I am back home in Finland now, and a few moments ago I found out that I didn't get the job at Dell.

Going home

I am currently at a 24/7 internet café in central Stockholm. In about four hours I'll be at Dell for a job interview, but before that I'll have to make a final check at the apartment I've been living in this summer, to see if I've gotten any mail.

Until Sunday evening I'm staying with my uncle, when I'll be traveling, hopefully temporarily, back to Finland.

I'm going to treat four people to sushi I'll be making myself on Saturday. Hopefully we won't be ending up ordering from a restaurant...

Expat out... hopefully not for good.

The Pot

Grytan, Långholmen, Stockholm. This is from 17.06.2006, so quite old. I've wanted to do a better post-processing, but the frustration this laptop gives me is more than I'm willing to handle. I could do it, but I really don't wanna.




Click photo. See Flickr set. Easy? Yeees...

Tourist photos

Some photos from the Kaknäs Tower here near Sthlm.

Click the image, see a Flickr set.

More in a moment...

Nicotine

About a week or two ago I had the unusually dumb idea that one could, hypthetically, build up to start smoking by chewing nicotine gum. People use it to quit smoking so I, genius, determined that the process should also work in reverse.

It was funny at the time. We giggled a bit.
Now I did it.

Well, I didn't start smoking. I just bought the gum to try to find out why the heck people smoke in the first place, and maybe why they have such a difficult time quitting. It was cheap; only 25SEK, as compared to what, 80SEK for the stuff you get at the pharmacy? But cheap didn't mean it was any less potent. Having taken a handfull of bites into the gum I suddenly feel my brain shift down a gear. Stray suface thoughts ripple and dissipate, and I become more aware of my surroundings. The sound environment suddenly stands out for me, and I'm even aware of the silence inbetween the noises...
A very odd feeling, and I now realize how very potent a drug nicotine is; and how it works as a neural toxin. That people become addicted to the stuff is no longer a mystery, and a veil to the smoking culture has been lifted from my eyes.

I'm not addicted, of course, but I do feel that now at least I have a small right to even express vague opinions about addiction. People who scream bloody murder about the use of every drug on the planet but never even tried anything have always been the subject of my contempt. In my eyes it's like philistines critiquing abstract art, or butchers giving advice on how to perform brain surgery.
One needs to know what one is talking about. Now I can honestly say that nicotine has a use, and could be used for self-medication, but smoking a pack a day is comparabe to drug abuse. Use, and abuse. Two very diffrent things.

Expat out

Catching up

Yesterday I was at the Royal Armoury to shoot some photographs of chainmail shirts to use for inspiration in my own design of a chainmail vest that I'm making. I learned how to do that on Gotland, which I visited with a Nordjobb group two weeks ago. I have lots of pictures of this trip, and I've been post-processing them a bit today. Today I have done little but work on the computer to catch up with all my online activities I've been lagging behind with. I won't be able to finish the post-processing today, but at least I'm getting somehwere. I'll probably be posting the images as Flickr sets and link to them from here.

There was a car parade yesterday too which I did a cover of, and last week I visited the Kaknäs tower and a museum with two other Nordjobbers. Got pics from that too...

This would be so muc easier if this laptop wasn't so frustratingly slow. =/

Vaminos,

Today only! Daily updates!

Went on a shopping spree for clothes today. Oddly the exact pieces of clothing I was looking for both happened to be on sale. At the end of the day I got away with a surprising amount of clothes for a very reasonable sum of money.

Tomorrow, phone interview and packing. I'm going to Gotland with 26 Nordjobbers over the weekend. 4:45 in the morning is when a small group of us meet in the kitchen before venturing off to catch the meeting of the entire group at 5:30.
Thankfully I'm already used to rising early... Gotta prepare well tomorrow.

This is Expat Radio. The time is 21:17, signing out.

Summer in the city

Hot town. I had to use all my tricks to stay comfortable today, even while I'm somewhat accustumed to the heat now. Though I'm beginning to suspect my skin is taking offence... Itches.


This morning when I woke up and checked my bank account it was still as empty as ever, but once I got home I found I had gotten mail from my employer. They had sent me a cheque. How quaint, I thought, but it is kinda cool to have a cheque for a large sum of money. I'll be sure to look suspicious when I cash it in at the bank tomorrow. Then... Shopping!


And in spite of a technical issue I have my job interview scheduled for Thursday. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit exited. It's only a phone interview, which might lead to an interview in person, but it's still a good step forward. If I get the job, I'll have effectively moved on to Phase Two of my Cunning Masterplan (TM), Phase Three being math ed. and Phase Four being world domination.

Provided I can get this damned can of salsa open without braking both my hands...

Signing out,