And back again...

My week in Germany passed way too quickly. For the first time in a very long time I really enjoyed myself in my hometown. I met so many friends, some of them I haven't seen in ages. I had some major flashbacks to my schooltime and the summer after graduation which in retrospective was one of the best ones ever. Knowing, that I have about three months to do whatever I like, having fun and simply enjoying life without any thought about the future but at the same time knowing, that I have a letter of acceptance for university in my pocket, made this time really special and absolutely fantastic! Apparently having a certain time window, a limitation to a certain period of time, seems to make it all easier to enjoy. From time to time doing nothing can be so damn good, but not knowing, when this doing-nothing-period ends kind of takes away the fun-part.

Christmas eve also turned out to be the best in years. I don't know why, but maybe the absence of presents helped a little bit. This year we simply decided, that we skip the whole christmas stress and instead try to relax and enjoy the food and each other's company. In my opinion, we definitely suceeded.

I also managed to do everything that I planned to do, like sorting out my old stuff and getting rid of some of my old furniture. My couch found a new owner and my old closet is going to furniture heaven. Going through the boxed I discovered old photographs, games, toys, schoolstuff, diaries, tons and tons of old clothes and shoes: it is pretty impressive how much stuff we tend to collect over the years. The good thing is that with every moving we have to face our collections and sort things out. On the one hand it is shocking, as I suddenly saw myself as a borderline-messy but on the other hand I could be proud of myself when I looked at the full bags of rubbish. Now I "just" need to do the whole procedure once more with my student-room in Stockholm.

Now I am on the ferry, waiting for the departure. My car is fully packed with furniture, decorations, kitchen stuff and food. I am dead tired and fell asleep in the car twice while in the waiting line for the check in, fortunately the trucks woke me up when they started their heavy machines. The weather conditions have been slightly better than on my way to Germany, but the first four hours were also very slippery-snowy. It started snowing half an hour before I got going... all the other days: dry. Someone up there has it in for me... Let's hope the streets in Sweden are ice-free so I can go home fast. Time for sleeping now.

Wish me luck!

Oh what a trip!

I left Stockholm on Saturday early evening right after 6 hours on the market with -10°C, although my ferry was leaving from Trelleborg on Sunday late afternoon. Due to the very winterly weather conditions and constant warnings about foreign trucks on Swedish motorways with bad summer tires I decided to leave early. The first three hours of my ride weren't pleasant at all, I don't even remember having seen such a winter before. Tons of snow, the snow plough cannot work fast enough and barely any vision at all. Surprisingly I still made it all the way to Malmö, where I arrived round 2am. Fortunately there was also a nice hotel right next to the motorway so I did not have to search for long.

The next day, after taking a nice 9 hour sleep I went to the car, which was covered in about 30cm of snow. In my opinion this is quite a lot, especially for Skåne. Global warming and its effects: even in Germany winter has arrived, my hometown is also experiencing snow, which has not happened for a longer time. I hope though that there won't be so much on the motorway. Now it is 11.30pm and my ferry is supposed to arrive at 0.45. I am tired and still have some four to five hours of driving ahead of me. I am not too psyched. I already tried to kill time by watching Ice Age, which is a shockingly short movie when you plan to be entertained as long as possible... but it was the only movie besides Planet Terror that I still had on my mac. Afterwards I tried to sleep a little in the café as I did not book a cabin. In general this would have worked well if there weren't the drunk Dutch truck drivers singing from the top of their lungs. I cuddled up on a couch-like bench anyway but got woken up a little while later by the sound of a camera being switched on. When I turned around and lifted my hoodie from my face one of the truckers made a run for it. He was apparently standing behind me trying to take a picture of my back...Disturbing and disgusting! With that incident I decided to give up the thought of getting some sleep and since the café just opened again I got a cup of coffee instead. As I never drink coffee the effect is immediat: nervous and fully awake like a squirrel! I am listening to a very funny christmas cd right now, with cheesy Swedish christmas songs and comedy versions of christmas songs mixed with the usual christmas stuff (Mariah Carrey, Wham). My favourite right now is "Ho ho fucking ho" by Monty Python and "Jul igen" by Just D... although the South Park Christmas song also got its charm :-D Can't wait to sit in the car again to sing as loud as I can... of course just to keep myself awake ;-)

The past few weeks have finally been busy: Trying to arrange my new place although admittedly I am not doing as much as I want to. I applied for a job in Oslo as well and put a lot of effort in that application (with the support of my sister and friends) to make it as perfect as possible. This job would be incredible! And until I hear back from them and know if I am staying in Stockholm or not I don't want to invest to much money and time into this place. I don't really think I have particularly big chances to get the job but at least I cannot blame my application. It was actually one of the best ones I send so far. So people, keep your fingers crossed! I really need to start working now, earn money, live the life of a grown-up plus I really WANT to work! Though I don't want to leave Stockholm, but with a youth-unemployment rate of 30 percent, tendency rising to 35 percent next year, I cannot be too picky about the place, plus Oslo is not too bad either.

