Partying in Paris

Oh my where to start.

So one day I decided I would like to go to more Nightwish shows than just the Finland ones, so had to think where. Then it became obvious that it should be Paris as we had team members living there.
Liz jumped on the idea to come with me and then a little while after that Sari decided to come to. It was shaping out to be a proper girls holiday.

I met Liz at my local train station and we then drove to the Doubletree hotel next to the airport. I was going to initially drive down to pick Liz up and bring her back to the hotel, but in the end the train would be cheaper and no 5 hour drive for me at stupid o'clock in the morning. The room was lovely even if we did end up sharing a bed, it was huge so it didn't matter. We have a meal in this fancy restaurant attached to the hotel which cost more than our room for the night and we called it a night.
In the airport we were on a mission to get Troy's present.We had made message books for the rest of the band and we obviously could not leave Troy out so a nice single malt was on the cards. Job done, we headed to the gate and then off to France.
We had a bit of trouble with the ticket machines for the train into the city and ended up calling Alex and then having to pluck the courage up to talk to one of the cashiers and hoped they spoke English. We did manage to find one and got on the train for Paris then the tram to our hotel. It was very handy that the tram station was right outside our hotel, it meant no crazy searching around.
Once more the room was lovely in this swanky 4 star hotel and this time we had separate beds. After unpacking it was time to hunt for food. Liz just cannot function on a slightly hungry stomach so it was priority. We did consider just ordering room service but I'm really glad we went out as we found the most beautiful little place 2 doors away from our hotel. The waiter was really friendly and kept coming over to speak to us, but even better was the food. It was honestly the nicest tomato soup I have ever had. We wanted to visit again before we left but sadly didn't get the chance. We tried to not keep awake too late as we were meeting Alex early in the morning for our Disney adventure.
We checked on google maps where the Metro was to our hotel and it looked really close. So we went walking the direction google told us and found squat. It completely baffled us as it looked so close on the map. We admitted defeat and asked in our hotel where the receptionist smiled and pointed the opposite way to what we walked. When we went outside and looked, it was honestly about 10 meters from the door, and worse was we walked past it to get food the night before! We arrived at Concorde where we were due to meet Alex, who herself was running late. When we left the hotel the sun was shining and it was nice and warm, at Cocorde it was bloody freezing and I had not brought my coat. I wasn't impressed. We stood around about 10/15 minutes waiting for Alex to arrive and took some random pictures of our surroundings:

So Alex turned up and it was the first time we had met her so we played a game of "find the birdie" with the public around to see if we could spot her. After some hugs we set off to get to the train station to go to Disney. Liz was making comments about Alex's jewellery and about how she had a ring on nearly every finger. At this point I put my hand out and made a gesture with my hand mimicking having lots of rings on and showing them off. At this point a bus went past us brushing against my fingers.. at this point the phrase "Carol poked a bus" was born.

We got to Disney and made a B-line to go buy some hoodies to try and warm up. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't take my coat.

(Liz and Alex)

We ended up not going on as many rides as we originally wanted. We couldn't believe how busy it was considering it was a Monday and not great weather. All the best rides like the roller coasters and Haunted Mansion had over an hour wait, so we mostly walked around and talked and went on a few of the shorter queues. It still was a really nice day out, we had 2 free tickets and if we had to buy 3 full price ones we probably would of waited in the queues. It was also a disappointment that Pirates was closed.

The 20th Birthday parade started and we got a position where we could pretty much see. They played the same song again and again and again, I think we were about to go insane. It didn't help that Alex would randomly start singing the chorus again. One thing that stood out was a pretty messed up float to Alice In Wonderland. Don't know why but it was kinda disturbing. I got the best picture I could from the angle I was standing:

So we had one more look around the park at the waiting times, then decided to call it a day and go back to the hotel.

The next day we were not in as much of a rush, we had to be at a hotel in Bercy to be interviewed about the work I do for the band. It went really well and Toni, the guy who was interviewing, was really nice. It's sounding quite exciting what he's writing up but might be a while before anything is published to read.

After the interview we went back to Bercy metro to meet Alex.. she was fashionably late again :) then we had to try and find Sari's hotel. Realising we had no clue where to go, we stood under Alex's umbrella in the pouring rain as I called Sari. Luckily she said she would come and meet us, which produced a fully quote of "Sari do you have an umbrella?" .. "No but I can swim".

