another year over. its really amazing how years go by faster and faster as one gets older. “time flies when you’re having fun” – perhaps, but i think it goes faster when you’re not.

starting a year is never really starting something new, there is always the effects of the year before to contemplate and live with. this year is spent dealing with last year, just as 2008 was spent recovering from 2007. as a result 2008 wasn’t the best year in many regards – it was expensive, emotional, distracting, lonely and peppered by moments of madness + pure bliss.

so here is my 2008 – taking pictures from my flickr account, because thats how i remember things these days.

i remember walking out of kamppi, seeing the sun shining down annankatu and illuminating the dust in the air. when it snows here in helsinki they put down grit to make sure people like me dont fall over (i still manage to on average once per winter). when the snow melts the grit gets worn down into dust and it clogs up the air – its normally pretty bad in april and may – but here this time we had it in january (last winter wasnt very cold).

an impromptu christmas tree at my new workspace. located right in the centre and full of interesting people.

my decision making process gets me into trouble on occasion, the proper way to do things would be to start off with an idea and consult friends and hone down that idea until it makes sense. i do the opposite – start with a finished idea, say nothing for ages while i get used to the idea and then let people know. one of those ideas happened around this time of the year. took me months to tell the person i needed to tell, by then it was too late.

i like this, foggy nights + tram tracks.

i didnt really take many pictures of graffit in 2008 for some reason.

cheer up little dude, all will be fine.

home to ireland in february for a few days – my mums brithday and seeing some friends. above is fantastic lucinda on the shoulder of beatriz as we walked around dún laoghaire. (i also got to see arvo pärt later that day)

i can still remember the contrails floating. amazing.

cool kitchen budapest live coding the day before my birthday.

yeah timber scaffolding! amazing.

hopefully this will come out okay – im hoping to do more with this idea. two pictures, two time frames – photomashed into one.

copenhagen, half way in so many ways between helsinki + ireland. i still find the city really odd – its amazing, beautiful, full of fantastic people and design and ever so slightly intimidating. its also the only place where i have someone to meet when i walk into arrivals in the airport.

i like this. trees at the graveyard.

tap tap tap tap refresh tap tap tap tap tap

water, remote control, pictures, my fantastic little table beside my bed.

home again in may – this time for my brothers communion. i have lots of memories of my communion still – mostly extrapolated from photos. i do remember the money though and the girls in white.

trips home are always spent laughing to myself at the little coincidences – meeting people randomly in a city ive not lived in almost seven years

headed back to helsinki via frankfurt. never there before. there was a mouse and i spent a lot of time beside a socket.

part 2 coming soon.