Working two jobs, having a friend visiting, writing applications, getting my car fixed (3 days in the shop and nobody could find an explanation for my battery constantly dying) and of course shopping at IKEA: my first real own bed, no bed-sofa, no futon, a REAL bed! My first night in the flat should be awesome!

Half an hour to go until Travemünde, finally. The coffee kicks in and hopefully the effect lasts some more hours. Otherwise Erik Grönwall's single and the new Mando Diao single in constant repeat have to do their job.

And off I go!

Oh happy day!

So, yesterday my Idol favorite Erik Grönwall won and it indeed made me very happy! Not that I did not expect his win, but still.
Today I picked up my car from the shop. They inspected it for 3 days now and could not find any reason for the (new) battery constantly breaking down. On the one hand that is good, because I do not need to pay for expensive fixing but on the other hand it is a little worrying. Driving a car for a long way down to Germany without knowing if or when it might break down the next time... Keep your fingers crossed that it survives.

And another good thing about today: the sun came out. Has been ages since I last felt so energetic!

Little by little...

... finally there is some motion coming into the deadlock of my past weeks: I finally got an apartment thanks to my lovely friends Eva and Anders. I am now a proud hirer of one sleeping room, kitchen (my own!!!) and bathroom. So glad, it is actually the first real flat that I am renting on my own. I was getting so incredibly excited, about changing the interior and some minor things, but apparently times are getting busy. I had a friend visiting, currently have two jobs, still looking for a full-time job, need to get my car fixed the third time this year and my training. This is of course my own choice, but I really need sports to be balanced. In total I have positive stress but I would love to finally take care of the apartment and somehow end up not finding the time. End of next week I am driving down to Germany to pick up a few things of my old stuff and of course celebrate christmas with my family. I am counting the days! And the good thing about this year's christmas is that my family and me decided to not go crazy about presents and rather spend some relaxed time with each other... and eat a lot of course :-) We all need a time out!

I just booked the ferry as I really don't fancy driving 17 hours on my own. Pricewise it doesn't actually make such a big difference, which I find very surprising. Nonetheless it will be a 20 hour journey with 12 hours driving, yuck!

However, tomorrow is finally the day: I have absolutely nothing booked in and therefore I will go and buy paint for the kitchen drawers as they are in a very disturbing blue and I will check again for a lovely wallpaper for the hall. I already keep my finger's crossed that my car can leave the shop tomorrow so I can take a ride with it.

The evening is also dedicated to calmness: the final of Idol!!! I would have loved to see the amazing Erik Grönwall live in Globen, but I think then I would just realize how childish my excitement about Idol is when surrounded by 13-year old screaming teenager girls. Besides my dignity I would probably also suffer an akute hearing loss.

Saturday then will be the day when I finally get started in the apartment. Can't wait! Get rid of some of the old furniture inside, painting, enjoying having my own place, all the good stuff. Now I should actually finish an application that I started about 12 days ago. Damn, time really flies sometimes.

Have a good evening and don't forget to watch Erik Grönwall :-)

quiiiietsch

If that isn't the cutest thing ever, I don't know:

Swine flu can be funny :-)

what to do....

Since I do not really have that much to do, I rediscovered "That 70s Show". Eric decided to take a year off and only do stuff he wants to do, like catching butterflies. Awesome!

Shocking!

The photographer Chris Jordan took pictures of Albatross chicks on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific.
"The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent."

If you are interested in the entire series, go to http://www.chrisjordan.com/.

Got lazy

Well, well, someone neglected her blog. I finally managed to get busy again with my job, meeting friends, house- and job-hunting and of course travelling. So this week I visited my sister in east-Slovakia. A lovely town called Kosice. After a flight to Bratislava and a 6 hour trainride I arrived in a different world. Everything looks like having stopped in the 60s to 80s, kind of trashy and poor, the busses have a certain Sovjet-touch, the streets are bumpy, the trams have flickering lights so you are afraid of getting a seizure soon and the houses look a little depressing.