So Sari arrived looking like a drowned rat as we did and we stood around trying to think what to do. We had about an hour to kill before we were due to go meet Ewo. We ended up in this little cafe for a coffee to wait out the rain, which never happened and it just got harder and harder. 4 o'clock arrived and it was time to locate the band's buses to go meet Ewo. We walked to Bercy Arena and I was attempting to walk in heels, something I do so rarely I'm useless at it. Lucky Alex linked arms with me the second I lost my balance, she must by psychic. 

After getting near the queue of fans we realised there were no buses, so we turned and walked the other way. Eventually we found the buses and French security were wanting to know what we were doing. They didn't seem to understand me when I said it's okay we are expected. I called Ewo who came out the venue to meet us and like a true gent he let us into sound check, thus getting us out the horrible rain.

Inside the girls were fascinated that the crew were playing badminton and that they were moving around on scooters. Of course we had to take some pictures inside, though Sari was obsessed with trying to whip Liz on multiple occasions (yes she brought a whip to Paris) I can't imagine what the bands and crew thought of us.

(My face on here was a joke but it doesn't look it)

After sound check we went to interview Tuomas. I sat this one out and let the girls do it as they had never met him before.

Everyone seemed to of had a good time then I asked Tuomas to take us to the others so the girls could give them all their gifts. The girls organised a book of fan messages and a DVD for the band to celebrate their largest show to date. Jukka was around first but he thought we planned to enter the dressing room so he went back inside to wait for us.

The books were handed out to Marco, Tuomas, Emppu and Anette and Troy got his whiskey and he was overjoyed at it. We were still waiting for Jukka to come back out, only to find out he had fallen asleep.

We hung around backstage with Liz complaining she was hungry once more :) It became a joke Liz and her affection with food. Tuomas popped out of the dressing room to let us sample some of his home-made Salmiakki, it was gorgeous but it ended up being my downfall later in the evening.

We dumped our bags in the crew room and went to the stage when Eklipse started their set. Bercy was filling up and the energy from the crowd far surpassed what I felt at the Finland shows.

Eklipse

I really enjoyed Eklipses set and up next were Battle Beast. They really got the crowd pumping and seemed to go down really well. I preferred these guys to Poisonblack in Finland.

Then it was the turn of Nightwish. The girls' first Imaginaerum show, and some of the girls first Nightwish show ever.We stayed to the side of the stage during the performance, it was just so much easier than squeezing through fans who now were in front of the backstage entrance in the barriers. The girls seemed to enjoy being at the stage side, it meant it was easier to chat, dance and acquire drinks or disappear to bathroom without and battles through crowds. Of course Ewo was playing barman and started me off on some whisky concoction. 

The gig itself was the best one I had seen so far. All the boys had smiles on their faces throughout and Anette had loads of energy and positive vibes. Her voice was even better than in Finland and I was really impressed by the whole evening. 

I failed to warn the girls about the pyros at the end of the show, so they were not amused with me when they all jumped out of their skin.

After the show we went backstage, we went to collect our belongings and the French security had a bit of a go at me when I walked Alex to the door as she had to leave early. After the look of  'you cannot be serious' to the security guy, Tuomas called me so it was easy to walk past the security guard who didn't look best pleased.

In the back, me and Tuomas made light weight of the Salmiakki. There was about 2/3 a bottle left and by the end of the night it was gone. The boys posed for the girls and I got some more as well, though I told Tuomas off for acting drunk on some pictures but he insisted he was completely sober, however I'm not so sure:

(This is the 'least' drunk looking one)

All in all it was a fantastic night and I think the girls were well looked after which was all that really mattered to me. Poor Sari ended up exhausted and had a little doze on the sofa in the boys dressing room, of course I had to get a picture of it.

At the end of the night Tuomas picked me up and squeezed me so tight I actually have a bruise on my ribs (cheers T), he left me with the remains of the salmiakki which I finished off. Although it wasn't the best idea as it seemed to be more potent and the bottom and it pretty much knocked me out.

I can't remember the taxi ride back to the hotel or much after that till I decided to go for a walk around Paris at 08:00 to try and clear my head. I returned to the hotel and managed to catch Anette as she was getting ready to leave in her cool looking camper van transport thing with Johan and Nemo. Nemo was so cute and was smiling when we showed him "baba" a picture of my son. 

