Since I can’t sleep

I found a funny page where people pronounce things. I like to listen to different native English speakers so I took a very Australian word, “Kangaroo”. A woman in America pronounced sort of soft all the way through, perhaps some force on the K. A man from Victoria said more like kangaROOO and a woman from West Australia said, kanGAroo. I pronounce it like the American woman.

I can see myself spending the next hour or so here listening to people pronounce things, Forvo

What’s your eye color?

(My eye!)

It says blue in my passport but I think they look more grey than blue. I have a feeling they change and might be more blue at times but…

I wish I had really blue eyes, or bright green eyes… (I’m never satisfied)

I don’t know much (close to anything) about Marie Antoinette

So I should go in on this site and learn a little I guess. Marie Antoinette: Keeping it Real Award I got the award from Sarah.



And I award the Marie Antoinette: Keeping it Real Award to:
Aimée
Shalyn

Happy New Year!

Surströmming

Sometimes I think surströmming was made as a joke for tourist. Apparently my grandfather used to eat it but he’s from Norrland so it doesn’t count.

Does it really smell THAT bad? Yes it does. It’s a horrible smell and I remember when people were trying to be funny and putting this stuff in the ventilation in school, you couldn’t walk. You had to take a deep breath and then run like hell to the next class, the smell was all over the corridors.


Sweden looks nice, doesn't it :p

Random facts about me

I just realized (well I just counted) I have six books about Jack the Ripper in my bookcase. And I haven't read all of them, think there is two of them that I haven't read, but which?

Picture from Punch 1888, found at Wikimedia

It’s not even August yet but it feels like autumn…

Where is the summer at? This happened last year too, no summer… It’s not all that warm, not cold either but no summer heat and there’s something with the light that makes it feel like fall. I have to stack up on books and movies, and yarn and new recipes so I have things to do this fall.
Even though I usually get low when it’s fall, leaving yet another disappointing summer behind me and it’s starts to rain, the winds picks up and before you know it the sunsets at noon I think it’s my favorite time of the year. The colorful leaves, feeling cold and miserable and sit down and watch television with tea and apple-pie with a cozy blanket and slippers on. I like it when the wet leaves are caught in the wind and slapping your face, why? I don’t know… Guess because it’s okay to be gloomy that time of year, no one is questioning you if you are upset and/or down because most people are at that time.

I was just out with my dog, it looked like rain so I got my rubber boots on (even though there’s a hole in them but they are better than sneakers) but skipped the raincoat. It was probably just a small shower and it gets so warm with that thing on. I hadn’t gone far when it started to rain, a faint thunder behind me and my dog being stubborn decided what way to go, to the highest point. It was pouring down now, we were both soaked and the thunder right above us. It sounded like a whole mountain crumbling down and my dog doesn’t like that so we headed back and I was a little scared because we were so high up. We were walking and lighting cut our path, it was right in front of us, hissing and spitting and making all kind of noises, it was like stepping into a Poe story.

The rain beating down on us and rooftops, lovely sound, sure I was wet but it was warm. Have a feeling this fall is going to be a wet one so I need new rubber boots, a new raincoat and a cute umbrella (a black one like in my story).

(Nice picture from Wikipedia article about lightning)

Dreams…

Philip Burne-Jones, The Vampire (1897) Found the picture here

I have similar dreams most of the times. Chasing vampires (always in modern times), which usually backfires and I or someone I care about ends up in mortal danger. Every now and then I am a vampire but that doesn’t mean that other vampires like me, they still try to kill me. I’ve been in several wars, usually part of some kind of rebel force or underground movement, hunted by the law or some sort of conspiracy. I’m fighting battles that are doomed from the beginning, giant monsters that I can’t win over. To sum it up, “they” are always out to get me and they odds are against me.

