Egypt

... and all we could think was "hope the sand people don't get us"

The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

Statues of Memnon, aging 3400 years


Ramses II with his wife Nefertari

Our housekeeper possessed a portion of humour

Batman Evolution

It is somewhat remarkable to see the girly boy Heath Ledger evolve, from A Knight's Tale to The Dark Knight,
the sequel to the prequel Batman Begins ;)
(The trailer, from the blog geekporr)

I must admit, I have hated the guy, much in the same way I hated (and still have a thorn in the side for) Henke Larsson. -Why? You might ask. Well it is actually just something as simple as plain jealousy - they had a way too large share off a loved ones attention - according to me at least :-)

But my vendetta has already been set aside with Heath, he buried the hatchet when he was brave enough to do Brokeback Mountain so I have forgiven him. My feud with Henke hasn't really been a very bloody fight either since my singlehood stepped in and jealousy wasn't the issue any more.

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For further reference and as a note to oneself. I got more convinced to go through with a little idea I have. Some might call it a stroke of hubris, some of Narcissism. But I would very much love to get some (or all) of this blogg here put on paper.

And seeing live copies of two photobooks today that my father had ordered as well as one from my sister (wich even contained some text - i.e. text printed as text and not just coarse pixelated stuff.) did it for me and I will start to work on the llayout if there is one to be found.

The places selling them online is for instance fotoknudsen og japanphoto

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Well for all you linguists out there, here's a little latin to wrap this one up by the Roman Catullus

Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

I hate and I love. Why do I do it, perchance you might ask?
I don't know, but I feel it happening to me and I'm burning up.

Catullus 85

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I don't want you to change the course of the world
I don't want you to change
I just want you to be
To be the course of my world

Ratm-am-Ring

Rage against the Machine will perform live and united
at the Rock-am-Ring, Germany
June 06-08 2008!

This is breaking news for the kid who 1997 hadn't turned 18 and was not allowed to travel to the far off forests of Småland to see his then, as now, idols Rage perform on a stage near the lake Hulingen in Hultsfred. Now as then this band holds a special place in my heart. Their:

Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!

Their anger and straightforward heavy rap-metal or whatever they were labelled as, Zach's voice shouting straight in to the heart of a boy - and man - with some slight issues to confront and act on things. Tom's guitar picking that is now turned in to a Guitar Hero 3 - spin off and made mainstream, Tim's bass riffs and great rytm and all accompanied by Brad's drums.

Saying it's a dream come true isn't an understatement, and saying I look forward to it is not a lie either. Just need to polish my German-skills and actually be able to read that bloody page says since they refuse to go with an English version, but seeing how they have some 150 000 tickets it shouldn't be sold out very soon. (€125 for anyone willing to join up)

Cover of their first Album - the only CD I've actually bought twice.

How do I do?

Well I have walked this earth for some 27 years, I rise a good 181 cm above ground, I weigh in at a steady 78.7 kg. I know now that my blood carries some 128 g hemoglobin per liter, a bit low. My blood pressure is 130/80 mmHg, a value on the higher end of normal. My seated rest pulse was meassured in at 72 BPM, a number on the lower end, indicating or at least implying that I should be average to well fit. I will in six weeks or so know if my blood carries some disease like HIV, Hepatit B or C. I know that if it don't I'll be able to donate some 450 ml of blood @ February 25th. But should I??

Donating that amount of blood, some 8.25% of my total blood volume, will set my ability to transport oxygen to my myscles back. The volume won't be fully restored until after six weeks, hence I won't perform on a top level for 42 days - beeing able to give blood four times a year that would have me n o t living life to the max at 46% of the time. Add to that the need to sleep on the other half of the year, illness and other setbacks and the numbers won't be on my side.

