Grönt te smaksatt med havtorn, jordgubb och yoghurt. Köpt på Kahls.
Omdöme: Milt, sött, doftar gott. Blir lätt beskt om det drar för länge eller om vattnet är för hett, så koka ej till 100grader.
söndag, oktober 30, 2011
Kvällens tekopp: Kustfägring
Omdöme: Milt, sött, doftar gott. Blir lätt beskt om det drar för länge eller om vattnet är för hett, så koka ej till 100grader.
fredag, oktober 28, 2011
Hazy Shades
There's a week left 'til my 26th birthday. It's been a very busy and hectic year, mostly in a good way, I think.
Autumn's been very stressful, and apart from the internship I'm also up to the neck in studies, which means I am basically doing two full-time scheduals and therefor studying at 200%. Because of some really messed up paper-work, I also get no financial aid until I can prove that I've taken credits these past months. I lack 2,5credits to be appointed student aid, and during november I will be finishing 30credits worth of course work. You'd think that should be enough, together with plenty of phonecalls and both e-mails and letters from my teacher, but my case is one of many amongst the masses of paper being shuffled between idiots, so at the moment I live off of my parents never-ending goodwill.
Being home, I do get to see my Stockholm friend's once in a while, but mostly for lunches during the weeks. I spend a lot of time with my sister as well, which I really appreciate. We have fun together, and we talk and watch tv-series a lot.
I do miss my Uppsala-life, and my friends, and having more of my own space. I also miss my old neighbours alot. This week especially, I've been going through pictures from the past two years and been ridiculously nostalgic. I blame the fact that they are far, but also the fact that this time of year makes me emotional and travel-sick. November always holds the promise of more grey and more cold than I would like to see, all in one place, inside and out.
Also, closing in on my birthday, it makes me all the more aware of the 25-list I had laid out for myself this year. I didn't even come close to finish it. But I did do alot of things I've wanted to do, and did manage to atleast begin on a lot of projects that I'll finish in a near future. I'm quite pleased by the results all the same. Now I'm thinking, should I make a new one for next year? Or throw myself into the very ambitious 101 things in 1001 days-project instead? I could always continue on the stages from my first that I left unfinished and go from there.
Autumn's been very stressful, and apart from the internship I'm also up to the neck in studies, which means I am basically doing two full-time scheduals and therefor studying at 200%. Because of some really messed up paper-work, I also get no financial aid until I can prove that I've taken credits these past months. I lack 2,5credits to be appointed student aid, and during november I will be finishing 30credits worth of course work. You'd think that should be enough, together with plenty of phonecalls and both e-mails and letters from my teacher, but my case is one of many amongst the masses of paper being shuffled between idiots, so at the moment I live off of my parents never-ending goodwill.
Being home, I do get to see my Stockholm friend's once in a while, but mostly for lunches during the weeks. I spend a lot of time with my sister as well, which I really appreciate. We have fun together, and we talk and watch tv-series a lot.
I do miss my Uppsala-life, and my friends, and having more of my own space. I also miss my old neighbours alot. This week especially, I've been going through pictures from the past two years and been ridiculously nostalgic. I blame the fact that they are far, but also the fact that this time of year makes me emotional and travel-sick. November always holds the promise of more grey and more cold than I would like to see, all in one place, inside and out.
Also, closing in on my birthday, it makes me all the more aware of the 25-list I had laid out for myself this year. I didn't even come close to finish it. But I did do alot of things I've wanted to do, and did manage to atleast begin on a lot of projects that I'll finish in a near future. I'm quite pleased by the results all the same. Now I'm thinking, should I make a new one for next year? Or throw myself into the very ambitious 101 things in 1001 days-project instead? I could always continue on the stages from my first that I left unfinished and go from there.
torsdag, oktober 20, 2011
Hello CIA
It's been a strange year when it comes to the war against terror.
The world is (still, and always will be) full of oppression that many agree on should not be ignored, but many are also the people who throw non-appreciative glances towards the US. and their foreign-policies.
The 10th year marker after 9/11 came and went, and it was odd for me to realize it had been so long since a happening that monumentally changed the world's view on people with my ethnical heritage, and gave nations the right to invade other countries far away, with no proof, no plan, and no other intention than "doing the right thing"; which was essentially bombing poor people, looking for political figures for years without finding them and then leaving whole countries in shambles in the Middle East after being accused of only going there for the oil in the first place.
Yet things have happened, and changed. Bin Laden was finally killed this year. I say finally, not because it was a good thing that a crazy oppressor was killed (because there was no trial and no real punishment for all he's done), but because he was a symbol of many a things evil, and an easy way to look at a very complicated problem. He was one face to represent many horrors in Afghanistan (and in the world) and now that he is finally out of the picture, perhaps the rest of the western world can concentrate more on actually helping the people of Afghanistan build new lives with some dignity, instead of wrecking everything and then just leaving all our shit behind for them to deal with, when not finding what we're looking for.
The people of Egypt took up arms, and marched and marched for their freedom. It was, in everyway a glorious, powerfully haunting and brutal thing. They lost so very much to gain new ground, and hopefully, hopefully, there are new roads to pave. Of course, one of the major issues pressed on from the western world should now be "Will this new democracy you are striving for include the rights of women?" Because that aspect seems conviniently forgotten now that people (a.k.a. men) want to rebuild a new and free Egypt (for men, apparently).
And today, Muammar Gaddafi, the military ruler of Libya was announced dead. In Stockholm, the news showed people of Libean heritage celebrate. Ofcourse, there is always fear, even through the happiness. What if the news is wrong? What if the riots that follow claim more lives? What if the next regime is even worse? (Believe me, that's what most Iranians had to wittness after the revolution of -79).
But still, times they are a-changing. With casualties, with chaos, but maybe maybe in a slightly better direction.
I was thinking this, when I a couple of hours earlier mentioned to a friend on Facebook-chat that I had seen the news of Gaddaffi's death. I said, it was interesting how many (I meant of these dictators) who had died or been overthrown this year. I then said, that I wondered why noone had tried to take out the Israeli regime.
Now, many would think that this is a very strange comparison. That Israel is not a dictatorship or a terrorist nation. I disagree. I believe that the Jewish people have a right to their own country, to freedom and happiness and dignified lives. I refuse to believe though, that this can only be achieved by the systematic and terrorfilled oppression of their neighbours the Palestinians, who finally made a formal appeal for their independence this autumn. Perhaps it is as writer Amos Oz says, for both nations to reach a satisfying solution, there must perhaps first be made compromises that leave both parties un-satisfied.
