A Really Good Weekend!

While I usually don't like weekends - yup, I'm strange in oh-so-many ways! :) - this one has been surprisingly good! :)
I spent Friday at home, as I didn't have to be at Uni and felt I could use the day at home. A little bit of studying but mostly cleaning - as I'm so busy now and gone so much during the weeks, the domestic chores aren't really being done in the way they should! :)

Sara and Johanna came around 5, and it was amazing to see them again!! I totally enjoy their company and we can easily pick up where we left off, even though it's been a long time since we've seen each other. Also, I have to say that they in some way represent my way back after being on sick-leave. The first course I took at Uni was quite special and didn't work out great, but during the first "normal" course after that, I met Sara and Johanna, and starting with that course, things have gotten better and better - not on a straight line of course, but generally speaking, it did start there.
We had a yummy salad and some nice wine - and a lot of laughs! :)

Saturday was a pretty slow day - I did get some stuff done, but not a great deal!
Today I went grocery shopping in the morning, did some baking - that is sooo not my thing, but at least I'm trying! - and studied some. Also made some preparations for the SI/mentor meeting tomorrow.
A bit before 5 Lena came for coffee, and it was great seeing her again too! We meet on the train in the morning every now and again, but it's nice to be able to sit and talk in peace at times too! :)
When she left I continued preparing, and did another batch of cookies - and I think the other batch turned out a bit better ... might that mean I'm learning as I go along?! *lol*

Now I'm mostly trying to prepare for next week ... Monday and Friday are pretty tough, while the rest seems okay! Tomorrow I have a Greek lecture and a lecture in RTC which unfortunately collides with the OT lecture. We finish at 3 and then I have an OT mentor meeting - it doesn't feel great that I can't be on the OT lecture but I guess it'll have to work out anyway - I hope I don't loose too many students when I'm not at OT ...

That's pretty much it for Monday ... Friday is not a great day either ...
I'm not sure I'll go to the NT/Greek lecture but at 10 we have a theme-seminar on RTC, I really DON'T want to attend it but it's mandatory ...:( We also have to hand in a paper on this first theme. In the afternoon we have an introductory lecture to the next theme.
I know I just have to put up with this course and get it done, but I really really really really don't like it!
I guess I'll have to comfort myself with the fact that it'll be at least 4 NT/OT lectures this week, probably more! :) Also, I have to start working on my master's thesis, which is also a subject I'm interested in and want to work with!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Quite Confusing!

Thursday, 11.21 a.m.

My entries here are now appearing at all hours of the day, I think, so I thought it'd be best to include a time at the start of each entry, making it easier for you to know what it is I'll be blogging about! :)

This time it will be about the whole day yesterday - which was very confusing - and a bit about this morning!

Yesterday was a weird day!
I went to Uni at 8, for a Greek lecture. The course is basically done like this: the Assistant Professor has a lecture about a grammatical structure or so, after that the students go through sentences at home, translating and analyzing and then 1-2 lectures are spent discussing these sentences. Since I'm "kinda busy" this semester, I only plan on attending the real "lectures", I've done the sentences and I don't need them explained to me again.
I had heard that it'd be a grammar lecture yesterday, but it wasn't! So I ended up leaving in the mid-break! :)

I had about an hour of studying on my own, before we had a RTC (Religion, Tradition and Communication) lecture - and to be honest, I'm not really fond of this course. I'm generally doing Biblical Exegesis, and have done for several years now (!), and this is just ... it's too abstract for me. Granted, yesterday's lecture was about Language, and yes, I do find that interesting, I can't help wishing I could have done something else instead of this course!

