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!
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.
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 :-)
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!
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
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...
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 :-)
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?
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...
