A decade ago

Another New Year is approaching and i cant but think back on the year 2000. It is a decade ago now and prior year 2000 everyone was going crazy about the end of the world and the Y2K-bug.

Here are some events that happened year 2000.

1) There was a mini baby boom in year 2000 as many wanted to have a "millennium baby".

2) Windows-users got a nasty virus called "ILOVEYOU" that spread rapidly all over the world

3) It was the last strip of "Peanuts" (Snoopy) by Charles M. Schultz due to his death.

4) Wolverin scratched his way into our lives alongside other mutants in the first X-men film

5) Playstation 2 is released, only one game is released that year for the console

6) The crime drama CSI:Crime Scene investigation premiers with Dr. Gil Grissom

7) Vladimir Putin is elected president in Russia

8) In Enschede, the Netherlands a fireworks factory explodes killing 23 people

9) In Kaprun, Austria a railway car catches fire in an alpine tunnel killing more then 150 skiers, leaving 12 survivors

10) Russel Crowe leaps to everyones heart, portraying General Maximus Meridus in Gladiator, that later on won the awards for best picture on the Oscars.

11) NASA announces that there is an ocean beneath the icy surface on one of the moons of Jupiter

12) Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barent Sea. Help is delayed due to Russia refusing access to the sub, all 118 men on board die.

13) The NEAR Shoemaker is the first spacecraft ever to enter orbit around an asteroid

14) Tarja Halonen is elected the first female president in Finland

15) Presidential election in the US: Al Gore vs. George W. Bush. Election that made the history due to a lot of dispute over votes in Florida

Tron

Went to see Tron: Legacy a high-tech adventure in a digital world. This is a sequal to the original Tron from 1982, which was a ground breaking film at the time. Tron: Legacy had a lot to live up to and the expectations where high as the original film has a lot of fans world over. The story of the sequel focuses more on the relationship between the father Kevin Flynn and his son Sam, than anything else. There is also a lot of traveling to get from one point to another or to travel to meet someone. Really the storyline is thin and i guess most of the fans expected a lot more from this million production project, so from that point of view it is rather disappointing. The fable of totalitarianism and genocide was also a bit of an overkill. Really in retrospect it's like they where grabbing what they could to come up with a story. Then again for me that is totally new to the wold on "the Grid" and Tron as such, it was still a cool film to see. I can understand the original now and why it was so groundbreaking. The whole idea of entering a world of a computer maybe is not a novelty today but it surely was during the 80's. The graphics, transporting vehicles and the whole world as such is really impressive and i can say that at least I enjoyed watching them. So to sum up, if you are expecting this amazing sequel, with endless action, effects and awesome storyline then you are wasting your money. If you want a nostalgic trip to the 80's and see some cutting edge technology of our time then it is worth a go.

Inkheart

Crashed on the sofa and ended up semi watching Inkheart, can not really comment on the film as i did not really pay that much attention. It had a beautiful song while the credits where running: "My Declaration" by Tom Baxter and performed by Eliza Bennett. It was also cool to see so many famous actors and actresses.... And as i am really bad with names (oh..that is Smeagol and "talakankankan" referring to Andy Serkis and Jim Broadbent) i had to look up the film on IMDb. Saw that it did not really get that good ratings but i think i will watch it at some point any how.

Jerry Seinfeld

One thing i have always wanted to do is go on a Jerry Seinfeld stand up. I have never really been a fan of his TV-show. I always got annoyed with George and Kramer, they where a little too much ex-centric for my liking. I did like Jerry's stand up though in the beginning and end of each episode. Today there is a lot of material available on youtube and I can honestly say i have watched Jerry's stand up many times. I think its excellent, very perceptive and just great. I always watch it with big amusement and with a big grin on my face. Now it turns out he is coming to Sweden and i really can not wait. I really hope i can go and that it will meet up my expectations!

Eye tricks

I was pouncing around on my iphone the other day and i forgot one app that i really like called eye tricks. It love illusions, and things like that, i think they are great. We have the classic two people facing each other creating a vase between them. The you woman that turns to an old lady when you look at it upside down. I myself remember having a stereogram calendar at one point and i used to train my eyes so i could see the picture as far away as i possibly could. Yeah i know, i used to have too much time. I googled some stereograms...can you tell what is on them?