I had a study-lunch (meaning I studied during the normal lunch hour *lol*) between 12 and 1, and at 1 we had a registration process for all the reading courses and everyone who's doing any form of thesis, no matter which level! The whole system is a mess and the registration was a mess and it was all a ... mess!!
I wasn't the worst one affected for once, but there are still several things that hasn't worked out for me. I emailed the student counsellor straight afterwards, but still haven't gotten a reply.
I did get a chat with one of the Old Testament teachers - there was also confusion regarding which OT teacher would do what this semester! *phew* Anyway, she's really really nice, many people here say she's the best teacher at the Department, and I got to know her a little bit better last spring, when she taught the second half of the course where I was mentor (she will do this time as well!)!! It was great talking to her again, and that was pretty much the only good thing that happened yesterday!

I spent a few hours studying in the library, but we had a snowstorm all day yesterday so I was a bit worried about getting home. And yes, that was a mess. I left the Department at 3.40 p.m. and arrived home a little after 6 ... almost frozen to death! I did meet Johanna and Per at the trainstation which was fantastic, I haven't seen them in ages!!

And no, the window guys still haven't finished my balcony!
*deep sigh*

I've been pretty tired all day today, but I was at Uni at 8 a.m., sent some emails before attending the Greek lecture - today it really was a grammar lecture, thank you very much! :) Also found out that I won't have to go tomorrow - nice! While I really enjoy it - and the Assistant Professor is, well, I really like him even though he certainly has his own style - I do have a lot of other projects to attend to, so I might get something done there tomorrow!
Now I've been doing some errands and writing a few more emails (lots of confusion regarding lots of things at the beginning of the semester!), and in about half an hour, I'm going to a mentor-tutoring-meeting ... we're even getting lunch! *luxury*

Then it's OT lecture, then grocery shopping, going home to clean a very messy appartment - as I'm having Sara and Johanna over for a little to eat and drink tomorrow night! *soooo looking forward to that!!!*
But now I'm gonna have to get something done before the meeting!

Take care - God knows when the next entry will come! *lol*

Not So Good!

Yesterday was not really a great day!
I am generally adapting a "better" and much more positive attitude now than I did last year, but I didn't expect everything to magically work out just because we entered 2010!! Naturally there are days that are worse than others, but you have to try to deal with them as well ... which is what I'm trying to do now!

I skipped the Greek lecture yesterday morning and did some of my "own" studies, and it felt pretty okay, it was mostly preparations for the meeting with my professor. At 10 we had an Old Testament lecture, and they are getting started on the real basic grammar now, so I enjoy these lectures a bit more than the strictly introductory lectures!
Afterwards I had coffee with Maria, I get along great with her which is nice as we will be spending a lot of time together this semester. She's taking the OT/Hebrew course where I am mentor, and I'm voluntarily attending the NT/Greek course where she's mentor! :)

I did get about 1½ hours of studying done after our coffee break, I went over my notes for the afternoon meeting and studied some Greek, and at 2 I met with my professor. I can't say the meeting went well, although I guess it wasn't a complete disaster either. I'm happy I get along so well with him, because otherwise I think I would have been even more depressed. We basically discussed both my master's thesis and my 1st level ... the smaller one needs some major reworking, which I hadn't quite anticipated, and while I'm very happy about getting a pretty clear direction in which to go regarding the master's thesis, I still have a lot of mixed feelings! Life is very confusing!

I felt pretty ... well ... confused after the meeting, but Maria and I went for another coffee (I think I drank more coffee than I ate food yesterday, that's probably not all that good, right?), and it was nice to be able to talk a bit ....

