OOOPS DID IT SNOW?
So the guys planning the public transportations aren't the only ones who can't really see a problem coming a mile away! Yesterday I had voulenteered for some taxi duty when my parents were flying to Scotland and later when .... cousin-in-law? (my sister's husband's cousin) came to town. And going there and home for the first time was quite adventurous because they hadn't gotten out the trucks to put sand or salt on the roads yet! One truck had tipped over just a minute before we got there, so when we were getting out of the car to go and help the road was slippery as hell! But later in the night when I was picking up the cousin it was all clear. Were the people who are suppose to decide when to salt & sand on skiing vacation or what happened there!?
USA KING OF ALL
They are doing it again! The Bush-led government has taken it open themselves to decide that every plane passing through the states has to have an american armed security agent on board. With September 11th fresh in mind it might sound like a reasonable idea. But common, what if every country who's had about 2.000 of their citizens killed by terrorist attacks insisted on this? Imagine a British Airways plane going from Tel Aviv passing through Heathrow going to New York. That'd be three security agencies wanting to have people on that flight! Another case of them enforcing their laws on other countries which kinda was the whole background why September 11th happened in the first place. I guess they didn't get the message. And let's be practical here - what kinda job would that be, sitting on airplanes all the time going from a to b not being allowed to sleep, constantly being vigilant!? Not even diplocatic couriers have it that bad.
MAILING SANTA
The other day I heard something I had no idea about. Something that at first is a pretty sweet thought, but later just transformed into evil things. Every year the Swedish postal service receives thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus. They just stack 'em and read some of them for fun. And some of them are sweet - kids telling Santa what they want for Christmas, other just informing Santa that she has moved and here's her new address and some asks for forgiveness for that little evil thing they did and still wants to get presents. Pretty sweet, huh? But look at it from the other side - there are millions of parents out there, lying to their children every year. Going to extreme lengths to uphold the illusion of a jolly fat guy dressed in red who knows if you've been naughty or nice. And there are obviously thousands of them who's done such a good job that their kids are sending him mail! To quote the Matrix - "It's just another method of control". To try to keep kids nice, especially during the Christmas... But if you wanna laught it off, go here.
CHRISTMAS
So 2 days before Christmas and it starts snowing. Who'd thought?! Not the people planning the public transportation system in Stockholm - every year when the snow comes they are caught with their pants down and it takes you 30 minutes longer to get to work. You would think they could plan a little better, and buy better equipment since the snow and cold comes every god damn year, it's not a fluke, it happens every year! Why tha hell can't they ever make it work!? Today it was so bad that I actually set my timer 30 minutes earlier because I knew it was gonna be hell getting into work. And I was right. You'd think that if I can forsee the problem, so should they. They are even getting paid for it! "If they ever have kids... I hope their dog dies!" (quote from "Ford Fairlane" that has finally been released on DVD!)
GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS
Good news - my apetite is back. Bad news - ... my apetite is REALLY back. Now I even eat past the point where the stomach says stop. Fortunately I lost a few pounds in the past week I guess I can take it....
TRADITIONS
Do you know I'm a sucker for traditions? No, neither did I! But in the past week I found myself motivating not going to the new "Lord of the Rings"-premiere because it's my tradition to see it on 1st of January. And then when I had to say no to hanging with buddies with the motivation it's my tradition to do last minute shopping on saturday before Christmas, that's when it kinda hit me - I really am a sucker for tradition!
CELLPHONES
Am I the only one who doesn't get the point of having a camera in your telephone? What's the point? I'd get it if it was a good 4 mega pixel camera that would replace a normal one, but it's not! They are all sucky, bad quality and way too easy to scratch! I'm a gadget freak but it just doesn't make any sense to combine a phone and camera?
COMMUTING
Today I was reminded how relaxing it can be to commute to work using public transportation. Just sitting on the train, knowing there's nothing you can do about anything basically, and just let the mind wander to wherever it goes. I used to be so good at it I had to set my cell phone to remind me when it was time to get back to reality and get off the train. I miss that, can't do it in a car for obvious reasons.
MUSIC
Can you get nauseuos due to bad music? Perhaps it's my current medical condition, but again I accidentally flipped through channels and was exposed to something that should be labelled "psychological warfare"... C21's version of "One Night in Bangkok". It's ... so awful, it may be the worst cover of a classic - ever! They should be banned from making any more music! Is nothing sacred!? Sir Tim, Benny & Bjorn are kicking in their graves and the dudes aren't even dead yet! What an awful start to the weekend!
YEAR REVIEW
You know, this year have been pretty good to me. Most things have gone better than I hoped, work-wise I'm having a blast and financially everything is ok. Which makes me wonder why things had to end so badly (although technically it's not over yet). And the funny thing is I can pinpoint the exact second my luck turned. We had a small little party at a casino in Stockholm and me and Palle (an old friend from work) stood in front of the roulette table and he put down 500 on black and I countered with 500 on red. And guess what happend?... Green. What are the odds of that!? (1 in 37!) After that things have gone downhill. But as I said, it ain't over yet. Still got a little over two weeks of this year to go and I'm going back to work tomorrow!
MOBY
And now I'm disappointed. REALLY disappointed! I recently got the new Moby "18" DVD and I wasn't in any big hurry to go through everything since I'd seen most of it. And today I saw the last part - the Glastonbury performance. As you may remember from my July 11th update, one of my favorite parts was when he apoligized for "having such a f*cking idiot as our president". I liked that. But do you think that part was on the DVD? Nope, they've edited that out! DISAPPOINTED!
SALMONELLA
Salmonella, huh? That's what the latest tests show - I've got a bacteria party in my intestents. Pretty gross, huh? It sure explains my lack of apetite lately, do you know how depressing it is loving food and not being hungry - ever!? And add to that the fact that the sun goes down at 3, and the holidays are closing in and I'm still single - even more depressing. But I was assured by the good doctor that this little depressing attitude was related to the illness so no worries there. Still on sick leave though...
VH1
As you may have picked up I'm more of a VH1 person than MTV. Don't know if it's because I'm getting older or the modern music today sucks or what, but I prefer VH1. And they have their Top 10 lists, and sometimes even Top 100 lists. Usually I disagree on a few of the choices in those lists but never anything major. Except yesterday. As I was flipping through stations I came across "Top 100 Men", which wasn't a gay show or anything, a list of the top 100 male popstars. And when it came down to single digits it became pretty interesting. They had already listed Freddie Mercury, Elvis, John Lennon and Michael Jackson and the #1 spot was yet to come. So over the commercial I was hard at work trying to figure out who tha hell could beat them? Couldn't figure it out. And when it was announced I... I actually got pissed off. It didn't make any sense what so ever. Robbie f*cking Williams?! What tha hell?! Is it time for me to start watching VH1 Classic now or what!? I find that totally unacceptable!
MOVIES
Do you know I watch an average of 5 movies per week? And that's a slow week with few DVD releases and 40 hour work-week. So guess how many movies I see now that I'm just sitting at home all day :) So with a couple of movie channels I see alot of different movies, some I've already seen, some I missed when they were in theaters and some I never heard of. And those I've never heard of are usually crap. But every once in a great while a movie I've never heard of pops up and just floors me. And this great while it was "Tape". Three people in a motel room and it's all dialogue and all good! Don't think I've ever liked Uma Thurman as much as I did in that movie. I highly recoment it!
BACK TO WORK
I tried going back to work yesterday. I really tried to work but I simply didn't have enough energy and even worst - motivation. What kinda illness effects you in this weird way, that you just feel apathetic, lack of interest? People keep saying "over worked" but I don't feel over worked or stressed out. It's weird. But for the first time (and I can always wish it's my last time!) I'm on... sick leave. Only for a week until next examination at the hospital. So what do you do when you're sitting at home not feeling like doing nothing at all?... Nothing I guess....
BACK IN SWEDEN
So after my little trip to Congo with my health problems, it sure was nice to get back to Sweden! Already at the airport it felt good. Picked up my car from the parking lot and started driving the long drive home... when it totally quit on me. Something wrong with the fuel injector, nothing to do but call a tow truck! Set me back some $300, and then we'll see what the repair will be. My car has really been visiting the shop alot! Fortunately I got a pretty good salary last week so my economy will probably hold, but it wasn't the way I was suppose to spend it! Oh well, going home to my parents for a typical swedish thing - advents fika :)
IN KINSHASA
My health over the past week has gone up and down like the worst yoyo! I can go from being perfectly fine to being exhausted, can't-get-out-of bed slacker with a fever in an hour (happened on monday). And the worst part of it is that I'm down here in Congo and can't do anything about my health, I just have to wait until I get back to sweden (this saturday) to do something about it. But yesterday, my father called me and for some strange reason it made me feel all better. I miss home more than I did before he called, but I feel a little bit better and pretty confident I'll make it to saturday. Just goes to show what really matters in life - family!
IN KINSHASA, CONGO
So that wasn't just a case of foodpoison I guess! This was the worst week, healthwise, of my life! I know guys tend to complain alot when their ill, I don't. I just say "I'll live, it'll pass" and it always does. In 20 years I've never been admitted to a hospital (I think anyway). I had a trip to Africa planned right after I got back from Scotland. That's really the best way to get away - Africa! Only place I've been able to go without a computer for 7 days without giving it a second though. Anyway, I still felt bad on sunday evening so I went to our local hospital in Huddinge. They did some tests and weight me in at 113 kg. That's all the beer I drank in Scotland. Anyway, they thought I was fine so off I went. Before I even landed in Kinshasa (Congo) I felt worse and a nice nights sleep at the hotel didn't help and the night between tuesday and wednesday was so bad I was really starting to wonder if I'd ever make it back home. Seriously! I mean being in Africa feeling worse than you can ever remember feeling before, that's scary thing. And 40 degree fever will do things to your head. So I had to go to a hospital. And going to hospital in Congo is nothing you really joke about, is it? They took some blood and I passed out. Not because I can't stand blood (I am a blood donor remember!), but because of my temporarily terrible blood preassure. Then they weighed me in at... 107 kg! 5 kgs in 4 days. OUCH! After the testing the doctor quickly stated I must have one bad infection somewhere (which turned out to be in my throat) and gave me a ton of pills (all in all I eat 13 pills per day now!) and sent me on my way.
And now it's thursday and I'm starting to get back to normal. I've started eating again anyway. Funny how you can't eat when you're sick which makes you weaker and less able to fight off an infection which kinda makes you wanna eat even less and it just spirals down. And I look back at these past three days as a nightmare 'cause it was really really bad there for a while. Totally delerious and... well, sick. And this wasn't really what I had in mind with my "let's get away" thing, now I want nothing else then to go back home to my warm bed and mother's home cooking!
Guess it's true.. there's no place like home.. or we could say "home is where the heart is" but enough clichés, I got 5 kilos to gain!
And now it's thursday and I'm starting to get back to normal. I've started eating again anyway. Funny how you can't eat when you're sick which makes you weaker and less able to fight off an infection which kinda makes you wanna eat even less and it just spirals down. And I look back at these past three days as a nightmare 'cause it was really really bad there for a while. Totally delerious and... well, sick. And this wasn't really what I had in mind with my "let's get away" thing, now I want nothing else then to go back home to my warm bed and mother's home cooking!
Guess it's true.. there's no place like home.. or we could say "home is where the heart is" but enough clichés, I got 5 kilos to gain!
BACK IN SWEDEN
And I'm just back from that trip to Scotland to honor my sisters 30th birthday!
We began on wednesday outside the airport when Marina (AC's best friend) & Christer (Marina's husband) jumped her and scared her quite a bit. Atleast I think so, I was inside to surprise her when she got that far. And man was she surprised! And now she realised that we were actually gonna follow them on their trip to Glasgow. So off we went (btw, Ryan Air has the worst leg space ever!). And at the hotel - next surprise! An old neighbor of theirs had driven from Finland to paaaaartei.
And then on thursday when she was off shopping - there's Paul's (AC's husband) sisters! And a couple of hours later... here's AMY! I'm not sure if she was overwhelmed yet but we took it easy and went out clubbing. And on friday took it pretty easy, shopping and stuff and at 4 the party started again! By now we had gotten Paul's parents, uncle with wife, our three cousines, aunt and just about anyone else who might know us and want a good time. And me and Paul saw everything we had made and it was good! Although I hadn't met some of these people at all, some just once, others infrequently at family occasions, it didn't matter, we all had a blast and although AC's 30th was the reason we were all there, it turned out to be a real family event!
