Saturday, December 30, 2006

2006

Snodd från Gustav med vissa tillägg.

* Dag(ar): 28e januari - alla MGs samlade på Bella Italia. 23e juni - San Juan på stranden i Barcelona.

* Festivitet: Det kan bara bli Novischfesten, minnesluckor och fruktansvärd baksmälla till trots.

* Inköp: MacBook och läderstövlar.

* Film: RENT - från förra året, ja, men inte premiär här förrän i februari. Brokeback Mountain får hedersomnämnande på samma grund.

* Låt: Årets bästa låt har jag ingen koll på, men *mina* bästa låtar för året blir Jefferson Airplanes White Rabbit, Triumphs Fight The Good Fight, Kansas' Carry On My Wayward Son och Blue Oyster Cults Don't Fear The Reaper. Jag insåg en dag att min spellista enbart bestod av 70-talsrock.
Oh, och Jump Little Childrens Cathedrals, så klart! *älska*

* Accessoar: Mallorcaringen som jag numera känner mig naken utan, och mitt tuffa nya halsband.

* Bok: Montecore - En unik tiger, Jonas Hassen Khemiri.

* Inkomna sms: "Han é tankesultan! Grymmaste pjäsen, jag svär fett me cred! Khemiri is Da MAN!" Alltid underbart med delade åsikter.

* Intressantaste: Valet. Gäller även för 'Sorgligaste'.

* Beslut: Att hoppa av lärarutbildningen och satsa på lingvistiken.

* Ord: "Oki" ("I want to get the hell out of here" på Taiap). Och "kebabchaffis". Det är skönt att till och med översmarta författare kan säga fel.

* Citat: "Failure isn't an option because you, like me, are perfect ;-)" (Seriously, dude, you have no idea how much you cheered me up that time - I was close to tears and then you made me giggle!)

* Saknade: Elisabet (men inte mycket längre!). Janice. Los brasileños.

Make 2007 a good one!

Friday, December 29, 2006

Contours

So, we were sitting at Herkules' yesterday and I mentioned that my cousin had gotten glasses for when driving, which got us into a discussion about how a lot of people look really good in glasses. I don't wear glasses, never have, and so I asked M to try hers on, just to see how it felt and to know whether they suited me. I put them on, looked out the window, and Christ was the world suddenly sharp! I mean, I knew my left eye vision isn't perfect, but when I closed my right eye and took turns looking through the glasses and over them, I realised that it's probably a little worse than I thought it was.
A visit to the optician to see whether I should get glasses, perhaps?

Oh - we're going to Stockholm again in January, if I hadn't mentioned that. We're going to see Rent! And Invasion! again. When tickets are that cheap, you can't not go again.

And I'm a sketching goddess. Still can't stop.


Logan, I can't comment on your posts. There's no picture for the word verification. Boo.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas

Biggles and I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas, albeit a little late for the Swedes, but anyway.

(As you can tell from his expression, wearing that hat was far below his dignity. Didn't stop me.)


Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

'Kiyoshi kono yoru'

Yes, today we sang 'Silent Night' in Japanese. And Polish, and Gaelic, and Hungarian, and Vietnamese. And five other languages. While having wine punch and gingerbread snaps and fudge. I'm going to miss this course and these people and our mentor a lot; it seems there are seven of us who are going to do the following 20 credits as well, and a couple who are going to do a few, but that's it.

I'm giving serious thought to doing five extra credits outside the regular 20 next semester. Neuro-linguistics does sound really interesting, it's on next semester (you can never count on a course like that to be given), and our schedule seems to allow the time. And - it's in English, which would be a real challenge. The catch? Three final exams in one week, or possibly two if they're feeling generous. We'll see. I think I'll sign up and then decide when the time comes.

I got the most awesome Christmas present the other day. A refridgerator magnet - hold on, hold on, it gets better - saying "You say I'm a bitch like it's a bad thing". Heh. Well, maybe you had to be there. But Ida rocks.
We also combined study group, preparing for the home exams and straightening out a few question marks (verbkongruenssystem i världen, Klingon-grammatik, och var i världen du kan hitta språk från fem olika språkfamiljer, som har ergativa drag, oerhört komplicerad verbmorfologi och 83 konsonanter men bara 2 vokaler), with a film night watching Dogma. I'd almost forgotten how much I love that film.

Anyone who isn't dead or from another plane of existence would do well to cover their ears right about now.

But I'm a fucking demon.

Read the Bible again sometime. Women are painted as bigger antagonists than the Egyptians and Romans combined. It stinks.

Monday, December 18, 2006

The future always on her mind

My 'Language Acquisition' mentor decided today she's going to make me a doctoral student and sponsor me to write my D paper about 'foreigner talk' in a couple of years. Heh. I heart her. And I heart this course. And I can pass for being Polish or Finnish or something non-Swedish like that, can't I?
I've decided what I want to do with my degree once I'm finished (on the side, of course, I'm still going to be a socio-linguistics professor. I promised my grandparents). I want to be a translator. I'm always complaining about badly translated books; that way I could do something about it. What better way to use an English degree? Ah, I'm already looking forward to doing English. I seriously need to freshen it up.

