Expat Pontus

Mikael's 30th

2009-03-14T13:14:00.003+08:00

Last night we went on a cruise on a private yacht to celebrate Mikael now being old. Or should I say slightly more mature? (Certainly not the latter I hope!) Any reason for celebration is a good reason to celebrate so 12 of us headed out in this from Keppel Marina at sunset to enjoy the clear waters and brisk winds of the Singapore Ocean (anything from "clear" was a lie").

Michael's 30th

I can only say the night was a complete success, apart from the slight sidestep of the mains being left on land... After returning to the marina, thirsty as we were, we quickly found our way to Privé, 30sec walk, for champagne and more good chats under the palms.

the worst thing that could happen?

2009-02-28T20:28:00.000+08:00

Really worthwhile watching:

a great

2008-11-23T12:58:00.001+08:00

This is the most important thing of today: Story of Stuff

Now, when that stuff is done, I had such a great Saturday! Waking up, going to the pool with my breakfast (mmm, blueberry milkshake!) heading down to town, shopping for climbing pants. Now that my knee is almost healed I thought I needed new pants since the old ones actually gives me trouble moving sometimes. Continued some shopping (boring) then headed off to my old place at to pick up some mail that still comes there. Managed to see a bike accident :( but the guy was ok. Looked scary tho.
Stopped at Suntec City and took some photos of "the Gateway"

From Singapore mix

and one of Suntec's towers

From Singapore mix

That killer sky was really not something you play with! doomsday dark...
Continued to an exhibition at SAM , 8Q. After that time for dinner with a Couchsurfer then home for a quiet night. Needed after Friday night's bash at Swisshotel Merchant Court, Hooters and China1.

Time for hiking now.

2008-11-17T23:00:00.004+08:00

Some pictures from my recent Dubai trip are found below. These are only from the CouchSurf meeting, and I may upload some more if I deem them to be of public interest. (Mostly lit arches in sand colours...)

Dubai CS

Work in Dubai was a real drag, incredibly boring and non-constructive. It also costed our client shitloads of money, cash that I'd much rather have kept for myself! Anyway, we got out and about a bit and saw some nice parts of Dubai which is a very strange fairy land city. Everything is just surface, but still nice in some odd way. One night we saw U2 playing live at the Irish Village for example! Ok ok, it was a cover band named U-zoo or something, but pretty nice anyway :) And the irish village is basically some Irish shop front panels pasted on the side of a Tennis stadium. But it works, people are happy and we had a good time. (Oh, those pics I should really try to upload! Later maybe)

Back in Singapore I saw my doctor today about the knee. Good news is that I don't have to see him again, bad news is only that I can't do any "vigorous activities" for a few weeks. Guess those include climbing and dancing, among others...

Having a french CouchSurfer coming tomorrow, so off to bed now to be at least partly presentable tomorrow.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

2008-10-22T16:09:00.003+08:00

Today. At 11.23. MRI - Magnetic Resonce Imaging. On Monday night I started feeling something was wrong in my right knee, pain got worse on Tuesday and really bad on Tuesday night. So I visited a doctor today who sent me straight to an orthopaedic specialist at a private hospital. He was suspecting a crunched meniscal :(
Luckily, that was not the case, but a ligament is partly torn off and I can't walk properly. No need for operation, but need for ridiculously expensive drugs. How about $2.95 for one pill of a special anti inflammatory medicine (2 a day, one week...)? Plus $85 for pro-cartilage sachets (one month)... Plus the $500+ for MRI and xray :(
Thanks for insurance I say!

Now for something nicer:

Kroppsvärme räcker i nya energisnåla hus

2008-10-05T22:27:00.000+08:00

There cannot be enough voices calling to end the insanity going on in the world, from now on I'll try to build up a list of interesting architecture, construction, methods of saving energy, sustainable living and all that comes with it. Lighting included.

Kroppsvärme räcker i nya energisnåla hus

First out, "Body heat enough in new energy efficient houses", as stated by one of Sweden's leading news papers.

the idea book and other things

2008-10-05T22:09:00.002+08:00

The last six weeks I've been visited four countries, flown through seven airports, worked, laughed, relaxed, shooting photos, and met loads of people. Perhaps a bit too much done actually, I got sick half way... Now I'm back on track though and have started going through the photos. First out is part one of the Kuching photos:

Kuching, part 1

Now, last weekend was spent in Koh Samui and Koh Tao off Thailands south eastern coast, very nice indeed. Some photos from that trip will come too. Before that Kuching with Micke (I'll link to his photos later), Mumbai for work (ouch, hard one...) and Sweden for Grandma's funeral.

One interesting thing that happened on Friday is that Fredrik Härén released his book The Idea Book. He's a great speaker and source of inspiration, but the best part is he just moved to Singapore so now we can catch up with him as often as we want, kinda.. ! Think I'll study this one a bit and try to carry it around a bit. Perhaps I should even dig up that MoD file I have somewhere back in Sweden for interesting exercises...

Himami Fast Relief

2008-09-18T20:30:00.000+08:00

I noticed an article on this ad last week when I was in Mumbai, think it's pretty cool. It works on me, I'd by their ointment!

On the way to Mumbai we were lucky enough to try SQ's new business class, I never thought I would think an airplane seat is too big, but this is close to... Dagens I-landsproblem as we say in swedish :P

musicotherapie

2008-08-19T20:44:00.000+08:00

This is by far the funniest thing i have seen this week!
Big creds to the makers

Reasons to be a kid again

2008-08-16T13:23:00.001+08:00

-so you can be stuffed into i giant balloony ball and rumble around on a pond!! :D Looks absolutely hilariously funny.... I wish i... ;-)

SSO in the park

2008-08-10T18:25:00.001+08:00

Sunday afternoon ending with a spontaneous visit to botanical gardens where Singapore Symphony Orchestra performing another concert, all for free, all in the sunset.
A pretty good way of ending a day starting with rock climbing, followed by brunch at PS cafe. This weekend in general was much of delight, our office was closed on friday in respect of the national day on saturday. After all we're 35% singaporeans in the office so of course we have to close it!
I took the opportunity to head out to Pulau Ubin for a day of dirty mountain biking, fantastic. Once i get a bike it will hopefully happen a lot more often.
National day on the other hand was not celebrated at all! -Could not be bothered joining the crowds at Marina Bay to catch a glimpse of fireworks or the show...

Svenskan e död, länge leve svenskan! SvD » Kulturnyheter » Ingen bygger idyll som Ernst

2008-07-14T08:45:00.001+08:00

Vad glad man kan bli såhär en vanlig trist måndagmorgon när gamla hederliga svenska språket (eller var det folket?) bjuder på krumbukter. Det senaste adjektivet som dykt upp mellan sommarpratare, iskallt dopp och läckande tält är tydligen "ernstskt". Helt fantastiskt, nu snackar vi västkustska hästskutt, vellkam to svärje! Det här kommer garanterat va med på min lista över dumma svenska ord man kan lära andra hehe
Läs mer här: SvD » Kulturnyheter » Ingen bygger idyll som Ernst

Frågan är ju dock huruvida mannen ifråga kommer att ge avtryck i den svenska arkitekturhistorien såtillvida att man kommer att dela upp de senaste 80 åren i funkis, modernism och Kirchsteigerism (eller ska det vara Ernstism)?
Eller får han nöja sig med att ha grundlagt Ernstologin, den stilinriktning som för försäkringsfolk innebär huvudvärk och geniknölsgnuggeri.

Detta är svåra frågor, får nog sluta här med ett alltid så passande "Cartago Delenda Est"

new house -again...

2008-06-29T22:12:00.001+08:00

So, this time i'm actually feeling very happy with my place.
2 australian flat mates, small nice condo with an even smaller pool (yet pool) and closer to MRT.
And rent is just slightly higher, which is even better.
Here's location

Potter!

2008-06-28T15:11:00.001+08:00

Over the years in foreign countries i have collected quite a list over funny spellings and variations of my name, best so far being Ton Pun (CityCab auto booking).  Today i reached a new level of fame tho: Potter! As seen on this iced mocha from the coffee bean...

Blenderomania

2008-06-21T17:47:00.004+08:00

Dropped by Cold Storage to get some instant groceries (suddenly hungry) and while standing there with banana and blueberries i felt a big sudden urge to get a blender and mix up some nice tasting bananablueberrysmoothie (thats a very long word...)

Luckily that shopping centre also had an appliance store in the basement, found a 350W Philips blender (with mill) for $39! I did have a blender before, but it was left in Bukit Timah were I first stayed... This one is a lot better tho, and not quite as noisy.

So nice smoothies, brilliant colour, just the right brainfreeze! =)

Great thx to Beansbistro for the pic ;) I agree with all she says.

KK

2008-06-08T00:34:00.003+08:00

A couple of weeks back I went to Kota Kinabalu and attempted an ascent of Mount Kinabalu. It was a failure.
The cyclone Nargis that swept across Myanmar/Burma (I make no political statement by mentioning both names...) continued its course across south east Asia and struck its last forces upon norther Borneo. Subsequently, the weather was crap, and I mean really bad. Usually, the peak may be closed for a day or two, but 5 days before we got up, nobody was given access to the peak and at least to days after there were still winds up to 35m/s, heavy rain, cold, slippery rocks and mist :P I bet the view from 4095 metres would have been great!

Anyway, we had to go down and were loaded for some white water rafting instead. Just that a few weeks earlier a train accident caused some serious troubles to Sabah's infrastructure and we couldn't get to the river we were supposed to. So in short, instead of splashing-n-crashing down a level 4 "WEEEEHHHHOOO" river we were paddling down a level 1 "row row row the boat, gently down the stream *yawn*" river! Luckily, it took 3 times as long time. Or by the way, was that luckily.

Shouldn't complain tho, the food in KK was almost as expensive as sgp, but not even half as good. Adriano didn't have any meals included in his trip (he thought he would!) and the trip can be summarised as a "mission incomplete", not to say failure...

Pictures:

picotin brunch

2008-05-13T23:27:00.003+08:00

This could've been overheard or tjuvlyssnat at Picotin last sunday at about 2pm:
Swedish guy: Are you still serving breafast?
Waiter: ...nooo....???
Swedish guy: Until what time are you surving breakfast?
Waiter: 11am
(Swedish gang looks at each other....)
Silence....
Swedish guy: Think we'll just order from the regular menu then...

Unfortunately it's true :P
but the food was good once it came. Pizza wasnt too bad, almost like "bakfyllemat" haha
Read more here.