I'm sure there are loads of funny stories I've missed out, simply because my memory of the night is not so clear any more.

1 week tomorrow and I do it all over again!

Finland tour: Helsinki & Tampere

Once again it's been a while since I updated but I thought I would wait until I returned from Finland to update.  Should I give a "Warning Long Blog!" message? Hmm guess I just did


Currently sat on the plane after take off from Helsinki writing this with a stuffy nose (thanks Marco!). I'm trying to think what to actually write but no formation is coming to mind so I think I'll just blabber on for a bit. Due to time I am now finishing this as I have returned home.
So Thursday evening I drove from my place to Alex's in Glasgow (UK fan club admin), which took about 3 hours. I arrived about midnight and was greeted by Alex and the Moomin mascot of the fan club.
After a quick hi and picture we called it a night.

We boarded our flight to Amsterdam which we then needed to change aircraft and fly onto Helsinki, it was the cheaper option but took longer so by time we got there it was midnight local time.
We met up with Miren ( TH.com translator) and Linza (TH.com IRC mod) at the airport and returned to Linza's apartment to sleep. Miren joined us for the first night as her friend was not arriving till the next day for the gig. The 4 of us squeezed into Linza's room using 2 inflatable mattresses, a sofa and Linza's hammock. After a hefty discussion on politics we all fell asleep. However being the light sleeper I am, I was soon woken by the unsoothing 'song' made by Alex. I actually recorded his snoring as proof to him the next day...typically he just laughed and said he sounded like a pregnant cow.


I managed to fall back asleep but only for another hour or so then I woke feeling really ill, typical. We noticed Alex had lost his wallet so after a frantic search we decided to go into town and meet up with those we planned to and go to the police and report it stolen.....silly Alex! We met up with Jake and Sarah then did a few things while we waited for Tarja and Natalia to arrive. We went to this gorgeous Chinese restaurant with the most hyper and happy waitress ever. I was so gutted I didn't feel well as the food looked lovely. I did manage some soup though which was absolutely gorgeous. I think the next time I'm in Helsinki I'll have to go back.


Then we just walked around the city waiting for Miren and Natalia to be able to check into their room at 4pm. I was so glad when we cold as it meant I could try and have a short nap before the gig. Unknown to me though, this happened:

They are so cruel to me!




We then finally headed down to the Icehall to collect our tickets and passes at about 6.
The show was excellent and everyone really enjoyed it, only problem was we were all split up as some had seated tickets and some standing. Alex and Miren were opposite where I was sitting and at the beginning we tried taking pictures across the distance for fun:

We found some TH.com members who had came to the gig too and they said hi. It's lovely meeting and talking to members of the site.
After the show we went backstage and saw the guys. Jukka commented it was the best show so far and how happy he was.


We greeted most of the band. Emppu and Anette looked busy so we didn't bother them however. I waved to Tuomas who pointed and shouted "where did you come from?" then he practically pounced on me which gave the guys a laugh. I introduced everyone and he practically force fed them some of this Salmiakki shot stuff. Alex really liked it and decided to buy a bottle on the way home. I took some pictures of the guys with the band and they took a picture with me and Tuomas...a drunk Tuomas. But it was funny. However not too long after Troy came over to me and asked had I seen his Salmiakki. After I told him Tuomas had it he called him a thief and went to retrieve it
.

Troy was an absolute hoot. I was standing with him and Stobe talking about the movie and Troy started rambling on about how Stobe was telling him how to perform on camera. For the risk of offending people I won't say what was said, but just imagine us nearly on the floor with laughter.


Of course we have to have some amusing images to share so here is mine:

Don't ask me what I'm doing as I have no idea.
We said our goodbyes and went for a bus back to the apartment. I said goodbye to Tarja which was sad as was nice to finally meet her. It's the crazy thing about working online with people, never/rarely meeting them.
Back at the apartment it was a quick look through the photos of the night and then straight to bed.


