Inlägg
It's a bit of a standing joke within my family that I am pure death on technology. I barely have to touch my technological stuff (let alone actually turn it on and work on it) before it crashes, breaks, go bonkers or just plain annoys the hell out of me. And it always happens when I have the least financial abilities to correct it. Just a small list:
- I've bought 2 laptops within 2 years (the first one my mother bought and it held for a few years before the lid cracked, the second one met partial death by red wine and the third one is probably trying to find the most inopportune moment to crash any day now)
- I've reformatted them umpteen+ times,
- I've gotten close to getting on first-name basis with the support technicians at at least two different companies (I suspect I was close to being invited to their Christmas dinner too)
- I've bought in total 4 new cellphones in 6 years (one met death by eager puppy + very wet brook, one had a shitty battery in plastic casing and the clasp broke so the battery was loose, one just... went bonkers and started fucking things up + the keyboard became loose at least once a year. I'm just waiting for my new one to fuck things up)
Anyway, the reason I'm writing this right now is because I'm quite fed up. Today my external hdd (which I had lots of my favourite things on) decided not to boot up at all. I checked around, cold and clammy, worried that it was the hdd itself that had crashed. Turns out it seems to be the AC adapter, the green light on it just blinks, regardless of the type of power outlet I connect it to. Now, this might sound like a pretty easy problem to fix... if the HDD hadn't been 2+-3 years old and the AC adapter for it isn't common to find in electronics stores nowadays. The places I've found what seems to be a suitable replacement at lists the price at 250-400 SEK (apx. $34-$54). This might not sound like such a large sum in the bigger picture... unless you've got bills that takes over 75% of your total income and still want to buy food for both yourself and your (kidney sick) animals. Either way, I've got no choice in the long run. I'll have to live on noodles and oatmeal for a while. Can't skimp out on the cats food.
Anyway, as if that wasn't enough... my desk lamp, which has got these ridiculously small, strong lamps (not LED), decided to call it quits too. And of course I've used up all the spare lamps I bought when my economy was bit more decent.
So, in short... Tomorrow I need to go out and spend money I'd rather not spend because technology (I'd rather not bother with but have no choice but to bother with) fucked up again.
This joke about me and technology... it's so painfully true it's not even funny.
måndag 30 augusti 2010
torsdag 26 augusti 2010
the End of the world/ Val 2010
It's depressing to listen to the news on the radio. Catastrophes, both natural and man-made, follow each other in what feels like a more and more rapid succession. If it's not tsunamis, earth quakes or floods, it's wildfires, major oil leaks or hurricanes. All of this makes me think. Is it that the amount of natural catastrophes (man-made ones were a fact ever since the beginning of man) in rapid succession are increasing? Or is it that we're just more aware of them nowadays?
To me it feels like our earth has finally had it with the abuse heaped upon it by the humans. Kind of like: "You drill me full of holes, you rob me of my oil. You cut down my forests, pollute my waters and air. You commit genocide on both yourselves and every other living organism in this world. And then you're chocked that I protest? Payback's a bitch, eh?".
The problem is that these natural disasters very seldom hit the ones most deserving of it. It seldom hits the rich company head quarters or the leading industrialized countries. The ones who, with their selfish and capitalising view of the world as their playground are the main reasons for why things are what they are today. No, instead it hits those that are already suffering from pretty much the same things as the earth itself. It hits Haiti, it hits Pakistan, it hits Chile, it hits the poor parts of China and so on. Where is this world headed when even earth itself is kicking on those that are struggling to stand up again? While the ones most deserving to be beaten down are still sitting on their high horses counting their money and thinking out how to pile up more money, more expensive houses, cars, private jets?
As Barry Mcguire sang in 1965:
Jag kan inte låta bli att undra över om det är så att folk idag har en så dystopisk känsla av undergång att de helt enkelt inte orkar bry sig.
Världen håller på att gå åt helvete ändå, så varför bry sig om vad som händer i framtiden? Varför göra ett aktivt val som gynnar inte bara en själv utan även eventuella nästkommande generationer? Varför orka läsa på? Varför orka engagera sig på något sätt?