Anyway, Im flying to Kota Kinabalu early early thursday morning. Not first time in malaysia, but first time on Borneo. We (as in two other couchsurfers and two other randoms) will do the climb over 3 days and then a white water rafting. Should be pretty good. At least get some fresh and cool air.
According to singaporeans who I've spoken to this is an extreme trek that requires weeks, if not months of hard training, and still you will throw up at almost every step due to height sickness while fighting with no visibility in freezing degress.
According to a swedish rock climber in singapore I spoke to, the trip is a good walk...

Enough said, working on new projects now, one at NUS University Town, and another one close to Harbour Front. Pretty nice ones, even tho they mean early morning video conferences for us (that's late night video conference in new york :P ) or more communication with architect in Düsseldorf than the ones a few kilometres away...

Time for bed.
Now with new laptop I should be able to upload some photos, one would think ;)

Without music life would be a mistake (-did I say that before?!)

2008-05-01T14:43:00.005+08:00

Here for anyone to enjoy, free streaming music, similar to Angelique Kidjo =)
Just press play, and let soothing loungey, chill out party afro beat massage your ears!

Little Singapore

2008-03-28T22:48:00.003+08:00

A couple of weeks ago Anette, Mikael and me went out before sunset on a sunday morning to get some nice photographing done. Being up at that early hour shows that you are absolutely out of your mind! That said and proven, off to the creative work, weehoo!
This first post from the tour only contains a few teasers from a theme I made up afterwards, in order to make it look as if I actually had a thought when shot the pics...

Early Sunday Morning Urban Photo Shoot

More of these will be coming, as well as photos from last week's Cambodia trip, and more. I just need to get my laptop first so I can actually do some real editing :P *sigh*

Just another day in paradise...

2008-03-27T19:24:00.002+08:00

Came back to office after a seminar, only to pick up my bag, and this is what greets me... Cant really complain having this as a backdrop at my workplace, only wish it would last longer than 2 minutes!

Things to do when you want attention

2008-03-05T22:30:00.000+08:00

This is really cool!

Frozen Grand Central at Improv Everywhere

Post # 100!

2008-02-06T19:22:00.000+08:00

I really feel that taking up my slumbering photo shooting would be a nice way of wasting time -as if I had too much of that. Since Chinese New Year is this coming weekend we have planned a trip to Darwin with outback hiking/trekking, and of course great photo opportunities. So what do you have photo interested friends for, if not to borrow cool stuff from them! :D
So before flying off tomorrow I went out to shoot some sunset pics with a long and heavy tele lens (sigma 70-200 f2.8 HSM for those who cares) and here they are:

Singapore mix

Darwin by the way, flying thursday, back in sgp early early morning on tuesday. Being able to do oz for 5 days isn't bad! Crocodile spotting, walking, trekking, 4wd, heat and sun is on the schedule. I'm also thinking that I must get the most out of my 1 year tourist visa and visit brisvegas again.

Today was half day off because of CNY and good wine, chocolate, dinner and movie is awaiting.
Cant complain.

Farewell Yahoo!

2008-02-04T09:13:00.000+08:00

Official Google Blog: Yahoo! and the future of the Internet

Sad but true, Microsoft is buying Yahoo! and nice, friendly and easy to use Yahoo! will be Complicated Evil Microsoft Windows Yahoo! :P

Kvinnor är nu flitigast på att blogga - Ny Teknik

2008-02-01T09:36:00.000+08:00

Kvinnor är nu flitigast på att blogga - Ny Teknik

Says: "Women most frequent bloggers". Yeah, suppose I'm just a faint shadow in comparison...
Happy b'day-memory and see ya tmr Net =)

Så kan vi tjäna på effektivisering - Ny Teknik

2008-01-16T09:03:00.000+08:00

Jahapp, det jag alltid har trott och hävdat står nu svart på vitt. Fram för energieffektivisering!

Så kan vi tjäna på effektivisering - Ny Teknik: "Energieffektivisering har störst negativa kostnader av alla klimatåtgärder; vi tjänar alltså pengar på att genomföra åtgärderna, som måste påbörjas omedelbart, skriver företrädare i industrin."

Vidare skriver man i rapporten:
*WEOs rapport säger att med de politiska åtgärder som är kända och aviserade är klimatkatastrofen oundviklig.

*PCCs rapport säger att det finns kunnande, teknik och åtgärder som är tillräckliga om de omedelbart omsätts i praktisk handling.

Och... vad väntar man på?

ted.com

2008-01-07T21:16:00.000+08:00

YouTube may be considered one of today's most influencial sites but it's way too easy to loose yourself in kids doing beatboxing or cats slipping on carpets. Isn't there a free and open forum for conscious talks on development, life, design, architecture, nature, community and our future?
Yes there is. www.ted.com
Just found it and it's for sure gonna give me hours of useful and thoughtful procrastinating. (That's a contradiction in itself, but so are the wonders of internet...)
Taste this as a starter:

- - - UPDATE - - -
...and hail to Singapore (abt 9mins in):

2007-12-19T00:07:00.000+08:00

Flying off back to Sweden in 21 hours (and counting). Me excited? Noooo... why should that be?
It'll be really nice having a break from work to start with. Less nice is the cold Im facing though. Anyway, packing right now, so it's starting to feel like Im going somewhere.

On another note, my new boss Lars conveyed one of his theories today. In short it goes something like "Work more efficiently, go home earlier". One thing is for sure, I will not complain on that theory, but let's see how it turnes out in the end?!

Different kinds of tourism

2007-10-31T22:21:00.000+08:00

Found this incredible guide at the Esso station behind my house this evening:

Isn't it what we've all been waiting for? I mean, how else would you be able to decide where to go for your next nipp or how would you know who does the best tuck in Jakarta? Seriously, this book is a child of its time, when globalisation is turning to ridiculous proportions and travelling is cheap enough to make it profitable with a 20 000 km flight to fix a tooth.
Right or wrong? I am no the man to decide, but it is wrong to fly two continents to correct 'ugly' wrinkles :p on the other hand, it is also wrong that somebody should be standing in queue for two years to remove a cataract...

Stock?

2007-10-04T23:22:00.000+08:00

With the arrival of new flatmates and frequent travels passed the duty free comes a load of ethanol containing bottles...
New flattie #1 Dalia:
Cool lithuanian girl who'se been living in denmark the past few years. True Couchsurfer. Also semi-pesco-vegan and very chatty. Do I need to say that we get along?
New flattie #2 Chris:
Irish guy planning to work here for some time. Sorry Chris, dont say that, you'll be stuck here for ages... ;-) He's only half moved in since Joel is still here a few more weeks, but that doesn't mean he's not making an impression. Skinnier than me(?!) and also some kind of veggie wannabe...
We are truly the kids on the block haha!

Tomorrow's a really big deadline for Dubai Metro, Green Line. Supposedly the last thing we have to issue is on Tuesday, but I do have my doubts. I suspect revisions are waiting around the corner since the interior design is not confirmed yet :P

Nighty

Swedish Holiday

2007-09-20T18:47:00.000+08:00

I've just confirmed tickets for flying back to Sweden over Xmas and NY: 20th Dec flying from SIN and back from ARN on 5th of Jan.
I also just extended my SkypeIn number, anyone calling from sweden can dial 031-785 96 87 to be redirected to my skype AND my singaporean mobile :) sweet! Cheap lah!

veckans garv

2007-09-19T13:48:00.000+08:00

Sorry, non-translatable... :P
Oskyldigt och blåögt gick jag till International Plaza för att kopiera en nyckel när jag exponeras för denna fasansfulla och hädiska skapelse:

Och i tjuvtagen närbild ser vi tydligt att det står "KUKEN" med röda bokstäver. Tror jag dååhhnar!
www.kuken.com

Hemsida har de oxå, men den som vågar gå in där lär nog få stifta bekantskap med skärselden illa kvickt, hmmm...

House warming pics...

2007-09-16T23:54:00.000+08:00

I admit a sliiight delay in uploading those pictures, but I do have a sincere intention of catching up with photos and blogging now...
Enjoy the pictures from the fantasmagorial and ever successful house warming party last month!

Housewarming

shelter the world

2007-09-16T23:08:00.000+08:00

These things make me happy. How clever is this thing?
http://transstudio.com/tm/2007/09/concrete-canvas-shelter.htm
How many can we send to Darfur and Bangladesh straight away? Or why not keep one in the backyard for all the stuff that may (or may not) become useful one day?!

KOOP

2007-09-08T23:17:00.001+08:00

Stumbled upon a random concert with swedish electronica jazz band KOOP on their virgin gig in singapore. Funny, the venue was Raffles place, the heart of singapores business world... Unfortunately we missed most of the concert because me and ellen bought tickets to ratatouille before we knew about the concert... 

Bored at taxi rank

2007-08-29T22:33:00.001+08:00

Only how bored can one be while waiting at a taxi rank?
Right now very busy with finishing up everything for green line of dubai metro, but in going to KL wee :D

Oz in our hearts...

2007-07-11T23:09:00.000+08:00

It's been pretty silent here for a while so I'm bulking up with 3 posts in one day to make up for it :)
But now for something different that I miss a lot, and was found on Monica's blog...
You know you've studied abroad in Australia when:
-Tim tams have become a new food group
-Vegemite - try it once, maybe never again
-You are seriously impressed with the selection of M&Ms
-You have even tripped on a rock and broke your thong
-.....you know what a thong actually is
-You suddenly have the urge to have really big hair and wear your belts around your waist up by your boobs
-You use "oi" correctly in a sentence and smile
-You have more than 2 hours of class a day and complain
-Your final exams are worth more than 1/2 your grade
-You coordinate your weekend outings around buying just one day pass for the bus
-Two words - GOON BAG
-Reese's cups have the trading value of black market kidneys
-McCafe - enough said
-You have travelled more across Australia than Europe
-You have never lined dried your laundry but do now just to save a $1 coin (hey, 2 of those equals a drink on Tuesday night!)
-Peanut butter becomes your life, you hoard it and dinner time gets violent if it's in limited supply
-You get used to running with kangaroos and wallabies
-Three words: RUM and COKE
-At first, the tropical birds waking you up at 6am were cool, tropical even. Now, you wish you brought your BB gun on the plane...
-You have encountered spiders larger than a small dinner plate - and lived to tell the tale
-You live for Thursdays - pasta night and taco day
-You move from being poor, to being broke, to being in debt in a few short weeks
-HEAPS
-You are more commited to Fischer Shield events than most school sporting games back home
-You have even witnessed geckos having sex
-You have eaten a meat pie
-You have snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef and/or found Nemo

And it's true, everything! ... almost ... well, at least some of it ;)

Observations on Singaporeans

2007-05-12T10:44:00.000+08:00

Singaporeans usually stay with their parents until they marry. That's the way it is and it's considered more strange moving out living on your own than staying with them. Furthermore, the government is giving economical incentives to those staying with, or close to their parents. Core and extended family virtues...
Westerners usually have big problems understanding this, as it's considered strange living with them after 20 something. Clash.
By coincidende, the Straits Times had this comic the other day, and it's striking.

