All the rivers run

Just thought I'd recommend a famous australian miniseries called 'All The Rivers Run', which I've started to watch with my mum. It's about the young woman Philadelphia Gordon who becomes an orphan after a ship wreck that only herself and the captain survived. Delie, as she is called, is sent to her aunt and uncle in Euchuca, in Victoria, Australia.

After a few years Delie reconnects with the old captain who now owns a river-steamship that carries cargo. In the crew is Brenton Edwards, who immediately falls for the young lady in question.

When the financial crisis hits the little town of Euchuca, the captain finds himself in need of money, and Delie decides to help him out. In turn, he gives her a part ownership in the ship , and Delie earns her independence.

The story is about the love of the Australian rivers, the life on a steamship, and of course, about love and partnership. All though the series is suppose to take place in the 1890's to the beginning of the twentieth century, woman and men have a fairly equal place in society, at least in certain aspects. It feels somewhat strange when you think about another movie about a ship (oh, I dunno, you might have heard about it... Titanic!) where the women seem so much more tied down. Of course, different countries have different customs. Anyhow, the series is GREAT and - having seen four parts all ready - I can't wait to see the rest!

*Sniff, sniff*

This morning I woke up hoarse. The cold keeps winning ground, and healthy Fia just looses. But it's okay, cause I'm home at mum and dad's, where I can get the best care in the whole wide world.

Yesterday I thought I was getting better (perhaps I was, but then I went and ruined it), so I went to a christmasday party with my oldest friends E and L, the twins. We had a blast! When they were going out to Polar Hotell I went to another party at an old friend to my brother. I met all the boys, including my old exboyfriend who is still a dear friend, and we had a really nice time together. We ate a late snack at Frasses, who has come to Älvsbyn, and had opened late night just to feed the hungry christmasday celebraters. I thought it was brilliant!

But when the hour passed twelve I was soo tired, and I went home, where I fell asleep in a heartbeat. Too much fun can be exhausting! (Also keep in mind, that morning I pulled myself up at 6 o'clock in the morning to go the early Christmas-morning service...)

Well, that was my christmas day, how was yours?

Merry Christmas

To all of you from all of us, a very merry christmas.

For auld lang syne, my dear

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet

For auld lang syne!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind ?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne!

And surely ye 'll be your pint' stowp,

And surely I 'll be mine,

And we 'll tak a cup o' kindness yet

For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,

And pou'd the gowans fine,

But we 've wander'd monie a weary fit

Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn

Frae morning sun till dine,

But seas between us braid hae roar'd

Sin' auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere,

And gie 's a hand o' thine,

And we 'll tak a right guid-willie waught

For auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o' kindess yet

For auld lang syne!

Here are some more pictures from Älsbyn. First out is my fathers father and my mothers father, in a picture taken in the 1950's. They are not with us any longer, but we remember them dearly. Next up is the christmas tree, designed and decorated by dad. (How do you like the glitter? The style of the year is greatly debated at home, and I myself like it while mother does not..)

After the first two, there are moms hyacint and another that dad got from Länsförsäkringar...

 

Here's a window that looks truly christmas like. And down below you can see the newly done cellar-room. Yesterday mom made the curtains and dad nailed up the granddad-clock and all the paintings. It looks real cozy now!  We've also put up the wood plane on the wall...

Meanwhile, in Älvsbyn

Just thought I'd show you a little pictures I've taken today in the house. Mom is a big fan of old things (as am I), so here and there in the house you can see old tools from the beginning of the twentieth century or even late nineteenth century. In the first picture, you can see a glimpse of an old sewingmachine, at the second picture you see an nineteenth century kettle in brass, at the fireplace you can see my granddads old woodplane (hyvel)... in the last picture you see an old fourthrough (mjöltråg) that now functions as a fruitbasket. Aren't old things just great??! =)

Watching Eddie Izzard pretend to be a raptor

That's what I've done last night. And this night, I', sitting at home in Älvsbyn, drinking tea and resting my weary head. It's been two of the busiest days of my life!

Yesterday morning started at 6 o'clock with me walking to my colleague to ride with her to work, only to find out that the car port had been sabotaged during a break in, so it wouldn't open up wide enough for the car to drive through. We waited a while for someone to fix it, while I got some coffee in me and got cuddled and licked in the ear by my colleagues cute cat Stumpan.

We took the bus to work, but the bus had some huge problems getting forward because of the amount of snow and lack of snowtyres, and after a while the car port had been fixed, so my colleagues boyfriend drove to get us and then drove us 40 kilometres to work in the awful weather. We saw three cars and a lorrie who had skidded down in the ditch, and heard of more during the day.

Naturally, I got to work over an hour late and naturally I had more things to do in one day than I ever had had to do earlier in this job. So I had a minifreak-out, and started working and didn't stop working until I absolutely had to, or else I would miss the big thing for the evening - the Eddie Izzard show in Malmö Arena!

We got there in good time, grabbed a burger and sat and waited. The show started about ten past seven and we left about eleven-thirty. It was one experience I will never forget. Eddie Izzard is sooo funny! All though, at eleven I was so tired I almost couldn't laugh any longer. Needless to say, I slept in the car all the way home...

