Jelly on springs

Ok so maybe I am a bit influenced by the courses that I recently have studied but then again statistics talk for themselves. A forth of Swedish population today report that they don’t feel well mentally and the eating disorders among adolescence keep on increasing. It made me wonder why. Working in the hospital you get to see how bad people really  feel and how many they are. Is it the constant pressure from our surrounding or the information we get fed with every day on how we are supposed to look and what we are supposed to do?

It is actually funny to see how our perception of beauty and sex symbols has changed over the years. Ones upon a time Marilyn Monroe was a sex symbol. I know that over the years there have been constant discussions whether she was a size 16 (44) or not… fact is it really doesn’t matter. The woman had curves, a typical hourglass figure and it was ok. Jelly on springs! I never forget the time when Anna Nicole Smith covered the posters around this country and what huge debate that awoke. Some said that it was natural beauty and that is why people turn their heads, others said that it was slutty. Why is a woman with curves in underwear slutty? The commercial by Dove was lifted up the issue again and portraid women as they are. The scary part is that this is something unusual. Retouching is a friend and it is more of an exception then a rule -  to show women's natural beauty and shape.  I am surprised that not more is done in this matter. Young people of today feel the pressure from the world; they lack often guidance and get fed with unrealistic information. A fifteen year old might seem adult in some respects but really they don’t have the same references or supporting network to deal with everything that is thrown on their plate.  No wonder they feel bad?  No wonder they push themselves to unrealistic goals… trying to become something and someone they are not… as it is not hard enough to just try to be yourself?

Parenting

Being a parent i look back at my upbringing and start to understand where certain of my behavior comes from. I see where my own parents went wrong and for back of a better word "screwed up". It is maybe harsh to say but it is the truth. Its scary to think that you have the power of shaping a human being and no matter how we twist and turn - we will traumatize our children. Hopefully that will be limited damage. The answer on how well we do is when the child is already grown up and then we are powerless to correct our mistakes. In worse case scenario your child will turn your back on you and you will never see them again. The other hard part is that we only have one chance and really there are no parenting schools. There might be guidelines but they are only guidelines and not necessarily correct. We follow our intuition and step back looking back at our own life trying not to make the mistakes our parents did. Perhaps we will succeed, but fact is even though we will do the best we know how to - we will make mistakes. At the end of the day if we stay true and follow our hearts the mistakes will not be too traumatizing and our children will understand and forgive us. Only time will tell.

Aging with grace

Not so long ago i got the opportunity to meet my grandpa for the very first time in about 10 years. I had totally forgot what a long time it was since i last saw him and part of me was kind of embarrassed that i haven't seen my grandparents for so long.  He lives in a different country to me and really there is not much left in my homeland for me to visit and life has thrown me in unexpected directions and it has taken years for me to get back on my feet - yet somehow i do not think thats an excuse for not seeing them for a decade - it is a horribly long time. It's sad to think that when my grandparents pass away i will be left with very little if anything to visit in my own country. That said my granddad decided that he wanted to see the north of sweden yet again and considering his age he thought that this would probably be his last trip. It is quite a tiring journey for anyone, a couple of hours by car to the ferry and then 18 hours on the boat and a couple of more hours again with the car.

Yet he claims he relaxes while traveling and despite his old age (a respectable 90) he decided to make the journey. Finally i got a chance to meet my grandfather, and i have to say my heart went all soft.  I have worked with elderly people as long as i remember and its sad to see that after a while it is either the body or the head that gives in. My grandfather though is stubborn. I have to say that i would love to age with such grace. He does need a walking stick but prefers to walk without it. The hearing is weakened but his mind is still very clear and it is rather impressive to have a discussion with him about what happens in the world. During his visit he spent most of the week reading books (he finished 3!). I was amazed that he still can think clearly and has not lost much of his memory. I feel so blessed to have met him yet again - and i hope that life will continue to be good to him and that i will yet again meet him. 

Washing machine

Today i just remembered a commercial of a washing machine. I think its really great. Its already five years old and i still think it's a great and innovative idea. This is the video from youtube. The music is from Vangelis - Ask the moutains.

Buzzing Wasp

As mentioned at some point before - i really love taking pictures...and sometimes after taking zillions of pics you end up lucky with that one great shot. This is mine taken this summer.

Love

The other day i was looking through some papers and I found this post card. I always seem to misplace it so this time I'm putting it up here so i will always have it. It's one of my favorite poems...beyond words..so beautiful.

I love you beyond what words can say

You are such an important part of me

 such a precious part of my life,

 and yet it's hard to convey the depth of my love. 

It's difficult to express

the changes you have made in me

and the meaning

you have added to my life.

