So I went to Gothenburg for some quality time with my best friend this weekend. And to see Phantom of the Opera with Fred Johanson playing the title role of the Phantom.

I saw Fred Johanson in the movie version of Jesus Christ Superstar years and years ago, and I feel head over heels over his deep dark voice and his incredible presence in every scene he was in. My best friend, who is a serious musical buff, has since kept track of him both for me and since she likes him to. In a word, we’ve turned into a bit of fangirls over him.

Had I not been a fresh new mom, we would have gone to Stockholm to see him in Jesus Christ Superstar there, but alas… :-) Now we got our chance though, and we jumped at it! Plus it played during February and we both HATE February, so there’s that to. :-) We all need something to put a smile on our face, right?

Anyhow, to make sure we wouldn’t have to stress after we’d been to the Gothenburg Opera House were the musical played, we decided to share a room at a hotel. We both have busy lives with work and such, so we needed a lazy little weekend with our best friend. :-)

We left for Gothenburg moderately early, it just takes 1 hour to go to Gothenburg by bus or train, so we were there around… 10:30am.

Went to the hotel we were luckily our room was already available, so we dumped our sleepover bags and then we just strolled around town taking our time. We both needed a stress free day, and we took our time with everything. Went to our favorite shops and stores. I ‘happened to’ buy the three latest Elfquest graphic novels. Oops? And we had a late lunch/dinner in a lovely british themed pub before we went back to the hotel to dress up for the night.

( Travel and shopping and views of Gothenburg and it's stores with my best friend... )

The Gothenburg Opera House is quite impressive. A modern building mostly made by glass and steel, but it still works quite well and is oddly beautiful. Right by the harbor to. Easy to get to.

( Entrance of the Opera House... )

We were there in plenty time, so there was no stress getting rid of coats, do a panicked bathroom break and finding our seats. Great seats, by the way! Close but not too close to the stage. Could see everything and hear everything perfectly. Whenever I need tickets to a musical, I trust Ylletyg to get tickets, she seriously rocks at it. :-D

( Interiour decoration and well... me... )

And so… On to the musical itself. :-) Apart from the knee jerk reaction “OMG! IT WAS AMAZING! I HAD GOOSEBUMPS!” Well, I did have goosebumps for most of it, but…

Unlike Ylletyg I have not seen that many musicals (she’s a proper musical-nerd), but I HAVE read the original book by Gaston Leroux. And it’s a very goth, very harsh gritty story. From what I knew of the musical going in, it’s not… quite as harsh and gritty as the original story. The original story is really dark, really goth. I do recommend it if you have the patience for the old fashioned language used. It’s really good.

So to actually see and hear it, and with Fred Johanson to boot, it was a true experience.

( Me and best friend and the stage before the musical started... )

Let’s see… How to do this…

The good

Well, the music, obviously. *LOL* This production was made together with the Finnish National Opera Company, so there were a couple of opera singers in it. And the orchestra was quite massive as well. Not sure how big an orchestra is at a musical, but since this was played at the Gothenburg Opera House, they used the full orchestra usually used there. And you could tell. The music just consumed you. Not even joking. The combination of the skilled musicians and the singers, all the different singers, was spellbinding.

Another downright amazing thing, that impressed both me and Ylletyg, is something the Gothenburg Opera House is known for… The ease and speed in wish the stage was changed and the scenography. I mean, the set up of the stage was changed SO FAST and SO SEAMLESSLY!!! Apparently the Gothenburg Opera House is built to be able to do that, so there was many scenes with different looks and a lot of props that quickly and seamlessly was changed around. The most impressive scene to me was when The Phantom lures Christine with him to his lair the first time (during the song Phantom of the Opera, the most famous of the songs) and all these stairwells and grey brick walls moved around on the stage as if they were part of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies… WITH the actors standing on them! THAT was impressive!

Another really good thing about this musical, which both me and Ylletyg both commented on at the same time, was that it was quite harsh and gritty, goth and dark. Well, the story IS dark and goth in and off itself, but the movie isn’t that harsh and gritty. And according to Ylletyg, previous productions hasn’t been this harsh and gritty either… If that makes sense? It sure worked really really well though, and I got the feeling that the actors/singers enjoyed that to. The costumes were INCREDIBLE and while I wanted to steal most of the male costumes, Ylletyg wanted to steal all the female ones. *LOL* She said the costumes had a bit of steampunk feel to it, and I have to agree! They even redesigned The Phantom’s mask, and I have to say I really liked it! The whole scenography and costumes was really good and added to the harsh, gritty, goth, dark feel of the whole production. A great great job!

Characters / Actors

When it comes to characters and their singers/actors, I have to say a character I found dull and boring in the book and in the movie (yes, I have seen the movie to), is Raoul. Christine's love interest. He is the posterboy for the time the novel was written, but would not be popular today, if get what I mean. But the actor/singer that did him the night we watched, did something more with the character within the frames he was given. A boyish charming guy, that very clearly showed his love for Christine. Not just competing with The Phantom, you know? He somehow managed to show that he cared. More than the Raoul in the novel, to be honest. So he sure impressed me!

Raoul works together with the two new owners of the Opera, Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur André. And these two were freaking HILARIOUS! Perfect comic relief without going to far with it. Have some of the best songs, to be honest. And the two actors clearly had fun with these actors. It was very obvious. The Phantom is my favorite, but these comes close to it, for sure. I think they did great!

Carlotta and Pangini were two other characters that were definitely comic reliefs. Carlotta and Pangini are the two stars of the opera in the story. And Carlotta? Is a proper diva! *LOL* The actress/singer is a trained opera-singer. And you can tell. I don’t think she had a microphone. She didn’t need one. Holy hell, what a voice! Combining that with an over the top diva character, and it was a joy to see! Also, she had the most awesome clothes off ALL the characters! High heeled victorian boots in leopard print? GIVE ME! Pangini was a bit more flat of a character, but he was funny to. Especially with Carlotta who kept bulling him around, while he just came back for more. Both of them played up an italian accent, which was very fitting both for the setting and the story.

Madame Giry and Meg are two pretty cool characters in the story to, that I really really like. We’re getting close to my favorite now. ;-) Madame Giry pretty much takes another characters role in the novel. The character that KNOWS… Knows about where the Phantom/Erik comes from. And that was a pleasant surprise. You actually found out quite a bit! That he’d built a room of mirrors for a Shah… that he’d been born with a disfigurement… that he’d been with a freakshow lead by gypsies… That he’d built trapdoors and sneaky passages all over the Opera House… So Madame Giry is quite the important character! And the actress/singer who played her did SUCH a good job! Just the right amount of creepy and know-it-all without making it annoying.

