At apartment, on couch, watching The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It's hot. Since nothing here has air-conditioning and it's been in the mid 80s I think (not real sure) it's a tad unpleasant. Example: We went to eat lunch at Kista Galleria (a mall) on Friday and I rode in Anders' 1974 Mustang II. That thing was a piece. He says his wife wouldn't let him buy a new Mustang when he turned 40, and maybe when he turns 50 he'll be depressed enough that she'll let him. I thought that was pretty funny. Anyway the point is in the parking garage it was warm, and according to him parking garages are never warm in Sweden, so it's been very hot for here. I hung out with Fredrick last night and tried to explain the heat in Kansas to him. I don't think he understood how miserable it can be there in the summer. We had a good time out tho, went to the really trendy bar in Gävle where we saw the Gävle soccer team, or he did, I didn't recognize any of them. Also got in free to the Heartbreak Hotel, another bar, cause some guy he knew gave us VIP passes. It was an ok place, even though it was huge. They had a live band playing some Swedish songs that everyone knew, including some song called "I fuck better when I'm drunk". I thought that was great.
Went to Piteå last weekend. It was nice. I really like Frida's uncle's place there. It's kind of out in the country, a farming area, it's dead silent, and when you go out walking in the woods you have to yell a lot so you don't run into bears, which are at record numbers right now. We also made the fairly short trip over to Finland, this town called Kemi or something. It was depressing as shit. The dark, warm, humid and rainy weather didn't help that much. The town was bombed to dust during WWII and so everything had a really ugly Soviet concrete grey look to it. The reason we went tho was to see this dead priest's corpse. Seriously. It's in this tiny church in Kemi. Apparently the guy said like "if my words aren't true then i will rot in the ground, but if they are true than my body shall not decay" or something. Oh, this is like 400 years ago or so. I guess they dug him up a couple hundred years later and were shocked to see his body was still there, just all black and mummyish. So now they have his mummified body in this glass casket in the floor. It's pretty fucking macabre. It was awesome. They say they've done tests and can't find any sign of preservatives er whatever you call that stuff that you mummify folks with. But whatev, I didn't think it was all that strange he never rotted. I mean, he looked like a 400 year old dead guy, whaddya want?
Lately I been watching the Sopranos mostly. Good show, I likes it. Can't wait to see The Dark Knight, probly gonna do it on Thursday. It's like $3o for two movie tickets here. Ah well, it's worth it. Also really looking forward to buying and playing Rock Band 2. And while we're on the subject of stuff I can't wait for, really looking forward to buying a nice car to mess around with. Not for several years tho : ( I daydreams a lot.
Trying to learn the language is going kinda shitty. It's hard without lessons, and I have to concentrate so freaking hard just to have an idea of what people are talking about. Still frustrating. So I guess when school starts back up in a couple months I'll take lessons then (at Upsalla).
Ah well, later ya'll.
27 July 2008
15 July 2008
Well, so it's been 13 days since last post, oops. Not that I had all kinds of awesome stuff going on or anything. Just that I'm already in a routine, go to work, many times go downtown and screw around for a while, come back, cook dinner, download some music or movies or TV shows or something, watch stuff, read about cars and junk online, go to bed, repeat. It would be rather boring to read about so blogging now will be relegated to when something exciting or worthy or writing about happens.
Work is good, everyone is on vacation pretty much, many companies in Sweden completely shut down around this time, but alas, spreaders operate 24/7 around the globe so we have to keep regular business hours with a skeleton crew. Christopher actually flew to Isreal this afternoon to meet with some blokes who want to buy some of our stuff and had some odd requests, like I think they wanted us to fatigue test a spreader through like 500,000 cycles or something ridiculous, and then to which we said something like "well we have sold many of this type of spreader and they have been going for years and years with no problems, we are past the testing phase" but apparently that was not the answer they wanted. Anyway I'm hoping soon enough I'll be able to go on trips like this, although as I think I've mentioned the guys at work mostly see it as a hassle, especially when it's to meet people who have weird requests and questions. But I love to travel so we'll see...
Had an almost proper thunderstorm yesterday, I think I heard thunder at least 3 times. The rain here is so pussy it could make baby Jesus cry. When it rains I want to be legitimately concerned for my LIFE, not just get my shirt dampened with little polka dots. And another thing about the rain. About 80% of the time, they weather is perfectly clear in the morning but about 3:30 in the afternoon rain clouds start rolling in and the rain starts daintily falling as it is so fond of doing here. I'm guessing this is some sort of side effect from living right next to the ocean, but it's lame since it starts right about the time I leave work and clears up right after I get home. : (
Well, Midsomer Murders is on, and I've missed over half of it now, so YES I'M STILL ALIVE NOW QUIT READING BORING SHIT AND GO LIVE YOURS!