But on saturday, all our ammunition was spent so we just took it easy. And I guess I shouldn't have done that because that's when I got some weird food poisoning or something, felt like crap all the way back to stockholm, BUT SO WHAT, the weekend was great! Ok, I guess I could have gone a little bit easier on my body, not drinking beer from 11 am to 2 am without any breakfast, and perhaps I shouldn't have had 5 red bulls with double vodka in one night, BUT SO WHAT, it was great!
Credit for the weekend goes to Paul for outstanding arrangement (with a little help from me), Lauder's for letting us party in their Pub, Alec for just being Alec and everyone who showed up for showing up! Definitely once in a lifetime thing and she's bound to remeber it for a long long time!
Now the big question is how to pull off Operation 3-0 CHARLIE in 19 months! Might not be so easy to surprise the surpriser :)
We began on wednesday outside the airport when Marina (AC's best friend) & Christer (Marina's husband) jumped her and scared her quite a bit. Atleast I think so, I was inside to surprise her when she got that far. And man was she surprised! And now she realised that we were actually gonna follow them on their trip to Glasgow. So off we went (btw, Ryan Air has the worst leg space ever!). And at the hotel - next surprise! An old neighbor of theirs had driven from Finland to paaaaartei.
And then on thursday when she was off shopping - there's Paul's (AC's husband) sisters! And a couple of hours later... here's AMY! I'm not sure if she was overwhelmed yet but we took it easy and went out clubbing. And on friday took it pretty easy, shopping and stuff and at 4 the party started again! By now we had gotten Paul's parents, uncle with wife, our three cousines, aunt and just about anyone else who might know us and want a good time. And me and Paul saw everything we had made and it was good! Although I hadn't met some of these people at all, some just once, others infrequently at family occasions, it didn't matter, we all had a blast and although AC's 30th was the reason we were all there, it turned out to be a real family event!
But on saturday, all our ammunition was spent so we just took it easy. And I guess I shouldn't have done that because that's when I got some weird food poisoning or something, felt like crap all the way back to stockholm, BUT SO WHAT, the weekend was great! Ok, I guess I could have gone a little bit easier on my body, not drinking beer from 11 am to 2 am without any breakfast, and perhaps I shouldn't have had 5 red bulls with double vodka in one night, BUT SO WHAT, it was great!
Credit for the weekend goes to Paul for outstanding arrangement (with a little help from me), Lauder's for letting us party in their Pub, Alec for just being Alec and everyone who showed up for showing up! Definitely once in a lifetime thing and she's bound to remeber it for a long long time!
Now the big question is how to pull off Operation 3-0 CHARLIE in 19 months! Might not be so easy to surprise the surpriser :)
ON MY WAY TO GLASGOW
Operation 3-0 BRAVO : Haven't been able to write anything here since I've faked being out of the country so my sister AC will get the biggest surprise when we're going to Scotland! Remember in January 2001 AC and me went over for Operation 3-0 ALPHA which was to surprise my other sister. This time it's our turn. And it's set to be a helluva party! But she's on the bus now and I'm off to start collecting the surprise party :)
IN ABUJA
I saw "Rock the Vote" on CNN the other day. As the name suggest, it was an attempt to be political and hip at the same time. A debate program with the 2004 US presidential candidates taking on the youth of America. One thing that surprised me was how they all agreed on how to solve the current problems in Iraq. If it's a workable solution or not, I have no idea, but everyone agreed that the US should let the UN take charge in there. Everyone agreed that was the best way to handle it. The only one who still thinks it's the best idea for US & UK to stay on top of it is... well, Bush...
Have we had enough Bush-bashing this week? Sorry, it's just that when watching CNN so much it gets pretty easy.
Have we had enough Bush-bashing this week? Sorry, it's just that when watching CNN so much it gets pretty easy.
NOT AGAIN!
UNREAL! "They" did it again! Read my update on April 26th... are you done? Well, the saga continued when it was appealed to our second highest legal institution, "Svea Hovrätt". And guess what? "She didn't appear too drunk or drugged out of her mind and the guys thought she wanted to have sex - with all four of them". Unbelievable! But it makes what I said yesterday a little clearer. The weird thing is that the 5 that acquitted them were all women! Although 2 of them voted against the verdict, the majority wins. I'm ashamed to be swedish now.
Is the american jury system better with "normal people" deciding guilty or not? Although I've never experienced it myself (and hope I don't!) I wouldn't think so based on all the TV shows and movies I've seen on the subject. 'Cause in a country that executes people that are found to be guilty of murder in the first, I'd REALLY want the people deciding to be competent in the legal field, not Jeo-blow!
Is the american jury system better with "normal people" deciding guilty or not? Although I've never experienced it myself (and hope I don't!) I wouldn't think so based on all the TV shows and movies I've seen on the subject. 'Cause in a country that executes people that are found to be guilty of murder in the first, I'd REALLY want the people deciding to be competent in the legal field, not Jeo-blow!
IN ABUJA
About yesterday's entry, you might be asking "how tha hell did that Patriot Act go through congress!?". Sarcastic answer to that would be "it's unpatriotic to stop an act ordering people to be patriotic". And I'm not sure that's far from the truth. After 9/11, what politician in the USA would dare to go against an Act that was designed to prevent it from happening again? Who would dare to oppose the president at a time like that? And doesn't that point to a huge flaw in democratic society? That a politician have to do something he or she feels is wrong, only to please the voters? To avoid comitting political suicide? It's happened sometime in Sweden too that popular opinion has forced some bad choices. Any solution? Appointing a group of people who weren't publically elected? The other side of the coin would be the Swedish court system. The judges only go by the letter of the law disregarding public opinion and sometime common sense. Like that "she didn't look 14 and dressed older, so it wasn't 'sexual abuse of a minor'"-trial a few years back.
I usually don't complain if I don't have a counter solution, but this time I don't. 'Cause I prefer living in a democracy that makes some mistakes than in say China.
I usually don't complain if I don't have a counter solution, but this time I don't. 'Cause I prefer living in a democracy that makes some mistakes than in say China.
IN ABUJA
I saw an interesting mini-documentary about the so called "Patriot Act" that was passed after 9/11. It basically gives alot of agencies in the states alot of power to do alot of things to their citizens and even more to people "just visiting". People who, from the "governments" point of view, is un-patriotical (remember that old "you're either with us or against us"-speech?) will be put on "look out" lists that makes it diffcult for them to for example take an airplane. And there's no way of appealing that either, so it's not an official agency handling stuff like that. And now there's a Number II coming that will "encourage" civilians to report un-patriotical behavior to the authorities. Meaning neighbor will spy on neighbor.
This is pretty scary if you've seen Babylon 5! Over the course of the first 3 1/2 years of that show it showed the Earth government doing just this! Setting up special agencies to deal with patriotism, setting up a Homeguard and "encouraging" people to report un-patriotical behavior and so on. Pretty scary how 7 year old storytelling seems to come true. "Land of the free" my ass... And now I guess I can forget about flying to the states anytime soon if "they" were to see this place with all the bush bashing. Because it's not only limited to Americans! Right after 9/11 "they" set up a list of people & organizations the felt were supporting terrorist activites. And somewhere in that list was a tiny little organization in Sweden that helped imigrants and also helped them to send money back to their families in the middle east. But because they were on that list they weren''t allowed to do anything at all. And same problem with appealing... "to whom?"
This is pretty scary if you've seen Babylon 5! Over the course of the first 3 1/2 years of that show it showed the Earth government doing just this! Setting up special agencies to deal with patriotism, setting up a Homeguard and "encouraging" people to report un-patriotical behavior and so on. Pretty scary how 7 year old storytelling seems to come true. "Land of the free" my ass... And now I guess I can forget about flying to the states anytime soon if "they" were to see this place with all the bush bashing. Because it's not only limited to Americans! Right after 9/11 "they" set up a list of people & organizations the felt were supporting terrorist activites. And somewhere in that list was a tiny little organization in Sweden that helped imigrants and also helped them to send money back to their families in the middle east. But because they were on that list they weren''t allowed to do anything at all. And same problem with appealing... "to whom?"
IN ABUJA, NIGERIA
Well today I did something I'd never thought I'd do - I went out to join the Hash House Harriers for a run in the african jungle. Yeah, you heard me, I was actually running in the african jungle! Seriously, who would've thought it 1 year ago that I would be running...
MUSICAL CONFESSION
I've got a terrible confession to make. I actually like Lene's CD. "Play With Me" has got to be one of the best tracks all year. And that has got to mean the rest of this musical year has been a complete mess!!
NOT AGAIN
Oh my god, they are doing it again. They are blaming entertainers for causing people to kill people. This time some teenagers (in the states of course!) that played Grand Theft Auto a bit too much and thought it'd be cool to get a gun and start shooting randomly at cars, and OOOPS, they killed a guy. This is wrong on so many levels, and that computer game is the last thing on the list of "Things to blame". But it is on the list though. First of all, that game comes with a "graphic violence" label. That should tell the parents, if they even cared, that "hm, perhaps it's not such a good idea". Then it's the huge leap from seeing something on the computer monitor and thinking it might be cool in real life. It's a leap I've never had any problem staying away from, no matter how violent the games or the movies I watched were, I never thought it was a good idea to actually build an X-Wing and fly out into space looking for the Death Star only because I saw it in the coolest movie ever. At the time. Bad role models I guess is to blame, but not only the parents, how about the #1 role model they are suppose to have in the states - their president who's respect for human life is.. well, isn't. Then we have the last little thing here... how did they get the gun!? Did Sony or Rockstar make the gun too? How comes this kinda thing only happens in the states? Both the shooting and the lawsuit itself, you never hear about something like this in Canada or France, let alone Sweden!
Everybody should go out and see "Bowling for Columbine"...
Everybody should go out and see "Bowling for Columbine"...
NOTHING TO REPORT
Sorry. Nothing to report. Not mot much is happening over here. Not that I can talk about anyway :(
BACK IN SWEDEN
Today I went to the "Democratic Republic of Congo"'s embassy here in Sweden to apply for a 2 week visa. Knowing all the strict rules, regulations and safety precautions of all foreign swedish embassies, I was pretty surprised that this was only a guy at a desk in an apartment in a suburb... felt really weird, but as opposed to the stiff swedish embassies, this has a much warmer feel to it. And homemade coffee too!
GILBERT WOLF
No joy can last for too long, remember. Today I got the sad message that Gilbert Wolf, the owner of MinDator, passed away. And that's really, really sad. Although I never got a chance to know him very well, I still owe him ALOT for hiring me and running the company in such a nice way for the employees. He wasn't all about making money, he made sure we enjoyed coming to work. That's why he sprung for all the office parties, why he gave us all a 3 day trip to Greece. He was the kinda nice person who talked with everyone, from the sales people right down to the yugoslavs cleaning the office! And when the company was going down the drain and we merged with Pulsen, he made sure our employment contracts were carried on, instead of terminated and renewed in the new company. That little technicality has saved me from atleast two cutbacks and "streamlining" at Pulsen. I liked him. He liked us. And he will be missed.
And like a month ago when Anna Lindh died, I'm not even in the country to attend a memorial or anything. Although I'm terrible at those things, I'd still like the option of attending.
And like a month ago when Anna Lindh died, I'm not even in the country to attend a memorial or anything. Although I'm terrible at those things, I'd still like the option of attending.
IN BRUSSELS
Wow, this weekend was so full of sports I feel like... manly :) Football quadrupled and Formula 1! Boy am I happy I've got a sportsbar right down here in the square in Brussels (at the end of Luxemburg street). And the swedish soccer girls didn't really win the world championship, but I can't really say they lost it either. They didn't go like "oh no, we got hammered by US of A, and then USA got hammered by Germany, so what chance do we have against Germany?" and play dead, they put up a helluva fight.
And here's a question that will make me sound like a sexist or something, but really, this is all about equality... why don't the girls trade shirts after soccer games like the guys do? Come on, the girls get a looong good look at Beck's pex (I just thought of that), why can't I get... I'll stop it right there. As I said, all about equality baby!
Seriously though - amazing job girls!!
And here's a question that will make me sound like a sexist or something, but really, this is all about equality... why don't the girls trade shirts after soccer games like the guys do? Come on, the girls get a looong good look at Beck's pex (I just thought of that), why can't I get... I'll stop it right there. As I said, all about equality baby!
Seriously though - amazing job girls!!
IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
So Bush have done it again. Come up with a great quote that might have sounded good in... well, somewhere like in an empty head - "no civilized democratic country would develop weapons of mass destruction". Says the man in charge of the only country to ever have used Da Bomb. For military purposes anyway.
INTERIOR DESIGN
Two things about my personality that has recently come under fire - 1) My lack of "taking charge" and actually do something about that thing I've wanted to fix for a while. And 2) I'm a terrible interior decorator (so much for me being gay!... ok, that one was prejudicial, but I'm trusting you see the humor in it!). As most of my friends will tell you I usually need a good kick in the ass to to do something. Doesn't matter if it's deciding which restaurant to eat at or to change the wall my bed faces (hey, that's one underestimated issue to think about!). And if there was a swedish version of the Fab 5 they'd have their first mission right here! But since we don't my friends took it upon themselfes to just swing by here on a calm saturday and literally drag me to Mio and buy some new shit for my place. And I'm grateful they did because I probably would never have gotten out of the apartment today had they not shown up. Not to mention my apartment looks a liiiiiitle bit better now. And when it comes to my living room, the old styling saying of "a quick look and get rid of the first thing that you notice" wouldn't work since the first thing I notice is my TV and my speakers since their kinda too big to NOT notice. So I guess that size does matter... and we're back to being gay again...
Can you tell I've been up way way too long with far too little sleep by the way I'm babbling now?... thought so!
Can you tell I've been up way way too long with far too little sleep by the way I'm babbling now?... thought so!
BANG!
Well that "haven't been in a car accedient" luck that I was living all year was bound to come to an end. Once again it was in a round about, I was in it and a guy didn't see me (?) and just smashed into me. Car is f*cked up, but guess what? I'm TOTALLY ok with it! "Why?" Because I'm a down to earth guy and I knew it was only a matter of time until I was gonna collide with someone. I've just been waiting for it to happen, trying to avoid it. And as I said, this time it wasn't my fault, which takes care of my insurance problem. And what's even better - noone got hurt! Since it was in the middle of a round about there were no high speeds to talk about, just pure inertia based on weight so there wasn't any real danger. So I'm totally ok. After all, it was a friday, I've just gotten the Dead Zone DVD box and UFO - Aftermath so I'm still happy.
Speaking of Dead Zone, it now dominates my "hottest comments" of all time:
1) "Let's make a hockey team!" and 2) "Resistance is futile."
Ok, so you probably have to see the episodes in question ("1" is from the pilot and "2" is from "Date with Dana") to get the context. But trust me, they were hot! Speaking of hot - how about this!
Speaking of Dead Zone, it now dominates my "hottest comments" of all time:
1) "Let's make a hockey team!" and 2) "Resistance is futile."
Ok, so you probably have to see the episodes in question ("1" is from the pilot and "2" is from "Date with Dana") to get the context. But trust me, they were hot! Speaking of hot - how about this!
FOOOOOSBALL
So who would have thought that Sweden would ever beat Brazil in football? I mean in real life football, not any cyberversion? I never thought that'd happend. But yesterday "we" did! And I'm proud to be a swede when they did it. Hockey WC gold in all honor, but beating Brazil in a quarter final felt a hell of a lot better. And the way they did it... way to go girls!! (or do they prefer "women"?) Now let's see if they'll be greeted in the same way when they come back as the guys in 1994 were. Even though Sweden is a model of equality between the sexes (we even changed our constitution so that a woman can and will inherit the crown!), I doubt it. Unless ofcourse they win the entire thing. Which they will!
BUSH BASHING
Best quote of the year - "Leaks of classified information are bad things". Wow, what rocket scientist said that?... noone, it was the President of the US of A... that Bush guy continues to surprise me, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. I don't consider myself a political person, but when it comes to him I just can't lay off it...
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE
Go see "Bowling for Columbine". I've always been critical of the sloppy gun regulations and the attitude of the NRA in the states. But after seeing this documentary I can relax knowing that me and Moby aren't the only ones who thinks something is pretty screwed up "over there". Although it was pretty one-sided, biased, Moore was set to get Wal Mart and Heston, but what I really liked was when he just went off to places not knowing what he'd find, like in Canada. And after this documentary, you gotta like Canada :)
ROBERT PALMER
Sad day today. It may be friday, it may be day after pay day and I might have a great weekend ahead of me. But... Robert Palmer died the other day of a heart attack. At 54. And both "Addicted to love" and "Simply Irresistable" were some of my favorite tracks. So sad.
But on a happier note : The US vs France war of words continues.
But on a happier note : The US vs France war of words continues.
SHOPPING
I like shopping over the web. It's much more relaxed, you can do your research and there are fewer chances of spontaneous unecessary purchases. But then there are the very bad things, like when I decided I needed a DVD recorder. Costs about $550. Then I also needed a new scart cable for it and that was only $30. And today I got the e-mail saying it would be delivered in mid-november!? Only because they didn't have that freaking cable in stock the system holds the entire order. Actually had to call their customer service to fix that. I guess programming that little additional intelligence was too much for them...
IN SWEDEN
Today was the memorial service for our Anna Lindh. Beautiful event, although I think they could have been a little more low key than shutting down half the inner city. And I had just made it back to Arlanda and got in my car and turned on the radio to haer the live broadcast. I gotta give it up to Eva Dahlgren, who's music I've never been a huge fan of, but to be able to stand there and sing those songs without breaking out in tears, which I did and I wasn't even there!, absolutely fabulous. (And if someone could get Jewel for my funeral, that'd be great...)
IN GDANSK
Do you watch CNBC? I very rarely do since it's 99% financial news and I'm simply not that into it. But I accidentally flipped it on on thursday and heard what may be the best quote this year. "Hurricane Isabell closes Washington and shuts down the federal government... will anyone notice?". I thought that was hilarious. And if you're wondering why I'm not updating as much as I used to... recent events have made it less fun posting stuff here, hopefully that'll pass and I'll get into the spirit of things again.
IN GDANSK
So no to the Euro, huh? Damn, was kinda hoping that somehow all the polls would be wrong and the rest of the swedes would actually say yes to the Euro. I'm a trekker and hence for all attempts of globalization and in the wonderful world of Star Trek money isn't an issue. Not to humans anyway. So discarding one global currency would be a lot easier than trying to get every country to discard their currency. Byt anyway, to snap us back to today, what will this mean for us swedes? Well, it can't make things better, right? No anti-Euro person ever said having the SEK would make things better, just not worse like they thought Euro might be. Me, I'm a gambling man so I'd rather take the chance of getting things better than stay the same.
And oh yeah, we get to keep control of our economy here in Stockholm instead of down in EU HQ Brussels. And here I thought one of the lessons of 2001 was that the financial world is intertwined and what happens in the States will affect us here in Sweden. And everytime there's a price increase for gas here in Sweden they blame it on the dollar, but yeah, I'm glad we get to have control of our finances here in Stockholm. And noone will dismantle our great social security net that the anti-Euro people were talking about. And here I thought our social security net was more a state of mind, more bread into the Swedish consciousness than it was bound to our currency. Thanx for destroying that illusions on a "might"/"if"/"perhaps".
Soon shopping at Arlanda airport will be like shopping in Copenhagen airport - you will be able to shop with both the local currency and the Euro only to confuse the customers left and right.
But what do I know, I'm just a good little worker ant.
And oh yeah, we get to keep control of our economy here in Stockholm instead of down in EU HQ Brussels. And here I thought one of the lessons of 2001 was that the financial world is intertwined and what happens in the States will affect us here in Sweden. And everytime there's a price increase for gas here in Sweden they blame it on the dollar, but yeah, I'm glad we get to have control of our finances here in Stockholm. And noone will dismantle our great social security net that the anti-Euro people were talking about. And here I thought our social security net was more a state of mind, more bread into the Swedish consciousness than it was bound to our currency. Thanx for destroying that illusions on a "might"/"if"/"perhaps".
Soon shopping at Arlanda airport will be like shopping in Copenhagen airport - you will be able to shop with both the local currency and the Euro only to confuse the customers left and right.
But what do I know, I'm just a good little worker ant.
IN GDANSK
Today I did something I knew I had to do but didn't think I'd get the chance - visit a concentration camp! "Schindler's List" is one of my favorite movies and "Surviving Auschwitz" my favorite book so I felt I had to see one for myself. And just outside Gdansk is Sztutowo with the "Stutthof" camp. Very emotional just being there! Most of the place had been tored down but some of it was still there, a few barracks and ofcourse the gas chamer and the cremation building. And I have to disagree with whoever said the holocause was one of mankinds biggest mistakes because to me, mistakes are acidental and not pre-planned. And places like this was the very opposite of that, very cold calculated brutality. Definitely mankinds darkest hour though.
IN GDANSK, POLAND
Not only is it the 2nd anniversary of what happened in NYC & Washington, now September 11th will be a day of mourning here in sweden as well. One of the few politicians I've had the most respect and admiration for passed away after being stabbed yesterday. And she might not have been the best politician around since she was so... good, decent, well mannored and alot of things politicians shouldn't be. And she would have made an awesome prime minister one day already having worked up the respect of international politicans. But because she decided to do what alot of other people take for granted - just going out shopping - we'll never know.
Anna Lindh - here's hoping you'll atleast get to rule heaven.
Anna Lindh - here's hoping you'll atleast get to rule heaven.
VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS
I don't know why I bother watching the VMA's anymore. It must be the "I'm too old for this shit" syndrome or something like that, but I haven't enjoyed an MTV award show since the MTV EMA in Stockholm 2000... But like last years MTV EMA's, the only thing I liked was the opening (Madonna, Britney and Christina) and closing (Metallica) acts.
And while I was writing that I thought of another reason I might not like these shows, a fact that may make me sound a bit rascist but I trust you know me better than that - out of everyone that got awards, how many were white? Coldplay and Linkin Park were the closest one, if you disregard "why oh god wasn't I born black" Eminem or Justin "I wanna be Michael Jackson so hard I even twist my nuts just so I get the same high pitch voice" Timberlake. Or wait, does it make me a rascist not liking Jay Z, 50 Cents, Piff Diddly, Ashanti, Missy Elliot or whatever everyone's names are? Now I know what black people must feel like when watching sci-fi...
And while I'm on the subject - how many people would laugh at Chris Rock if he was white? Not many, 'cause he'd be in jail for being the most rascist person on the planet. But he's black, so that's ok :) But his joke about Coldplay was pretty funny - it is damn depressing hearing that guy laying all his heartache in that "I'm fighting back my tears"-voice.
But that's just about the music, I did enjoy other parts of the show, Black is always hilarious and those gay interior designer guys were hilarious, loved their expressions when Madonna was bringing down the house.
And while I was writing that I thought of another reason I might not like these shows, a fact that may make me sound a bit rascist but I trust you know me better than that - out of everyone that got awards, how many were white? Coldplay and Linkin Park were the closest one, if you disregard "why oh god wasn't I born black" Eminem or Justin "I wanna be Michael Jackson so hard I even twist my nuts just so I get the same high pitch voice" Timberlake. Or wait, does it make me a rascist not liking Jay Z, 50 Cents, Piff Diddly, Ashanti, Missy Elliot or whatever everyone's names are? Now I know what black people must feel like when watching sci-fi...
And while I'm on the subject - how many people would laugh at Chris Rock if he was white? Not many, 'cause he'd be in jail for being the most rascist person on the planet. But he's black, so that's ok :) But his joke about Coldplay was pretty funny - it is damn depressing hearing that guy laying all his heartache in that "I'm fighting back my tears"-voice.
But that's just about the music, I did enjoy other parts of the show, Black is always hilarious and those gay interior designer guys were hilarious, loved their expressions when Madonna was bringing down the house.
GIRLS KISSING GIRLS
Hehe, what can I say, go Britney and Madonna :) I've always liked Madonna and her no-bs approach to things. Might even get to like Britney if she keeps that up :) But more about the VMA's in a later update.
But it kinda reminds me about a Deep Space Nine episode that I saw, very recently - "Rejoined". An episode about homosexuality, without homosexuality ever being an issue but so totally in your face when Terry & Susanne gets it on :) Yeap, got season 4 of DS9 on DVD so I'm kinda in DVD hibernation now, expecting to come out of it late on Saturday.