The next morning I woke and I felt healthy, thank goodness for that. Me and Alex had to pack our cases and get to the train station to head to Tampere to check into our hotel before we were due to interview Tuomas.
When we arrived we were too early to check in so used that time to finish the report at the police station about Alex's wallet. It took about an hour in total and we decided to return to the hotel anyway and freshen up in the toilet if needed. Luckily when we got there a room had become free so we could go upstairs and shower etc ready for the interview and evening.
I invited Alex, Miren and Natalia along to the interview and we met in the lobby of the hotel before Tuomas was due. As always, like clockwork Tuomas came downstairs dead on the arranged time. We sat and had a coffee and just had a casual chat about different things. Miren gave Tuomas some wine and Alex presented him with some whisky on behalf of the UK fan club and some books from himself, which Tuomas seemed genuinely interested to read.
We cracked on with the interview and Tuomas adored the questions. So much so we're arranging a little something for a few weeks time. ;)
Images of the interview:

During the interview the other band members were arriving, the loudest being Marco who made his presence well known whilst filming the interview. (See last image above of Tuomas waving to Marco when he came in.) He hung around and chatted with us after which was really cool of him, we even persuaded him to pose for a few pictures:

Then we got Tuomas to do the same and I finally got a decent photo with him. It's only took me a year and a half to get it after multiple attempts in the past:

So after the interview they guys headed to the venue for sound check etc. I saw Anette coming out the lift and think I scared her half to death by saying hi and good luck. She pretty much ran away thinking I was some crazy stalker I think just sat in hotel lobby :)

So then it was time for a couple of hours down time before having to head off to the gig. I decided I would go for a lie down to relax a bit and try and get at least part of the interview sorted out. Thank god for Alex bringing his iPad, it was a very handy thing to have with us.

It was close to 7 when me and Alex decided to go grab some food then head to the venue. Easier said than done as we had to find somewhere to eat first and this meant walking on the sheet ice which was on our route into the centre. We stumbled upon a subway then jumped in a taxi to the venue and grabbed our tickets. When inside I had to try and find Joonas to get some CD's from him that Plamen gave. We walked around and could not see his Nightwish Art Calendar stand anywhere so I asked one of the EMP guys and he said he just walked past me. To be honest I was sure that it was him but I was stupid and didn't say anything so I had to wait for him to return.

I glanced and saw him walking back down but then got the shock of my life when I realised Katharina was with him, I had no idea she was coming and it was a lovely surprise. 

She had some gifts for the band and told me I had one too which was very sweet of her. 

Me and Alex then walked into the hall and wondered the floor trying to decide where to stand. Since I got decent photos from the right of the stage the night before, we decided to go to the left and try and get some better pictures of Tuomas.

We were surprised we just walked to the front and it was pretty quiet at the edges of the floor. Which was handy for taking pictures without anyone knocking my hands etc. Next thing we knew Johanna came and stood next to us so we chatted for a while with her before she left the floor and then we noticed Troy. We went over to see him and boy did he look rough, Alex told me I actually said to him 'Darling you look like shit', he had the hangover from hell. We stood talking to him for about half an hour then he had to go as the band were due on stage. We went back to where we were stood before and watched the show. It was a lot better on the floor than the seats of the previous night, you get more energy from the crowd when you are 'in the thick of it' but I must say Finns are a completly different audience than the UK Nightwish gig. In UK they push, punch and do about everything they can to get that extra inch forward and have the floor totally covered (well in the gig I was at anyway). Here it was polite, space for people to dance in and was a much nicer environment in my opinion.

This made it easier to take (what I consider for an amateur) decent images:

After the show ended, we waiting to meet up with Miren and Natalia again who came to the venue on their own. We all walked to find Katharina and Joonas to get sorted to go backstage, but first we had to say goodbye to Miren which was sad. It was so nice to meet her and so much fun.

We went to the backstage area though security were a bit unsure of us and we had to get Ewo to confirm we were guests before we were allowed back. The backstage are was tiny compared to Helsinki and pitch black. You cannot see from the pictures but it was so dark in the room it was crazy. Katharina gave out the gifts to the band and me which was this beautiful print of her latest Nightwish Pirate work. Huge thanks for this, I'll have to get a really nice frame for it. Then we just went around the room saying hi to everyone else and I was taking pictures for people.

Troy again made us laugh, thankfully he picked up after the gig. He was saying how he loved my accent and then proceeded to tell Geordie jokes. But he was still a bit on the tired and hungover side as can be seen in this fab image:

But he is an absolute charmer. Another who made us laugh was Jukka who was obsessed with Alex's Islander Tshirt and demanded one for himself. Of course we will oblige and I'll take one to Paris for him, but he just kept on mentioning how cool it was.