The afternoon did not turn out as planned though!
I was supposed to make a detailed schedule for the rest of this week, I feel like I need to plan every minute of every day now - including showers and bathroom breaks, well almost anyway! - but that did not happen!
First of all, the stupid window people have still not fixed my balcony and I'm getting seriously annoyed with them now ... it feels like it's never gonna get finished.
And later on my computer almost died - AGAIN!!! I don't think it's 100% still, but at least I can use it now! *gulp* I had it on stand-by, but had the lid open (sloppy, I know!). Zorro was going to jump up to the table, but his distance judgement isn't the best now (I think he has some problems with his vision in general too, the hassles of getting old, right?) ... I don't know what happened as I was in the other room, but apparently he must have somehow landed in a bad way on top of the keyboard ... which meant that last night, the keyboard was dead!! Not a single key worked. Not good!!!
This morning I started the computer ... it started beeping ... beeping quite a lot - and then it had some problems starting Vista (why would that be affected by my cat jumping (well, sort of!) on the keyboard?????! I do not understand computers!!!), but I got it started - and now the keyboard works ... pretty much except one key ....
But I am getting tired of this computer not working now ... especially since I didn't get much, or that great, help last time it broke! :(

At least I'm up in time today - though I have a throbbing headache I've been trying to cure since 3.45 a.m. ... don't quite know how to get through this day but it'll have to work, somehow ...

Plans for today, before I start getting ready:
Greek lecture at 8 ... it's kind of fun because when I looked at the sentences we're doing now, I pretty much remember almost all of it - not quite, but pretty much ... that felt pretty comforting.
After that I have another lecture, in my "real" course, Religion, Tradition and Communication (it's such a long title, I'm gonna start using RTC for it, I think!), and I'm a bit nervous about that too. It's a mandatory course on the master's programme, but I'm really not that interested or motivated by it, and that feels a bit scary ...
I have "lunch" for an hour - will probably study - and then there's a registration thing for those of us writing some form of thesis and/or taking a so called reading-course ... they've done one single event for basically all students who will be doing this, so I'm expecting a great big mess - also, one of our student counsellors have recently quit ....
After that I probably will have to stay for at least a couple of hours to get some 'real' studying done as well ....
So, another long day!

But now I have to get ready, or I'll miss my train!

22,000 + Busy Monday!

I can happily report we just passed 22,000 visitors - yay! :) It's really cool that this blog has been doing so well for such a long time - especially for the last six months or so, when I haven't been great at updating it!!

As I mentioned earlier, I'm taking a few minutes at Uni to do an update on my activities, seems that's the only way I'm going to keep this blog going right now!

Yesterday was a pretty good and very busy day!

I left home as usual, about 6.45 a.m. *yawn* and arrived at Uni a bit before 8. I checked on some mentor stuff as we were having the first meeting later that afternoon - and discovered that the lists of registered students were absent. I figured my supervisor hadn't arrived yet, so I went upstairs to wait for a Greek lecture. Just as the lecture was going to start my supervisor arrived, so I managed to talk to her and she would check on the lists.

Greek lecture was okay, it's really a great way to freshen up on what I actually did learn at one point and have forgotten a lot of now! :) And to be honest, I think I'm gonna need it for my NT course later on this spring.
We were done about 10, I did some stuff in the library and studied a bit for my (smaller) essay - I'm having a meeting with my professor regarding both my 1st level and my master's thesis today, so I did a bit of prepatory work for that!

About 12.30 I met with the teacher of the OT course where I'm mentor, I had some questions regarding the mentor meeting and wanted to make sure we actually say the same thing - otherwise the students will get even more confused than they already are! :)
Time went by quickly and at 1.15 we had the OT lecture. It's still a bit too early in the course for me to feel it really rewarding, but I do enjoy it, I have to admit that!

During the break I went to make coffee and stuff for the mentor meeting, and I also met my other mentor supervisor and talked to her for a little while.
The OT lecture ended at 3 and straight afterwards we held the mentor meeting. 7 students showed up which felt okay, though it is a rather large group ... and I think the meeting went well. A bit of practial questions first, some talks about the course in general, and some Hebrew excercises toward the end! :)
I know, in my mind, that the meeting went well, but it seems I'm never pleased with it in my heart. Don't know what that is really, maybe it's a lot of insecurities left over from last year ...?

