stoff
I let that update stay up a liiiitle bit longer than average because it was a good post ๐
Let’s talk classes! It’s been pumped up as an issue by one of our politicians dissing a reporter for saying she was from a worker class and as it turns out she wasn’t. Now my question is… are we still doing that? Putting people into classes? And who’s to say who belongs where? I mean, is there a certain limit as to how much you can earn before you get bumped up a notch? In this title obsessed world where the guy (or woman) sweeping the floor is a “sanitation engineer” you can’t really go by titles? And what am I? I’d like to think I’m worker class. I’ve made my own money since I was 15, did my time flipping burgers and my friends at work are the janitors. Sorry, custodians. But I have an engineering degree, work at a lawfirm and make a decent living? I thought this entire class-thing was outdated but the socialist seem kinda strict about it…
Ok, so here’s the story of our Silverstone Weekend ’05!
This year I turned 30. And when that’s happened to my sisters we’ve always done something special so we had to do something special this year too. And the one thing we all wanted to do was attend a Formula 1 Grand Prix. And since Amy lives in Scotland with her family and all it was decided that we were gonna attend the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Amy’s husband Paul also loved F1 so he wanted to go and so did my brother Joakim. 5 people all in all. We ordered the tickets around Christmas, no problem. The problem was accomodations! Naturally all hotels and everything in a 10 mile radius was overbooked! Fortunately for us we found a family living in Blakesley that rented out a few rooms for this special occasion and they had 3 rooms available. My parents paid for that part and said “that’s all your birthday presents for this year all taken care of at once”. Sweet deal for all. And this year hasn’t really been the greatest for our family so we were all looking forward to getting away and just have fun for a whole weekend. And it was good!
It all started on thursday when Jocke and AC came over to my apartment to spend the night. It was the easiest solution since we had to go up early to get to the airport. Unfortunately we didn’t get much sleep since we watched a few movies, sat around and talked and just hung out. I got 3 hours of sleep, AC less than that and Jocke didn’t get any. But we got up early and headed to the airport. Smallest airport I’ve ever seen (not counting the one in “Wings”). After checking in we sat outside and a crew from the swedish TV showed up wanting to interview people about how the bombing on thursday has affected them. They interviewed AC but since we left the country we never got to see if they showed it or not. Two hours later we touched down at Luton and was greated by Amy and Paul. The weather was EXACTLY as I expected. Cold, grey and drizzling. We decided to skip the London part and just do the shopping up in Northampton instead so we got ready to go on a bus for over an hour up there. That is if the bus had arrived but after 30 minutes and no bus me and Paul decided it was time for taxi. รโรยฃ65 later and we were in Northampton. I did my shopping (which consisted of a new memory card for my camera) and then we sat down at the local pub for some beer and food. The ladies continued shopping and we continued consuming beer. After that we went over to Towcester and … had some more beer and food but by now we started feeling the sleep deprivation. So taxi out to Blakesley and me and Jocke went to bed right away while the others went to the pub.
After about 11 hours of sleep we were good as new and ready to head out to the track! The arrangement was that Christine, the wife of the family we were staying at, would give us a ride to and from the track for some compensation. Said and done, but we still had to walk for a mile or so to the actual track. We got there during the saturday practice session so we caught a few glimpses of the cars. Then we walked for another mile to the Hangar Straight grandstands and took our seats to see the qualifying. By now the Porsche race was on but that was just foreplay! The Blue Eagles had an airshow with some helicopters and then it was time for the real qualifying. And even though they’ve tried to make it more interesting and audience friendly it was still a very predictable event. After that we made our way back to Copse to just sit around with beer, burgers and watching the GP2 race. Then it was back to Blakesley and that’s when one of the few bad things happened – when she was coming to pick us up she hit a parking post that did a good job of scratching her car. Not a big thing but it’s still gonna set them back a little bit which we all felt bad about. Not that it was our fault or anything. Then we hit the local pub in Blakesley and then back to Towcester for some food and stuff. Unfortunately the pubs there were so busy they couldn’t fix the food part so we got a few take-out pizzas and sat down at the pub with the beers and just talked the night away. Then back to the pub in Blakesley for the closing-up party that lasted ’till 2 am!
