me but I so totally forgot that one while watching him playing Ratchet & Clank II. God, I miss my playstation...

But no can do. I promised to put Teija's Daidalos 'coming up' page online today, the layouts of Sibelius Academy Muhi -project are waiting in Photoshop and I received new images from Arx Architects to upload to server. Nerdish night.

soundtrack | Led Zeppelin: Kashmir

As a bonus: an intergalactical contact. I found an interesting Swedish web page containing f.ex. colours in klingon. There is one image by Cheesbro I'd like to use in Coloria so I asked. And he gave the permission. So, Coloria update will be soon on its way - Klingon colour words coming up.

soundtrack | Dynastie Crisis: Faust 72

I started working with Jyväskylä Artists' Association blog project yesterday. The association has its jubilee year (60 years) and because of that there will be a couple of artistic projects. One of these is a blog project: artists will write their blogs about their work, life and thoughts during this year. I promised to make one basic layout and show how it all works - it has taken a bit more time than I realized. But for starters, my Finnish art blog opened today as a first blog of the project. ...Though there really isn't any connection to art in it....

And yes, the title is in Klingon. Thanks to that idea goes to my visit to Luova paja office yesterday. (Mental note: avoid the place. It hurts if you laugh too much.)

Yesterday I also had a lunch with Anssi and Jaana from Finnica project. There are still some small adjustments and updates to be made but there is something with my connection... I just can't get the energy to fix it all. But this week I'll do something, I promise.

What else? I've been working with Sibelius Academy Muhi-project a lot but only a few new layouts are finished. A temporary site for ARX Architects is online. Sites for printmaker Aino-Kaarina Pajari and doll maker Piitu Nykop are nearly finished and layouts for textile artist Hannele Ollakka are on their way.