The Israeli regime might represent the fears of their people, persecuted for generations, but they cannot make me believe that the entire nation agrees that the best way of securing your own rights is to bring a new Holocaust upon you neighbours. The Gaza war of January 2009 was basically an attempt of annihilating a country from the face of the Earth, and the fact that the rest of the world just stood by and watch will forever be one of the most disgusting political dicisions made in my youth. It was so dispicable that some Jewish soldiers refused to go to war. Civilians protested. And everyone who part-took in these "unpatriotic acts" was sent to prison. In Sweden, that would be called discrimination against human rights and freedome of speech being violated by the rulers, but apparently, Isreal is not to be judged.
I find that horrific, and disgusting. I believe the regime of Israel is in many ways the same cruel, self-deluded madmen and murderers as Ghadaffi and Bin Laden. I believe that the nation of Israel deserves more than to carve it's future through the bodies of Palestinians, and I believe the people of Palestine have been long denied their human rights.
But, apparently saying this, or even indicating this by comparing the Israeli regime to Gaddafi and questioning why noone has tried to overthrow and kill them yet, is not kosher (haha), cause withing 5 minutes of writing this in my chat, my Facebook account was down for maintnance. The page informed me to return in a couple of minutes, and has as of then been unavailable to me for hours.
So, as I now feel very, very watched, I want to take this moment to say openly to whoever did all the conspiracy-like watching:
As a woman of Middle Eastern heritage, a feminist and socialist, I find the American foreign-politics to be a self-righteous, patriotic, religiously fanatic load of crap, and truly believe that the rest of the world would despise you much less if you kept it in your pants and stopped being such hypocritical arses. By now, half the third world would rather live in misery than have your wrecking-ball mentality invade their countries, and the other half are mostly blaming you for their regimes, as you continuously help opressors until they turn their backs on you.
Also, I am a literature major at Uni that barely passed second year high school chemistry, so you have no fear of me ever wanting to concoct anything strange on planes, not even now, even though my comments above might make me look like a potential risk. I can ofcourse see why you think me tempted though, cause of me being of so-called "terrorist decent" as i think it was called on American Dad, and the fact that your flight rules forced everyone else in the world to adapt to a system were we bring everything in with hundreds of miniature bottles, making everyone's bag look like something out of CSI. At least make it up to me by letting me off the hook when having to sign the ridiculous papers about not being a spy or affiliated with Nazi Germany pre-1945 everytime I fly to the US to visit relatives and friends, and finally:
If you really have the time to flag people like me through Facebook, mail, or phone-conversations, I propose you put your resources into other more urgent stuff: as in finding actual criminals, repaying your humoungous debt to China or donating the money to Zuckerberg - who despite all his money cannot seem to design a new Facebook update that doesn't suck.
That would be all.
The world is (still, and always will be) full of oppression that many agree on should not be ignored, but many are also the people who throw non-appreciative glances towards the US. and their foreign-policies.
The 10th year marker after 9/11 came and went, and it was odd for me to realize it had been so long since a happening that monumentally changed the world's view on people with my ethnical heritage, and gave nations the right to invade other countries far away, with no proof, no plan, and no other intention than "doing the right thing"; which was essentially bombing poor people, looking for political figures for years without finding them and then leaving whole countries in shambles in the Middle East after being accused of only going there for the oil in the first place.
Yet things have happened, and changed. Bin Laden was finally killed this year. I say finally, not because it was a good thing that a crazy oppressor was killed (because there was no trial and no real punishment for all he's done), but because he was a symbol of many a things evil, and an easy way to look at a very complicated problem. He was one face to represent many horrors in Afghanistan (and in the world) and now that he is finally out of the picture, perhaps the rest of the western world can concentrate more on actually helping the people of Afghanistan build new lives with some dignity, instead of wrecking everything and then just leaving all our shit behind for them to deal with, when not finding what we're looking for.
The people of Egypt took up arms, and marched and marched for their freedom. It was, in everyway a glorious, powerfully haunting and brutal thing. They lost so very much to gain new ground, and hopefully, hopefully, there are new roads to pave. Of course, one of the major issues pressed on from the western world should now be "Will this new democracy you are striving for include the rights of women?" Because that aspect seems conviniently forgotten now that people (a.k.a. men) want to rebuild a new and free Egypt (for men, apparently).
And today, Muammar Gaddafi, the military ruler of Libya was announced dead. In Stockholm, the news showed people of Libean heritage celebrate. Ofcourse, there is always fear, even through the happiness. What if the news is wrong? What if the riots that follow claim more lives? What if the next regime is even worse? (Believe me, that's what most Iranians had to wittness after the revolution of -79).
But still, times they are a-changing. With casualties, with chaos, but maybe maybe in a slightly better direction.
I was thinking this, when I a couple of hours earlier mentioned to a friend on Facebook-chat that I had seen the news of Gaddaffi's death. I said, it was interesting how many (I meant of these dictators) who had died or been overthrown this year. I then said, that I wondered why noone had tried to take out the Israeli regime.
Now, many would think that this is a very strange comparison. That Israel is not a dictatorship or a terrorist nation. I disagree. I believe that the Jewish people have a right to their own country, to freedom and happiness and dignified lives. I refuse to believe though, that this can only be achieved by the systematic and terrorfilled oppression of their neighbours the Palestinians, who finally made a formal appeal for their independence this autumn. Perhaps it is as writer Amos Oz says, for both nations to reach a satisfying solution, there must perhaps first be made compromises that leave both parties un-satisfied.
The Israeli regime might represent the fears of their people, persecuted for generations, but they cannot make me believe that the entire nation agrees that the best way of securing your own rights is to bring a new Holocaust upon you neighbours. The Gaza war of January 2009 was basically an attempt of annihilating a country from the face of the Earth, and the fact that the rest of the world just stood by and watch will forever be one of the most disgusting political dicisions made in my youth. It was so dispicable that some Jewish soldiers refused to go to war. Civilians protested. And everyone who part-took in these "unpatriotic acts" was sent to prison. In Sweden, that would be called discrimination against human rights and freedome of speech being violated by the rulers, but apparently, Isreal is not to be judged.