But it kinda reminds me about a Deep Space Nine episode that I saw, very recently - "Rejoined". An episode about homosexuality, without homosexuality ever being an issue but so totally in your face when Terry & Susanne gets it on :) Yeap, got season 4 of DS9 on DVD so I'm kinda in DVD hibernation now, expecting to come out of it late on Saturday.
MOVIES
Saw "The Core" the other day. I actually didn't think a movie could disregard real physics more than "Armageddon" did. But "The Core" did. Pretty damn obvious who was gonna die, sometimes even how! I particularly liked the "404 access denied" error. (404 is actually "not found")
Also saw "Identity". Very, very good movie. Although you it shouldn't be sold as a "who did it" story.
Then I also saw "Down With Love", that 60's type movie with Renee Z. (not even gonna try with her last name) and McEwan (how many got that joke?) about the battle of the sexes. And it was one of the most booring filmes I've ever seen. Had it not been for Niles Crane it would have tried to reclaim the 2 hours I lost watching it. And then there was Jeri Ryan. For about 2 minutes.
Finished it off with "Lost Summer", that "Project Greenlight" movie with the guy that got his dream movie made. And it was slightly less boring than "Down With Love", but only because of Aidan Quinn and Kevin Pollak. Both of them are cool and good in just about anything they do.
Also saw "Identity". Very, very good movie. Although you it shouldn't be sold as a "who did it" story.
Then I also saw "Down With Love", that 60's type movie with Renee Z. (not even gonna try with her last name) and McEwan (how many got that joke?) about the battle of the sexes. And it was one of the most booring filmes I've ever seen. Had it not been for Niles Crane it would have tried to reclaim the 2 hours I lost watching it. And then there was Jeri Ryan. For about 2 minutes.
Finished it off with "Lost Summer", that "Project Greenlight" movie with the guy that got his dream movie made. And it was slightly less boring than "Down With Love", but only because of Aidan Quinn and Kevin Pollak. Both of them are cool and good in just about anything they do.
THANK YOU
Just before I went on my first trip, the one to Guatemala, I wrote an update that never made it up here. And now it's time to come clean with what I had written. In that update that never made it up I put all the blame for any eventual disaster in this project, be it screwing up bad enough that I got fired, an airplane crashing, me going on shopping sprees abroad or whatever, I reserved the possibility of blaming all the people that talked me into this for everything, since I didn't want to do this at first. But with a statement like that, you have to reserve the possibility that it may be one of the best things that ever happened to you. In that case, that blame would do a 180 and turn into a thank you. And now, when all the bills are payed, all creditcards sorted out and all my luggage made it, I guess it's time to honor that original statement by saying a big
THANK YOU
to all those people that convinced me to do this. And also a little thank you to Anton, my old collegue that made me envious with all his travelling and made me realise that for being a person who likes travelling I really haven't done that much of it.
'Cause as it turns out, not only did all the good things I mentioned last sunday happen, but it also turned out to be a goldmine for my wallet! I did go on shopping sprees when I was travelling, but thanks to all bonuses and stuff my body has actually been able to cash those checks my ego was writing. And now I'm getting a $500 bonus on my salary for blowing the roof off my budget :) Happy happy, joy joy :)
'Cause as it turns out, not only did all the good things I mentioned last sunday happen, but it also turned out to be a goldmine for my wallet! I did go on shopping sprees when I was travelling, but thanks to all bonuses and stuff my body has actually been able to cash those checks my ego was writing. And now I'm getting a $500 bonus on my salary for blowing the roof off my budget :) Happy happy, joy joy :)
WHAT IF
Do you like "what if"-ing? I love it. Thinking about those small little events in your life that have had a huge impact. Like "what if I hadn't by accident heard of that computer course at Thorildplans that turned out to be the best year of school ever" and "what if I hadn't wasted a year in college", "what if I had gotten the first job I applied to" (it was just a freak accident I didn't get it!), "what if I had taken up the offer of joining the old MinDator crew at ITF", what if... Had any of these things happened I wouldn't be where I am today. It might have been better, it may have been worse, I have no idea. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I like "Dead Zone" so much - they are really great at "what if"-ing. They visualize the possible consequences of the choices the characters are forced to make. I've exceeded my download ratio, TWICE, downloading this show that I'm liking more and more. More thoughtful and deep shows like this please!
STILL QUIET
Ok, now why haven't I been updating this place in almost a week, and wouldn't have done so tonight either if my mother hadn't called to check up on me? I mean, even when I'm out travelling, even when the hotels don't have any internet connection, I'm still able to update this place more often than that, right? Well, it's... kinda like nothing much have been happening to report about. Compared to being out travelling, seeing new cities, meeting different people, speaking other languages, learning how to appreciate different foods and just admiring the beauty that is life... well, compared to that nothing much have been happening on the 67 square meters that is my (rented) place on Earth. I've been entertaining some friends, and over the past two days I've been busy watching movies and launching the new and improved NP.com. We'll talk more about those movies and "The Dead Zone" later, right now I gotta go to bed and get some rest for the coming week that I'll spend at the lawfirm. Atleast 8-5. That is unless someone calls me because... that's right, I'm on call this week too :)
QUIET
Why have I been so quiet lately? Well, nothing really thought-provoking has happened. Well Bush had a hilarious press-conference last friday... as I said, nothing thought-provoking. Working away at work, re-programming NP.com. just going on with my life. Move on, nothing to see here.
DEATH PENALTY
This morning I woke up and saw one of the best interviews ever on CNN. One of the guys responsible for the bombing on Bali got his judgement and it wasn't the death penalty which many would've thought. So CNN got a live interview with an aussy parent of one of the people who died and tried to get him to say "they should just kill him!". But he quite simply stated that "I'm not a believer in the death penalty, it's not a part of my philosophy and that's the way I raised my children as well, so I'm content with this judgement". And the poor interviewer did her best provoking him, even interrupted his sentences (no pun intended), no luck there. So much for death penalty being implemented to make the relatives feel better!
NOSTALGIA
I don't know why, but I'm a sucker for nostalgia. Always have! I use the words "good old days" way to often and like reminiscing about them. Like today! I accidentally met Chribba, the guy who tought me everything about being a corporate computer tech, today. And then I visited ITF's office (ITF is a competing company made up mostly of old MinDator employees) and spent an hour there, which was really nice seeing these guys & girls again. And she's as hot as ever...
TERMINATOR 3
I saw T3 yesterday. I was expecting it to be crap. Just another movie made to squeze some money out of the Terminator brand. But I was proven wrong! It was actually pretty damn good! Alot deeper than the other ones, not just a no-brainer action flic. Although they must've had way too much money during that street-carnage-scene! And the ending scene with Earth from orbit I thought was just beautiful. Don't get me wrong, I didn't enjoy the thought of a scene like that, but it was really beautifully animated!
BUSY
Gee, have I been busy! Movies, programming, computer game & Formula 1. And work ofcourse. That's why it took me so long to upload the new pictures that can be found here. Enjoy!
MORE MOVIES
Two more movie reviews : 1) "Office Space". Don't know what's up with me and office-humor, but I just love it! And this movie's point of "it's only a job" and "what tha hell" is just so wonderful. And the gangsta-anti-fax-machine scene is one of the most hilarious things I've seen. I just wish someone could hypnotize me and take away that little blocking mechanism I have that stops me from just going into a place and ask a girl out like Peter does :) And 2) "Daredevil". I bought this movie for three reasons : a) Kevin Smith b) Jennifer Garner and c) "Bring Me To Life". Well, Kevin is in for about 1 minute, you know what happens to Elektra, right? And the "Bring Me To Life" video wasn't in DD 5.1! So I should be disappointed. But I'm not. Simply because of the two scenes with Jennifer Garner in the rain. And I'm not talking wet t-shirt alá "Spiderman" here (although that wasn't bad either), I'm talking about the visual effect and the Matt Murdock POV. That was just beautiful! Worth the money just for those two scenes!
TOLERANCE WEEK
So this week is the annual national tolerance and respect week. Also known as gay pride week. For one week everyone in stockholm, from big coorporations to the little guy sitting in gridlock because the streets in downtown stockholm are closed, are suppose to show our respect and support to the gay community. What about the other 51 weeks of the year? As if I need an appointment in my calender to be respectful and support a bunch of people who wanna live the way they want! Some political correctivness is just too much. This, and casual Hawaiian T-shirt day (yes, I just saw "Office Space", but more about that later).
SHOPPING
The two travelling companions I had during my trip to South America had one thing in common - their need to shop! Shop shop shop! And I suck at shopping even when I know the store and even worse when I don't even know the language. So I did my shopping from the hotel room by ordering stuff from the 'Net. And now I finally got to see some of the DVD's. And ... well, I think I've seen so many movies that it is now almost impossible to sneak a twist by me. One of the movies was "Basic", that military/murder/who did what movie. I heard the writer behind it had said he wanted to throw us, as in the people who pay attention and give away the ending 15 minutes too early, off balance. And there sure was alot of twists, so many in fact that he tilted himself and there are three major plot points still unresolved. And unfortunately I pay so much attention that the little broken eight ball outside Travoltas place totally gave it away, and that was less than 5 minutes into the movie! Then there was "Life of David Gale" with one of my favorite actors, Kevin Spacey. He said in an interview that it's pretty unpredictable, and this is the guy who played a huge part in the movie with one of the biggest twists in movie history ("The Usual Suspects"), so that promised alot. But 60 minutes into that one I knew how it was gonna end, with one little exception - did he or didn't he know. But I still recommend everyone to see "Life of David Gale", quite simply because of the entire anti-death penalty story.
BACK IN SWEDEN
And so I'm finally back here in lovely, warm & sunny Sweden! Man have I missed it! It took us about 23 hours from checking in at the airport to checking out at Arlanda. 15 of those was spent sitting in one little chair with severely limited space. I even tried sleeping pills, no luck there. But that just made coming home more enjoyable. So enjoyable I went right out to buy some new toys for my computers at home! And now I'm using wireless shit here, so I can actually sit in my bed and surf the web, checks mails and everything! Ofcourse I could do that before as well, with a long cable. The schedule over the weekend is very relaxed, only real "have to!" is doing my laundry. And I began it with sleeping 14 straight hours!
And then I checked my kristoffer.com mail account today for the first time in almost two weeks. It contained about 1350 messages! That's about 100 messages per day! And maybe 10 of them was worth reading, the rest was just junk & spam mail. It doesn't seem to matter how many proposals are on the table to stop spam mail and shit like it, it just keeps on coming :( This has as another bad side-effect that when I go through my mail I spend about 2 seconds per mail to determine if it's worth reading or not. And when I get 1350 messages hopefully you'll understand why - 45 minutes to go through mail only to find the 10 I actually wanted to read!
And then I checked my kristoffer.com mail account today for the first time in almost two weeks. It contained about 1350 messages! That's about 100 messages per day! And maybe 10 of them was worth reading, the rest was just junk & spam mail. It doesn't seem to matter how many proposals are on the table to stop spam mail and shit like it, it just keeps on coming :( This has as another bad side-effect that when I go through my mail I spend about 2 seconds per mail to determine if it's worth reading or not. And when I get 1350 messages hopefully you'll understand why - 45 minutes to go through mail only to find the 10 I actually wanted to read!
IN BUENOS AIRES
Woke up today to the news that the USA military had killed Saddam's two sons. And both the White House and 10 Downing Street were ecstatic. Without really knowing the exact nature of the operation I can only deduce this from what I hear on CNN and read about it on the net - but what gives the US the right to off people in foreign countries? They've probably been doing it for years, but this was kinda public and they're even bragging about it? When they execute their own citizens in the name of justice they atleast give them a trial. But oh yeah, that's right, the US don't wanna go along with this international war tribunal until US soldiers are immune to being prosecuted for anything!
IN BUENOS AIRES
Woke up today to the news that the USA military had killed Saddam's two sons. And both the White House and 10 Downing Street were ecstatic. Without really knowing the exact nature of the operation I can only deduce this from what I hear on CNN and read about it on the net - but what gives the US the right to off people in foreign countries? They've probably been doing it for years, but this was kinda public and they're even bragging about it? When they execute their own citizens in the name of justice they atleast give them a trial. But oh yeah, that's right, the US don't wanna go along with this international war tribunal until US soldiers are immune to being prosecuted for anything!