We were all ready to go back to the hotel pretty early and Me, Alex, Troy, Jukka, Marco, Tuomas all climbed into the mini bus to go back. Whilst on the bus Marco came up with this riddle to work out, we all sat there in silence trying to work it out but nope. It was decided we would try and work it out when back in the hotel.

Back in the lobby there were some fans waiting who Jukka went to see. By time he finished I grabbed a quick photo with him then we all got in the lift to get to our rooms. We chatted to Jukka for a while in the lift, holding it on one floor. He mentioned again to remember the T-shirt in Paris, so it's on the "to do list"

So all in all it was very successful. I'm sure I have more to write about but this has gone on for long enough. 

So until next time. Kumbaya! 

Nothing like a good rant

This time it has not been lack of ideas why I've not posted for a long time, simply time.
I've had so much on recently it's been tough. I used to have an assistant admin I knew would be looking after things if I needed a break, but now he left everything but the TH chat room so I have it all on my head. This isn't normally a problem, it's just bad timing. I'm not that healthy atm and have so many projects that are in mid production, I really could of done with him sucking it up and staying on board. Never mind. *Shakes fist at mojo*

I'm so far behind on the new Tuomas website it's unreal. I wanted it released for the new year, but then more crap happened and I just lost the time I had put aside for it. Hopefully I'll get it up in the next few weeks, it's typical as already showed it to Tuomas who liked it and I think the overall appearance is far more professional than the one we have up now. Ville let me use his pictures and I just got one off Denis too, so I will incorporate his on the site somewhere too.

(So far)

Another thing that was behind schedule was the making of Unity DVD. In the end we didn't get much footage so the DVD idea was scrapped and I nearly scrapped the whole idea. If I did not mention a making of to Tuomas in December and see his reaction of being gutted it was not finished then, I probably would not have bothered. So I turned the DVD idea into a small booklet. A 5-10 page thing with me and the musicians answering a Q&A and some pictures. The idea then progressed into a bigger project and ended up a small book of 45 pages and included testimonials of people.

(Front cover-hardback 45 page book)

So this is currently at the printers being made and I should receive it by the end of the week. Then it's a quick look over and then mailed to Tuomas so he get's it in time before he leaves on EU tour. One job done.

The forum is moving along, people finally starting to get used to it. Some people still cannot understand they can't be rude to other members and there are repercussions for rule breaking. I guess some older forums threatened action more than actually doing it, so people don't seem to be used to authority on boards. TH is as peace loving as ever. Don't know why but we have some of the same members on both forums and the attitude is totally different on TH to NWf. I'm sure someone would think it would make for a good physiological study or something :)

So off to Finland in 4 weeks time to see some Nightwish shows. Looking forward to it as I get to meet up with my crew, some of them I've not met before so I can see it being good fun. I have to drive to Alex's house in Glasgow (about 3-3.5 hour drive) on Thursday evening, I should arrive by about midnight. I'm sure we'll have a laugh watching some bootleg gigs etc. Then at airport in the morning for our all days travel to Amsterdam then to Helsinki-Vantaa then to Linza's place in Vantaa.
I'm just pissed off because the T-shirt printer I use has messed me over, and for months he's put back my T-shirt order. I'm currently searching for another printer, but if I don't get one in next couple weeks I'll have to refund people and scrap the idea. It's a pain as I knew some of the TH team were looking forward to getting team shirts.

I've bought a few new things for Finland and also Paris, knowing my luck it will be far too cold to wear any of them but we shall see. Perhaps a few shots and I won't care about the cold any more :)

Personal plee: Loads of people mentioned how much they love the NW Art calendar. I have a box full here to sell. So please have a look, if you are interested I'm going to discount them a bit more since it's now February.. so come on they are a one off thing and really cool. Gimme a hand and buy one/spread the word

(Click picture for more info)

I had loads more to say and rant about but since this is public... not the best idea hah! So until I have anything else to talk crap about.

Ciao

Roz wanted a new post...

..so here it is.
Honestly I've been that busy I have not had time to write a blog or even remembering to do one. So be prepared this will be long.

Shortly after my last blog post I got an email from Mape which started this big conversation about getting us to run the new NW forum. So that was all a sudden. Thought 'sure np we'll get it up when I return from Finland', then all kinds of crap kicked off and then it was about getting it up asap. So just over 24 hours later we got it online.. talk about stress and hard work. At least it was done before my trip anyway.

