yesterday it was melbourne cup day, which is the day when people on horses get more attention than any other people in this nation. except possibly people with extravagant hats glued (or at least so it appears) to one side of their head, coupled with expensive, often extravagant and almost exclusively horribly looking clothing. this is because the powers that be are not stupid and have created something for the women to do when the men waste their money on betting. and yes, that sounded very sexist and is not really true anymore (rachel was certainly more uppity about betting than me and i saw several reports on fashion contests for men at the race track), so maybe you should disregard that statement. attribute it to the overly cynical part of me.
the race this year was won by japanese horse "delta blues" closely followed by "pop rock", also japanese and the horse i decided to place my hard-earned $$$ on. i won a whopping $4.20. i also bet on another horse for both win and place and my total betting expenses were $8, but hey, a $4.20 win is still a $4.20 win.
that's all i got for now. another day, another quintessential australian experience experienced.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
everything's coming up zoidberg
my life is thoroughly unexciting. however, that never stopped people from updating their blogs and shan't stop me.
i am in sydney and it is somewhere between vancouver and lund. minor differences at best, such as the vegemite selection in the supermarket, the mysterious absence of black beans and the ubiquity of very small lizards. in vancouver it was the ubiquity of normal-sized squirrels, in lund it's...people on bikes. (side note: in minneapolis last summer, i borrowed betsy's bike one day to speed up my exploration of the neighborhood. funny thing was, there was never anywhere to park the bike. not a single bike stall graced my eyesight over the day and i was forced to chain the bike to various road signs and such. i am not mentioning this to reinforce the cultural stereotypes of americans, it's just that i really like bikes.)
i have seen weird animals. they were cool. previous to this journey, my only encounter with the platypus was in the south park episode where kenny turns into a duck-billed platypus (which, on a side note, is a tautology as far as i can tell), but now i have seen them for real and fellas, they are the shiz-nitz. an egg-laying mammal with a duck-bill and waterproof fur that searches for food in the water with electrical sensors AND has got poison in the back claws! i may not know much, but i know that it totally kicks the kronhjort's ass. and it does it so much that i had to get a platypus plush toy. does it rock? do you even need to ask?
there are also other very cool animals, including but not limited to: wallaby, echidna, wombat, bilby, cassowary, emu and of course the ever-so-loveable kangaroo.
the echidna is a very hip and stylish animal, similar to the hedgehog but with a hipper and more stylish snout, and some additional curl-up-to-a-ball capabilities. i really like hedgehogs so with the echidna it was love at first sight.
also, we have cats. the guy who has the house we're renting a room (or, more correctly, a granny flat) in is one of the biggest cat-fans to ever grace god's green earth and has three of the nicest cats ever. i'm slightly allergic to cats, but as long as they are kept outside the room and i don't touch my eyes with my hands after patting them, things are working out. i like cats. and if you for some reason doubt my statement that graeme, the owner, is a rather large fan of cats, here's a little story: about when i arrived, he started to become really sick. coughs and blood clots and other nasty things making it tough for him to walk and fatigued and other less than stellar things. after a couple runs to the doctor he was finally admitted and stayed there for a week and a half or so. we were planning to visit, but before we got there rachel got a call where he asked if the cats were okay, rachel asked how he was, he said that he had lung cancer and had decided not to get it treated and the doctors were giving him four months. but he just called to make sure the cats were okay.
he's home now, he's gotten an oxygen-making machine and his family has come over from britain and thailand. it's been nice to have some people in the house, when he went in to hospital it was just us and the cats and it's just not enough for a house that could easily fit three or four more persons. i think it will be pretty horrible when he starts getting worse, i don't like death but i hope i can handle it alright. he will most likely die while in the house and either me or rachel will be the first one noticing. death's a natural part of life and all that, but it's still pretty crap.
so anyways.
i got a job. it's a pretty nice job, but doesn't pay that well. i'm translating health and safety information from english to swedish, and boy am i learning about parts of the body i never knew existed and illnesses i never wanted to know existed. it's pretty interesting and at least related to my degree in some way. it's also part time and work at my own pace, which is pretty good. the only thing that's bad is that i don't meet any people, i just sit on my own in a cafe or computer center all day.
ok, there's a guy making extremely irritating noises in a microphone now, so i am out of here.