IN BUENOS AIRES
Over the past week, the media has once again shown its lack of good journalism when it comes to reporting about stuff on the web! A 31 year old ex. marine web-dated a person. It got serious, he told his family he was going to Britain to meet this 19 year old girl and off he went. They then travelled together to Germany through Paris, her stopping by a pay-phone to call her parents to say everything was ok. Oh, and the girl in this case was really 12 years young. And that's as far as the facts takes us and speculation begins. CNN tried to keep an open mind about it, but when he was arrested they started the "predators on the internet" talks. And "Aftonbladet" in sweden didn't even tell the facts but told the story so it sounded like a straight up kidnapping. And without knowing exactly what happened I can't really defend the guy, but I gotta make some pointers here. Did he really know she was 12? I'm pretty sure young people today do what we did which was to lie about our age to seem more mature. And especially on the 'Net, it's really easy to get away with it too! I can very well imagine them two in a chat room with her saying she was 19 or something! And when they finally did meet IRL, he must've gotten the point she wasn't that old, but so? What 12 year old hasn't wanted to run away from home but doesn't have a good alternative plan? This girl got one served up, what's to suggest she didn't leave on her own will? I can't see any way that a person can be unwillingly dragged through three airports, with all the security they have today, without being able to call for help in any form. And is there a law out there against 12 year old people running away from home and travelling abroad?
But the dude was arrested right away in Germany, and he has a prior for sexual assault, so he might have done something wrong somewhere along the line, but I'm atleast giving him the benefit of a doubt and I'm really interested to see what he's charged with, cause as far as I know, nothing he did was illegal. And for all the "what tha hell was he thinking!?" people out there, go see "Léon", I'm pretty sure this guy had.
But the dude was arrested right away in Germany, and he has a prior for sexual assault, so he might have done something wrong somewhere along the line, but I'm atleast giving him the benefit of a doubt and I'm really interested to see what he's charged with, cause as far as I know, nothing he did was illegal. And for all the "what tha hell was he thinking!?" people out there, go see "Léon", I'm pretty sure this guy had.
IN BUENOS AIRES
Remember that little link I posted a while back when they tried to change the name of French fries to Freedom fries in the states? Well, it looks like the French are returning fire as they try to ban the word "e-mail"! Seriously! What would the world be without politicians, huh? It would be a much more dull place to live in, that's for sure!
IN BUENOS AIRES
Why can't spanish be spanish everywhere? Why do they have to have different versions of it? I'm not sure the use of "dialect" is appropriate, cause it's not a matter of dialects, even words are different. I still haven't seen any place selling bocadillos, but plenty of sandwich-places! And then double "L" is pronounced differently as well. It's annoying as hell when you're trying to learn a language.
IN BUENOS AIRES
Have you ever seen "She Spies"? It's one of those rediculous TV shows that doesn't do much seriously what so ever, and if it wasn't for Ms. Henstridge I wouldn't watch it all. But it's got some good moments like "Hey, this isn't a movie!" - "No it's not, if it was we'd have bigger sets". Anyway, we've done some tourist stuff today. But there's not much of that to do when you come here totally off-season
IN BUENOS AIRES
And yesterday we were invited to dinner at one of the guys working here which turned out ... great! Really great actually. Two of the women from the office joined us for nice little get-together in his loft (and color me jealous, that was an amazing loft!). And then things went a bit wrong when the attention was tuned to my interests and it kinda slipped out (one of these days I'm gonna have to learn how to lie to women!) that I had this place with a diary so I better watch what I write in the future. But it's below me to change what I wrote in the past - "know what I mean, nudge nudge!?".
Work-wise everything has gone according to plan. Some small hickups but nothing I can't handle.
Work-wise everything has gone according to plan. Some small hickups but nothing I can't handle.
IN BUENOS AIRES
Another thing that's great about south america - they have lots of good TV stations here. Sony Entertainment with all sit-com's, Fox, Warner channel, AXN and so on. Yesterday I was flipping over and happened to see an american show called "The Dead Zone" (yes, based on Stephen King's work). Pretty damn good and lots of Star Trek references too. But what do you expect when Michael Piller is involved. Although I've only seen one episode, it showed alot of promise. Just the way the end scene of the episode ("Precipitate") I caught was filmed like, slow-mo, silent, just amazing!!
IN BUENOS AIRES
One of the small little pleasures when I'm out travelling - tuning in to CNN to hear the latest news delivered by Daljit Dhaliwal! She's like Tone Beckestad on TV4 in sweden - they can give you the worst news or weather report and you still sit there smiling.
IN BUENOS AIRES
I had a pretty good feeling about this trip even before we left Stockholm. Don't know why, I just did. And now that I'm here, now that I've met the people here... I'm having an even better feeling about it! The staff here is great. Not only "great" as in "hey, how ya' doin'?"- great but as in "I can relate"-great, which there hasn't been much of during the other trips. And the hotel is great too, but no internet so I'm not sure when this is coming online.
One thing that isn't great is the weather! It's between 8-15 degrees down here now. That's not what you'd expect going south of the equator!
One thing that isn't great is the weather! It's between 8-15 degrees down here now. That's not what you'd expect going south of the equator!
IN BUENOS AIRES
Puh, that was a long flight! 2+12+3 hours! Don't recommend it! And ofcourse people pissed me off. This time it wasn't the passengers but the airline crew trying to help. After doing this for a while I think I've gotten the hang of it. And at Arlanda they try to force you to use the self-service thing, even though you've already tried it once. And then at Frankfurt they wanna make sure you're going to the right gate all the time. Then at the plane they wanna make sure you know where you're sitting and everything. And so on, annoying as hell.
IN SWEDEN
One of the things that have been keeping me busy is cathing up with what's been happening in the Moby-world. As you may remember, I missed his concert in Budapest with one day, so to compensate I've downloaded his show at the Glastonbury festival. And once again he reminded me of why I like the guy so much - he, as an american citizen, apologized for "having such a f*cking idiot as our president". And I liked that on so many levels! Not only because I totally agree with him, but that he won't give into the normal "our president is almost like god and he's infallible" bullshit that seems to be going on over there. I've heard alot of people not being totally happy with him, but I've never heard any american ever use that strong language about the President. And I'm not speaking about the person of "Bush" anymore, I'm speaking about the institution. Just look at any american movies involving the President and he's bound to be shown off as a larger than life person (Armageddon, Deep Impact, ID4, The Rock and so on). But if you prick him, does he not bleed? And now I could actually be arrested for a felony - threatening the President of the US of A!
Scary, isn't it!?
Scary, isn't it!?
IN SWEDEN
I've been home for 6 days straight now. That's more than I've been in the past 2 months. And I've had stuff to do all the time. Sometimes a bit too much. The normal Borg-efficiency have taken over and I've found myself doing three things at once. And as the old saying goes - "you end up doing neither very well!".
Considering I'm on vacation I've actually been surprisingly busy, everything from cleaning, washing, stopping by my parents place, catching up with some friends and stuff. And this sunday I'm off to go south of the equator again and I've done everything I can to get a good seat on the 15 hour flight from Frankfurt but that seems to be impossible! Lufthansa doesn't allow you to reserve the seats at the emergency exit until you're actually there! So I'll probably end up somewhere not so great with no leg-space what so ever not being able to sleep. Fortunately my MP3 player can play for 17 hours without re-charging it! But I guess I shouldn't complain, I mean how many people get to go to Argentina for 10 days for free!?
Considering I'm on vacation I've actually been surprisingly busy, everything from cleaning, washing, stopping by my parents place, catching up with some friends and stuff. And this sunday I'm off to go south of the equator again and I've done everything I can to get a good seat on the 15 hour flight from Frankfurt but that seems to be impossible! Lufthansa doesn't allow you to reserve the seats at the emergency exit until you're actually there! So I'll probably end up somewhere not so great with no leg-space what so ever not being able to sleep. Fortunately my MP3 player can play for 17 hours without re-charging it! But I guess I shouldn't complain, I mean how many people get to go to Argentina for 10 days for free!?
BACK IN SWEDEN
And that was the funniest flight ever! From Vienna to Stockholm I boarded a little Focker, one of those that only takes 70 people. And 69 of them were Japanese tourists, maybe flying for the first time, I really have no idea but MAN it was hilarious listening to them during takeoff and the flyby of Stockholm! And that wasn't it, the stewardess' (who were as hot as they come!) turned that safety briefing into a comedy! The one at the front and the one in the middle did the usual "here are the exits" thing, but I was checking out the third one at the back who were doing all kinds of faces and things to distract the other two. And she was doing a pretty good job of it. And then, just as they were putting the lifevests over their heads the pilot decided to have some fun and hit the brakes so they both lost their balance, and that was it, you couldn't take this crew seriously. And I didn't. And not knowing were they were from I spoke english to them during the entire flight. Only to be greated by a swedish "hej då!" as I disembarked!
IN SOFIA
You've heard that the record industry is now going after people like you and me, people who download and share our music over the internet, right? And here I am, in a former eastern state, looking for a CD but by god, over one week later and I still haven't found it - the original CD anyway! I've found plenty of copies! Plenty of homemade versions with printed out covers, but I haven't found the original CD. And in Singapore it was even worse - I went into a DVD store and found like 10 retail DVD's, rest of the store was THOUSANDS of homemade VCD of movies (the VCD's were homemade, not the movies!). And all this for profit. But I'm the bad guy, sitting at home downloading a track or two for personal, non-profit use?
Going home to Sweden today. Not a day too soon either! Although the staff here have been nice, as well as my two travelling companions, I can't wait to crash in my soffa enjoying a couple of new DVD's, eating a bag of OLW chips, drinking some SWEDISH Cola and be guaranteed I'll get to see the new F1 race!
Going home to Sweden today. Not a day too soon either! Although the staff here have been nice, as well as my two travelling companions, I can't wait to crash in my soffa enjoying a couple of new DVD's, eating a bag of OLW chips, drinking some SWEDISH Cola and be guaranteed I'll get to see the new F1 race!
IN SOFIA
I usually don't dream alot in my sleep. Atleast not that I can remember. But since I started on this project I've started to dream alot more and remembering them. Atleast for a while. And I don't like it. I don't like having my sleep disrupted at all! Most recently I had a weird dream that we were taking off from Arlanda in a Lufthansa Jumbojet but not having enough power to get off the ground so the pilot ditched the airplane in a field. And I, after insulting a stewardess (!?), ran back to the terminal to make sure I got on the next flight because otherwise I wouldn't make the deadline for the new computer installation I was going to!? I don't know if that is my subcionscious dealing with all the problems I've had at work or what. I do know it's definitely telling me I'm taking my job a bit too seriously. And I'd never insult a stewardess (or whatever they wanna be called)! If it wasn't for them I wouldn't get my sleep interrupted every 30 minutes with "do you want something to drink", I wouldn't get my knee hit all the time by a very robust cart, I wouldn't have to listen to the satefy tips (let's face it - noone knows what they'd do in an airplane free-falling 10 000 meters into the ocean! And would it matter if I knew where they lifevest was!?)... But other than that, I like stewardess'!
Wanna hear something frightening though? In about two weeks time, I'm actually boarding a Lufthansa Jumbojet flying to South America. But we're not taking off from Arlanda so I'm not worried. I think...
Wanna hear something frightening though? In about two weeks time, I'm actually boarding a Lufthansa Jumbojet flying to South America. But we're not taking off from Arlanda so I'm not worried. I think...
IN SOFIA
This is a quote from the tourist guide we got, written by women : "March is generally known as the woman's month because the weather is said to be as moody as a woman's mood swings (cold harsh winter/warm and pleasant spring)". I'm not making it up! And speaking of women, the women here are really nice, above expectations! And it's mostly the "good looking? Who, me? Nooo!" or "I may be hot but I have no need to show it off" attitudes which is still much better then the "I'm so hot, you can even see my ribs, that's how thin I am!".
IN SOFIA
Remember when I was talking about the old swedish tradition of honking your horn at the trucks with students celebrating their graduation? Well they seem to have a similar tradition here in eastern Europe - honking your horn at newly weds and their entourage! Seen (and heard) it in two eastern countries.
IN SOFIA
There doesn't seem to be much to do in this town. And I'm not only talking work-wise, we've tried to go out but there just doesn't seem to be anywhere to go. But I'll give Sofia this - plenty off taxis! Seriously, just go out to any corner and within 2 minutes you'll have a cab! This weekend the girls I'm going with on this trip are gonna go off on some tourist-thing but I'll probably be working...
