But mostly, waiting for the monkey to crack the egg.

It’s only three and a half years (plus a few months) since Elin and I met. As a few of you know we met online. (Elin’s nephew got the impression that we met on Ebay, which is only slightly wrong.) Like all other online flings it was destined to die fast or slow.

One critical moment was when Elin said something positive about “Appetite for Destruction” by Guns n’ Roses and I found that to be a very “mainstream remark”. Same thing about Metallica. This says more about my sporadic brain malfunctions than it says about Elin. Anyways, we lived through that. We also lived through my not calling her for two months even though she had asked me to. (Did I tell you about brain malfunctions?) But eventually I called her and we met up only a couple of days after that.

And then we got hooked. Later we got married. And last summer we got pregnant.

And that’s where we’re at. Still pregnant, and growing fast. Waiting… waiting. I found some nice pictures from Elin’s old camera that I hadn’t seen before. They’re from the Germany trip that we went on a week after we first met. Those were the days when we weren’t waiting for anything. Not like now when we’re waiting constantly.

Waiting for the monkey to crack the egg…

 

Waking up today, still lying in bed, I decided to check out the Kevin Moore fansite and its forum.

Once upon a time I got to know a lot of people at the official Chroma Key forum but that has long since passed away. So while reading some Chroma Key related discussions I got an urge to listen to some of Kevin’s work. Also, I felt I had to go outside. I brought the camera and took some pictures that I decided to send to Annie in Brazil. Not only is she a big Chroma Key fan, she also has never seen snow.

The video in itself is not that magical. The scenery is though.

So this is for Annie. Annie who has never seen snow.

I think Elin suspected it when she all of a sudden had to run to the bathroom 3-5 times a night so while in the grocery store we stopped at the pharmacy and picked up two of them sticks – not just one, you want to be sure, right? And sure enough there was a plus, or actually two of them. One on each stick. So that was that and still is. We are having a baby.

A doctor scared us for a while suggesting that the baby was too small, after an early ultrasound we took. But that was just a bunch of bull as it turned out all was well.

Most likely the kid will find it’s way out in the middle of april with a Made in Greece-tag attached. I’m trying to enjoy the last few months of a no-child existence while Elin just recently started enjoying her first vomit-free week of pregnancy.

Elin’s belly has grown quite a bit too! I’m pretty sure we’ll post some pictures of that if they can fit on this website. No seriously, a big tummy it is but my wife is as thin and gorgeous as ever. If only she has strong genes to overcome mine then this baby will be one beautiful one!

To be continued…

 

Not that it mattered much. Having them in our house for three days was pure pleasure. The two of them had decided to drive from Gamleby, where both of them live, to Örebro by mopeds. Surely that took them the better part of a day. And from here they then continued down to Nyhem and Aneby. All in all I would say that they went 700 kms in a week.

That’s good work I will say.

The picture’s I took of them ended up in a newspaper. People found their road trip quite interesting.

While at the Museum of World Culture, who currently have a Bollywood show on display, we made our own film. Crappy quality but the performances are breathtaking.

Surely this must be some sort of techno stress. I can barely sit down and read a book without processing 117 different thoughts and ideas while doing so. Peace of mind? Yes please, give me a bomb to blow up this digital disgrace of a rat race. Ok, I’m blowing steam here, but I must do something about this. The first thing to go in some way is facebook. I don’t even use it much, but I spend all my days hating it and that takes energy too. Then I guess computer free days is something to strive for as well, tried having one two days ago but failed coz someone requested a favor. When I work for the municipality I work with a PC all day, you’re right, but that is barely a computer anyways.

If you have the strength yourselves, by all means, comment on your routines. My take is that all this access and info and contacts is just killing all the fun in the end. And as always, the canadian power trio Rush holds many a wise word on all matters:

The boy lies in the grass with one blade
Stuck between his teeth – A vague sensation quickens
In his young and restless heart – And a bright and nameless vision
Has him longing to depart

“The Analog Kid” from Signals (1982) by Rush

To say the least it was the kind of letter everyone wants. There are squares and triangles, earth and sky, flesh and blood.

I snapped a picture but I really can’t tell you much more about it because I would assume these people have ways of dealing with people who rat them out.

Track them down.

Take care of ‘em good.

Medieval style.

A couple of months before Elin and I got married we decided to lose some weight. Said and done, I lost about 5 kgs (11 lbs) and Elin did a good job too.

After that it has all been downhill and I have since become a lard ass. So extreme circumstances call for extreme methods. And extreme over weight call for The Pig Race!

Starting today I am a pig racing towards health. I will blog about eating habits, the aerobics class, ten-beers-or-not-ten-beers, my weight, my waist-line and outdoors activities such as hiking, running and walking to the mail box.

Perhaps a few of you will even be inspired to grab yourself by the waist-line and start hunting that hog.