Then on sunday it was time for the main event! We still had to walk all the way over there and made it just in time to see the drivers going around the track waving to the audience. Then time for Red Arrows to do their thing (which they do very well!) and now it really started to feel like a special event! Unfortunately for us the race turned out to be a pretty dull race, not many overtakings, crashes or anything and the Ferrari’s came 6th and 7th, but none of it matter because it was the thought that counted!
After the race we picked up our stuff in Blakesley and went back to Northampton where it turned out to be really difficult finding a pub open past 11. One that isn’t a gay bar that is (I’m not juding!). And the ones we did find didn’t even know what Jรฦรยคgermeister was. So we got bored at 11.30 and took a taxi back to Luton airport. The planes lifted off at about 7am so you can imagine how bored we were at 3am! And then without getting any sleep me and Jocke boarded the plane going back to sweden while AC followed Amy and Paul up to Aberdeen. Landed at about 10am and buss into Stockolm and train back to my apartment and that should have been it. But no, I’m still suffering from the second bad thing this weekend – the sun burns! Noone expected it to be THAT much sun and I’m right now in a not-so-pretty pink state. But that’ll pass but the memories of one of the greatest weekends of my life will remain with me forever!
Thanks everyone for making it such a great weekend! Thanks mom and dad for paying for the accomodations and taking care of Amy and Paul’s kids over the weekend! Thanks to Amy for even finding accomodations and Paul for making it down there (was touch and go there with the fog) and AC for being the crazy girl she is and Jocke for taking all the crap I give him and the family that rented us the rooms and all the bartenders (even the one in Towcester ’cause she couldn’t add)!
So now I’ve got to go back to work. Doesn’t matter, I could’ve taken 5 weeks vacation and it still wouldn’t have meassured up to this weekend.
Back after a kick ass weekend at Silverstone! More info coming later…
Will you excuse me while I become a self-centered SOB for a few seconds? The day before I’m flying over to London to enjoy a weekend with my sisters, my bro Jocke and my sisters hubby Paul culminating in the F1 race on sunday afternoon, this has to happen? Something set of a series of explosions in London. It’s too early to confirm anything ofcourse, but just the thought of “great timing” hits me right away. Followed ofcourse by “oh my god, how bad was it?” and eventually “hope they don’t close the city down”. We were planning on taking a little sidetrip into central London, but I guess we’re gonna stay clear of that now!
A very weird thing happened today. Read one of Bush’s speeches ahead of the G8 summit (and if you tuned in to the “Live 8” show you know all about it) and I actually agreed with him on one point. Something that hasn’t been adressed alot is all the corruption down there in Africa. That’s something that has to be dealt with too, ’cause if you send 1 million bucks how much will actually help the people? That was the great thing with “Live Aid” 20 years ago, they bought their own logistical equipment (even a boat!) to make sure all the help they sent went to the people. Everytime I’ve been to Africa (all 3 times) I’ve always heard about how terrible corruption is. First time, in Kenya, I didn’t believe it that much, thought it was just the tourguide exaggerating. Then in Nigeria I saw it everytime I wanted a cab. And in Congo I wouldn’t have gotten the medical treatment I needed if the assistant from the embassy hadn’t taken the bag of cash with her. And they also told me the story of all the people they had to bribe to get Anna Lindh the trip on the river that runs through Kinshasa that she spontaneously wanted to do. So without “taking care” of that I can understand why they don’t wanna send more aid.
I dunno why but I had no idea about “Live 8” that was coming up on saturday! I must’ve missed all press attention they never got here in sweden. But as I was flipping through the channels I came up on VH1 that had someone reporting from there saying “it’s a party down here, now back to our music”! It turns out I had to tune into our Channel 1 and survive with the INCREDIBLY annoying commentators ruining half the enjoyment!
As far as the concert(s) are concerned, they really did rock but it didn’t feel as .. big .. as the original 20 years ago. Maybe it’s my “when I was a kid”-mentality. Madonna rocked as always, “Pet Shop Boys” got thousands of russians singing “go west” and Will Smith getting Philadelphia singing the intro to Fresh Prince, funny stuff. But then I saw an interview with Blair being asked some tough questions by the MTV audience and wow, there are some really big and depressing problems out there to deal with! And having a concert like this isn’t really gonna change THAT much, is it?