Today, I got up at 6 o'clock again (no rest for the busy!), drove to Sturup, took the flight to Arlanda, took the flight to Umeå, landed and ate lunch with my parents and brother Johan, drove 300 kilometres to Älvsbyn where I ate dinner, saw a movie, drank some wine and now - am finally going to sleep. For a long, long, LONG time.

Good night and PUH!

The perfect recipe for happiness:

Mud cake

How low can you go?

Things that makes me depressed

• When people don't treat others like they would like to be treated themselves
• When it hurts in my shoulder
• When I get pimples in my forehead (happens once a month)
• When the energy do to fun things run out
• When there's no more weekend

I'm all out of happy, need a refill!

These are the days of our lives..

This week has been one of the most hectic ones since I started working at my current job. And next week will probably be worse. New government decisions are made in the eleventh hour, and new rules and rutines are supposed to be implemented directly. Busy busy busy busy!

At the same time I love my job. Never boring, all though very often hard.

Enough about my job now - Now it's only a week until I'm home again. Oh, jolly! I've been thinking about christmas presents and christmas preparations. What do I want for christmas? A happy family, fun and games. Julmust, good food, hugs and of course - snow!!

I thought about making a list of things I want, but I think I'd rather like to be surprised. But to help my family a little, I would like a warm, cosy turtleneck sweater or a cardigan, or some other nice clothes, or maybe a gift certificate? Maybe some silver jewelry? Or a book. Among the authors I haven't read is Anna Gavalda, Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson, Douglas Coupland, Haruki Murakami, Jasper Fforde. But books is a difficult gift, since I have so much books and have read so much. Just something small that'll fit in my bag.

Now I'm going to watch a movie and eat some Ben & Jerrys. Enjoy your weekend!

Copenhagen, or There and back again

Today we went to Copenhagen for the first time (in my life). The mission was to eat danish christmas brunch, cause this is a popular thing to do in Denmark. It just so happens, it's SO popular that people book restaurants months, maybe a year in advance, so that they can enjoy this tradition on a annual base. So, naturally, there where not a single restaurant that served christmas brunch that had vacancies. Bummer. But never the less, someone in the group (I'm not pointing any fingers, but there's two of us and I'm not the one being pointed at) wanted to check through all of Copenhagen - just in case there where any cancellations. A thorough empirical study gave us an accurate answer: there were NO cancellations.

After me, desperately trying to get us to at least buy a hot dog, we finally settled for ordinary brunch. And by that time, I was a complete mess. I hadn't eaten a thing all morning, and - having a sensitive blood sugar - I was more like a zombie than anything else. I was growling, snapping, complaining. But when I warmed up in the restaurant and got good food and a beer, I quickly became my old self again.

Mission number two was to go into Tivoli, a famous amusementpark that has wonderful christmas decoration. Having been warned by people NOT to go there late in the afternoon because it would be too crowded , the goal was to go directly after brunch. But since the brunch took soo long, we where at Tivoli around four in the afternoon, and the que to get inside was several blocks long. We threw that idea out of the window and went to a pub to buy some more beer.

Needless to say, I was somewhat disapointed, more with missing out on Tivoli than missing the christmas brunch, but it was all okay in the end since we actually got to see a LOT of Copenhagen. We went all the way to Nyhavn (which is a really long walk!) and we ate aebbleskider ('appleslices' that are put in pancake dough, turned into balls, and eaten with tasty jam). The danish people seem very happy (I've heard something about it having to do with the amount of alcohol they drink every day...) and I would LOVE to go over another day. After all, it's only 50 kilometres away. All we had to do was take the train, and we're there!

A bad day

Putting it mildly...


The day started with me riding the bus to work, and a little meeting, then bad things started to happen. Most of the time my work is very rewarding and fun, but today... not so much. Everything went wrong, was difficult, took too much time.. I had to work over time, and I still hadn't done all that I felt I wanted to do today. Then I ran to the post office to send a birthday gift to my brother (Hi David!) and I barely made it in time (sorry if the present got a little mashed up ;). I had planned to send some books to a fellow bookblogger, but I couldn't find her adress, so now she have to wait until next week. Then I went to get the bus home, and the bus was late. Then it came, and drove right by us. Then the wrong bus came. And a little while later, the right bus. Again. This time, I got on it. I met up my boyfriend in Malmö, we went to get something to eat (Burger King) and then we went home. I bought myself a ice cream package (Ben and Jerrys Chocolate Fudge Brownie). I know it's fattening but I just don't care. I need my comfort-Ice cream today...
 
Now I'm going to watch tv and eat it.

The countdown of the year

Advent means 'waiting for an arrival' (crappy translation), a.k.a. waiting for Jesus to be born. Or plainly - in crude terms - waiting for christmas eve so we can fill ourselves full with ham and herring sallad, eat the last layer from the Aladdinbox, watch Kalle Anka (NOT Anna Anka), drink julmust, glögg.. and open all our presents! But really, the best thing is just to be together.

That's why, this year, advent has a double meaning for me. It's actually a countdown. Every sunday I get closer to home, and the fourth sunday - I'll all ready be there!  In 19 days I'm off to Norrbotten again. In 24 days it's christmas eve. In 31 days I'll see my friends in Luleå again, and in 34 days, I'm back here again (but let's not think so far ahead!)

