January 01. 2004 17:15

The first day of the new year

My hatsuyume, the first dream of the year, was very long and eventful, but didn't have Mount Fuji, a hawk or an eggplant. Instead it had a lot of people ^_^ I almost forgot to remember it, but I managed to get most of it. Or at least the last parts, as it was indeed very long and I have no idea where it started from.

So there was something before, but the point my memory starts from is a scene in my dorm room, which has become a more permanent place for me to live in, kinda like a flat. (It was still this one small room, though.) The main thing that made it more flat-like was the table and four chairs I had just got, which were place in the end of my bed, a space that had now become a dining/living room space. (There being this much space suggests that the room was a bit bigger than it is now, but it was still small.) I think there was also a small TV table on the window side wall, but I can't remember clearly.

To this small flat/room I got visitors, at least my little sister and the younger of my nephews. It was still kinda in Japan, I think, but also kinda in Finland, because it everyone else was there too. It was like these two places combined, maybe, I was in Turku where everyone else lives but the room was still "Japanese". I have the feeling there were more people at some point, but I can't remember. My sis and my nephew I remember clearly, we were having some snacks (maybe biscuits or cake?) at the table, I was standing up, and my sis was partially preoccupied by something else (kinda busy, probably got up and walked around at some point). My nephew was still the baby he was in the summer or the christmas a year ago, couldn't walk but wasn't too far from getting there. I think he did something, or at least something happened that had him in a key role, but I can't remember. In a while my sis seemed to get too busy and kinda left (but I think my nephew was still there, until the end), and then the scene changed.

In the new scene I was riding a bike just behind Tapio, a fellow member of the anime club committee in Turku. The area was something like a big park a bit away from town, maybe something kinda like Ruissalo near Turku. A place where you go for a weekend trip in the summer. It was, indeed, summer then, the leaves and the grass were green and it was warm. While I rode behind Tapio I noticed how beautiful his hair was (it's long, and not so smooth in real life but in the dream it was very smooth and shiny) and commented it to him, saying I wish mine was as pretty. He said yeah, but in my hair there was not a trace of grey so it's better in that way (at which point I noticed his hair had in fact a lot of grey in it, and it looked more worn out now too, though it's strange for him to have the hair of an old man since he's not even 30 yet...) and he also said with some "regret" that he should cut even the section that was longer than the others, that it really bugged him but he hadn't bothered to do it yet. (On the right side of his face there was a section that was about 5 cm longer than all the rest of the hair. All of it was evenly cut, like straight from a hairdresser, just a clear section of it cut longer than the rest. Strange, but don't ask me.)

Then we arrived to the place we were going to, a summer cabin/beach house (no beach, though, must've been behind the trees) with a big group of people I know sunbathing, grilling food, playing around, doing the general summer hang out thing. Everyone was in light clothes, many of them in swimming suits. I think there were some family members (both close and extended) and family friends as well as some of the people from the anime committee and the other clubs. I don't remember anyone specific, but it might've included people like my cousins and their family from Joensuu, my parents' sailing friends, Miikka and Teppo and Heli and others from the anime club, people like that. I'm pretty sure my older sister was there with her family, because my smaller nephew had a big part again, and at least there were the (now divorced but in the dream still together) Mr. and Mrs. Koski, sailing friends of my parents. (Actually, he is my dad's childhood friend, they've been hitchiking through Europe and everything.)

Before we arrived, I and Tapio spoke a few words about getting tanned, too. He noticed I had gotten a bit of sun. I said yeah and looked at my arms, proud of the light tan they now had. I was finally able to get tanned because I had just given up dieting a while ago. (Don't ask me why dieting keeps me from ketting a tan...) Everyone at the beach house was getting tanned, and some were actively trying to get as much of the sun as they could. These forementioned Mr. and Mrs. Koski were one of the most tanned ones. When we rode into the yard I saw Mr. Koski go into the toilet and he was as brown as if he lived under the sun. A bit burned, but mostly just very brown. Tapio disappeared (with some other anime club members I guess) and I went to Mrs. Koski, who was lying on a chair with a bikini on, sunbathing. She was pretty tanned, too. I expressed my amazement at how brown his husband was and she said yeah, he got a bit carried away with it. (In a slightly annoyed voice, like she thought it wasn't good for him to get that carried away. But only a bit annoyed voice, mostly she was indifferent.)

