KSena's Journal

Let's continue from where we left off, shall we?

After I'd dropped snowstormskies off at the airport, I went straight home. We had dinner, and... we packed.

Because the day after that, we went on a little trip with my brother. To Astrid Lindgrens World. It's a park built around the worlds and characters from the books written by Astrid Lindgren.

We were going together with my brother and his two kids, which had Alexandra totally excited! We'd rented a cabin and my brother brought his caravan. :-D We didn't get access to our spots in the camping ground until after we'd been at the park, but it didn't matter. It was the park we were aiming for, after all. :-D

First day we walked around the most. We aimed to see a few shows/plays they have around the park. It's split up in various areas, each for a book and their characters.

That first day we saw most of the park and the various themed areas. And of course caught a few shows as well.

Thing is, each area has seatings around the main building of the area. And there's shows and an actor playing the character is there during certain times. So we caught a couple of those shows/plays. About 20 mins long each.

We caught Brothers Lionheart, Pippi Longstocking and Karlsson-on-the-roof that first day. It was lovely! The actors were great, and clearly cared about their characters! Even the kid-actors!

But the best part about this park is, I have to say, how damn well made the place is! There was no plastic, no cheating, nothing like that. The whole place is built with pure craftsmanship, and a skilled one at that! If it was a wooden house, it WAS a wooden house built from the ground up, even the miniature once! A stone wall, WAS a damn stone wall even if it might not be a big one, but it was built as if it could have been! There was no cheating going on.

Even in the restaurants and FIKA places, you had real plates, real glasses, real mugs. No paper or plastic. The food, sweets and FIKA-snacks? All produced, baked etc locally. Everything tasted damn homemade, and was DELICIOUS!!!

Price? Not to bad. The entrance fee was the highest, but once you were in there everything but food and souvenirs was for free. And not even the souvenirs were hugely expensive! But those for later. :-)

Anyway, we enjoyed ourselfs. The kids ran around and played and explored everywhere. At Ronia the Robbers area, Matt's Fort, Alexandra fell and scratched the palm of her hand and was very upset. It was just a small scratch, but she did walk around begging for bandaids all day. She get it, and then after a while she pulled it off and wanted a new one... Thank heavens the staff at Astrid Lindgren's World was both kind and patient! :-D

Less than an hour before the park closed, we left and went to get my brothers caravan set up and get to our cabin. Which we did. And the cabin was GREAT! Very beautiful and comfy. And my brother could set his cabel up, so he got electricty in his caravan. :-D All good! And he also invited us over for a mini-barbecue, since he had his mini-grill with him. So we had hotdogs as a late dinner before we all collapsed in our respective beds. :-)

Photos from Day One at Astrid Lindgren's World (multiple on each!): One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

The next day it was RAINING!!! Pouring down when we all woke up. But at the point where we'd emptied our cabin and all kids had eaten, been to the bathroom and you know... all that. It had stopped raining, but the sky was still grey, so we made sure to have the proper equipment with umbrellas for us adults and for the big kids, and Alexandra had rubberboots and half her rainsuit, just the rainpants since she wanted her normal jacket and an umbrella like everyone else. Deal!

Said and done and we went to the park with the goal to see as many shows/plays as we could possibly figure out! The park had an app and, of course, a brochure where all the shows during the day is listed.

We aimed for Matt's Fort, area with Ronia the Robbers Daughter, and to let the kids have fun on the way. But, on the way we stumbled upon Madicken's area as well! So we stopped to check their show before we moved on... And suddenly someone started talking and singing close to us again when we continued! We'd stumbled upon Rasmus and the Tramp as well! *LOL* Amazing! So we watched them as well. :-D

Then, finally, we arrived at Matt's Fort to watch Ronia, her robber father and all his robbers! IT WAS SO GOOD! For those not knowing, Ronia the Robbers daughter is my favorite book! I ADORE IT!!! So to see it on a tiny stage, part of the story, that was AMAZING! So good! Also, they sang the songs from the movie, which I loved, and it was just all around great! The kids loved it to, since the robbers sang good and were some funny characters to. :-D ALL GOOD!

After that we focused on the kids favorites... First off Emil of Lönneberga! So we continued on to that area to watch a show play there. It was great! So funny! And the songs written for that story and movie are so so so good! Probably some of the best written for Astrid Lindgren's stories, to be honest. So that was great! And the kids loved it!