So now I’m waiting for the DVD ๐
As I was doing some shopping the other day I found the “Anastacia” DVD for a cheap 10 bucks. Why not, always thought her music was ok. Got home and put it on.. and ouch, that music in Dolby Digital on a bit too high volume, NICE! And the BOOMs in Boom made all my glasses in my kitchen move. ๐ Now I’m left wondering what other music out there sounds this awesome in a digital mix…
One song (if you can call it a song) that is getting better and better for every year that passes is Baz Luhrmanns “Wear Sunscreen” with alot, ALOT, of true statements about life. Basically a list of things you wish you knew when you were a kid. One line in particular:
Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
And as so much in that song, it’s so true. Today I heard that an old collegue, I’d even call him a friend, has suddenly passed away. Just like that, totally unexpected. Shocked.
Well that was a boring midsummer’s eve! Midsummer’s eve is a pretty big thing in sweden, classic holiday with a very holida-specific cuisine and ofcourse, a shot or two of vodka or something equally strong. But for the first time since I was a teenager I was totally sober all through the weekend. But I’m very cautios when it comes to medication so I don’t wanna mix prescribed painkillers with alcohol. But that certainly didn’t stop me from enjoying the weekend out in the country with my family. And just sitting on out on the porch, not doing anything and just relaxing is something I’ve only now started to enjoy. I certainly didn’t appeciate it enough when I lived there, but I do now.
Some higher power must’ve heard me ’cause 8 hours after I wrote yesterday’s update I got the F1 tickets, the tooth is pulled, headache gone (thanks to 600mg Brufen) and I got $500 more in my last pay check than I thought I would. Now if through some miracle my body could bounce back from the shock of the tooth removal operation in just one day that’d be awesome, otherwise I’m looking at a very lame midsummer’s eve
Today I’m having my second wisdom tooth pulled. Or cracked is more like it. I’m hoping that will help atleast a little bit with the headaches! The worst part of it is that it’s gonna set me back some $200, just when I need it the most as I’m heading to Silverstone in 2 weeks. That is if we ever get the tickets. They’re supposed to be on the way but I’m sitting here expecting the worst. It also means I have to go on painkillers for a few days. I dunno why but I’ve never liked taking medication, atleast not for a long time. I don’t wanna get hooked on anything (’cause let’s face it, you do feel good after some heavy prescription Brufen) and pain is always the indicator something’s wrong and I can’t just take a pill and let it go away and think everything is fine.
Don’t you love a good biased blame-game? I’m ofcourse talking about the F1 race yesterday. A year ago two cars on Michelin tyres had accidents at high speeds in the F1 race at Indianapolis. And then in Belgium they also had some trouble and Jenson crashed out att 300+ KPH. And this year it’s been pretty obvious that Michelin tyres have been closer to the edge than Bridgestone and where told to watch it a few weeks ago. And this weekend started with two Michelin tyre failures and Michelin put out a press release saying they couldn’t guarantee the safety of the drivers running on their tyres if certain steps weren’t taken. Something I guess you have to do when you’re in the states and people suing each other left and right. And that’s where facts stops and the blaming game begins. Everyone is blaming everyone, but the most surprising statement was from Ove Andersson, a guy with decades of motorracing experience. He laid the blame at Ferrari’s feet since they opposed the idea of building a chicane to adapt the circuit to the failing tyres, something which really wasn’t up to them to decide in the first place. And it’s not really their fault Michelin didn’t have the right rubber or spares. So that’s why it surprised me. But oh, and he works for Toyota, the team that had two crashes so that explains it. Then the FIA is blaming Michelin for not supplying appropriate tyres. And Michelin is blaming FIA for not being flexible and allowing a change of tyres or building the chicane. And the racers just wanna race and the fans just wanna see a race. So in that sense it’s surprising to see the teambosses, FIA reps and all other people involved in this mega-million sport behaving like kids blaming each other and trying to out-do eachother resulting in all Michelin cars coming into the pits expecting the race to be stopped and the FIA to bend the rules in 11th hour. But nope. So I quote David Coulthard – “reality is mature adults couldn’t find a solution that would let us go racing”. Here, here…
Boy am I having one of the laziest weekends ever! I even sat a new record for laziest maneuver ever today – as I was refilling my coca cola glass I dropped the cap. Instead of bending down to pick it up, I took the cap from an empty bottle right beside me. Just how lazy is that? And I’m writing this sitting out on my balcony, blazing sun, cold cola and a computer in my lap. Nice!
