the stuff dreams are made of

Today is what we in very bad Swenglish call a 'squeeze day'. Hence I am working from home, but my tech is really screwing me over. Work laptop is having another unexplainable internet refusal day, so I'm connecting via VPN on my own shitty PC City laptop which crashes whenever you move it a millimeter in any direction. Also, I am doing migration umlaut-cleansing, and conveniently enough this laptop is the British one - which doesn't have any åäö's. I've managed to get Swedish as an input language but it's only working on the internet, not any other apps... I also have to have it on a tiny side table which is at an incredibly achy angle to my back - I just moved it so I could rest my wrists on the table aaaand it crashed (hence blog break from mini-pc)

In other exciting and unrelated news, I've been on a big electronica binge for a few weeks now, playing Röyksopp and Detektivbyrån morning and night. But just now as I realized I was in a mood for some german emo and reached for Zimmer 483 I realized that OMG - I had a dream where I made out with Bill!! Last night! This could certainly explain the urge to hear his voice. It was quite surreal, they were staying in the same hotel as me and there was lots of sneaking in and out of very scary bunker-like toilets. The kiss itself was at a dinner table with lots of other people and very stiff and ehm, surreal. I was like, dude, there are other ppl here! I was still devastated when they left the hotel though, he was very love and leave 'em (so, clearly unrealistic because I insist that Bill seems like a lovely person).

The part of the dream I really wish comes true is the part where he had his old hair back. Bill, if you read this, please grow your hair back out, OK? I know you had the mohawk for like 10 years already but 8 out of those 10 years you were only famous in Germany. Now you're depriving your fans all over the world of this hair-faboulousness! Also, I think it would do wonders for your sales figures.
Love
librarian_girl

Well darn

All this snow does negate the fact that I forgot my umbrella again. I don't actually think it's acceptable for people in countries that are part arctic to use umbrellas against snow. It's silly, silly, silly and I would never do it. If snow falls somewhere like the UK or Germany and they use umbrellas, that's forgivable. They don't know any better! Sleet, on the other hand, is of course tricky. How wet must the sleet be for people not to stare at you funny when you use an umbrella? Can be tricky, especially for Danes. They're kind of borderline there. But if you're Swedish, you just know.

In other news, I managed to somehow pick a chic-lit book that takes place in North Carolina. This is not helping travel-yearnings, I'm trying to remember where I've been, everything sounds so familiar! I should perhaps note that the book is in German - I wouldn't borrow chic-lit or at least not own up to reading any kind of chic-lit other than Ms Keyes. But I find reading proper books in German, at least before and after work, is just too difficult and instead I fall asleep. So my compromise is: chic-lit!
Right, I've just installed Google-Earth, and apparently the book does take place in a town where I've been several times, as I was suspecting. Darn. As soon as I've finished the book, I'm going to start a US-detox. No CNN, no Starbucks, although I can't avoid Facebook no looking at pics taking by any friends living there and... OK, bound to fail, crap.

Insane in the membrane (but oh! how lovely)

In the news today: Stockholm city park maintenance is starting to plant flowers that will be blooming next year in a colour that matches the wedding bouquet of the bride to be.
(which colour, however, is as yet undisclosed)

The event I'm referring to is, of course, the Crown Princess' wedding next Spring.

Princess wedding.

Awesome.

I guess this is me coming out as a royalist. I'm sorry, I know it's old-fashioned and anti-democratic but I don't care. If I will never wear dresses and tiaras like that, then someone on whom I have some sort of claim on or allegiance to should damn well get to do it. I mean, I would never want to be a princess. Imagine not to get to choose what you want to do with your life but have it decided for you before you were born?

We should be grateful she has embraced her task with gusto, really (going to Iceland while your fiancee has surgery? yikes).

