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I have now moved into my new place (yay!) and it's both smaller and bigger than I thought it would be. Smaller in terms of space for furniture but bigger because I managed to stash away all my possessions. As it turns out there already was a couch in here, so no bedsofa for now. But I have a twinbed and an air-mattres, so there is room for some visitors anyway.

Another Great One Falls

Paul Newman is dead.
He had reached the age of 83 and had cancer, so it was kind of expected - but nontheless it's sad.

Caravan Club

My parents are members in a local caravan club and have put our caravan in a permanent camping-site (not a trailer park, there are no such dreadful things in Sweden!) and from the things I hear them talk about the place is a regular soap opera. It reminds a lot of those gated communities in California where people fight over mailbox standards and the horrible behaviour of their neightbours'. I find it a bit tragic that they have finally decended to this level - before this they would at least take the caravan to some coastal city down in the south. Personally I kind of detest the whole practice of camping. It is uncomfortable and either too warm or too cold - especially when it rains. And if you by some lucky chance manage to get a lot where there is shadow over the caravan and the weather is nice you still have all those annoying neighbours with screaming and spoiled kids running around all day and, sometimes, all night. And there is no shower. In the morning you have to walk somewhere around 200m to get to the bathroom - where there is usually a long nice line.

Back when I was still doing orientering we used to take part in a five-day competition where some, I don't know, 7000 caravans where put up on huge fields with temporary bathrooms and cleaning stations (the showers were located at some sports-facility that was arranged to be in the centre of the camp). Obviously the conditions are even worse than at ordinary camping-spots but I actually tolerated those temporary mega camps to the holiday facilities. Manily because there where no real alternatives and you weren't there for the nice beach and the shopping... Then there's also the fact that some dozen of your friends were living in the same "block" - as opposed to on ordinary holidays when you are left to the mercy of your family (yay). Anyway, my point is - a summer/lakeside house and hotels are always to be prefered to a caravan (or a tent *shivering*). I think there was something else I was going to write but I forgot it... Right, that would be all for now - enjoy yourselves until next time! Ps. I move on saturday, yay!!! Ds.

My fair Lady and Beautiful towers

General announcement: I have bought two tickets to My Fair Lady saturday 10th of January. This is an open invitation to you guys to buy one of these tickets and go with me. I don't really care who so whoever pays me 430kr first gets it. Naturally, if there are more of you who want's to go one can buy the ticket from me and the others can buy their own tickets from ticnet.se. But there aren't too many left so you better hurry up! End of anouncement.

Yeasterday I went on sightseeing in Grängesberg. It sounds a bit odd, I know. This is what I looked at:


Not the old men, the windpower park behind them. Seriously, they're huge!


The one on the left is 105 m to the house and the wings are 45 m long, the same goes for that wing on the ground. The one on the right is 95 m + 40 m tall... And the view from those mountains is amazing!

Ignore those berry-picking smurfs.

All in all there will be 17 towers up there once they're done. There have been many complaints, mostly about how they look but also about the noise pollution they cause. Many people think they're ugly, and that they spoil the sceneries above. I actually find them quite beautiful, and I am almost as facinated of them as Da-Ryun is. What do you think? Take a look at this and tell me that I'm crazy when I say that it is just as beautiful as the two pictures above.

Report from the black forest

So, I'm starting to get strange questions like: Hey, what are you doing these days? Where are you? etc. Thus I started to realise that I haven't actually told anyone except Da-Ryun, Sara and Rikard where I am and presumed that the information had migrated. Obviously it hasn't, since Anton - who lives five yards from Rikard - aked me about this today.

This is the situation: I was to slow with my KE1201 - Gymnasiekemi A - (may the cursed thing forever burn in hell and sink into oblivion) and was therefore removed from the application-queue-thingy for Byggteknikprogrammet at Uppsala University. After a brief panic I then sent in an application to Lunds Tekniska Högskola i Helsingborg - the same programme. Because of my belatedness I was placed on 7th place on the reserve list and thus my chances of getting in were slim. Why, you might wonder? Because swedish universities has a fine institution called "överintag" which means that the university looks at the statistics to find out how many applicants usually fail to show up for registration and/or drop out in the first semester and decide on a number of students that will be accepted in addition to the number of places that they actually have on the programme. In Helsongborg that number is 10, which means that in order for me to get a late admission 17 persons would have to change their minds...

Therefore I somewhat reluctantly sent in an application for Byggingenjörsprogrammet att Högskolan dalrana, Borlänge. Truth to be told, I don't want to spend three years in Borlänge. I don't even want to spend one year in Borlänge. Why?! Have you been in Borlänge? It is probably the ugliest town in Dalarna - second to Grängesberg, that is. And it's boring. It has a high criminality rate. And student-wise it's dead. Seriously, for the entire campus in Borlänge about 100 hundred chose to show up at the introduction (inspark) - in Uppsala that was the number that participated in the introduction for my programme alone. And the lunch is expensive - 60kr if you eat there and 50kr if you take it with you!

