Patches of the sea getting covered in a very thin sheet of ice and snow.
Winter in Helsinki, just like that. I don’t mind as long as it isn’t slippery. The darkness is messing up my inner clock however and I’ve had trouble getting up early in the mornings. Well, two more weeks and we have passed the shortest day of the year.
More Opera
I went to see Madama Butterfly at the Opera House, the last time I saw it was probably twenty years ago. While it didn’t blow my mind away, it was worth the evening. They did have to find an emergency replacement for the role of Suzuki by placing a soprano singing on the side of the stage while someone played the role on stage. It was only a minor distraction, fortunately.
Stage of Madama Butterfly before the first act. Quite bare.
So in total I went to the Opera House three times this autumn. It was a nice change of scenery, but not something I will be doing on a regular basis, as the tickets are a tad expensive. But when taking into account how many people are involved in putting up the shows, the prices are understandable (even with state funding).
More football
Another thing I did now the third time this autumn was watching a Uefa Europa Conference League football match. This time it was HJK against FC Aberdeen. It was a different experience with the temperature below freezing point and the pitch steadily being covered in snow during the match (in the second half the game had to be halted to clear the pitch).
Nothing like a football match on a cold, dark, snowy evening in Helsinki.
The match ended 2-2, so it was quite entertaining even without a win (again). There were around 1500 fans from Aberdeen, which was a small surprise. I guess euro games are a special occasion for them too (it is tough to get qualified to the group stage of these competitions).
More gaming
In the video gaming front I’ve kept playing Tactics Ogre, but then later decided to have a go with an action-adventure Control. I was a bit disappointed with the graphics at first, especially the character modelling compared to the likes of Final Fantasy VII Remake, but at least the action mechanics seem interesting enough to keep me busy. The new weird type of story seems okay too (or at least I’m getting vibes from Annihilation).
Inter-dimensional exploration in Control. I think.
I should take a break from gaming however or at least limit it. Need to focus on real life missions I’ve been avoiding.