But I guess I better get a move on since I’m suppose to be at O’Learys in a few hours to watch the Indy F1 race. If there is gonna be a race that is.
Maybe I should clarify what I said about work yesterday. As computer tech jobs go this is one of the best jobs to have (short of the one I had at the state department) and it’s definitely the best place to work at. But somehow it’s gone from the “yippi, another day at Vinge, admiring all the gorgeous women and occasionally answer the phone and help someone with some lame computer problem”-attitude I had when I worked here for over a year back in 2002 and 2003 to “oh do I have to?”. But I’m still admiring the women. And answering the phone ๐
After I donated blood about three weeks ago I didn’t get a single headache (except for June 3rd, for obvious reasons) but during the weekend it came back ๐ And now I don’t know just how much of this is psychological or physical! Because during these 2 weeks I was fine, didn’t get headaches, social, updated this blog, online chatting with friends and stuff, but now after it’s back I’m getting this depression again when I get up, go to work, work enough not to get fired and can’t wait to get home and when I do I just crash in my couch and can’t motivate myself to do anything more than I really have to. So it could all be me going through a depression right now – only problem is I don’t know what I have to be depressed about. Except this headache that just won’t quit. Next week I’m having a wisdom tooth removed to eliminate it from the equation and if that doesn’t help I’m off to see a neurologist. But I’m still hoping the Doc is right and it’s just something temporary that should go away by itself since all tests show that I’m as healthy as I should be.
Am I the only one who’s so sick and tired of this Brad & Angelina BS? You can’t do a quick newsscan without reading something about them somewhere, are they or aren’t they. Who gives a crap?! Nobody that I wanna know cares either way or wanna read it so shut up. And that includes me!
First real day of summer in Stockholm today! I was walking my normal route from work to the train station and it warm, sunny, alot of people outside, a real party atmosphere on “Plattan” and truckloads of newly graduated students really made me feel all good and warm, and ofcourse saying “those were the days” in the back of my head…
Perhaps I was a bit too harsh the other day because when I tried thinking about something more appropriate to celebrate as our national day I came up blank. We’ve never been occupied or conquered, have we? And we haven’t had any good revolution (let’s not mix “bloodbath” with “revolution”) here either. So there really isn’t anything more swedish to celebrate than Gustav Vasa I guess, which makes me sad ’cause it makes sweden sound dull. We weren’t even in any of the WW…
For the first time our national day, June 6th, is a national holiday which means everyone got another day off from work/school to celebrate… ??.. Gustav Vasa’s ascension to the throne in 1523. Yeap, that feels very relevant today, doesn’t it? I mean, other countrie’s national days are for something huge, usually some independance day, revolution or the founding of the country in question. And most of them are atleast in modern times, but we have our’s for a thing that happened 500 years ago! Maybe it’s just me and my total lack of interest in swedish royalty history (I always say something crazy at those Trivial Pursuit questions asking which king did what), but I think we should have some national day on a date that actually means something to me today. But I’m all for any chance to have a full day off from work!
I’m SO not 20 anymore! When my 30th birthday approached I was thinking about what kinda party I should throw, if any. The problem was that my main partying is gonna be at Silverstone in a month and that’s setting me back financially. So I didn’t wanna spring for a huge party like my house warming party, and we have already done that finnish cruise thing for my 25th. So this time I just told people “I’ll be at Dubliners (a pub one block away from work) from 6, swing by if you can”. And they sure did! I think we counted 16 overall, gaming-buddies, old school friends, former and current collegues and family. Overall a really good night out and nice way to spend my 30th birthday! But the main event is in a month ๐ But when I woke up this morning I had the worst headache ever and considering the past 6 months have been full of headaches, that’s saying quite alot!