So is Meg! She’s best friend with Christine, and is a constant suporter to Christine. She’s the one that tells Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur André that Chrstine can be a standin for Carlotta, and in so makes sure they can discover Chrstines amazing voice. She to knows the stories about the Phantom quite well and also gives us clues to him, just like her mother. Her actress doesn’t have that much to work with, but I think she did a great job, I really did.

Christine… Ah, Christine. The token love intressent. She’s just as interesting as in the novel, that is not that interesting at all. But I have to give it to the actress/singer. She really milked the role for all it was worth! Not only a gorgeous young woman with a miraculous voice that is manipulated by a creepy voice in the walls… But a woman with dreams and wants her own, that wants to be independent and be the new star but is to shy to take the chance in the beginning (thank you Meg!). And also how confused and desperate she is the longer the story unfolds. I think it was very well played! And that woman's voice… WOW! She to has apparently trained to be a opera singer, and you can tell! Some of them notes… Just wow...

The Phantom / Erik… Ah, what to say, really? Played by the INCREDIBLE Fred Johanson, the sole reason we even went to see this production of The Phantom. It, of course, helps that I really like the story about Erik, the man who has grown up harshly and then isolated because of his face that is disfigured and horrible to see. Not even his mother managed to look at him kindly. One of my favorite books is Phantom by Susan Kay about Erik’s life from birth to death. I can not recommend it enough if you enjoy this character. It’s absolutely incredible. How did Fred Johanson do in the role then? Incredible, as was expected. He is a very tall man, somewhere between 6,4 and 6,5 feet tall (said himself in an interview), if somewhat leaner than he used to be. Still, having an incredible knee length coat on (that I wanted to steal…), he makes for an imposing figure. He definitely did the character justice, and not only when he needed to be scary, but also in more emotional moments. And then Fred’s voice… Holy fuck, that deep dark voice… It gives me freaking goosebumps, not even joking. Fred also has an incredible presence on stage! I’ve seen him three times live now, and then there’s the Jesus Christ Superstar movie, and Fred has this ability to just OWN the stage as soon as he sets foot on it. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s incredible to see. As the Phantom at times you just hear his voice, you don’t see him, and he still just OWNS the stage! An amazing talent in all ways! He really should get more attention for his talent.

Just to prove Fred’s talent, here he sings The Music Of The Night:

( Fred Johanson singing The Music of The Night! )

The bad

So the bad… Was there anything bad? Well, yeah. And it’s mostly nitpicking, but still.

One thing that kind disappointed me was… The infamous chandelier. The one that at one point during the musical “falls down”. The Phantom is pissed off, and makes a chandelier in the auditorium fall down and kill some of the audience, and to show this during the musical, they have a chandelier go on a cable over the audience from the ceiling. The whole musical starts with it going up the ceiling. You’d expect it to be an impressive piece then, right? Since it plays such a vital role? Right? Well. The auditorium at the Gothenburg Opera House is MASSIVE. And the chandelier kinda… disappeared. It looked REALLY TINY somehow. And the design wasn’t that impressive either, so that was a bit of a let down. :-P It was still cool though when it “fell down”.

At one point in the middle the story slowed down a bit, and I didn’t really know what was going on. It was a good thing I knew the story well, just saying, or I could have been a bit lost. Also, in the beginning especially, there was just way to many people on stage and you had to really focus to keep track of where the main characters was.

Nitpicky? Yes, a little maybe. :-) I’m allowed to. ;-)



Right, so…

After the musical was over, me and Ylletyg went to get our coats. We’d decided to try to go to the stage door to see if we could see Fred Johanson there and hopefully get an autograph. So we stood there calmly waiting in line… And suddenly, right behind us one of the many doors in the Opera House opened. And Fred Johanson in full Phantom makeup literary leaned his head out the door raising an eyebrow.

I nearly peed myself. One of those things you just can’t believe is happening.

Fred seemed to know some people, one in a wheelchair, and talked happily to them. No one bothered him, or took photos. Everyone was REALLY respectful and kept their distance, so he just stood there, talking happily with a couple of people. Opening and closing the door now and then since the alarm kept going off, and making a funny joke about it every time. Me and Ylletyg had a hard time containing our excitement, I won’t lie. We debated back and forth in hushed voices if we really would dare to go over to him or not and what we’d say etc…

Then a young women came over to me giving me a hug. It took me a second, but then I saw she was one of the many teens that had graduated from ‘my school’ two years ago. She was studying music now and was just as excited as we were about the musical experience, and very happy to see me (yay!). She’d spent hours in the library with me, so she knew what a nerd and fangirl I am. When I told her I didn’t know if I should go over to Fred or not or if I dared to ask for a photo, she sternly told me I HAD to when she understood what a fan I was. The student becomes the teacher? X-D

Said and done, when there were fewer people talking to him we walked over to him, hearts beating, and told him what an incredible singer he is. I think I even told him I got goosebumps from his voice. X-D

And we also made sure to say we were amazed by the presence he has on stage, and that we’d seen him in three different musicals live now, and that at least I kept rewatching the Jesus Christ Superstar he is in. He seemed really flattered that we’d followed his career and read up on him more than just about this role and was very happy to hear we’d enjoyed his performance that much. I remember he said he’d never reflected on about having a presence or stage or not, but we assured him he seriously has.

We respectfully asked him if we could take a photo, and he said sure! Fred then asked if we wanted a joint selfie with him. At that point my poor friend who is just 4.9 feet tall (short?) piped up “But I’m so short…” Well, I’m 5.9, almost 6 feet, and Fred is between 6.4 and 6.5 feet, so I totally understand her! X-D We ended up taking a photo each with him. When it was Ylletygs turn, he even bent his knees so he’d be level with her. IT WAS SO CUTE!!!! We again thanked him so very much for the incredible evening. He just smiled and bid his farewell before disappearing behind that door again.

( Picture evidence! I DID GET A SELFIE WITH THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! I GOT TO MEET FRED JOHANSON!!! )

As we were leaving after that, we were downright floating! X-D We could not stop grinning and felt as if we were drunk, even if we hadn’t had any alcohol that day! (Well, just a little with lunch/dinner...)

Ylletyg commented that things like this only happens when it’s us two to doing stuff together, and I think she’s right! The magic of being two long time best friends? *LOL* It might be what triggers these incredible things!

So before we went back to the hotel, we felt like we needed a sturdy drink! So we found a pub that wasn’t to crowded, had a drink and a snack, discussing our evening and our incredible meeting with Fred. Then we went back to the hotel.