Until I'll see you again, I wish you a joyful and pleasant december. And just to remind you all of the true meaning of christmas, here's the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl!

In preparations for the holiday of holidays!

With some sleep I managed to fight the fever, and now I'm somewhat restless. Maybe I'll tidy up this place a bit, after all - tomorrow is the first advent!

But first I'm going to decorate the blog for Christmas and answer a few christmas questions!

Would you consider working christmas eve? No, ney, never

Do you bake something for christmas? Last christmas I made luciabuns, and sometimes I make gingerbread cookies. I would like to make some fudge (knäck) sometime.

Which do you prefer? Lucia buns with or without raisins? With

Which do you prefer? Home made cookies or bought cookies? I love all kinds of candy and cookies, made or bought.

Fudge or ice chocolate? Both

What does your advent candlestick looks like?  Like a red, long pig. It's very cute!

Which do you prefer? Electric candlestick or hanging christmas star? I like them both, but for the time being, I don't have anything to hang the christmas stars in, since we never put up the curtains... And now we don't feel like it, since we're planning on moving... But it does make the place somewhat cold, unfortunately...

Would you like to get christmas cards, by mail or email? By what ever that suits the giver, it's the thought that counts. But I save every christmas card I get by mail, and the emails are discarded after a time... 

What colours do you decorate with in christmas times? Classic red/green/white? Ice blue? Gold? I'm pretty classic. I focus on red green and white, with a touch of gold.

When do you start decorating at home? As early as possible! But at the start of december of first advent sounds about right.

Does the decoration have it's designated place? No, I have only decorated this apartment one time, since I've lived here only one christmas

What just HAS TO be in the christmas tree? Baubles, glitter, small santas, angels, the star in the top, electric light.

Does your christmas tree has a colourtheme? Red, green, white, gold.

A real tree or plastic tree? Since we don't have a lot of space and don't plan to stay at home for christmas eve, a plastic tree will suffice.

What do you eat for breakfast at christmas eve morning? Brewer's wort with christmas ham and mustard, and a nordic thing called Dopp i grytan (Dip in the pot).

Do you have an annual thing you usually do on christmas eve? After breakfast I spend time with the family, then I usually get a visit from Erika and Linnea, my childhood friends. We exchange a small gift and say hello, then they go home to their family. Me and my family have a cozy day, sipping julmust, listening to christmas songs, looking at holiday shows (Donald Ducks and company) then we eat a huuuge dinner and then we open our presents.

Do you drink mulled wine (glögg) that is bought or made? Usually we don't make that on our own, but last year my mother in law made some, it tasted delicious.

Which glögg do you drink on christmas, if you buy it? Blossa, of course!

What do you put in the glögg? Raisins and almond.

Are there any fruits that are a-must-have? Clementines, apples, oranges

What is your favourite christmas CD? I love Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald. Christmas classics of all kinds...

What is your favourite christmas song? Winder wonderland

What is your favourite thing on the dinner table at christmas eve? The herring sallad, the christmas ham, the christmas meatballs, the sausages

Name three christmas courses you cook all by yourself? I don't cook anything by myself, but I usually
help mother with herring sallad, ham and some times the meatballs too.

Do you prefer Brewer's wort (vörtbröd) with or without raisins? With raisins, but without is good too!

Porridge or Ris à la malta? Ris à la malta.

Do you want Dopp i Grytan as a course at the christmas dinner? No, that's breakfast.

Do you drink julmust or something else to dinner? Julmust, of course!

Which is the best christmas recipe you've got from your mom or mother in law? My mother made me a book full of recipes when I moved away from home, I usually make brownies but that's not really a christmas recipe...

Do you watch Donald Duck every year? Without it I'd be lost!

What is your favourite piece of the show? Santas Work Shop

Have you seen Karl-Bertil Jonssons Christmas? "Have I nurtured a communist by my bossom?" It's a fun thing but not as good as Donald Duck. I try not to watch to much TV for Christmas, it's a time to enjoy family and friends.

Do you have a santa claus at home? No, he lives at the North Pole

Do you buy christmas presents for many people? No, only the ones I care about. Most of the time I was studying I was a poor student, I didn't have that much money, but then I bought small presents instad.

Do you think everybody should get christmas presents or just the children? Everybody should get presents! We are all little children inside...

Do you wrap your own gifts or let the store wrap them up for you? My family has made it a sort of "thing" to wrap the presents up together (for those who are not in the room at the time). We have sealing wax and lots of rime cards, and strings in all colours.

Should the christmas paper be colourful or single colour? Colourful or traditional single colour doesn't matter.

What kind of present do you like? I like to get different things from different people, something that has a meaning. Maybe a gift that represents your friendship, or something that reminded the giver of you.

What would the ultimate christmas present be this year? I would like a cosy turtleneck sweater and cardigan. Maybe with some nice christmas pattern? And of course, a book is always a success! And if you want to know what book NOT to buy for me, you can always search by author in the window to the top left in my book blog or check my reading list which holds the books I've read for the past two years. I have a library of what books I own, it's not fully upgrated but I'm working on that.