i am in sydney and it is somewhere between vancouver and lund. minor differences at best, such as the vegemite selection in the supermarket, the mysterious absence of black beans and the ubiquity of very small lizards. in vancouver it was the ubiquity of normal-sized squirrels, in lund it's...people on bikes. (side note: in minneapolis last summer, i borrowed betsy's bike one day to speed up my exploration of the neighborhood. funny thing was, there was never anywhere to park the bike. not a single bike stall graced my eyesight over the day and i was forced to chain the bike to various road signs and such. i am not mentioning this to reinforce the cultural stereotypes of americans, it's just that i really like bikes.)
i have seen weird animals. they were cool. previous to this journey, my only encounter with the platypus was in the south park episode where kenny turns into a duck-billed platypus (which, on a side note, is a tautology as far as i can tell), but now i have seen them for real and fellas, they are the shiz-nitz. an egg-laying mammal with a duck-bill and waterproof fur that searches for food in the water with electrical sensors AND has got poison in the back claws! i may not know much, but i know that it totally kicks the kronhjort's ass. and it does it so much that i had to get a platypus plush toy. does it rock? do you even need to ask?
there are also other very cool animals, including but not limited to: wallaby, echidna, wombat, bilby, cassowary, emu and of course the ever-so-loveable kangaroo.
the echidna is a very hip and stylish animal, similar to the hedgehog but with a hipper and more stylish snout, and some additional curl-up-to-a-ball capabilities. i really like hedgehogs so with the echidna it was love at first sight.
also, we have cats. the guy who has the house we're renting a room (or, more correctly, a granny flat) in is one of the biggest cat-fans to ever grace god's green earth and has three of the nicest cats ever. i'm slightly allergic to cats, but as long as they are kept outside the room and i don't touch my eyes with my hands after patting them, things are working out. i like cats. and if you for some reason doubt my statement that graeme, the owner, is a rather large fan of cats, here's a little story: about when i arrived, he started to become really sick. coughs and blood clots and other nasty things making it tough for him to walk and fatigued and other less than stellar things. after a couple runs to the doctor he was finally admitted and stayed there for a week and a half or so. we were planning to visit, but before we got there rachel got a call where he asked if the cats were okay, rachel asked how he was, he said that he had lung cancer and had decided not to get it treated and the doctors were giving him four months. but he just called to make sure the cats were okay.
he's home now, he's gotten an oxygen-making machine and his family has come over from britain and thailand. it's been nice to have some people in the house, when he went in to hospital it was just us and the cats and it's just not enough for a house that could easily fit three or four more persons. i think it will be pretty horrible when he starts getting worse, i don't like death but i hope i can handle it alright. he will most likely die while in the house and either me or rachel will be the first one noticing. death's a natural part of life and all that, but it's still pretty crap.
so anyways.
i got a job. it's a pretty nice job, but doesn't pay that well. i'm translating health and safety information from english to swedish, and boy am i learning about parts of the body i never knew existed and illnesses i never wanted to know existed. it's pretty interesting and at least related to my degree in some way. it's also part time and work at my own pace, which is pretty good. the only thing that's bad is that i don't meet any people, i just sit on my own in a cafe or computer center all day.
ok, there's a guy making extremely irritating noises in a microphone now, so i am out of here.
Monday, September 11, 2006
you're wasting your life, wasting your life
another post about music. apparently music is a big part of my life. well, everyone who's been to my house knows that. this post is about music and memory; how a certain song or album makes you think of a past period in life because either you listened to that album a lot during that time, or something in the lyrics takes you back to a specific situation. i'm sure there are other ways that music evokes memories, but these are the two i've experienced recently.
when i was biking to work one day a few weeks ago, i was listening to the last song i put in ("leif erikson") on my mp3 player, and after that the player restarted from the first album, which happened to be a split album by ben gibbard and andrew kenny. the second i heard ben gibbard's voice in the first song, i was transported back to vancouver, back to walking home to my house in the dark after studying late or just taking late night walks. death cab for cutie had just released "plans" and i was sort of taking a liking to them. the album is a bit uneven, it has a few really good songs, but i still listened to it a lot because it seemed to fit walking home in the dark very well. and gibbard's voice is distinct, unmistakable once you've heard it, coupled with some nifty songwriting skills. and so, without realizing it until now, my brain had made the permanent connection of death cab for cutie <--> walking home at night in vancouver. it's a good memory, thinking about it makes me happy. even if things weren't going well on all fronts then, i still really liked vancouver and living there. and i like to be remembered about it, because it was my everyday life and i don't think about it that often, but very much don't want to forget about it, because it was an important part of my life. it was my life that fall.