Once in a bed each though, we couldn’t sleep! X-D Se we ended up laying in the darkness giggling and talking for quite the long time, just like little girls, before we feel asleep!

You’d never guess we’re both 40 years old… X-D

The next day Ylletyg had to get up early since she was going on a course in Gothenburg to learn how to make hats, so I joined her for the LOVELY hotel breakfast and then she left and I just lazed around a bit in the hotel room before leaving to. A bit of shopping later and I went home.

So thus endeth my AMAZING time in Gothenburg with my best friend!

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

A month later and here I am again. Guess I can't stay away. :-) End of 2017. I guess a little reflection of the year is in order.

Don't know really where to start. :-) It's been a pretty good year, most of it. Apart from the autumn this year. Less good that one.

Early 2017 was good. The winter-part and the spring-part. I do work a lot, and I do enjoy it.

I feel like I started to grow into my professional role a lot this year over all. And it started this year, pretty much. I feel more confident. And I know what to do, how to do it.

One thing I do know though, and I am working on it, is that I want to do to much. I have a lot of ideas. Things I want to do at work. But there's never enough time, you know? I did get more time this year. Before I worked only 30 hours a week at the school and 10 hours at a neighboring library. This year I got 40 hours to work only in the school, so that's good. More time. But there's never enough time when you are the sole responsible for EVERYTHING at a workplace, is it? :-)

So this autumn it just got a bit to much with work, family and everything. Usually the autumn blues does not effect me. I've never suffered from it. But this year... This year it hit. Hard. Hard as fuck. Depressed friends told me I showed signs of depression, and that might be true. I had no energy for anything. And I pulled back from socializing with anyone at all, even my best friend. And I stopped logging into my chat programs. Which I used to do a lot before. I just didn't have the energy. I didn't have any energy left at all when I came home from work, and I constantly felt like I lacked there to, despite my boss and colleagues telling me otherwise. The teachers and other staff at school think I do a great job to, but at that time I couldn't take that in. So that was not a fun part of 2017.

And lets not start on the political climate in the world these days. That's a depressing state for sure. Fuck Trump. And that's all I'll say on that, or this post will be even more of a downer.

The Swedish political climate isn't to much fun either, since Sverige Demokraterna, which is the alt-right here in Sweden has far to much power. And is gaining it. And there's far to many areas in Sweden where crime is running rampant (and the school I'm working in is in one of them areas...), but trying to beat it with racism is not the answer. Racism and hate never is.

*sigh* So that was the less than good part about this post, but it's reality, so that's that.

But despite how I've felt about my job, I do like it! Even though I struggle with my hooligans, when I'm alone with them, they're so nice to talk to! It's when they come in a group, things get crazy. And the other kids/teens at the school are WONDERFUL! There's about 700 kids/teens at the school now, and the hooligans are around... 10-15 kids/teens. Soooo many refugee kids though, or children of refugees. Hence why I work my ass off to make sure they get the best possible help to make it here in Sweden. To do that, you need to know how to read...

As you can see much of my life is... work...

Then there's Alexandra, of course. The best thing in my life. :-) She grows SO FAST! It's crazy! And she's growing up to be a really good kid. :-) Spoiled, yes. Both grandma's really do love to spoil her rotten. *lol* No wonder my MIL wants to, since Alexandra is her only grandkid. :-)

She cares a lot of her friends and her cousins. She really loves them. So I hope when she starts school she'll have her friends in the same class. Fingers crossed. Her big cousin Tilda, who is 10 years old, is Alexandras big idol. She follows her like a little puppy when we're at the same spot, and she learns a lot from her.

One thing she's really gotten from Tilda is the love off horses. Alexandra started riding this year, and she has really taken to it! She's always been very shy, but not when she's at the stable. She's really outgoing there, and not afraid of the horses at all. :-D At this riding school you don't only learn how to ride on the horse, but also how to take care of the horse. The whole thing. And she's not afraid to get her hands dirty. Not at all. So that's really impressive! And she's getting really good at riding to, for her age. :-D So I'm totally happy with driving her to the stable once a week. Eventually there'll be more than once a week, I know. But I'm fine with it, since it seems to be good for her, not only physically but mentally to! And she loves it! Win-win!

Her teachers/caregivers at daycare says she is doing really well at daycare to, she's popular with the other kids. She likes to learn new things. To try new things and to explore. And to help her friends when needed. Only time she ends up cranky is when she can't run the games she does with her friends. I think that comes from her being an only child and always deciding the games herself at home.

Another bad thing is that she's inherited two bad qualities from me and Peting... My tendency to 'disappear' in my fantasies, to the point I dream while being awake and not hear or see what's going on around me. So people have to touch me or call out for me to snap me out of it. Alexandra does this to, especially when tired, morning or evening.

Another thing, that she got from Peting, is her absolutely HORRID morning-temper! Now, I don't expect anyone to be cheerful at 6am in the morning which is the time I wake her up, but my GAWD! There's some serious fights quite often when she just refuses to do anything at all, and fights and hits me to get out of it. I've been brought to tears some mornings because I've been so frustrated and this autumn and winter I've been late for work nearly every morning. :-/ Peting is like that to. Well, he is not fighting, but I do avoid going into the kitchen until he's taken a seat and started on his breakfast. Just saying.

Right, so... This last month or two, I've started doing a lot better. I even start feeling an urge to go back to the vampire-LARP, which we stopped doing as well this year. We took a break, but now I'm started to feel energy and urge to go back to that to. They've done a restart this year, so instead of vampires in the modern age, the LARP is now set in the medieval times. Medieval vampires... We'll see if I can figure something out for it. I've noticed that many of the LARPers that moved away from this city for work and education has started to move back again. It would be fun to play against them again. :-)

So as you can see, even though this year has been tougher than previous years, I'm still going out on top. At least that's how it feels like to me. :-) I do have hopes for 2018. Alexandra is starting school! So that's going to be interesting! Onward to 2018!

Books, movies, tv-shows... I'll just have to make a separate post for that! Kudos if anyone had the energy to read through all that!

I made a deal with hexenhasel today to be better at posting, and I'll try to do that. I'm not sure I can jump back so far to catch up, so if there's any post you want me to read specificlly, link to it in a comment or just tell me whatever you want me to know. :-) I'll jump back until December 1'st, and then keep up from that.

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

Let’s start with Alexandra's knee, shall we?