Så länge jag har pengar i min börs och kan köpa den senaste tekniken (som ändå kommer gå sönder just efter att garantin gått ut) så är allt väl i min värld. Vad bryr jag mig om att sjukvården blir dyrare? Att fler och fler går arbetslösa och knappt har råd att äta eller betala sin hyra? Folket, vi som ska vara ansvariga för vårt samhälle, överlämnar alla beslut åt politikerna, sväljer glatt de vackra vallöftena som alla vet kommer att brytas så fort valet är över.
Jag har länge känt att det skulle behövas ett totalt generationsskifte i politiker-Sverige. De som i år ställer upp i valet, de som lovar runt och alltid håller tunt, är så världsfrånvända och ointresserade av något annat än sin egen ekonomi och bekvämlighet att jag har svårt att se hur de någonsin skulle kunna göra något för det folk som röstar på dem. De har ingen koll på vad som sker i samhället och representerar gamla, utdaterade värderingar i putsade och ytligt hoplappade former.
Folket som röstar på dem är så avtrubbade, så obrydda och så bekväma att de bara rycker på axlarna och sväljer det som syns på ytan. Förförda av fantasin om att kunna bli som det USA man ser på TV, i filmerna, orkar de inte reflektera över skillnaderna mellan lilla Sverige och USA. De vänder bort blicken för alla de brister som finns där, klart belysta av verklighetens osmickrande ljus, och stänger in sig i sin egen lilla bubbla där allt som räknas är en själv och huruvida man kommer att ha en extra hundralapp i börsen vid löning.
Den hundralappen, förresten... Den hade kunnat gå till sjukvård, bättre skola, bättre vård av de äldre... Men varför ska de ha mina pengar?
Varför ska jag få mindre pengar bara för att någon annan ska få ett åtminstone halvvägs värdigt liv, slippa frysa ihjäl i en kartong på nån bakgata eller förblöda i väntrummet till akuten bara för att det inte finns pengar för tillräckligt med personal?
Varför ska jag bry mig om Svea, 95, som spenderar dagarna i en säng på pensionärshemmet med liggsår och blöja för att personalen helt enkelt inte hinner med att hjälpa henne till toaletten eller ta med henne ut i luften för ens en halvtimme? Svea som knappt minns hur det kändes att få sitta i en stol i trädgården en vacker sommardag eller äta vällagad mat tills hon är mätt?
Jag kan verkligen inte förstå hur folk kan vara så själviska, leva kvar i gamla föreställningar och fortfarande tro att politikerna tänker på folkets bästa. Vi kan inte längre sitta i våra soffor, blippa på fjärrkontrollen och tro att våra politiker är där för att fatta våra beslut.
Det är på tiden att vi, det svenska folket, vi som ska rösta nu i september, börjar ställa krav på våra politiker och på oss själva. Så att vi kanske, förhoppningsvis inte själva en dag behöver glömma känslan av hur det kändes den där dagen när vi satt barfota i gräset med solen som sken varmt ovanför våra huvuden.
To me it feels like our earth has finally had it with the abuse heaped upon it by the humans. Kind of like: "You drill me full of holes, you rob me of my oil. You cut down my forests, pollute my waters and air. You commit genocide on both yourselves and every other living organism in this world. And then you're chocked that I protest? Payback's a bitch, eh?".
The problem is that these natural disasters very seldom hit the ones most deserving of it. It seldom hits the rich company head quarters or the leading industrialized countries. The ones who, with their selfish and capitalising view of the world as their playground are the main reasons for why things are what they are today. No, instead it hits those that are already suffering from pretty much the same things as the earth itself. It hits Haiti, it hits Pakistan, it hits Chile, it hits the poor parts of China and so on. Where is this world headed when even earth itself is kicking on those that are struggling to stand up again? While the ones most deserving to be beaten down are still sitting on their high horses counting their money and thinking out how to pile up more money, more expensive houses, cars, private jets?
As Barry Mcguire sang in 1965:
"Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to sayVal 2010
Can't you feel the fears I'm feelin' today?
If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away
There'll be no one to save, with the world in a grave
[Take a look around ya boy, it's bound to scare ya boy]
But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve
of destruction."
- (Eve of Destruction, written by P.F Sloan in 1965)
It feels like we're getting there, each day another step towards
destruction.
Svenska:
Jag kan inte låta bli att undra över om det är så att folk idag har en så dystopisk känsla av undergång att de helt enkelt inte orkar bry sig.