The nightlife however is suprisingly nice though different as well: the music is oldschool (80s and 90s trash), though not in the good way, but the locations are cozy (without any ventilation) and expecially the cafés are snug. I have also hardly ever seen so many ill-dyed hair in shades of light purple, red, orange and yellow-white-greyish combined with white boots. Yuck!

It is pretty weird to be in a country, in which it is difficult to communicate: I do not speak Russion or Slovakian, while they don't speak English, though sometimes hints of German. Things changed when we went to Budapest, where it was no problem at all to speak English. The weather was not the finest, but the fog somehow gave the city a certain touch. The hostel, in which we stayed was lovely (Casa de la musica) and close to the center and a few bars and coffee places. In Budapest you actually get a hot chocolate with the consistency of a hot chocolate. In Slovakia it is more like pudding, really thick and incredibly sweet. I made the typical beginner's mistake by eating the whipped cream first before I discovered the thickness of the "chocolate". I learned my lesson and the next hot chocolate with whipped cream was mixed first: by this I could actually drink it and not sup it.

The time in the East flew by so quickly, what a pity!

The outlook from my sister's kitchen window:

Kosice Business Center... Impressive, right? 

The city center, which really is beautiful:

Getting ready for nightlife:

Cosmopolitan Bar with Jenny and one of my sister's classmates:

Club Ibiza, oh yeah:

Welcome to Casa de la musica in Budapest... well and the swine flu:

Weirdest dog I have ever seen. Looked like an old mop (and smelled like one):

Fortunately there are jackalopes

Helping against the Novemberblues:

Fun can change our behaviour

Most people probably already heard about "thefuntheory.com" or "rolighetsteorin.se", but for those of you, who haven't heard about this fantastic initiative (by Volkswagen Sweden), here are some clips.

The bottle bank arcade:

The world's deepest bin:

Piano stairs:

So the idea behind this initiative is, that people's behaviour can be change when they are having fun. I love it!

Most unproductive week of the year

According to the Daily Telegraph this week is the most unproductive week of the year. The reason for that is twofold: the clock change from summer- to wintertime and the darkness, especially in the northern regions. In UK the work-productivity goes down by 50 percent in the week after the clock change. Although there are no specific data for Sweden, I am pretty sure, that Sweden does not differ from UK. Nearly everyone I know moans about the tremendous tiredness, not only in the end of the day. I also feel like just collapsing into bed round 5pm, like about right now :-) I instead decided to make my room cosier than it already was by putting up some chains of lights and re-arranging my candles. I know for sure that I won't drink coffee again. In comparison to some other people I react intense to it: yesterday it just gave me tachycardia and made me run around like a nervous squirrel.

Also just staying inside does not really help, so tonight we are going to see "Friska Viljor" at Lilla Hotellbaren, as they just released a new album ("For new beginnings"). Tomorrow there will be the release party at Debaser. I can recommend listening to them, pretty nice music. Uplifting and happy music is what we need now! Their new single "Wohlwill" is not on youtube yet, but the last one "Old man" is:

Muse in Stockholm

One of my most favorite bands of all times, Muse, played in Stockholm last Saturday. I decided super-last-minute to see them and got lucky, as a few tickets were available again after the concert has been sold out for weeks. The seat, yes... seat, was in a crappy position as I thought from looking at the seating-scheme of Hovet. When arriving at Hovet and at my lovely seat, I was positively surprised: Since Muse used a round stage I had a perfect view onto the stage, well and at the crowd as I was nearly opposing them.

They started playing pretty early, so at 8.45pm and the first two songs just gave me goosebumps. What an amazing band! Their show was impressive: a shiny black stage with lasers and spotlights all around, cubes that could be moved up and down with videoclips projected onto the sides, cubes hanging in the air also playing videoclips... It was amazing. At the end of the show securities brought huge white balloons and threw them into the crowd. Once the balloons popped, confetti was exploding over the heads of the exciting crowd. This was yet another moment when I was happy sitting high above that spectacle. And of course I only managed to sit still during the first song, in the beginning of the second song I couldn't sit anymore. Luckily my seat was right behind a passage way, so I at least did not disturb anyone with my standing. Seriously, sitting during a concert?! Nothing for me!

So and since my camera, that had been broken for over half a year, that I send in for fixing, but when arriving at the camera service they could not find anything and send it back to me without any fixing but a nice bill, is now working perfectly fine again, the videos below are in a pretty nice quality. Small electronic devices seriously hate me!