( Adventures in swedish healthcare to find out what's wrong with kiddo's knee... )

( Me turning 40 and kiddo turning 5 means A HUGE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! )

( Work, work... and Alexandras dream coming true! )

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

Work is as crazy as ever. Hopefully next week it will calm down enough so I can actually breath. It’s… yeah. It’s not good this year. :-P

Have some questions instead so I won’t fall behind too much. :-) I WILL finish this one off, dammit!!!

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you'll forget it?
Yes and no. In the end, I’d have to say yes. If I don’t put down things I need to remember in writing, I’ll forget them. Without fail. It’s why my calendar is so important to me. I have all the stuff I need to remember there both for work and for family-life. I just panicked a bit when I forgot it at home one day when going to work…

73: what are some of your worst habits?
According to my boss I have a tendency to act like a teenager sometimes. *LOL* In a not good way, I suppose. Like, if there’s a bit to much going on and something just gets thrown at me that I have to deal with I can go in a total ‘nope’-mood and just refuse to do it. Which is OK privately but not professionally. :-)
I also get stressed and feel absolutely horrid if I make someone disappointed for whatever reason. I have a tendency to take things upon myself thinking it’s my fault.
So those two are the main ones.

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.
Not my best friend, just a note. ;-)
A strong tough person who's been through something that is possibly a nightmare for many. One I first meet this one things were pretty bleak for them. Hiding away from the world, only going out at night, hiding from the sun… We’ve had our fights, for sure… Disagreements and such, but I think we’ve gotten better friends because of it. We got to know each other very well after just a short while. This friendship is very dear to me, and it has definitely changed me to the better, I hope.

75: tell us about your pets!
I’ve grown up with cats my whole life, and I currently have two. Two black farm cats that we picked up from a friend to Peting’s mother. They’re both pitch black with just a hint of white on their chest. Pretty yellow eyes to. :-) They are getting old now, around 12-13 years of age. Since they are indoors cats, they’ve kept healthy their whole life, and have just a bit of overweight, but nothing to be concerned about according to our vet. We do take them on checkups and shoots once a year. :-) Even though they are sisters and look just the same, they are very different personalities. Skuld is a bit standoffish, does not like to be picked up and if she wants cuddles she comes to you, thank you ever so. Verdandi we can pick and do almost anything we want with, she likes it and goes along with it. She’s more social than Skuld. The weird thing though is… when it comes to Alexandra it’s the other way around!!!! :-D Skuld searches Alexandra out, and Alexandra can do whatever she wants with her! Verdandi though does not like Alexandra and usually goes the other way and avoids Alexandra as much as possible. She can stand her for very very short amounts of time though. Verdandi has her places in the apartment that is just hers where she goes to get away from Alexandra, which we’ve taught Alexandra to respect. :-) They are our furbabies and definitely a big part of our family!

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren't?
I’m at work and should probably fix up new books so they can be put in the shelfs, but fuck that. I’m working until 6pm and I’m not in the school-library, so I can’t be bothered today. :-)

77: pink or yellow lemonade?
Ehr… Both? :-P

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?
If you mean the minions from the Despicable Me movies, I like them. Not a fan, but they're alright and mildly amusing in the movie. :-)

79: what's one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?
Oh gawd, I can’t think of anything. o.O I mean, my kid does cute things all the time (when she doesn’t have her horrible morning temper…). So I could pick anything she does! Her hugs are the best!
My brothers support when I’m feeling down is also out of this world! He might be 35 years old, but he can be such a cutie sometimes it’s hilarious!
Conversations I have with Peting is the best, and he can say the most wonderful things to me sometimes. They’re not romantic. He doesn’t do romance or romantic things. But they’re still cute and great lift-me-uppers. :-D
When my mom, who is 63, tells me, who is 39, that I’m still her little girl… :-D That’s pretty cute, right?

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?
One wall is black with hints of bamboo on it. And the other three are white with birds sitting on bamboo sticks. :-) And yes, we picked them wallpapers out together me and Peting. Put them up ourselves to!


( All the questions! )

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

This week has been both ups and downs. As things go...

Monday I was at the physiotherapy at the hospital to learn how to use crutches and how to walk in stairs. And to get told I should contact one of the other physiotherapy places downtown so I can practice more there with stuff they have at place. Because at the hospital they only take those that are long stay patients AT the hospital. Which I totally get. So I've checked a list of physiotherapy places so I'll call around tomorrow morning. Meantime, doing the training practices I have at the moment. :-)

My leg is actually doing quite well! As long as I don't do certain movements when I walk with my crutches, I am doing fine. AND I CAN GO OUTSIDE! GO ON THE BUSS! DO THINGS!!! This is amazing. I'm not stuck inside at all times anymore. I love it.

Wednesday I went to the dental hygienist (at the same district health care centre that my dentist is located). And I got some kudos for how I care about my teeth, which actually surprise me, since I usually get told I'm not doing it very good. So that was nice!

And the same day I visited my job, which was really scary since it was rain AND ice that day... And I walked with crutches. o.O That... might not have been the smartest thing I've done. But I survived and did not break any more legs.

Reward was a lot of smiling faces from staff and students. Hugs all around. Even from my hooligans! :-D They clearly miss me a lot. I didn't think they would, but after being there for almost an hour, yeah... They do! It really warmed me and made me feel a bit better. My substitute / fill in / temp (whatever you wanna call it), was really nice but a bit... to nice? That school has some serious hooligans, and you have to be quite tough or they'll just walk all over you. I guess he's not had to deal with such kids that much, and was still trying to find his feet. But the staff was... a bit worried about him thanks to that, not really sure he could do it. One of them simply said: "Well, he isn't you. And we need a you here." X-D

Doing so much walking on the first day I was outdoors punished itself. Because I was achy in my arms the day after and even though I had no pain in my leg, I could feel I'd been overusing it a bit, so Thursday was rest-day.

Tuesday and Friday though I had a down days. I keep having them. I had no energy and felt absolutely worthless. Let's leave it at that. Ugh. I hate days like that. I manged to go on the bus and do a little bit of grocery shopping on Friday (yay, backpack!), but that was all. One of the reasons that I think I hve downdays is because it's so messy here. peting73 is doing his best, really he is. But he is a lot more... forgiven? when it comes to messes. It's like he don't see it even if it is right in front of him. And since he's had a cold this week, a REAL man cold at that, he just want to stay in bed as soon as possible, so not that much has been done really. Only the bare necessities. So much for keeping it up after mom did such a nice cleaning Monday. :-P

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

So... Game of Thrones. I have two more episodes to watch out of season five and I have come to the conclusion that Georg RR Martin and the people working on this show are... batshit insane... and genius.