Världen håller på att gå åt helvete ändå, så varför bry sig om vad som händer i framtiden? Varför göra ett aktivt val som gynnar inte bara en själv utan även eventuella nästkommande generationer? Varför orka läsa på? Varför orka engagera sig på något sätt?
Så länge jag har pengar i min börs och kan köpa den senaste tekniken (som ändå kommer gå sönder just efter att garantin gått ut) så är allt väl i min värld. Vad bryr jag mig om att sjukvården blir dyrare? Att fler och fler går arbetslösa och knappt har råd att äta eller betala sin hyra? Folket, vi som ska vara ansvariga för vårt samhälle, överlämnar alla beslut åt politikerna, sväljer glatt de vackra vallöftena som alla vet kommer att brytas så fort valet är över.
Jag har länge känt att det skulle behövas ett totalt generationsskifte i politiker-Sverige. De som i år ställer upp i valet, de som lovar runt och alltid håller tunt, är så världsfrånvända och ointresserade av något annat än sin egen ekonomi och bekvämlighet att jag har svårt att se hur de någonsin skulle kunna göra något för det folk som röstar på dem. De har ingen koll på vad som sker i samhället och representerar gamla, utdaterade värderingar i putsade och ytligt hoplappade former.
Folket som röstar på dem är så avtrubbade, så obrydda och så bekväma att de bara rycker på axlarna och sväljer det som syns på ytan. Förförda av fantasin om att kunna bli som det USA man ser på TV, i filmerna, orkar de inte reflektera över skillnaderna mellan lilla Sverige och USA. De vänder bort blicken för alla de brister som finns där, klart belysta av verklighetens osmickrande ljus, och stänger in sig i sin egen lilla bubbla där allt som räknas är en själv och huruvida man kommer att ha en extra hundralapp i börsen vid löning.
Den hundralappen, förresten... Den hade kunnat gå till sjukvård, bättre skola, bättre vård av de äldre... Men varför ska de ha mina pengar?
Varför ska jag få mindre pengar bara för att någon annan ska få ett åtminstone halvvägs värdigt liv, slippa frysa ihjäl i en kartong på nån bakgata eller förblöda i väntrummet till akuten bara för att det inte finns pengar för tillräckligt med personal?
Varför ska jag bry mig om Svea, 95, som spenderar dagarna i en säng på pensionärshemmet med liggsår och blöja för att personalen helt enkelt inte hinner med att hjälpa henne till toaletten eller ta med henne ut i luften för ens en halvtimme? Svea som knappt minns hur det kändes att få sitta i en stol i trädgården en vacker sommardag eller äta vällagad mat tills hon är mätt?
Jag kan verkligen inte förstå hur folk kan vara så själviska, leva kvar i gamla föreställningar och fortfarande tro att politikerna tänker på folkets bästa. Vi kan inte längre sitta i våra soffor, blippa på fjärrkontrollen och tro att våra politiker är där för att fatta våra beslut.
Det är på tiden att vi, det svenska folket, vi som ska rösta nu i september, börjar ställa krav på våra politiker och på oss själva. Så att vi kanske, förhoppningsvis inte själva en dag behöver glömma känslan av hur det kändes den där dagen när vi satt barfota i gräset med solen som sken varmt ovanför våra huvuden.
lördag 21 augusti 2010
Happy days are here?
I had started to believe I would never get to say this but... my thesis is finally COMPLETED! Now all that's left is to get the critique for it, make any necessary adjustments and then... burn it and move on.
I took myself by the scruff and pulled a 2-day-1-night intensive session on writing the thesis. All in all I believe I slept about 3 hours in 2 full days. And as soon as the thesis was mailed out to those that were supposed to have it I crashed and then I slept like a log, blissfully unaware of the world around. Of course I just had to wake up in the middle of the night and be reminded I had barely eaten anything in two days either. But hey, them's the breaks, eh?
Of course, I have a few smaller assignments I've yet to turn in. But they're not related to the thesis and they should be fairly quickly done with as soon as I recover from post-thesis stress (which is an affliction closely related to posttraumatic stress. Only difference is the former usually only affects students of various degree and, much like the flu, strike during set seasons of the year.