My chinese friends and collegues try to explain that you should "take care" of your parents. I keep asking what this take care thing is all about?? Parents are economicly much more stable than their children (well, often) and can finally start living the life they always dreamt of when kids are out!?
Why would a couple in their 50's or 60's need to be "taken care of"? Economical reasons speak their own language...

Off to climbing now, then shopping at Style:Nordic and chill out at Clarke Quay tonight. Sounds like another loaded weekend.

No more headhunts yet. But I've gotten a personal recruiter... ;)

headhunt -again

2007-05-02T23:28:00.000+08:00

The phone rang today. Ok, that's not unusual, but this guy called from a recruitment company and asked me to submit my cv to them for a job that fitted my profile. Dont ask me where he got my name from, but the job description was right so it wasn't some random hunt for talent as last time.
One of my course mates in Brisbane said "don't cross the fence if the grass looks greener. It's still just grass. Go if they have carrots or something!" They didn't offer any carrots, and I think it's pretty good finishing something ones it's started and not running around leaving a million things undone. Some might object to that, but it's actually the theory im living by.
The guy who called didn't want to say at which company the job was, but when I told my boss he showed me an ad from Straites Times... Think it was the same, and for our worst competitors, moreover my boss's friend. That's about how big the lighting world is.

The future is bright hehe

surreal

2007-05-01T22:55:00.000+08:00

Something utterly surreal occured to me last saturday. Woke up way too early after a night out (damn russians :P ) to the sound of hammerdrilling in our lounge room. Ok, try to sleep some more but headed to town later. Dropped into the wonderful Muji in Paragon, no real reason, just truly dropping in. Heard the music and thought 'hmm that sounds familiar'. Started listening and realised i knew it as Kolare Karl . Funny I thought, in a japanese store in singapore...
Next song on was, no doubt, a traditional swedish polska on nyckelharpa sounding suspiciously as played by Olov Johansson (of Väsen)...
Had to ask the attendant who claimed it to be japanese music but showed their compilation cd's. Irish, spanish, latino, xmas... -and swedish. Just had to buy the thing because of the nice photos of swedish summer. Complete booklet with introductions to the musicians -in japanese.
Ok, I pretty much know them anyway...

Loaded my walkman with some new trad songs and spent the rest of the day on a community bbq in Punggol. Punggol is way out in the east where no whites usually go :) -and people ask me how I can be so localised after only six months. I piked on the karaoke with 15 chinese singing cantonese hits though :P

Sunday meant kayaking in the clear blue waters of singapore, spotting fascinating sea creatures and coralls. Not. We did see a few plastic bags tho, and quickly counted to 84 boats, ships, tankers, barges and ferries in size small to SUPERHUGE!
Kayaking was fun, but not so thrilling and overwhelming. The scenery just isn't the best...
Finished the day with great dinner before the mental preparation for work started.

Chocolate fondue

2007-04-15T20:58:00.000+08:00

No complaints this weekend either. Movies, climbing and best of all: chocolate fondue at the Esplanade. Yay.

How to: make use of useless ceramic guys

2007-04-14T13:40:00.000+08:00

See pictures from thailand on how this little uglycute guy came into my possession. Didnt know what to do with him so i went to ikea and got this little flower thingy to chuck in his head. Turned out pretty good. Wonder how to pimp him next? Golden necklace, kitschy belly button piercing n diamond inlays in his teeth? lol

Post Bangkok

2007-04-12T22:04:00.000+08:00

Easter in Bangkok - CS

Ooh, I've actually gotten around to post some Bangkok photos without letting three weeks pass first.
And yes, bangkok was recently bombed, but we were well out of town. No injuries at all by the way...
Three days of work after Bali and then heading off to thailand was indeed a short week. But oh so well needed. What I'd also need is a weekend of slacking and recovery...
Went straight to airport from office, and upon arrival to bangkok I had to wait at the airport to take the bus into town. This is thailand, so first an hour waiting before the bus came, and then 30min before heading off again. Not so fun. Bumped into an australian guy though, who ended up having dinner and clubbing with us later.
Our hotel (me, Chyka, Juana) was cheap cheap but quite good. at least our room was clean, not roaches, hot AND cold water in the shower and... yeah, that's pretty much it. Close to Khao San and Bee's place. Bee is a thaigirl (couchsurfer too) we met in singapore a few weeks ago who instantly invited us to her home. So the first night (after the bus epic) we had big dinner at her place together with a great bunch of other couchsurfer. Basically, everything we did from now on was together wih CS, so no need to mention, ok
We didn't make it home from the dinner until 3am which meant about 3 hrs of sleep. We wanted to escape the worst heat by getting up early (which we also did) and head to the Ancient City, Muang Boran. Shaped like the map of thailand it holds examples of building traditions and landmarks around the country. Pretty nice site where bike is the way to get around. Ppl like me (whites) payed an entrance fee of 300 baht while locals (as in anyone with asian features and slightly darker skin) payed about 100. Thanks, great being farang :-P

Straight after the history lesson (incl lunch, cheers to all "thai" friends) I headed to our BKK office branch to catch up with some collegues. As it turned out there was only one of them there (public holiday) so we walked for some coffee in the posh Tonglor area. Nice knowing whom I'm working with. Our office is tiny though, and I feel sorry for Steve who's the only philippino, the only guy, and the oldest. Rest of the crew are girls in their twenty something...

Bangkok nightlife is not at all what I thought it would be. I was expecting most places to close around sunrise but nah, 2am is bedtime. Did some clubhopping after chilling at the hotel before finishing at the one place closing at 4 (bribing the police....). Aahh, the smell of shisha...

Up next morning -not quite as early- for a visit at the Crand Palace. Surely the place is astonishing and beautiful but i just cant stand the tourist hoards. Guess who had to pay ticket again while the "thais" went in for free :P
The place is also extremely hot between tall buildings and no wind. We escaped quickly to the Chatuchak weekend market. The place is insanely huge, and very very full of everything (as in EVERYTHING!!!!). If you cant find what you're looking for, you haven't looked hard enough...
Next time Ill try to be more prepared and actually know what im looking for. Perhaps then I can find something to buy.

Seems like Im ending up at MBK shopping centre every time Im in bangkok. Ok it's hard to avoid since it's the biggest in town and well one of the larger in asia. Found a pair of shoes that i've been looking for in singapore and together with a pair of REAL NON FAKE (according to the sales guy) Calvin Klein jeans for 500 baht (real, right?) the visit turned out pretty good.

This night finished with a eat-as-much-as-u-want-for-99-baht dinner at the river side (20SEK + drinks) and more clubbing before crashing at the hotel a few hours before flying off early early on sunday morning. That's actually a good thing because I could spend my time on sunday afternoon doing absolutely nothing, which was more than needed after a blast in BKK.

post bali pre bangkok

2007-04-05T00:06:00.000+08:00

I intented to write a full report from bali and upload some photos first thing after coming home, but as things turn out, I've just been working and currently packing some stuff for Bangkok this weekend.
Bali was good. Worked pretty much full days but didn't start very early in the mornings so I could catch up with some friends and see the nitelife at Legian Street. Pretty good, came home 4 on Sunday morning...
The site was not a mess, but not organised. It seemed very unlikely that the upper floor would be ready until Wednesday's party but seeing the place reasonably cleaned up and nicely lit (well, after some adjustments...) on Sunday night gave some hope. Interesting working with Indonesians. One person going nuts with sandpaper and another one below trying to clean up the floor...
One guy building a brick wall somewhere, until they're told it's not supposed to be one there.
Wall lights ending up as recessed downlights (turned out pretty well actually, luckily) and I'm not going to write the full list of interesting things here.
Had lunch at Four Seasons in Jimbaran (check this list not bad at all!) and stayed at Bali Hyatt. Dont even know want to know the cost, but nice place. Even managed to get a run along the beach in the sunset before going back to site for night check. Gosh this was a hard trip.
The local electrician was nice, but didn't have too much experience of reading drawings, so he was very very very happy that i came around and explained and pointed. The clients also seemed very relieved.

Can't write too long, have to finish a few things before flying off to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon. Weekend of leisure, shopping and fun is awaiting.

me: -freak?

2007-03-18T13:33:00.000+08:00

No! And what could be more proof of non-freakiness than this -it's only three Crumpler bags! Some random unused climbing stuff, including 10m accessory cord, serves as a dumping bay for slinged bags. I'm not having a bag fetish -nooooo :)

Went to see the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra last night. WOW! Ten crazy, bouncing, raging jap guys in pink suits(!) playing true ska in a full-on combo of reggae, brass, jazz, klezmer, punk and rock. Very cool. Finally a bit of real music, I've been missing it, dearly.
More stuff tonight, Femi Kuti's rocking out in his nigerian afro-beat groove and another Irish folk band is having a quick gig in the foyer beforehand.

Confirmed Project

2007-03-16T00:23:00.001+08:00

It's now been confirmed that we're doing the Dancing Towers aka Signature Towers in Dubai -by no one less than well renowned Zaha Hadid. cool.
Honestly, im very happy im not doing structural engineering, poor poor people!!! Lighting should be less hard, but still not easy...

Unfortunately, they've already sent us the drawings for Green Line of the Dubai Metro. "Unfortunately" because that means we have to start working on it.... My boss asks me wether I moved in at the server room yet.
Hopefully he'll implement the "threat" of sending me to Seychelles over a week sometime in the foreseeable future. One week, 'cause there's only one flight a week in and out. Could do with some resort style lighting design as a break from all metro an superurban activities.

Currently the Mosaic Music Festival is running and there'll be at least two more concerts over the coming weekend, including Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and the no. 1 act: Femi Kuti on Sunday night!!!
Went with a swedish friend to see José Gonzales last sunday. Really nice gig but a bit short. Actually first time at the esplanade theatres. It took me five months to get there, but well worth it, really nice concert halls. Will try to become more of a regular: good program, convenient location, decent prices.