I didn't get home until about 5.30 and was really nervous! I was meant to have construction workers finish the window stuff on my balcony on Friday - they didn't show up!! I don't want them in the apartment with Zorro when I'm not there but now I had no choice, so I put a note on the door saying they would have to basically "beware of the cat"! *lol* The note was gone, but they hadn't done anything on my balcony! VERY weird!! And annoying!! I'm getting seriuosly frustrated as they have been coming and going with the windows for 2 months now!! That can't be normal, right?!
Finding this out when I got home pretty much drained what little energy I had left, so I went to bed really early and actually had a good night's sleep.

And now I'm back at Uni! :)
I'm working on my writings now, for the meeting with the professor - skipped the Greek lecture as there won't be any new grammar until tomorrow, but will attend Hebrew (of course!).
That - and the meeting with the professor this afternoon - is basically the plans for today! :)

Unintentional!!

Wow, these once-a-week updates on the blog is strictly unintentional, and I don't feel too happy about them actually ....
It's been another intense week, and with things the way they are right now, I'm probably gonna have it like this for the rest of the semester ... *yikes* So somehow I'll have to find a way to work this blog into my intense schedule.
One thought was this: I usually have about 10-15 minutes before lectures start in the morning (the library opens at 8 a.m. and lectures starts 8.15 or 8.20), the idea is to take a few minutes every morning and update my blog then. At least I'm probably not as exhausted then as I am when I get home at night!! :)

As I said, another really intense week!
On Monday I had a bit of an awkward morning, but went to a seminar (essay-seminar in Old and New Testament Exegesis) in the afternoon. Had I managed to get my essay done, I would have presented my essay there, but it was nice to attend. I hadn't had a chance to read the essays that were up properly, but since I really enjoy the subjects - as well as the people there - I had a great afternoon! :)

Tuesday was a busy day! I went to Uni early and did some practical and emotional preparations in the morning. 10-12 there was a common introductory lecture for the students taking New Testament Exegesis with Greek and Old Testament Exegesis with Hebrew, and as mentor in the Hebrew class I was supposed to attend. It was basically an introduction to grammar, but it was quite interesting, and it seemed to be a lot of students taking the courses, which is nice! :)
I had a long lunch break but at 3 p.m. it was time for the offical introduction to the Hebrew course. I did a mentor introduction, that I have mixed feelings about!
Last year I think I did a really terrible introduction and felt bad about that throughout the semester. I felt quite a lot of pressure this time, and I have mixed feelings ... the presentation was a lot better than last year, but I still didn't feel structured and it felt like I was ... babbling ...
I did talk to quite a few students during that day though, and I see that as a good sign, because I didn't get that much contact with students last year. So that should be an improvement, right?! :)
The lecture ended at 5 p.m. but I ended up talking to a couple of the students for quite a while, so I wasn't home until 7.15!!! *tired!!!*

Wednesday was the day for my own official introduction! Well, first of all I went to the Greek lecture in the morning, I need to freshen up my Greek skills (I have forgotten soooo much!!!) so on Tuesday I spoke to the teacher, and he said it was okay for me to show up at his lectures! It was nice taking Greek again, I took in during the Fall of 2008, but it was nice to get back into that again! (though Hebrew IS more fun!! *lol*)
In the afternoon, between 1 and 3.30 p.m. we had introduction/lecture in my "real" course (they one I'm actually supposed to be taking now!), called "Religion, tradition and communication". I don't really know what to say, this is a course I have to take in order to get my Master's degree, but I have to admit I would never ever choose this course myself. I know I have to do the best I can of it, but I have to admit, I'd much rather put my energies into something I'm more interested in ... ah well, c'est la vie!

