hostel

Stuff to do with Tallinn Backpackers.

Teary corner

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We’ve been getting so many mixed reviews at the moment that it’s doing my head in. To make it worse, people staying here that I know have had a blast aren’t leaving reviews, so it makes things even worse. I’m not sure what I’m meant to do to fix it, either.

It feels fucking hard for me, at the moment. There probably isn’t much anyone can do about it, though.

Unfortunately it just seems to be one of those times where I’ve got plenty of shit on my mind and only a fraction of them are positive.

So, instead, let’s talk about the new Incredible Hulk movie. It’s good. Very different to the first movie (which I actually enjoyed) and overall it did a great fan service with its little nods and winks to readers of the comics. The Avengers tie-in, similar to Iron Man also helped develop a decent bit of saliva. The only thing I didn’t like was Hulk’s lack of strength increase in proportion to his rage, although I realise it probably would have fucked up the plot if it occurred.

I’ve been on a bit of a revived comic binge of late, due to all these lovely movies coming out. I could list them off, but no one would give a shit.

After months of deliberation I finally picked up a few blank DVDs in order to boost up our movie selection. People probably won’t want to watch some of the movies I’ve picked up, but fuck them. I made a crowd pleasing one, kind of. Well, I will. Or something.

So, I watched True Romance (I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before, although I did know of it. Alabama reminds me too much of Marika, whether or that’s a good or bad thing I don’t know), The Prestige (ok but I believe it to be very overrated), Raging Bull (I’m sure it had more of an impact when it was created, but it just reminded me of Rocky with better acting and worse fights), Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (cute but still has nothing on the show). I still haven’t put on Arrested Development yet. Fuck, no one’s even seen it. Jesus.

Before anyone jumps in on it, yes, I got the movies. I guess I just get more critical about dramas or character-driven plots or something because I don’t actually care too much about other peoples problems. It’s just a simple lack of sympathy and empathy. Tough shit. I’ve got enough to worry about without having to get emotionally involved with fictional characters for 2 hours.

I’m meant to get up soon. I don’t want to. Waah.

Mr Popularity

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This site’s been getting a bit of spam lately. I can’t tell whether or not it’s due to my anti-spam plugins being out of date or if I’ve majestically started getting more traffic. Unbelieveable.

Anyway, I made a few updates and now I just have to wait and see.

So, Lucy is having a good time over here. Too bad she has to leave next month some time.  Tallinn’s much nicer than Estonia.

Holy shit, wait, I just realised my fucking Estonian slaves are the ones visiting this site. Now they keep asking to see the embarrassing childhood videos of me. Fat chance. 3 days of publicly displayed shame is enough.

Today is meant to be my day off. The first thing I did when I woke up at noon was fix everything that had gone wrong in the last 4 hours. At least I got to sleep in a bed for once. I only dream when I sleep in beds. Probably because it’s the only deep sleep I get, particularly in the basement.

Marika’s playing in the forest listening to Nick Cave. I hope she’s taking drugs as well to complete the experience.

This weekend there’s going to be barely any staff. Everyone’s decided to all fuck off at once. I think we’ll manage but it’ll be a pain in the hole.

Speaking of pains in the hole, Dave came to visit and then pissed off to Vilnius 2 days later with Egle. I still don’t have my Uus key back so I’m a little teary.

We’ve got another volunteer here, Phil. He’s from Australia, of course. He’s a bit older but a really nice guy. I think my favourite thing about him is that he actually gets up really early. Worth his weight in gold.

Goody, I have to take people to Viru later. Fucking Viru. Where’s the bloody repairman for this place, anyway?

Blubitty dub

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Normally I would have cleaned the kitchen and dishes by now, tonight I just can’t be fucked.

My weekend was very quiet, a few drinks but nothing interesting. I’ve spent all of the last few days in the hostel, really.

I joined the gym with Tim. Usually we run around kicking a football for an hour or so before we start a workout. I can feel that it has made a difference already. Not that I look bigger, I just ache more. Although, it is a good ache.

We’ve been going every other day, except tonight. The place was already closed by the time we turned up. I’m still wearing my smelly gym pants at the moment, actually. Cheap thrills.

