Last weekend I went back in time sort of. I headed back to the village I grew up in to participate in a school reunion. Apparently it’s 10 years since I graduated primary school (9th grade). Ten years!! I’m getting old…
The reunion was fun, first we had dinner at a local restaurant and then went to a community centre someone had rented for us. And there we played… eh, the dictionary tells me it’s called “rounders”. It’s kinda like baseball but with simpler rules, a very common game/sport here. Anyway, there were maybe 50 people there. We drank beer and took pictures and just tried to catch up on what had happened with everyone.

One thing I didn’t look forward to was meeting all the old bullies who made my school years less than pleasant. When thinking about meeting them again I didn’t really know how I should deal with it and had some very mixed feelings. But it turned out fine. The biggest assholes didn’t show up at all, the only one there was this guy I used to really hate. But once I sat there in front of him I realised something that was a great relief for me: I don’t care anymore. I looked into his eyes and felt absolutely nothing – no fear, no insecurity, no anger, no nothing. He had no effect on me whatsoever, how could I ever take detours just to avoid meeting him in the hallway? Whatever happened doesn’t matter anymore, and I liked that feeling.
He on the other hand was being very nice. I’m not sure, but I think he was actually a bit nervous too. Some other classmates told me that he has changed a lot from the school years. “He’s nice now, I know it’s hard to believe, but he has changed” one said. Ah well, guess we all grow up in the end.

I know it’s so shallow and I really shouldn’t say this – but the best part though was seeing everyone’s jaws dropping to the floor when they saw me
Everyone was all “OMG, I can’t believe how much you’ve changed! You look great!” and a handful of people didn’t recognize me at all, I had to introduce myself to them *lol*
Back then I was… nothing really. I was so insecure and introvert and in all honesty I had no personality and never talked to anyone if I could at all avoid it. I looked like a bag lady too, and I weighed about 55 lbs more than I do now. Your perfect geek/nerd/dork/whatever, perfect for bullying…
But over the years I’ve gained self-confidence, humour and at least some level of social skills. I colour my hair, use make-up and dress like a rock star (or at least I do when going to reunions ). I think I’ve improved a lot, if I may say so. I have no resemblance with who I was then anyway.

But I still can’t believe how time flies. It was an almost surreal feeling sitting there with all the old classmates. 10 years ago these people where my world, the ones I shared every day with. Then we graduated and I never saw them again, until now. And now we’re both old friends but at the same time complete strangers. Even if most of them looked the same so many things have changed. Back then we were just kids and now we’re suddenly adults, with jobs and kids and cars and all that. It was so weird…

I just regret not bringing a camera, I hope I can get a hold of some photos through Facebook or something.
And I look forward our next reunion, but I don’t even wanna think bout how old I’ll be then…

I’m in love… and I’m not talking about my dog or Markus. I’m in love with a computer program. And I think it’s serious.

I’m talking about Spotify

In Sweden it’s THE new thing for all music lovers, everybody talks about it. But it’s still pretty new. The free accounts are by invite only (like Dreamwidth) and from what I understand it’s only available to certain countries in Europe, so an explanation might be in order:

Spotify is a “proprietary peer-to-peer streaming music program that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums with almost no buffering delay“.
The Spotify company buys the right to the music from the music labels and make their money through paid accounts and free acconuts with ads. Basically it’s a program that allows me to listen to any music I want on my computer – free, legally and instantly!

I managed to get my paws on an invite and have been using the free Spotify for months now, and I’m amazed over how well it actually works. The commercials are short, few and far between. The program is fast, easy to use and manage and I can’t find anything to complain about sound-wise.
The only downside is that they haven’t scored deals with ALL labels (but they seem to try though *lol*) so they don’t have all the music in the world – but pretty close. They have the latest hit music, but I’ve found lots of “unpopular” music too (like loads of small unknown metal bands that I really didn’t think they would have).

Like tonight, I felt like listening to some Tori Amos. I don’t own any Tori albums but I just opened up Spotify, searched for her and voilá! There was pretty much her complete album collection, just click and listen
I can make playlists and share with my friends and I will probably never have to buy or download any music ever again. Not that I’ve ever downloaded illegally, of course… *whistle*

You understand why I’m in love, right?
If you don’t have Spotify already – get it! And if you live in a country where it’s not available yet – just wait, it will probably come to you too and it will be so worth it.

I had an… interesting encounter in the forest today.

I was walking with Zaphod along a trail when we met an older man on a bicycle.
After him, way waaaaay after (the man was long gone) came a lonely dog trotting. A Bedlington terrier, but it was really small so I assume it was a puppy/young dog.
When it saw us it rushed towards us, luckily it was friendly so I just sent it away and it disappeared down the trail. I assumed it was the man’s dog since I’ve seen him with a Bedlington before (but then it was a big blue one, this one was small and white) and he was the only human I had seen. Anyway, I just shook my head at the inanity of leaving a dog so far behind without supervision and continued our walk.

After maybe 5 min. I suddenly hear barking behind us and when I turn around the same dog comes running after us!
I had probably scared it earlier, because it kept a 10-15 meter distance. I waited for someone to come and take care of it, but noone showed up. Eventually I started walking again and the dog followed us for a long time, until we took another trail that leads out of the forest. Then it stopped and barked after us for a while until it headed back to where it came from.

Jesus…

I know it was that mans’ dog. The other Bedlington I’ve seen him with was also unleashed and I had to defend Zaphod against it. And the man didn’t care at all, he just kept going even though I was shouting at his dog trying to scare it off *grr*
Now I almost regret I didn’t take the puppy with me home. Maybe the man would have learnt a lesson if he had been forced to come pick it up at somebody else’s house

HAPPY MIDSUMMER!!

This weekend we celebrate Midsummer here in Sweden. It’s the biggest and most important holiday we have (after Christmas). This is the weekend when we raise Maypoles and dance around them, eat herring and boiled potatoes and party out in the green nature all night long while drinking ourselves absolutely wasted. All in the light of the midnight sun, or at least that’s what we have up in the northern end where I live. In the south the sun will set as usual. Poor bastards.

According to old folklore Midsummer is a time of love and magic. One of the most common love spells to perform on Midsummer’s Eve (yesterday) is to pick seven kinds of flowers and put them under the pillow, then you’ll see your future love in a dream. I’ve done it when I was little, but I don’t remember who (if anyone) I saw in the dream though

Regardless if you believe in magic or not, there’s something special about the northern summer. It’s so short and intense and after a long dark winter that alone makes it seem extraordinary. It’s like plants, animals and people finally comes alive after a long, deep sleep.
And Midsummer is when we celebrate that. It’s a holiday for the earth, the sun and the life it gives us. Rather poetic, huh?

Great article about Swedish Midsummer if anyone’s interested.

Btw, who else is celebrating Midsummer?
It’s more countries than Sweden, I’m sure. Norway? Canada? And how do you celebrate it? I’m curious