I find that horrific, and disgusting. I believe the regime of Israel is in many ways the same cruel, self-deluded madmen and murderers as Ghadaffi and Bin Laden. I believe that the nation of Israel deserves more than to carve it's future through the bodies of Palestinians, and I believe the people of Palestine have been long denied their human rights.
But, apparently saying this, or even indicating this by comparing the Israeli regime to Gaddafi and questioning why noone has tried to overthrow and kill them yet, is not kosher (haha), cause withing 5 minutes of writing this in my chat, my Facebook account was down for maintnance. The page informed me to return in a couple of minutes, and has as of then been unavailable to me for hours.
So, as I now feel very, very watched, I want to take this moment to say openly to whoever did all the conspiracy-like watching:
As a woman of Middle Eastern heritage, a feminist and socialist, I find the American foreign-politics to be a self-righteous, patriotic, religiously fanatic load of crap, and truly believe that the rest of the world would despise you much less if you kept it in your pants and stopped being such hypocritical arses. By now, half the third world would rather live in misery than have your wrecking-ball mentality invade their countries, and the other half are mostly blaming you for their regimes, as you continuously help opressors until they turn their backs on you.
Also, I am a literature major at Uni that barely passed second year high school chemistry, so you have no fear of me ever wanting to concoct anything strange on planes, not even now, even though my comments above might make me look like a potential risk. I can ofcourse see why you think me tempted though, cause of me being of so-called "terrorist decent" as i think it was called on American Dad, and the fact that your flight rules forced everyone else in the world to adapt to a system were we bring everything in with hundreds of miniature bottles, making everyone's bag look like something out of CSI. At least make it up to me by letting me off the hook when having to sign the ridiculous papers about not being a spy or affiliated with Nazi Germany pre-1945 everytime I fly to the US to visit relatives and friends, and finally:
If you really have the time to flag people like me through Facebook, mail, or phone-conversations, I propose you put your resources into other more urgent stuff: as in finding actual criminals, repaying your humoungous debt to China or donating the money to Zuckerberg - who despite all his money cannot seem to design a new Facebook update that doesn't suck.
That would be all.
onsdag, september 28, 2011
Work Flow
Today, I was alone at work due to the others being ill.
Due to spending almost two days on my own at the office, I don't really know what to do when finished with my assignments. I've read all the texts and short stories sent to me, registered comments and opinions. I've looked up some images for the picture index for one of our books, even though it is pretty tedious work, since they all seem to be pulled out of the same book yet never there to find when looking in said book. At least it's not just me it's giving a head ache, so I don't need to feel incompetent. It is apparently not a very well made index from the start...
Also, apart from my work tasks, today I have studied, corresponded with my thesis supervisor at school, and started looking over one of my own short-stories from last year that needs some editing. All this despite being doped up on painkillers. Some days I'm just better at piecing things together I guess.
Due to spending almost two days on my own at the office, I don't really know what to do when finished with my assignments. I've read all the texts and short stories sent to me, registered comments and opinions. I've looked up some images for the picture index for one of our books, even though it is pretty tedious work, since they all seem to be pulled out of the same book yet never there to find when looking in said book. At least it's not just me it's giving a head ache, so I don't need to feel incompetent. It is apparently not a very well made index from the start...
Also, apart from my work tasks, today I have studied, corresponded with my thesis supervisor at school, and started looking over one of my own short-stories from last year that needs some editing. All this despite being doped up on painkillers. Some days I'm just better at piecing things together I guess.
lördag, september 24, 2011
Bokmässan 2011
Det är tio i fem, jag har sovit tre och en halv timma och jag ska strax iväg till Cityterminalen för att ta en sex-timmars buss till Göteborg och vara med på Bokmässan för första gången. Mycket förväntansfull!
måndag, september 19, 2011
The Intern
So I got the internship. As of last week I am a weekly resident at my parents house in Stockholm, going into town for work in the morning (albeight not too early) and returning home around dinner-time like a proper office-lady, hahaha!
During the weekends I go back to Uppsala, trying to meet people and head off to the gym and do homework. At least that's the plan. But honestly, I have two (late!) assignments for the summer-course, and the deadline for an exam and the first 20 page draft of my thesis coming up by the first week of October, as well as some reviews for work that need to be written if I want a salary next month. I don't feel like I have the time to meet anyone anymore, and probably not for quite a while. And I get that I shouldn't, because honestly, friends will understand when you need to lay low for a while and get your shit together.
But knowing myself, I'll still end up watching movies with my sis and having lunch with friends in Stockholm anyway. I just think i should stop planning in stuff for the weekends so I can get some homework done and some shut-eye...
That said, I like it here. The others at MIX are smart, good at what they do and meticulous. They show me the ropes, and manage to be supportive at the same time. Not once have I felt like I don't get it. They genuinly care for their work, and I respect that a lot.
And they make me feel welcome, which I in turn repay with lots of gratitude (and work!).
I have my own desk, and a computer, and a phone as old as my sister, and it took about two days for said desk to look exactly like the rest of my life: organized chaos (mostly paper).
I really like it here. I'm suspecting 10 weeks will be over far faster than I would have hoped.
During the weekends I go back to Uppsala, trying to meet people and head off to the gym and do homework. At least that's the plan. But honestly, I have two (late!) assignments for the summer-course, and the deadline for an exam and the first 20 page draft of my thesis coming up by the first week of October, as well as some reviews for work that need to be written if I want a salary next month. I don't feel like I have the time to meet anyone anymore, and probably not for quite a while. And I get that I shouldn't, because honestly, friends will understand when you need to lay low for a while and get your shit together.
But knowing myself, I'll still end up watching movies with my sis and having lunch with friends in Stockholm anyway. I just think i should stop planning in stuff for the weekends so I can get some homework done and some shut-eye...
That said, I like it here. The others at MIX are smart, good at what they do and meticulous. They show me the ropes, and manage to be supportive at the same time. Not once have I felt like I don't get it. They genuinly care for their work, and I respect that a lot.
And they make me feel welcome, which I in turn repay with lots of gratitude (and work!).
I have my own desk, and a computer, and a phone as old as my sister, and it took about two days for said desk to look exactly like the rest of my life: organized chaos (mostly paper).