Oh I hope it's a Saturday so you can watch it live on TV. Hmm *off to Google*

no shit sherlock

Still going strong with the LCHF. I did have a bit of a break, I was down with the flue for almost a week and I was so nauseous the whole time. I stuck to it pretty good but then I bought some ice cream. I don't actually like ice cream much, I eat it in the summer because it's the thing to do but I'd rather have a piece of cake. But when I have a fever, I crave ice cream. So I had one pint of Häägen Daaz Caramel Mocha (heavenly), and bread at two occasions (I couldn't actually go to the shop because I had a fever and most LCHF food is refrigerated stuff and I was runnning out). Anyway, I'm back at it now. I don't mind it much but I can't really imagine eating like this for the rest of my life. I think once you're at a good weight you can eat some carbs, the main thing is not to be afraid of fat (like everyone is, it really is crazy).

Anyway. I missed the choire performance on Walpurgis night because I had the flue, and the final rehersal when we were also due to perform somewhere locally. It really wasn't fun, I wasn't like near death or anything but very dizzy and sick apart from the fever, and it was sooo sunny and apparently mediterranean outside. I wouldn't know, it's not like you want to go into the sunshine when you have a fever. Like how water hurts and you don't want to shower. I didn't, for 5 days - my hair was so shiny when I finally broke that dry spell...

Anyway. Not quite sure what else to write! It's been raining all week but I don't mind and it smells really nice from all the flowers and geez. I'm boring myself here! Eh. Later.

Today, btw, is Friday for me - tomorrow is Danish 'Prayer Day' = long weekend! It's not a holiday in Sweden = shopping.

I need a rain coat.

rain, rain, rain, and tax

The rain is like a wall outside the open windows, it's actually quite fascinating (as I type, the other two in the office are just staring and exclaming in astonishment, making noas ark references - it's that kind of rain).
Incidentally, today is the start of Roskilde, Scandinavia's biggest rock festival taking place a few miles away (in the outdoor's, of course...). It's also the day when most high school kid's in Copenhagen graduate and are riding around in open cars and trucks around the city.

Moahaha that's the only thing cheering me up this awfully slow Friday afternoon, life is not fair!! and you'd better learn it soon and get used to it...
It's also the day after I decided to wash my rain jacket after 4 weeks of on-off rain (but not this kind of rain), which I consequently didn't bring with me today. An umbrella really isn't going to help much if it's still raining like this in an hour. Oh well. TGIF.

My sister has been home this week and my mum and dad have vacation as well, so they've been on outings and bbq:ing and sipping wine till late in the evenings, while I've been getting up at 5.40am like usual. I also have a cold, and after a few shorter weekend trips I'm now gagging for a longer vacation.

Today we got paid and my 5 days of unpaid holiday really made it's mark. In July I'm taking two weeks... but I can't imagine not taking any holiday. Still, this part of the Scandinavian system really sucks. Even when I worked for slave wage in Spain and also in the UK I never had to earn my holiday compensation. Granted, we had fewer days, but still. So far, the famously fair and wonderful Sweden appears to be quite crap in comparison to where I've been with regards to the labour market:
-higher taxes
-despite higher taxes going to the doctor/health centre costs you a standard fee (free in UK, in Denmark, in Spain we had co doctor = free as well)
-'karensdagar' ie the first day each time you're sick you don't get paid (gov currently aiming to make it 2!!)
-the first year of your employment you don't get paid holidays

I'm lucky I work in Denmark, and not. Tax in Denmark is the highest in Europe, including Sweden. So, I'm being taxed to finance healthcare which I am not recieving, and have to pay in Sweden. Still, we only work 35h/week compared to 40 in Sweden. And then wages are higher than in Sweden. So basically, if I ever started working in Sweden, I would get:
- fewer paid days due to unpaid sick days
- lower wage
- work more hours per week
+ slightly lower tax

(notice how I wrote 'if I ever work in Sweden'? ha)

On an unrelated note I've decided to start tagging my entries - it's really quite spectacular I haven't done it before, even if no-one else reads this. I'm a librarian for heaven's sake! Classifying is what I do, all day (not books, but still). So. I might make that a project this weekend, tomorrow is supposed to be equally dull before weather prospects improve slightly...
bye for now
/grumpy