The programme is OK, some of the teatchers are outright great, others are acceptable. The class is a little odd... In total we are 42, but half of them are going to become foremen (Byggarbetsledare) so next year we'll be about 20. A handful are over 40 years old. Because the school offers a sort of "tekniskt basår" concurrently with the programme 10 or so have not taken mathematics D... As I have alreday told Sara and Da-Ryun many (read most) of the girls are the irritating kind - you know what I mean?

So, for the more positive sides of the situation. I am studying something that I like! I mean, really, really like. That way I think it will be easier for me to motivate myself to actually study... I'm moving to a nice apartment/room. And because I won't move in until October 1st I will be able to buy a couch. And I baught a nice shelf from my cousin who is also moving. The place will be awesome and if you don't come to visit me I will forever hold a grudge! And finally, which is one of the main reasons I am even considering this - Borlänge is 1,5 hours away from Uppsala with train. And I will be able to buy tradera tickets for next to nothing.

That was all for now. If you want to discuss the suckiness of the swedish school system - please give me a call. Actually, give me a call anyway! Oh, and if you want to go downhill skiing at Romme (uttalas Romme med O som i Olov och Orolig - inte Råmme! tro mig, jag har pratat med lokalbefolkningen) this winter you don't have to worry about lodgings.

Economics of Information

Sometimes I love my economics book...

"when most people search for mates, they are looking for someone with whom to settle down. [...] search is costly (and therefore) examining every possible option will never make sense. [...] not even the most determined searcher can manage to date every eligible mate. In this and other cases, people are rational to end their searches, even though they know a more attractive option surely exists out there somewhere.

But herein lies a difficulty. What happens when, by chance, a more attractive option comes along after the search has ceased? Few people would rent a flat if they thought the landlord would kick them out the moment another tenant came along who was willing to pay higher rent. [...] people who are looking for mates would have similar reservations about entering relationships that could be terminated if a better option happened to come along.

This potential difficulty in maintaining stable matches between partners in ongoing relationships would not arise in a world of perfect information. In such a world, everyone would end up in the best possible relationship, so no one would be tempted to renege. But when information is costly and the search must be limited, there will always be the potential for existing relationships to dissolve.

In most contexts, people solve this problem not by conducting an exhaustive search (which is usually impossible, in any event) but by committing themselves to remain in a relationship once a mutual agreement has been reached to terminate the search. [...] And in most countries a marriage contract penalises those who abandon their spouses. Entering into such committments limit the freedom to persue one's own interests. Yet most people freely accept such restrictions, because they know that the alternative is failure to solve the search problem."

Thus it is that the following diagram summarises how to best proceed in the Quest for Love:

Divine Inspiration

It is 23 pm on a Friday night - unusually early for the kind of creative productivity urge that I'm experiencing. Some of you have been bombarded with lengthy text messages - I hope I'm not bothering you all too much. I wish Da-Ryun had finished watching McLeod's daughters, then I could have told you about my emotional state that is very similar to what I felt when I watched the last few episodes of that. But alas! I can not do that without giving her spoilers.

It's a strange feeling - being all alone in a dark room. All is silent and the world is somewhere else. Hundreds of thoughts flash through your mind and time stands still. And at the same time I know that there is not time enough in this life to do all the things that I am thinking of. Somehow I am going to have to sift through all those thoughts and pursue and explore the ones that are worthwhile. At one point in the X-Files Scully tells Mulder that Agent Dogget is worthwhile. I realize now what a huge compliment that is. I hope people find me worthwhile sometimes.

I have finished reading the Great Gatsby and I think that I need to read more of those Great American Novel's - there is a lot to learn about the American people in them. I have also watched Charles Dickens' Bleak House (BBC mini series). If you wonder why I chose that one out of all the BBC production-style dramas that are available it was because it stars Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully for those of you who did not know that already). I do that sometimes, or actually quite often. If I see something that I like in terms of movies and TV-series I look up other movies and series with the same actor/actress because I find that that is a good way to separate what is worthwhile and what is not.

I have also watched a few talk-show appearances with named actress. That is an other thing that I like to do - when I like an actor or actress I like to read about them and watch interviews to get a feeling about their personality, you should try it sometime! In any case I found that Gillian Anderson is quite an interesting person, if you have nothing better to do you should check out her appearances on David Letterman in chronological order, then we can talk about it.

As I informed Da-Ryun about half an hour ago I am going to read a DC comic series called Fables. It uses characters from folklore and since I am currently reading HC Andersens fairy tales I thought that it might be interesting. I hope I'm right. I hope it's worthwhile :)

Strangest of all is that I find a strain of thoughts going through my mind repeatedly. It is really just a few concepts, loosely tied together, but I think that I have a story to tell. It's interesting, I've never felt that before and I might just sit down and write it - if I dare. If I find it worthwhile.

Now I am going to watch Pay it Forward - a very good movie. Very worthwhile. How do I know that? Because it is one of those movies that I pick because of the cast - Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey. And also because I have seen it before :p