Last night it started out with a party somewhere out in the woods (my dreams often take place in the woods), my friend Amanda was there and her friends that don’t like me, they were mean to me. This faded away and suddenly I was on the run. Someone was trying to catch me, some kind of conspiracy and I knew about it and had to be stopped. I fled with someone to the bus but when we got there “they” had killed the bus driver and we were trapped (time to get a driver’s license).

All my vampire dreams some would think I’m just one of those vampire freak, someone who watches Buffy but I’m not. Ever been into vampires and I didn’t watch Buffy. According to dreammoods.com “To dream that you are a vampire, signifies that you are sucking in the life energy of others for your own selfish benefit.” Yeah, that sounds like me… (it’s hard to use sarcasm in text) they also say about fighting vampires, “The vampires in your dream may suggest that you are feeling drained of your life energy and autonomy. In dreaming that you are fighting these vampires, is a literal depiction of your daily struggles with keeping things in order. You may be suffering from exhaustion or feeling overwhelmed in some aspect of your domestic or personal life which explains the tiredness you feel when you wake up.” Not sure you can say that vampire means this or that, I must mean different things for everyone, but this could be true.

Bad girl’s guide to getting what you want

Because it was cheap and sort of cute I bought Cameron Tuttles “Bad girl’s guide to getting what you want”. (I buy way too many books like that...) As I was flipping through I saw these lists of different bad girls and a Swedish name caught my eye and I thought, they she make the list? And then I looked closer and there were loads of Swedish names on it. Of course when it was printed in Swedish they added Swedes on it so that people could relate but… I don’t like things getting changed. Sure, it’s not a serious book but still. They have added some names they liked better and I guessed thought we here in Sweden would know who they were and removed some… Like poor Debbie Harry, why?!

Annoyed with all of these changes, irritated, what else have they changed? I want the original version. Guess it serves me right for buying silly books… UPDATE: Oh my, comparing the original with this one… “mug shot” has been translated to “passport picture”, guessing this Swedish version is for the kids…

Here are the lists

Bad girls making music
Billie Holiday
Janis Joplin
Josephine Baker
Tina Turner
Bessie Smith (Not on the Swedish list)
Lil’ Kim
Aretha Franklin
Bonnie Raitt (Not on the Swedish list)
Shania Twain
Eartha Kitt
Courtney Love
Joan Jett
Chaka Khan (Not on the Swedish list)
Deborah Harry (Not on the Swedish list!!!!!!)
Sheryl Crow
Melissa Etheridge (Not on the Swedish list)
Annie Lennox
The bad girl formerly known as Prince
Liz Phair (Not on the Swedish list)
Grace Slick (Not on the Swedish list)
Chrissy Hynde
Stevie Nicks
Queen Latifah

ADDED IN THE SWEDISH VERSION
Gwen Stefani
Robyn
Monica Zetterlund (which is okay with me, love that woman)
Nina Persson (The Cardigans)
Beyonce
Jennifer Lopez
Mary J Blige

Bad girls making movies
Marilyn Monroe
Miss Piggy
Raquel Welch
Pam Grier
Carrie Fisher
Barbra Stanwyck
Tallulah Bankhead
Drew Barrymore
Callie Khouri (Not on the Swedish list)
Judy Davis (Not on the Swedish list)
Marlene Dietrich
Mae West
Sharon Stone
Rita Hayworth
Jane Champion
Christina Ricci
Greta Garbo
Katherine Hepburn
Penny Marshall (Not on the Swedish list)

ADDED ON THE SWEDISH LIST
Tova Novotny (What?! Please… If they are going to add a Swede, what about Ingrid Bergman?)
Juliette Lewis
Sarah Jessica Parker

Bad girls scoring points
Serena and Venus Williams
Mia Hamm (Not on the Swedish list)
Florence Griffith Joyner (Not on the Swedish list, most defiantly because of the steroid controversy)
Martina Navratilova
Lisa Leslie (Not on the Swedish list)
Brandi Chastain (Not on the Swedish list)
Michelle Akers (Not on the Swedish list)
Laila Ali (Not on the Swedish list)