This whole, I'm-where-I'm-supposed-to-be feeling? I like it.

A small observation: friendship is calling the other person 'bitch' in a text knowing she will laugh her head off when seeing it.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Invaderad.

Stockholm. Invasion!. Skridskoåkning. Italiensk glass. Pizza Hut.
Teatern var fullständigt fantastisk. Och jag kan inte skriva på Khemiriska. Jag bara låtsas att jag kan det.

Och det är förväntan inuti när ljuset släcks och du hoppas och ber att du inte ska bli besviken, och du tittar på töntskådespelarna som pratar goja på scenen och väntar på att få höra mummel och hyssjanden någonstans bakifrån, och när du hör det första sshh-et ni tittar på varandra med skratten i halsen och shunnarna reser sig upp och börjar bråka och invaderar scenen och efter det, det är bara vad som händer där som betyder något.

Vad pjäsen handlar om är fullständigt omöjligt att beskriva. Den består till stor del av monologer, fyra olika skådespelare som framför fyra olika historier som alla vävs in i varandra av föreställningens gemensamma nämnare: Abulkasem. Vem är det? Varför är han viktig? Finns han egentligen?

Det är Bahador Foladis röst som blir mer och mer pressad och som sträcker sig in i dig och griper tag och det är tårögon och nejtankar när de andra skådespelarna kommer upp på scen och ljuset släcks, och sedan det är applåder och darrhänder och ett huvud fullt av snurror och ekon av rösterna du hört, och det är ni som tittar på varandra och vet att en gång inte räcker, inte ett dugg.

Vi skulle gått ut på La Isla efteråt, men vi var båda två totalt så tagna av föreställningen att vi utan att tänka på det bara började gå medan vi pratade om den, och plötsligt insåg vi att vi satt på vårt hotellrum och hade suttit där och gått igenom så mycket av pjäsen som vi bara kunde i ett par timmar. Det är otroligt att man kan skratta och skratta åt det man ser på scen samtidigt som man känner att man egentligen lika gärna skulle kunna gråta, eftersom det är en hårfin linje mellan det komiska och det fruktansvärt tragiska. Mycket balanserande på gränsen och många oerhört tvära kast däremellan.

"En av mina grannar är faktiskt från Pakistan, men han är jättetrevlig! Och jag sa till honom, 'It's okay. You can eat your food and have your parabol on the balkong, but please, please, dont make your daughter wear a slöja when she grows up. Please, for me, let her be free'."

Så, förutom att jag stukade foten under en promenad längs Drottninggatan och nu kör med kryckor igen, en perfekt helg.

Erkänn Abulkasem!

Saturday, December 02, 2006

The struggling artist

Per request.


Milo doesnt look much like himself here, more like a cartoon character - so I decided that it's not actually a sketch of him but a sketch of Peter, based on Milo. Neat solution, huh?

JAckles on the other hand, I was very pleased with.


I think my fingers need to rest now. They're aching a little.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Where'd the day go?

Christ, I can't believe it's Friday again. Seriously, time needs to slow down. I mean, Stockholm and Invasion! is freakin' next weekend and Christmas is getting closer, which means this semester is amost over. And that kinda makes me sad. I'm going to miss my uni girls when we scatter.
Ida almost made me laugh out loud in class today, because this course is the most boring course I've ever taken, and so you're bound to get the giggles when your fellow Supernatural CQD:er points you to 'Wake me up when it's my turn to drive' written in her notebook.

Birthday was good. I'm sitting very comfortably in my new desk chair, looking at some lovely black & white posters of Paris that are being placed on my walls soon, and listening to my birthday CD from V. (And actually, I could be wearing my scarf from Harriet and drinking my Monty Python beer from Julia as well... Heh. I love my beer, called 'Monty Python's Holy Grail', with 'Gr' crossed out. Also, it's tempered over burning witches. Awesome.)
There was a family gathering on Saturday, which was nice. Then spex on Sunday, which was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time - it helped seeing several familiar faces among the leads and in the ensemble - and the Lucia medly made me giggle until my stomach hurt. "Mikadonnan står i fönstret! Mikadonnan står i fönstret! Så får vi lov, så får vi lov, att ta oss in i palatset?"
Then went to Kalmar's on Tuesday with my uni posse and M to celebrate a little extra, which was also fun. Although I have to admit I prefer Wermland's/ÖG - it was bit too small for my liking. So, Wermland's tomorrow night, and glöggfest/pepparkaksbak at Anna's place on Sunday. This weekend is not turning out to be that much quieter than the last.

I heart Supernatural. It's rivalling my Heroes love.

By the way, I'm totally in a new sketching phase, and I love it. I particularly love to look at my 'older' sketches from, say, 2003 or even 2004, cringe, and realise that while I'm in no way a great artist by any means, I've actually come a long way since then.