We'd forgotten to eat, so we took a break for food, then we went to watch Pippi Longstocking again, because she's Alexandra's favorite and she's the youngest. ;-) The other two kids loves her to, so that was an easy decision! So went there, the kids played around with a ton of other kids in Pippi's house and then we watched Pippi. Just as good and funny as the day before. Best part was to see how Alexandra got all into it as we watched Pippi. *grin*

Then we had some FIKA, because dads need coffee... *lol* Then we went back to Emil of Lönneberga and watched another play there... Again, very funny and the songs are WONDERFUL!!! Emil is not my favorite of Astrid Lindgren's character, but the songs are some of my favorites. :-D

And then... it was time to leave. In between the shows, the kids walked around and explored. Checked out things. Tried things. And we bought homemade candy. And they just enjoyed being together as cousins. My brotehrs kids, Tilda and Theo are 10 and 8 years old. And Alexandra is just 5 years old. But Tilda and Theo are WONDERFUL with Alexandra, really loves her! Makes sure she's OK, they don't run away from her, they help her climb around in all the fun houses, explore things, explain things to her... It's just... They are just SO GOOD with her! I LOVE seeing it!

Anyway, we finished our day with Alexandra getting a toy there. Since she's learned to use the toilette properly instead of the potty. *lol* Positive reinforsment. ;-) And I figured she'd pick a Pippi doll or an Emil doll, since those are her favorites. But no. OF COURSE she picked a softie toy... a softie horse. Pippi's horse. *SIGH!* We have so many softie-horses at this point... Not surprised though.

And then we packed up, and started our journey home. After about an hour we split up, my brotehr and his kids going one way and we the other for another hour and a half. Then we were home, and all of us collapsed in the bed after getting our bags up to the apartment.

It was a great, great, great trip though! I had SUCH a good time! And us adults decided that we have to do something together next year to, because we all had such a great time. :-D

Photos from Day Two at Astrid Lindgren's World (multiple on nearly each!): One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven

And that concludes my vacation adventures! We were supposed to go to the coast to, but the weather there was supposed to suck during the time we were there. And who wants to be at the coast and not be able to swim, eh? So no. We'll do that at another time.

This entry is crossposted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.

Catching up a bit with all these questions here. :-) Let's see how it goes... And if anyone has the stamina to read all of them through. X-D

( Question 20 - 30 )

( Question 31-40 )

( Question 41 - 52 )

( All the questions! )

This entry is crossposted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.

Since I was out being drunk with my colleagues yesterday (yes, librarians do get drunk sometimes and it's quite hilarious...), I figured I'd answer the two questions I got for the fandom meme. :-)

If anyone else wants to add a question, please do so HERE!

gajastar asked me this: 15, any fandom., meaning: 15. Most loathed character. EVER.

OK. Now THAT is a hard question to answer!!!

I have a lot in World of Warcraft, actually. But that's because the lore and history for that game is SO VAST, there's bound to be characters that are badly written there. Interestingly enough, most of those are on the Alliance side. Ever since the game was released it seems as if Blizzard has a love for the Horde.

In the Xena-fandom there's the character Joxer. Now, I wouldn't say I loath him. I actually enjoy him sometimes. And the fandom as a whole had so So SO much hate for this character, that the actor, Ted Raimi, stopped doing interviews and stopped being online or anything like that. HE liked playing Joxer, but the fans really really hated that character. I find him annoying at most at times, but I always thought he got more hate than he deserved, to be honest. In some episodes though he really really just destroys the storyline, and I hate that. While in others, he really saves it. So he is a troublesome character. Deserves more cred though.

I do LOATH however how they portrayed the Norse gods in Xena though!!! I did not expect accuracy. Hell no. The best part with Xena is how that series doesn't take anything seriously. But at least they could have stuck to the basics with them gods? Please? *sigh*

In Pirates of the Caribbean it's Syrena the mermaid and Phillip. OMG, I was SO ANNOYED WITH THEM!!! And they were supposed to be the main love-interest in the fourth movie. ARGH!!! I have so many feelings about that movie over all. But, yeah. I was bored and so annoyed as soon as I saw them on screen. The concept of the mermaids in that movie was totally cool. So I wonder why Syrena was such SUCH a roll over little weakling, when the others were downright monsters... *shakes head* Plot hole big enough for a damn truck! And Philip? Not any more interesting than a wet washcloth. For serious.