I don't even have words. All I can keep my fingers crossed for is that Tyrion Lannister will survive. I know you should not have favorites in this show, because EVERY FUCKING ONE is dying but I can't help but love that crazy ass dwarf. Also, Peter Dinklage is bloody amazing.

I still wanna slap some sense in Jon Snow though. STOP BEING SO FUCKING NOBEL!!!

Anyway. Enough of that.

Apart from some lovely relaxation with my online friends, some online-RP each evening, reading on my lovely lovely F-list and just mainly hang out, I have not done that much at home. Energy when getting home from work? I haz none.

Work has been and will continue to be insane. This week was no exception. I like the fact that I had counted on one day to be fucking insane where I had three classes AND had to keep the library open during opening hours... But it was easy sailing that day. And the days where I had only one class and to keep the library open during opening hours was... fucking insane.

As always in this school, count on the unexpected. And never expect anything at all to go according to plans.

I did have some lovely moments in the library with a girl who is a practicing muslim, is a feminist and active as such online, is writing some really powerful poems together with her grandmother and has gotten a book of poems published by her grandmother in a small scale. Did I mention the kid was 16? :-) Kickass girl. She'll go far.

I have more cool girls and boys like that in the library that likes to hang out there because it's like the only moderately calm place in the school. It's just very very cramped and small and dull and boring, what with the temporary premises at the moment. After summer though, I'll have a fresh new library in a fresh new school. I can NOT WAIT!

But to counteract the niceness, of course there was some insane kids to. :-P There was a fight at one point outside the library that it took quite a few teachers to break up. (4-6 teachers, I think?) And with fight I mean a fight involving fists and kicks... :-/ Rest of the kids around just laughed and the fighters claimed they were just joking.

Right. My ass you did. :-/ You don't try to kick a guy in the face as a joke. Thank heavens none of them knew well enough what they were doing.

Then there's the normal mess and mayhem, of course. In which I mean shouting, loud laughing, chairs dragged around or thrown around, books (not the libraries) that is thrown around, phones and keys that has gone missing, teen-drama with crying girls coming to the library, kids that are trying to skip class by sitting in the library (not on my watch), etc, etc, etc... I could go on...

And I told one of the recreation leaders (aka an adult keeping an eye on the kids in the hallways) that was planning a spoken world / poetry slam project for the school at some point, I told her that I had managed to get Dogge Doggelito to the school, since he has the same background as the kids there and has made it, in a way. She, as so many others, are a rapper as well, and she laughed in my face saying he sucked ass and that I should spend money on her and other 'artists' that are already working in the school. Well, excuse me for trying to do something nice for this school. It was as if I'd insulted her by hiring Dogge Doggelito to have lectures at the school. I don't even know...

*sigh* I have mentioned it's slightly chaotic in the school I work, right? Well, yes. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing I apparently thrive in chaos. At least the teachers and most of the kids like me and think I do a good job. Fingers crossed that will continue.

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

So... Last stop on my busy summer story... If that is even a word.

And before this event, I had started work. And dude. STRESSFUL!!! I'll get to that shortly, but important to know is that I was stressed out as hell. Don't think I've ever been this stressed out.

Anyway, so with that in mind... of course the giftcard I'd ordered from IKEA (which the brides wanted), was late. Very stressful. And I just about managed to get time off to go to the wedding. More stressful.

In other words, it didn't look like I'd end up enjoying my trip. Luckily, that was wrong. I had a LOVELY time!

The two brides are my long time friends silvestris and chigrima. None of them very active on LJ anymore, but it's their fault I have one! It all started here and on silvestris's website! She's an amazing artist, and that's why they hung out online talking. :-)

And, not to forget, chigrima and I wrote our masters thesis together.

I swear, I would never have managed to get a masters degree if it wasn't for her. And I told her as much in the speech I held. chigrima is the most academic person I know. For serious. (Her brother and sister agreed with me on that, as it turned out, since they pointed it out in their speeches to! X-D)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. :-)

My wonderful wonderful best friend spicehobbit was also invited. And since she lives quite close by, we borrowed mom's BIG car (a Volvo V70, they're huge) and took the ferry over to the island Gotland where silvestris and chigrima lives. Unfortunately that meant we had to leave Borås at 5am in the morning, so I got up at 4am... Less fun, but we managed.

There's one bigger city on Gotland only, Visby. Where the big Medieval Week is heald in beginning of August every year. Me and spicehobbit has spent so much time there, so as soon as we got of the ferry and I saw the great stone wall of Visby, I squeed and all the stress just flowed off of me.

As soon as we found our hotel, which was really close to where we got off the ferry, me and spicehobbit wanted to explore Visby and remember all the good times we've had. Poor peting73 didn't have much choice but to come with. Alexandra was going in her pram, and was quite content with watching all the strange things going on around her. She was mostly pleased with the sheep shaped jersey barriers. Gotland is famous for all their sheep, so I would guess that's why they’re sheep shaped. *grin*

So Friday was spent shopping and exploring Visby and having a really good time. Alexandra was quite well behaved, even when at the restaurant we found to have dinner at. Not the best one, but hey... they had meatballs and so the kid was happy. *lol*

Next day when we'd woken up in our rooms after sleeping for 10 hours (!). Our room was HUGE by the way! One bedroom, one kitchen/seating room with a kitchenette and one small bedroom for Alexandra... So perfect for us! Such a great hotel! Almedalen Hotel, if you're interested. ;-)

So next day, Saturday... and the day for the wedding... we first made our way to the church ruin where they were getting married to see how long it would take for us to walk there. And to find the way. Then we explored some more. Gotland might be a flat island, but Visby REALLY is not. *lol* So many steep streets and narrow alleys with medieval cobblestones... You need good shoes in that city!

We found a nicer restaurant and Alexandra promptly started "flirting" with one of the waiters, who totally played back with her! Was hilarious! And so cute! He was a great guy, and got a good tip! Food was GREAT to!

Alexandra also found a softie sheep and promptly wanted it, so a sheep she got. *grins*

Then we went back to the hotel and got all snazzy looking and stuff. :-) peting73 went the whole nine yards and even styled his beard and mustache. SO HANDSOME!!!! Me and spicehobbit had bought our dresses from Modcloth, and they looked quite nice, if I do say so myself. :-)

Then we made our way to the church ruin again where friends and family of the brides had gathered.

We got let in, and got a little wedding program from the brother of one of the brides, one each, and then we found a seat in the church. About in the middle or so, so we could still see quite well. I lifted Alexandra up so she could stand on the bench to see better.