Snow chaos

The last couple of days it has been total snow chaos all over Europe। Flights are canceled on the big airports and that effects the rest of the world air traffic, there are delays no matter where we turn. It's amazing how a little bit of snow and wind can just shut things down. This said i think the weather starts to clear up and there is light in the tunnel. This does not effect me so much, as one of the best things i know is snow and cold weather. I do not mind going out and shovel three times a day or brush off a quarter of a meter or snow from the car. In fact i love it. I love how the landscape all changes and how amazing everything looks. The silence and the crispy sound of footsteps in the snow. The strong sun shining so low on the sky and not to forget the northern lights! This makes me think back on when i grew up. I remember winter days when there was so much snow my school had to shut for a couple of days and my dad had to put on chains on the car in order to get the it moving. Ahh, sweet memories! Heaven :)

Yesterday i was driving around around different shopping centers with a friend. It was not something we really had planned but a more impulse thing. It was really great fun and finally i have managed to buy all the christmas gifts - eleven days before Christmas - that must be a new record!

I have also tried to progress my photographing, guitar playing, studying so there is not much time over for other things at the moment. I got really happy when i got one of my photos approved for an iphone app! :+) Yay!

So addicted!

Ok, so im a proud owner of an iphone 4 now and yes, i am addicted. I had the ipod touch first generation before and thought that i really do not need an iphone, but as my mobile broke and my ipod is getting very slow i decided that i will go for an iphone this time and see what the fuss is all about....and yes i say it again i am hooked! First night i sat till 3 am organizing and making the phone look neat. Today i have been browsing the App store. Its so easy, all you need is there just two clicks away. True there is a lot of junk out there, a lot of worthless crap, but also tons of apps that are very useful. Basically you can have your whole life in your phone. Browsing through the store I found this awesome app called "Akinator". I love it! I have to say its very amusing and great fun. What you do is think of a character and the Gene asks you questions and guesses who you are thinking off. That is so much fun and really addictive. It guesses right 95% of the time and it becomes a game and a challenge trying to outsmart the app, by thinking of very odd, unique and original characters. Worth every penny!

Sun halo

Today i took the car for a little drive as it has been fairly cold and it has been standing still for a long time. I also grabbed the opportunity to do some christmas shopping. While i was driving i discovered a halo around the sun. It was absolutely phenomenal. I was watching how people where stressing around and wondered if i was the only one who noticed this beautiful halo. I so regretted that i did not have my camera with me. As i love photography i usually have one camera with me, but of course...what are the odds...i did not have it with me this time. I have read about this phenomena a couple years ago but i never thought i would witness one. I was totally mesmerized. I decided that i just have to try to capture it on film so I rushed back home to get the camera but by the time i got out it was gone, what a shame, i hope it was not ones in a lifetime experience. From now on i will not go out the door without my camera...well at least for a week or so.

Original massage

This is just too hilarious...poor girl!

I had some time off from writing due to sickness. I have been litterly bound to the bed for a week due to a stomach bug, which i think i caught eating out. Now when i am up on my feet again i am trying to catch up on some studying, guitar playing and some episodes of the series i follow, but of course missed this week. One series i follow is "Chuck". I think its great that it does not take things too seriously. It leaves you with that nice, warm feeling of a chuckle inside. It also has a interesting chemistry between the characters in the series which makes it even more addictive ;+) It made me also discover a new band i have not heard before and i really like their music...beware of the "Frightened Rabbit"!

Are we alone?

Today i watched Steven Hawkins program on discovery about aliens. Fairly interesting questions were addressed: are we alone in the universe? If you ask me i think it would be fairly naive of us to think we are alone, knowing how many billion of galaxies there are and also that today we do know that life without oxygen, sunlight and water is possible. We often limit our thinking in that in order for life to exist it has to be carbon based and need water. But why do we exclude different forms of energies? We often think of aliens as little men but in reality alien life can be as complex or simple as such. The intriguing idea of astroids spreading alien life around the galaxy by hitting planets and letting the fight of survival of the fittest. Why not? Im sure there are organisms that can survive the temperature and the vacuum of space.

A question addressed in the episode was that its a scientific problem that we have not heard from any aliens. That if they do exist why haven't they contacted us? Firstly with that thought we have to assume that they do have some form of intelligence to communicate...and yes why wouldn't there be other intelligent life forms out there? That though requires the simple fact that they do speak the same "language" as us. Wether its sound, radio waves, language, images and so on. Cause really what is communication? Its merely sounds that we have given a symbol. We know the letter A is pronounced A cause we have set rules for it. We know different symbols have different meanings and as i am sure we all have experienced we know that it is difficult to communicate and understand each other if we come from different countries, social and culture backgrounds. How hard would it then not be to understand a message from outer space? It would require that aliens communicate with roughly the same symbols and sounds as we do. Maybe they even have been trying to talk to us for decades but we are just not on the same "wave length"? One possible sign of extraterrestrial life though, was the Wow-signal from 1977, apparently coming from a place 200 lightyears away. Well there is another problem...communication and conversations with the universe is not an easy task. It is not like a face to face, phone to phone dialog. It takes a long time for the message to arrive and just as long for it to be sent back. So by the time the message arrives the world has probably changed significantly...i mean look at us and where we were 200 years ago.

