Hmm.. Such a crappy blogger.
Well, I'm still alive and I've had a good Christmas. Was up in the city to see the family. Lots of quality time with the near and dear, a peek in town, sushi etc.
Back to the little town and dished up a turkey dinner for some friends. Turkey exceeded expectations actually. Feared it would be dry but it wasn't.
New years party at a friend's house. He has a spectacular view and we watched the fireworks from his balcony. Good stuff!
And so 2006 begins. Hope it'll be a good one!

Today is the 1st of December, World AIDS Day. 40 million people live with HIV. Most of them are going to die from it. Most of them for reasons that can but won't disappear.

Do something. There are so many small things that you can do and they make a difference. If nothing else, give a dollar or a euro to an AIDS charity. Everything is better than nothing.

We finally found a buyer for our old bed. A perky sounding girl rang this morning and wanted to come look at the bed and possibly buy it.
The spouse went out to inspect the bed on the landing and it was gone! WTF!

The conversation that followed between the spouse and the girl wanting to buy a bed, was just as confused as you might imagine.

Oh well. Good riddence. All we really wanted was to get rid of the bed without having to cart it down 4 flights of stairs and rent a trailer to drive off to the garbage station. We're secretly relieved.
Moohahaha.

Travelling is one of my favourite pass-times. To experience other places, their food, their music, their smells and sounds is fantastic. There is so much to see. There is so much to learn.
I have liked mose places I've been to but here are my top-5 places that I recommend:

1. Tokyo. Oh what fun it is! The ultra-modern meets the ancient in a fabulous mix. The food is delicious and you can shop til you drop. A must see and do!

2. London. Someone once said "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." Great place for sight-seeing, shopping, clubbing and just hanging out in pubs.

3. Dublin. A friendly and very easy going city. Lots of nice bars. Great atmosphere.

4. Nerja. A new favourite of mine. On the south coast of Spain lies this little cute town with fabulous beaches, great restaurants a set in a beautiful landscape.

5. Stockholm archipelago. My childhood summers. Fresh fish and wild strawberries. The glittering blue sea, the green grass and the sun-warmed rocks. Very beautiful. Very relaxing.


I found a site where you can fill out your own world map that shows the where you've been. This is what my map looks like:



create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Wheee!
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire was great! Possibly slightly rushed and I did prefer the old Dumbledore but all in all, very good.


Ps. If you thought Dobby in HP III reminded you of someone, compare his picture to one of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. ;)

I have a little bit too much to do these days. I feel like I get nothing done but I have tons to do and time just races by.
Winter has hit us and the temperatures have dropped drastically. I am getting my winter tires put on the car tomorrow so I don't have to skid around on the roads.

Saw three wild mooses today! Way cool! :D Also saw quite a few deer out grazing in the fields going to tonight's meeting.
They're beautiful but I am a little afraid of meeting one on the road.

Must go see the new Harry Potter film this week. The fourth book was one of the better ones imho. I like them all though.

I recently read about a poor mallard that died in a park. The deceased lay close to a path and could easily be seen by people passing by. The sight of the dead duck immediately caused anxiety and fear. BIRD FLU!!!
Which ever way you turn there are articles about the bird flu. One minute it's in Bulgaria and Turkey and the next it's approaching Öland with the speed of the wind. My employers are criticized for only storing Tamiflu for twenty people. What are the rest of the people in the county supposed to do? Maybe not pet birds.
Personally I can't be bothered to worry. There are too many "ifs" and "whens" that have to be met before I get myself worked up. If it turns out the virus does reach us and mutates and spreads like a wild fire, I promise to join in the panic.

Ps. What actually killed our friend the mallard, stays unkown. Perhaps he killed himself so that he wouldn't have to live with the suspicions that he was carrying a deadly and contageous disease.

Urgh. Time just rushes by! It's going to be Christmas in no time at all! I had a look at my calendar today and there are so many meetings and events that I know I'm hardly going to have time to blink before it's time to dig into the ham.
In one way it's good that I'm keeping busy but at the same time I don't want my life to rush by. Hmmm...
Inspired by Grolly I'm going to try to do a WTF sample list from my life.