Soon weekend again. amazing how quick the weeks pass by.

Btw, going Bangkok over easter =)

new toy

2007-03-14T22:28:00.000+08:00

Just got my new super sleek mobile =) It's a bit shy tho (sudden exposure and extreme expectations from the owner) so it's hiding under my maestro card. poor thing.
And good timing, im heading off for a Crumpler shopping tour tomorrow, new pouch to be purchased weehoo!

Disco Elephant

2007-03-10T01:28:00.000+08:00

"You can take the elephant out of the disco but not the disco out of the elephant"
-bought a party tshirt at Style:Nordic last weekend, last one, my size. Couldn't resist it :)

More short blog posts will be popping up thanks to my new phone next week.

Dubai Metro

2007-03-08T21:57:00.000+08:00

We had a company Chinese New Year lunch at a fancy seafood restaurant the other week including sharkfin soup, abalone, crabs, lobster and lots of other stuff. Need I say "very nice"? The tally ended up on a neat $175 a head which equals 2 months of hawker lunches!!! Next day we had the now traditional happy hour at work meaning free drinks and food. Christine is commuting to HK and Jo to Dubai at the moment so we have plenty of tax free articles despite the ridiculously low quotas in singapore (1l beer, 1l wine, 1l spirit).
This was all together a well needed break from Dubai Metro work and combined with the weekend cinemas and chilling out in shopping malls and late suppers it was all in all a very nice weekend.
Those days seem like a happy utopia when I look back -I was still luckily unaware of Dubai Metro change of scope and a new high-rise development in Dubai (where else??). The problem is that Jo who's been responsible for the metro (and handing work to me...) will now take the lion's share on the skyscraper (which by the way is fairly prestigious...) hence leaving the metro to: (u guessed it)
-me, myself and I!
Bo told me "I have to give you this project so I can start paying you more" which I have no objections at all to.
Our new employee in Bangkok will be coming down soon to help us with calculations and somebody made a joke about letting him -Steve- stay in our well airconned server room instead of a hotel -much cheaper! However, Bo interjected that the server room had been reserved for me, and any resources I needed like sleeping bag, Red Bull (Vodka Red Bull yay), software etc would be given to me.

So what do I do when Im not working? hmmmm

hmmmmmm

eehh?? not work?

hmmm

-AH! Like going to the ambassador's huge residence for bbq and networking with other YP's while drinking wine -all on the expense of unsuspecting swedish tax payers. Tax Refund wheeyyy!

Apart from that, the only thrilling thing that's happened is my hand phone dying, but it doesn't matter since i bought a new one the same day (before i realised it had died)...

Moved in: new place

2007-02-19T20:31:00.000+08:00

So I've finally moved in to my new flat. Great having just a few minutes to MRT and buses going to everything u need outside the door. IKEA's just further down the road, as is food court and grocery stores.
I'm staying in the middle block, check it out!

New flatmates seem cool to, dont think ther'll be any problems at all.
This weekend means holiday. Chinese New Year (year of the pig) is happening and we went out to watch fireworks on Saturday night. Pretty crowded down by the esplanade as thousands of singaporeans made their way there for the same reason. Me and an australian guy were invited to a traditional reunion dinner with a chinese family where we had steamboat (kind of fondue, but not really). Very nice!
Had a bbq with all the philippinos at work last night. Lots of pork :-P but lots of other stuff too. No chinese though... strange. They were all catching up with the extended family.

Going out for a jazz concert tonight at Southbridge Jazz Club. Hope it's good. Don't know the band at all.

Krabi climbing pictures

2007-02-14T22:47:00.000+08:00

So, time for some pictures from the weekend!
Stayed in one of those new and fancy bungalows at Tonsai beach. Little bit on the expensive side, but well worth it on saturday after the food poisoning. Tristan and Anita came over with their Zen and i watched movies and chilled in the aircon =)This was the first morning and the "shady morning crag". We had to walk about 50m from the breakfast place. Very hard walk-in... Not impressive climbs, but really ok. Quite short and the routes sees lots of traffick, little polished at some places (mmm KP memories). Tristan climbing, Anita belaying.
Same climb, tris up high. Seeing it from the water is a bit silly, there are climbers (and chalk) up to 25m of the overhung part, and the rock continues some 100-150m above that...Looking the other way towards restaurants and amenities. We climbed the wall in the background later (see bloody pic)This is what happens if you keep bashing up your knee on the same spot against sharp limestone. This looks worse than it is, nita scraped the wound a couple of metres up but finished the climb while bleeding. It was all dried up and in nice patterns when back on ground...Wathed a fire twirling contest on friday and saturday night. Some of them were really, really good, others not as impressive. A 7 year old boy showed off pretty good too.

Made a deep water soloing trip on Sunday. This boulder was really sharp but pretty cool climbing on. It was actually just the start for much higher stuff (25+m) but only one guy went that high.
Another route boarded with kayak to reach the first holds. Goes up right towards a big stalactite. Check the colour of the water...
Lunch break. A cave up on the right had some really cool stalactites, stalagmites and pillars that made awesome bell-sounds when knocked on.
This guy was showing off his most impressive positions on a very overhung yet juggy place. I didnt try it, was tired and avoided getting seasick on the petrol stinking boat by shooting lots of photos.

This is actually same spot as previous shot, but 180 degrees.
I'm not complaining... Last day. Those "curtains" or stalactites were really cool, foot holds anywhere, same funny "clong-sound" and easy, entertaining climbs. To get around them your body needs to be in all kinds of weird positions and angles. No need falling, just wedge the torso in somewhere against another feature and have a rest =)
More to come!

bad food

2007-02-10T15:18:00.000+08:00

Yeah i managed to get a proper food poisoning second night in krabi. not cool :-P
After hurling like a little pig all night i wasn't thrilled to go climbing at all. Stayed indoors sleeping and watching crappy movies insted. Just had a bit (and i mean a BIT) of food and a drink, feeling much better now but there will be no more climbing today.
There was a fire twirl show last night on the beach, including one guy base jumping of the 150m cliff at the beach -in the dark. Another dude soloed up a 25 climb starting off a ledge 15 m up. Really nice climb actually, easy, but i still used rope AND belayer...

We're headed for a deep water solo trip tomorrow, but i still dont feel like going too high. Water is indeed softer than rock, but pretty hard when falling from a height.

Bungalow's waiting

arriveth: krabi

2007-02-08T22:47:00.000+08:00

Yay finally arrived to krabi and checked in to a bungalow next to tristan and anita from brisbane. They've been sick so we didn't want to share...
Just over an hour flight och three hours from the office you're standing on a great beach looking out over those famous weird rocks we've seen in so many movies. And the best thing is, we're going climbing tomorrow!
We're probably leaving our safety's at home and trying out some deep water soloing. You, shoes, rock and water -like the four elements or something hmmmm.
There's also climbs about 5m from the place where our breakfast is served, and most climbs start by the waterfront on the beach.

The place is packed with back packers, mostly climbers from any nation imaginable. The taxi driver who drove me from the airport said lots of the people here are swedes, so i pretend to be aussie. Met some London guys in the longboat who was escaping from the feb-weather. Not bad for them, but im more concerned about getting away from the city for a second.

Off for some sleep to get fit til tomorrow :)

another intense weekend in singam puram

2007-01-29T23:59:00.000+08:00

This weekend I actually have some pics of what's been happening, lets start with the kranji nature park

The dark cloud in the background is supposedly malaysia. They say it's a beautiful country... whatever, they've got kaya!

Also found some cuties slacking around the pool. We'd been hiding in the rain for a while and bumped into them =)

This happened on Saturday together with two couchsurfers, one canadian guy and a sing girl. Was later invited to housewarming (extremely central location!) theme: half aussie, half japanese.

Some couchsurfers came there too, Thib (frenchie) is trying ... well something

The blur is NOT due to an intoxinated photographer but rather because the camera'd been laying around in airconned bedroom and was taken out to the lounge -30C, 100%humidity! (thinking about buying my camera, forget that last thing, will ya)

pls note the esky, very oz.

Jacqui, Thib n Jenna -colour coordinated lah

ok the three again, but note more oz as Mr Irwin himself (R.I.P. man we miss u!) makes an unexpected show up. Leigh-the-Perthboy with japanese tshirt to the left.

Random people.

Me da prata masta!! flip flop easy!

and well appreciated:

Sunday was a long day. Need say no more! Is it weekend soon?

Been totally drowning in work, but managed to tick two things on my stress-list (formerly To-Do-List), sweet.

All set for Krabi next weekend, 8th to 12th. Catching up with tristan n anita from Brisbane. 3 days of climbing and slacking at the beach. Mind the distance from the crag to the beach being approximately 0.0 m...

resume of holidays

2007-01-24T22:31:00.000+08:00

Two weeks of holidays in sweden passed quickly. Not worth mentioning the cold, but the complete absence of snow was a bit of a disappointment actually. Maybe I'll have to go to new zealand in June to make up, poor me :p
Seeing old friends in sweden (gothenburg especially) was just unbelievable. Of some reason, it seems like most of my old friends are gathering in the city so any visit I make is just a constant cruise from one lunch to coffee to dinner to party catching up with everybody. Cant say im suffering of the attention :-)
Hey there was this xmas thing too. My family collectively boycotted all gifts and just had a good time together (which we always have haha). The commercial sector didn't make any good money on us this year...
Unfortunately I used more than my allowance of days for holiday, why Im now on a minus and need to collect a few more before i can run off to bali, oz, or some other place. That doesnt mean Im actually staying in singapore, some people from brisbane are coming up for a climbing trip at Phuket whom I might join for a few days. If I only have to take one day off, it should be ok -I hope!

New home!

2007-01-21T20:46:00.000+08:00

Finally after more than two weeks of agony I've found a new place to stay in. Next to MRT, close to Orchard Rd (shopping) and VivoCity (more shopping), one cool malay guy as a flat mate and a spanish guy too working with cultural exchange: Google Maps
Rent is really cheap too, saving $250 a month! I can't move in until mid feb, which doesn't really matter as I can stay with friends in the meantime.
Work was really soft for a week and suddenly I'm running a mall in India, helping out on Singapore MRT and Changi Airport, the same house in Singapore as before (and perhaps their neighbours...) another house in Bali and also some things in Dubai. And the Louis Vuitton stuff in HK and Korea (or was it China?) of course ... gaahh!