And when the brides walked down the isles, Alexandra got all excited. “Princess, mommy! Princesses!” X-D Yeah, so… They are now and forever Alexandra’s princesses. *lol*

The wedding ceremony was great! Short and beautiful. The brides had written their own wedding vows and walked out to my all time favorite song: Bette Midler’s The Rose. There was a lot of happy tears among the guests, let me tell you!

After the wedding we got invited to a walk through beautiful Visby and listen to the long and colourful history of the city. Well, parts of said history anyway. Until we ended up at Fenomenalen, a science center for kids of all ages. Very old. Or very young. ;-)

Before we got seated, the families had arranged for a little competition among all the stuff in the science center, before we got a chance for food. *lol* Was a lot of fun! Kids and adults working together!

The dinner and everything was served on the second floor of the science center, which was…. somewhat crowded to put it mildly. Which made sure it ended up very VERY hot up there! Us and another family with slightly older kids (like my brothers, I’d say) ended up closest to the stairs down to the toys. Apparently we were all LARPers, and all though that family was friendly and all, I just got the… to-much-feeling from the mother. She was so chipper, giggly and overly supportive of her daughters, I had to take a step back and wonder what she was on…

Apart from that, we sure had a great time! Alexandra kept it up until 9pm, which was very impressive! She’s just 3 years old, and the trip and the wedding was a huge adventure for her. She was doing great!

When the brides left it was only 11pm, so me and spicehobbit decided to go for a drink. astroflammante, skarvsladden (and husband) and tekiila who were there for the wedding to, decided to join in. So we went to a really nice little pub and nightclub in Visby, The Munkcellar. We had a GREAT time talking about chigrima and discussing the wedding. And, of course, the good old days at the Student Union pub where I meet these awesome ladies.

After that me and spicehobbit our back to the hotel and our rooms. Collapsed and slept so DEEPLY! And, at least me, very very happy for the beautiful brides. :-)

Sunday we had more of the great breakfast, after Alexandra woke up. She slept until about 9am, which was GREAT! Then breakfast and… you guessed it… more shopping and exploration of Visby. *lol*

Most of the shopping we did was at Kränku. A tea/coffee/and random stuff associated with the same -store. *lol* Family owned! They mix their own flavours of tea there, which is AWESOME! SO MUCH YUMMY STUFF!

We bought peting73 some kick ass whiskey coffee! (So expensive!) And a gift for MIL since she’s taken care of our cats while we’ve been gone. A nice metal box to keep coffee in. And Kränku’s special roasted coffee. :-D

Once it was time, we gathered us all in the car (with all the packing!). Drove spicehobbit to one ferry terminal, since she took the ferry towards Stockholm to meet up her parents there. We? We took the ferry back to Oskarshamn and then drove for four hours back here to Borås. We arrived somewhere between 11pm and midnight. Alexandra slept the whole way. Was perfect.

The whole trip went so much better than I thought. And I had SUCH a great time!

And, of course, I am RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY for silvestris and chigrima!!!!

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

Yeah, it's time for one of them sharing posts again... :-) Next post is going to be about Midsummer. ;-) And after that I have some serious issues I need to get down in words. But first! Strap in and lets go!

As you might remember I visited the swedish festival Sweden Rock! And it was amazing. I went there to see Mötley Crüe. And even though they got really bad criticism for their performance, I really liked it. It was amazing!

( Girls, Girls, Girls... )

( Home )

Sorry about the quality. I just wanted to share that to me was an AMAZING night! I know they aren’t perfect, but they’re good at catching the audience, and it was amazing to see them live, it really was.

And onwards!

Not that long ago, I discovered this, which I found really interesting. You’re short on money? You need a computer? I give you Chip, a computer you can get for 9$. I admit, I’m curious. It’s not that much money, so maybe I should get one? To have as backup? I bet peting73, who is a serious computer geek, would find it really cool to have and poke around with as well. Decisions decisions…

Chip 9$ Computer - Kickstarter

They’ve reached their goal and some, so it’s ready and available to order… *considers*

Next subject!

I kinda love steinsgrrl for sharing this with me. I keep reading all the comments and stories shared on this Reddit page, and it’s SO FREEING, my female friends! My vagina is not abnormal or strange in anyway! There are vaginas that are stranger than mine! NOTHING IS ABNORMAL! X-D Also, guys. You should read this. Just to see what we’re going through on an everyday basis. ;-)

Reddit: Girls and their vaginas

YouTube is a strange and wonderful place… You dip your toe in and you never know where you end up. Here’s some various stuff I’ve found on YouTube or that are connected to YouTube in one way or another.

This short just about broke my heart. The ending especially when you REALLY get what the little short is about… Bring your tissues, folks!

( Gift... )

There’s a swedish guy from refugee parents who live in Sweden and he’s… blunt would be to kind a word. But he has some really interesting views on Sweden and our culture, our politics, our social safety net, our immigrants and refugees… Pretty much hot the climate is in Sweden (and I’m not talking about the weather). Not all his vids are in swedish, although most are. Those that are, like this one, has subtitles. And I’ve checked, their good and has the correct translation.

( Islam and Pedofilia... )

Here’s an article with an added trailer on YouTube about how it is to come out of the closet as a MtF transgender when you’re quite young. This girl did so on YouTube and found a supportive community there. And a movie-maker saw her and she got a role in a movie that tells the story how it is to be a transgender MtF girl. Of course there’s more to it than that, it’s a good article, but it ends with a role in a movie for her. The trailer is in the article, and I will admit I am very curious at the movie, Boy Meets Girl! It looks really good!

Boy Meets Girl - Movie and the story

Right and change of subject again! You still with me? You’re doing good! *lol*

If you read my posts you know I absolutly HATE Fifty Shades of Grey. I hate Twilight to, but that’s nothing compared to how much I hate Fifty Shades of Grey. And I’ve READ THEM! ALL THREE!!!

Anyway, here’s some articles and vids that I hope will make you think twice about reading them…

Unless you’ve lived under a rock, you’d know there’s abuse in these books.

Here’s an article that, like so many others, points out where and how the abuse shows itself in the books:

There Are NO Grey Areas When Defending Abuse

And yes, she’s rewriting her books from Grey’s perspective… yeah… *cough* Here’s The Guardian’s reaction to that:

Fifty Shades of 'nope': we don't need a reboot from the man's perspective

Now to two vids. It’s both terrifying and interesting to see these. The movie comes with it’s own set of concerns and weirdness. Everything wrong, obviously shows everything wrong with 50 Shades. Abuse and all.