Since we couldn’t get into the gym we decided to make some food, as eating dumplings at EAT seemed a bit excessive due to our lack of exercise. Instead, I bought ingredients for Tim to make a curry. It wasn’t bad. The second course was baked apple pastries with strawberry ice cream. Tasty. Unfortunately the calorie count was probably ten times higher than if I’d just munched on some pelmeenid.

To add to this shocking lifestyle near-change, I’ve begun doing some light stretching in the morning on our balcony. It’s quite nice and peaceful and almost makes getting up early feel worthwhile. Fuck, I hate getting up early.

Dave comes back from Dublin for a few days tomorrow. I wonder if I can get him semi-naked again. In public, that is.

Lucy came to stay for a while, as well. Crazy girl managed to get herself here within 4 days of the idea. I must be convincing at times, or something.

Stupidly, I’ve been showing everyone the home movies my parents sent over on DVD. My chubby fat pale redheaded kid antics are a mild hit. All my worst moments. It’s great that they didn’t actually include anything to be proud of, like how big I looked when I was playing rugby in my early teens. You know, just for a mild ego boost. Ah well.

Where the fuck is Renata? I need someone else to wake up in the mornings instead of me. Bastards.

Drama unfolds

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The police came around to the Monk’s on Friday asking for business registration papers. Apparently it’s not allowed to do certain things in apartment buildings. I don’t know much about it, but Hugo does. Anyway, they’re checking all the places in town now it sounds like. I’m not looking forward to that.

Still, things should work out fine. It’s just a little worrying at the moment.

Apart from that, I’m very sleepy (as usual). Marika has what is hopefully her final exam for now on Tuesday. I’m sure she’ll pass, she’s a good girl.

Fuck it. Too lazy today to write anything. I’ve been drinking a bit these last weeks. Summer is coming, after all. Memories are hazy. I can’t even speak English any more.

I can’t, actually. It’s regressed since I’ve been staying over here. Oh well. Maybe I sound a little bit cuter.

Lazy bones

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In more ways than one. Nearly 2 weeks since I went running and I haven’t done much other exercise. I can feel the flab and shame creeping up on me.

My excuse is that I’ve been entertaining guests and Marika. What a good person I am. It’s also still too windy for a little boy like me to be charging around and letting my hair get all frizzled.

We’ve been having nice folks staying with us lately and shitloads are from Australia, of course. It’s a much nicer environment in the hostel without all these big fucking groups that stick to themselves.

Drunk staff members help with the fun, too.

I’ve been thinking for quite some time about writing a book about my time in the hostel, the people I’ve met and the funny stories that come along with it. Just for fun. Unfortunately I don’t really (or at least haven’t yet) take any notes, so if I do ever end up putting something out there it could very likely be considered semi-fictional. That’s alright though, since it feels like my life here is anyway.

palmy wants me to make a blog on his site for his girlfriend. I’m doing it because I like configuring things from scratch. I could be doing something else, like kicking the arse of 5 countries at the same time in Medieval 2: Total War but this will do for now.  She even wants the same theme I use! Jesus.

They’re coming over to visit in July, apparently. Hmm.

I saw Indiana Jones 4 the other day. It was alright. Not brilliant, but fun enough. I won’t go into any kind of review because there’s already shitloads out there. Ford looks in pretty good shape for his age, I have to admit.

So, time for coffee with Pilly.

Itchy noggin'

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I need to wash my hair again, methinks.

I’ve spent a few hours the last few days plodding through my old LiveJournal posts that I imported to this blog. Basically I’ve decided to categorise all of them. I don’t know why. I just feel like I should. It’s nice taking a trip down memory lane. There’s only 120 entries left to do. No problem.

For some reason I’ve been feeling really, really tired this last week. Maybe it’s because I’m eating shitty food. I’m not sure. Maybe a little bit of me has died inside since my beloved tofu left Estonia. Maybe it’s because we have a big group of students staying in the hostel for 2 weeks. I really don’t know. It’s nice to curl up and nap, though.