But then lets play with the idea that aliens will visit us or already have. That in itself implies that they are much highly evolved and more intelligent then us. Their technology would be far more advanced then ours, as it would have allowed them to travel such distances in space. Then would they come in peace? Some say that probably not. The argument is that if they have the technology to travel in the universe then they probably have experiences the atom bomb and its lethal outcome. So they would be capable to exploiting and destroy their own and other worlds. But why do we assume that? Firstly that limits our thinking in that they would be like us. That they would have to be a social life form in order to perform such a task. But then again maybe nuclear explosion are common in their world? Maybe its a natural phenomenon, like the El Nino heat wave? Maybe it is like fire works for them? Maybe such a thing occurs often on their planet and they have developed a resistance? Furthermore why do we even think that they would come down to earth and say "Well, hello their neighbour?". I mean why wouldn't they want to visit earth? We are aliens to them, must be fascinating to explore another life form, no? We could learn from each other...Then again maybe space travel is common for them and they check on us now and then, thinking we are just a little ant farm that think we are so smart? Im mean really what could we offer high intelligent aliens, that posses the technology of traveling in space and maybe time (assuming they come in peace)? If i was an alien, i would check out earth first. I would see what we are capable to do to each other, to our planet and its life. Heck i would think twice in landing here...imagine what our governments would do if one little alien would visit us? " ...nope, it is better to be safe then sorry!" I am sure there is an alien saying like that! "I will come back in lets say a billion years and see if they have learned anything...or next time I pass this place I will make sure I bring the whole fleet just in case...!

Fable stole a couple of hours of my time. Hmmm, very addictive that game. I really enjoy it. Im not so sure about the spells though, the previous games you could use all of the spells you bought. Here you are limited with two spell gauntlets and two potions that you need to perform other spells. A bit more tricky with other words, but you get use to it and really its the feel of the game and the story... oh me like, me like.

It was really misty this morning and frost on the ground. I sneaked out just to take a couple of shots. Really i wanted to spend some more time on the photos and go down town and maybe get some nice mysterious pictures down the harbor but there is no time for that today. I just have to wait for the next fog.

Fable

Started to play Fable III and so far it seems really cool. That reminded me though of a funny moment in Fable II that i like to share.

Celebrities

So this weekend ended up in a conversation about good looking female celebrities. That one is quiet difficult i think. There are a lot of conventionally pretty and good looking people but really not so many beautiful. But after some thinking i scrambled up to my top five.

1. Claire Forlani
Beautiful and amazing in "Meet Joe Black". Has a smile and a look that can say more then a thousand words.

2. Lauren Graham
Can't really explain why. Just love the character she is playing in "gossip girl". The relationship to her daughter, the depth and naked honesty makes it a very deep performance.

3. Liv Tyler
Stunning in LOTR. Goes to show ugly people can have beautiful children.

4. Angelina Jolie
Yes i know a lot of criticism can be pointed towards her. All the things we read in the papers about her: too skinny, yet another tattoo and another dispute with Aniston, but to be fair i think she is one of the few actresses that can almost pull anything off. She makes an excellent "Tomb Raider", and I loved her in "A mighty heart" and "Beyond borders". "The bone collector", "the good Shepard" and "Gone in 60 seconds" are other films a really like her in...Gone in 60 seconds by the way has a really addictive music that sticks in your mind.

4. Charlize Theron
Monster was a very strong performance, and i like her in that film although without having the main lead she really stands out in Hancock and Italian Job.

5. Yvonne Strahovski
Beautiful actress in "Chuck". Don't think i have seen her in anything else.

6.Jessica Biel
She really started to grow on me. From this little girl in "7th heaven" to a woman in the "Illusionist" and "Next". What will she throw at us in the future? Can't wait to see :+)

Old spice commercial 2nd version..

Anyone seen the old spice commercial "the man your man could smell like"? This is for the ladies...



...and this is the second version of the commercial..for the men... ;+)

Saturday

Today started off good. Went with all the kids to the cinema for on a short film. Was pretty fun, and the kids loved it. When you think of it its a pretty big thing going to the cinema for a 4 year old. The film was only half an hour long and after the film we all went to the kids court and let the the little ones run off some energy. Then all of the girls left Stefan with five kids and went shopping for a while. So far so good, but just as I was leaving the shopping center little man started to throw up. Gosh poor thing. Nothing left to do but to clean up and just go home, now i hope this was a one time thing and not that it was a stomach bug...

