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…

 

Just got back from USA visiting my friend Greg Girardin with whom I recorded some music in 2005. It was a quick trip because Greg hasn’t been feeling quite well lately. Anyways, a visit was way over due. Especially since he should’ve come to Sweden this summer, but didn’t.

I kept a basic diary to remember everything and all. And there’s a photo gallery at the very end.

Friday 28 Aug

Elin was up all night working and barely got any sleep myself. She was supposed to drive me to the airport but that didn’t make much sense in the morning so I took the train. The flight was ok, except I was sitting near one of the emergency exits and it was darn cold!

Once in Philadelphia, PA my connecting flight to Manchester, NH got cancelled due to bad weather up north so I had some sushi which turned out to be a big plate of raw fish and nothing else. Was superb though.

I made the flight at 9 in the evening. An hour later my good friend Greg Girardin picked me up at the airport in Manchester. Four years (almost to the day!) since we saw each other – not a moment too soon!

Saturday 29 Aug

Breakfast at Denny’s. Man, conversations with Greg are easy. He is a very interesting guy and it’s really a shame that there is an ocean between us. After a quick visit at Guitar Centre to get a cymbal for a friend back home we drive to Greg’s parents in Lewiston, Maine. Once there Bob (dad) treated me to the best corn I’ve ever had and after good talk with Bob and Madeleine (mom) we went to LuAnn (sister) and Tony (her husband) for more awesome food and some great brew. Geary’s HSA – too bad they don’t carry that stuff in Sweden.

Sunday 30 Aug

Me and Greg started recording something that turned out to be an Opeth-clone. We never finished it though. Guess we’ll have to do that online.

Saw the Lewiston Maineiacs (ice hockey) play the Shawinigan Cataractes which was great fun. Then we had canned bread (yes!) with Valerie (sister) and Mike (her husband) and their kids. And if you thought that bread out of a can was weird then I must say that the Dr McGillycuddy’s schnapps took the prize. You drink it and then chase it with a beer and magically the beer tastes like toothpaste. How about that?

Yelling Cinderella songs with Mike Girardin in the car later that night shurely been the highlight of the day.

Monday 31 Aug

It was a surreal experience, standing outside of Stephen King’s house in Bangor, Maine. Not so much because I absolutely love his books or that, but the fact that he probably is the most famous author alive and that he lives in an ordinary neighbourhood and not a gated community. Had took take a few pictures outside that house though, spider web fence and all. I bought the Dark Tower comic books at Bett’s Bookstore after that. Now I must finish the last volumes in the Dark Tower series so that I can read the comics.

Next stop was Bar Harbour and I must say that it was one of the most impressive sights ever seeing the Maine coastline from on top of an island mountain. Man! Pictures can’t explain the view. A 360° panorama view as far as Sweden (almost). It was worth the three hour trip! And the lobster rolls we had weren’t bad either!

Tuesday 1 Sept

In all honesty you can’t compare the view form Black Mountain to the Bar Harbour sights, but just as Greg said on top of Black Mountain: “You’ve got to earn your view” and that is mighty true! After an hour of walking, sitting down on top of the mountain was the sight of this year I must say. I felt a bit bad the whole trip (and had hidden a secret roll of toilet paper in the backpack in case I just HAD to go) but one we were on top all was good again for some reason.

Me, Greg and Bob went hunting for sushi material later that day. We got some great stuff and the the mayhem started. Just about the whole family (20 people at least) came to cook and eat. We had a blast and the swedish cheif did pretty well I must say, but man was I stressed. I think Greg got some footage of the whole event which I’m sure he’ll upload soon enough. A good memory this one I must say.

This was the last night and so me and Greg had a long, great talk about just about everything on earth and beyond. Greg’s has been quite ill the last six months. Some kind of mysterious nerve disorder but he surely is one happy bloke.

Wednesday 2 Sept

Toast in the morning – the breakfast of champions. Had to leave around 11 for Manchester. Staying with the Girardins was something I’d very much like to do again, preferably with Elin (so that she can cook the sushi the next time). Honestly, one can’t resist the love and openness of the Girardins, Labbes and Racines. Thank you so much for the warm welcome and many good laughs (hurdy gurdy hurdy!).

The relatives of Hudson, MA was kind enough to drive to the Manchester airport for a quick coffee. I got a kick out of seeing them again. It was four years since last. Now I’m praying they’ll make it to Sweden again. Hopefully not the same time as the Girardins/Labbes/Racines though because we can only handle so many american psychos.

Almost missed my connection in Philadelphia due to the first flight being horribly late, but I didn’t. Another cool thing was that when I flew into Philadelphia we were just over the Phillies baseball game. Really awesome. The rest of the trip was easy peasy.

And coming home to Elin is always the best part of a trip.

 

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.

It is very strange, it was just one week ago that I ordered seven CDs from their website. I hadn’t listened to Curt & Roland for many, many years – and it’s only recently that some of their albums have been made available on CD. I got the albums a few days ago and while traveling to Gothenburg this weekend, Elin and I have been listening to the songs in the car.

(In picture, from left: Curt, Anders and Roland – ten years ago or close to that…)

Curt & Roland “Kristen, Ja!”

Curt Petersen was one of the great singers of our time. Now he is out of time, and I for one will forever miss him. God Bless you Curt – and thank you for this amazing heritage.

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.

But today I thought I would share version with you. From their part this was just some random recording from the rehearsal room I think, with Martin playing the bass. The other two guys I never met but as you can hear they were pretty talented.

The Niro “Pantone Matching System” (demo)

While being on subject of the Music Police (I’m sure Martin himself would agree he is just that) I have to say that I was taken by a storm tonight. VH1 have a Top 50 Guitar Riff countdown, playing full videos, and so far they’ve played:

Whitesnake “Here I Go Again” (the original 1982 version)
Van Halen “Why Can’t This Be Love?”
The Cult “Rise” (has this ever been shown on tv?)
Soundgarden “Rusty Cage”
Iron Maiden “Can I Play With Madness”

It takes guts. VH1 obviously has what it takes to broadcast that which does not suck.

I’ve only missed two home games this season which I compensated by going to a few away games. Waiting for this moment, one team out of fifty-seven!! Yes. We did it. We are back!

Two weeks ago we travelled to Valbo outside of Gävle yesterday to scream and shout and add whatever we could. I brought my camera and it is only fitting that we remember that win today.

They’re a good indie pop band, recently played live on BBC, from Sweden and Scotland and they put out a praised album a few months ago called “It’s nothing personal, it’s national security”. It’s not really my cup of tea. At least not usually, it’s a bit to merry but I actually enjoy their album a bit. The lyrics are great fun.

Myself I have to go do some important work now.

It’s nothing personal, it’s…