I really like it here. I'm suspecting 10 weeks will be over far faster than I would have hoped.
fredag, september 09, 2011
Kitchen-Be-Gone
In my new appartment, getting ready to head out to IKEA and to the local recycling and trash-center, to dump whatever used to once be the kitchen here.
I'm a bit nervous, but I have faith in that dad will make this place look fantastic. In the mean time, I am spending my few days in Uppsala by going to the gym, meeting friends, having plenty of meetings with faculty members at school, and trying to help out at home wherever dad thinks I am going to cause the least amount of trouble. Yesterday, I was mostly re-packing bags, listening to songs from the Devdas Soundtrack and trying to not be in my fathers way whilst he totally slaughtered the kitchen, ripping out some of the cabinets with a crow-bar. Action-Man Dad to the rescue!
Today, I've been carrying boards, cabinets and planks for a couple of hours, so I'm considering cancelling this evenings pilates, seeing as I get quite alot of excersise done right here at home. Especially since I am planning on having a night out dancing as well.
I'm a bit nervous, but I have faith in that dad will make this place look fantastic. In the mean time, I am spending my few days in Uppsala by going to the gym, meeting friends, having plenty of meetings with faculty members at school, and trying to help out at home wherever dad thinks I am going to cause the least amount of trouble. Yesterday, I was mostly re-packing bags, listening to songs from the Devdas Soundtrack and trying to not be in my fathers way whilst he totally slaughtered the kitchen, ripping out some of the cabinets with a crow-bar. Action-Man Dad to the rescue!
Today, I've been carrying boards, cabinets and planks for a couple of hours, so I'm considering cancelling this evenings pilates, seeing as I get quite alot of excersise done right here at home. Especially since I am planning on having a night out dancing as well.
fredag, september 02, 2011
Moving - again.
Today, I finally start moving into my new appartment. I signed the last papers and got the keys this morning. So, until dad gets here, I have three hours to pack my stuff, clean out the appartment I rented from a friend and run some errands downtown.
I'm excitet. As in really really excitet. And at the same time a bit scared, and very confused. There's so much to consider. Just thinking about changing wall-papers seems like a big deal. How do people renovate entire kitchens without going mad with choice?
I'm excitet. As in really really excitet. And at the same time a bit scared, and very confused. There's so much to consider. Just thinking about changing wall-papers seems like a big deal. How do people renovate entire kitchens without going mad with choice?
tisdag, augusti 23, 2011
Clone Wars.
A few years ago, I read this article about how certain themes in movies seemed to attract the attention of script-writers at the same time. It was not the matter of competing, since usually scripts are kept in the dark until actually bought, but just that certain times found certain themes well adaptable for movies.
Some ideas just didn't follow through. When Guy Richie casted Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes, Sacha Baron Cohen was cast in the same role by someone else. That project was cancelled, but Richie's movie is now getting a sequel, and BBC made a magnificent modern-take mini-series on the story just last year (to be followed up this Autumn). Some exampel's that did come out within just a few months from eachother, are:
Full Metal Jacket - Platoon.
Near Dark - The Lost Boys
Thin Red Line - Saving Private Ryan.
Antz - A Bug's Life.
Capote - Infamous.
Clash of the Titans - Immortals
And every couple of years there is a new version of some Austen/Dickens/Brontë book, or a new version of Three Musketeers or perhaps Robin Hood. Fairytales as well, will never die. Especially now that Hollywood keeps spouting out remakes of all these 40's-80's movies, you know they won't be laying off the classics.
So why did I suddenly think of this tonight? Well, within the next few months, cinemas in Sweden will show a re-make of Brontës Jane Eyre, Dumas The Three Musketeers, a Robin Hood came out last year and a Red Riding Hood this year (see what I'm getting at?).
For next year, as fortold on IMDb (I love that page), there will be both an at the moment untiteled Snow White-project with Sean Beam and Julia Roberts, as well as Snow White and the Huntsman with Charlize Theron, who looks pretty amazing in her getup.
But... Really? Even if you are running out of ideas and looking to old stories is your way to go, how does Hollywood succeed in only looking in the same direction at the same time?
Rejuvenate your buisness or get out.
Some ideas just didn't follow through. When Guy Richie casted Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes, Sacha Baron Cohen was cast in the same role by someone else. That project was cancelled, but Richie's movie is now getting a sequel, and BBC made a magnificent modern-take mini-series on the story just last year (to be followed up this Autumn). Some exampel's that did come out within just a few months from eachother, are:
Full Metal Jacket - Platoon.
Near Dark - The Lost Boys
Thin Red Line - Saving Private Ryan.
Antz - A Bug's Life.
Capote - Infamous.
Clash of the Titans - Immortals
And every couple of years there is a new version of some Austen/Dickens/Brontë book, or a new version of Three Musketeers or perhaps Robin Hood. Fairytales as well, will never die. Especially now that Hollywood keeps spouting out remakes of all these 40's-80's movies, you know they won't be laying off the classics.
So why did I suddenly think of this tonight? Well, within the next few months, cinemas in Sweden will show a re-make of Brontës Jane Eyre, Dumas The Three Musketeers, a Robin Hood came out last year and a Red Riding Hood this year (see what I'm getting at?).
For next year, as fortold on IMDb (I love that page), there will be both an at the moment untiteled Snow White-project with Sean Beam and Julia Roberts, as well as Snow White and the Huntsman with Charlize Theron, who looks pretty amazing in her getup.
But... Really? Even if you are running out of ideas and looking to old stories is your way to go, how does Hollywood succeed in only looking in the same direction at the same time?
Rejuvenate your buisness or get out.
lördag, augusti 20, 2011
Desktop
I have a week left of studies for my exams, and the stress still not as bad as it could be, which is good. I am doing well, working effectively but not fast enought, at least not yet. We'll see where I stand on that by the middle of the week.
I try to eat and sleep well, and am proud to say I'm hanging in there. Yesterday I woke up after only 4-5 hours, since the room was so warm and stuffy, and I couldn't go back to sleep. The entire day continued the same, building up to a storm, and it's been raining all night. I slept like a log, and got a good ten hours in me. I try to not stay cooped up either, and make sure I leave the appartment for a walk, a visit to the libraries, a coffee in town, just to get some fresh air and stretch my legs. All in all, I've been holding to my plan of not getting too distracted. I don't surf on the web half as much as I usually do, I ignore the phone, I canceled next weeks movie-plans, and I feel like I'm getting somewhere. It's not fun, but it's good.