second part. another day of biking to work. that was my main way of listening to music this summer, i knew it made i a traffic hazard, but the 20 minute bike ride to work was just too incredibly boring on its own after a week or so. i'd just read the review of the new tv on the radio album and decided to check it out, so it's in my mp3 player and it's good. i tried listening to them in vancouver but didn't quite fall for them, but the new album is good. and it's got this song called staring at the sun that has a line that's "standing in the sea, staring at the sun" that also instantly brought up a memory in my head. it's me in betsy's cabin in minnesota, somewhere north of minneapolis. we went there for a family reunion last august, before i went on to vancouver, and in the evening when most people had left the last bunch of us were playing cards and just talking and doing slightly random stuff. i wasn't really in a people mood that night, so i went down to the lake for a swim, but just ended up standing there staring. it was so beautiful and the water was warm and it was quiet and serene and intense and perfect. i stood there by myself for a long time, just staring, and went back two or three times later that night because i just had to have more of that perfect moment. so in addition to being a really good album, tv on the radio made me remember that. i'm glad i found it.
when i was biking to work one day a few weeks ago, i was listening to the last song i put in ("leif erikson") on my mp3 player, and after that the player restarted from the first album, which happened to be a split album by ben gibbard and andrew kenny. the second i heard ben gibbard's voice in the first song, i was transported back to vancouver, back to walking home to my house in the dark after studying late or just taking late night walks. death cab for cutie had just released "plans" and i was sort of taking a liking to them. the album is a bit uneven, it has a few really good songs, but i still listened to it a lot because it seemed to fit walking home in the dark very well. and gibbard's voice is distinct, unmistakable once you've heard it, coupled with some nifty songwriting skills. and so, without realizing it until now, my brain had made the permanent connection of death cab for cutie <--> walking home at night in vancouver. it's a good memory, thinking about it makes me happy. even if things weren't going well on all fronts then, i still really liked vancouver and living there. and i like to be remembered about it, because it was my everyday life and i don't think about it that often, but very much don't want to forget about it, because it was an important part of my life. it was my life that fall.
second part. another day of biking to work. that was my main way of listening to music this summer, i knew it made i a traffic hazard, but the 20 minute bike ride to work was just too incredibly boring on its own after a week or so. i'd just read the review of the new tv on the radio album and decided to check it out, so it's in my mp3 player and it's good. i tried listening to them in vancouver but didn't quite fall for them, but the new album is good. and it's got this song called staring at the sun that has a line that's "standing in the sea, staring at the sun" that also instantly brought up a memory in my head. it's me in betsy's cabin in minnesota, somewhere north of minneapolis. we went there for a family reunion last august, before i went on to vancouver, and in the evening when most people had left the last bunch of us were playing cards and just talking and doing slightly random stuff. i wasn't really in a people mood that night, so i went down to the lake for a swim, but just ended up standing there staring. it was so beautiful and the water was warm and it was quiet and serene and intense and perfect. i stood there by myself for a long time, just staring, and went back two or three times later that night because i just had to have more of that perfect moment. so in addition to being a really good album, tv on the radio made me remember that. i'm glad i found it.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
'tis the season
there's rain and thunder outside. i love rain. one of my favorite all time lines from a song is "the rain falls hard on a humdrum town".
i also like coffee a lot, so it should come as no surprise that another one of my favorite lines is "i can tell you taste like coffee, 'cause you look like rain". seriously, that line has it all.
the rain started falling hard while i was halfway to work, on my bike. i got insanely wet. wet pants. ("hey, wet pants! this isn't the women's auxiliary balloon corps!") so now i've borrowed a cover-all at work, which makes me stand out slightly. it's a smashing green color that just happens to match my shoes. i haven't been getting any funny comments at all. nosiree.
boom.
i also like coffee a lot, so it should come as no surprise that another one of my favorite lines is "i can tell you taste like coffee, 'cause you look like rain". seriously, that line has it all.
the rain started falling hard while i was halfway to work, on my bike. i got insanely wet. wet pants. ("hey, wet pants! this isn't the women's auxiliary balloon corps!") so now i've borrowed a cover-all at work, which makes me stand out slightly. it's a smashing green color that just happens to match my shoes. i haven't been getting any funny comments at all. nosiree.
boom.