Since I'm a huge nerd, I like http://www.thinkgeek.com/ and since I'm a movie buff, I love to get movies and television series. Maybe some old classic, similar too It's a wonderful life? I've seen most of Jane Austen's movies, but something similar to that would be nice too. All things romantic is good.

Or maybe something sci-fi? I'm interested in Battle Star Galactica or Star Gate (SG-1 and Atlantis).

Feverish

I took the vaccine yesterday and this morning I thought I'd be spared of the sideeffects, but nooo. Today at work I started freezing and my teeth where hacking, my head was cloudy and I started weeping (as I always do when I got fever). I couldn't work! Unfortunately, I had an appointment with the audionom at three o'clock so I could not leave. I got to lay down on a bed in a restingroom and sleet until it was time to go, and afterwards I had made arrangements with my boyfriend to come pick me up. And when he did, I slept the whole way home...

Now it's weekend and I'm not going to do anything else than rest. Have a lovely weekend!

I'm back!

Home from the wonderland Älvsbyn. It has been a really good weekend, filled with family and friends, Alfapet and cozy children. I loved it! My mother and father drove me to the airport on the sunday, and after I boarded the plane I fell unconcious, slept through the start and all the way to Stockholm, and then the same thing on the plane to Malmö.

This time I got to meet our new scottish friends and their children. I feel like we got along really well, and we've decided upon meeting again before they travel to Scotland for christmas. And next time I'm bringing a certain Skåne-item I think they'll like.. ;)

I can't wait to go back again! It's amazing how quickly I settle at home, it takes about five seconds and then I'm talking norrländska like I never left, and kidding around with my brothers and the cats. And when I leave it always feels so hard. I wish I lived closer to them, but maybe I wouldn't apprechiate them as much if I did. I know I didn't come home that often when I went to LTU in Luleå, perhaps every quarter or so.

And strangely enough, I enjoy it here as well. The people are nice, the closeness to the continent is always nice to think of. I could go to Germany or Denmark just for the day or weekend. And perhaps I will do so, very soon... 

Stay tuned for more!

Surprise, surprise

My mother is celebrating her fiftieth birthday today (saturday), and for that special occasion I have travelled up for the weekend. It was a big secret, so of course only dad, my brothers and an aunt knew. And some more people, because dad has a problem with keeping secrets... ;)

It was really fun to see the look on moms face when she saw me. She couldn't believe it actually was me! And then we cried a little, and all was good... :)

Tomorrow it's a big party for family and friends. I look forward to meeting our scottish friends and their young ones, and all my relatives too.

I wish you all a good weekend!
Happy birthday mom!!

Weekend fun

Today I have been to Malmö with boyfriend and boyfriends friend. We have been to Hornbach, where I bought to sofa cushions, and two catnip toys. Then to Mediamarkt, where I bought nothing, and then to Jägersro. I've been trying to find a certain drawer that Jysk has, only problem is they don't have it any more. (Oh what a shame, where shall I put all my make up stuff in the bathroom?) Also, in Jägersro Centre, I found another knitted cardigan. It's from KappAhl and is black with cool details, kind of "boyish" but that's more my style anyway. Tonight we're going to see Angels and Demons, and I've also rented The Proposal and Star Trek (have already seen it, want to see it again... and again!).

I've had some time to lie down under a blanket and I've read a really nice book, Jane Green's In your clothes. It's about a single woman (a lá Sex and the City) and a married woman (a lá Desperate House wife) who switches lifes for a month, because both of them believe the grass is greener on the other side. (Well, is it?) Find out if you read the book! :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Today I've seen a teeeny weeny slowflake, falling down from the sky. And then multiply by a hundred. And then I got really excited and started to jump up and down. But it all melted away before it hit ground. Oh, what a dissapointment... how I long for snow!! (But soon I shall be home again, in my winter wonderland!) And a funny thing it, this morning I told my colleague that I smelled snow in the air. It's my good ol' Norrbottnian Nose!

And what else, then?
If you look over here you can see some lovely presents I've got. The candles and light I got as a present from my boyfriend, who also gave me a lovely dinner with a tasty red wine (Trio) last friday (I didn't forget to mention it, I just didnt have the time to ;).

The books and the other stuff comes from a "secret bookfriend" in a nationwide game called Pocket och Prassel (Pocketbook and crunchy stuff). It's a thing me and my fellow book bloggers do (we're about fifty in this game at present), all in the spirit of friendship, we love to try and to figure out the perfect gift for each other. Once a month we get a secret package from another book blogger - but who it is, that's for us on the receiving end to figure out. And of course, we give one away at the same time. But now it was the last package - at least for this Pocket and Prassel, which is the third installment.

Happy Halloween!

Hello everybody! In today's honour, I've searched and found Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas clip "This is Halloween!", and I am strongly considering renting the movie. As you may well know, I am very fond of musicals. Anyhow, have a very, very, merry and happy halloween/Allhelgona, remember the loved ones and please remember that ghosts DO exists (ooooOOOoh) no matter what people say.