For the past week, this has been the primary aspect of my life, with the exception that the titles of the books change depending on the assignment I'm working on, and that the computer sometimes shows youtube or Spotify etc, instead of the schools teaching platform.
Woop- woop...
tisdag, augusti 16, 2011
Our ways are not your ways.
My summer course this year, is a literature class revolving around the western vampire myth, from the 18th centure 'til today, focused primarily on the socio-political powerstructures and gender-roles of the genre. It's interessting and entertaining, though there is a lot more to read than I actually have the time to go through.
The past two weeks reading have centered on Bram Stokers Dracula, and we are supposed to analyze it with the help of overwhealming amounts of scholarary literature, out of which my favourite is Gilbert and Gubars The Madwomen in the Attic. Since I also have to finish up course-work and write exams next week for other classes, there's a heavy emphasis on studying in my life right now.
As a result, I woke up this morning after a very strange dream, were I was working in an office as the xerox-girl, and my boss was Keanu Reeves playing Jonathan Harker. After that, everyone at the office ended up at his mansion of a home, were we were celebrating a big Jewish holliday (this seemed extra strange to me after awakening, until I remembered that only yesterday I had a long discussion on the topic of Jonathan Safron Foers Eating Animals, and his Jewish background and how that had influenced his views on food, kosher, and meat in general). Throughout the dream, I kept wondering what on earth I was doing there, and at some point followed one of my "co-workers" to the front gates to wave them off. As I turn around Jonathan is on the front lawn, talking to someone, and does not pay attention to a big car that comes up the drive way. He calls over his shoulder to the newly arrived guest to just "go in and make yourselves comfortable" and then turns to all of us and waves us in to continue the dinner party. As we walk up the stairs, the new guest is standing by the door. As he looks up, we all realize that it's Dracula, and that this also means that Harker has invited him in. Suddenly Dracula runs off into the house, Harker chases him, and the rest of us, for some insane reason, run off after Harker.
Upstairs, I find Harker struggeling with Dracula, whose face is a mix between Gary Oldmans longhaired, eye-glass wearing version from the Coppola-film, as well as some hideously deformed, melting thing the colour of bruises. I stop, frozen, breathless, and look at the scene infront of me, and suddely can only think: Why is Dracula so PURPLE?
That's when I wake up. This reminds me very much of last years summer-course influenced dream, where I was avoiding a Baltimore druglord. I really need to start distancing myself more from my work.
The past two weeks reading have centered on Bram Stokers Dracula, and we are supposed to analyze it with the help of overwhealming amounts of scholarary literature, out of which my favourite is Gilbert and Gubars The Madwomen in the Attic. Since I also have to finish up course-work and write exams next week for other classes, there's a heavy emphasis on studying in my life right now.
As a result, I woke up this morning after a very strange dream, were I was working in an office as the xerox-girl, and my boss was Keanu Reeves playing Jonathan Harker. After that, everyone at the office ended up at his mansion of a home, were we were celebrating a big Jewish holliday (this seemed extra strange to me after awakening, until I remembered that only yesterday I had a long discussion on the topic of Jonathan Safron Foers Eating Animals, and his Jewish background and how that had influenced his views on food, kosher, and meat in general). Throughout the dream, I kept wondering what on earth I was doing there, and at some point followed one of my "co-workers" to the front gates to wave them off. As I turn around Jonathan is on the front lawn, talking to someone, and does not pay attention to a big car that comes up the drive way. He calls over his shoulder to the newly arrived guest to just "go in and make yourselves comfortable" and then turns to all of us and waves us in to continue the dinner party. As we walk up the stairs, the new guest is standing by the door. As he looks up, we all realize that it's Dracula, and that this also means that Harker has invited him in. Suddenly Dracula runs off into the house, Harker chases him, and the rest of us, for some insane reason, run off after Harker.
Upstairs, I find Harker struggeling with Dracula, whose face is a mix between Gary Oldmans longhaired, eye-glass wearing version from the Coppola-film, as well as some hideously deformed, melting thing the colour of bruises. I stop, frozen, breathless, and look at the scene infront of me, and suddely can only think: Why is Dracula so PURPLE?
That's when I wake up. This reminds me very much of last years summer-course influenced dream, where I was avoiding a Baltimore druglord. I really need to start distancing myself more from my work.
Metodik
Jag är mitt uppe i en frenetisk plugg-period, och kastar mig mellan sommarkursens uppgifter och tentaplugg inför nästa vecka. Självklart vet jag att det delvis är dålig planering från min sida. Samtidigt vet jag att det aldrig blir bra om jag inte är under åtminstone ett viss mån av stress. Det är ohälsosamt, jag vet, men produktivt.
I flera år försökte jag tänka att jag skulle förändras, nu vet jag att det aldrig kommer hända. Jag försöker bara bli bättre på att jobba snabbt. Oftast funkar det, och resultatet är jag, om inte stolt över så åtminstone nöjd med. Ibland ska man inte begära mer och bara gå vidare.
Just för att det är mycket i studieväg nu, vill jag såklart mest göra annat. Men jag håller mig i skinnet rätt bra, och är i stort sett bara hemma och pluggar. Jag har stängt av ljudet på telefonen, kopplat bort de bra högtalarna för att inte spela för hög musik (utifall att jag då börjar dansa istället för att plugga), och försöker hålla mig borta från att strösurfa på nätet. Jag ser däremot till att komma ut ur lägenheten på promenader, sover minst 7 timmar, och äta åtminstone två ordentliga mål om dagen. Det är ovanligt att jag kombinerar produktiva perioder med en hälsosam livsstil, men det skulle vara skönt om jag lyckades för en gångs skull. Nu har det visserligen bara hållit på i fyra-fem dagar, så jag borde inte ta ut någon glädje i förskott.
I flera år försökte jag tänka att jag skulle förändras, nu vet jag att det aldrig kommer hända. Jag försöker bara bli bättre på att jobba snabbt. Oftast funkar det, och resultatet är jag, om inte stolt över så åtminstone nöjd med. Ibland ska man inte begära mer och bara gå vidare.