Being in the best mood after the concert, I went to Debaser Slussen... as usual on Saturday evening. The music was absolutely great, despite the weird DJ guy. He hates Germans and lets everyone know it. Well he can like or dislike anyone he wants to, but him being German himself makes the whole thing a little odd.

Joke gone bad

... don't try this at home

Time for a change

Walking through the city with Amelie today had the big advantage that the day passes quite quickly and I get some motion, so don't sit in front of the computer the entire day. In the t-shirt store we stumbled over a nice t-shirt, that is pretty much expressing my situation right now :-) 

I want it all and I want it now!

Just quoting my friend Tycha, who is more or less in the same situation as me (...just slightly better...) and one of the most brilliant bands on this planet: Queen!
I want it all: job, apartment, new mobile, fun and so many other good things in life. Greedy? No! Just ambitious!

Oh what a wonderful day

Well I cannot complain about the past weeks that I had, but still, this day just gave me a good feeling. I had a lot of applications done again and finally also got some answers, like "thanks for your application. We will get back to you as soon as possible." and "Your application sounds interesting..." blah blah blah. The simple difference to all the other applications is that I finally know for sure, that they received my application and that I am involved in a kind of process. Makes it so much easier to continue writing. Weeks and weeks before: no response, nothing at all, which was admittedly quite frustrating.

So, first point on my to do list: check. Afterwards I went into the city for a short kind of concert in a record store and afterwards a signing session of the wonderful Joshua Radin. It was beautiful! Afterwards I even got the chance to exchange a few words with him, which was pretty amazing :-) His name might not sound familiar to everyone, but his songs are definitely well known to the Scrubs watchers among us, but could also be heard in "House" and "Grey's Anatomy". As he is a friend of Scrubs "J.D." Zach Braff, Radin's music also appears in Braff's movie "The last kiss".

I am just wondering how small things can make such a big difference: someone saying something nice, seeing a musician live and realizing how great he actually is, getting finally some things done, having fun in the leisure time... Adding up all the small nice things of today, the sum of it just put a big smile on my face.

Good night

Little drinking advice

The horoscope conclusion

Alright, 11th October has passed by and nothing particularly exciting, well jobwise, has happened, still unemployed and no one offered me a job. To look at the bright side though I found a lot of jobs today, that I applied to. My fingers and hopefully some extra fingers are crossed.

Ok interpreting a horoscope afterwards seems a little bit like cheating, but if I want to keep up my belief in them, it could still be proven right. The horoscope said it would be "an important day in my career". Since the career was not further specified I could also apply it on my capoeira "career": my teacher "promoted" me yesterday by telling me I could now join the advanced group and by this leave the beginners group :-)

Admittedly this also proves that you can read the horoscope however you want to.

Well well, if I don't have a job career, then I at least have my sports career...

Autumn time - snuffles time

Even after three years in Sweden there is this one thing I do not understand: why do Swedish people think, that blowing the nose in public is disgusting but instead snuffling is the better solution? In the beginning I just felt irritated and was wondering if all the people in the tube forgot their tissues (which was admittedly naive and rather unlikely). The a friend told me that she read in a kind of "rules of etiquette" book that blowing your nose is a no go in Swedish society.

I adjusted to it as good as I could. When living in a foreign country you wanna show some respect to the rules and behaviours of the according country as I am the foreigner, right? But still, the whole idea does not make any sense in my mind. How is snuffling, sharing the fact that you have a running nose, better than one time blowing your nose and get it over with? The tricky thing about the whole adjustment is that when I return to Germany for a few days I of course do not re-adjust myself automatically, I am no robot. But with the snuffling of my nose I collected some weird looks from other Germans around me, which was the reminder "Oh damn, wrong country for snuffling!" The good thing then about being in Germany again is the huge variety of tissues. Here in Sweden I often have to dig a little until I find then, but in Germany the plurality of tissues is overwhelming: with balm, extra-soft, menthol, for kids, big box, aroma therapy etc etc. In Swedish supermarket: Lambi and house brand of the accordant supermarket.