Though it will apparantly help me prevent heart diseases and it will stimulate my regrowth of red blood cells - doh! If it didn't I'd be dead in ten servings to the bloodbank :).
It will also cost me a good 650 calories the equivalent of 1.5 l Coke or 1.6 kg of carrots. (Sidenote - Coke has a higher density - 1.1 kg/l, wich will actually givie us that there's more energy in a kilo of carrots than in a kilo of coke. What ever you use that conclusion to must be up to you)


Oh, and since I am matched according to this:

-81kg:
Olle N, Helsingborg
Adam H, Frontline Academy Oslo

I will have 2.3 kg to g a i n until Sunday's fight instead of having to lose
0.7 kg as i feared since I registered myself to weigh in at 78 kg.
That's why I without shame and guild at this late hour sink my teeth in to today's result from the oven - crumb-dough-pie* with pears, blackberry and cardamom


* Yes we actually call it that and it makes sense in Swedish - smuldegspaj
-the dough is crumbled over the fruit filling.

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Been to the movies quite a lot lately, the ones I recall at the moment would be: Switch, Control, Beowulf, The Golden Compass and today I added American Gangster to that list.

This one is, to spread the clichées around, An epic tale - A grand saga - A stunning portrait. You've heard it before, all taglines and trailers have them but this one deliveres it. The family of such films is a small one. I count the Godfather-trilogy among them, the LOTR's of course but not quite related otherwise, Scorcese's Goodfellas isn't far off - the taglines even seen similar:
"As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster."

I find it to cary a great deal of credibility - all the way from detective Richie Roberts sleazy hawaii-shirt to the electric knife used to cut the Turkey.

And if all else fails - perhaps the MPAA-rating will get you back on track:

"Rated R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity and sexuality."

(You should be informed though that there actually is an even stronger rating - NC 17, R = Restriced, under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. NC17 = No one 17 and under are permitted)

This is slowly drifting out to be a gathering of anecdotes and sidetracks but to read that the hilarious movie Orgazmo has received a NC17-rating for "explicit sexual content and dialogue", but movies as the Clockwork orange and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and whatever just have R-ratings makes one wonder. MPAA

Pleasure Doing Business

This post is just a small salute and tribute to the creative minds of LG Mr Madsen and Christian Fundin. (And their webstore company) They have posted a webcomic every weekday since December 1st 2000. (7 years anniversary these days. Gratz!)

Long story short, I like what they do and I suppose they like me cause I order the things they put up for sale - but with a smile. Here's two of the reasons why.

1. Confirmation mail sent upon preordering their 4th book:

HEY!!

Order received and as we speak, small one legged penguins are
printing your order and walking down to the basement were baby
unicorns takes the order and puts it in an excel-sheet.

Those baby unicorns are effective.

Thanks for the support, and I hope you won't be let down when you
get the book in your hands sometime in February, yes, that's how
long turnaround our printer has.

Oh, and just so it's been said, "Please don't email and ask me if you
made the first 250", we don't want to bother the baby unicorns with
that right now.

Again, thanks!! :D

/madsen

2. Delivery confirmation mail sent upon buying another t-shirt:

Someone's Webcomic Item is Being Shipped by TopatoCo
And that someone is ADAM H*HNE ! ADAM H*HNE is about to get a package in
the mail from TopatoCo, former washing machine repair shop turned world
famous webcomic merchandise distributor!

If you're in the USA, expect your package in 3-4 days. If you're in
Canada, about two weeks. If you are from a magical land far, far away it
can take up to four weeks depending on what Customs is doing.
Tracking is not available for most international destinations because it's wicked
expensive!

Thanks!
Jeffrey Rowland
TopatoCo President
"TopatoCo. Thinking of the Children So You Don't Have To."

Just pure love, and cute ninjas!

Dysfunctional

.: Diary and self-diagnosis ahed. Beware. Truth may lie in these lines. A slight touch of nonsense and exaggaration might be there as well. Self-pity and lies would be located elsewhere. :.