A week later

Now it's almost weekend, and how I long for it! This week has been somewhat calmer and I have had time for some reading... The sci fi circle had a meating yesterday, we talked about this book which is funny but rather disgusting sometimes... Also, I have made a list of books to read until the end of this year. Of course, I will not even have the time to read half of them, and the list will grow larger even still. But it's nice to have everything in proper order. Now I'm reading Do androids dream of electric sheeps? by Philip K Dick. It's written in the 60's, but it's still cool. (The inspiration for the motion picture Bladerunner)...

But enough of the sci-fi. This weekend is halloween, and I've got nothing to do! Some would say "Oh, how sad for you" or "Oh, how sad and patetic you are to not have any friends to invite you to parties" but I'm saying "wooohooo - now I'll make time for some major romance! Maybe Jean M Auel or perhaps Marian Keys... And maybe I'll rent a movie too?

Autumn is nice, now I don't have to feel guilty for wanting to stay indoors and read...

Live long and prosper

Do you löv me?

(I know, it's not funny... not funny at all... :)*

Hiya guys! I promised a while back to let you know how the autumn in Skåne looks like, and now it's in full "bloom" down here... It's actually been somewhat cold (I even wear a cap somedays!) but of course it's nothing compared to the dry cold air in Norrbotten.

My parents have told me that Norrbotten have snow (!!!) all ready. I just wanted you to know I am really envious. Winter is my favourite season, at least in the beginning. I love the way the white snow lies like a blanket, covering the sleepy earth and letting it rest and gather strength for the spring... the way the snow glitters, and the sound your shooes make when you walk, and the sent of wood burning in a stove... The bright, starry nights...

But I wont miss out on it completely. This year I'll be coming up to Älvsbyn a while before christmas, which is nice. That way I can help with decorations and preparations. And spend some time with mom, dad and granny! I'm sad to say I will not spend christmas with my boyfriend, as usual, but he will be up later for New years eve in Luleå! (yeeeej!)

*For you non-swedish: The word "löv" means leaf but sounds like the world "love". (I know, it's still not funny :)

Pildammsparken

These pics are from Pildammsparken in Malmö, which means the Willow pond park. The pictures where taken on a trip there the 20th of september. Now the leaves are more yellow and red - even more beautiful. I can't help being in awe of the amazing climate difference this long country has to offer. Up where I come from it has allready started to snow and it's about 8 degrees below zero (celcius) in the morning.

Party Party

Last night I was at a birthday party in Malmö. It was really nice, we had lots of good food and fun and games. I had a chance to meet some wonderful people and - of course - sing singstar. My throat hurts a little today...

Today I'm planning on doing some major slacking.

Disaster strikes again!

Yes, Hi! It's me again.

Today I've lost one of my hearing aids. It's completely gone, it must have jumped out of my pocket. Damn damn damn.

And tomorrow I'm going to a party and I have no idea what to wear!

Oh Noes!

Since my middle name is Disaster I have been busy lately with lots and lots of fun stuff. Like...
- being tortured at the dentist
- forgetting my wallet (it is very hard to ride a bus without money, not to speak of getting food to eat)
- accidently pressing some sort of destruct-button on my work computer (there has to be a destruct-button, otherwise it wouldn't behave like that), thus making the help-desc furious, not to mention the work piling up while having *so much fun* trying to solve the problem

Well, well. I can't say that I'm surprised... ;)

Today - new pants. Tomorrow - The world!

Mission finally completed! I now have two pair of jeans that fits!! Lindex seems to be the only place that actually have my size (curvy with short legs and huge thighs & big butt) and since they seem to have *some* touch with size-reality I shall hereby name them Fias New Favorite Store, formerly known as Lindex.

Here in Skåne, the autumn rain has started. It seems to be raining all the time, and I'm really not in the mood for excercise at all. And I'm cold. My feets are cold (even though I'm in my grannys knitted socks), my hands are cold, my nose is cold... it feels like I'm cold into the core... But the upside of autumn - the lovely colours!

I just havent got around to taking pics, but.. Oh, the pletty colours! Autumn leaves, orange trees, mushrooms. Maybe I'll go to Bokskogen this weekend, if there's time. And then, you'll see...

The cutest thing of the day...

Dagens scoop

Så här känns det angående jobbet just nu... :)

Arachnophobia in Trelleborg

Nu har vi beviset på att Imse Vimse Spindel filmades i Trelleborg. Denna "lilla" sak upptäckte jag ikväll på min husvägg. Jag skrek inte, utan till min egen förvåning så var jag tvungen att gå närmare för att undersöka vad det var. Det kunde väl inte vara en spindel? Så stora spindlar finns väl inte i Sverige..? Well, tji fick jag! Den är till och med grövre i verkligheten än vad som framkommer på bilden eftersom bilden togs i mörkret...

I am scaaared...

Talk Like A Pirate-day!

Remembarr, remembarr, t' 19th o 'Septembarr!!
T'day it be Talk Like A Pirate Day, and that we celebrate! And what be that, you might wonder?? It be t' annual celebration o' Pirate lingo! Get in touch with your inner pirate!

My pirate name is:

Bloody Morgan Flint

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.

part of the fidius.org network

Singer, songwriter and line dancer

Woke up today with hair standing in all direktions and make up glued under my eyes... This means I was slightly drunk when I got home, but I don't feel hung over at all so it's all good.

