This is not a posting about the hockey match Finland vs Sweden

I could write about the EXTREMELY important hockey match that will be played today at Sochi. Finland vs. Sweden. But I won't. It would be too obvious and natural. And since I'm not obvious, nor natural, I'll write about something else.

I will say though that I REALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLY hope that Finland wins. And I'm desperately trying to find a way to see the match here at work, which is hard because apparently Italian TV channels aren't interested in hockey, especially if the two teams playing come from some weird nordic place. Also, YLE Areena doesn't work here, so I'm going slightly mad. But that's all I'll say about the subject.

Instead I'll talk about another really important matter going on in the motherland. The parliament discussed yesterday the initiative (that come about an initiative from the good Finnish people) that would allow gay people to get married. It looks like the initiative will move forward, since 108 members of the parliament are for it. In general I'm not into politics, nor do I know anything about the struggles of a gay couple, but I know how much it pisses me off when someone tells me that I can't do something that in my mind I should totally be allowed to do, so for this reason I'm rooting for the homosexuals.

Where as most of the parliament seems to agree with my views, there are still some that are vigorously against it. We have this political party called Perussuomalaiset (which means "the basic Finns" or the "ordinary Finns") who in general are against everything that's weird according to them, or that has to do with foreigners. So, a lovely bunch of people, and very flexible thinkers too.

Apparently one of them (can't remember the name, a dude anyway) decided to sleep inside the parliament in order to be the first in line to cast his vote against the initiative. Now that's what I call serious commitment. I'm happy to see a representative of the parliament who's this dedicated to his work, but on the other hand, in this case, he comes off as ridiculous as the teenage girls who wait in line for days to get to the front row of the Backstreet Boys' concert. Or better yet, I can understand the enthusiasm of the Backstreet fans, the concert just isn't the same if you can't see the pimples of Nick and taste the sweat of Kevin (who's old, so he sweats). But mr. Perussuomalainen here seems to think that if he's the first one to vote, his vote will have some special powers and his opinion on the matter will be taken more seriously.

Well, good luck mr. Perussuomalainen, maybe tonight you can go sleep in front of the border of Finland in order to block any foreigners from entering, or in front of the supermarket in order to block the grannies from buying discounted coffee. Your move.

There's also this other revolutionary thing going on in Finland. Apparently this chain of kiosks called R-kioski has implemented a new way of offering coffee to their customers. You can choose a red mug if you're currently in a relationship, or the green mug if you're single and therefore available for a chit chat with a fellow R-kioski goer. 

I think this system isn't exactly waterproof. What if I'm single but I'm NOT looking for a date? What if I'm in a relationship but I'm a huge bastard and looking for new companions? What if I'm lesbian and looking for women's company? What if I'm kind of in a relationship, but it's still too early to tell (to use a FB term: It's complicated) and so I might be up for some new action, but you have to be a really hot guy or otherwise super interesting. What if I went to R-kioski just to get a cup of coffee instead of wanting to declare my relationship status? Who the hell hangs around a kiosk in hopes of scoring a hot date anyway?

Finland, the land of a thousand relationship-related problems, both hetero- and homosexual. (FYI for those of you who didn't get the joke, Finland is usually referred to as the land of thousand lakes) (OK, I just kinda ruined the joke by explaining it)

looking at one of the thousand lakes,
wearing something around my neck that looks like one of those rescue hoops.
Instead, it's scarf. A really big scarf.

If this is the level of the problems in the motherland, then I can feel pretty satisfied. We're not struggling for our lives, like let's say, in Kiev. Kiev, hang in there, things will get better, and let's hope that one day your biggest problem too will be from which mug to drink your coffee at the local kiosk. Looking forward to it.

And last but not least:
my Swedish supplier (at work) just informed me that he'd buy me dinner next time he comes here if Finland wins the match. I didn't promise him anything if Sweden wins. That's what we Finns call SISU.

No sorry, my bad, that's just being a nasty bastard.

Still, GO FINLAND!!!!!!