This weekend was really crazy with visits to clubs at Clarke Quay both Friday and Saturday, not coming home until 5.30 either morning... -did anyone say weekends are for resting?
Met heaps of great people too, most of them through the best community ever CouchSurfing.com
Better go catch some sleep now...

Swedish Christmas Dinner aka Julbord with Asians

2006-12-17T11:45:00.000+08:00

On Tuesday night the whole office went to the Swedish Christmas dinner arranged by SBAS and the embassy. I was actually impressed they could arrange so much of the typical traditional swedish food in the tropics including crisp bread, herring(s!) and lingonberry jam. 200 persons made it to the event which included glögg, mingle and loads of food.
The funniest thing was to watch my dear collegues doing things "wrongly", one just knows how certain things should be made or consumed while they fail lol
We even got some snaps and singing in, greatly appreciated by the others. Appreciated was also the arrival of Lucia ("what are they supposed to be, angels?" "is it christian or catholic?"), a tradition I found hard to explain. They were pretty good though and did everything right, even the cheating notes on the candle holders were there :)

It's been lots and lots of work this last week before office closes and everyone leaves around the 22nd. I've been working with City Centre and Al-Rigga stations in Dubai, and the residential here in Singapore while finishing up the hotel complex in Dehli. Gaah, and it's not getting less. On Thursday night I caught the moment to visit Style:Nordic and get some ginger breads and a bit of relaxed chatting just to get away from work.

This weekend has been so slack, just to rest before the final days at work. Leaving on Thursday night, hey, and I started packing last night because there will be no time for that during the week.

Have to do some washing now, more writing later.

working pass!

2006-12-12T22:08:00.000+08:00

First of all, I eventually recieved my working pass last week which means I can start working. Somehow I can now understand what it must feel like for a refugee to recieve a permanent visa in a new country after eons of waiting and numbers of rejections. With a nicely plasted working pass I could also open a bank account ( now have accounts in four countries, switzerland here I come...!) and have a bank card.

Secondly, I had more visitors just as Anna left (läs Annas resdagbok). Calle and Jocke came on a three day visit from Thursday to Saturday. Calle is doing the same course as I did in Jönköping and wanted to see some of our projects and a bit of singapore while travelling in SE asia. No probs for me so we had a chat at my office and went to some places downtown. Friday night was spent at enormous Vivocity where we planned to watch the new Bond. Due to small theatres (only 600+...), or perhaps LOTS of people it was sold out and we ended up on Deja Vu instead. Despite some crappy time travels it was really cool and the story actually held all the way through.
On Saturday night we (me, Lester my deskmate, and a pack of CouchSurfers) went to ZoukOut, supposed to be one of the biggest dance parties in Asia... how does this sound:
1 beach
4 stages
12 hours
many bands
20000 visitors
S$1.5 million budget

And in fact, the trance stage was the best! I was really quite surprised. They did have an amazing laser show, but even without it, it was great. Met some fantastic people too, that I hope I can see again soon.
Didn't come home until well after half 7 on sunday morning, so I had breakfast at 3 in the afternoon haha!! Not much else was achieved on sunday, of natural reasons. And of course, since this was in SG, the place was pretty drugless.

Monday morning we eventually got our new computer that have been due "next week" since I arrived here... Great big nice monitor and pretty quick too. The best thing is that it worked at least until 6 before crashing -as in dying. Totally dead, doesn't even start. Support guy from Lenovo is supposed to arrive tomorrow, lets see - I'm being slightly cynical...
Anyway, we have 8 more metro stations in Dubai before the 21st (also the day I'm leaving for holidays). I also need to finish the residential (the one with 3.6m deep fibre optic lit pool with glass wall into the home cinema room...) here in singapore, keep an eye on the hotel in Dehli and prepare some sketches for Louis Vuitton coming shopwindows in China *sigh* there goes my time...

Last but not least, we've got monkeys in our back yard!

Visits and visitors

2006-12-07T22:23:00.000+08:00

Weeks really do fly here. It's been more than a week again and it feels like two days!
Mingled with an italian maffia boss last week (at least he looked like one in the white suite and a real donna on his side) at the showroom opening. Great champagne and catering food. Products and business? Yeah, did some of that too of course.
Lester came in real late next morning, and had hardly any voice lol. we kindly reminded him about the waiters he'd been hitting on the night before
I headed over to the meeting with Swedish Business Association Singapore, Style:Nordic and Young Professionals on Thursday night to meet up with some scandinavians, mingle with the ambassador and talk about fair trade palm oil plantations in Ghana and Senegal (for use as bio diesel in europe, project run by a company in Uppsala) -interesting.

First Friday of the month is always happy hour and this friday was having a japanese theme as November had a Swedish touch with meatballs from IKEA, Absolut and plastic cups från Duni. Time will tell wether jan/feb will be mexican as suggested. Old classmate Anna also came on Friday night after chilling out on Bali for a week. Coming back to crowded civilisation after staying on a boat for three months was a bit of a chock but all passed without trouble. We headed out to Sentosa and "enjoyed" the beautiful beach (view: 150 giant cargo ships and refineries) and the "natural" touch of the tiny island. Some american journalist summarized Singapore into "It's like Disneyland with the death penalty" and Sentosa is a summary of Singapore, without the death penalty hmmm

Anyway, we headed on to Chinatown, Little India and Orchard Road before going home (long day!). Sunday included a run up to singapores highest point (natural, not man made) and not much more. Anna stayed here until today when she headed up to malacca for more backpacking. I'm not lonely though since two guys from my old uni in Jönköping just came around. They'd like to see some interesting lighting around here so I'll do my best :)

It's only like two weeks before I head back to Europe for xmas/ny which feels totally crazy. So many deadlines before that! And I need to find a new place to stay, gaah, how's this gonna work. Hope it'll be all right...

By the way, I'm getting small messages from Australia about the annual climbing trip to the Blue Mountains outside sydney. 35 people in one house last w'end! Wish I'd been there

instantchange.now?

2006-11-28T22:36:00.000+08:00

Google continue to do their thing in a googly doodly way, this time promoting their latest docs & spreadsheets function by letting kids in schools throughout US list small actions that contributes to stop global warming! Sweet =) Have a look and make a change, today, right now!

This week's been great so far, and forecast is even better. Working on an upper class residential and having my first client meeting tomorrow morning. Feeling pretty confident 'cause we're only showing the concept and explaining. My confidence had a boost too when Lester and Eunice had a look at my presentation and burst out in a "wow, you did that in two days? -You've done a lot"
Will see tomorrow what the architect says...
Tomorrow night there's also showroom opening for Flos to which we're going. Drinks, jabber n nibbles. Me like.
Next event is on Thursday when the office is visiting an exhibition on lighting and cityscape across the street from the office. Exhibition is followed up by lunch at the Red Dot Design Museum (across the street too). I'm not complaining.

Friday is Happy Hour day, (first friday of the month) and hence lots of fun. This time with special edition Absolut in golden case, haha. Anna is also coming and staying over the weekend, weeheee, visitors!
Pål Robin just left to fly home to Norway for christmas (last exam yesterday!) and Frode is leaving in a week.

Blender for pulp free juice!

2006-11-25T18:29:00.000+08:00

Nah, there's no such thing as pulp free juice from a blender. Blenders make smoothies full of pulp and other goodies, a juice press on the other hand gives pulp free juice. I bought myself a $20 blender last week named Iona. Honestly, the quality gives as good an impression as the island it's named after :-P but it does its job, though very noisy. Engels once told me he's having a few key characteristica to "judge" people, or simply check if you're matching, like wether you prefer peanut butter with or without crunch, or white vs whole meal bread. Another one is pulpy juice, of course. Funnily, one of my housemates said "dude, you can make lots of goodies in that blender" whilst the other one said "eh, but that'll give pulpy juice" haha

Second thought of the day is why Crumpler owners become obsessive, compulsive collectors? From the moment I saw their camera bags in Cairns last year I've known known I've always wanted one of them. Now I have two. Picked up a bright red shoulder bag today, who said shopping doesn't make u happy?! Will make Lester (desk next to me) jealous on Monday LOL

Less than a month to christmas too, feels like fun to go home but need to buy a jacket or something before that *shrug*
There will be a bit of swedish christmas here though since the embassy and swedish business association are arranging a traditional swedish dinner, and the whole company is going! Will be so much fun seeing the philippinos eating gravad lax (pickled salmon) and kavring (dark bread).

I was also given two residential upper class housing projects on thursday. Presentation is due on Wednesday for one of them *doh* and the hotel I've been working on the last week isn't even finished yet. oh well, guess that's life.

Jungle Jogging, Fresh Fruit & Computer Crashes

2006-11-20T21:58:00.000+08:00

Starting from reverse, it's not my laptop crashing, it's my office desktop monster. Spent two hours today wiping trojans, hijackers and other shit to fulfill my work. When it's finally clean it's so sloooow any way that opening a cad drawing easily takes a minute or so. I've heard we're getting new stuff next week, I reckon "before the weekend" would be more correct while not mentioning which weekend... I believe it when I see it :-P

Seriously, what is better than a whole stack of fresh fruit like melon and pineapples? I could so live off that, specially since it's so cheap, unless it was for the need of proteins. Oranges, for example, are also suitable for more than just consumtion, juggling for example. Problem is I tend to drop them after about 10 seconds so a bit of practice would be in its place. I've been asked to arrange the next intermission during happy hour in december ( our monthly office drinks). We'll see about that, haha

Past weekend was spent mostly at home with a bit of physical exercise up the Bukit Timah Hill again, this time I took the straight, paved road to the top and windy paths back down. Loads of fun! Had discovered earlier that we have some outdoor working out facilities, like chin up bars, ladders and a bench. Awesome, but I realised I'm such a weak guy. More practice hey!

Blue Sky!

2006-11-12T16:00:00.000+08:00

Woke up this morning and noticed that the sky was blue, something I haven't seen much lately. Seems like the haze problem is over for this year...

Note how the new block has increased its height since last picture. Our lovely builders love making noises at odd times. If they happen to be quiet (unlikely) the piano playing neighbour (knows at about three songs -including the scales) or the whinging kids does the Job of Disturbance for them. they seem to like saturday mornings especially, arggh.

Last night me and Pål headed over to some norwegians who kindly served beer and Baileys, movie and chatting. Didn't grab a cab back home until 2am.

billig o enkel telefon!

2006-11-11T16:38:00.000+08:00

Nu går det att ringa direkt till min mobil genom mitt svenska nummer 031-785 96 87 :)
Kostar? I princip ingenting för mig och inom Sverige bara som lokalsamtal, bra va?