But what I really liked was the Film Theory. Where they compare Christian Grey to the leader of a cult. How Grey follows the same steps pretty much. Now that was terrifying. And girls WANT a man like this? WTF?

( Everything Wrong With Fifty Shades Of Grey In 18 Minutes Or Less... )

( Film Theory: Fifty Shades of Grey Cult Theory... )

And to end this LOOOONG post, let’s have some feel good after that, yeah?

These two vids I am watching when I need a pick me up after a long or bad day. :-) They never fail to make me smile! I hope they will do the same to you.

( Old Men Grooving... )

Britians got talent just never fail to deliver. *grins* There’s more vids with these old guys, btw. They made it all the way to the finals!

Old men grooving on YouTube

And lastly I stumbled on THIS article about a son that made a special personal ad for his mom… REALLY special!

( Looking for Adam... )

And that’s it! Having finished that (finally!), I will now go do something useful... ;-)

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

Note: This post was written a few weeks ago, but I didn't get the photos uploaded until now...

And then there was the visit from New York. I still have a hard time believing they’ve really been here! o.O

I was a bit panicked before they came here, since I was supposed to work both days they were here, Friday and Saturday. Friday was no problem to take off, but the three hours for Saturday was a bit worse. Eventually we found someone that could help out, thank gawd… So I was off and available for both days! WOHOO!!

And I was SO NERVOUS! I mean, I’ve known ruchirahni almost since I started to use my LJ, and man… that is a LONG TIME AGO! I didn’t remember how we’d meet, but Ruchi did, so she told me. :-) Apparently she’d ended up in an idiotic drama in a Xena community and I’d stood up for her and also gone to her LJ to say hi. Eventually we ended up friending each other and that’s how the story goes. I don’t remember this, but I’ll take her word for it. ;-)

Anyway, ruchirahni is a vegetarian, so the Friday she and her best friend was to arrive, me and Alexandra started with a slow morning and then we went grocery shopping for vegetarian food. Once that was done, we went to the train station to pick them up.

See, they’d explored Sweden quite a bit before arriving to me. They’d been in Stockholm, the island Utö, Gothenburg and then me. For a history geek Stockholm is perfect. There are SO MANY museums there! You can learn quite a bit of swedish history in Stockholm alone.

Then they’d been to Utö which is a gorgeous island in Stockholms archipelago. And then they’d been to Gothenburg, which is the neighbouring city to Borås. So it was a short trip to Borås. And me. :-D

I was so nervous while we shopped me and Alexandra I had a belly ache. X-D Stupid, really. Like ruchirahni says, we’ve known each other so crazy long we shouldn’t be nervous about meeting!

Alexandra thought it was fun to be at the train station and just wanted to go on the trains! Eventually they showed up though, and I gave ruchirahni a great big hug. And it felt JUST RIGHT! Nerves just flew off of me.

And Alexandra started whining right away. Great… Figuring she was hungry we went home to my apartment first, where I cooked Alexandra food (definitely hungry at that point…) and ruchirahni could explore my little home and I could get the groceries away. And we talked. Talked and talked and talked. Sara, ruchirahni’s friend was very nice and waxed poetically about the swedish coffee!

We had a lovely time watching Disney Junior with Alexandra and making sure she got some food in her (and feeding Sara a swedish meatball).

Done with Disney and food, we went to the hotel where ruchirahni and Sara were staying, and Alexandra fell asleep and took a nap. GOOD!

Then we figured we could go downtown for a FIKA! Which we did, even going to mine and Alexandra’s favorite fika-place. You think Alexandra behaved? Alas no. She was IN A CRANKY MOOD! And was going to make sure everyone knew about it.

( Cranky Alexandra is cranky... )

I’d thought we’d go exploring the Textile Museum after our fika, but Alexandra was having none of it. At that point, peting73 was off from work and halfway home, so we went to pick him up and dumped Alexandra on him. (Sorry dear!)

Finally we could go to the Textile Museum, which was great! Even if we could only stay for a short time, since they were closing and all that, we still made the most of it. They have old clothes in a part of the museum that you can try on, which had ruchirahni and Sara go a bit nuts! Pulling me into the crazy we had a bit of a dress up session. *lol* Was a lot of fun! The exhibit they had going of a famous swedish designer was nice to, so I’d call that a successful visit.

( Being silly in the Textile Museum! )

I think it was on the way back to the car that we checked out the University Library which is right next to the museum. ruchirahni loved it and wondered loudly why they didn’t have libraries this nice at the universities in New York? Uhu… I wouldn’t know. X-D I thought New York University was a good one? *lol* And hey, you got New York City Library which is out of this world if I’ve done my research right. ;-)

( Interior of the University Library in town )

Then we went home to my home again for dinner, which peting73 had cooked and it was DELICIOUS! Such a nice vegetarian stew! Alexandra was cranky again though (sigh) so she got the leftover meatballs from lunch.

The rest of the afternoon evening was spent talking. Talking, talking, talking. Both me and peting73 are some serious history nerds, movie nerds and book nerds, so the swedish part of those subjects were definitely covered. (I’m still amazed how little you learn in the US about WWI and WWII…) Alexandra eventually went to bed, and we made MUDCAKE! And had an evening FIKA! (You can never have too much fika…)

( New Yorkers in my couch! )

At one point during our discussions we discovered it was 1am in the morning! O.o OOPS! So I drove ruchirahni and Sara to the hotel making a plan for the morning.

And that concludes day 1!

Next morning we took a slow morning for Alexandra’s sake, but we still managed to head out at around 10am. First stop was the big city library where I used to work. Again, ruchirahni waxed poetically about how nice it was. *lol* I loved seeing her walking around in the library among all the books. If ever there was a book nerd, it’s her. For serious. *grin*

Alexandra loves the library, so she was (for once!) in a good mood in the kid section checking out all the picture books. We found the book I bought for my brothers kids, the POP BOOK! X-D So I had a little story time there for Sara and ruchirahni. It’s a kid book and kids LOVE to talk about pop! X-D

( Exploring the city library and being booknerds of all sizes! )

After that visit we got in our little car and drove to my brothers. Which takes 1½ hours. And it’s a bit cramped in the car… But we made do, and we had some lovely discussions in the car to which made the car-ride feel shorter.