Work is good, everyone is on vacation pretty much, many companies in Sweden completely shut down around this time, but alas, spreaders operate 24/7 around the globe so we have to keep regular business hours with a skeleton crew. Christopher actually flew to Isreal this afternoon to meet with some blokes who want to buy some of our stuff and had some odd requests, like I think they wanted us to fatigue test a spreader through like 500,000 cycles or something ridiculous, and then to which we said something like "well we have sold many of this type of spreader and they have been going for years and years with no problems, we are past the testing phase" but apparently that was not the answer they wanted. Anyway I'm hoping soon enough I'll be able to go on trips like this, although as I think I've mentioned the guys at work mostly see it as a hassle, especially when it's to meet people who have weird requests and questions. But I love to travel so we'll see...
Had an almost proper thunderstorm yesterday, I think I heard thunder at least 3 times. The rain here is so pussy it could make baby Jesus cry. When it rains I want to be legitimately concerned for my LIFE, not just get my shirt dampened with little polka dots. And another thing about the rain. About 80% of the time, they weather is perfectly clear in the morning but about 3:30 in the afternoon rain clouds start rolling in and the rain starts daintily falling as it is so fond of doing here. I'm guessing this is some sort of side effect from living right next to the ocean, but it's lame since it starts right about the time I leave work and clears up right after I get home. : (
Well, Midsomer Murders is on, and I've missed over half of it now, so YES I'M STILL ALIVE NOW QUIT READING BORING SHIT AND GO LIVE YOURS!
02 July 2008
CHAOS IN STOCKHOLM!!!
WHAT COULD IT BE?! Have the people taken to the streets to overthrow the government? Has the military staged a coup? Have anarchists burned the Riksdag to the ground? Have the Chinese invaded? Is it time to, say, crack each other's heads open and... feast on the GOO inside?!?! Why, yes it is Kent. Or not. The paper honestly had that HUGE FONTED! front-page headline Sunday. Why? The city bus drivers are on strike of course! Duh! HOW WILL SOCIETY FUNCTION?!?!
I was seriously scared that I wouldn't make it to work Monday solely based on this headline. And what happened on Monday? Pictures of mobs armed with torches and sickles beheading businessmen in the streets while golden calves are erected to Baal and wealthy merchants take small children as slaves to fulfill their wildest sexual desires faded into the reality of 33% more expressionless non-eyecontact making Swedes silently riding the subway to work. I mean, I'd hate to use the word "alarmist" here but...
Today it was noticeably (actually a lot) busier than usual though since no buses at all are running. Have you ever seen those youtube clips of the begloved asian subway workers whose sole job is to push the people hanging out of the subway car doors inside so that the doors can close? Well it was ALMOST like that. Everyone was packed in like sardines and worried about getting stuck in the doors. I haven't been here that long but it did seem out of the ordinary. Moving on...
Stuff at work is good. For the next month and a half or so most people will be taking vacations, meaning that for instance today I was alone in my little room where usually the three (male) contractors sit with me. I was lonely : ( No matter I filled the silence with Swedish radio off my cell phone. The reception unfortunately sucks and there seems to somehow (if it's even possible) be MORE talking and LESS music than US radio. When music actually IS being played the eclectimeter spirals out of control. Michael Jackson, Lil' Wayne, and Dolly Parton are bookended by Scorpions and some type of Swedish childrens song the only words of which I knew were "grandma" "car" "vacation" and the conjugated verb "I need" repeated ad nauseum. Ok so maybe this is partly due to the fact that I'm constantly surfing for music since 90% of the time all I can find is freakin' Sweden talk. But really even when I don't touch the dial I get some great mash-up style action going. I really appreciate the M.J. especially, I really think I have an unhealthy love for his music, and to a larger extent HIM. So piss off about it already. Oh, and if anyone knows the Dolly Parton album that hipsters like (and I don't think it's the one with "Jolene", but if you're POSITIVE then say so) let me know cause I want to download it for fr- er, um, from iTunes. Or something. But yeah, I really like the radio when it's playing music. Does anyone out there have Giselle Bundchen's number? I'd like to know that also. She's hot.
Hmm what else to tell... This post is relatively good, I'm happy about that.
Oh here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___New-2009-Black-Nissan-GT-R-First-Allotment-in-the-U-S_W0QQitemZ250265466439QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250265466439&_trksid=p3756.m14.l1308
Copy, paste, and thank me later.
I finally got my paycheck cashed today, after getting dicked around by another bank which shall remain nameless (common theme). I guess this is a good example of life in Sweden: /Rant In many places (probably a majority I would say) if you want service you have to take a number from a machine that is conspicuously hidden somewhere inside the place you need service from. So today at the bank the ticket machine was broken, so I had to walk into the bank and stand in line while the machine was being fixed to take a ticket to be in a line to be helped. That was a tad weird, but what was weirder was the hippie-ish thirty-something bespectacled Swede with a ponytail and Birkenstocks who tried to ask me in Swedish what was going on and immediately walked away when I said I spoke English without giving me a second look and asking someone else only to return and start making the situation even weirder by trying to explain to me how weird the situation is that Swedes have to stand in line to stand in line, because they are so rigid about rules or something. If that's so then how come some dick with no ticket just walked right in and when someone was done with their transaction he just walked right up and proceeded to take 10 minutes of the tellers' and MY time by pretending to just ask a small question and then proceeding to structure an entire transaction in front of my eyes, while the teller did nothing more than appear ever so slightly annoyed, but continued to smile and be polite. Yeah, that pissed me off a little since I had to wait 35 minutes for my turn to do something that I've been trying unsuccessfully for over a week to do. /Rant.