Now I'm looking forward to my graphics classes this fall and then I'm hoping against hope (and dreading at the same time) that I'll get a job at the news desk I worked at this summer. We'll see... Wish me luck!
Speaking about stress, by the way. We've got election coming up in a few weeks. I don't think I've ever felt this nauseatingly nervous and worried as this time around. The previous election blind-sided, mind-raped and left me in an emotionally torn, quivering bundle of despair and terror, able to say nothing but:
"Why, dear lord, have you forsaken us?! How could they be so stupid as to vote in a way that made those guys win?!"
I took myself by the scruff and pulled a 2-day-1-night intensive session on writing the thesis. All in all I believe I slept about 3 hours in 2 full days. And as soon as the thesis was mailed out to those that were supposed to have it I crashed and then I slept like a log, blissfully unaware of the world around. Of course I just had to wake up in the middle of the night and be reminded I had barely eaten anything in two days either. But hey, them's the breaks, eh?
Of course, I have a few smaller assignments I've yet to turn in. But they're not related to the thesis and they should be fairly quickly done with as soon as I recover from post-thesis stress (which is an affliction closely related to posttraumatic stress. Only difference is the former usually only affects students of various degree and, much like the flu, strike during set seasons of the year.
Now I'm looking forward to my graphics classes this fall and then I'm hoping against hope (and dreading at the same time) that I'll get a job at the news desk I worked at this summer. We'll see... Wish me luck!
Speaking about stress, by the way. We've got election coming up in a few weeks. I don't think I've ever felt this nauseatingly nervous and worried as this time around. The previous election blind-sided, mind-raped and left me in an emotionally torn, quivering bundle of despair and terror, able to say nothing but:
"Why, dear lord, have you forsaken us?! How could they be so stupid as to vote in a way that made those guys win?!"
lördag 24 juli 2010
A sidenote from the padded room
Everything I'd rather not think about seems to start with the letter C today. Granted, I do like to think about myself so maybe not EVERYTHING I'd rather not think about... Just a side note in the story of my life.
To return to the issue of the unholy triad of C's then. Let's begin with what might be the main reason the second two C's appear so horrid to me.
Number one on the shitlist:
Colds
For weeks I've managed to stay healthy. After the possibly worst winter in memory, with close to two months of constant colds, I thought I'd worked out the kinks in my immune system and was getting along fine. I hung out with my best friend, who were coughing her lungs out and doing a very good job of imitating a crow with bronchitis, for a week straight while bathing in semi-cold waters and toughing it out in hard winds on the beach just to get a bit of a tan. It all went well, I didn't catch anything, she survived and I'm pretty sure she's still got both her lungs with her. And my legs got nice and tan.
I also hung out with my dearest aunt... who, it would turn out, was suffering from pneumonia. And at the same time I hung out with my other best friend (yeah, I've got two of those. I'm a Libra so I can't choose :D) while she was coughing more than breathing. And still I stayed healthy.
Now this is where the story takes a somewhat darker turn. These last two weeks I've been hanging around with one of my two best friends again. She's better now but her oldest kid (5 y/o) seems to have caught a slight cold. And of course, every time he sneezes he forgets to cover his mouth and almost infallibly turns his head towards me. Not that he can help it. He's still so young and he's cute as a button. Either way I guess my immune system decided to say: "Y'know what? Screw this, I'm going on a vacation". The result? A sore throat and a head that feels like it's full of wet cotton... the last day at work and only two days before I'm going back to my home (a 6 hour drive southward bound) with two cats and glaring sunlight.
This brings me to the second C on the list:
Cleaning
Since I've been borrowing an apartment for two weeks while working in my little hometown I, naturally, have to clean it up and make sure it's at least as clean as it was before I arrived. I hate cleaning under normal circumstances but now, with a cold and no idea where the laundry room is situated, I feel my motivation hitting an all-time low. And yet, this is one of the few times I actually HAVE to clean today and not procrastinate it until next week. Thankfully I haven't eaten much at home so there's not that many dishes needing to be washed. But the cats have had a time of it shedding hairs all over the curtains.
The third C on the list is something I've been procrastinating for lack of funds. Now that I got a fairly nice salary I decided to deal with it.