Thursday was actually my birthday! :D And I celebrated my old age by having to great and fun lectures: first up Greek in the morning, second, Hebrew in the afternoon! Couldn't have asked for a better day! *lol* (Yup, I'm nuts!!)
The Greek lecture was fun, we got into a bit more solid grammar, and I realised I actually have forgotten a lot, so I'm gonna have to start working on my Greek as well now!
The Hebrew lesson was also fun, I got some ideas for the first mentor meeting (which is tomorrow!) and that's always good! :) During the break, the professor that had the Hebrew class earlier came, I had him twice and he was an amazing lecturer! Nothing against the "new guy" (who, has had the course once before this so maybe not so new!!), who is really good - but I guess I do miss the old professor anyway! He introduced Hebrew to me, and it's partly thanks to him I really found out what I wanted to do with my studies!! It was really nice to bump into him again - I see him occasionally but we basically only say Hello. After the lecture, me and a friend ended up spending almost an hour talking to the teacher, we had a rewarding chat but I was pretty tired when I got home!

Friday and Saturday was HORRIBLE!! I really don't want to go into detail but nothing worked out on neither one of those days, and that was quite frustrating!! I had heaps planned for this weekend, and absolutely nothing got done for two whole days - not good!
Meaning, I'm stressing like a maniac today trying to prepare and get everything done for not only tomorrow but the entire next week - because again, it'll be a very intense week!!

I'm hoping to be able to take some time at Uni every morning to update the blog - though there might not be an update tomorrow, as I have some preparations for the mentor meeting to do in the morning!

I hope you had a great weekend and can enjoy the rest of the Sunday afternoon!

What A Week!!

First of all, my sincere apologies for not updating the blog for a whole week!! *gasp*
But this has been some week, that's for sure!!!

I got started on my essay on Monday full stop, and worked on it intensely during Monday and Tuesday. I think it worked out pretty well, although it's always a change to be so focused and concentrated during long days.
On Tuesday night I got a call from my Dad's partner, which was a great surprise! We get along fine, but we never speak on the phone, I always speak to my Dad and sometimes my sisters! She apologized for calling late and told me that they had to take my Dad to the emergency room earlier that evening!!
I had talked to him during the afternoon, but after dinner he'd gotten severe stomach pains and eventually they had to go to hospital!! Since they had to bring the girls, they couldn't stay for long, they had to get to bed, so when they went home, my Dad hadn't even seen a doctor yet!! (despite being in Emergency!)
She hoped to hear from him or the hospital when they knew something and I asked her to call me, even if it was the middle of the night! I had planned to go to bed but got a real adrenaline boost, so I couldn't sleep.
I got another call about an hour later, with updates on my Dad. Apparently the doctor had seen him but could not determine what was wrong, so they were going to admit him to hospital and continue doing tests.

I couldn't sleep for the life of me, even though I knew there was nothing I could do ... I had originally planned to go to Uni but I couldn't find the energy to go, so I had a day at home. I got several calls from my Dad's family, but it seemed they were just doing tests and tests and more tests, finding nothing - and it felt awful not knowing anything!!
At about 5.30 in the afternoon I got another call - from my Dad!!! I was sooo surprised, but it turned out that when they didn't find anything they just sent him home ... doesn't exactly increase my confidence in the Swedish Health Care System, that's for sure.

Thursday was a middle day - I was still upset and tired after the incidents on Wednesday but I managed to get something done.
Friday was a really stressful day, I was at Uni at about 8.30 in the morning and wrote on my essay almost non-stop until 4.30 ... and it was "almost" finished by then!!!
I also managed to get some work done for the mentor-thing I'll be doing this semester and one thing was really cool. We had gotten the information that if we could get a schedule together and book a room for each of our meetings, our schedule would go on the official lecture-schedule for the course. I did, meaning I am actually named on the official schedule for the Old Testament Exegesis (with Hebrew) course this semester! *lol* Kinda cool!

I was exhausted on Friday night but didn't sleep anything anyway ... early Saturday morning I did the last work on the essay and sent it to my professor. I still have some work left on it - my Methods-chapter for instance - but at least I sent it, now I can't do much more with it until I meet with my professor and hear his thoughts on it ...