För tillfället är det en riktigt regnig lördag och ingenting händer, förutom åska och lite blixtar som slår ner i berget precis bakom huset... passar på att äta choklad (ekologisk, fair trade) och slöa lite.

Jobbade lite sent häromkvällen (igen) och vi beställde japansk pizza. Fräscht, gott, nyttigt till skillnad mot pizza hut som är ofräscht, ogott, och onyttigt. Lär bli stammis där eftersom det är samma pris och mkt bättre mat. Apropå mat kom Frode och Pål Robin hem sent igår efter en tenta och hade med sig något indiskt med curry, båda blen sjuka efteråt. Kul att veta, lär försöka undvika det stället framöver...

my apartment -interior

2006-11-08T21:41:00.000+08:00

Just realised I've got some photos of my current home that's not been uploaded. Starting from the entrance (note the cove lights in the ceiling, we're planning lots of that at BSLD:

Lounge looking towards bedrooms

Other side, couch and chaise is really ok!

Bathroom shared by me and Frode, Pål Robin's got en suite da litl basstad :P

All for now...

more bad reports

2006-11-08T21:12:00.000+08:00

I'm feeling terrible today. I've assigned loads of energy consuming halogen lamps to a hotel in India today and simultaneously reading about the proceedings of the UNFCC meeting in Nairobi. It's bad, really bad. I should know better than just following the regular standard of the company! Tomorrow I'll try to reduce future CO2 emissions by changing swapping to mercury containing light sources instead (sounds crazy, but it actually works!). Interesting reading from BBC today on the subject. Simple maths too, pay now = cheap, pay later = f*kn expensive!

The latest disastrous news about the haze is our poor orange furry cousins. When their native forest is burned by farmers and multinational companies in order to create oil palm plantations they're driven off their natural habitats (or simply burned to death). Clashes with humans are frequent and the "wise man" is not the looser...

procrastination idea!

2006-11-07T21:37:00.000+08:00

Not that I've been procrastinating much lately, way too much work and slacking to keep me busy, but if you need some ideas, have a look at what these guys are doing!
http://one.revver.com/watch/42920
Just awesome! Wonder how many weeks it took them, and how many exams they didn't study for, and how many application forms for employment that weren't written...
Enjoy :-)

UN is currently having a conference on climate change. Even good ol' Rupert seems to have understood that climate change is serious, or maybe his advisor told him he could earn more money if he said that...

After a few days of not so hazy weather it's back to the slightly higher levels again, however I can actually keep my window open now! Next year is predicted to be an El Niño year which means that the dry season might extend until late January. Bush fires will most likely rage in Australia (the continent of common flora&fauna and wet, moist environment -eeh) distroying enormous forest areas and threatening homes, towns and wildlife whilst at the same time giving opportunities for regrowth for unusual plants.
SE Asia will face an even more complex haze situation than today, after all, the farmers starting the fires are poor and uneducated (politically correct? -dunno, just a qualified guess) -need the land.

I'm refraining from turning the aircon on tonight, just to keep my mind clean (and save som CO2). Better drinks some desalinated/recycled water before going to bed, will be sweating...

Christmas in Sweden!

2006-10-28T01:11:00.000+08:00

A flight is now booked to return to Europe during christmas and new years. Dec 22nd to 6th jan will be the time of cold misery and ... relaxation.
Big shopping in the tax free shop on the way =)
I'm expecting a new year's party worth remembering *hint hint*

Last night however hosted a party starting off in our apartment at 8pm and finished at the same place at 6am, via Asia Bar at 71st floor, the Swissotel... Having a club at the 71st floor is cool, actually, it's said to be one of the "highest" venues in the world. Don't know about that, but the view is all right, and the lift is ... well, it's rocket science!
All in all the night was a blast and I didn't get up until 2.30pm today, haha

Shopping makes you happy some people say, dunno bout that, but my weekly purchase was a pair of shoes, or actually, two pairs -on sale.

Hari Raya

2006-10-23T21:56:00.000+08:00

Good thing with living in a semi-Muslim country is that totally different days from what i'm used are public holidays. As for tomorrow when there's Hari Raya and nobody goes to work for example. Shiva, Jahve, Buddha, Allah, pls bless diversity :)

Have been thinking a lot lately why our world is being destroyed, devastated, burnt, excavated, poisoned and so little is being done. It's all about willpower, and it has to come from politics, companies and other influential institutions. But if they can't see what's happening beyond next Q-report or beside their immediate influence it has to be up to us to make them understand. bug them, follow and argue about the long term sustainability.
Had some discussions with my brother (check is site pitaya.se btw) about starting a wiki website with 100 ways to make the world a better place, everything from how make recycling easier to stop AIDS from spreading.
While travelling the world I've seen many things that could work so much better, save energy or just be made easier if done differently. -and the technology/theory/function is available somewhere else, just that they haven't understood it yet! UK for example are warming up their houses with coal. Yes -dirty, black, smelly, poisonous coal! c'mon guys, what's wrong with ya? You can use heat pumps, solar panels for hot water or anything you like, just stay away from that coal! What the conversion would cost is easily saved on healthier population, better environment and less paint due to cleaner air!!

This wasn't much about Hari Raya, but whatever, something needs to be done to save the world before it's too late. plzzz

weekend again

2006-10-20T22:39:00.000+08:00

This week has been just crazy with work, left office long after nine three out of five days. Good thing is though that i found out my company is paying for dinner and taxi home when we work late(!) definately making it easier to bear...
This coming weekend is coloured by Deepavali, an indian tradition, and the end of Ramadan ending with the Hari Raya on Tuesday (public holiday). Deepavali is transforming already crazy little india into an exploding array of colours, lights (and combinations thereof!), smell, taste and anything imaginable. will pay it a visit i suppose

The haze isn't getting better, but rather worse. The last few days have really been quite bad. Coughing at the moment, but I hope it desn't have to do with the bad air...
Some dude from malaysia said that it's going to be an annual problem in the future as climate is changing and people in the region (SE asia) needs more land. Starting illegal forest fires to produce farmland for palm oil or other stuff is, in my humble opinion, not a very sustainable solution to the over crowded region.
Wouldn't it be better if all affected countries got together to find a common solution and look beyond currencies, languages or origins. Obviously, smoke doesn't see any borders...

Blisters are coming!

2006-10-14T20:17:00.000+08:00

Check out this link to see
our place from above in Google Maps
-Pretty neat.

Was bouldering today, and I just have to show my poor fingers:

-Not neat.

Apart from that we're talking about a trip to Phuket at the office. They started a tradition three years ago to have one trip every year. Just that they've been too busy to actually go somewhere, but it seems like it might be happening this time, sweet.
More trips btw, met climbers today that are heading to Kuala Lumpur in three weeks. It's so cheap there you can actually grab a taxi to the crag...

I've also managed to break my glasses. They were pretty torn, so I'm not surprised, but it's still really, really annoying :-P And the insurance won't probably take it, since my specs were cheap as!

haze and pictures on a saturday afternoon

2006-10-07T18:10:00.000+08:00

All right, thought some pictures of the place would be nice.

And the beautiful haze-drenched :p Bukit Timah hill, the train track to malaysia
Note the haze, it's really quite bad. Farmers on Java and Borneo are burning forests (illegaly) to increase their arable land while setting off a cloud of smelling smoke affecting millions of people in SE Asia.

Stayed indoors today since the pollution index is pretty high. Feeling better even though I'm still affected by the flu.

Shopping tomorrow, yay.

sick

2006-10-02T20:50:00.000+08:00

First two weeks at work already passed? Long days doesn't give much spare time and up to 50 mins of travel each way to work gives little spare time. Feels like I haven't been doing anything else than working, eating and sleeping. Lots of work and little sleep in a new climate with thriving virus and bacteria gave me some kind of shitty flu last weekend. Still feeling a bit drained, but much better.
Because of that I haven't even thought about getting some climbing done. Fortunately there's a bouldering/climbing place right next to the office so once I feel better I'll start some after work bouldering sessions, like three times a week or so. couldn't be much better.
And how's work then? Well, high speed, new projects sitting by computer summarizes it pretty good. We've had some suppliers coming in demonstrating new products, pretty interesting meeting people. Wouldn't mind doing more of that, hopefully I will later on.

Moved in at Bukit Timah too. Singapore prime location they say. Neat, except that no MRT is passing here, making bus the mean of transportation. It's really different having an all aircon apartment and a big kitchen for cooking. S'pore isn't a country of home cooking, it's often cheaper buying what you want at one of the ample 24/7 foodcourts around. Crazy.
Really quite a difference from Brisbane where everything (everything as in "not much to start with") closes at 6.

svenskt telefonnummer

2006-09-30T21:22:00.000+08:00

Skriver på svenska den här gången eftersom det bara angår de som befinner sig i den svenskspråkiga delen av världen.
Det är nämligen så att jag har skaffat ett svenskt telefonnummer man kan ringa för att nå mig. Ifall jag inte svarar är det telefonsvarare och jag kommer absolut att lyssna av den ofta.
Numret vidarekopplas över Skype och kostar som ett vanligt samtal i Sverige.

så: 031-785 96 87

Ring på!

First day at work

2006-09-25T22:06:00.000+08:00

First day at my new office turned out rather good. Two english guys who just flew over from Hong Kong came around in the morning to demonstrate a new control system and lunch was approaching quickly. The afternoon was spent trying to figure out how the projects are run; looking in draft material on one side, a cad drawing on the screen, a presentation on a third place and a product catalogue on the fourth side...
I got it after all and tomorrow will be easier. Started working with a high riser village in United Arab Emirates around an artificial lagoon after realising this company is involved in Burj Dubai What can I say?

Have found accommodation too, I'll share with two norwegian guys a fair bit from the centre, but it's at least a start and really, and i mean really, nice place!
See Springdale for more info and piccies!

Currently at an itnernet cafe, can't write much more atm.

Finally in Singapore

2006-09-23T17:20:00.000+08:00

After a long flight with an unnecessary stop in Zürich (new and nice airport with great free chocolate though) i checked into the hostel at 8pm. Had some indian curry at one of the ample curry outlets on the streets of little India. Pretty nice hostel, run by an aussie, but aircon only at night. Noisy but cool. My target for the weekend was to find some kind of permanent accommodation but little luck. I'll probably choose a better hostel until I find something. Actually, staying in a decent hostel is same price or even cheaper than living in a flat...

Funny how most of the people I've spoken to have been american. Seems to be lots of'em here. Not many europeans or aussies, but literally millions of asians, strange huh?

