Bus, Trains And Automobiles

Some of you might recognize the title as partly inspired by this comedy. By that you can probably guess what happened last Friday. It began with me travelling to the next door muncipality for an interview. I had someone drive me there and I got a tour or the workplace for two hours and when all is finally is done I'm greeted by another car pulling up and starter cables. Our car didn't start. Lucky enough it was still good timing. I came home and prepared for my trip for my mothers 50th birthday. I pack and sleep a bit. Ready to go to the trainstation and... it rains. And my umbrella is packed down and on top of that not completely whole. I should have known something was up. Didn't matter anyway since I would relax in a X3000 or X55. So I stand there waiting... and waiting... and waiting. Electrical problems, no trains comes in or our of the station. Great!

There is even a short news sequence on it and what do you know, I am in the background twice, prominently with my bright jacket and black umbrella. Play spotting Niklas if you want. So I'm stranded. About two hours later around 19:00 two busses comes in... which goes directly to Stockholm no stops... which is clarified as I sit down in the bus so it is out for me. Of course not until I bump my head in the roof... twice. I wait even longer. Around 21:00 I'm one hour late to arrive at my final destination. Now busses comes in to tale us to Karlskoga, where a train is waiting. I walk in... and bump my head in the roof. I'm glad I packed a couple of sandwiches cause arrive to the train an ambulance is waiting as someone fainted in the train. Good god. What a trip. At least the bistro was free (except the alcoholic beverages) so I grabbed a soda, a chocolate ball and a chocolate bar. You know I like chocolate right?

During all this I need to say that the train personal that was stranded with us did an excellent job eventhough many would say otherwise. You could feel it that people was tired when we got close to 21:00 and felt irritated on both sides when some haven't eaten or anything like that. But they did good with talking to the travellers and informing people on what happened and took care of most problem arrising as connection points and such. Of course the trip isn't over. When I sit down I read the magazine in front of me and the first page is an ad with the text:

"The journey is the reward"

I didn't ask for a reward. Also the full-moon glared at me during the final stage. I arrive in Södertälje at 23:55... four hours late. And now a one hour trip in a car to my parents house and straight to bed. Woke up at 7:30 as the sun lights up the whole room since there is curtains or sunblocker of any kind.  Both on Saturday and Sunday. At least it was a nice party. And then it was the trip home. I hitched a ride with my sister halfway and rhe only problem was a small green car that even a car with a trailer in tow passed it by. Later I was supposed to take the bus... 10 minutes late and no functioning toiletts. At least the weekend was consistent.

Phoenix Rising

Blog post Nr 301... maybe I should have waited with Nr 300 as I now actually have interesting things to talk about. And what may this be? PARTY TIME! After missing most of the freshman weeks I decided to make the last one the best. And boy, it was AWESOME. Donning the 4 year old white (it was at least white when I got it) overall I haven't used for maybe a year with the red t-shirt. The armor of the political scientist. Rising from the grey ashes of boredom I awakened as a burning phoenix riding forward on my... orange steed (a bus). Like a saviour I appeared before the freshmen with the knowledge of 4 years of studies and experiences of former days with SVIK. Giving my services of more manpower to the third group I was back where I belonged when I was a freshman. Just the aura that emitted from me pushed us forward so that our group one the first competition and I stepped aside, but the victories continued (or that's how I will look at it).

Onward into the town core like a raging river hunting points to push the third group up to the top. After the time has run out it was time to recuperate before the dinner. The old guard, we who have been members of SVIk more than a year, joined forces to make sure that we all had the same level. We started to transform into the four riders of the apocalypse bringing the message that this will be the hour our final ride starts. Then we start the ride... and one of the others just disappears. He runs in and say it times to move. I and another jumps at the call to arms while the last take some time before leaving. We get to the door... and he's gone. Disappeared into thin air. What the Hell? Ever heard of the Bro Code dude? Well, we found him at least at the place we're going with the lame excuse that we weren't fast enough. I call bulls**t. Anyway, this would probably be just a parentheses in the quest toward the dinner if for not the fact that I actually stood for the music. A shame that I haven't updated it since 2007 or something.

Ahh, the Dinner. A pleasant evening with food and some drinks. Sitting besides some old friends and a lot of unknown woman. Too summarize the rest of the evening it was a lot of lip gloss, winning some chocolate, giving a girl a piggyback ride (the result for those who don't know was face to the asphalt, I never was that strong), muddy freshman wine, a trip into town and back, a cigaret and walking in the rain. And then we have today. Yeah, bed ridden till ca 16:00, exceptions when I hugged the toilet turning the stomach inside out. If it was the cigaret, the freshman wine or the other alcohol I leave unsaid. Well worth it!