Words do not do justice to my emotions

when I want you, need you,

and love you

with every breath of my being.

I love you beyond words and action - 

beyond meaning.

My mind, my body, even my senses,

are full of you.

You are as important to my life

as the very beat of my heart.

I hope you can look into my eyes,

deep within my soul,

and know without words that you are

the part of me I treasure most.

-Deanne Laura Gilbert

Yummy

Tree frog

Was just ponsing around on the net and found this photo on National Geographics page. Thats one hungry tree frog ;+)

Mini-Darth

So cute! ;+)

Weekend

Finally weekend! Today has been a relaxing day. It has been rather sunny and I even got in a mood of reading a book. Then just a little trip to  Media Market. The collection of films got expanded by "wall street" with M. Douglas and "letters to juliet" with A. Seyfried. I'm not much of a chick-flick movie kind of a person, but occasionally it does happen that i watch a girly film. I hope they are both good. Then went for a coffee and let the little man play a bit in the kids court. In the kids court there was a little boy that started to cry cause he had lost his parents. I would guess the parents left him to play and went shopping themselves...i could never do it...makes me angry how irresponsible some parents are. Grrrr....

Hero or Star?

Paying the television license has always been this big thing. People have been trying to avoid paying it by claiming they do not own a radio or tv or that it broke and they had to throw it out. Rather funny excuses i think but really no one can prove you any different unless you let them into your house, have it on in the background while they license people pay you an unexpected visit or if you actually just bought a TV. So, I guess the television license company got a bit tired of always chasing people so now they have a little different approach. Its a fun thing to do and send to a friend for a laugh...try it out, who is your hero? Chose "vällj bild" or start up the web cam on the other button. Maybe you even know a star? (hint: just read the lines the director presents for you- even though the director speaks swedish, the lines you read are english)

Register me!

I hate to sound bitter, but i am so unmotivated right now. I can't pull my butt out of the wagon, pull my thumb out of my *beep* and so on. Why? Well a year a go i started studying again, but due to my past experiences and years at the uni I got a lot of the courses approved. That in its self resulted that I could skip almost a whole year in school and move up two semesters. I was very pleased with that, finally there was light in the tunnel. Then somewhere in the beginning of the tunnel, really right at the start the hassle started. 

The school claims they are very good at giving student access to material they need before hand and that the majority you can do online...you can even register yourself on the upcoming course, that though requires that you are registered at the right semester. I first tried to fix the problem via the information desk, but they send  me to the admission service and they in turn send me to the student councilor. I visited the student councilor and he claimed that the problem was fixed. In the beginning i truly believed the guy... A new course was starting and again to my disappointment I noticed the problem was not corrected. Yet again I had to rely on my student friends in getting access to the material for the course. It has been a couple of courses now and a couple of routes to the councilor, and i am really fed up with this by now. How hard can it be? Today it is almost a year later and I am still registered at the wrong semester! The last course was the best one by a long shot though! The course was very intense and lasted five weeks and the school registered me on the course on the forth week which made it impossible for me to register for the exam (as you have to do that ten days prior the test). Great! Again, i went complaining... but its nothing they can help me with. That means that i have automatically failed the first exam and have to redo it. Re-do what? I wasn't allowed to do the first test! Not to mention that two weeks ago i got a paper in my mail which I signed a year ago saying which courses i got approved. It took the school a year to send a piece of paper! This week we are starting yet a new course... and yes...things have still not been corrected! So now, I seriously had it! Screw this I am booking a holiday, enough is enough!

Photography

Always loved photography! Today i rarely leave the house without a camera. Normally if I plan something I will  bring the SLR with me, otherwise I carry a small Canon in my bag and if I ever forget it, then there is  always the camera on the iPhone. Crazy? Perhaps, but there is just something about photos and to be able to take a snapshot of anything at any given time. Usually people take pictures during holidays, Christmas, Easter and so on...then you end up with zillion of pictures (that are very much alike i might add) thinking "which christmas was this?". Its good that now days that is incorporated in the metadata, there are even cameras that give you the GPS coordinates in case you forgot where you were. That said i know where the posted picture below was taken and i wish i could take credit for it - it's one of my many favourites.