Yeah, from my limited experience, banks here suck. I am reminded of the times I worked at a bank and turned people who were trying to cash their paychecks away. However, I was always NICE no matter how pissed they got and gave the people as many other suggestions for alternatives as I could think of, ESPECIALLY the hispanic immigrants who I always had respect for. UNLIKE the bitch at Swedbank who was just, well, a bitch. But today (after my 35 minute wait) all was forgiven when the old lady who I was praying not to get took over for the young (also bitchy) guy who I was praying to get and ended up cashing my check no fees and no questions asked. I really though she would be the bitchiest of all. How wrong I was.
I was seriously scared that I wouldn't make it to work Monday solely based on this headline. And what happened on Monday? Pictures of mobs armed with torches and sickles beheading businessmen in the streets while golden calves are erected to Baal and wealthy merchants take small children as slaves to fulfill their wildest sexual desires faded into the reality of 33% more expressionless non-eyecontact making Swedes silently riding the subway to work. I mean, I'd hate to use the word "alarmist" here but...
Today it was noticeably (actually a lot) busier than usual though since no buses at all are running. Have you ever seen those youtube clips of the begloved asian subway workers whose sole job is to push the people hanging out of the subway car doors inside so that the doors can close? Well it was ALMOST like that. Everyone was packed in like sardines and worried about getting stuck in the doors. I haven't been here that long but it did seem out of the ordinary. Moving on...
Stuff at work is good. For the next month and a half or so most people will be taking vacations, meaning that for instance today I was alone in my little room where usually the three (male) contractors sit with me. I was lonely : ( No matter I filled the silence with Swedish radio off my cell phone. The reception unfortunately sucks and there seems to somehow (if it's even possible) be MORE talking and LESS music than US radio. When music actually IS being played the eclectimeter spirals out of control. Michael Jackson, Lil' Wayne, and Dolly Parton are bookended by Scorpions and some type of Swedish childrens song the only words of which I knew were "grandma" "car" "vacation" and the conjugated verb "I need" repeated ad nauseum. Ok so maybe this is partly due to the fact that I'm constantly surfing for music since 90% of the time all I can find is freakin' Sweden talk. But really even when I don't touch the dial I get some great mash-up style action going. I really appreciate the M.J. especially, I really think I have an unhealthy love for his music, and to a larger extent HIM. So piss off about it already. Oh, and if anyone knows the Dolly Parton album that hipsters like (and I don't think it's the one with "Jolene", but if you're POSITIVE then say so) let me know cause I want to download it for fr- er, um, from iTunes. Or something. But yeah, I really like the radio when it's playing music. Does anyone out there have Giselle Bundchen's number? I'd like to know that also. She's hot.
Hmm what else to tell... This post is relatively good, I'm happy about that.
Oh here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___New-2009-Black-Nissan-GT-R-First-Allotment-in-the-U-S_W0QQitemZ250265466439QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250265466439&_trksid=p3756.m14.l1308
Copy, paste, and thank me later.
I finally got my paycheck cashed today, after getting dicked around by another bank which shall remain nameless (common theme). I guess this is a good example of life in Sweden: /Rant In many places (probably a majority I would say) if you want service you have to take a number from a machine that is conspicuously hidden somewhere inside the place you need service from. So today at the bank the ticket machine was broken, so I had to walk into the bank and stand in line while the machine was being fixed to take a ticket to be in a line to be helped. That was a tad weird, but what was weirder was the hippie-ish thirty-something bespectacled Swede with a ponytail and Birkenstocks who tried to ask me in Swedish what was going on and immediately walked away when I said I spoke English without giving me a second look and asking someone else only to return and start making the situation even weirder by trying to explain to me how weird the situation is that Swedes have to stand in line to stand in line, because they are so rigid about rules or something. If that's so then how come some dick with no ticket just walked right in and when someone was done with their transaction he just walked right up and proceeded to take 10 minutes of the tellers' and MY time by pretending to just ask a small question and then proceeding to structure an entire transaction in front of my eyes, while the teller did nothing more than appear ever so slightly annoyed, but continued to smile and be polite. Yeah, that pissed me off a little since I had to wait 35 minutes for my turn to do something that I've been trying unsuccessfully for over a week to do. /Rant.
Yeah, from my limited experience, banks here suck. I am reminded of the times I worked at a bank and turned people who were trying to cash their paychecks away. However, I was always NICE no matter how pissed they got and gave the people as many other suggestions for alternatives as I could think of, ESPECIALLY the hispanic immigrants who I always had respect for. UNLIKE the bitch at Swedbank who was just, well, a bitch. But today (after my 35 minute wait) all was forgiven when the old lady who I was praying not to get took over for the young (also bitchy) guy who I was praying to get and ended up cashing my check no fees and no questions asked. I really though she would be the bitchiest of all. How wrong I was.
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