I've been really tired this weekend, but despite that I sleep really badly now ... very annoying.
Tomorrow I'm starting another really really intense week, but I'm hoping to have enough energy during evenings to update my blog! :)

I hope you had a great weekend!

Official Start Tomorrow!

While spring semester here doesn't start until January 19th, for me it feels like the official start is tomorrow! I'm happy to say I've been feeling a lot better during the weekend, mentally, so I really feel ready and able to take on this very intense semester now! I fully realize it will not be easy and I will have to face a ton of challenges, but I think that going into it with a positive and confident attitude is very important! There is no guarantee how it will all turn out and I realize I can fail at things even though I feel motivated now - but at least I have to start somewhere, right?

I've been doing some preparation work for my job as mentor today, as we're having a meeting (our tutors and all the students that are mentors this semester) tomorrow, and it feels good to have started thinking about it already, even though I won't start yet for about a week or so. I also did some domestic work, replanted some of my pot plants and so, so I feel pretty good about today!

I know it's still early, but since I'm gonna start having really long days from tomorrow, I'll leave home at about 6.45 a.m. and will probably be home around 6 p.m. in the evenings in order to maximize my studies, I think I should start winding down early and trying to get to bed at a decent time!

I hope you have enjoyed your weekend and that you will have a great week!

End of the Week - Weekend!

The week didn't quite end like I had hoped, but fortunately I'm not feeling completely under the weather, so I don't think I'm giving up on 2010 just yet! :-)

Thursday morning was pretty horrible actually. Nothing worked out, but I still felt proud I managed to pull myself together and go into town. I was supposed to get a new Student Travel Card (they're redoing the whole system, so it's a bit of a mess), and had to wait for about 30 minutes in line ... kind of annoying! Once it was my turn, it turns out there was something wrong with my Student ID - it's always worked before so it felt really weird! - and they would sell me the Travel Card. This is actually a real problem, because without it, I can't afford to go to Uni!! A Student Travel card cost 850SEK for 30 days (~83EUR - 75GBP - 120USD), and a one way ticket (cash) to Uni for me cost about 50 SEK (~5EUR - 4.40GBP - 7USD), meaning that when I've done 9 trips to and from Uni in 30 days, the Travel card is "payed for". So ... I can't do without end, end of story!
I have emailed my Student Union, but haven't heard anything - I really hope they can fix it!

This, while in retrospect it seems silly, kind of made my mood go insane, so just I went back home ... didn't get much else done that day, apart from one thing: trying to mentally work at getting back into the positive 2010-attitude again.

Friday was another kind of weird day ... mostly things worked out, I went to Uni for the first time this year, and it was really nice to be back! :-) I DO enjoy it there, and just being there (and having at least some things work out pretty well!) made me feel motivated again and wanting to to the best I can of this crazy intense semester that lies ahead!
It still felt like a bit of an "in-between-day", so I guess I'll fell like I'm getting started "for real" on Monday!

I've had a slow day so far today, it's been nice, but I do feel a bit bad. I don't really have the time to take it easy the way things are right now, but hopefully I can get started with full steam ahead during the afternoon.

Apart from pure studies, I have a lot of work to do with my work as a mentor this semester. We have the first mentor-tutoring meeting on Monday afternoon, and we're getting a new tutor this semester. The other one will be involved a little, but she's leaving Uni in March (I think) so there's a new one taking over. I'll miss the old one, she was really great, but hopefully the new one is good as well!

Speaking of which, having spent the morning in front of the computer - fixing photos, spending time on Facebook (totally addicted to at least three of the apps there, I'm horrible, I know!!) - I think it's high time for me to start doing some necessary stuff now! :-)

Take care, I hope you're all having a great weekend!

Sunset Boulevard!