ADDEN ON THE SWEDISH LIST
Kajsa Bergqvist
Therese Alshammar
Anja Pärson
Annika Sörenstam (Defiantly earned her place on the list)
Hanna Ljungberg
Victoria Svensson

Bad girls making history
Eve
Joan of Arc
Harriet Tubman (Not on the Swedish list)
Amelia Earhart
Eva Perón
Anne Boleyn (Not on the Swedish list)
Rosa Parks
Annie Oakley (Not on the Swedish list)
Queen Elizabeth I
Angela Davis
Wilma Rudolph (Not on the Swedish list)
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Madeleine Albright
Marie Curie
Jane Goodall
Margaret Sanger
Rosie the Riveter
Martha Graham (Not on the Swedish list)

ADDED ON THE SWEDISH LIST
Fredrika Bremer
Mother Teresa
Bridget of Sweden
Lady Diana
Anna Lindh

Bad girls making literature
Jane Austen
Anaïs Nin
Toni Morrison
George Sand
Dorothy Parker
Edit Wharton
Audre Lorde (Not on the Swedish list)
Colette (Not on the Swedish list)
Joan Didion (Not on the Swedish list)
Susan Sontag
The Brontë sisters
Maya Angelou (Not on the Swedish list)
Grace Paley (Not on the Swedish list)

ADDEN ON THE SWEDISH LIST
Astrid Lindgren (Yes! Hello, she’s the creator of Pippi Longstocking for F sake!)
Kerstin Thorwall
Linda Skugge
Liza Marklund (urk!)

Then they have removed the art category completely in the Swedish version and have “girls with power” instead, I’m not surprised.
Cristina Stenbeck
Anna Bråkenhielm
Stina Dabrowski (why not)
Princess Victoria

Bad girls making us laugh
Lucille Ball
Glida Radner (Not on the Swedish list)
Sandra Bernhard (Not on the Swedish list)
Lily Tomlin (Not on the Swedish list!)
Rosanne Barr
Holly Golightly (Not on the Swedish list)
Rosie O’Donnell
Phyllis Diller (Not on the Swedish list)
Ellen Degeneres
Oprah Winfrey (I wouldn’t say she makes me laugh, I would have put her on the “So bad they need only one name”)
Lisa Kudrow
Teri Garr (Not on the Swedish list)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Not on the Swedish list!!)
Bridget Jones

ADDED ON THE SWEDISH LIST
Annika Lantz
Suzanne Reuter
Babben Larsson
Tiffany Persson (Love her!)
Anna-Lena Brundin
Ulla Skog

Bad girls that make men weep
Scarlett O’Hara
Catwoman (!!)
Elizabeth Taylor
Heather Locklear
Gloria Steinem

Bad girls so bad they need only one name
Eve (Not on the Swedish list)
Madonna
Thelma & Louise
Xena (Not on the Swedish list)
Cleopatra
Eloise (Not on the Swedish list)
Charo (Not on the Swedish list)
Colette (Not on the Swedish list)
Lucy “peanuts” (Not on the Swedish list)
Ling

ADDED ON THE SWEDISH ONE
Pink (ew)
Pippi (Yeah!)
Grynet
Nikita (Hell yeah)
Patsy and Edina (Yes! I mean, cheers!)

Tagged

I’ve been tagged by Sarah

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

Each player answers the questions about themselves.

At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people (Yeah, like I have that many friends…) and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

(Did this yesterday but managed to forget to post it)
a) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Teen years ago… um… how old am I? Crap, having a crises, I can’t be that old!? I was in school, meat eater back then and had ten more kilos to carry around, having a silly crush on a silly guy that looked like a lollypop. He was way out of my league and that was why I liked him so that nothing would ever happen.