Monday, August 07, 2006
her rabid glow is like braille to the night
something about music.
music is a big part of my life. i have serious problems with silence. in my apartment, if it's not music it's radio coming from the speakers. it's always something. i'm a quiet-o-phobic. a noise polluter. i'm not sure what it is about music that makes it so important to me, but i think it's got something to do with the connection music-mood. music amplifies the mood and sometimes turns it around. music makes life seem more important, makes it matter more. and because i often try to match music to my mood, what i listen to varies a lot with time, but there are some bands i always come back to. two of them are interpol and mojave 3. interpol has high cred with the indie crowd, but mojave 3 is probably seen as a band that hasn't really contributed anything special. they are not my favorite bands, but for some reasons i've chosen them for my first music segment on the internet.
interpol. the mood interpol's music conveys can best be described as 'big city angst', which is close to what i feel sometimes. it makes me think of driving (and no, i don't have a license) in the dark or walking in the city in the dark and seeing all the lights. it's the beauty of sadness that so many artists and bands try to express, but almost exclusively fail. (side note: i like this beauty a lot, which is likely the reason i have such a soft spot for male depressing singer-songwriters as well). i'm currently listening to their song 'leif erikson' on repeat and it's not often i listen to songs on repeat. i'd say it's the third time it's happened, but i may be forgetting a song or two.
mojave 3. the mood mojave 3's music conveys can best be described as 'tired in the sunshine'. it's perfect for sunny days when you're too tired to do anything, which is a kind of day that comes along quite often. it's the music of having slept way too few hours and sitting in the sun with a cup of coffee and just staring. no stress, nothing that needs to be done, except finish that cup of coffee and brew another one. they're also insanely depressing at times, such as in the song 'she broke you so softly', which is possibly my favorite break-up song.
so there you have it. interpol and mojave 3 are two important parts of the soundtrack of my life. i'm not sure what you should do with this information, but that's the way it is.
music is a big part of my life. i have serious problems with silence. in my apartment, if it's not music it's radio coming from the speakers. it's always something. i'm a quiet-o-phobic. a noise polluter. i'm not sure what it is about music that makes it so important to me, but i think it's got something to do with the connection music-mood. music amplifies the mood and sometimes turns it around. music makes life seem more important, makes it matter more. and because i often try to match music to my mood, what i listen to varies a lot with time, but there are some bands i always come back to. two of them are interpol and mojave 3. interpol has high cred with the indie crowd, but mojave 3 is probably seen as a band that hasn't really contributed anything special. they are not my favorite bands, but for some reasons i've chosen them for my first music segment on the internet.
interpol. the mood interpol's music conveys can best be described as 'big city angst', which is close to what i feel sometimes. it makes me think of driving (and no, i don't have a license) in the dark or walking in the city in the dark and seeing all the lights. it's the beauty of sadness that so many artists and bands try to express, but almost exclusively fail. (side note: i like this beauty a lot, which is likely the reason i have such a soft spot for male depressing singer-songwriters as well). i'm currently listening to their song 'leif erikson' on repeat and it's not often i listen to songs on repeat. i'd say it's the third time it's happened, but i may be forgetting a song or two.
mojave 3. the mood mojave 3's music conveys can best be described as 'tired in the sunshine'. it's perfect for sunny days when you're too tired to do anything, which is a kind of day that comes along quite often. it's the music of having slept way too few hours and sitting in the sun with a cup of coffee and just staring. no stress, nothing that needs to be done, except finish that cup of coffee and brew another one. they're also insanely depressing at times, such as in the song 'she broke you so softly', which is possibly my favorite break-up song.
so there you have it. interpol and mojave 3 are two important parts of the soundtrack of my life. i'm not sure what you should do with this information, but that's the way it is.
idiot box
some erlend loe before i go to bed. unfortunately for all you english-speaking people out there, this text is not available in english. i suggest you hunt down your local publisher and force him or her, possibly at gunpoint, to translate erlend loe's collected writings into your language.
ur doppler.
"Förutom de illegala besöken hos Düsseldorf och ett par sällsynta turer till ICA på Ullevaal Stadion är det över sex månader sedan jag var i ett hus. Det ger absolut ingen mersmak. Jag går rastlöst omkring. Fyller ryggsäcken med verktyg och torrmat jag kan få användning av. Ser lite på teve, där det som vanligt är ett rikt utbud av tennismatcher och rekonstruerade brott och mer eller mindre fiktiva berättelser om människors gnat och tjat. Detta att se på teve blir för mig som ett uppslagsverk över varför jag inte tycker om folk. Teve är ett koncentrat av allt som är motbjudande med oss. Det som redan i verkligheten är svårt att försonas med av mänskliga egenskaper blir direkt grällt när det kommer på teve. Folk framstår som idioter. På teve skulle till och med jag ha framstått som en idiot."
over and out.
ur doppler.