You might wonder why I was slightly drunk last night and that's because we had a personel day yesterday followed by afterwork. We had fun and games all day long, and then we got to eat a delicious Italian buffé, then we danced, then there were entertainment, we were all taught to dance line dance... It was the most fun I've ever had at work!

One of the challenges was to create a song with certain words in it, and because I'm *such* a good song writer I immediately took on the duty. And - of course - it became a great success! We performed it in front of all the others and got really big applaudes, people even cheered "one more time, one more time!" but some of us where too embarrased to go up on stage again... People came up to me all night and told me how good my song was, some even thought it was the best thing of the entire day (me, not so much;)...

All in all, I am happy. Now I'm doing laundry and later on I'll read books and enjoy some chocolate. I've earnt it.

The things I got going...

A quiet weekend was followed by hectic week, and now I realize I havent written to you in seven days! So, what's new? What's old?

Last tuesday I went to The Prancing Pony (named after the Inn from Tolkiens LoTR) and met with some Attemark-members. Attemark is an historical reenactment society (that's a daughtersociety to SCA). I've been invited to follow to an event the first weekend of october. This should be interesting.. ;)

Tomorrow we have an personel day with afterwork at five, and for the rest of the weekend I plan to relax and perhaps I will go to Bokskogen again.

I'm really happy about all the things I got going right now, I'm getting new friends at work and in the SF-circle, I'm making my long time dream come true (Attemark), I'm succeeding at work. I even got a prolonged substitute-place, so now I'm employed until 30th september 2010, as it would appear. But I'm hoping it will turn into something more lasting.

In the last weekend of september there is also a book-event in Gothenburg, 30 swedish miles north. I SO want to go there, but I don't have anyone to go with and I'm not comfortable with crowded places... But one of my fellow bookbloggers is going to be in a debate about bookblogging and I'd love to go see her. Stay tuned and you'll find out more about how it goes...

Oh, and also I have not eaten any candy this week.

The best season of the year

Today I'm a little sad and still a little happy. (It's funny how these things can coexist.)

Autumn is here, or at least it will be very soon. For me autumn is The 'feel good-time' of the year. The wonderful colours, the cozy evenings in the sofa, with tea, a good book and a blanket (and a cat on top). It's time to buy some nice cardigans, a scottish scarf, a warm sweatshirt for exercise... It's time for my pelargonias to be put in from the balcony, and for the heather to take it's place. It's time to buy some extra cushions, maybe in some darker colours, like deep purple, orange, red, yellow, winter green and so on. It's time to relaxe...

Best autumnmovie: Dead Poets Society
Best autumn song: The road to home by Amy McDonald (followed by the hidden track Caledonia)
Best autumn drink: Tea, hot, earl grey
Best autumn food: Chanterelle-soup
Best autumn weather: Thunder and rain
Best autumn activity: Reading

Autumn is also, for me, a time of reflection. My brain, which has overheated during the summer, now cools off. The tempo slows down and I start to apprechiate the 'now'. The world in which I live in, the people I share it with. I'm happy about making new friends, missing my old friends, and of course my family. When I miss my loved ones, I usually listen to this song. (One of my favourite songs! I love the lyrics, and of course Scotland, Caledonia, but for me the song is about my own home, Norrbotten...)

Caledonia
I don't know if you can see
The changes that, have come over me
And these last few days
I've been afraid that I might drift away
So I've been telling all the stories
And singing songs that make me think about, where I came from
And that's the reason, why I feel so far away today
And let me tell you, that I love you
That I think about you all the time
Caledonia has been calling me
Now I'm going home
And if I should become a stranger
You know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything, I ever had
Caledonia's been everything, I ever had

Miss U guys!
(Btw, it's raining cats and dogs outside ant the lightning just killed the TV, at least for a second.)

Lifeforms.. you precious little lifeforms...

What kind of Star Trekkie are you? Your Result: You are a Vulcan or an android.   Your intellegence, and opinions are excepted everywhere. You believe in logic above all else. You are normally in a second in command position. This does not matter, for you are not prone to ambition, or any emotion for that matter. You do not understand other races thought patterns at times, making you seperated from those around you.
Captain
Omnipotent being
Klingon
Red shirt
What kind of Star Trekkie are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

District 9

The Cursed Waterbottle... Thought about naming the post that, but then I would just seem crazy. But it's true. That bottle of water has played a big role in the drama of wednesdays scifi meating has caused trouble ever since I bought it, a week ago this saturday. All though, due to the secretess law I cannot tell you more. :)

Last night I went to see the movie District 9. It's a really good sci-fi that is suppose to be like a documentary, but then evolves into the story of Wikus van der Merwe. The story begins with a recap of when the aliens came and landed over Johannesburg, and just wouldn't leave, and how the government placed them in "protection" in District 9. They stayed there for twenty years, and it became a ghetto with drugs, guns, and humans trying to profit of the aliens addictivness to cat food. But the citizens of Johannesburg just didn't want them there anymore, so MNU, a company dealing with aliens, made a plan to move them into another camp outside the city, a place that is similar to a concentration camp, giving the aliens a twentyfour hours eviction notice. Of course, the aliens doesn't want to be moved. They just want to be left alone, they just want to go home.