I was at some little restaurant on a mountain side in Austria, happily eating my lunch. I made a move with my fork towards my plate to spear a piece of potato when a waiter briskly walked by and swooped up my plate from under my fork. WTF!!!

I was flying back from Brussels to Stockholm. I checked in my luggage and went to the tax-free shop and then had to make a brief stop at the ladies room.
Back at Stockholm's Arlanda airport I realized that I had left my tax-free shopping in the loo and my luggage had gone off to Norway. I was carrying nothing! WTF!!

My chemistry teacher in highschool used to write on the black board with one hand and erased the text with the other hand as she walked back and forth. WTF!

Hmmm... can't think of any more right now but I'll get back to you with more WTFs if I do.

Blimey! It's 01:56 in the morning and I've just sent off a draft for an election campaign program. This is what I get for not having regular working hours. I work until I'm finished. Had to deliver before going to bed tonight. Never mind that it's the night before a public holiday.
But... I'm not really complaining. I'm tired but that's not so terrible. I work weird hours sometimes but in return I can take sleep late if I need to, I can take 2 hour lunch breaks now and then, I leave early on afternoons when I'm really tired or have other things to do.
It's probably the best perk about this job. That and the fact that a fairly decent pay cheque arrives every month.
It will be nice to just have two days off now after having been away. It's was good and interesting and we had a lot of fun but it was after all work and it's always good to be home again.
Very soon bedtime. ZzzZZzz

I'm sick! :( Not very but I have a rather severe cold and a sore throat. I hate being sick and I don't handle it well. As soon as I get sick I feel like I'm dying. =P
Can't decide if I'm going on a daytrip or not tomorrow. I want to go and it's bound to be very interesting but also rather exhausting. Hmmmm...
I've just decided, I'll go if I don't have a temprerature. *pat self on head*

I have to find my license number for Z-mud. It's locked at the moment. Either that or I have to purchase another one for 29 USD. It's kind of reasonable and god knows I've used Z-mud enough.

Soon dinner time! Korean-style spare ribs, rice and veggies. Lalalala. :D

I have a confession to make.
I've been unfaithful. I have been blogging somewhere else.
I'm going to try to keep up two blogs. The other one is in Swedish. It's a blog where I reflect on various topics but I don't rant about my own life. Like I do here! =P
So you'll still be the poor bastards who have to read about my ups and downs and all that jazz.
Oh, and on that topic. Had a fuck of a day today! Got home at 20:30. High points were working out like a dog for an hour and the spouse coming home. So glad I married a beautiful woman. It's always good to see her walk in the door. *pat self on head* Smartest thing I ever did, actually.

Hmmm... CSI just started. It's 23:00 and I have to get up in the morning. To watch or not to watch.... I'll watch for a little bit. We'll see how it goes. Hehe.

I don't want to go outside!! Sitting here gathering courage and energy to start my day. It's still dark outside and the wind is howling. The rain whips against my windows and it's so warm and cosy here on the couch. Silly me, every winter I curse Sweden and I wonder whatever possessed me to make me stay in this f***ing frdigid country and then every summer I reply: "This is why!" and so I carry on. Year after year.
*sigh* It's time to dig out the winter jacket today.
This I have learned: It is futile to fight the weather. <--- my not so old asian words of wisdom

Gah! It's been a long time since I blogged properly! Must shape up! Must get more organised!

Gosh! It's been a long time. I've been away some and too busy on other days.
Was at a conference Monday and Tuesday with my colleagues from the rest of the country. It was really good. Of course I had to go and drink too much in the evening and felt like crap on Tuesday morning but hey, shit happens.
It occured to me how nice it is to be amongs like minded people. Obviously we work with the same kind of stuff and the job does sort of require certain veiws and values, so we all share them from the onset. But they're social, thinking and sympathetic people!
Whine whine whine. I don't meet all that many of those here. At least not my own age. Feels like everyone I meet here is either a lot younger or a lot older.
Not that everyone I socialise with has to be like me but it's nice to have someone you a have a lot in common with.