I got picked up by taxi at some stupid o'clock to get a very early bus to London. I got to my local town and looked at my ticket which stated "National Express bus number XYZ, depards from stand 22 (outside bus station)" So I stand outside just before midnight freezing my metaphorical bits off waiting for this bus. I got to the stand about 20 minutes early, which doesnt sound like much until you are thrown into a cold street full of drunk students leaving pubs after last orders.
By sheer luck I caught the glimpse of a bus out the corner of eye pulling into the bus station, not the street where I was waiting. I had to run across the road and into the bus station and past all the stands to find my bus sitting there waiting for it's missing passenger (me). I apologised and told the driver where I waited, apparently the tickets printing to wait outside the station was suppose to have been fixed 6 month ago.. joy!
So I get on the bus and try my best to get comfortable, lucky no one was sat beside me so I could keep my bag with me. This bag contained Tuomas's Christmas and birthday gifts and I was not letting it out my sight for love nor money.
After changing buses, I arrived at Gatwick airport at 8:40am. Bear in mind my flight was not till the evening so I had about a 10 hour wait. I was releaved to find you can check in at any time with Norwegian Airlines and get to the more comfy and spacious departure lounge. Thank god as I expected at least a 6 hour wait at the 1 open cafe in departures check in. I found myself a little corner after getting through security, secured my bad around my leg so no one could do a runner with it and attempted more sleep.. Failed. The whole day I was dozing about 20 minutes at a time, ending up with horrible back ache from the most uncomfortable seats ever. Thank god for IRC or I would of went crazy. Typically it was not till the last hour of my journey when I went to stretch my legs that I found reclined seats. Oh well.
At least the plane was on time and I landed into Helsinki Vantaa with no issues and even found Linza with no problems. Quick bus journey to her apartment followed by me pretty much passing out rather quickly. I slept in till about 11am which I couldn't believe, I was due to meet Tuomas at 3 and I had not even unpacked and sorted the things I needed to take. So all sorted and a quick nose on google maps to double check where his hotel was we went out. Wondered around for a bit, Linza showing me some sights as we walked in the direction of the hotel. Went to this nice little coffee shop to sit and relax as we were there a little early, by this point I was hungry again but we intended to go to this restaurant Linza loves called The Seahorse on the evening so I thought I'd leave it.
Got to Tuomas's hotel about 15 minutes early and Linza left me to it. I felt a bit of an idiot in the lobby and though about calling him to say I was here early but then I got a phone call which past the time anyway. On time as always he came downstairs, with his own bag of supplies to match mine. Tuomas asked if I wanted to eat and by this time I thought I could eat a cow so agreed.
I did plan to just have a salad in case we did go out later but he insisted I had something more. So while we waited for food we argued over who was going first with the gifts, he won. He gave some CD's and signed the Storytime singles I asked him to bring for those who won the competition. Then he pulled out the DPP platinum award which he wanted using in a competition which we just finished, and the Jack Sparrow he had on his synths on the DPP tour and some more little items. Finally it was my turn and the book was first. I wrote about it all on the TH site but he was over the moon. He was so excited, then I said it was first edition and he got more excited then showed him the number of the book and the autographed picture and that was it he was in heaven.
After food, which was beautiful, I gave him the CD which had him puzzled at first. After reading the booklet it started to make sense, then I gave him my phone to listen to it and  he just loved it. I wont go on much about it as it's all on the website. We shared some laughs, stories and business and then he had to leave to be picked up to travel home. So a long and pricey trip for a few hours but his reaction to the gifts made it worth it.

*he requested this picture with this quote but it was too dark in the restaurant to make it out properly*

Next day was sightseeing.. in the rain. I could not complain too much as it could of been cold but I think my and Linza's catchphrase that weekend was "It's fucking cold". So we wondered the city a bit, got ourselves a picnic and headed to the harbour to get the boat over to Suomenlinna.

*ferry crossing*

We wondered around and Linza said lets head up to King's Gate where Nightwish filmed Over The Hills video. So we did, and we got wet. We stopped under this tunnel to have something to eat but I was far too cold so we decided to go to the Gate then head back home.

*Linza at King's Gate*

We got home and warmed up with some nice coffee and turkey stew. Next day I was heading home and I was still scratching my head how to get the platinum award and Jack Sparrow home. The award was too big for my suitcase and Jack just fit with some expert engineering. 