The movie takes up issues as human rights, racism, immigration, and puts it in the alien perspective, with us being the "bad guy". It makes you question ideals, forces you to think about what you really think about "the aliens". And besides that, it's a good action movie, filled with blasts, splatter, guts and gore. It sometimes was to much for me, being quite jumpy as I am, but the feeling of revulsion left and behind was the thoughts it implanted in me. I give it a good solid three, cause of this being parts in the movie I just didn't like. But I don't want to give too much away, so all I can say is - see it for yourself!

The Science Fiction book club and the snappy waiter

We meet every three weeks or so, and have been doing this for a little while. Tonight was a bit of a special night for us, cause we got to say goodbye to one of our fellow nerds who will be doing her nerd-stuff overseas, studying at Cambridge. (I'll miss her a lot!) And we also got to say hello to two new recruits, both of them strictly science fiction-readers who I'm going to introduce to some fantasy, hopefully to their liking.

We usually meet at Ölcaféet, but now I'm seriously starting to doubt if I want to continue going there. The seven of us ate and drank, and I ordered a cup of coffee as usual, and afterwards, I got a little bit thirsty. I had a waterbottle in my bag that I drank from, and then I put it on the table and forgot about it. A while later, when we were finishing up, a waiter came to me and sait - with a snappy tone - "You have to understand that this is not okay!". I got scolded by him for showing a water bottle. I could understand if he wanted me to put it away since it was a beverage in a restaurant, but the tone he used towards me made me SO angry. I put it away and then he came back, and started talking about it again, and I apologised, though raving inside with the injustice of me apologising to such a rude man. But I did it anyway, cause I'm a grown up.

That just pulled the plug of that evening, and we payed for our meals and left. But not before that rude, awful waitor decided that he should apologize back. He pat me on the shoulder and said something that - all though apologetic - still defended the act. I can loose my temper real quick when people are being total jerks so a part of me just want to go straight back and slap him silly.

Ok - *calming down*

Lost & Found

The police have found my missing bike, which I lost when I forgot to lock it, when I was in a hurry to the bus. I'm soo happy! I'm going to go get it now, and hopefully it will work like it did before (with constant air leakage).

My legs are pretty sore from the work out in the forest, but I'm smiling through the pain. Think of the calories burned! Fat lost - energy found, that sums up my life today.

I walked a swedish mile

Yes, I've been working out yesterday. Since I've been "resting" the whole week, and eating unhealthy food at the festival, I thought it might be a good idea to go for a long walk. But Trelleborg isn't that cozy to walk around in, so I went for a little outing to Bokskogen, my favourite place here in Skåne. It's kind of like the Sherwood forest. I took a walk for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, and during that time I saw slugs, snakes, deer, all sorts of animals. And I also burned about 1500 calories, and about 600 gram of fat. It was fun. Too bad it's such a long drive...

Malmö-festival

This just in...

There's been a huuuuge festival in Malmö this week, and it's free to visit. There's lots of big bands playing at differens stages all around town, but the main thing, really, for this festival is the food. Malmö is a city near the continent, with half of the population being immigrants from countries all around the world. There are all kinds of food, indian, thai, greek, chinese, hungarian, turkish, from all countries middle east. There's wild boar-burgers, spare ribs, moose-burgers, chocolate pancakes, bakes bananas with icecream... I've tried some and just loved it!

Yesterday I took a stroll down the streets of Malmö by myself, and this night I went with my colleagues, four lovely ladies. We saw NRJ in the Park and Soundtrack of our Lives, and I had a really nice time! (And there's talk of an girls night out...)

It seems like it's starting to happen things around me and that's nice. I'm really bored at home and want company!

I just found a piece of paper given to me by some friends to my boyfriend who live in Livingston, Scotland. We visited them on our trip over there and started talking about the scottish language and how lovely it is. I asked for explanations to certain words, and got the short list:

eejit - idiot (sounds pretty much the same to me)
haver - talk rubbish (like in the song 500 miles: "when I haver, well I know I'm gonna be haverin' to you")
dour - miserable
numpty - daft, stupid
wheesht - shut up
stramash - conflict
birl - twirl, turn round
drookit - wet
laldie - energetic, enthusuatic
drouth [drooth] - thirst
mauchit - dirty, filthy
glaikit - ugly
scunner - fed up
gallus - brave, confident
fankle - mixed up
greet - cry
neep - turnip
canny - wise
teuchter - people from the highlands
braw - nice

Some of these words actually makes some sense!

Saturday night "life"

I've just seen Seven Pounds starring Will Smith. A real piece of work, that man. He can play almost anything. Sad movie, though. If there's time and enough motivation, I might write a review about it for the third blog. But as you might notice there's not even enough to write in my ordinary blog, let alone the bookblog. Even though there are movies I've seen, books I've read, I just don't have the focus and motivation to write. That's a bad sign, since I love to write.