In Buffy there's a lot of bad guys that are supposed to be oh so scary, but... they don't really DO anything. The Master for instance. And The Anointed One. You're supposed to be this big bad. Supposed to be this big threat that the Slayer has to defeat. Well... BE SCARY THEN!!!

Also. The Buffy-bot. I never really liked that whole storyline. That was just to let Spike get his damn rocks off. :-P Sorry to those that liked her. The idea and the whole storyline that season was totally cool. But yeah, no. Buffy-bot? Do not like her.

The character from Sons of Anarchy that I both hate and love is Gemma Teller. She is really really good in the first few seasons, but is really overused in the last seasons, which is really annoying. She should have meet Mr Mayhem aka been killed WAY earlier! The shit she pulled during the show had other full patched members killed and/or tortured. I mean, seirously. In the show it might be because she'd been married to two presidents and the mother of one. But STILL! That's some shit she pulls. And how she tangles herself up in some serious webs of lies. Yeah, no. If I loath any character in SoA, it's Gemma Teller.

In Game of Thrones, it was hard to pick. Because even the bad guys and good guys work in a grey area. But the character that was mostly overused here and that annoyed me was Ramsey Bolton. I get the use he had for the story, but for serious. He was mostly used for torture-porn. Really. Especially in Season Three, where all he does is torture Theon and then Sansa. And you get to see it all. Yeah, OK. I'm a darkfic fan as much as anyone, but I did not need to see all of that, thanks. Rape, torture, cutting off of body-parts. He does it all. With a smile on his face.

There's a lot of fucked up characters in Game of Thrones and I rather like them all, but Ramsey Bolton really pushes it for me. Gladly though he gets it in the end. Which was very satisfying to see, fucked up as it might seem, considering how he got to go. X-D

The good guy that I really find so boring on the show that it borders on loathing is Jon Snow. He is just to much of a good guy, to clueless and to self-sacrificing and just... To much for me. I really really dislike him without even being able to pinpoint why. :-P

So apparently I could answer that. X-D

Right on, onwards to the next one. :-)

hexenhasel wanted #7 :). Meaning: 7. Top 3 Favorite books.

Because of course. Because I'm a librarian. X-D *lol* Right on. Let's see.

One of my absolute favorites all time is: Ronia - The Robbers daughter by Astrid Lindgren. Now, I've re-read this SO MANY TIMES, I've lost count. I love many of Astrid Lindgrens books, some more than others. She really was a master at writing kid/tween books, with things in them that would go over the head of the younger audience, but as an adult you really catch on what is really going on between the lines... Which is totally cool! So yeah, that would be my top favorite one. :-)

A book that touched me, that I didn't think would, is Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. Ho boy! I was crying and sniffling making my way through this book. It's a couple of years ago I read this book, but I still remember it clearly as if I read it just now. It's an amazing book! An amazing life! One small life that changed the lifes of so many. I adored this whole story and I adored Dewey and I wish I could have meet him. Or that I could have had a cat in the library I work at. *sigh* Cats over all needs more cred for the work they do and the lives they change.

A third book that I guess have to go to my favorite list is The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx. I do have a thing for rockstar biographies, but this one? Is oh so very different. Apparently Nikki kept diaries while he was at the most deep into his heroin addiction. Or drug-addiction, maybe I should say. Because we're not only talking heroin here.

And Nikki is BRUTALLY honest in this book. Not holding any punches at all. 80% or so of the book is pretty much pages straight out of his diary. Including insane scribbles, paranoia, cravings, drawings... the works. He has added explanations all over the place for the book and there's commentaries from friends and relatives as well thrown in, which gives the insane diary scribbles a sense of time and you get what is going on and why he for example felt the need for MORE drugs at certain points during that time. So you don't really read this book like a normal book. And to be honest, this is not a normal book. It's a fucking punch to the gut. And after wards, I say thank you and ask for another one. EVERYONE should read this book! REALLY!

Bonus, my favorite graphic novel: Maus. Wow. This one is also one that really gives you a punch to the gut. The art is fucking amazing. And the story, how a young comic-artist start question his elderly father about his experiences during World War II and the camps, and said father starts telling his story... It's just... amazing. I have no other words for it. This graphic novel won the Pulitzer prize. To say it was well deserved is an understatement.


So yeah, that was those answers. :-) Let's see if I'll get some more or not?

This entry is crossposted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.