Got to the airport and all was well until the heavens opened and it started throwing snow down. We got onto the plane and sat there for an extra hour while the plane was defrosted, twice.

*View of the 2nd defrosting session*

Lucky I had 2 hours to wait at the airport in London for my bus back so I didn't mind sitting on the plane in the warm. The longer I was there, the less I had to wait in London. I got back home at about 6am the next day exhausted but I had a fun trip. I just have to find somewhere good for Jack to live where Ethan cant get it.

Since returning it's been non stop with having to get a proper design done for the new forum, and then continue with the TH.com rebuild. Then we also had Christmas so I have no idea where the time has gone. 

Spoke with Tuomas about a week ago who approved of the new site design, so now it's having all the content added in the other languages. The fun part! 

Though I have March to look forward to now after Alex has booked our flights. I just need to get the funds to pay him for it yet hah! Then get to Glasgow for the actual flight. Still 2 Nightwish shows in two days will be good, then home less than a month then off to Paris to invade Disney and then Nightwish again. All good stuff. Since this has been a long one I'll leave it at that, I'll be good and not rant and I'll leave my future plotting still to peoples imaginations.

I'll try not to be as long with the next post.

Joulu x

*Two more pictures of Tuomas enjoying his birthday and Christmas gifts*

10 months in the making....

Well as you guess from the title tonight I am celebrating the completion of The Unity Project. Dunno what that is? Well it's a project the website has done for Tuomas's 35th. Took us 10 months to complete it but huzzah! It was stressful at one point and didn't think we would finish on time. But with 1 week till I go give it to Tuomas we got there. There is a few little bits to finish, but next to nothing.

So far great feedback but apart from Pip Williams no one else will get to take a look at it until Tuomas does. Decided not even to show Troy in case of drunkenness in Helsinki and giving the game away, also decided not to email Kirsti it either. Plamen was originally going to show her but got too busy, perhaps I speak to her when return or I leave Tuomas to go visit with it.

Anthony has worked like a trooper on this, we expected it to have been a bit less work on his shoulders but nope! All of the other participants have been amazing. We did get let down by original drummer but the guy we found to record had it all done and too us in a fortnight, so big thanks to him! We have scrapped the making on DVD for it though as not all us were able to get footage, so doing a little booklet instead with some pictures and writings from some of the people involved. Just a small thing for Tuomas to keep with it. Now we just have to hope he likes it, I'm sure he will. Feel free to pop to the forum for a sample of it though and the full booklet here :)

I'm so glad I finished buying my own personal Xmas and Birthday gift for Tuomas. Just have 2 more to get for other people there, ordered 1 today for someone else. For privacy I won't give names but fingers crossed likes what we bought.

Tomorrow/Today (as its 01:13) is my last day off work before I go to Finland, I have to work 6 nights in a row to get the time off as work would not give me holidays. So I finish work at 8am on Thursday, then I come home for about 8:30. I'll have to watch Ethan a few hours till Mother is free, then I'll have a nap. Once I wake it will be action stations make sure everything is done and I have not left anything behind. I need to be at Durham station for midnight then the long drive to London then onto Gatwick. So my travel to Finland will be shit and will take the whole Friday but I guess it's worth it.

So now I sit here listening to the orchestral version of our song while typing the email to Pip. Lets hope he likes it too :)

Next update after meeting Tuomas!

Peace!

Travel fun

I finally have my trip to Helsinki sorted after about 4 months of trying to confirm a date with Tuomas. So I fly 2nd December and return on the 5th, so just a long weekend. Though I had fun organising it! Cheapest flight was from Gatwick and I had a free UK coach travel ticket with National Express. I read my email which said to redeem voucher call this 24 hour number. So I called about 07:00 and got the reply "can you call back at 08:00 as they don't start work yet", already a good start huh? I called back at 8 and told the girl I had a complimentary ticket and I wanted to go to Gatwick airport. I confirmed all my details and she put me on hold to confirm and 'use' the complimentary ticket code then came back to me for journey details. She told me coach I wanted wouldn't give me enough 'just in case' time to check in if there were delays, and persuaded me to get the morning coach instead however this means a huge 10 hour wait in the airport. She ended saying I'll have my ticket by email within the hour and that was it. About 6 hours later I still had no email do decided to call them to check she wrote my email address correctly. I got through to some miserable idiot called Keith, who I explained my problem too. The conversation went like this:


K: "okay to help I need your ticket number"
C: I don't have my ticket to give you the number.
K: the booking agent should of give you one.
C: sorry, nope.
K: okay, can I have the card details you made the booking with?
C: it was complimentary, I did not use a card.
K: then there is no way to find your booking.
C: you're joking? Not by name and postcode?
K: I will check with our other department and call you back. This may be classed as a lost ticket and you may need to pay again.
C: I didnt pay.