On a more cheerful note, our new bed and armchairs have arrived!!!! WHEEEEEE!!!!
The bed is huge but looks really good and feels even better. *jumps and skips*

Back again. Been rushed off my feet since I got back from Spain. Went to a conference on Human Rights over the weekend. Very interesting and rather inspiring.
The spouse got back from Ireland on Monday evening. Nice not to be alone! Meeting last night.
Going to a friend's house tonight. We've started a film discussion group and tonight is our first meeting. We're to watch a film that the host chooses. We're not allowed to tease each other for choice of film. Hehe. I am going to show Eat Drink Man Woman when it's my turn. I love that film. I quite like Ang Lee in general but I prefer the films he made in Taiwan to the Hollywood productions. The Hulk was dire...

Ok, I've had more than my fair share of granny tit viewing. I mean really....
At first I was at the beach and went *doh* *doh* *doh* *doh* (that was me looking in four directions) unable not to see granny tit. Big granny tit, pale granny tit, tan granny tit, wrinkly granny tit, saggy granny tit, very saggy granny tit. You name it, I've seen it. Me like a little prude keeping my one-piece bathing suit on at all times (apart from when I'm in a sun top and shorts). It must be the bad influence of the Irish catholic spouse. *nod self*
Anyway, as the week progressed granny tit became part of the scenery and now I'm kind of more thinking "Good on yis grannies! Fair fucks to yis!" (in me best Irish accent) Why should it be that topless sunbathing is only for women aged 15-25 with slender figures and perky boobs? Huh? And besides, god knows I've seen enough middle aged men with larger boobs than I have. Hairy at that! (No, not mine!)
So there!
I'm not gonna take my kit off, don't worry, but I think the grannies on the beach are probably doing the world a favour. They remind us that the whole world isn't 22 years old and size 36 and that's ok. That's the way it should be because invariably it is.

Spain is still fabulicious! Slobbing aimlessly around. Well, we tried to go to see the caves today but got to the bus stop too late since the guided tours of the caves ended at 14:00 and you can't go in without a guide. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow unless the weather is too good and the beach beckons. As the spouse put it, the caves will most likely still be there next time we get to Spain. I have a wise spouse.
The thought of only having two whole days left is horrible but we will certainly make an effort to enjoy them as much as possible.
Soon time for dinner.
Hasta la vista. Baby. ;)

I'm in Spain and it's bloody gorgeous!!!! Wheeee!!!!
We live 2 minutes walk from the beach and it warm and sunny. We eat well, sleep late, slob around and really enjoying our holidays! Going to Dublin and Stockholm in the summer was all very well but not relaxing.
I'm getting a good tan and the spouse is growing pinker and pinker.
Wheee!!!!

Friday afternoon. Me and Magnus were assigned to bake muffins. Mia had happily told us it would take about 2 hours to bake 300 muffins. We started at 16:30. We baked. Melted butter, cracked eggs, whisked, stired, added flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar, baked baked baked. The clock struck 19:00. We baked. The clock struck 21:00. We baked. At 21:37 we stopped baking. Bleh!
Then we met up at 08:00 in pouring rain to fix the coffee. Delivered coffee and muffins to Patrik and then we headed off to the meeting we were going to. Gah!

We brought our Irish friends to a Swedish crayfish party on Saturday night. Very pleasant. I was impressed by their ability to peel and eat the crayfish. Slightly fortified by good old Absolut.
Then they left for Stockholm on Sunday. *sniff*
Sunday the 11th of September.
The planes. The orange, red and black clouds of fire. The collapse.
I was home sick that day. I was walking past the tv in the sitting room when I first heard. I'm sure you can recall where you were too, at that time, on that day.
Then two years later Anna. Our clearest voice in the world and our future leader killed in an inane act of violence.
Oh Anna, so many hopes died with you.

Monday today. Off to work in a minute. Workity work. Workity work.
Workity work tomorrow too and then on Wednesday we go to Spain! Wheeee! :D