This first week on my new contract I only worked three days. Being employed on an hourly basis means that I can’t know for certain that I will work full-time, but my co-workers tell me not to worry. I want to work as much as possible Next week I work the dayshift on Monday, then I work the evening shift the remaining days. I like the evening shift because it’s a little different and I get to meet some night shift personnel as well.

Time to go; have a good weekend everyone!

It’s been a while since I posted some pictures, so I’m going to do that now. I snapped the work pictures one month ago, on the slowest day of work ever, as I was the only one there except the maintenance people. The pictures from home were taken on a long walk with Bessie two days ago. Enjoy!

The weather is sunny but a little chilly, and today has been a calm day here at BTT. I’m leaving in a few minutes to go to BorÃ¥s. Yesterday I signed the contract, which takes effect on Monday, September 1st. I do not work until Wednesday, though. Next week everyone is back on duty and I am not needed on Monday and Tuesday. MÃ¥ns does not know yet what it looks like after next week, but as long as I can come in a couple days a week I’m happy. The raise compensates, so I’m not that worried. It will be nice to have four days off now, anyway. I’m thinking of going to IKEA on Monday or Tuesday with mom and dad who haven’t been there since the early 90’s. (That sounds like fun, right Malin? ;))

Ok, gotta go.

Another week went by so quickly and now that I know that I have paychecks coming for the rest of the year, I’m thinking along the lines of putting away money for the driver’s license (probably about 20 000 SEK which is more than 3000 USD), reducing my student loan debt, and getting that internet connection for the house. Me sitting here at work or the library for a few minutes here and there is sometimes not enough. And no, I won’t let my old addiction take over me again and affect my sleeping habits. I can’t. My job means too much for me to do that, that was back in the old days. How do you say “i-landsproblem” in English btw??

Oh, and about that wine; I did buy a bottle of Oude Kaap Cabernet Sauvignon last Friday, as I prefer red wine. It was really good.

Yeees! MÃ¥ns, my boss, told me today what I’ve been hoping for all along: they are going to extend my contract for the rest of the year!! I’m sooo happy. The others were happy to hear about it too. My current contract ends August 31st, so the new one is for September 1st - December 31st. With a raise too! (20 SEK per hour) Woohoo! This is awesome and justifies buying a box of wine!

I love Elton John, and right now I listen a lot to his latest album that came out in 2006, The Captain and The Kid. It’s a sequel to Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy from 1975, and even if it’s not quite as top notch as the music he made in the 70’s, I think it’s fairly good just because it’s Elton. Everyone grows old eventually, even him, and he can still entertain. I saw that myself at the concert in Gothenburg on December 3rd, 2005. He was standing two metres from me while quickly scratching his autograph on my piece of paper, and I tried so hard to get his attention. Like loads of other people beside me. I had a lot of fun that night, despite that I attended the concert alone. But I wouldn’t see him live again. Once is good. No, U2 is the band I really want to see live. I look forward to their next album and tour.

What music do you listen to?

And I hope he feels it. I hope his heart is acheing as much as mine has been (and still is from time to time). The very reason that made me seize all communication with him was Beach Bum, the adorable potbellied pig we once had. It was his idea to get her when we were living in Hawaii. He always referred to her as our “daughter”. (Never in my life would I have human children with that man.) I really thought that he would take care of her after I left, but he dumped her at Noah’s Ark Potbellied Pig Rescue instead. He did tell me, during one of our last phone conversations, that he would leave her there for an undecided period of time, but I thought he would get her back. I emailed Lynne, the lady who runs the rescue, and she said that Beach Bum was upset and aggressive. Quite understandable. Now I have found out that Beach Bum has a new family. Yes, she does. I’m staying in touch with Lynne because I want to know what happens to Beach Bum. She can live for another decade or so, and I will always remember her and the moments we had. I’m so glad that she’s in a good place, and I hope she will stay with them for the rest of her life because according to Lynne, they love her and have done their research beforehand. That’s just awesome.