Beat It

So what have I been up to since the last update? Working with the election and collecting early votes and studying Economics B. Not even a whole week and I'm pretty beat. At the end of the day I'm walking like a zombie back home while my eyelids constantly tries to fall to the ground. Two more weeks than it's over. I still hope the current government continues (and most polls predict that thats the case), especially since it appears that the Social Democrats (the largest opposing party and formerly the only ruling party of Sweden) have resorted to vote for people instead for arguing why they shall vote for them (sorry for the swedish news, but no english speaking news site seems to be talking about this for the moment). All in all you begin to wonder if the danes are correct that we need observers during the election.

What else? Oh yeah, I think I'm getting sick. My throat hurts and I start to feel the early signs of a cold. The seniors who voted must be contaminating me. Nah, more likely that I've isolated me for such a long time that when I meet a lot of people every day I'm very weak towards all the viruses and bacteria's floating around. Maybe should have trained out more to boost the natural defenses. Oh well, bring on the chocolate so we can treat this disease.

Doin' The Omoralisk Schagerfestival '10 (7)

It's over for this time and thank god they didn't start the damn search for next year artist directly after the final. Germany won anyway, as I predicted. So it will probably be in Berlin for the first time. A congratulations to all germans for winning the contest. And apparently we just lost out for the finals with 3 points, so the singer should be happy to be best of of the worst. She could have ended up the worst of the best.

Now talking about the Marabou polka... it's marvelous. A minty chocolate without the crisp that get stuck i your teeth like the Marabou Mint Brittle. It's good and well worth a bite. Yes, I broke the chocolate absence streak at around 5 weeks. Well worth it though. Also, I feel like just resetting the timer and redo it, before I get stuck in it again. Probably no problem as I soon will send in the essay (after finishing it of course) and will be done with the stress and need to artificially keep myself on a good mood. Now I wish I just could fix the damned TV so I could relax with some horror Video Games, Resident Evil 1 and 5 (might even do a replay of 4). Or Mega Man & Bass or some Castlevania... or just let the TV be so I don't waste so much time on it.

Snowblind

Have I mentioned a lot of politics lately? I have? No, cause you can't get enough of it. It's addicting, like chocolate. You read political outburst as an injection in your vein, opinion polls you snort up your nose. It's a drug I tell you. It keeps you in ecstasy for every change in the numbers, the closer the election day the faster your heart beats. Constant euphoria. No, I'm not eating any chocolate but I have 2 chocolate bars in the fridge for some other time. You might wonder why I bring this up and the answer is simple... the Alliance is in the lead again. And Sweden's economy is on the right track. Really, as it looks now they shouldn't be able to lose. Unless someone does something stupid, right? No, I don't have anything to put up a "what the hell" moment for now. Feels good does it not?

About the essay it seemed to be fine according to my "instructor" (or whatever it's called) so all I need to do is finish it before Friday and I'm finished. Onward with that. Also, today I actually meet an old friend that I haven't seen since I was in Washington. Completely shocked to see him as he haven't studied in Karlstad since, I don't know, I never saw him here. Fun meeting actually. Sad thing is that it reminds me of all my other friends from that time.

Hungry For Heaven

Again, I should probably not write this as I got 11 pages left before the 45 page mark, not speaking about what I've written. Only wanted to share my stress and angst with whoever read this. You got angstroll'd. Old I know. Anyway, it's the ESC week with semi-finals tomorrow and on thursday and the grand final on Saturday. Might give something on what I think on these, but as Wednesday is the day I must send in the essay for evaluation I got to finish that. Unfortunately for me, probably lucky for you. I would not probably enjoy the whole show cause my damn TV decided to blow some fuse or something and now the picture consists of stripes in normal, blue, red and yellow or something dissolving parts of the screen. Now I have to take it back to the store and get it fixed (thank god for 5 years insurances) and that means I need a car, either to get it all the way back to the original store in Södertälje or to even get to the closest store of that brand. Work, work work.

Oh, and I haven't had chocolate for 4 weeks. That's amazing, I haven't pulled something like this of since last year that went over the whole of April till the beginning of May. Of course, when I finish this damn essay I shall drown my throat in sweet, wonderful nectar of the gods! Fill myself with beautiful artificial induced euphoria together with the relief of having this lifted from my shoulders, emerging as a god from the sea taking my place among the political scientist of the world! A GOD among MAN!!!... *ahem* Where was I? Yeah, chocolate... Mmm Marabou...

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll

Busy day today Yesterday while spending a lovely day in the library writing on my essay, reaching about 12 pages (for a minimum of 45) I get a message from my instructor that it's 1 1/2 week left. I'm missing over 30 pages. So after a rush in writing I ended at 16 and today reached 20. And its really 20 pages without any blank fillers just for the numbers. Of course that was the easy part so now I have to think about what I write. And I haven't had chocolate for 3 weeks. I'm turning into a nervous wreck here I tell you and the damned sun is gone. It's grey and cloudy every single day. It will not be long until I snap and devours all the chocolate in the store. I need it, it's supposed to be mine, I want it... Mmm Marabou gahhh...*ahem*

On to a sadder note, yesterday was also the day when famous hard rock singer Ronnie James Dio passed away in stomach cancer. He was a singer for bands like Heaven and Hell (More or less Black Sabbath) and Rainbow before starting up his own solo band just entitled DIO. When did I first discover his songs? It must have either have been the album Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or the song Neon Knights from a Black Sabbath compilation. I guess the Black Sabbath song as that would have lead me to Rainbow, but I'm not sure. I would recommend any song with Dio, but the best must still be Stargazer from the Rainbow Rising album. The strength, the melody and the rhythm in the whole song is just enchanting. Never saw him live which is a shame.