So he hung up and I waited for the call back. 10 minutes later he called and got me to confirm all the details over again.


K: what bus were you traveling with?
C: think it was the 00:15
K: think or was it?
C; it was!
K: ok the complimentary code was used but we can't find any booking. As the code was used you will have to class it as a lost ticket
C: erm don't think so, the girl made an error can't you tell the complimentary code was used today?
K: yes
C: so I obviously have not used it yet or I would of been on the coach or have used in the few hours between calls
K: one moment please....okay we can go ahead and make another booking.


Grr Im seriously considering complaining about him, get them to listen to the recording as he was plain rude in tone.


Bah at least it's all sorted, though the 24 hour start to finish will kill me. Bus 00:15 arrive Finland 23:45.


I actually had more in my head to talk about but after this vent it's all gone hah.

Progress and Celebrations

Well I think it's time for a random update, so where to start?
Lets start with 'celebration' in the sense of the website celebration we had last week. TH.com reached 1 year of official status, woo. Really weird considering I didn't build it with the aim to go for official when I started all those 3 years ago....wow time flies! From a simple promo/fan site aimed at UK fans to over a million visitors, what can I say? It's genuinely unexpected and a bit strange to be honest. How can 1 band member site be bigger and more popular than official full band sites? It just makes no logical sense to me.
But hey am I complaining? Hell no! Is Tuomas complaining? Hell no! He's the same as me, he cannot get his head around it all and so fast too. So what better way to celebrate than have this celebration week for the fans which went so well. I think we were all a bit nervous about the chat room raffle for the Tuomas chat, but bloody hell we were shocked. Pretty much everyone out of the 157 people online behaved. The OP's barely did a thing. Very proud of our community!
Tuomas will be online on the 2nd to come chat with the winners and I'll throw the poster competition at him (he doesn't know he's picking the winner yet hehe).

So where does that leave us? Oh yes the "progress" part of our title.
Well this refers the birthday project the site is doing. We now have the draft fully complete and Anthony has started to orchestrate it using the nice expensive sample program now he has this super computer. We have the bass completed by Plamen and Joonas, I'm just waiting for the CD to arrive to take a listen and get it to Anthony to mix with the orchestrations. Niklas has completed the guitars and Anthony is pretty much happy with them, just a couple of changes and they will be recorded next week. Clare started doing her vocals eventually. Now I don't type eventually in the sense I've been waiting for her, it's just we had some funny technical difficulties. She recorded and tried sending us the sample and it was distorted and we couldn't figure out why. I was about ready to somehow find the money to send her to a studio to record, but as a desperate last attempt she got her engineer friend round who realised the issue..her voice was causing the distortion, not the hardware as it was doing the same to his ears! So some matresses and acoustic screens later...tada! It worked. So now we are just waiting for the rest of Clares recordings.
We sent Nico to the studio last week to sing his sections and I got them a few days ago and I'm well pleased with the result, and they are not mixed yet and they sound cool!

 

(Nico and Anthony at work- Images borrowed from Seventh Dimension who Nico was signing for day after ours)

So we decided to also do a "making of" kind of DVD. Most of us are recording us working or taking images and with a slight interview. I have some questions to answer on camera which I think I'll film tomorrow.

Feel a bit stupid talking to a camera alone in the house but once we get all the footage edited together with vocal recordings and interviews from Anthony etc I think it will be a cool little addition.

The draft to the song can be heard here

Of course this is the demo and not the super cool samples, I've heard the verses Anthony has done so far and they are sounding awesome. No way Tuomas will keep dry eyes when he hears this in December.

Though at the moment I have no idea how to afford the flight. Anyone want to give me a loan till January? Hah I'm serious :)

I should be getting more shifts at work from next month which will be too late for flight to Helsinki, but in time for my currently plan of Paris, Helsinki and Tampere Nightwish shows.

I'll update again soon.