IN SOFIA
Have you seen the movie "100 Girls"? When I first read about the movie I thought it sounded kinda shallow and "seen it!". But I was happily surprised. It made the usual "boys vs. girls" banter, but it covered so incredibly much more then your average movie. Highly recommended, but you should probably not bring a date or you'll spend the rest of the night "is that really true"-arguing. I particularly like the character of Patty! But then again, what guy wouldn't...
IN SOFIA
Well this was bound to happen. After all, it's such a huge operation that slip-ups like this is bound to happen. I am where I'm suppose to be, but all the stuff I need to do my work is stuck in Vienna. So my timetable is pretty much ruined. Isn't that swell? Kinda "kick-in-the-crotch, spit-in-your neck fantastic!"? So I'm gonna take it easy for a few days, then I'm gonna have to work double-time to get it all done.
IN SOFIA
You know I love Jewel, right? That she's in the exclusive bunch of people who can do nothing wrong (atleast in my world!). Then I heard Intuition. And although I could clearly hear it was her... I still couldn't believe it was her. It was such a different track, different style, kinda Shakira meets Aguilera. I was actually kinda thinking "sellout!" there for a while. Then I saw the video. And it all made sense! Still can't do nothing wrong!
But I'm not sure it's a good thing that you have to see the video to get the point. Or perhaps I simply wasn't listening to the lyrics...
But I'm not sure it's a good thing that you have to see the video to get the point. Or perhaps I simply wasn't listening to the lyrics...
STILL IN SWEDEN
I'm about to hit the bed for a couple of hours sleep until I have to go to the airport (AGAIN!), but I felt I had to write this before I forget it. I spent my only really free day here in sweden (sunday) watching the first season of "Babylon 5". I'm not sure how many people saw it during the 90's, I had trouble following it since it's built like a 5 year novel. Which is why it's so great on DVD! Anyways, that show was truly awesome! Some bad acting at times, sometimes the CGI effects were TOO CGI, but one thing that always had great standard was the writing. JMS did an awesome job with that, and also getting the continuity for a 5 year arc that accurate was nicely done! Not to mention the great moral lessons we get from it about stuff like consequence, responsibility, "one person can make a difference", "who watches the watchers" - those kinds of things. Really great show and I hope another one like it comes pretty soon. Cause the new Star Trek show seems to do everything right. Except the writing...
Well, I'm off to a former east state in a while and I doubt I'll be able to get any updates up. But I'll do my best!
Well, I'm off to a former east state in a while and I doubt I'll be able to get any updates up. But I'll do my best!
IN SWEDEN
And I barely got to enjoy Sweden before it's time to go away again - Bulgaria. That sounds like fun, doesn't it? I already know the hotel is gonna suck, but as long as the office, and the staff, doesn't suck I think I'll have a great time!
And this weekend (on thursday actually) Helena got married. If you don't know who that is, check my update about this time last year and you'll see. She's the pro dancer with a boyfriend called TIMMY!!! Naturually I wasn't invited, for the obvious reasons that a) we were never that close (which really is my loss!) and b)... well, I was barely in the country. I say barely 'cause I landed on thursday morning at 1 am and just stopping by and take the first plane to Gotland... nah. And c) I don't do these kinds of things that well. I either go overboard and become a bit too friendly or I end up sitting in the corner feeling "I wish I'd meet someone that would make me look as happy as them". And we don't want that, now do we!? But I got to see the video anyway, looked like a blast and that Timmy seems to be a righteous dude so I wish both of them the greatest of luck in the future! (and in the back of my mind I'm singing "Another one bites the dust".. but that's a long and personal story...)
And this weekend (on thursday actually) Helena got married. If you don't know who that is, check my update about this time last year and you'll see. She's the pro dancer with a boyfriend called TIMMY!!! Naturually I wasn't invited, for the obvious reasons that a) we were never that close (which really is my loss!) and b)... well, I was barely in the country. I say barely 'cause I landed on thursday morning at 1 am and just stopping by and take the first plane to Gotland... nah. And c) I don't do these kinds of things that well. I either go overboard and become a bit too friendly or I end up sitting in the corner feeling "I wish I'd meet someone that would make me look as happy as them". And we don't want that, now do we!? But I got to see the video anyway, looked like a blast and that Timmy seems to be a righteous dude so I wish both of them the greatest of luck in the future! (and in the back of my mind I'm singing "Another one bites the dust".. but that's a long and personal story...)
BACK IN SWEDEN
Finally back in Sweden! They had an interesting mishap at the airport. They parked the airplane at the wrong gate :) And it was easier for "them" to change the gate-assignment then moving the actual aircraft. But man did that create problems for "people". Ran around like confused ants when all they had to do was move 30 meters to the left. "A person is smart but people are dumb" indeed. But now I'm back. And working ofcourse. And tomorrow I'm going to my folks to "celebrate" midsummer's eve. Problem is I don't really celebrate it since it kinda marks the "if you think your allergies are bad now, just wait, we just got started!"-season. So not a good reason to celebrate. But what the hell, get to meet my family again :)
IN BUDAPEST
Today we went north of the town to small little place called Szantandre, about an hour north of the capital. VERY nice place! Nice people, nice atmosphere, nice things to buy, nice everything. After 5 hours there (two of which was spent drinking beer) we took a boat back to town and here I am, awaiting the start of the F1 race from Canada!!! I'm pretty impressed that I've always been able to see the F1 race, no matter where I've been. As a matter of fact, had I been in sweden I might not have been able to see it live!... and just as I was writing that sentense, Rai Uno went all blank here. All other channels ok, just Rai Uno. Isn't that typical. But I guess they aren't allowed to broadcast the F1 races internationally like this...
IN BUDAPEST
Today we took a tour of the city. Buda to the west, and Pest to the east. Pretty educational, lot's of history and nice things to see. Well worth the two hours and the money it cost. Then we strolled around town, the girls did some shopping, I did some beer-ing. Then we found this nice little place by the Danube that we just sat down at and had some beers. That's what life is all about :) And then we went back to the hotel for the same old story with the bitchy bartender.
IN BUDAPEST
The hotel doesn't seem to be the only one that sucks... work-wise this has been the worst one yet. Lot's of problems and the people at the office aren't helping that much! But what the hell, it's only a job :) I'm really starting to enjoy this city. The casual style, the heat, the park, the food, I could get used to this! But we have the worst bartender in the history of bartending. We go down for a beer or two and all of sudden she decided to close it down. So we politely leave only to find out she's suppose to have it open 'till 11. So next day we do the same thing, and so does she. And when we point that out to her... not appreciated!!
IN BUDAPEST
This was the suckiest hotel yet. I don't even know the name of it, but it sucks. The first rooms we got didn't have air conditioners, and it was pretty hot so we changed rooms (again!) to more way more expensive rooms (well I'm not paying for it!) that had AC... but it still sucks. Nothing on the TV ... EVER! Small room, and the two beds is just a bad chiropractical joke! But the city is really nice! We had dinner tonight at a pretty popular restaurant/bar. And the women here are... I think exhibitionists is the right word. Really, REALLY tight and revealing clothes. And most of them have totally got the body for it, so I'm not complaining. But I already miss sweden...
IN BUDAPEST
I'm really starting to enjoy the legendary german efficiency! Frankfurt airport has that down to a science. They even managed to get my bags from one side of the airport to my connecting flight on the other side in less than 50 minutes. Most impressive.
IN SWEDEN
And just as I was starting to really enjoy myself in Sweden... I'm off to Hungary. This time the job is in Europe and, more importantly, in the same timezone as Stockholm. That helps alot since some stuff needs to be synchronized and done at the same time in two places. And this time I'll be going with two women as well. But don't worry, both married with children. They always are...
BACK IN SWEDEN
I don't know if I've been out of the country too much lately or why, but today I enjoyed Stockholm and Sweden more than I have ever! Although I had to work a full 4 hours (meetings and reports to go through), the weather, the atmoshpere, everything was absolutely amazing today! Another thing that helped to make it great was that it was graduation day for alot of high schools here in sweden. And one old tradition is for the students to board trucks and any other big vehicle and drive around town honking the horn. And everyone else honks their horn in a "congratulations, kids!"-manner. It's probably one of the few times I can honk my horn at 18 year old girls without feeling like a dirty old guy :) Check my pics for... pics...
And I don't know what happened to the updates I had written over the past week, I'll try to find them...
And I don't know what happened to the updates I had written over the past week, I'll try to find them...
IN SINGAPORE
Geez, today I woke up and I didn't feel a year older than yesterday. But I am. As of today I'm 28. Shouldn't that be some kind of mark for getting a girl and settling down or something? If it is I'm SOOOOO far behind the life-schedule! I'm still the weird asshole I was last year. With strange obsessions and weird features.
IN SINGAPORE
Today we took a long, looong walk through the city going to alot of shopping centers and hi-tech stores and stuff. Took 7 hours. And I hardly bought anything. I'm not too comfortable with the small stores that as soon as you get within 5 meters of someone comes at you offering you a special price, just annoying. And the fact that most things don't have a pricetag tells me that it's haggle-time. And I don't like that either. But I would have bought a new computer case, if there was any way of getting it home. And an internet router, if I wasn't gonna be travelling over the next months...
JETLAG
Jetlag is a funny thing. I'm writing this at about 5.30 am. This place is 6 hours ahead of swedish time which I thought would make it hard to fall asleep early and hard waking up at 7 am. But it's the complete opposite - I'm falling asleep at 10 pm and now I woke up 4:45 am and I can't sleep. It's not causing any problems or anything, it's just weird. But considering I went from Guatemala (swedish time -8) to sweden to Singapore, that's 14 hours adjustment - the "wrong" way! Meaning the one that makes you lose alot of hours, it's supposedly be a lot better the other way since you gain 6 hours on the flight. And about that flight - I'm lifting off at about 11 pm next wednesday, and touching down at 5.30 am. And that's WITH the 6 hours I just "gained", so that's a 12 1/2 hour flight. And then I should land in Stockholm at about 9 am. And what do I do then?... GO TO WORK! :)
IN SINGAPORE
So here I am in Singapore. I haven't been here for more than 4 hours and I'm already loving it! We took a stroll down the high street (Orchard Road) and I loved it. This city is amazing! And pretty cheap too, I was expecting everything to be expensive since we get $80 per day that we're here for food and stuff. Don't know where all that is gonna go since a normal BK meal is only $4...
Here's hoping the work will go as easily as it did in America!
Here's hoping the work will go as easily as it did in America!
STILL IN SWEDEN
I'm about to head out the door to Arlanda, to Frankfurt then landing in Asia tomorrow afternoon. I don't regret signing on this mission... YET! I've only done one job, and that was a team effort. This one I'm doing solo. Atleast the technical part, there is a guy tagging along but he's not the techie of this mission. I am. "OH GOD THE PREASSURE!!". But ask me in August, that's when the first wave is done, and all the money have been payed in and out, then I can say if I regret anything.
THIS IS LIFE
Wanna here a new "this is life!"-comment? Cruising through downtown Stockholm on a warm sunny day, windows open and listening to "Brown Eyed Girl" while drinking a Cola. That was nice.
BACK IN SWEDEN
Finally home! It was a very very VERY long flight here. We lifted off from Guatemala at 6 pm and landed 9 pm on the day after! Stopping in Miami and Madrid as well! But I don't think my bed has ever felt better (with the exception of the few times I've actually had company in there).
IN GUATEMALA
Going back to Sweden today. And it's been fun, but it'll be nice going home, seeing some friendly faces, enjoying my bed and my local pizzeria! But as job goes, this has to be one of the best ones a computer tech like me can get!
IN GUATEMALA
It may have taken me a while, but I'm really starting to appreciate the beauty in hispanic women! They are nice. Especially the eyes and they have female curves, not that bone-like hungry looking anorectic thing..
IN GUATEMALA
Did you know I studied spanish for 2 years in high school? Well I did, I chose it because it wasn't as complicated as French when it comes to pronounciation, and the grammar wasn't as complicated as german. I was suckered on both, spanish even has a twist on verbs that occur regularly! Anyway, I got like a D becuase I was so charming (lord knows what I would have gotten otherwise) and I never thought I'd have to use it. Well, here I am in sunny Guatemala with 100's of restaurants, 99% of which only have menus in spanish and spanish speaking waiters. And it took me a couple of days but now I can deal with that too!!
IN GUATEMALA
We went on a guided tour of the old guatemalian city of Antigua today. It used to be the capitol of Guatemala until the big quake of 1773 (I think?) when some of it was destroyed and the rest damaged. Because the spaniards didn't have that much consideration or experience building things to stand for an earthquake. Fortunately I had my digital camera with me so you can expect alot of photos as soon as I can upload the pictures.