Flying into Bangkok (don't know why my flight was cancelled when I still flew to the airport...) was quick, slept all way and the airport was as busy as usual. Thais seem to be used to chaos and changing of governments. I still don't know if I love or hate that country, probably a bit of both.

Hopefully tomorrow is the beginning of my social life since I'll go bouldering in the afternoon and head for a bbq at the norwegian seamans church, yay.

Writing more soon.

New function, Meebo Me

2006-09-02T17:44:00.000+08:00

Awesome new functions are created by the Meebo network as often as other people change underwear. The world of IM will never be the same.
The latest is MeeboMe, whenever you see me being online in the Meebo bar on the right you can chat immediately! How cool is that?!

wow, a month summarized in a blogpost:

2006-09-02T16:43:00.000+08:00

Looking back at the passed month i realise lots have happened. First of all, I got the job in Singapore which means I'm flying down on Sept 20. Pretty excited, honestly, but at the same time i'm feeling cool about it, I know what to do, kind of know the place, have a job waiting for me... What worries me most is my wrist (carpal tunnel syndrome) and the office work consisting of mouse, mouse, keyboard and more mouse :( I'll see what happens. Maybe I'll get one of them Powerballs to exercise my wrists. Great for climbing too I reckon.

Well, back in Sweden late July I headed up north for a wedding (picture above). It's indeed a beautiful country! -i'd forgotten... Not mentioning the light, this pic was taken at midnight, sweet.

I also had some family quality time (Mum's buying me booze :) before heading down to Mag at the Riviera. What to do except drinking wine, eating cheese, snorkel, slack at the plage? well, I thinks that's about it...

Last week I went back to my old uni in Jönköping to finish up report and paper work for my degree. That's when I realised it's the place to be, two new PhD's, 129 students all in all, 13 lecturers - in lighting! There's gotta be something to it.
Bertil Svensson (who financed my scholarship and to whom I'm forever thankful) will be confered a Doctor of Honour's degree at a ceremony in a few weeks. Guess who got the job to arrange a nice back drop to the ceremony in size 8 by 5 mtrs? here's the result, yay!
I'm now in Gothenburg and run into people I haven't met for years. Well, most people I've seen the last few weeks, I haven't seen for a year and a half or so, but in this case I literally mean years. I sneaked in to the kick off at Musikhögskolan (Gothenburg University - School of Music) and had a blast. Hey, what a bunch of crazy people.

All for now, over and out.

bangkok

2006-07-24T17:14:00.000+08:00

Currently at the insanely huge Mahboonkrong shopping centre in bangkok. Lots and lots of everything except climbing stuff...
Catching the flight tonight to vienna and will be in stockholm tomorrow morning. Feels a bit weird but it´s the hard truth.
Havent actually done much shopping, why carry stuff to europe and then back here? I´ll be back anyway :)
time is running up at the internet cafe gotta go

ciao

Buildering

2006-06-13T22:35:00.000+08:00

Recent weeks have been filled with buildering (building + bouldering; indoor climbing in a house, on the walls or whatever there is to it), more than usual and I thought it's about time to show some piccies.

Angi's hanging in her toes. Respect. Note the old dodgy mattress underneath. It makes us invincible. hmmm.

Me doing the door frame problem, going onto the trim. One hand at a time, damn tricky.

THE phonecall?!

2006-06-13T22:06:00.000+08:00

First of all, semester is soon finished and I'm working on handing in all remaining assignments. A few projects and minor assignments so it's not too bad. Have only had one exam in Project Management, but haven't heard anything about the result yet though. The exam was part of a wonderful weekend: Project presentation on Friday morning, next project handed out Friday afternoon, due overnight and presented first thing in the morning. Then exam, yay. Luckily we finished the course with a few beers at the Belgian Beer Garden.

Last monday somebody said that STOMP were in town. I hadn't heard anything about it but I asked Timmy and we bought tickets the same night for Thursday. Great, awesome, tight. But just the same show as four years ago. Nothing really changed, how boring is that. Not bad, not at all, really cool, but in four years, you gotta come up with something new, hey?

And then for the cool news. I went out to the kitchen today for about 2 minutes and had two missed calls on my mobile when I came back. Oh well, they'll call back I thought and realised the number started with +65. Singapore. I know people from Singapore, but not in Singapore. Weird.
I did get another call though later today. A man working for a lighting company in Singapore (currently on the way to another overseas project...) with "Asia" as the market. Branch in Bangkok jobs in China, Japan, middle east... He wondered if I perhaps would be interested in working for them. But I'm not the kind of person going to new places, meet new people or get new experiences, or well, that's exactly what I am!
If everything works well I might become a Singaporian for a while, schweet! Wonder what the rock climbing is like over there. On the other hand, I might just as well just take a day or two off during one of those ever so regular visits to Bangkok :-)

End of semester

2006-05-18T21:24:00.000+08:00

The scary ending of this semester is coming closer. It means no more oz, and I need to find accommodation and a job in a country far, far away... - in Europe. Odd.
Ah well, guess it'll be good, just feels a bit sketchy at the moment.
What really annoys me is that I'm never having any proper lectures, during daytime and then decent labs or pracs with something to write. No no, evening classes or full day Saturday, with projects going over long time and no continuity. It makes me very free indeed, but very different from all the others, and when they're having time off I'm busy :-(
So, what to do to forget that uncomfy feeling of dejection? Well, climbing is of course good, yesterday we had a full day at Frog Buttress, a crag with wonderful views, wonderful climbs with any kind of jam you can think of! yeee Tristan's working weekends having Wednesdays off and Cam was "doing research from home". Yeah right! He was jamming his way up hard shit in the autumn sun from 6.30 in the morning till literally after sunset! On the good side is the spotting of an Echidna, one of two egglaying mammals in world :-)

Some projects going at uni, ok but not the most thrilling. Wish they included more lighting design and less... other stuff. Just need to get them down, far to much procrastination to be done though.

We've had lots of guest lately. Two old friends of mine came around for a week and we met up in Sydney. (A cold an crowdy city btw). Had a good time with some trips outside town.
The coming weekend two couchsurfers rocked up for two nights and we had such a great time playing cards and chatting. They'd spent 6 months in New Zealand *jealous*

I need to get pictures sorted out too, sorry for being so slacky. I'm really bad with it, should start posting them here, just to get them up!

Easter and climbing in Brooyar

2006-04-13T19:47:00.000+08:00

Too early tomorrow morning we're heading up north to Brooyar to Queensland's best climbing spot, eh well at least very good. Nice smoooth sandstone... Well, that easter kindathing is on and everybody's having this idea to go to friends and relatives, fairy nuff, but why the same weekend and the same road as we are taking?

Anyway, haven't written anything here for a while but I've had a pretty good time, a bit bored with some courses at uni whilst others are great.

Nah, gotta go to bed now, ciao

Where's Larry?

2006-03-21T14:32:00.000+08:00

Since everybody keep bugging me about that stupid guy named Larry I feel obliged to present a report about the situation:

-- : : Nothing happened in Brisbane : : --

Not even some wind or rain, just a few nice looking cirrus clouds at a veeerrry high altitude. The thing is that people here don't seem to care. I know people with families up the coast who don't even know about what's happened. So chill out, relax and enjoy the arriving summer light in the northern hemisphere.

First lecture of Semester!

2006-03-03T13:02:00.000+08:00

And it was a really good one! A lecturer being as funny as obese, 400 people and a good subject is promising for the new semester. I might even be able to bear the fact that it's at 6pm Tuesday nights. The tutorial on Thursday morning was also good so it seems as if I can learn a lot from this unit.

Brisbane seems to be preparing for winter at the moment. Cold and rainy, I even had to wear a long sleeve shirt yesterday

This week's been filled with market days at campus where all clubs promote themselves towards new potential victims... sorry, members.

One guy limping on crutches came up to our table and wanted to join the club. Good being eager, but wait 'til ur pelvis is good, dude!

All units approved!

2006-02-20T11:09:00.000+08:00

Finally all the units are approved for the coming semester. It took me weeks of contacts with confused and confusing faculties to have the last course signed off correctly but now it's done. It turned out to be an Introduction to Design History, good to know different styles and traditions and how they evolved over time and connect them to the lighting design of an interior.
Classes commencing next week I'm really looking forward to doing some serious stuff again. Enough slacking for a while.
Campus is ones again crowded with people, 0-week is going and everybody seems to be lost, been there done that :-)

My coming schedule is ok, but some Saturdays are going again, a bit annoying but not much to do. Some weekdays are off instead, Mondays for sure.

Better go and start planning this semester's project, the million dollar home-makeover I'm involved in. Nice lighting here we go!

Byron Bay and ArchiCAD

2006-02-13T13:40:00.000+08:00

Byron Bay was nice despite the rainy weather and the more or less overcast sky. A positive side effect of the clouds is the reduced sun burning but I still applied screen to sparsely (not badly burned as some people around there, just a little red).
Byron's a beautiful place with mile long beaches and picturesque surroundings. Going downtown makes it feel like a scandinavian colony though thanks to all the bloody backpackers around. geee
A bit of surfing, on crappy boards (even the pros said they're bad) and slacking out at the hostel combined with good food (eh, uh?) and Anders stripping at the room at night made it a nice weekend ;-) We missed some climbing however and started bouldering the last night at some rails by the taxi rank while people glared at us.
Going up the the light house is mandatory in Byron and we stayed for an ice cream and some Home brand Cookies, as seen left.

Back at QUT I have almost sorted out the forth unit for this semester and there will probably be some kind of ArchiCAD course during the semester. Not that I like CAD in particular, but employers are asking for it... And my project will be to go through the lighting at a million dollar home in a Brisbane suburb. $-)

Non climbing weekend trip!

2006-02-09T05:03:00.000+08:00

Going down to Byron Bay for some surfing and quality time with Anders, Kasia and their new flat mates. Will be more or less unavailable until Sunday evening.

It's gonna be a good time though!