Cellphones
My semi-trustworthy Nokia 5500 has been acting up lately (read: the last year or two) and I realised it was time to put it to sleep alongside my quarter-trustworthy Siemens M75 (which was its predecessor). So, with that slightly queasy and yet expectant feeling one gets when planning to spend more money than one'd like to think about I finally made the difficult decision to look for a new one. I found it too... It's pretty and it's made from recycled materials. I've even had the chance to feel it up thanks to there being one of those at the news desk I've been working at. I ordered it today and hopefully I'll get it this week. I'll be spending the next few months in a strange limbo where I erratically swing from euphoric to horribly guilty to slightly relieved and then back again while inserting a series of other emotional rollercoaster ups-and-downs and swirls in between.
I can't help but wonder how long my new cellphone will hold out before it activates its built in suicide gene and flips me off. Long live technology, eh?
To return to the issue of the unholy triad of C's then. Let's begin with what might be the main reason the second two C's appear so horrid to me.
Number one on the shitlist:
Colds
For weeks I've managed to stay healthy. After the possibly worst winter in memory, with close to two months of constant colds, I thought I'd worked out the kinks in my immune system and was getting along fine. I hung out with my best friend, who were coughing her lungs out and doing a very good job of imitating a crow with bronchitis, for a week straight while bathing in semi-cold waters and toughing it out in hard winds on the beach just to get a bit of a tan. It all went well, I didn't catch anything, she survived and I'm pretty sure she's still got both her lungs with her. And my legs got nice and tan.
I also hung out with my dearest aunt... who, it would turn out, was suffering from pneumonia. And at the same time I hung out with my other best friend (yeah, I've got two of those. I'm a Libra so I can't choose :D) while she was coughing more than breathing. And still I stayed healthy.
Now this is where the story takes a somewhat darker turn. These last two weeks I've been hanging around with one of my two best friends again. She's better now but her oldest kid (5 y/o) seems to have caught a slight cold. And of course, every time he sneezes he forgets to cover his mouth and almost infallibly turns his head towards me. Not that he can help it. He's still so young and he's cute as a button. Either way I guess my immune system decided to say: "Y'know what? Screw this, I'm going on a vacation". The result? A sore throat and a head that feels like it's full of wet cotton... the last day at work and only two days before I'm going back to my home (a 6 hour drive southward bound) with two cats and glaring sunlight.
This brings me to the second C on the list:
Cleaning
Since I've been borrowing an apartment for two weeks while working in my little hometown I, naturally, have to clean it up and make sure it's at least as clean as it was before I arrived. I hate cleaning under normal circumstances but now, with a cold and no idea where the laundry room is situated, I feel my motivation hitting an all-time low. And yet, this is one of the few times I actually HAVE to clean today and not procrastinate it until next week. Thankfully I haven't eaten much at home so there's not that many dishes needing to be washed. But the cats have had a time of it shedding hairs all over the curtains.
The third C on the list is something I've been procrastinating for lack of funds. Now that I got a fairly nice salary I decided to deal with it.
Cellphones
My semi-trustworthy Nokia 5500 has been acting up lately (read: the last year or two) and I realised it was time to put it to sleep alongside my quarter-trustworthy Siemens M75 (which was its predecessor). So, with that slightly queasy and yet expectant feeling one gets when planning to spend more money than one'd like to think about I finally made the difficult decision to look for a new one. I found it too... It's pretty and it's made from recycled materials. I've even had the chance to feel it up thanks to there being one of those at the news desk I've been working at. I ordered it today and hopefully I'll get it this week. I'll be spending the next few months in a strange limbo where I erratically swing from euphoric to horribly guilty to slightly relieved and then back again while inserting a series of other emotional rollercoaster ups-and-downs and swirls in between.
I can't help but wonder how long my new cellphone will hold out before it activates its built in suicide gene and flips me off. Long live technology, eh?
tisdag 25 maj 2010
What's wrong with traffic these days?
Let's begin on a positive note. Today we finished up our graduation project and turned it in to the teacher. So now all we have to do is wait for the seminars to finish, do whatever changes that needs to be done and then... finally!
Of course, I still have my thesis to finish up but for now I'm going to bask in the fact that the largest, and possibly most important, part of my education is done. It's been interesting, horrifying, devastating and fun. And God am I glad that it's over!