Just för att det är mycket i studieväg nu, vill jag såklart mest göra annat. Men jag håller mig i skinnet rätt bra, och är i stort sett bara hemma och pluggar. Jag har stängt av ljudet på telefonen, kopplat bort de bra högtalarna för att inte spela för hög musik (utifall att jag då börjar dansa istället för att plugga), och försöker hålla mig borta från att strösurfa på nätet. Jag ser däremot till att komma ut ur lägenheten på promenader, sover minst 7 timmar, och äta åtminstone två ordentliga mål om dagen. Det är ovanligt att jag kombinerar produktiva perioder med en hälsosam livsstil, men det skulle vara skönt om jag lyckades för en gångs skull. Nu har det visserligen bara hållit på i fyra-fem dagar, så jag borde inte ta ut någon glädje i förskott.
måndag, augusti 08, 2011
Pride
Recapping the past week: I've been running errands, spent time with family and friends (not enough of them), studied (not enough of that either), part-took in a friends photo project, and as I had wanted too for many years now: I attended Stockholm Pride Parade 2011, both watching it with sister and friends as well as joining in and walking in it, albeight not for a very long stretch.
The parade was amazing, with so many walking for their equal rights, and so many to support them. Proud parents and children (this was one of the most beautiful parts), so many happy, dressed up people. It's wonderful that Pride is such a big thing in Sweden, and at the same time, so tragic that the most basic of human right; the right to your own body and sexuality, as well as your conscious decision of who you are together with (in and outside the bedroom) are denied so many people. I hope that for each year, we march forward not only on the streets but in our acceptance as well.
The fact that so many out there make it their buisness to deny others the right to love someone else, based on something as ridiculous as the gender of their choice partner, is beyond me. No actually, it disgusts me.
How can it possibly be anyones right to judge others choice in partner? This choice is made based the joint decision of two individuals, in love and hoping to share a healthy and happy life together. Yet they keep struggeling, fighting for a everyday existance were they can kiss eachother on the street without others recoiling, where they can adopt without others blaiming them for destroying childrens lives, were they can donate blood, go to the damn bank and get the same loans based on the same sets of requirements demanded of straight customers. And this is in Sweden, that often prides itself for being "the most equal country in the world", which honestly, mostly just means: "We're a couple of steps ahead of most of you other nations, and are obtuesly using this as an excuse to not keep trying to improve".
The thing is, there are plenty of straight couples out there, whose relationship is shit. The fighting couples, the cheating couples, the jealous and destructive couples. Yet, noone is banning them from keeping at it, from trying to get it right. Or even worse, the ones not trying to change: couple that abuse eachother, people who hurt their children - they're never actually scrutinezed as a potential representative for everyone with the same sexual preferance as themselves.
Statistically, most couples are straight and therefore, more fucked up, horrible, monstrous abusers and rapists in relationships are also straight. Yet, they don't represent all straight people. A man who's gay, is inevitably denied adopting rights on the basis that he will "turn his kids gay", as if that is on par with some asshole wife-beating drunk, who's going to pass on his brutality to his kids.
There might also be plenty of gay couple out there that are unhappy for the same reason as straight couples. But no one straight is denied their right to partnership based on the fact that their relationship is lousy. I mean, why shouldn't gay people have the same right to be happy, OR miserable, as everybody else?
They have the same wants and dreams as straights, the same need to laugh and feel like they belong, they work, pay taxes, they are good friends/lovers/relatives as well as really shitty ones, and at the end of the day, they should be able to feel like they are just as much part of this fucked-up, messed-up world as anybody else in it.
The parade was amazing, with so many walking for their equal rights, and so many to support them. Proud parents and children (this was one of the most beautiful parts), so many happy, dressed up people. It's wonderful that Pride is such a big thing in Sweden, and at the same time, so tragic that the most basic of human right; the right to your own body and sexuality, as well as your conscious decision of who you are together with (in and outside the bedroom) are denied so many people. I hope that for each year, we march forward not only on the streets but in our acceptance as well.
The fact that so many out there make it their buisness to deny others the right to love someone else, based on something as ridiculous as the gender of their choice partner, is beyond me. No actually, it disgusts me.
How can it possibly be anyones right to judge others choice in partner? This choice is made based the joint decision of two individuals, in love and hoping to share a healthy and happy life together. Yet they keep struggeling, fighting for a everyday existance were they can kiss eachother on the street without others recoiling, where they can adopt without others blaiming them for destroying childrens lives, were they can donate blood, go to the damn bank and get the same loans based on the same sets of requirements demanded of straight customers. And this is in Sweden, that often prides itself for being "the most equal country in the world", which honestly, mostly just means: "We're a couple of steps ahead of most of you other nations, and are obtuesly using this as an excuse to not keep trying to improve".
The thing is, there are plenty of straight couples out there, whose relationship is shit. The fighting couples, the cheating couples, the jealous and destructive couples. Yet, noone is banning them from keeping at it, from trying to get it right. Or even worse, the ones not trying to change: couple that abuse eachother, people who hurt their children - they're never actually scrutinezed as a potential representative for everyone with the same sexual preferance as themselves.
Statistically, most couples are straight and therefore, more fucked up, horrible, monstrous abusers and rapists in relationships are also straight. Yet, they don't represent all straight people. A man who's gay, is inevitably denied adopting rights on the basis that he will "turn his kids gay", as if that is on par with some asshole wife-beating drunk, who's going to pass on his brutality to his kids.
There might also be plenty of gay couple out there that are unhappy for the same reason as straight couples. But no one straight is denied their right to partnership based on the fact that their relationship is lousy. I mean, why shouldn't gay people have the same right to be happy, OR miserable, as everybody else?
They have the same wants and dreams as straights, the same need to laugh and feel like they belong, they work, pay taxes, they are good friends/lovers/relatives as well as really shitty ones, and at the end of the day, they should be able to feel like they are just as much part of this fucked-up, messed-up world as anybody else in it.
måndag, augusti 01, 2011
Keys
Moved out on Saturday, went back for a good through and through cleaning session (including scrubbing the bathroom ceiling, whiping clean the closet interiors, opening windows to clean them from the inside (sounds kinda creepy, I know) yesterday, and handed in the keys today.
Thank you Flogsta for two and a half amazing years. Moving on to bigger and bighter thing. I hope I won't miss you.
Thank you Flogsta for two and a half amazing years. Moving on to bigger and bighter thing. I hope I won't miss you.
fredag, juli 29, 2011
Next Chapter, Please.
Will be moving out of the corridor tomorrow.