Marika has exams. Lots of exams. I hope she passes them all. I’m sure she does, too. Maybe I’ll get a chance to go down to Tartu with Tim in the next week or two. That would be nice. He’s drinking like a maniac lately. I can’t keep up. It hurts.

So, instead, I think I’ll go running tomorrow and yes, wash my hair. I like the route I take. I run around the outside of Old Town, through the park and up the hill to Toompea then back down and through the Old Town itself. It’s fun jogging over cobblestones. It’s not fun jogging up the bloody hill.

I forgot to mention I won a foosball tournament that the kids organised here. I was in a team with Thomas. He was mainly inspired to play because apparently there was 500 EEK in prize money. In the end we weren’t awarded that, but I was happy anyway. It wasn’t really a fair competition, we were all over them. I’d have felt embarrassed if ended up taking money from them. I don’t think Tom was too impressed, however.

They did, however, give us funny little gold medals. A nice souvenir.

I got drunk last night and fell down some stairs after Bella (new girl volunteering at Monk’s Bunk) asked me if I had a bed while I was walking around in the dark. It sounded like a proposition but it was only intended innocently. I realised this at the time but it didn’t stop me giggling at the situation. Falling on my arse down three stairs only made it worse.

We were drinking what I call White Estonians. It’s like a White Russian, but with Vana Tallinn instead of Kahlua. Potent stuff. Quite tasty when done right. Nearly lethal, too.

The other day I read through The Watchmen. It was cool. I should read it a second time but I’m probably too lazy to get around to it. I also have a shitload of e-books to read that I haven’t even started yet. Not to mention I got all three series of Arrested Development again so I can show people how good it is. Now that I just googled for that link, I see I could have just watched streaming versions. Fuck. Oh well.

Frosties are a fucking awesome breakfast cereal.

In the swing

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I’ve been jogging. Well, three times. Only once a week so far (but I didn’t go last week, tofu distracted me). Tomorrow I think I shall. Indeed.

Yes, tofu came to visit! That was nice. I seem to have a lot of friends that want to come over here and see me. Not bad for a guy that doesn’t really use MSN or Facebook or email people. I guess my personality is just too attractive.

The only negative side of his stay was the fact that I ended up eating pizza with him nearly every day, because he wouldn’t eat anything else. Picky bastard. Well, he did have two pancakes. Still. That, combined with no real exercise didn’t really help my fitness routine. Never mind, there’s still time to look great for summer and not go to the beach anyway.

My cooking hasn’t really progressed at all. I have expanded my repertoire though by attempting to perfect a “big breakfast”. It’s pretty good, actually. Definitely big enough. Definitely unhealthy enough. I suppose that isn’t really doing much for my attempted health kick, either.

Marika’s not going to be in town for a while due to exams. That sucks because now no one will make coffee for me all the time. I guess you can’t win them all.

We opened a new hostel called The Monk’s Bunk at the end of April. Tim’s been running it. So far it’s doing quite well. It’s a funny little place and in my opinion rather quirky, but certainly not without its charms. I’ve got a feeling it’ll be quite popular over summer.

I think I’ll try to start posting more, about random shit, like dumb ideas I’m having. These update posts are getting a bit boring, even for me.

A little bit "meh"

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I feel kind of underwhelmed, or something, at the moment. There’s a real Sunday night vibe here tonight (although it’s Monday), which I’ve always hated.

I don’t know why, really. I should be quite happy as I’ve had a rather fun week. I think I’m just tired. Lack of sleep is catching up to me, but at least it means summer must be coming soon.

First things first: my iPod was finally replaced. Now I’ve replaced most of the music on it, too. Unfortunately, I did lose my TISM albums, but they’re coming back to me at a trickling pace.

I went to Tartu with Steve on Wednesday. We stayed at Marika’s apartment. It was nice to get out of Tallinn again for a few days. I actually went out to a few different bars for once and believe it or not, I was fairly impressed.

I came back on Saturday night, via the scenic route. I can now tick off Vändra and Rapla from my tourist book. I didn’t stay long in either place, but so what, right?