 "A mother's love"

Dooms day

Dooms day time! Apperently my last day for mot was in January so i have been driving the car illegally for  quite some time now. Ops! I had totally forgot! Mot...why are those times always so stressful? Its as stressful as telling someone you crashed their bran new car or realizing that you forgot to close the door and your mother in law fell out of the car while you were driving! They should offer some sedatives at the entrance. The wait...god the wait. My car has a bit glichy panel so the control lamp for my head lights does not always work. I have tried to fix it before and it will cost a a fortune as they have to change the whole panel. I checked the light before going to the mot and it was working but by the time i arrived and the mechanic started to check the car it stopped. As i had the same mark last year my car would now get banned from driving if i did not fix it within a month. I could feel the pain, my worries confirmed and my wallet robbed. The car past on everything else, just that stupid light. Oh well i sat down in the car rather disappointed and started the enginee checked the lights... it works! Omg you kidding me!? I went back in, spoke to the mechanic and he checked it again...as it was only 5 minutes since he finished the mot he could change the protocol and just by pure luck i passed the survey. Pheeew!

Drawing

Sometimes the smallest things amaze you. Today my son did a drawing and i was really surprised in his progress. He is still only little and only a week ago he did a painting which contained more blobs and lines. Today he drew a whole table, chair and some people on it. Amazing! Then he said he drew his friend sitting on the chair and made himself taller "as im taller then him" he explained. Then he added some dust under the table "so mum can vacuum it". I don't know if it means that we always have dirt under the table or that mummy always runs around with the vacuum cleaner and tidy the place!

Chicken tikka ala Ramsay

Today it was tikka masala day ala Ramsay. I was surprised how easy it was to make it. Not sure if Gordon would eat it though knowing his standards but i was good enough for me. Have to say i really like the guy and his passion for food is ver contagious. Nothing beats home made cooking the stuff from a jar is really horrible comparatively speaking.

You got mail

A day or so back i saw "the Lake house", i remember seeing it a couple years back and i really liked the film. A romantic film with a bit of time traveling is just my kind of thing on a cold and cloudy day. There is quite a lot letter correspondence happening in the film and that just made me think how much i miss that. Times have changed. Don't get me wrong i think its great that we can text people and say a quick hi, ask how they are doing or just leave a little message. I still miss my snail mails though. Hand written letters where the handwriting was so bad you had to ask yourself: what does it say? Today if i ever get a letter  its written on a computer and then it is just signed (if even that) by the person who wrote it. To really think about it the only thing popping into my mail box are bills, information or advertisement from various companies. I miss my post cards! Today wether it is Christmas or you go abroad on a holiday you send a e-card or a text message. It is cheaper, faster but less personal in a way. Really it could serve as a nice compliment to a card. Call me old fashion but nothing says "ah, they are really having a relaxing holiday" then that little post card you get in a mail box with a picture of a palm tree on the beach.

Mashup

Do we remember all the music from 2010? Here is a mashup of top 25 from the US.

Batman

Last couple of days i have been organizing my photos. I have let it slip quite a bit and now there is tons of work. To take a break i ended up browsing through the net and saw that it is really not far now till they start shooting the last movie in the Batman trilogy, if everything will go according to plan that is. They still have not found their leading lady. This film will of course star Christian Bale, Michael Cane and Morgan Freeman although this will be Bale's last Batman movie. The film will be directed by Christopher Nolan (Inception, the Prestige, Batman begins) and i really can not wait. Love his work. With Peter Jackson's "the Hobbit" just around the corner, 2012 seems to become a good year regards to films.

The Script

Meet the Script! I stumbled across this soft rock band last year, while looking for some music on Spotify and immediately i was hooked. I had not heard of them before, yet they released their first single "We Cry" in April,  2008. The single became their first top 20 hit peaking at number 15 on the UK Single Chart and at number 9 on the Irish Single Chart. Four months later they released their self-titled album which made number one in the UK and Ireland, with single hits like "Man who can't be moved", "Breakeven" and "Talk you down". I really love the sound of this band, it is unique and the guys can really write expressive music conveying feelings that hit straight to the core. I was waiting with anticipation for their next album. September 2010 they released their new album "Science & Faith" and the single "For the First Time". One word - awesome! The next single from the album is called "Nothing" and boy i am blown away. Love it!

Secrets

I love this song by OneRepublic, a band that made it big thanks to MySpace. This song appears also in the Sorcerers Apprentice starring Nicolas Cage. In the film Dave (Jay Baruchel) plays this song on the tesla coils (the other song was Superstition by Steven Martin). Anyhow, enough babbling, enjoy the song!

The Tourist

Finally we get to see such amazing actors as Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie act opposite each other in a film called the Tourist - a remake of the French thriller Anthony Zimmer. In the film the dazzling beauty, Elise Ward (Angelina Jolie) is first seen sipping a coffee in a cafe. While under surveillance, of Interpol, she receives a message. The message is from her former lover, Alexander Pearce, an international criminal, who stole millions of dollars from a gangster by the name of Shaw. Elise gets the instruction to take a train and meet Alexander in Venice, Italy. Whilst on the train she is suppose to find a man with a specific height and looks. She gets acquainted with a tourist by the name of Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp), a math-teacher from Wisconsin. Elise convinces Frank to have dinner with her and later on to stay in a hotel, where they kiss; a kiss that sets of a chain of events, resulting in Frank being mistaken by Pearce and colliding with the Interpol investigation. 