YES! As a gift from my mother, we went to see Sunset Boulevard at Värmlandsoperan on December 28!! :-)

I had not seen, nor heard, this musical before, and had only a very vague idea about the storyline, even though I'd heard some of the more well-known songs before. This was very exciting, especially since one of my favourite performers, Christer Nerfont, had the lead part!! He is usually performing at Värmlandsoperan, but unfortunately I haven't had that many opportunities to see him (though I saw him in Wedding Singer last year!)!
The female lead (Norma Desmond) was played by famous Swedish actress Maria Lundqvist, and I was also looking forward to seeing her.

So despite all the illness and sleepless nights I felt quite excited waiting for the musical to begin!! :-)
When walking out of the theatre I had mixed feelings about the production and the musical, but I guess it's almost always like that - you find some things you like and some things you're not that fond of, right?

At first, I wasn't so thrilled with the storyline of the musical, but afterwards, it's kind of grown on me. My first impression was that it was way to 'simple' - and in a way I still feel like that! I wish the story would have been a bit more intricate, because to me, it felt a little flat. Still, after having thought about it, I quite like the 'enigmatic' feel of the musical and the story. For someone in the middle of life to meet someone who lives in complete isolation and almost in another time, and then end up being dragged into this, almost 'fantasy life', it's quite enigmatic and fascinating actually!

As for performers, there were some high points and some not-so-high points!
I was very impressed by Tonje Bakken who played Betty Shaefer!! I had never heard of her before, but she made a really great impression on me! She was very sweet, a good actor and a great singer!! Her duet with Joe Gillis (Christer Nerfont), "Girl Meets Boy" (that's actually the Swedish title, don't know if it's the same in English?) was outstanding!!
The butler, Max von Mayerling, was played by Björn Eudard, another actor/singer connected to Värmlandsoperan. I saw him as Jean Valjean in the Les Misérables production in 1995, and I'm sorry to say he does not impress me ... I feel no stage presence and to be honest and in my humble opinion ... he can't really sing ...

Moving on to the leading parts then! :-)
Maria Lundqvist as Norma Desmond was quite hilarious! :-) She is usually a comedy actress, which showed in the musical as well. I have to be honest and say that you could tell she's not a musical artist, but because of the nature of the part, her skills as comedienne made it possible for her to pull it off! She did parts of it amazingly well, but at some points, it felt like the comedy was going way over the top to cover up the not-so-great singing ... I realize Norma should be over-the-top, but at times I wish to have seen a bit more moderation as well as more musical acting (if you know what I mean).
Still, it was amazing to see Maria live, and for someone not usually working in the musical business, she did a great job!!

And then to my favourite! :-) I have been a great fan of Christer Nerfont ever since I saw him and his wife Cecile perform at a Musical Highlights concert in Helsingborg in 2006, and I stand by my opinion that he would make an international success if he wanted to! :-) The production in Karlstad isn't a great one, and at times, he carried the entire show on his own ... I think it's a shame not more people get to know who he is, because he's outstanding!!
When I go to musicals, it's very important for me that the actors have stage presence - you have to FEEL them on the stage, they have to claim their space and their character for me to notice them - and he does just that!!
Enough ramblings ... sorry! I just wish I'd have the opportunity to see more of him than I do! (I know they made Jekyll and Hyde a few years ago, and I very, very much regret not being able to see him in that ...)

Summarizing, I think that it was a really good production, there were definitely room for improvements, but I liked it a lot and as usual, Christer was fantastic, the true star of the show!!

(I apologize for the lack of pictures, but there's no way I have the time to get my scanner working right now ... sorry.)

Finishing off with a YouTube clip I found (there aren't any of Christer, unfortunately!) of Michael Ball, singing "Sunset Boulevard" ... Enjoy! :-)

Holiday Photos!

As promised, some photos from the holidays!
None of us photographed a lot this time, as M was so ill ... we had other things on our minds than getting the camera. And stupid me forgot to bring my battery charger, so when my camera died I didn't even have a camera *annoyed!!*!!
Some of the photos of the girls here are borrowed from their mother since I didn't get that many this time.
(I do apologize that there aren't many photos of M, but in a lot of the photos we have she looks really ill, and I really don't want to publish that ...)