Got my book today, its time to knuckle down and start to study. Feel so unmotivated. Don't really know where to find the energy to read. My to-do list is growing and i am not ticking of as fast as i should be.

Picked up the car today. Cross fingers that they have fixed the problem. It turned out that it was just an air pocket in the cooler system. Just an air pocket? That makes me wonder how many crap mechanics are out there. I have been having this problem for a longer period of time and i just had given up on it ever being fixed. I got told by the mechanics that it could be the thermostat, the fan, the top gasket and so on, but that all that seemed to be fine so they did not know anymore. One mechanic wanted to pour in welding fluid in the cooler system in case there was a crack somewhere and air was leaking in. I myself not knowing much about cars was would still think that you look for the simplest things first before you strip the whole car down but i was preparing for the worse so i am very pleased that so far the car works ok and it seems like the problem is fixed. If it would have been the top gasket the pleasure of fixing it would cost €2000 and to be honest i rather spend that on a trip somewhere then to change a piece of rubber...

Questions

Today i have been thinking. A lot. Its late and i am tired. Wonder if it is the late night that sneaks up on me again? Really it does not matter, i have been feeling like this for a longer period of time. Its really hard to be witty, happy, smile on the outside when on the inside all you feel is chaos...but in a way organized chaos.

Made a lot of phone calls today, some happy some sad. Some i have not spoken to in months some just in weeks. Its nice to hear that they have been thinking of you. I guess there is this subconscious connection between people, no matter where we are in the world. You hear that little voice inside you that makes you pick up the phone and just say "Hi, i thought of you today". A call does not have to be long but it can brighten up someones day tremendously, change their course...I care and yes, it matters. Really just a simple smile to someone on the street, a chat to someone on the bus or train, a compliment to a stranger "hey i really like that top you are wearing, it looks great on you". Why do i find that easy, when really i feel that my world is breaking apart? Does it really feel good in this locked up shell of mine? Really i should step back and give that a thought". Why is it for instance that it is so easy to give people compliments and make them smile and feel special when its so hard to receive. Do we feel obligated to give back when someone treats us or wishes us well? When is it that you over think things and when is it that you do not give it enough thought or attention? How do we learn to find the balance and answers? What do i know? What i do know though is that in the end no matter what the answer is in your heart...

Garage

Today i put my car to the garage. It has given me some grief for a while now when it comes to a couple of things. Firstly i have to change the suspension and then change the tires, but that is put a side as the more immediate thing i have to deal with is high pressure in the cooler system. It is a bit of a worry as even the previous mechanics that looked at the car had problems finding whats causing the high pressure. Oh well i hope they will find it and fix it, i hate for it to be an unsolvable problem and then after a couple of miles it goes *cabooom* and then it costs a fortune to fix what ever got broken. So cross fingers!

Gamex

Went to the first ever game fair in Sweden today. It was more an event then a fair to be honest. They had a lot of old consoles and really the only new thing was the XBOX 360 Kinect. The new ground breaking thing is supposed to be no remotes just hands. It seems to be fairly fun but the motion tracking has some delays, which i think might get annoying after a while. I think giving it some time the second generation will be absolutely awesome. There where a lot of singing and dancing games and I was missing some new games like Fable III for instance or racing games. Although the lambourgini they had on display was very nice. A game that did catch my attention was Vanquish. I really have to give a try, though at the moment i do not have time to play. I am embarrassed to say i have not finished Mass Effect II yet! Any how it was a cool day and after some popcorn i went to sit under the avatar tree trying to get some tsahaylu vibes but it did not work, it might be cause of all the electronics surrounding it disturbing its energy or maybe just cause i did not have a braid with neural fibres, but hey it was worth a try...

*uff*

Absolutely shattered... think i overdid it a bit with 7 days in a row of work and almost 70 hours, but when you love what you do and are dedicated to be there for others i guess you put yourself last. In a way its wrong as you can never be there completely for others unless you are whole yourself, but that is a lesson i think that will take me a lifetime to learn...if i ever will learn it...

Quality health care

Today the whole morning till midday got spent making injections on the chemical lab. It was very good practice and actually really fun to see how different our veins look and behave. During the day they have around 250 patients, so it was a lot of work. Its crazy though cause when you stop and think about it then it means that every patient gets 7 minutes healthcare time. Talk about quality health care. Then after lunch, yes today i had time for lunch(!) it was time to work at the clinic. Yay! It ended up a 14 hour working day so i think i will just rest my little head on the pillow and snore away....