Supermarkets can certainly be a very good indicator for all kinds of typical behaviours and habits, both foodwise and hygienic. While Swedish supermarkets have a huge variety of "lösgodis", their diversity of milk products is relatively small in comparison to Germany. I have to admit though, that in Swedish supermarkets the needs of people with food intolerances are well considered: lactose intolerance, gluten free, all kinds of diet stuff; a food intolerance does not mean to abstain from anything. In general, the eco market and "hälsokost" are very well covered here. A lot of things are also nearly fat free, but reading the small imprints just shows: cutting down the fat means adding up sugar :-(

When I am for example in Åhléns, I am impressed how much make up there is and how little hygienic stuff in comparison. I mean I can get everything I need, but nontheless I am happy to go to Germany to go to DM, my most favorite cosmetic store in the world: cheap, nice, good stuff and again a HUUUUUUGE variety of everything. I wouldn't keep on stressing this fact if my Swedish friend Helena, that came to a road trip with me this summer through Germany, was completely staggered after entering DM for the first time. She never wanted to leave again. The prices just made her speechless AND the quality of the stuff also convinced her. Mmmh yeah, I guess DM is one of the things I miss most, but nonetheless, I absolutely love Sweden and don't want to leave any time soon :-)

Canal+

Saw this advertisement on a friend's page and felt like sharing it:

Horoscopes: complete bullshit or supernatural guidance?

I often read my horoscope and wondered, how it can be possible that it seems to match my situation word for word. Of course, there is the one explanation, that the writers of the horoscopes use such general terms, that it applies to nearly everybody, depending on where your mind is at. And the other, supersticious explanation would be, that we are in fact affected by the stars.

My horoscope, well the last one I read, told me, that on 3rd October my energy will be outworn. That was last Saturday and I was really beyond tired. I couldn't move anymore and just felt like going into hibernation. Ok, the two nights before I did not sleep much at all and drank a lot. It could have been coincidence, but what if it was written in the stars, everything was destiny? It also says that 11th October will be an important day for my career... we will see about that. Stars: BRING IT ON!

The stars also have an opinion about my health and my sport motivation: my health is in danger thanks to flu-planet neptun and instead of working out I should consider going into the sauna and do some stretching. And I really do feel weak, sick and not like capoeira at all...

People that do not believe in horoscopes might say, that everything is a big coincidence and wonder, how the stars could actually influence us. But seriously, how many of us could not sleep so well due to full moon? If the moon is strong enough to interfere with our sleep and influence the tide, why shouldn't the stars or their constellation have an impact on our lives? I am not saying that I fully believe in that stuff, but it is still worth it to think about it. I picked a certain magazine at a certain time and feel that the horoscope matches my life at this particular point. When I then try to find some other horoscopes for example on the internet, they do not quite fit. This would proof of course the people saying, that horoscopes are complete bullshit, but it also proofs the superstition, that we are affected by the stars and that all comes down to destiny: the particular, chosen magazine and it's horoscope matches me after all, right?

For the sake of completeness, there is a third option: the texts are written in a very general way and the gentle reader will interprete anything suitable into the words to make it fit to his/her own situation. It is like finding a horoscope that you don't like: then it is easily called bullshit. If you like what you read it might be right and oh wonder, the stars are right.

So does it in the end depend on ourselves? Is it the stars influencing us or are we making our own destiny?

just to feel good

Ordbajsa

no further comment...

Rebellion of the small electronic appliances

Maybe it's just me but I have the slight feeling that small electronic appliances hate me. Well it all started with my car, yes, this is certainly no small electronic device, but the whole rebellion must have started somewhere. After my car broke, I could somehow fix it. It was only the battery though, but nontheless a proud moment of mine to be able to fix a car. A small moment for manhood, a big moment for me! After some minor repairs I even got it through car inspection *woop woop*

However, afterwards the vicious circle started: my wonderful scanner/printer/copier all-in-one broke. The printer still functioning but no scanning. This is quite tricky with a machine like this, as when you exchange the ink cartridge it prints out a test page, that you are supposed to put on the scanner for the adjustment of the cartridge position...

The nice people at HP service center asked if the device was plugged in. Erm, well thanks for assuming I am a moron. Afterwards they gave me the advice to switch off the device and then turn it on again, then it should work again... It did not. They then concluded, that there must be a hardware problem and I should send my sweetheart in. At the same time I got warned, that if there is no guarantee anymore it might not be worth it to fix it. Of course I do not have a guarantee anymore, the all-in-one broke 2 weeks after the warranty run out. Seriously, how many electronic things break shortly after the guarantee time? It is also a sad advice to not get something fixed but instead buy something new, as this is the cheaper alternative. In what kind of throwaway society do we live? Fixing of things is not worth it anymore?