Feel sad in that nostalgic way you have when you leave something good, something really truly good, behind you. But also, ofcourse, excitet. The entire thing is finally sinking in, and though I shouldn't say anything lest I jinx it, I am very much anticipating good things in this next stage of my life.
Atleast, I am prepared for a change.
I like the feeling.
Feel sad in that nostalgic way you have when you leave something good, something really truly good, behind you. But also, ofcourse, excitet. The entire thing is finally sinking in, and though I shouldn't say anything lest I jinx it, I am very much anticipating good things in this next stage of my life.
Atleast, I am prepared for a change.
I like the feeling.
tisdag, juli 05, 2011
So far, so good.
Eight months ago, I begun my 25-project, as in the 25 new things I wanted to achieve, try out or enjoy during the year I am 25. Now, 2/3 into the year, I thought I'd give a bit of an overview on how far I've managed to come.
Out of the 25 items on list, I've only finished six. That is a bit daunting, knowing I have so much more left. I am aware of that not all of them are managable within the time-frame I've set, as other aspects of my life: school, social obligations, health and economy all weigh in.
I am for example unsure if my blood values are good enough for donation, as I have had a lack of iron for years. Yet I cannot test this at the time being, as I have to wait for 6 months to pass due to getting my ear pierced this spring. And, when talking of the piercing, it will be quite the feat, getting the blood test, and donating blood if possible, and then getting the tattoo, all before my 26th birthday, as all of this is only possible within a time-frame of 2,5 weeks! I should have planned that one better...
Also, there is no way I can afford a move, my bills, my past-times, and still get myself to Japan this year. The money I don't have (yet), will have to be saved up for other things; like the afformentioned move and tattoo, as well as a spa-treatment, an opera visit, etc.
But I have:
1) Held a massive cake-fest. For the night of my 25th birthday, I baked more than 15 kinds of cakes and sweets, and held a very low-key, 20's themes birthday-party with some lovely friends and neighbours.
3) Attended a ballet. I saw Coppelia at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, and not only did the comedic ballet catch my fancy, it also convinced me that this is something I should do atleast once a year.
Also, I have since then seen the brilliant theatre adaptation of the vampire novel Låt den rätte komma in (Let Me In), at Uppsala City Teatre, as well as enjoyed the live performance of singing comedian Stephen Lynch in Stockholm.
Seeing arts and entertainment live is always something I wish to do more often. I try to see a play every year atleast, and it always convinces me that if I had more money, I would get a yearly membership at the local theatre.
11) I have managed to spend both an amazing week in Madrid, as well as take a 40hour cruise ship to Riga. Though the latter will most surely make for a better trip when it's not taken in the freezing depths of winter, the former was amongst the best trips I have ever been on, and my constant day-dreaming of Madrid is now almost an obsession.
19) I have bought a long red wig that I adore, and I use it when I'm out for coffee, at dinner with friends and even at parties (and once at a club. It was too warm, I might add). Not only do I really like wearing it, but ever since I got it, I have (almost completely) stopped thinking about re-dying my own hair red again.
20) During the Riga-cruise, my friends and I decided to try the kareoke-bar. I managed to get myself through Soft Cell's Tainted Love without any accidents, but completely slaughtered Fly Me to the Moon, since they had told us it would be the Frank Sinatra version, and it wasn't, which completely threw me for a loop. At least is was funny =)
21) I went to the Spring Formal, dressed to the nines, and had a lovely time. My friend M, who three years ago, was the first who told me that I should atleast once experience the whole thing after moving to Uppsala, was my charming date, and made me feel comfortable and not at all out of the waters. I was very grateful, and felt ridiculously pretty all night.
I've read more then half the books by non-English/Swedish authors I was planning on reading, and have seen a fourth of all the movies on my list. I keep sending at least a letter or post card every month and hope to keep the habit up long after this is over. My weight's moving up and down the scale irregularly, but I keep track of things on Put The Cookie Down, and even though I don't always update on time, I don't think there should be any problems reaching an amount of at least 52 post by November.
All the other items might or might not get crossed off on time, and I really haven't a clue to how it'll turn out.
Out of the 25 items on list, I've only finished six. That is a bit daunting, knowing I have so much more left. I am aware of that not all of them are managable within the time-frame I've set, as other aspects of my life: school, social obligations, health and economy all weigh in.
I am for example unsure if my blood values are good enough for donation, as I have had a lack of iron for years. Yet I cannot test this at the time being, as I have to wait for 6 months to pass due to getting my ear pierced this spring. And, when talking of the piercing, it will be quite the feat, getting the blood test, and donating blood if possible, and then getting the tattoo, all before my 26th birthday, as all of this is only possible within a time-frame of 2,5 weeks! I should have planned that one better...
Also, there is no way I can afford a move, my bills, my past-times, and still get myself to Japan this year. The money I don't have (yet), will have to be saved up for other things; like the afformentioned move and tattoo, as well as a spa-treatment, an opera visit, etc.
But I have:
1) Held a massive cake-fest. For the night of my 25th birthday, I baked more than 15 kinds of cakes and sweets, and held a very low-key, 20's themes birthday-party with some lovely friends and neighbours.
3) Attended a ballet. I saw Coppelia at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, and not only did the comedic ballet catch my fancy, it also convinced me that this is something I should do atleast once a year.
Also, I have since then seen the brilliant theatre adaptation of the vampire novel Låt den rätte komma in (Let Me In), at Uppsala City Teatre, as well as enjoyed the live performance of singing comedian Stephen Lynch in Stockholm.
Seeing arts and entertainment live is always something I wish to do more often. I try to see a play every year atleast, and it always convinces me that if I had more money, I would get a yearly membership at the local theatre.
11) I have managed to spend both an amazing week in Madrid, as well as take a 40hour cruise ship to Riga. Though the latter will most surely make for a better trip when it's not taken in the freezing depths of winter, the former was amongst the best trips I have ever been on, and my constant day-dreaming of Madrid is now almost an obsession.
19) I have bought a long red wig that I adore, and I use it when I'm out for coffee, at dinner with friends and even at parties (and once at a club. It was too warm, I might add). Not only do I really like wearing it, but ever since I got it, I have (almost completely) stopped thinking about re-dying my own hair red again.