"Förutom de illegala besöken hos Düsseldorf och ett par sällsynta turer till ICA på Ullevaal Stadion är det över sex månader sedan jag var i ett hus. Det ger absolut ingen mersmak. Jag går rastlöst omkring. Fyller ryggsäcken med verktyg och torrmat jag kan få användning av. Ser lite på teve, där det som vanligt är ett rikt utbud av tennismatcher och rekonstruerade brott och mer eller mindre fiktiva berättelser om människors gnat och tjat. Detta att se på teve blir för mig som ett uppslagsverk över varför jag inte tycker om folk. Teve är ett koncentrat av allt som är motbjudande med oss. Det som redan i verkligheten är svårt att försonas med av mänskliga egenskaper blir direkt grällt när det kommer på teve. Folk framstår som idioter. På teve skulle till och med jag ha framstått som en idiot."
over and out.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
i'm so bored with the...
a short ventilation of frustration. no interesting musings on what really constitutes the human condition. no fascinating recaps of my journeys around the world. no defense of rain. just frustration. and possibly some anger.
i'm currently trying to get myself a ticket to that fine continent on the other side of the world, australia. see some opera houses, battle some dangerous animals, hear some interesting accents and most importantly, see that girl i love so much. why would anyone want to interfere with this noble endeavour? well, i don't know, but mr dentist and mrs insurance company sure seems to want to, by taking (what seems like) eternally long summer vacations. you see, i knocked a tooth out whilst practicing handball when i was 11 and the insurance ran out june 30th this year. aware of this, i went to mr dentist on the 19th of june for the necessary first check. he was then to send a proposed plan with estimated costs to mrs insurance company. when he did, he got no reply despite trying phone, e-mail and fax. after some investigation, i found out that the person who handled my case at the insurance company had quit. nice going, mrs insurance company. so in the end, my case ends up with a real person, although a couple of days after june 30th. i do not currently know if this will be a huge deal or not. so ok, we're in the beginning of july here, still plenty of time to get things done and teeth fixed, but no! suddenly, everyone goes on vacation until the beginning of august! and the dentist is on vacation until august 15th! and my case at mrs insurance company is currently with some dentist expert/consultant who just might be on vacation! i don't know! and i'm hoping to leave the country in six weeks! do you see my dilemma? do you see? i have booked a ticket, but the booking expires on tuesday and i'm afraid ticket prices will go up since it's not very far away in the future and tickets might be scarce. and i don't know what to do because everyone is on vacation and i can't get in touch with them.
ok, that was all i got. feel my pain. it's almost as bad as not having a home or money to buy food.
i'm currently trying to get myself a ticket to that fine continent on the other side of the world, australia. see some opera houses, battle some dangerous animals, hear some interesting accents and most importantly, see that girl i love so much. why would anyone want to interfere with this noble endeavour? well, i don't know, but mr dentist and mrs insurance company sure seems to want to, by taking (what seems like) eternally long summer vacations. you see, i knocked a tooth out whilst practicing handball when i was 11 and the insurance ran out june 30th this year. aware of this, i went to mr dentist on the 19th of june for the necessary first check. he was then to send a proposed plan with estimated costs to mrs insurance company. when he did, he got no reply despite trying phone, e-mail and fax. after some investigation, i found out that the person who handled my case at the insurance company had quit. nice going, mrs insurance company. so in the end, my case ends up with a real person, although a couple of days after june 30th. i do not currently know if this will be a huge deal or not. so ok, we're in the beginning of july here, still plenty of time to get things done and teeth fixed, but no! suddenly, everyone goes on vacation until the beginning of august! and the dentist is on vacation until august 15th! and my case at mrs insurance company is currently with some dentist expert/consultant who just might be on vacation! i don't know! and i'm hoping to leave the country in six weeks! do you see my dilemma? do you see? i have booked a ticket, but the booking expires on tuesday and i'm afraid ticket prices will go up since it's not very far away in the future and tickets might be scarce. and i don't know what to do because everyone is on vacation and i can't get in touch with them.
ok, that was all i got. feel my pain. it's almost as bad as not having a home or money to buy food.
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