What upsets me the most is that he tells people lies when they confront him about something, and that he didn’t send money to Lynne for Beach Bum’s board as promised. There we have it again, broken promises and empty words. No wonder nobody wants anything to do with him… he might seem nice at first, but it usually ends in failure.

Okay, I’ve been bitter enough now. Just one of those moments I have sometimes. But I really wanted to live in Hawaii. Those islands in the mid-Pacific will always have a very special place in my heart. Maybe I should go through all those journals I wrote during my trips and transcribe them to a document on the computer, so that they be merged with the existing electronic journal entries. Like memoirs. Walking down memory lane, reflecting, repeating myself like I am now, listening to music that I associate with certain events (U2, Elton, certain songs from the 80’s), just because I’m so damned sentimental.

And I’m so damned happy to be single. Now I’m going to load my iPod starting with U2 - The Unforgettable Fire, and then go home to enjoy the weekend after a good week at work.

It’s 17:20 and I’m still at work. They asked me if I could stay longer today, due to lack of personnel. I’m needed to run and sort the plates for Dagens Nyheter (The Daily News), the first of the daily newspapers that are printed during the night shift. At this moment, I’ve already sorted a few pages, and the files are uploaded continously. Only once before have I worked overtime and that was a Tuesday in June. Then there was that Tuesday when I worked the evening shift between 13:45 and 21:15, just to try it out. Today I’m practically working from 07:15 to 20:00 something… the bus leaves at 20:30. Which is fine, I’m not very tired. I like it here a lot, not to mention the extra pay. I’m only tired in the mornings, hehe. Never were a morning person, but it feels a thousand times better to have these routines than sleeping the days away in Tampa. I don’t want to do that again. I get up at 10, 10:30 the latest on my days off.

And btw - I’m already noticing a change after my hair removal treatment! I was a little worried there, I admit, because of the high cost, but now it seems it will be worth the money. It looks and feels good, so I will be happy to give my laser therapist some positive feedback. Phew. It also helps that he has good so called bedside manner. I’ll probably need three or four more treatments, we’ll see. You can read about laser hair removal here.

Better go and check the CTP’s.

I am of course referring to the new X-Files movie, I Want To Believe. It premieres today in Sweden and I will see it eventually, despite the overall negative reviews. The X-Files was the first TV show I got hooked on, back in 1996 when season 3 was airing here. Mom used to watch it, so I started to as well. Oh man, I had never seen anything like it! It was soooo exciting and intriguing! I borrowed several books about UFO’s and astronomy at the library, and also a book called The Unexplained by Jane Goldman, in which you can read about the real world phenomena that inspired Chris Carter (the man behind X-Files). Apparently there’s a part 2, I have to look it up… anyway, I read, but also disregard, reviews by movie/music critics because, frankly, opinions are like assholes - everybody has one.  They can say whatever they want about the movie, I will still relate to it in my own way, an old loyal fan as I am, and maybe even spend 90 SEK to see it at the theater. It’s been 4 months since my last visit to a movie theater. I can’t remember what movie I (we) saw, but it was in Tampa. I also might wait until the X-Files movie comes out on DVD, we’ll see.

Before I call it a week, I wish you a nice weekend and have fun believing! If you like The X-Files, that is. I know one of you that does. There’s just no show like it. The first seasons were just… brilliant.

The truth is out there, eh?

The weekend is already over. The real summer weather is back! On Friday, I went to BorÃ¥s for my first hair removal treatment at a laser clinic. It wasn’t the most enjoyable thing to spend money on, but I’m hoping that it will yield results. No pain, no gain. Yes, I went to a consultation in Tampa once, but this time it’s different because I know for a fact I can afford the treatments. Unfortunately, it’s something I have to go through since I have no other choice. We all have complexes about something, whether it’s embarrassing hair growth, a large nose, etc…. Afterward I went to see my brother. Everyone were in a good mood and we had a very nice evening  together. I spent the night there, and on Saturday I went to Gothenburg to hang out with some friends. I didn’t come home until 3 o’clock in the morning, so I slept until 1 o’clock on Sunday and spent the day in the yard. Then I went for a long swim in the lake.

How was your weekend?