Playing with fire

A couple of days ago i decided to play with fire. I grabbed some matches, a chair, lighter fluid and my guitar...Ok i skipped the lighter fluid and the guitar and took my camera instead. I tried to get in touch with my creative side, gosh was it deeply buried this time, it was not that easy to capture the flame, nor was it easy to create smoke. Here is the end result though:

(no chair got harmed during the photo shoot, just some minor burns on the fingers)

I say no!

This is just so funny :+)

Life

I love nature, i really find it fascinating. I have seen the discovery series "planet earth" a couple of times now and every time i see it i discover something new. Saw this on the telly from a series called "Life" and just had to look it up and watch it again. Gosh how extraordinary nature is. Amazing!

Lemming altert

I have been tired of my hair for quiet some time now. Its dry, split ends, outgrowth and bleached to buggery... so i decided to add some zest to it by putting a dye in my fraggle type hair. What was i thinking! There i was in the bathroom drying my hair, awaiting the final result...oh, my god...Sh*t! It's green!! Ha ha ha i looked like a lemming! In distress there is no law, first thing in the morning before the doors even open i was at a drop in hair dresser. The guy at the counter called in a hairdresser and while doing that he described my hair with a big grin on his face. The people sitting on the sofa awaiting their turn where quietly smiling to themselves eavesdropping to my conversation with the man at the desk when i described how i ended up with this fine colour. Finally, there she was my catcher in the rye. I sat down in the chair and took a last look at my lemming hair...

Days at work

Gosh what a week! I arrived at work and it's total chaos. Nurses and doctors are running around, four patients are lying in the hallway as there is not enough room. New patients are arriving, others are pressing the alarm button as they need help and the doctors ask "so can we do a round now?". Crazy! As that was not enough...one of the nurses came in to work the evening, she had quiet a bit of a pain in her stomach and during the round the doc said to her "you are walking like an appendix, let me examine you" ... two hours later, she was walking around in her patient clothes awaiting surgery. In the end we all could not but laugh. How ironic... Later on she sat in the office in her little, white patient outfit and the i.v dripping nicely into her veins, giving the nurse that came in as a replacement a report about her patients.

The next day it was just as hectic. I didnt manage to go to the bathroom or eat. Everyone was running around like a duracell rabbit. Thank god that those batteries last long! Even though the work is stressfull there are some moments that you never forget. Like two of my patients that we were "finished with" and they were being signed out from the clinic. There she was in the hall and i in the office preparing the medications... "Regina..." i heard someone calling me. I approach her, took her hand and crouched next to her as she was in a wheel chair. "Thank you", she said. "Oh its nothing", I replied "thats why we are all here". Then she smiled a tired smile, as she is very weak, fighting metastatic cancer. "I am going to the palliative care now, but I want you to know that everything you have done, i and my family will always be grateful for. I will always remember you". Just as she was sitting there in her wheelchair awaiting her paperwork to be finished, a man passed by in the hall smiling. He was signed out from the clinic on his way home. He stopped. He expressed his gratitude and said that he will finally continue with his life now after two weeks in the hospital. I smiled and wished him all the best. In that very moment it hit me..there they where standing next to each other in the hall, two people that really touched my life. Two people standing next to each other, one on the way home the other one on the way leaving this world...

The imaginarium

The other day i saw a film called "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" by Terry Gilliam. Its not often a film leaves me with a feeling of "wt....huh?". I have no idea whether i thought the film was good or bad. It was just different and weird at the same time. Tons of famous actors including; Heath Ledger (his last film) Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Christopher Plummer and many more. Terry Gilliam is the man who directed and wrote some of the Monthy Python, so it was bound to be a bit different. The scenery was awesome, like a little fairytale world with some weird additions. The acting was over all good. I liked Heaths performance but not so much Collin Farrels as he just reminded me too much of Johnny Depps character in the pirate films. It took a while to get into the film...and well the story is original to say the least. I would say that either the man is crazy or a genius. Then again thats a fine border for some.

Feeling off...

The last couple of weeks i have been fighting a huge head ache and stomach ache. On monday i had a rather embarrassing moment. I recently have started my practical bit at the hospital and during a round with all the doctors and nurses everything just went black. Im still feeling off and really start to worry. Im not the one to complain about pains here or there but this is just very weird as i cant even keep the food i am eating. My head is constantly thumping and the second im eating something it wants to head back up. Hope this will change soon...

Long time no see...

Trying to pick up writing again...cross fingers ;+)