20) During the Riga-cruise, my friends and I decided to try the kareoke-bar. I managed to get myself through Soft Cell's Tainted Love without any accidents, but completely slaughtered Fly Me to the Moon, since they had told us it would be the Frank Sinatra version, and it wasn't, which completely threw me for a loop. At least is was funny =)
21) I went to the Spring Formal, dressed to the nines, and had a lovely time. My friend M, who three years ago, was the first who told me that I should atleast once experience the whole thing after moving to Uppsala, was my charming date, and made me feel comfortable and not at all out of the waters. I was very grateful, and felt ridiculously pretty all night.
I've read more then half the books by non-English/Swedish authors I was planning on reading, and have seen a fourth of all the movies on my list. I keep sending at least a letter or post card every month and hope to keep the habit up long after this is over. My weight's moving up and down the scale irregularly, but I keep track of things on Put The Cookie Down, and even though I don't always update on time, I don't think there should be any problems reaching an amount of at least 52 post by November.
All the other items might or might not get crossed off on time, and I really haven't a clue to how it'll turn out.
måndag, juni 20, 2011
Casting calls gone astray.
As of late, I've noticed that amongst the anonymous blog-visitors who end up here, many have done so while searching for "Autumn Frost Casting" (and will most likely do so still, after this is posted). Curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to google it myself, in an atempt to find what was going on (as IMDb had no info on any upcoming movie named Autumn Frost).
Turns out, the name of my blog (which is also the title of the 12th volume of the amazing Blade of the Immortal manga, as well as the name of an American female wrestler...) is the same as the premilinary work name for the upcoming Superman movie (!) - Man of Steel. As a superhero geek, this is pretty amusing. Ofcourse, I was never a Superman-fan, but I still find it pretty cool. My love was always for the Dark Knight, though many of the X-Men were quite diligently appreciated as well.
It turns out, casting calls have gone out for not only Man of Steel, but also Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, and lastly, The Avengers movie, which will be directed by the fantastic Joss Weedon.
If I lived in the US, going on open casting calls to play extras in Superhero-flicks would be the exact kind of nerdy thing I would do, all the time. Sweden really doesn't live up to my grand movie-star expectation ;P
Turns out, the name of my blog (which is also the title of the 12th volume of the amazing Blade of the Immortal manga, as well as the name of an American female wrestler...) is the same as the premilinary work name for the upcoming Superman movie (!) - Man of Steel. As a superhero geek, this is pretty amusing. Ofcourse, I was never a Superman-fan, but I still find it pretty cool. My love was always for the Dark Knight, though many of the X-Men were quite diligently appreciated as well.
It turns out, casting calls have gone out for not only Man of Steel, but also Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, and lastly, The Avengers movie, which will be directed by the fantastic Joss Weedon.
If I lived in the US, going on open casting calls to play extras in Superhero-flicks would be the exact kind of nerdy thing I would do, all the time. Sweden really doesn't live up to my grand movie-star expectation ;P
söndag, juni 19, 2011
One door closes.
So most of my neighbours have left. It has been a magnificent run, and living here has brought me great joy. Ofcourse, some heart ache is not unexpected in the wake of my corridor-life, yet I am taking it pretty well. I am a bit worried and stressed in reference to my own, unsure move, but I have atleast started the planning and will in the beginning of July start with the packing as well.
I have spent the last week doing homework for my summer-classes, reading, cleaning, meeting friends... I have gone to the movies, done some shopping, went for walks, and tried to avoid being caught in the rain, as it has been on-and-off pouring for the past five days.
I am eating well, sleeping well, starting a-new with the 200-situp challange, and am trying to plan ahead for the 25 While 25-list.
Life goes on, and you keep going on with it. Mayhaps a bit dented, but now with an extended family all across the globe. There's worse things than expensive flights, after all.
I have spent the last week doing homework for my summer-classes, reading, cleaning, meeting friends... I have gone to the movies, done some shopping, went for walks, and tried to avoid being caught in the rain, as it has been on-and-off pouring for the past five days.
I am eating well, sleeping well, starting a-new with the 200-situp challange, and am trying to plan ahead for the 25 While 25-list.
Life goes on, and you keep going on with it. Mayhaps a bit dented, but now with an extended family all across the globe. There's worse things than expensive flights, after all.
onsdag, juni 15, 2011
For the girls.
Entwine your fingers with mine,
our grips fast through the passage of days.
You'll pull me through
I'll carry you
worries overcome and tears
brushed away.
Each ray of sun a memory won
strands of laughter like lockets
hung -
around the neck and close to heart
Sisters, we're never far apart.
- Nahal, June 2011
onsdag, juni 08, 2011
Madness Returns
Semester is over, summer courses started yesterday, my neighbours are moving back to the countries they came here from, my relatives are visiting, the weather is hot and heavy yet not sunny, my workload is big, my training schedul shot to Hell and I am desperately looking for a new place to stay. I'm trying to make my life go around with social events, work and school and as always I think my body takes the toll.
A friend asked me yesterday if i didn't ever get tired of all the running, and I said that I was always tired. But if I stopped, much more than just exhaustion would probably catch up with me, so as long as I can take it I'll keep rolling.
Considering half of my friends leaving the country permanently, and me being uprooted soon enough, i think I'm taking things pretty well. Also have many things to look forward too, like seeing Stephen Lynch live in Stockholm tomorrow and seeing relatives I haven't seen for years. Also, this months paycheck is a bit bigger than usual, due to me working in the sales counter for Science Fiction Bokhandeln at the UppCon 11 convention last weekend. i was, as per tradition, dressed up in cosplay. This year, my co-worker N. made me an Alice-costume, based on the character from the game Alice: Madness Returns (the sequel to American McGee's Alice). It was awesome.
A friend asked me yesterday if i didn't ever get tired of all the running, and I said that I was always tired. But if I stopped, much more than just exhaustion would probably catch up with me, so as long as I can take it I'll keep rolling.
Considering half of my friends leaving the country permanently, and me being uprooted soon enough, i think I'm taking things pretty well. Also have many things to look forward too, like seeing Stephen Lynch live in Stockholm tomorrow and seeing relatives I haven't seen for years. Also, this months paycheck is a bit bigger than usual, due to me working in the sales counter for Science Fiction Bokhandeln at the UppCon 11 convention last weekend. i was, as per tradition, dressed up in cosplay. This year, my co-worker N. made me an Alice-costume, based on the character from the game Alice: Madness Returns (the sequel to American McGee's Alice). It was awesome.
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