Back from my hole~!?
Ahh, who would have thought - it's been a whole month of actual full-time work now, trekking across Finland, digging ancient sites! This feels... odd, I suppose. On one hand, a lot has happened, but at the same time, it doesn't feel that long a time at all. All the same, I find myself in a bind as to how to describe this. Yet I must, after all, what is science without documentation? Of course, once the whole of this is done with, I'll have an opportunity fill up the blanks, so I guess... I'll just write whatever comes to mind.
Perhaps, one could say, that time flies when one is having fun?
I think that may be an exaggeration. At least, strictly speaking, I probably shouldn't enjoy this work so much; ultimately, what I do is dig holes in the ground, in a rather elaborate and impractical fashion, carving my way through of every kind of impractical root, inconvenient rock and messy mud, frequently to no genuine success. Moreover, each dig involves by necessity the rather mind-numbing affair of filling said holes afterward, and making as good a job as we can of patching up that particular piece of land, admittedly to a rather bizarre effect.
From an archaeological perspective, these last two weeks have certainly been less than stellar: Both sites we excavated - the yard of a historical farm house with an iron age burial ground close by, and a mesolithic lakeside settlement - turned out to be somewhat less than they could have been. Also, while we have fulfilled some Indiana Jones tropes - chiefly lots of bugs, including giant ants, if you're interested - no crystal skulls yet, sorry! About the coolest thing I found was a rather well preserved knife handle made of bone; certainly nothing earth-shattering so far.
Even so, time has certainly gone quickly, and I don't feel it's been wasted. Perhaps, the fact is that I've had... less available time in my hands. One thing, to be sure, is that I haven't been home much at all, thus knocking me off of the routines that I normally see time through - but on the other hand, while out, it seems that after a full day of work, it seems I have little time for things other than necessities like making food, sleeping and the like. I am... not contemptuous of this state of affairs: it's a way of living that I haven't really had the opportunity try in some time, and there's a kind of clarity to it that I really enjoy.
Moreover, the setting of this living is nothing but inspiring: in this time of year, in central Finland it's still quite cool, and thus being outside is pleasant, and there have been relatively few bugs to worry about. There have been a few cold mornings, but beyond that, the weather has been decent. (Aside, of course, of that one day when it rained hails the width of a thumbprint. But really, what do you expect?)
As a city dweller, it's something of a luxury for me to get so far out of it, so you can imagine I've spent a lot of time outside, even when I haven't been working. And this is a beautiful part of Finland; far away from the flat lands, not that far from wilderness, it's the place of untouched forests, endless still lakes, sunbaked rocks and grand cliffs.
Also, climbing things is one of the few forms of exercise that gives me genuine pleasure, so you can imagine that many evenings I went to walk and play about these delightfully desolate places - and on that note, I guess now is time for the pretentious Darkken image of the season!
What else have I been doing? Of course, I have been indulging in my particular summer joy of gaming. I initially considered the notion of limiting this to the time I spend home - but it turns out that even though I recently acquired the quite awesome Tales of the Abyss, it turns out that my week-ends back home are to a rueful degree spent in other things, like sleeping, watching the recent Indiana Jones movie, going to my elementary school class reunion and the like. It's always something! And so, spending most of my time away from my usual vices, like the Internet, gaming, and writing, has made me appreciate how an integral part of my existence those things are, in the end, and ultimately, I saw no reason not to indulge it. So, I caved in and bought a PSP...
... and that particular endeavour was initially slightly less than successful, as I neglected initially to purchase a memory card. So as it turned out, I played Silent Hill: Origins for hours without saving once. This started to become... very oppressing, after a while. You see, the place where we lived in? It's one of those slightly unreal cottages that look clinical and unlived-in... too large for comfort, completely cut off from the rest of the world, with a bizarre, kitsch interieur that has an off-putting effect on you.
Now, you see, particularily bad was the lower floor: Once you open the door to the classic horror movie stairs, a breath of cold air would strike you. It wasn't even a real cellar! As you went on, the combination of a circuit board, piping and a boiler room would constantly make this oddly musical Silent Hill noise, and finally, in that room, were mounted animals, and the freaking mirror from Ringu! Add to this the whole "ancient burial ground" angle, and seriously, after a while, I could hardly go downstairs without expecting a zombie invasion. This may be just me, but it does make one look at various sharp implements around the house in a wholly different fashion.