Thai Caviar @ $250 / kg

2006-02-07T14:56:00.000+08:00

Went to buy 600 g of Caviar made in Thailand today priced at $250 a kilo. It's an unexpected species: Western Digitalus Hard-diskia and does not feed me but rather makes my laptop happy ;-)
250GB of fresh hard drive space (and yeah, caviar is the model...) to fill up with movies, photos, music and backups! weee

Just came from a meeting with a guy about a project this semester, looking at the lighting for a million dollar home in the outskirts of the city. Not bad at all. Will start with that in a few weeks and must be finished before end of semester, really looking forward to doing some serious lighting design, have been to much of theory for a while now.

chill out, mate

2006-02-05T09:35:00.000+08:00

In yesterdays The Sunday Times Simon Jenkins wrote:

I think, therefore I am, said the philosopher. Fine. But I think, therefore I speak? No way.
Nobody has an absolute right to freedom. Civilisation is the story of humans sacrificing freedom so as to live together in harmony. We do not need Hobbes to tell us that absolute freedom is for newborn savages. All else is compromise.
Should a right-wing Danish newspaper have carried the derisive images of Muhammad? No. Should other newspapers have repeated them and the BBC teasingly flashed them to prove its free-speech virility? No. Should governments apologise for them or ban them from repeating the offence? No, but that is not the issue.
Read full article >>>
And he continues to write some of the best things I've heard about that whole infested freedom-of-speech-vs-all-muslim-are-terrorist kind of thing going on. Why can't people try to reduce their own space an leave something for others instead of having to claim their right to say what they want, and such offend a billion of our fellow world citizens? Why make the whole thing worse by reprinting those damn pics? Bust most astonishing is perhaps the bomb threatening of embassies, burning of flags, threats to all citizens of a nation (and their neighbours, just in case...) and the counter attacks on government - governments that never had anything to do with the whole thing.
Why are people so stupid instead of doing something useful with their energy, relaxing and respecting each other? Humanity surprises me, does natural selection still have to have a go at the intelligent race?

Uni rocks huh?

2006-02-02T23:04:00.000+08:00

Have been escaping the heat last week by going to uni library and chilling out in their air conned computer lab. I've been spending my time writing on that article for Ljuskultur, a swedish lighting design magazine. It won't be online though, sorry, you've better get going to that library around the corner for a glimpse.
Apart from that I'm enjoying my new flatmates, the're great (I'm not writing that just because I know u'r reading Engels ;-) Asked Dave to join for Memoires of a Geisha half an hour before commencing, had a feed and scrambled down for an expensive ($5,70 dammit!) session. I just love it.

I'll try not to catch that cold everybody's having, it'd be sooo bad timing. Not that I have anything important to do really, I just don't feel like being sick for a week or two. But whatever, Kasia's coming home(!) tomorrow, bringing her cousin from Poland, weeee

Stupid faculty of built environment signed off and approved one of the units I wanted to take this semester but it's not given first semester, only second. Well, why didn't u know that when you signed, bugger? I just want to speak to somebody that knows what units are given that would suit me, is that to much asked? (I want something for my eight grand I'm actually paying :-P

Australia day Hottest 100 Party

2006-01-28T13:15:00.000+08:00

Tim promised to arrange an event in our garden for Australia Day and went up north for five weeks of work experience, leaving it to me and mr B to finish. Great success is the proper expression to describe the day.
With music in the garden, a bbq, 30+ happy people, good food and drinks... -it can only result in a wonderful day.
First guests arrived around 10.30 am and soon the house was crowded with people hanging on the walls, playing twister on the floor or bouldering in the kitchen. Anita brought a kiddy pool and placed it under the mango tree were we ended up during the afternoon. Our spare bath tub in the back worked as a giant esky, filled with ice, soft drinks, beer and juice (still in bottles :-) and worked well all day for our drinking needs.
I've never in my life been on a such a wicked party, having serious physical exercise between the events. That's the way it works having climbers in the house, they start bouldering the roof in the back and of course climb up to see the fireworks at night.
An interesting feature of those people is also that we had a glass for donation of shiny coins, to make up for our expenses. Some people misinterpreted the coin thing and we found several notes there as well!
Loads of great food filled us all and people started dropping off really early, around 9 pm, which is not that early considering how many hours we'd been having fun.
Next day was kinda interesting and consisted mostly of cleaning up the place and eating from the left overs.
Definately the best Australia Day I've ever had!

RSS and approved units

2006-01-24T07:20:00.000+08:00

With my latest implemetation of blog from Google RSS feeds are now active and working. Seize the moment and get rid of that old Internet Explorer, download Firefox and activate the RSS feed to recieve current updates automatically!
We live in an ever changing world, adopt the new goodies and discard old crap!

Yesterday I finally managed to have one unit approved from the Faculty of Built Environment. They wouldn't let me take that architectural history and all people who knows anything have been on holidays why I haven't been able to find any substitutes.
The new unit is an elementary CAD course made for industrial designers, probably a good one.

And actually, I didn't go climbing last weekend as expected, Alan had injured his ankle again making it imclimbable (new word?)

New home, IKEA and guess what -climbing

2006-01-20T12:36:00.000+08:00

Finally I've moved in and feeling at home with my new house mates. It's so nice, working internet, fridge space, garden and social people event though the house itself is more crap than the old one. Will even have a table/desk on Sunday, for the price of a four pack Hoegarden beer.
I also have a big piano in my room, almost in tune but since I don't play piano it takes up quite a lot of space I'll try to get rid of ít, probably eBay...

Our trip to Urbenville last weekend was good but noisy. Billions (well, heaps) of cicadas were playing in the trees, ear plugs turned out handy. By the way, did I tell you I'll go climbing again on Sunday, back to Glasshouse Mountains this time, but to Ngungun instead of Slider Wall.

Moving and Urbenville

2006-01-13T13:34:00.000+08:00

Moved out from Brook Street on Tuesday and had my $500 bond back, no remarks! Can't move in to my new room until the 14th because the guy hasn't left yet, but I'm staying in Anders and Kasias apartment, taking care of their only flower: something green with a total of 17 leaves.
He left to New Zealand on Wednesday morning, will do about the same trip as I did and trusted me to take care of the place, strange guy...

Have been up climbing at 6 the last two days, nice and cool, no sweat and humidity, its hard to believe that there is actually possible to leave the house without being sweaty.
Heading south again in an hour to Urbenville, more climbing and camping for two nights. I'm starting two know how to pack my things now.

Gotta go, will be picked up in 20 minutes.

Rainy Sunday

2006-01-08T08:26:00.000+08:00

Woke up this morning at 07.30, heard the rain, though "naah!" -and went back to sleep. I'm packing my things, it's not too much actually which is good news for tomorrow when I move out -less crap to carry around. Have gotten rid of some crap papers, ended up being a tidy pile of about 8 cm, and some more to come :P

Yesterday I went to Garden City (huge shopping centre) and printed 10 photos in A4 size to decorate my new room with. Ted's Photo store had a bargain, 10 printouts for $15. Suppose they messed up the colour profiles though, they all seem dull and unsaturated. But whatever, they're still allright, and will look great on my wall.

I was bored the other night and set up a photo studio in my room consisting of 1 window, 1 sleeping bag (black), 1 halogen desktop lamp (IKEA), 1 decorative lamp w rice paper (also IKEA), 1 cheap tripod to my camera and of course the subject itself: my e-violin!

counting down

2006-01-04T07:22:00.000+08:00

Just a few days left until I move out from Brook Street and join Timmy and Adam at Vulture Street, weeeee Signed the contract last night after going to the movies and the Three Monkeys. We saw Chicken Little, quite fun despite the Disney kiddy approach. Heaps of cool references to current and old movies like King Kong, Independance Day, Matrix, War of the Worlds etc.

Sore fingers

2006-01-02T19:25:00.000+08:00

Armidale, a typical country town far from most exciting things offers some of the best bouldering and climbing in NSW. We changed camp sites almost every night because of the large area.
Honestly, we expected more climbing but the heat killed us so we ended up chilling out in creeks with a cold beer "a few times".

We started off the first morning with some trad climbing at the dried out Ebor falls. Easy climbs perfect for beginners wanting to place loads of gear. I left the gear placing to the people who kind of knew what they were doing and only seconded a few routes. We finished the day with some bouldering at Yarrawyck in the sunset. A place to come back to.

I woke up around 5 next morning having a friend in the tent. A spider measuring about 10 cm between its fingertips was sitting on the canvas, luckily on the outside. Probably a vicious bugger.
With a happy mood and packed with carbohydrates we picked our stuff to go to a crag with nice climbs. A steep, crappy, manky walk in brought us to a nice wall, right in the sun. We found some semi decent climbs in half shade and spent the rest of the afternoon eating lunch in the shade, shopping and eating ice cream. A minor communication failure gave us 6 litres of ice cream to share, sweet :)

New years eve night was not too fancy at all. After our strenuous climbing (hrm) we were all too tired to have a big party at the caravan park. A free bbq, ping pong and mahjong made our night to an unforgettable event...

The last to days were spent bouldering, chilling out in cool creeks, and of course having a big great china style dinner at a restaurant in Uralla. That dinner was probably the tastiest thing we could have had at that time, hungry and exhausted as we were.

New Years in Armidale

2005-12-27T15:39:00.000+08:00

Since I'm going away again for camping, hiking and climbing over new years I leave my greetings here. Don't trust the aussie mobile networks to function outside the main areas...
Climbing is now a crucial part of my life and I can't live without it :-)

A new climbing trip also means I have a great opportunity to try my christmas gifts, weeee

Armidale is a place almost halfway down to Sydney, said to have great climbing, nice camping and lack the heat and humidity of Brisbane.

the earth has music for those who listen

2005-12-25T22:19:00.000+08:00

...and I listen. New Zealand not only offers nice t-shirts, it is also a beautiful place filled with mountains, sheep and camper vans (to use three words), or for that sake cold but beautiful lakes, funny animals, friendly people, clean public toilets, thrilling adventures, extreme sports, or pretty much anything that you can do anywhere else, except that it's so much closer between everything here.
NZ is truly music for anyone appreciating outdoor life, serenity or different experiences.
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Back from three awesome weeks of travelling!!

2005-12-21T20:14:00.000+08:00

New Zealand was as great as expected and climbing in the Blue Mountains made me into a climbing freak Guess what's on my wishlist for xmas? shiny, shiny climbing gear!!!

Being back in B feels different, but yet like home. Most of my mates have gone back to Europe and uni is finished for a while, better spend my time finding new friends, somewhere to live after new years and getting used to the heat. Going by car from Sydney to Brissy (999,9 km according to Adam's car) can be considered as an empirical experiment confirming that hot air actually rises; the percieved temperature increased proportionally to the travelled distance north. Or something like that. I love logics....

Met Jin and Carola one last time before they went off. I thought Jin had left long ago but he was still in his house when I came home. To celebrate our final day together, we ended up (not quite surprisingly) at southbank beach, again, avoiding being sunburnt, again.