Now, on to traffic (which I'm not as happy with)... I'm starting to wonder if Monday is the new Friday. I wrote in an earlier post about how people drive like maniacs, callously disregarding any and all traffic rules as well as their own and others' safety, during Fridays. Well, Friday seems to have been extended to encompass Monday as well as Tuesday too so far.
Yesterday I was calmly driving towards the stable, abiding by the traffic rules set by our country's leaders way back. I come up at a junction, having put out the sign for a left turn in advance to make sure my fellow drivers knew where I was headed. I placed my car to the left in my lane and stopped to let a car on the crossing road pass (since it's my duty to give way). Then all of a sudden I see this dark blue Citroën coming up behind me, blinking left as well. And then the bastard places himself (it's gotta be a man, women generally drive in a more safe manner) on MY left, right next to my car. Now, if I hadn't seen him coming this could've led to a rather nasty collision. Anyway, the idiot blasts past me and since I'm not very fond of having to use up all my duct tape to tape up my front bumpers (been there, done that, spit on the T-shirt) I allowed my safety thinking to overrule my sheer burst of anger and murderous rage. I saw him do the same to some other car a few minutes later. Damn idiot.
One would think it would end there. No one got hurt (even though I admit I fervently wished the bastard would drive off a cliff that would suddenly and inexplicably materialise right in front of his car and just as quickly disappear) and I managed to get my temper under control. All's well that ends well, right?
NO. Because today, when driving home, I come to another junction. I've signalled a right turn in advance, placed myself as well as I could and... up comes this beat-up, piss-ugly old pile of rust (possibly a Ford), squeezes in on my right, signalling a right turn. Repeat the scenario from Monday, omitting the part where he did it again since I didn't actually follow for that long. Pick the scenario up at the part with the mysterious cliff materialising in front of the car...
Seriously, what's wrong with people? It's like as soon as they sit down behind the wheel of a car they all turn into Evel Knievel on crystal meth. It's at times like these I wish I had a huge neon-sign of a hand flipping the middle finger to turn on and shine at all the morons out there.
Of course, I still have my thesis to finish up but for now I'm going to bask in the fact that the largest, and possibly most important, part of my education is done. It's been interesting, horrifying, devastating and fun. And God am I glad that it's over!
Now, on to traffic (which I'm not as happy with)... I'm starting to wonder if Monday is the new Friday. I wrote in an earlier post about how people drive like maniacs, callously disregarding any and all traffic rules as well as their own and others' safety, during Fridays. Well, Friday seems to have been extended to encompass Monday as well as Tuesday too so far.
Yesterday I was calmly driving towards the stable, abiding by the traffic rules set by our country's leaders way back. I come up at a junction, having put out the sign for a left turn in advance to make sure my fellow drivers knew where I was headed. I placed my car to the left in my lane and stopped to let a car on the crossing road pass (since it's my duty to give way). Then all of a sudden I see this dark blue Citroën coming up behind me, blinking left as well. And then the bastard places himself (it's gotta be a man, women generally drive in a more safe manner) on MY left, right next to my car. Now, if I hadn't seen him coming this could've led to a rather nasty collision. Anyway, the idiot blasts past me and since I'm not very fond of having to use up all my duct tape to tape up my front bumpers (been there, done that, spit on the T-shirt) I allowed my safety thinking to overrule my sheer burst of anger and murderous rage. I saw him do the same to some other car a few minutes later. Damn idiot.
One would think it would end there. No one got hurt (even though I admit I fervently wished the bastard would drive off a cliff that would suddenly and inexplicably materialise right in front of his car and just as quickly disappear) and I managed to get my temper under control. All's well that ends well, right?
NO. Because today, when driving home, I come to another junction. I've signalled a right turn in advance, placed myself as well as I could and... up comes this beat-up, piss-ugly old pile of rust (possibly a Ford), squeezes in on my right, signalling a right turn. Repeat the scenario from Monday, omitting the part where he did it again since I didn't actually follow for that long. Pick the scenario up at the part with the mysterious cliff materialising in front of the car...
Seriously, what's wrong with people? It's like as soon as they sit down behind the wheel of a car they all turn into Evel Knievel on crystal meth. It's at times like these I wish I had a huge neon-sign of a hand flipping the middle finger to turn on and shine at all the morons out there.
söndag 23 maj 2010
Procrastination at its best
...or worst, depending on how you see it.