IN GUATEMALA
When in a strange country - try the local beer! Took me about 3 hours, but it's "Gallo" (pronounced "gayo"), tastes like... well, beer. Not unique in any way, I prefered Kenya's "Tusker".
IN GUATEMALA
One little interesting thing about this place is their traffic system. The capital is devided into Zonas, and the streets are a grid, like Miami's, with horizontal "Calles" and vertical "Avenidas". And most streets are one way, the first one in one direction, the next street in the other. And nobody respects pedistrians and there are hardly any traffic lights, everbody just honks when they approach an intersection. And funny enough - it actually works :) And I just got asked if I wanted to do a special job in July in South America... poor me...
IN GUATEMALA
I had an update ready to post but I simply didn't have enough time before I left for South America. And we just got the communication up with Stockholm so I thought I'd post a little "Greetings from South America" thing here!
GREETINGS FROM SOUTH AMERICA!!
The weather down here is just perfect for me, not too hot and humid enough for my skin to love it. And the food is excellent. Everything is pretty nice, although we haven't had time to go out much for some tourist stuff, but hopefully we'll go to Antigua or something this weekend.
The weather down here is just perfect for me, not too hot and humid enough for my skin to love it. And the food is excellent. Everything is pretty nice, although we haven't had time to go out much for some tourist stuff, but hopefully we'll go to Antigua or something this weekend.
STILL IN SWEDEN
My departure to South America seems imminent. I've got the flight tickets in my hand, valid passport and my dollar$. And I should be very excited, right? Hm... I didn't even wanna do this thing because I saw all the practical problems and the risks. And even before I've boarded the plane there are big financial problems to solve, as well as a slight clothing-problem. I don't have a suit that I can wear with a serious face, and they pretty much ordered us to bring one "just in case".
So, as usual, just when I'm about to get my economy together something like this pops up. And today we had a good talk about security and some "Do-s and Don't-s" "just in case you have a gun pointed at your head". That was really exciting. NOT!
But I'm certain I can see past all these problems and turn it into something amazing!
So, as usual, just when I'm about to get my economy together something like this pops up. And today we had a good talk about security and some "Do-s and Don't-s" "just in case you have a gun pointed at your head". That was really exciting. NOT!
But I'm certain I can see past all these problems and turn it into something amazing!
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
I think this is the first time in my life that I can take the blame for a failed relationship! This woman I just started dating finally decided it was over after keeping me in a state of limbo for 2 weeks. When we started dating, this travel-the-world thing at work was only some project I had signed up for , but it wasn't anything certain and I didn't have any specific details. When I finally did get it confirmed and the details, the first thing I did was talk to her about it. And she was pretty disappointed I hadn't let her in on the loop at all. And she's right - I hadn't. And it hadn't slipped my mind or anything, a colleague at work pointed out that "how does your new girlfriend feel about this", I just never mentioned it because I didn't really know what was going on either with the project or our relationship. But she didn't appreciate the fact that I had hidden it from her, and the fact that I was barely gonna see her for the next 2 months wasn't a good start to the relationship. So that's over. Which is really sad 'cause this woman was someone special. First girlfriend to disprove the "women hate it when the guys watch sports on TV"-point in my "Bad things about girlfriend"-list.
Unfortunately she added a new one to the list when she couldn't decide if it was on or off, took her 2 weeks and hours and hours on the phone to come to that conclusion. I don't like not knowing, and I dislike it even more when there's nothing I can do about it.
Unfortunately she added a new one to the list when she couldn't decide if it was on or off, took her 2 weeks and hours and hours on the phone to come to that conclusion. I don't like not knowing, and I dislike it even more when there's nothing I can do about it.
TAKING THINGS TOO SERIOUSLY
You know I don't take alot of things in life seriously, right? As a matter of fact, there are very very few things in life that I can't joke or laugh about. I'm not sure if that's a good trait or not. But I saw the inverted versions on the TV the other day. People that can't take a joke. People that enforce the political correctivness-rules. It was another E! "True Hollywood Story", this time about the Dice-man, Andrew Clay. You know, "Ford Fairlane", "Dice-man Cometh", "No Apologies" etc, one of the most hilarious people on the planet, one of the few comic acts than can sell out Madison Square Garden two nights in a row. His jokes are ... well, vulgar, extreme and coarse. But he does it in a hilarious way. How many people can get away with a comment like "Sorry I made you clean the bathroom, but who did all the work in bed?". And then there are the people who can't take jokes like that, who think it's immoral. One woman even, quite seriously, said that you can't listen to his act and NOT be influenced. Riiiiight.
NOT SO GLAD
Just when I think I can't dislike J-Lo more than I do, I flip on MTV and ... well, I'm shocked! It was her latest video, "I'm glad".... have you seen it? I've never, ever seen any worse cover or rip-off of something I like as much as this! I happen to like "Flashdance", ALOT! I'd put it right up there of the "10 best movies ever made"! Even after a little bit of the magic disappeared when you realised Jennifer Beals wasn't dancing, still loved it! But this is far worse than Nikki French's attempt at a dance-version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (a song I'd put right up there of the "3 best songs ever made").
GINGER LYNN
Got another lecture in tolerance and being open minded (I'm pretty good at both). Saw the "E! True Story" of Ginger Lynn. Most of you will say "who?" because most of the people I know either don't watch porn or deny that they watch pornos, but now we're talking early & mid 80's. And if I wasn't a huge computer game freak (she was in Wing Commander 3) and if I didn't have this huge space in my head that I fill with useless info I wouldn't know who she was either. But seing this was 10 times more interesting than seing any "E! True Story" with Julia Roberts or someone booring or plain like that. And just about anything featuring Ron Jeremy is hilarious by definition!
Swedish judicial system sucks
Shit! It's happened again! Once again the Swedish judicial system has proven it is incompetent, paragraph-abiding, archaic and lost in the world of normal life! Get this - 6 guys goes out for a night in Tumba (little suburb to Stockholm). One of them meets a 35 year old mother of two. She has alot to drink, they dance a little and he offers her a ride home. And there she has consensual sex with all six of them. And the court bought that story. It couldn't have been rape, or even sexual assault, beause the woman was a) not defenseless (i.e she wasn't physically bound in any way. So what if she had an alchohol level of 2.5!) b) by her own admission she was a flirty kind of person (... so?) c) Dressed very sexy (!!) and d) she had willingly accepted the ride home and got into the car herself. I mean, what tha fuck is wrong with that picture!? I didn't know these kinds of things still happened, that the court would use stuff like "she was asking for it"! I don't know who I'm most upset with, the 6 assholes that raped her or the 5 assholes that acquitted them! Damn this kind of thing ticks me off!
I feel good!
This is so weird! I woke up this morning. And I felt good. Totally replenished, ready for another hard days work. I never do that! I always wake up and the first thought is "oh no, not again!" followed by a "I wanna sleep just a liiiitle bit longer". But this morning I woke up 5 minutes before my alarm went off and just popped out of bed and did my morning routine and now here I am at work feeling all good and shit. And I blame drugs! Because yesterday it was time to take some vaccination shots in preparation for going to South America and Asia, and that's the only reason I can think of why I'm feeling this way. Or perhaps it's a combo of that, the fact that it's Friday, it's payday and the sun is shining.
Another weird thing... you know I have an over-appreciation for beauty, especially when it comes to women, right? But one feature that I've never paid too much consideration to is lips! That is until I saw these lips. Unfortunately there is more to that picture than you may think. But I'll let you enjoy the picture for a few days...
Another weird thing... you know I have an over-appreciation for beauty, especially when it comes to women, right? But one feature that I've never paid too much consideration to is lips! That is until I saw these lips. Unfortunately there is more to that picture than you may think. But I'll let you enjoy the picture for a few days...
The best thing that happened to me
At this point on my life I found out I had been selected to be one of 4 hired PC technicians for a government project to update the computer systems of our embassies. It was a big deal for our company and I almost passed since I'm the guy that doesn't wanna disturb my routines more than I have to. But after some convincing from my friends and family I got to go around the world for 14 months. Unfortunately it was classified so I couldn't talk about it anywhere or with anyone since I had such high access in their network so I couldn't post about it while I was travelling.
But afterwards, when my security clearence was revoked and passwords changed, I posted everything.
But afterwards, when my security clearence was revoked and passwords changed, I posted everything.
Computer freaks
This has to be the best music-related story I've heard all year! Who said computer freaks lack a sense of humor!? I thought those suits and marketing execs would have learned not to go around asking for trouble with hackers?! I wonder if they are now considering the actual costs of fixing that website compared to the not so measurable cost of MP3 spreading. Was it worth it?
Grow up
Another sign that I'm pretty immature for my age. Today we were talking about pension, insurance and those kinds of "adult" things and I couldn't even work up the energy to pay attention! I know I should care about it. I should care about my retirement plan before it's too late. But from where I'm sitting it'll take a miracle for me to make it to 65! And if I do, I'd like to think money's not gonna be as important as it is right now. Hopefully, in 40 years we've reversed that process, atleast a little. And being a person who's never spent more than two consecutive days in a hospital, I'm not really bothered about health insurance. And life insurance to take care of my spouse or kids if I die? Yeah, right...
As I said, I should care about all these things. The same way people who smoke know it's bad for them but they do it anyway. Or people driving too fast even when they've got plenty of time... wait, that's me again...
As I said, I should care about all these things. The same way people who smoke know it's bad for them but they do it anyway. Or people driving too fast even when they've got plenty of time... wait, that's me again...
Homophobia
My mother wanted me to post a "I am not homophobic, I am a very tolerant person!" defense speech in response to my Thursday-entry. And that is so wrong! Actually, half the point I was trying to make was how hard it is to disprove the theory you may be gay - without sounding like a homophobe! If you in your reply sound the least bit condescending towards the gay community you'll end up being labelled a homophobe.
So just to clarify (again) - I'm not gay, I'm not homophobic and neither is my mother. She's a very tolerant person. Except when it comes to people talking on the cell phone in restaurants. And her children's desire not to be embarrassed in public. And people smoking in public places. And people who can't be quiet at the movies. And the buss company. And intolerant people. And politicians with a twisted sense of reality...
As a matter of fact, I only know one really homophobic person. And he knows who he is. Strangely enough he doesn't mind two girls going at it. Then again, what guy does...
So just to clarify (again) - I'm not gay, I'm not homophobic and neither is my mother. She's a very tolerant person. Except when it comes to people talking on the cell phone in restaurants. And her children's desire not to be embarrassed in public. And people smoking in public places. And people who can't be quiet at the movies. And the buss company. And intolerant people. And politicians with a twisted sense of reality...
As a matter of fact, I only know one really homophobic person. And he knows who he is. Strangely enough he doesn't mind two girls going at it. Then again, what guy does...
The Iraqui Information Minister
Click here. Damn that's funny!
Btw, I think I'm gonna set up another page on this site with "My Pictures" kinda thing. One contribution to that archive will be this picture taken at last year's Lucia (Dec. 13th). Is it just me, or do I have a small (but loud) mouth!?
Btw, I think I'm gonna set up another page on this site with "My Pictures" kinda thing. One contribution to that archive will be this picture taken at last year's Lucia (Dec. 13th). Is it just me, or do I have a small (but loud) mouth!?
Misinterpreting things
So how many people, beside my sister, misinterpreted the comment "I haven't been in a man-woman relationship for over a year" to suggest I was gay?! Usually I wouldn't get upset over that, I mean there is room for interpretation there. But I did because 1) she knows me and what I'm like around women better than anyone else (girlfriends excluded) and 2) it's not the first time people have thought that! Even my mother, even my sister's-husband's mother (which makes her what to me?) suggested that, and some friends have had to ask to clarify it. I feel a little bit like Chandler - why would people think that? I wouldn't be upset being called gay if I were gay, I wouldn't be upset being called "short-sighted, close minded asshole!" if I was. But I'm neither! And the usual "only a gay man would deny that!" and "I think you're overcompensating with your obession about chicks!" amateur psychology doesn't help! So, just to set the record straight (that was quite funny!) - I'm not gay (not to my knowledge anyway!), I love women and water is wet!
No april fools!
As usual, no update yesterday so nobody will confuse my life with an April fools... which it kinda is sometimes... Anyway, what's on my mind? Commercials! Since I have a british mother, I've spent some time over there early in my life and one thing that really seperated the english TV from swedish is commercials!