First out, photos of the girls, ranging from December 24 to December 31: (they have grown SO much!!)






The next batch of photos is a selection from a walk I took on December 29. We had the most AMAZING winter weather, I don't know when I last experienced such a lovely winter, with bright sunshine and high clear air, and LOTS of snow!! This particular day was a bit too cold for me though, we had about -25 degrees Celsius ... I didn't stay out for that long but I walked around the area where I practically grew up, so it was kind of a walk down memory lane - which of course is both good and bad.
Still, the photos turned out pretty well, didn't they?



These last two photos are rather special; the first one is taken with maximum zoom on my regular camera lens (the one that came with the camera when I bought it), and the second photo is taken with maximum zoom on the new lens I got for Christmas ... quite a difference, don't you think?!

New Year, New Decade!

I'm back home after the holidays now, and will try to embrace the new year in the best possible way!! The next six months will be quite tough for me, as I have quite a rough workload ahead of me, but I feel motivated and confident about the future, and after the not-at-all-great year of 2009 I'm ready to give it my all to make 2010 MUCH better!

The holidays was really tough this time, for several reasons, so I won't make the usual number of entries I do when I've been away for a while. I'll try to give you a brief summary in this entry, and there will be a later entry with photos (when I've sorted them out on my computer), but after that I will look forward instead and try to make the best of what is to come.

Christmas was a bit strange this year as my oldest little sister was quite ill. My Dad and his family was on vacation in Florida and after about 5 days she started feeling ill. It got worse and worse, and they visited three different hospitals there, the last one being the huge Miami Childrens Hospital. There was some insecurity as to whether they would be allowed to go home as planned, but they made it. Unfortunately, my sister got a lot worse on the plane, so when they landed at Stockholm-Arlanda, she had to immediately go by ambulance to a hospital some 30 km away where they had to stay for the day, take a night at a hotel before my Dad had to go back to the Airport to pick up the luggage and the car so they could go home!!

My sister was ill during most of the holidays, we had to take her in to the Emergency at her home hospital as well once, but up New Year she started feeling a little better, so hopefully the worse is over.

I felt really bad for my youngest sister, who had to endure a lot during these few weeks when all focus was on her big sister. She was ill to in the beginning, but I think it was mostly due to the psychological stress and pressure she'd been under, because after a few days in a safe home environment with fairly normal routines she went back to being her own happy self again!

While I haven't had so rough a time as my Dad and his family, I still wasn't in top shape when holidays started, and dealing with my sister's illness, and with her parents being completely exhausted and run down, holidays this year (or last year!!) hasn't been the best.
There has been some great moments of course, but they have been rather few this time, and I'm quite happy to be back home!

I did get some great Christmas gifts though - I got quite a lot, but a few do stick out!
I got some USB memory sticks, which is always great to have, a memory card to my camera, and a wireless mouse to my laptop (the touch pad works, but I'd like to be able to use a mouse as well). And then I got one major gift from my Mum and one from my Dad that I'm REALLY thrilled about!!
From my Mum I got a gift certificate for a certain book store in Lund, Arken, where they have all the theology literature ... and it was quite a substantial amount!!!
From my Dad I got a new camera lens, to complement the one I have - and it was AWESOME!!!


The trip home wasn't that much fun, I dragged myself and my luggage and Zorro on the train, and since I wasn't exactly alone (!!), the trip was quite exhausting ... but now I've recovered and I'm ready to get on with my life of 2010!!!
Starting with writing almost an entire 1st level thesis (7.5 ECTS credits - the equivalent of 5 weeks-full-time-studies) in about 4 days ... eh, ooops?!? *nervous*
Guess I'd better get on with it, right?! :-)

I'll be back with a photo entry when I've had the chance to transfer them to the computer!

I hope you're having a great start of 2010!!
!