The question is now what happens to the Heaven and Hell project, what will the others do? One thing I would be happy to see is a reunion with Tony Martin. We know he can sing Dio's songs and it would be nice to hear some classic Martin material or Tony Iommi could continue with his own solo project and tour some with Glenn Hughes in another Black Sabbath era. Or there is the Faustian collaboration between Black Sabbath and Ian Gillan. That would be awesome, but also the most unlikely reunion of them all as he is the only one that has had some kind of reunion with Iommi and released more materials to fill out the Sabbath material. Martin has 5 albums alone with Sabbath while Hughes has 1 Sabbath album, but 2 Iommi solo album. The future will tell, but now we will mourn the loss of one of the greatest voices in history.

Dancing With Desire

Yesterday was birthday celebrations for a friend of mine. At 19:00. You know what that means, leave home 17:45, fill up the bus fair card before the bus goes at 18:04. After arriving at the Town Center it's time to get to the Systembolaget before they close at 19:00. Then grab a hamburger at Burger King for some food. Now the tricky part, it's 20 minutes before the specified time and the bus only takes 3 minutes to get there. So taking a long look on the wonderful digitalized time schedule determining which bus to take so I don't get to early (think about embarrassing if that would happen), the host couple actually arrives at the bus station. Talk about lucky, now there was no way I could get there to early.

Even funnier was that when arrived at their apartment they let me get in first, just for the fun to say I was there first, definitely first. Reminds me of someone else I know actually. Otherwise it was a fun gathering of friends having a really good time. Also REALLY good chocolate cake, mmmm... it doesn't count against my soon 2 weeks stop of chocolate so don't try to pin it on me. The night ended at 23:30 when I got to the last bus home while the others went out. Mostly I didn't feel up to it, we can blame it on a very low level of "artificial encouragement" and then that it was the last bus until 5 in the morning. I know I could get a taxi, but I'm somewhat of a cheapskate when it comes to that.

Today more or less a wasted day so I will have to be at the library tomorrow to do some studies. Time is running out and I just seems to stamp at the same spot as usual. On the other hand, the political landscape in Sweden seems to change. For the first time the governing parties has the lead in an opinion poll over the opposition. My favored party got 9 % of the votes which is better then the election result in 2006. Now, I know it's 5 months before the election, but it is always fun with good news. On the other hand, the LibDems in Britain doesn't seem to get the number of seat that was foretold. Of course, they seem to still be able to be the kingmakers of the election, but not with the strength as before, but I still agree with Nick, except on the nuclear issue, otherwise it's good. Now excuse me while I try to avoid some chocolate desires. They released some new taste called Polka. It's not fair I tell you.

Virtual Console Weekend

So Walpurgis night and May Day are now over for this year and everything can go back to normal. And no, it didn't get out of hand. Walpurgis was very fun actually. Somewhat bizarre even. First of all I was the first to arrive to the champagne breakfast (no surprise here actually) but I was also the first opening a beer and I was always one bottle before the others. Not surprising when my friends had been out the night before. Awesome day all in all. Ended around 20:30. So that's an 8 hour day without any accidents.

The day after, the working mans day and the demonstrations for justice and whatnot lead by the most hypocritical persons in Sweden, I spent the day at home. Doing what you might ask and the answer is video games. First some FFXIII and finally I moved onward till the next stage and it is an open world... and I lost interest as I don't know where to go. Ironic is it not? So I changed game, even game console to my steadfast Wii and all nostalgic memories. Mostly due to finding Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and getting hooked directly. Nice cinematics, good graphics, music worth dying for and fun gameplay. Unfortunately I can't get past the second level. Yeah, I'm lousy at those games. Played some Super Castlevania IV instead and fared very decent until the third stage which I have beaten before but not now for some reasons. After a dose of Castlevania I played The Legend of the Mystical Ninja from the SNES, missing Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon for the Nintendo 64 that doesn't exist on the Virtual Console... yet, hopefully.

After that my eyes landed on the game that inspired the Castlevania games gameplay after Symphony of the Night... Super Metroid. Hunting space pirates at their own turf with only my fast button mashing fingers to keep me alive. Unfortunately I get stuck as I don't know where the hell I'm going even with a map over the damned planet. But it is so addicting, it's even so addicting that I stopped thinking on chocolate... Mmm, Chocolate... ahem, I need to play some more games, see you later.