Our new building, the Monk’s Bunk (that’s what we named it) is underway. Tim’s going to be taking care of it. Today I was very useless at building beds (as usual), so I bought everyone lunch instead. The place should be fun when it’s ready. I’ll doubtlessly be setting up all the computers in there soon enough, so that should make up for my lack of laboring skills. It’d better.

Tomorrow we’re going shopping for it, oh goody! More bed screws and work that I really don’t trust myself with. I wonder what other toys we’ll find. I can’t wait to visit the electronics shop. Woo. Yes, I’m a sad sack.

I’ve been wearing shirts lately. Special Sundays is the typical occasion. It’s not really that special, I just get bored. I forgot I even had most of the clothes that are packed in my bag. Perhaps I should work through a new rotation. Definitely.

I want ice cream. :(

Fucktronics

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It’s been over 5 weeks and my iPod still hasn’t returned. I called for the third time yesterday and finally found out that Apple’s “repair policy” (the headphone jack is a bit faulty, but otherwise works fine) is to simply replace the entire iPod without transferring the data, as that’s “not under warranty”. Cunts. It’s not so bad, as I like starting fresh, but the main annoyance is that Apple still hasn’t sent the replacement one to the repair service.

To make it more annoying, I spilt beer on my keyboard a few days ago and thought I’d buggered it up completely. If I’d only waited longer before I pulled the machine apart I probably wouldn’t have damaged my E key, which now is a bit sticky and temperamental. Although, it was an informative lesson in laptop deconstruction.

Actually, I would have done the same with my iPod if I’d had a replacement headphone connector. There are videos online showing how to do it in under 5 minutes. :(

Some good news in the world of geek interests: I upgraded to WordPress 2.5. So far, so good. I also tried out the new Firefox 3 Beta 5. It didn’t seem to different to use, from a browsing sense, but I’m sure it’s juicy and fun in many other as-yet-unused-by-me aspects.

We have some new country-girl Estonians volunteering here now, from Raapina. Apparently it’s tiny. Awesome. There’s another young one starting on the weekend, too. It’s nice to get some more locals around.

More hostel news: we’re expanding into Müürivahe street for summer. Looks like Tim is going to be running it. It should be up and running by the end of the month. It’s exciting, but it also means we’re gonna have to build more fucking beds. It also means I’m going to have to set up more fucking PCs and wireless networks, I’m sure.

My cooking isn’t really progressing. I have been experimenting here and there, but not having my own kitchen and only usually having 1 person to cook for is holding me back, I think. The trouble is that I don’t want to cook for a big group, yet. I probably should just bite the bullet.

I did make a funny creamy chicken pasta with garlic sauce. Wasn’t bad. I tried baking bananas filled with chocolate but it didn’t work. I tried twice, anyway.

By the way, I’m trying to take a few weeks off playing foosball. I’ve lost my edge.

That is all.

P.S. Marika.

The white stuff… or goods.

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It’s snowing! After winter! Yay? Yay!

It only took since November, but finally Tallinn is covered in a thick white blanket. I’d take photographs but I’m lazy. Well, I’m not that lazy, I’ve worked some wonders on the hostel recently. Excuse me while I pat myself on the back.

Cooking has become my passion, unfortunately I’m shit at it. Still, I can’t get enough of it. I always enjoyed watching cooking shows before, now I just lurk on cooking forums and recipe websites and watch any videos I can download to do with cooking. I’ve actually been making too much food for myself and it feels like I’ve put on a little bit of weight.

The desire to lose weight is the reason I decided to start running a few weeks ago. I still haven’t actually done it, but I did decide to. One step at a time. I am a procrastinator, after all.

Looks like the Tartu hostel might be soon underway, as the owners are going to sign the papers next month in order to buy the building. From what I’ve seen it looks pretty cool and pretty well located. Woo.

Maris and Britt left in a rather underwhelming farewell. No tears or anything. Just a goodbye and off they went. Suits me, really. Long goodbyes are never nice. By the way, I’d kill for an ice cream.

I think I’ll enroll in a cooking class, then run to each lesson. Then run home. I hope that’s possible. Then again, I don’t know if Estonian cuisine is something I really want to learn. Hopefully they can just teach me the basics of food preparation and cooking techniques.

Perhaps it’s just time I got a life.