Goal:
a) To lose 15 kgs (33 lbs) before my birthday on 1 July.
b) To have 90% of my t-shirts fit instead of 10%

Terms:
a) I will bring updates at least once every week.
b) All my friends are allowed to bully/mock me here on the blog.
c) You may also cheer on if you feel like it.

Stats: Day 1

Weight: 88,2 kg (194,3 lbs)
Waist: 102 cm (40,8″)
BMI: 26,1 (“over weight”)
Comment: “It feels good to sit after walking up the stairs.”

With those numbers the Race is on!

And the joke is on me.

Stats: Day 6

Weight: 86,4 kg (190,5 lbs)
Waist: 100 cm (29,4″)
BMI: 25 (still ”over weight”)

The Pig on “working out”: No doubt about it, after almost one full week I’m off to a slow start. I have lost almost 2 kgs (4,4 lbs) though just by walking a lot. (Got a flat tire on the bicycle on my way to a bar actually – I intend to fix the tire but more than so I need to exercise properly.

The Pig on “food”: Since work started again after the holidays I do watch what I eat. Lots of salads, some low calorie shakes, cooking without too much oil etc. This will give heavy effect soon.

The Pig on “friends”: Well, the mocking is off to a good start. The lot of you took the chance at sucker punching. Good for me coz I need the daily fisting. Also, I must say that I have inspired some. No less than three friends have signed up to join in or compete with me but before all that I’m off to work.

If you can’t be good, be bad, baby!

Stats: Day 12

Weight: 84,6 kg (186,5 lbs)
Waist: 99 cm (38,9″)
BMI: 25 (still ”over weight”)

My only exercise so far has been walking which is a shame. To my defense I can say that I have a bad cold and that I have been walking an aweful lot. So the 3,6 kgs (7,9 lbs) I have lost so far is an effect of better eating routines.

I eat stuff like the above and it’s not fair but it’s healthy. I also make sure I eat something every 2-3 hours. Fat-free stuff, no candy, no soda, no nothing.

The good old bad habits. While cleaning out a room we are renovating I found a picture of me from years and years ago. Though partially staged it says something about which lifestyle lead to this pig form of mine.

Now I’m walking out to do some work.

Might as well lose some weight while at it.

Stats: Day 14

Weight: 83,2 kg (183,4 lbs)
Waist: 97 cm (38,2″)
BMI: 24,6 (”normal weight”)

This is going all to well. Piece of cake! Without the cake. It’s been easy: I can’t have the cake and I can’t eat it. Period. I’m down 5 kgs (11 lbs). It’s almost like I’m losing weight too fast! I’ll end upp looking like that skin-stealin’ alien from Men In Black.

I have inspired quite a few people allready: One friend has written down “life rules” and Sandor is bloggingabout the very same things as me. He was even in local paper about it two days ago. Then there is Jo. He was joking when he said: “I should join the pig race”.

Two seconds later he was drafted.

Stats: Day 30

Weight: 82,2 kg (181,2 lbs)
Waist: 97 cm (38,2″)
BMI: 24,3 (”normal weight”)

Down by 6 kgs (13,2 lbs). Sandor has his own diet blog called Fat Donation and he’s raving about losing weight through just eating fat; kind of what they call Atkin’s Diet. I’ve been toying with it a bit and I haven’t gained anything at least.

Me and Elin are considering going to Israel together some time this year. I was there almost three years ago. Don’t know if going there made me thin but the above show’s evidence of my not-quite-so-piggy self.

While waiting for pictures of the new place we might as well show you the old place which was an incredible place to live. And cheap, like the new place.

 

Hans and his wife Lena were running the Esso gas station in Veddige where I got my first job. We spent countless hours together serving customers and cars, talking ice hockey and joking around.

Many a good thing can be said about Hans, but one thing stands out: He was a man of his word. If he promised you something then he would walk through hellfire to deliver. Also, he was probably the biggest supporter of our metal cover band Cruel Covers. In january of 2005 a storm hit the west coast of Sweden in the middle of the night blacking out the whole village of Veddige. Me and Sandor were not late in heading out there. We ended up at the gas station were Hans and Lena were looking after things, waiting for the electricity to return.

Sandor took a picture. We had a couple of laughs and then returned out into the cold and found our way home were we lit some candles. A mighty fine memory I will say.

Good friend Martin “Compadre” Thomander called me up last night to let me know that before last nights’ game the Veddige Vipers held a silent minute for the late Hans Olsson. Hats off for that. Hans was always a through-the-ice-and-snow supporter of the local ice hockey team. The Vipers then kicked the crap out of Hovås Hockey winning 4-1.

So, on this day we raise our glasses high for Esso-Hans who is probably allready shifting gears in the Formula 1 race across the high plains of heaven. Salute!