During the film there are a couple of twists, but they leave you with a confused state of mind - I had no idea if i was watching a comedy or an action movie. The story was there, the acting was there but the execution was poor. It was good to see Johnny Depp act as an down to earth man instead of the eccentric characters we are used to seeing him play, but being Johnny he still added his quirks to the character. That part i liked though, i had more trouble with the music that was trying to buildup the pace, leaving you expecting an event that never came. The editing was rather poor as well. It seemed like bits and pieces where missing, which spoiled what could have been a great chemistry between the characters. There where bloopers too; like during a shooting scene bullets went through the roof of the boat and in the next scene the roof is polished and shining, or when a hand-cuffed Depp is swimming in the water without hand-cuffs...and there where more of such mistakes. Those are perhaps details but very annoying ones. It was like the film was taking the "p" for the better part. The good set of actors, beauty of Venice, some wittyness, shooting and running over roof-tops lift the film up but only so much. Don't get me wrong though - after accepting the film for what it is - it becomes decent one. It is not a movie that will leave you with a sense of "what pile of crap was that(?)" but it will not blow you away either. That said i enjoyed it.

Disney on Ice

Disney on Ice! I thought it was a great show so i can imagine that the kids thought it was awesome. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, the Incredibles and characters from Toy Story, like Woody and Buzz Lightyear and many more from the world of Disney were skating around the ice in a story where Donald and Minnie where put to a hundred years of sleep by the evil witch. A show i warmly recommend to anyone with kids. I will definitely go next year! Sorry about the bad quality pics but didn't have the SLR with me.

Just a few seconds from the show :+)

Is this a dream?

A while back i got this app called Inception for my iphone. I have to admit that it took a while before i understood how it works. The app basically augments the music (by Hans Zimmer) from the film. It captures the sound from your surrounding distorting and combining it to create a dream world. Just like the film the app idea is genius. It has different dreams that you can enter: the still dream where you have to sit still for a while to unlock it or the active dream where its enough that you shake your iphone. The full moon dream, which you can only activate ones a month, as it actually checks if it is full moon where you are. If you then enter too many dreams you end up in limbo. The app is brilliant as it uses GPS, microphone and positioning on the iphone. Saying that: the most confusing dream is the Africa dream. Do you have to be in Africa in order to unlock it? People have cracked this dream on a jail broken phone, but i will not jailbreak my phone just to listen to some sounds. I am also not traveling to Africa just to unlock the dream (unless it would be a real dream coming true to go to Africa). Then again maybe i just do not get it, how to unlock it. I think this app is cool for soothing and relaxing sounds. I would want to listen to it just before sleep but then i am afraid I will never wake up and as i have lost my unique token i would not know the difference between what is real or fiction. In a way this app does not make much sense but then again does everything have to have a meaning?

Happy New Year

2011 has started with a quiet and peaceful day. I do not know anyone that thinks that last year was a good one so thank god it is over and will not return...and if Hollywood is right then 2012 will be a right *beeeep*, so let's make the best that we can out of this year, then again if there will be a virus outbreak then maybe Will Smith will save us in the end. Although following Aeon Flux or Terminator: Sara Connors Chronicles then we are pretty much fried already this year.

Some events from 2010:

1) A massive earthquake takes place in Haiti causing death to around 150 thousand people. This year there are earthquakes also in Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and other places

2) The Swedish car manufacture Saab is sold to the Dutch Spyker, causing it drop on the stock market

3) The polish governmental plane crashes over Russian soil killing more then 90 people including the president, Lech Kaczynski.

4) Eyjafjallajökull a volcano in Island erupts and causes a lot of trouble for the air traffic in Europe

5) BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, causing massive damage to the coastline.

6) Spain wins, for the first time ever, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The Netherlands was the runner-up.

7) Election is held in Sweden and the right wing extremist party gathered for the first time enough votes to enter the parliament in the role of a weight master between the major parties.

8) Apple launches ipad (i want one!)

9) A suicide bomber blows himself up in central Stockholm, killing only himself. Muslims in Sweden go out on the street the day after protesting.

10) Winter Olympics is held in Vancouver, Canada

11) The first synthetic genome is created

12) Wikileakes makes classified documents public causing a huge debate all over the world

13) 33 men got trapped in a miner accident in Chile. They got rescued after almost 70 days underground