I had planned to grab myself by the scruff and finish up my thesis this weekend, only two months too late. But, oh wonder above wonders..., I've yet to even open the damn document. I really need to get it done before the start of June since otherwise I'll have to wait a whole year before I can submit it. But writer's blocks are vicious things. Worse than Lord Voldemort, the whole Twilight-series (books also counted) and a three week hangover. I'll pull some all-nighters this week to get it done. I might not have a lightning-shaped scar and ugly glasses like Harry Potter, but I sure as hell have got painkillers, lighting fluid and a lighter. SO I'll vanquish two out of three bad things and finish up my thesis in a heroic and astounding last minute rescue while the world I saved will be cheering for me from afar (most likely afraid to come too close due to my progressive insanity, but hey, all admiration is good).
On a more positive, and less world domination-like, note: We're making good progress on our graduation project. Now all we have to do is hunt down some politicians, finish up one illustration and two headlines and we're good to go. It's been quite an interesting piece of work filled with some rather uncomfortable and shocking revelations about an environment many people believe is the epitome of peace and quiet. Even I didn't know it could get this bad... And I'm a natural-born cynic/realist who thinks this world is full of shit most of the time.
Lately, I've also come to the realisation that journalists has got to be the most ego-tripping people out there. Last week I filled in for a journalist at the news desk I'm going to work at this summer. It was such a high to see my texts, with byline and all, in the newspaper. And when my last article for that week actually made poster news... *speechless and jumping up and down* I had to go into the kiosk and ask them if they would give me that news poster. They did, those wonderful people, so now I'm gonna put that poster up on my wall. It's my very first one, after all!
I had planned to grab myself by the scruff and finish up my thesis this weekend, only two months too late. But, oh wonder above wonders..., I've yet to even open the damn document. I really need to get it done before the start of June since otherwise I'll have to wait a whole year before I can submit it. But writer's blocks are vicious things. Worse than Lord Voldemort, the whole Twilight-series (books also counted) and a three week hangover. I'll pull some all-nighters this week to get it done. I might not have a lightning-shaped scar and ugly glasses like Harry Potter, but I sure as hell have got painkillers, lighting fluid and a lighter. SO I'll vanquish two out of three bad things and finish up my thesis in a heroic and astounding last minute rescue while the world I saved will be cheering for me from afar (most likely afraid to come too close due to my progressive insanity, but hey, all admiration is good).
On a more positive, and less world domination-like, note: We're making good progress on our graduation project. Now all we have to do is hunt down some politicians, finish up one illustration and two headlines and we're good to go. It's been quite an interesting piece of work filled with some rather uncomfortable and shocking revelations about an environment many people believe is the epitome of peace and quiet. Even I didn't know it could get this bad... And I'm a natural-born cynic/realist who thinks this world is full of shit most of the time.
Lately, I've also come to the realisation that journalists has got to be the most ego-tripping people out there. Last week I filled in for a journalist at the news desk I'm going to work at this summer. It was such a high to see my texts, with byline and all, in the newspaper. And when my last article for that week actually made poster news... *speechless and jumping up and down* I had to go into the kiosk and ask them if they would give me that news poster. They did, those wonderful people, so now I'm gonna put that poster up on my wall. It's my very first one, after all!
lördag 1 maj 2010
The Filial daughter or "How to drive Cat crazy in less than 2 days"
At the moment I'm visiting my parents in the capitol of Sweden, Stockholm (also known as the Hellish pit of overly stressed and rude idiots).
After retrieving my car, which is obviously possessed by the Devil and/or operated through a Windows-based system considering the amount of times it breaks down, from the workshop I felt slightly queasy because of the chilling knowledge that my car would once again cost a fortune to repair. I then packed my bags and drove that same car, with bad brakes on the back wheels, on an 8 hour drive from Umeå to Stockholm. It was nice as long as I could still consider myself being in Norrland. But as soon as I passed a city called Hudiksvall I could feel myself leaving the premises of said region and instead be enveloped by the atmosphere of the southern parts of Sweden. It is hard to describe that atmosphere but I will try my best.