We haven't had TV commercials in sweden for that long, maybe about 15 years now. And I think it took them this long to learn how to do it nicely, in a funny way, so funny you'd want more and start visiting their website to learn what's new... I'm ofcourse talking about Vasakronan who started a fake reality-show called "The Office"! "No space, no coffe, slow Internet connection, no smoke-section", LOVING IT! A guy even voted out his own wife :) They have a website here, Kontoret.nu. Hilarious! Maybe there is hope! But I don't know, all these bad detergent-soap-toathpaste commercials have left alot to make up for!
We haven't had TV commercials in sweden for that long, maybe about 15 years now. And I think it took them this long to learn how to do it nicely, in a funny way, so funny you'd want more and start visiting their website to learn what's new... I'm ofcourse talking about Vasakronan who started a fake reality-show called "The Office"! "No space, no coffe, slow Internet connection, no smoke-section", LOVING IT! A guy even voted out his own wife :) They have a website here, Kontoret.nu. Hilarious! Maybe there is hope! But I don't know, all these bad detergent-soap-toathpaste commercials have left alot to make up for!
I love contrasts
I've got a new definition of contrast for you : A dolphin, looking happy and as cute as only dolphins can, brings a smile to my face. Right before it swims back into the Gulf in search of mines... I like contrasts. I'm the kind of guy that'll order peperoni and pineapple on a pizza! Most of my clothes are black and white. And it's one of the reasons I loved the movie Leon!
Money can't buy me love. Or?
One of the best ways to attract a member of the female species is to show off wealth, preferably by buying expensive stuff. Stuff that does the same thing that stuff that cost half as much! It sounds like a very shallow thing to say, but it's true. If I was driving around in a Ferrari wearing Gucci clothes and Rayban sunglasses I'd have a hell of an easier time getting a date! (please note that I'm differentiating between "getting a marry-able (I love making up words) woman" and "simply getting a date").
And now it seems Debenham's here in Stockholm is going to cash in on that idea! They are gonna have a night open only for singles! Seriously, only singles allowed! So you'll be cruising around there like in a singles bar, only difference is that this forces you to buy those expensive stuff to show off and since there's no alcohol involved there's even less of a chance for people like me! (make of that what you will)
But I'm not bitter, I've already got a date (Date # 2) for this weekend.
And now it seems Debenham's here in Stockholm is going to cash in on that idea! They are gonna have a night open only for singles! Seriously, only singles allowed! So you'll be cruising around there like in a singles bar, only difference is that this forces you to buy those expensive stuff to show off and since there's no alcohol involved there's even less of a chance for people like me! (make of that what you will)
But I'm not bitter, I've already got a date (Date # 2) for this weekend.
Wacky Weekend
How are you enjoying seeing the war unfold on your TV screens at home? I had a very weird weekend. On Friday it was Star Trek movie premiere, dinner, then bed, then on Saturday it was F1 qualifying and then... 6 hours of Sky News / CNN watching. Then off on a date, bed early then up early on Sunday to watch the F1 race. Then after that, at about 9 am, when I was tucked down in my soffa I... didn't do anything but watch Sky News / CNN for about 12 hours! Beginning with the early seige of Umm Qasr and ending with Pentagon breifing following the POW tapes. And it really felt like this war didn't really exist in any real place, it was just in my TV! Really weird feelings. But it was happening, like that POW tape showed. The two funniest incidents all day was after the morning seige when they interviewed Nick Lerma, the big-ass seargent with plenty of toys. Testosterone squared! Then seeing some Iraqi soldiers hunting two imaginary downed allied airman in the shores of Baghdad. It shouldn't be funny, it was a blatent disregard of the Geneva convention about the treatment of POW's, but it was funny seeing them go on for two hours while seeing the "No coalition airplanes missing!" sign at the bottom. And it kinda reminded me about "Allo, allo" with the search for the missing british airmen :)
But with that tape on the evening it all ended with a big downer. Once again disregarding Geneva conventions about POW's but it was really... sad seeing these totally lost techs who just took a wrong turn... and it was something emotional about this one quote:
But with that tape on the evening it all ended with a big downer. Once again disregarding Geneva conventions about POW's but it was really... sad seeing these totally lost techs who just took a wrong turn... and it was something emotional about this one quote:
I didn't come here to shoot, I came here to fix things.Here's hoping it ends well...
It's Off Again
Warning : This update will be one of the deepest ones all year.
About a year ago (April 3rd) I made an update about me and my so called brother not getting along. This seems to be a recurring theme between us, every now and then we just get upset at each other, then after a week or so it's business as usual. But now it appears it's over.
The reason that "so called brother" is there is because he's not really related to me at all, but it's been kinda "brother I never had" thing there. But the big difference between being "so called" and actually being related is that with relatives you a) have no choice but to forgive and forget and b) you have almost an infinite amount of patience. But he's not really related to my, so in this instance my patience has totally run out. My source of forgiveness is depleted. No matter how much you get along with someone, no matter how fun you can have at times, is it really worth it when most of the time you're disappointed, feel ignored and taken for granted? The most recent incident was 2 weeks ago when we had agreed he'd come over to my place on the friday, we'd do the usual "watch a movie, grab a pizza, play some games"-guy stuff, he'd stay over and then we'd go out to my parent's place over the saturday/sunday and do the usual family-thing there and watch the F1 premiere. Sounds like the greatest weekend, so I warm it up by taking friday off from work to enjoy it even more. Come friday afternoon he let's me know he's going out on a date with this chick so he might be late. That's always an acceptable excuse to change plans so fine. At 8 he let's me know that his date is over but he's gonna stay a while and party but he'll be up later. At around 11 he decides that "nah, I'll skip it, c ya tomorrow". So there I was, sitting alone in my apartment on a friday night, pretty disappointed. But even worse was that my (real) sis AC had to take the train home - ALONE - after a friday
night in Stockholm. She wanted to crash at my place, but there wasn't suppose to be room so she took the train. Alone. Which didn't please her hubby Paul. When I tried telling my intoxicated friend that his decision to just change the plans and the consequences that he didn't think about, knew or maybe even ignored. As usual he can't take any criticism and said "fine, I'm not coming out this weekend at all!" , as if to punish me. At the time I was so pissed at him it was a blessing for both of us that we weren't gonna see each other the day after. And if he did it to punish me, it must have meant that he didn't really want to do it, he just agreed to it to please me? (which sounds like a good thing, but it really isn't nice to pretend to want to do something, or like something, only to please someone else!) And it again proved my point that he didn't really think his spontaneous decisions through because by not coming out to my parents he made everyone, my mother, my father, my sister and her sons disappointed.
They were looking forward to meeting him again, they had even bought his favorite alcoholic drink. But to punish me he wasn't gonna go. I thought this was just a spontaneous outburst that was a bit influenced by the consumed alcohol and come saturday I pretended like that last thing was never said. But he totally ignored me and wouldn't reply to my SMS's, no matter how provocative they were (and that last one should've made anyone reply "you sick as****e!"). So fine, I'm way more immature and hence better at the "silent treatment" than he is. Now, two weeks have passed. And guess what... I hadn't noticed his absence. That tells me I was used to not talking to him that much in the first place. Maybe later I'll start missing him, missing going to the TG Lan party that I was looking forward to or something. But for now... hadn't noticed...
I'm not gonna be so self diluted as to think that I was the most important thing in his life or that I had any priority over anything else in his life. He had a date with a chick, great! I encourage that totally! He felt like going out with his friends in Södertälje, fine! Although I don't understand how partying in Södertälje is possible, but fine. I would have been totally ok with him calling me on thursday saying "let's totally skip everything, I got other plans!" - fine! And if it had been once in a month thing - fine! But for the past two years it's become more frequent that he just skipped some plans we'd made up for something else that had come in the way. But the worst part is that most of the time he'd never let you know. I'd go on my merry way thinking we were gonna meet somewhere and do something, then have to call him and check why he's not there and find out he changed his plans. That's f*cking annoying. And I know that my circle of friends is pretty limited right now, but what's the point of having a friend out of habbit if all that happens is that you get disappointed, upset and hurt?! And everytime you try to tell him how you feel he just get mad, angry and yells the meanest thing he can think off.
So right now, that's pretty off. But as I said, it seems to be a recurring theme for us to do this. Right now I figure the ball is in his court. I can't change who I am, I can't change that I don't like the way he is sometimes...
About a year ago (April 3rd) I made an update about me and my so called brother not getting along. This seems to be a recurring theme between us, every now and then we just get upset at each other, then after a week or so it's business as usual. But now it appears it's over.
The reason that "so called brother" is there is because he's not really related to me at all, but it's been kinda "brother I never had" thing there. But the big difference between being "so called" and actually being related is that with relatives you a) have no choice but to forgive and forget and b) you have almost an infinite amount of patience. But he's not really related to my, so in this instance my patience has totally run out. My source of forgiveness is depleted. No matter how much you get along with someone, no matter how fun you can have at times, is it really worth it when most of the time you're disappointed, feel ignored and taken for granted? The most recent incident was 2 weeks ago when we had agreed he'd come over to my place on the friday, we'd do the usual "watch a movie, grab a pizza, play some games"-guy stuff, he'd stay over and then we'd go out to my parent's place over the saturday/sunday and do the usual family-thing there and watch the F1 premiere. Sounds like the greatest weekend, so I warm it up by taking friday off from work to enjoy it even more. Come friday afternoon he let's me know he's going out on a date with this chick so he might be late. That's always an acceptable excuse to change plans so fine. At 8 he let's me know that his date is over but he's gonna stay a while and party but he'll be up later. At around 11 he decides that "nah, I'll skip it, c ya tomorrow". So there I was, sitting alone in my apartment on a friday night, pretty disappointed. But even worse was that my (real) sis AC had to take the train home - ALONE - after a friday
night in Stockholm. She wanted to crash at my place, but there wasn't suppose to be room so she took the train. Alone. Which didn't please her hubby Paul. When I tried telling my intoxicated friend that his decision to just change the plans and the consequences that he didn't think about, knew or maybe even ignored. As usual he can't take any criticism and said "fine, I'm not coming out this weekend at all!" , as if to punish me. At the time I was so pissed at him it was a blessing for both of us that we weren't gonna see each other the day after. And if he did it to punish me, it must have meant that he didn't really want to do it, he just agreed to it to please me? (which sounds like a good thing, but it really isn't nice to pretend to want to do something, or like something, only to please someone else!) And it again proved my point that he didn't really think his spontaneous decisions through because by not coming out to my parents he made everyone, my mother, my father, my sister and her sons disappointed.
They were looking forward to meeting him again, they had even bought his favorite alcoholic drink. But to punish me he wasn't gonna go. I thought this was just a spontaneous outburst that was a bit influenced by the consumed alcohol and come saturday I pretended like that last thing was never said. But he totally ignored me and wouldn't reply to my SMS's, no matter how provocative they were (and that last one should've made anyone reply "you sick as****e!"). So fine, I'm way more immature and hence better at the "silent treatment" than he is. Now, two weeks have passed. And guess what... I hadn't noticed his absence. That tells me I was used to not talking to him that much in the first place. Maybe later I'll start missing him, missing going to the TG Lan party that I was looking forward to or something. But for now... hadn't noticed...
I'm not gonna be so self diluted as to think that I was the most important thing in his life or that I had any priority over anything else in his life. He had a date with a chick, great! I encourage that totally! He felt like going out with his friends in Södertälje, fine! Although I don't understand how partying in Södertälje is possible, but fine. I would have been totally ok with him calling me on thursday saying "let's totally skip everything, I got other plans!" - fine! And if it had been once in a month thing - fine! But for the past two years it's become more frequent that he just skipped some plans we'd made up for something else that had come in the way. But the worst part is that most of the time he'd never let you know. I'd go on my merry way thinking we were gonna meet somewhere and do something, then have to call him and check why he's not there and find out he changed his plans. That's f*cking annoying. And I know that my circle of friends is pretty limited right now, but what's the point of having a friend out of habbit if all that happens is that you get disappointed, upset and hurt?! And everytime you try to tell him how you feel he just get mad, angry and yells the meanest thing he can think off.
So right now, that's pretty off. But as I said, it seems to be a recurring theme for us to do this. Right now I figure the ball is in his court. I can't change who I am, I can't change that I don't like the way he is sometimes...
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