Same old same old… in many ways my life hasn’t changed that much in teen years, that’s pretty sad.

b) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today:

· To write my four pages
· Have some stuff to do in the garden (defiantly more than five but there’s no way I’ll manage all of them today)
· Do some laundry (but there’s no rush really, I just added it so that I would look good)

c) Snacks I enjoy:

Too many! All I eat is snacks, chocolate (bars, ice cream, cake, cookies…), doughnuts (!), raspberries and blueberries (is that a snack?), candy!! Now I’m getting hungry, and there’s a big bag of candy upstairs, not good.

d) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

(Me and my friend talked about this yesterday) I would pay off mom and dad’s mortgage on the house, I would buy my entire neighborhood and throw all the idiots out. I would probably have a house made from scratch, a small cute one with a large garden and a HUGE green house. I would go shopping; buy lots of books and movies. I would travel and I would most defiantly give my brother a large sum of money, I probably owe him half a million already.

e) Places I have lived:

I lived in a grey tall building for my first six and a half years and then we moved here where we belonged. Same area and all but…

I'm tagging Aimeé

Friday...?!

I honestly thought it was Thursday today but guess not. Have no idea how that happened? What happened with Thursday? Or maybe it was Wednesday or some other day I managed to lose, anyway, Friday came as a surprise… Tea time for sure.

Managed to get this picture of a poppy in the garden when I got back from the walk, kind of like it, looks pretty good, if I may say so myself.

Old

I wonder how long it will be before I get sick of the tartan one...

What do you have in your pockets right now?

I’m wearing my beloved bathrobe and there I have.
Two nail files, one short and one long (the long one will make a hole in my pocket one of these days). Lip balm, I never leave the house without it. An eraser… Two tweezers, and a nail clipper and three little pieces of paper 1 “Drinking coffee through a straw, come on…” an observation from somewhere. 2 “Holy crap, is that a banjo?” 3 and old grocery list, rhubarbs, white chocolate, elderberry juice, on the other side just stuff about sleeping in and getting along…

God I suck…

As I was looking through some old documents on the computer I found an old letter from January and I found my new years resolutions for 2007 and here they are and how they went…

2007 will be the year I…
1. Stop saying things I don’t mean and start letting people know how I really feel! (Didn’t happen and doubt that it ever will. I mean, what good can come of it?)
2. Stop letting people walk all over me. (Sounds good in theory and all but…)
3. Start doing more things even if it means doing them alone if none of my friends wants to come along. That shouldn’t stop me from doing what I want. (Sounds good and I have been thinking about it lately)
4. Look for a job I like better than the one I have right now. (Trying but it’s hard)
5. Will start taking pictures and convince myself that it takes time to become good and doesn’t quiet after a short time. (Um, sort of stuck with that. Guess I could take more pictures though. It’s a digital camera so it’s not like I’m wasting film)
6. Am thinking positive and I'm positive to new ideas. (Ha ha, you could think I was on drugs when I wrote that. Why did I even write that one down in the first place?)
7. Jog a little with dog and perhaps starts jogging more later on when we both are used to it. (I’m so funny!)
8. Make realistic goals and expectations, not end up with my head in the clouds. (Still with my head in the clouds, the air is better there. Must say I prefer my own little world instead of reality)
9. Stop feeling so guilty. (I will always feel guilty, even when there is no need)
10. Buy a present for Mary! (God I suck!! I still haven’t done that!)
11. Work harder on my stories. (At least I’m working on them)
12. Try more food. (Pretty true if you could desserts as food)

Nice blog

Found this blog when I was out surfing one blog to the next (love to do that). So many nice pictures, and I realized that they have different kind of blueberries in America, I knew it! I have tried the American one and I have to say that I prefer the Swedish ones. Anyway, like the blog and it’s one of those blogs that makes me want to bring my camera with me everywhere I go but, A) I’m such a crappy “photographer” B) I would be worried I would break it C) I would be worried someone would take it…

House Martin