Imagine you're having the worst hangover of your life, you've just woken up next to someone you have no idea who it is, or if it's a man, woman or Chewbacca, and whom you would've been better never having to lay your eyes upon in the first place. Then imagine that while you're lying there, wondering what train drove into your head at full speed (in the process obviously smashing certain vital parts of the facial appearance of whoever it is sleeping next to you), you realise you forgot to turn the sound off your cellphone. As is demonstrated by the sudden slicing pain (similar to undergoing a bypass surgery without anesthesia) of a tone you usually quite like cutting through your pounding head ache and self-loathing.
And when you pick up... It's your mother on the other end. Nagging at you because you forgot that you promised to drive her to her very important meeting. And she nags... and nags... and nags until you start to picture your hands slowly wrapping around her neck, seeing her face turn bluer and bluer. And when she finally hangs up...
Your grandmother calls. And nags at you because you forgot to drive your mother to her very important meeting. Repeat the strangulation scene. Substitute mother for grandmother. Hang up.
And then that creature next to you wakes up, thanking you for a great night, wondering if you'll be meeting again and if you wanna cuddle for a while. And so on. You realise you are really late for work... and stinking like that alcoholic over by the town square. So now you're full of self-loathing, annoyance, anger, murderous thoughts, bad conscience and top that off with stress x 100... Imagine all this and then multiply it all with 10... and you'll come fairly close to what I felt when I came closer and closer to the Hellish Pit called the capitol of Sweden, Stockholm.
Then top all of that off with realising that your parents' computer is slower than a turtle with only one leg and eyes full of cataracts...
Yeah, great, isn't it?
But at least I get to meet up with some old friends I haven't seen for years. And hopefully I'll get something nice for my exam project. So I'm going to live in the hopes that a week isn't very long, I'll be busy most days... and in the evenings I can lock the door to my room and catch up on all those homoerotic novels I've never quite had the time to read.
After retrieving my car, which is obviously possessed by the Devil and/or operated through a Windows-based system considering the amount of times it breaks down, from the workshop I felt slightly queasy because of the chilling knowledge that my car would once again cost a fortune to repair. I then packed my bags and drove that same car, with bad brakes on the back wheels, on an 8 hour drive from Umeå to Stockholm. It was nice as long as I could still consider myself being in Norrland. But as soon as I passed a city called Hudiksvall I could feel myself leaving the premises of said region and instead be enveloped by the atmosphere of the southern parts of Sweden. It is hard to describe that atmosphere but I will try my best.
Imagine you're having the worst hangover of your life, you've just woken up next to someone you have no idea who it is, or if it's a man, woman or Chewbacca, and whom you would've been better never having to lay your eyes upon in the first place. Then imagine that while you're lying there, wondering what train drove into your head at full speed (in the process obviously smashing certain vital parts of the facial appearance of whoever it is sleeping next to you), you realise you forgot to turn the sound off your cellphone. As is demonstrated by the sudden slicing pain (similar to undergoing a bypass surgery without anesthesia) of a tone you usually quite like cutting through your pounding head ache and self-loathing.
And when you pick up... It's your mother on the other end. Nagging at you because you forgot that you promised to drive her to her very important meeting. And she nags... and nags... and nags until you start to picture your hands slowly wrapping around her neck, seeing her face turn bluer and bluer. And when she finally hangs up...
Your grandmother calls. And nags at you because you forgot to drive your mother to her very important meeting. Repeat the strangulation scene. Substitute mother for grandmother. Hang up.
And then that creature next to you wakes up, thanking you for a great night, wondering if you'll be meeting again and if you wanna cuddle for a while. And so on. You realise you are really late for work... and stinking like that alcoholic over by the town square. So now you're full of self-loathing, annoyance, anger, murderous thoughts, bad conscience and top that off with stress x 100... Imagine all this and then multiply it all with 10... and you'll come fairly close to what I felt when I came closer and closer to the Hellish Pit called the capitol of Sweden, Stockholm.
Then top all of that off with realising that your parents' computer is slower than a turtle with only one leg and eyes full of cataracts...
Yeah, great, isn't it?
But at least I get to meet up with some old friends I haven't seen for years. And hopefully I'll get something nice for my exam project. So I'm going to live in the hopes that a week isn't very long, I'll be busy most days... and in the evenings I can lock the door to my room and catch up on all those homoerotic novels I've never quite had the time to read.
Prenumerera på:
Kommentarer (Atom)