(Due to the topic, the late hour, my lack of sleep, the current phase of the moon and my PMS-cycle I will have to confess that the structure and logical order of the following text might be so and so -should you decide to read it.
But well here goes - for the world to see, and for myself to perhaps learn)

My intention was to go further then the regular whine-posts I come up with from time to time and actually try seeking a solution. Well what's the problem you might ask. Staying in the office 17h and still not getting things done. Instead spending countless hours on ... well ... you know ... s t u f f. The dusfunctionality is my complete lack to focus and concentrate on a given task. Don't get me wrong. The prestudy for this blog has taken roughly an hour (edit: make that two) of browsing the net, a lot of hard work and no problems focusing there.. Passing through wikipedia pages on ADHD, MDB, the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition) - where I by chance finds a smashing recognance on some of the conditions "needed" to be labeled as having an Adult attention-deficit disorder

1. A sense of underachievement, of not meeting one's goals
   (regardless of how much one has actually accomplished). Check
2. Difficulty getting organized. Check
3. Chronic procrastination or trouble getting started. Check
4. Many projects going simultaneously; trouble with follow through. Check
5. A tendency to say what comes to mind without necessarily considering the timing or appropriateness of the remark. Hard one. But things I say might seem blunt and harsh sometimes I'm afraid
6. A frequent search for high stimulation. Check
7. An intolerance of boredom. Earlier yes. Today no
8. Easy distractibility; trouble focusing attention, tendency to tune out or drift away in the middle of a page or conversation, often coupled with an inability to focus at times. Check
9. Trouble in going through established channels and following "proper" procedure.
   Check, (but a bit vague statement)
   
10. Impatient; low tolerance of frustration. Check
11. Impulsive, either verbally or in action, as an impulsive spending of money. 50/50
12. Changing plans, enacting new schemes or career plans and the like; hot-tempered No
    
13. Physical or cognitive restlessness. Check
14. A tendency toward addictive behaviour. 50/50*
15. Chronic problems with self-esteem. Nope
    
16. Inaccurate self-observation. No, cause answering yes here would screw up this whole check list
    
17. Family history of AD/HD or manic depressive illness or depression or substance abuse or other disorders of impulse control or mood. Check

* I could never see myself as a substance addict. But having a playtime in Wow of 2500+ hours
since May 2005 I guess there is something in there after all.

About the scoring: It is recommended that individuals with at least twelve of the following behaviours since childhood— consider professional diagnosis

So I scored 12 - Do I care? Do I act? Do I need it?
I do! I might. I don't know - time and my actions will tell.


But then again, seeking diagnoses like this would just be a way of escaping the fact, beating about the bush and not facing the actual problem. Am I in the right office doing the right thing? Should I get another job, change career completely or is this just a trick by my supposed "sense of underachievement". I am not sure, but it raises a question. Would I be better off working as a gardener. Would I have been better off living back home raising my fictive second child in my fictional apartment driving my former car married to a most definately real madame. Well to answer the second one at least - nope. Having chosen that path in life when the fork appeared wouldn't see this day dawn. I wouldn't know myself as I do know. Sure it might appear tempting and easy - an escapism, a universal answer that isn't actually answering anything.


And regarding the addictive behaviour, of course I will rather log on and play WoW than work if I were to try working from home. WoW rewards me in a very easy manner for my tasks. Pick ten flowers - get stronger. Kill two hundred mobs - get a new belt. Work and tasks related to that won't give the immediate reward. The very same one touches the topic of drugs and stimulating substances as well. You are given immediate rewards with little input (but at high risk).

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Surrounding these topics is quite a humorous dark parodic industry,
pages like Despair, Inc :-( make good (?) money selling de-motivators. A breath of fresh air against the often cheesy slogans and chlichées you'll see on corporate walls. Or why not get your next coffee cup there

Also found my way back to the extensive galleries of deviantART
Like the following image for instance, as well as the top one

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I need you
I want you
I miss you

Are you my answer?
Who are you then?
Where are you?

Let go of your cowl!
Crawl out of your nest!
Reveal yourself!

Please.