Well, the ancient dead people haven't gotten me yet, so clearly, there's no reason why I wouldn't mess with a few more of their graves. And so, tomorrow, I leave for some more of the same; another two weeks and I'll have even some genuine vacation time for a change! We'll see how that goes then.
Perhaps, one could say, that time flies when one is having fun?
I think that may be an exaggeration. At least, strictly speaking, I probably shouldn't enjoy this work so much; ultimately, what I do is dig holes in the ground, in a rather elaborate and impractical fashion, carving my way through of every kind of impractical root, inconvenient rock and messy mud, frequently to no genuine success. Moreover, each dig involves by necessity the rather mind-numbing affair of filling said holes afterward, and making as good a job as we can of patching up that particular piece of land, admittedly to a rather bizarre effect.
From an archaeological perspective, these last two weeks have certainly been less than stellar: Both sites we excavated - the yard of a historical farm house with an iron age burial ground close by, and a mesolithic lakeside settlement - turned out to be somewhat less than they could have been. Also, while we have fulfilled some Indiana Jones tropes - chiefly lots of bugs, including giant ants, if you're interested - no crystal skulls yet, sorry! About the coolest thing I found was a rather well preserved knife handle made of bone; certainly nothing earth-shattering so far.
Even so, time has certainly gone quickly, and I don't feel it's been wasted. Perhaps, the fact is that I've had... less available time in my hands. One thing, to be sure, is that I haven't been home much at all, thus knocking me off of the routines that I normally see time through - but on the other hand, while out, it seems that after a full day of work, it seems I have little time for things other than necessities like making food, sleeping and the like. I am... not contemptuous of this state of affairs: it's a way of living that I haven't really had the opportunity try in some time, and there's a kind of clarity to it that I really enjoy.
Moreover, the setting of this living is nothing but inspiring: in this time of year, in central Finland it's still quite cool, and thus being outside is pleasant, and there have been relatively few bugs to worry about. There have been a few cold mornings, but beyond that, the weather has been decent. (Aside, of course, of that one day when it rained hails the width of a thumbprint. But really, what do you expect?)
As a city dweller, it's something of a luxury for me to get so far out of it, so you can imagine I've spent a lot of time outside, even when I haven't been working. And this is a beautiful part of Finland; far away from the flat lands, not that far from wilderness, it's the place of untouched forests, endless still lakes, sunbaked rocks and grand cliffs.
Also, climbing things is one of the few forms of exercise that gives me genuine pleasure, so you can imagine that many evenings I went to walk and play about these delightfully desolate places - and on that note, I guess now is time for the pretentious Darkken image of the season!
What else have I been doing? Of course, I have been indulging in my particular summer joy of gaming. I initially considered the notion of limiting this to the time I spend home - but it turns out that even though I recently acquired the quite awesome Tales of the Abyss, it turns out that my week-ends back home are to a rueful degree spent in other things, like sleeping, watching the recent Indiana Jones movie, going to my elementary school class reunion and the like. It's always something! And so, spending most of my time away from my usual vices, like the Internet, gaming, and writing, has made me appreciate how an integral part of my existence those things are, in the end, and ultimately, I saw no reason not to indulge it. So, I caved in and bought a PSP...
... and that particular endeavour was initially slightly less than successful, as I neglected initially to purchase a memory card. So as it turned out, I played Silent Hill: Origins for hours without saving once. This started to become... very oppressing, after a while. You see, the place where we lived in? It's one of those slightly unreal cottages that look clinical and unlived-in... too large for comfort, completely cut off from the rest of the world, with a bizarre, kitsch interieur that has an off-putting effect on you.
Now, you see, particularily bad was the lower floor: Once you open the door to the classic horror movie stairs, a breath of cold air would strike you. It wasn't even a real cellar! As you went on, the combination of a circuit board, piping and a boiler room would constantly make this oddly musical Silent Hill noise, and finally, in that room, were mounted animals, and the freaking mirror from Ringu! Add to this the whole "ancient burial ground" angle, and seriously, after a while, I could hardly go downstairs without expecting a zombie invasion. This may be just me, but it does make one look at various sharp implements around the house in a wholly different fashion.
Well, the ancient dead people haven't gotten me yet, so clearly, there's no reason why I wouldn't mess with a few more of their graves. And so, tomorrow, I leave for some more of the same; another two weeks and I'll have even some genuine vacation time for a change! We'll see how that goes then.