Once at my brothers, we found that he was enjoying the sun on the backside of his house, listening to music after he’d baked a cake. A MUDCAKE OF COURSE! This seems to be a running theme during their visit… I have to send them the recipe… *lol*

And as soon as ruchirahni and Sarah saw the cows grazing on the fields around my brother’s house, they got all excited and got in the field (past the barbed wire) to say hi to the cows. My brother, who works on a farm on a daily basis was a bit flabbergasted at this, but went with it. So we showed them a good way to get to the cows and my brother started talking swedish farming with ruchirahni and Sara since ruchirahni is a vegetarian, so she was really interested. Swedish farmers have a TON of rules they have to follow, more so than many other countries apparently, which she found very interesting. :-)

Also, my brother had been an idiot and ruchirahni went into Doc-mood and checked his eye since it was hurting him and got quite red and irritated. If you are doing any welding, people. Use protection. And don’t do like my brother who just closed his eyes. IDIOT!

After we’d eaten mudcake and said hi to cows and tried to get Alexandra to eat anything (impossible since she was still grumpy), we left my brothers and went to moms instead. My brother came with in his big huge car, a Ford Galaxy from the 1960’s, which ruchirahni and Sara rode in with him. On the way to mom’s we saw some elks/moose which got the New Yorkers all excited.

( New Yorkers on the swedish countryside! )

At mom’s, Alexandra perked up a bit. She’d had a nap in the car, and hey… Grandma is always popular. :-)

More vegetarian food at mom’s, she’d made a full on dinner with some vegetarian beefs she’d found. ‘It looked interesting, I had to try!’ was mom’s reasoning behind picking that. They were made out of quorn and DAMN they were tasty! Even Alexandra ate quite a bit! So we were all stuffed after that dinner!

After that we walked around and explored my mom’s yard and grounds. The garage which still looks like when my dad lived. The playhouse dad built for use when where kids from scratch. The view. The woods where we used to play. Our neighbours, closest one where the daughter in the house was the one who started off my bullying. Basically I told and showed all the things that had meant something to me when I grew up. Mom walked around with us as well, and even though she’s not that good in english (she understands it well, but can’t speak it), she managed to throw in a small comment here and there anyway.

Since it started to rain when we’d walked around for a bit, we went inside again looking at all of mom’s pretty things (she likes to collect pretty things and decorate her home). Checking out where my room used to be and all that stuff while mom prepared a…. FIKA! :-D We also took the chance to say hello to all of mom’s four cats, including HUGE Ozzy that ruchirahni fell in love with, I think… He’s a Maine Coon… and a BIG one! Currently weighing around 11-12 kilos, and he’s not fully grown yet… Insane!

Then we had FIKA downstairs. And talked. And talked and talked and talked. :-D Both mom and I agreed and told ruchirahni she would be a WONDERFUL doctor one day, since she got her heart right where it should be. Mom should know. She’s 62 and has worked as an assistant nurse ever since she started working.

Alexandra just played with mine and brothers old toys while we were talking that mom has pulled down from the attic. We didn’t even notice how the time flew until it was 9pm or so in the evening, and we had a 2 hour drive to get back to Borås.

( At my mothers to see where I grew up! And to be spoiled... )

While driving we continued talking and talking and talking… So the ride back to Borås didn’t feel that long as it usually does. We also made a plan for the next day so I could drive them to the airport. I insisted. It’s only a 30-40 min drive, so why shouldn’t I? And their flight didn’t leave until midday, so it was no problem really.

Dropping ruchirahni and Sarah off at their hotel we then drove home and once we’d gotten Alexandra to sleep in her bed instead of the car, we both collapsed in our bed.

Next morning was good and nice (with a kiddo not to cranky, wohoo!). Once I was ready I went to pick up ruchirahni and Sarah so we’d be at the airport at a good time before their plane left. Once at the airport we had a FIKA, of course. ;-) And talked some more. During the whole weekend I felt quite comfortable talking to ruchirahni friend Sarah, since I’ve learned so much about her from ruchirahni’s entries. And apparently ruchirahni had talked to Sarah a lot about me to, so it went both ways. (It appeared as if it was only good things to! I hope at least…)

As it got closer to them leaving, we hugged a lot. Both me and ruchirahni assured each other that we were very happy about finally getting to meet. And that YES! Apparently I was just what ruchirahni had expected. And ruchirahni? Well… She was just what I had expected. Just a 1000 times more so! :-) Such an awesome woman. Whoever ends up with her as a psychiatric doctor is going to be really fucking lucky! :-D

Once I’d dropped them off, I felt empty and sad. Already missing them. We talked and laughed so much my jaw was a bit sore. :-)

Such amazing women. Just… amazing. It still blows my mind that she’s been here. It really does. All the way from Brooklyn, New York City, USA to little Borås, Sweden. Amazing.

So happy to be able to call you a dear friend, ruchirahni.

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

So... the 23e of January I broke my leg... A week later, my mom fell over and scratched up her whole face. Going on a check up, she found out that her bad knee? Had a crack in the kneecap. Fuck. No cast needed, but she needs a protective knee pad thingy to make sure her kneecap stays put. And guess what? The week after that my brother... got ran over by a cow (well, a heifer) and twisted his knee... so one of those knee pad thingies for him to, but he only had to use it for about a week or so.

WTH? o.O

And that's not all!

Mom came over last weekend to hang out and help us out a bit. As long as she's taking it easy and moving around slow, her knee is fine, so that's good. Anyway. Guess what happened then? She dropped her phone in the toilette! X-D No joke! We didn't find it there until about an hour after she'd noticed it was gone. And that's just because I needed to use the bathroom.

Geezes. Enough is enough universe! Give us a break!

At this point all there is is to laugh about it all, to be honest.

I watched an amazing movie the other day. Desert Flower. I pretty much broke down. It's about the life of Waris Dirie and her life from being a little girl in the Somali dessert to a model and to a spokeswoman against female genital mutilation. To say I broke down during that movie, despite the fun parts, would be an understatement. It was done to her when she was 3 years old.... Just 3. About the age as Alexandra....

To say Alexandra got plenty cuddles that night would be an understatement.

( Desert Flower Trailer... )

Watch it. I think it's an important movie. I've put a hold on the book at the closest library (where I'm supposed to be working if it hadn't been for my broken leg...). It's next to Alexandras daycare, so I'm sure peting73 will pick it up for me.

spicehobbit, my best friend, came by said hi and helped me clean a bit as well not to long ago. She dropped off the book Temeraire av Naomi Novik. In english. ;-) So there's that. And I'm reading the book Toddler Taming as well. Because, damn. I have a toddler now. o.O At least Alexandra is a moderately calm toddler. :-)

Now I'm going to hobble with my walking support (looking like this) to go eat and watch some Supernatural and read a bit. Working on a link/pimp post as well. Gonna be a lot of 50 Shades of GreyFail in that. ;-)

Laters!

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