Well after my printer/scanner etc my beloved camera broke. It wouldn't communicate through pictures anymore but just beeps to me. Terrible, that I don't speak camera-beep yet, would love to know what is going on with my baby. It is now the 3rd time it breaks, the first two times were, unbelievable but true, within the guarantee time :-) Now I am seriously considering a new camera and maybe I should read some reviews before to see eventually existing problems with the device of my choice. I know, double moral standards, but hey, two repairs and it still breaks???

Well and today my Germany sim-card gave up. Yup, I can even make sim cards break. Awesome, tomorrow I am going to Germany. I searched for the stupid card for weeks, now that I find it is doesn't work anymore. Need to get a new one tomorrow.

This situation reminds me of Farin Urlaubs song "Dusche" with the difference that my household does not wanna kill me but rather commits suicide around me...

Graduate - now what?

After graduating there is a lot of time for thinking and of course for fun stuff. So besides hanging out with friends, travelling as much as possible and training I should also use some of my time to find a job and an apartment. Just a matter of time until SSSB will be kicking me, a non-student, out. The second part of the search is pretty difficult without "en fast inkomst", a real job. I sometimes wonder, when I actually entered the world of grown-ups... so damn serious!

The job hunt is not easier either: just read in "Stockholm city" that the unemployment in Stockholm has been rising a lot again: AWESOME! Perfect time for me, a German person with imperfect Swedish skills and non-English native speaker to search for a job. Well, but it would be wrong to be all depressed, so I keep telling myself "Hang in there, can only get better".

So while searching the world wide web for jobs, I also read some German news and got irritated: there was a whole article dedicated to the pants of an actress. You might wonder why, well so did I: the clue about her pants was, that the zipper was in the back, right on her butt. SERIOUSLY??? Well, at least explains the article a lot, for example why Germans are not particularly well known for their sense of fashion or being daring fashion-wise.

Stockholm Pride and nightlife stuff

This week Stockholm showed itself from the queer and very proud side: It was Stockholm Pride. Plenty of activities during the week climaxed in the parade on Saturday noon. Somehow I expected a little more from it. It was not as colourful and loud as I thought, instead it seemed to be more about "see" and "being seen" of political parties, proud parents and all kinds of organisations. Maybe the impression of the flashy Christopher Street Day gave me a wrong idea, or this was simply the Swedish way of showing pride, a little bit more "lågom"... who knows. Still it was nice to watch.

All those proud gay people of course also found their way into the nightlife. My friend Amelie and me went to Trädgården. An interesting location under the motorway bridge, nicely illuminated with colourful flourescent tubes, chains of lights and flashy lit windows. The strong beat music of "Tilde" and the playful happy music of "Vivian Alive" was very good, the DJs surprised with an uncommon mix of music, like Nena, Liquido and Tom Petty. All the couches made the place surprisingly cosy. Right under the bridge, where something like a tribune was put, the nightowls could play Super Mario World. The game was projected to one of the pylons of the bridge. It was funny so see, how everyone was somehow participating in the game: whenever one of the contestants made Mario or Luigi fall down one of the many abysses, a genereal "oooooow" went through the crowd, which stared fascinated at the wall.

Mario and Luigi on the wall:

The magnetized crowd

Since Trädgården closes at 1am we continued to Debaser Slussen, somehow the place where we always end up. The music was nice like usual, but the people around us were a little bit too drunk...

However, the great things about summer in Stockholm is that you can have tons of fun for free: Trädgården is for free before 8pm and the drink prices are also decent. The uteservering of Debaser is also for free. And another location is F12 Terassen. Well the average age is rather young, but the music is good; before 10pm entrance for free as well. So even without any money and the agreement to stay sober for a few nights and drinking water instead, it is still possible to have a lot of fun :-)

Getting started again...

It's time for a blog again. This will be a place for general thoughts about people, fashion in Stockholm (for Marlee in a country far, far away), Stockholm nightlife and whatever might happen in Sweden. Sometimes all I need is a valve for all the musing, absurdities of the everyday life, fun stuff like fashion, music and nightlife and other things that fill our lives and make them exciting.

This weekend a lot has been going on in Stockholm, first of all the colourful "Stockholm pride parade". Summer is also the perfect time for all kinds of outside-bars, which mostly have good live-music and don't cost any entrance. Sometimes just arriving early can save you a lot of money, which instead is well spend in the happy hour.

Since the sun is shining outside RIGHT NOW, I better leave the tiny room of mine immediately.