This weekend I've been reading old victorian ghost stories that are collected in a book that's called Den öppna dörren (The open door). It contains authors such as Elisabeth Gaskell, Margaret Oliphant and "Vernon Lee" (Violet Paige). It's a good book to have when you are couped up inside on a dark and stormy night, and so far I've enjoyed it very much.

On a different note - Malmöfestivalen has just begun with music and food from all over the world. They've put on big stages on the squares, and I went there for a quick stroll today during the day, cause I've never seen it before. It was well worth visiting, and I'm only sorry I didn't have someone to hang out with, I really wanted someone to sit with, outsidein the sun with a cold beer, enjoying the music. But oh, maybe next year!

Detox

Urk! I made it without buying candy yesterday. Never knew it would be this hard...
Instead, I got my hair done. It's really short right now, and I like it. But some times I miss my long, wavy hair... But AH, it'll grow back, when I'm done experimenting with different hair styles :)

Now I'm going out for a walk, and later I'll reward myself with some carrots for the efford.

Yum.

/Fia over and out

Weight of the world

Yours truly is actually carying the weight of the world, at least of her own little world (which is chocolate heaven). I think I finally realized I'm on my way of becoming a little fatty this sunday when I was out looking for a pair of new jeans. Not only did the sizes I tried on NOT fit, not even the size above them fitted. I live in chocolate heaven but also seem to be renting a flat in the land called Denial. And denial, thy name is Ben and Jerry Chocolate Fudge Brownie....

I'm craving chocolate like a madman... But I'm not gonna eat it anymore!
........ as much as before.

I'm not that good at discipline either, so I'm just gonna try to exercise more, for starters. Last night I took a fast walk with staffs for about 45 minutes. I'm going to try doing that every other day.

Wish me luck!

A day at the beach

This wonderful saturday I've been a beach called Mossbystrand between Trelleborg and Ystad (we gave up Glimmingehus because of the heat). I've swam for hours, playing, standing on my hands in the water, making flipovers, diving around, just like when I was a kid. The beach had fantastic white sand and a small ice cream shop near by that had salt licorice *mmm*... For a little while I actually fell asleep while sunbathing, it was that nice. This night we've had minute steak, pommes chateau and garlic butter and some medium strenght beer, Mariestad, which is whichy-washy, but perfect in the summer heat.

Tomorrow I'll be going in to Malmö to look at a new car, shop and perhaps visit the park for a while for a picnic. One never knows!

Enough with the pictures!

Okay, I'll put a lid on the scot-pictures for a while, just to tell you what's really going on right now...

This week has really been about book cirkels. This tuesday I was with the girls talking about Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks, which I wrote about on my book blog Boktimmen. Then tonight I went with the guys (and one other girl) to chat about Mary Gentle's Grunts.
In the girl circle we are about to read Siri Huss - Sorgesång (Mourning song) and in the guy circle we've decided on Alan Campbell's Scar Night.

I joined the first circle of only girls last september, when I got tired of sitting at home with nothing to do and noone to spend time with in the evenings, and then I decided to start my very own in.. (my god, when was it? goes to check..) march. Two circles means I get to know more people, and my very own circle has also a niche which I very much care for - Sci fi and fantasy. Of course, with SF being a really nerdy genré, there's not a lot of girls in the circle, just me and another one who will be leaving to study at Cambridge this fall. But I'll manage just fine with me and the guys, cause they're really nice dudes :)

Otherwise there's really nothing spectacular going on. I'm working, but I use the flex as much as possible during these lovely summer days, and this weekend I will try to go to Glimminge Hus (Glimminge House) in Ystad (Wallandercountry for those into those movies). There's a medieval happening there that I don't want to miss.

More after that!

Edinburgh Castle

On monday we went to see Edinburgh Castle, the most important castle in the Scottish history. The castle itself is situated on a hilltop. First you go through a huge gate connected to the outer wall, and then there are several large stone buildings, sort of like a little village, some connected and some standing by them selves, on different levels as you walk up to the actual castle.
As you walk along the steps and stairs you realise that your in the middle of an old military compound. To this day there's actually still a military regement living in one of the wings of the castle, and in one of the other wings they have a military museum with machines and guns.





In one of the grassy balconys (that's not a good word for them but I cant find a better) you find an old soldier dog cemetery (notice the headstones close to the wall).

The whole castle is surrounded by guards because they actually have the Scottish Honours in a separate museum where the kings and queens had their apartments. It's actually quite cool to follow the scottish history trail around in the rooms, and there's a long story to how the honours where kept safe during war, and then went missing, only to be discovered a hundred years afterwards in an old huge chest with a fake bottom. Of course, we weren't allowed to take pictures of them, otherwise I would have showned them to you.. :)

I'm sure some of you not-so-in-love-with-Scotland as myself must be thinking 'That all fine, but what's going on with you right now?' And to that I can tell you that I've started working again, with is really though because of the lovely weather and all. As soon as I see people heading to the beach I get really jealous. But I hang in there, thinkin' I'll get my chance during weekends. All though, it's weekend right now and I'm not at the beach (what am I doing in doors on this lovely hot summers day?!). I'm home alone and have rented a movie (Fried Green Tomatoes) and have bought crisps and Ben&Jerrys. Maybe I'll go out for a walk in a while, exercise is good, (or so I've been told).