Then my little nephew stepped in again (or didn't literally step, he still didn't know how to walk, but crawled in or appeared or something). Again I can't really remember what it was that he did, but it had something to do with making a bit of a mess, the way babies tend to make. (That is, just a normal mess, nothing that'd annoy anyone or be anything extraordinary.) It might've had something to do with diapers, or it might've also been food, I don't remember. Anyway, he came in, was all cute and playful like little children are, I smiled and played with him, then there was this baby mess thing, then I took care of it. (I think I had help, but I don't think it was Mrs. Koski. Maybe it was my older sister.) Then we played some more, but at this point I woke up.

Actually, now that I think of it, this dream might've continued to another scene after this, but I was waking up so anything that happened after this didn't imprint on my mind. And when I woke up I immediately started thinking about something else, what I was going to do that day or something, so this dream almost slipped from my mind, too. Then I remembered that I should remember it and was able to bring it back into my mind ^_^

Today looks like a beautiful day, by the way. There's still lots of snow on the ground, though the hot sun is melting it away fast. The sky is clear and it's so bright that I couldn't get photos that wouldn't be overexposed. This time I was the one that opened the window at the wash basins because I wanted to marvel at the whiteness outside while I washed my teeth ^__^ Just some snow and it's instant winter! Again: I love snow so much ^_^ I'd want to go outside and play in it, but it's melting away already. But I might go and take a walk, at least I could watch it ^_^ If all of it doesn't melt away (and if I manage to gather up the energy), I want to go to the Kurama hot springs today. I've been keeping that off until there's snow, because I know the feeling will be wonderful, soaking in a hot spring with a snowy scenery around me ^__^

My other plans for the new year's holidays are to go to the Toji new year market (though if I don't feel like it, maybe I won't... I still haven't got a kimono for my beautiful grey obi, but I'm getting tired of trying to find one. If nothing else, I can make one at home.), visit Yasaka shrine to see some of the dressed up people visiting the shrine for the first time for this year and to see an event with the first card game of the year, and to (maybe) go to an event with a special ball game called kemari that they played in the historical periods, also a "first of the year" event. Then I have some work, like the essays for the different courses and finishing the two web projects, which I'll try to do before school starts again and I get more stuff to do there. (And before all the other events that I want to see start, so all my time will be spent trying to get as much of Japan as I can before I leave ^_^)

Yeah, that's about it. I felt like I had more to do, but that doesn't sound so much. Good, I get to relax a bit, too, before the school starts ^_^

Ah, and there are two pretty pink flowers on my table, new year's flowers from Kyoto Coop. They look really nice ^_^ And even though it's cold, I want to keep the window open, because the smell of snow, even melting snow, is so refreshing ^_^ (Though hearing the dripping water and seeing the sun shine brightly through my window it makes me think of spring, which feels odd this time of the year... Ah, I'm gonna be in Finland when spring comes, I'll be able to experience it the Finnish way ^__^ (You might remember how I said I loved the Finnish seasons way back when I was still there... Yeah, the seasons are still best in Finland. I like the ones there, the ones I'm used to, better than the ones here. It's too moist here, I don't like it.) But when I go back there, it's gonna be full winter, so thinking about spring now is awfully premature.)

...

I didn't go to Kurama today after all. I went as far as the train station, but there were so many kanji for holiday that it scared me off. I can go there on Monday, it seems to be about a normal day here. Kurama is up in the mountains, so probably the snow won't melt away there as fast as it does here ^_^