multiHenrik

Hello! I first wanna apologize for my really bad responses of e-mails and messages. I try to catch up a bit now as I start getting into my "new" life here in Zürich now. A short resumè for what I've been doing lately.

I went to Sweden for Christmas and it was great seeing old friends and my family. I then went to Stockholm for the Snowball lindy hop camp 26th Dec-1 Jan. It was a lot of fun and I especially enjoyed the new year dinner with wonderful friends!

On Thursday the 1st of January, I and my childhood (and adult) friend Mattias flew to Frankfurt and drove back to my place in Stuttgart. Well arrived, I realised I've forgot one bag at the airport (2h drive away). It wasn't the most critical things I had there, but as the refused to send it by mail, it required some work to find someone to pay, for picking it up and bring it back to me. The next day (Friday) we also drove further on, to Austria for skiing and top-tours. One problem, was that I had my extra sleeping bag and climbing skins in the lost bag. Therefore we had to do some "shopping" before we finally could take off, with less equipment than really needed. We drove to a village called Galtür, where we set up our tent. It was a cold night (~ -18) and with 2 summer sleeping bags for Mattias, and for me one -8° bag, we expcected a cold night also for us but it went OK with our extra clothes on top of the bags, and feet inside the backpacks and such an actions.

The next morning we took off for a top tour, I with alpine skiis and trackers, Mattias with telemark equipment. It was a learning trip with broken bindings, duck tape and other adjustments. In the evening we drove to Kühtai, where we did alpine skiing the next day and a bit further we the last day did a really steep top tour.

We had 3 really great days and we learnt a lot about our equipment and what it's best suited for, and what to buy. The trip was a bit "forced" and clamped in, inbetween too much work and I also moving to a new country, but it was fun. We got back to Stuttgart Monday evening.

After this, on Tuesday I drove to Switzerland and got into my new appartment (shared with 2 other students) and the next morning I started my new work. Long working days, hardly anything in my room but bags, and on Saturday morning I took off for Sweden where I did my thesis presentation on Monday and also did an opponent work against another thesis before I flew back to Zürich Monday evening. Tuesday morning I took the train to Heidelberg (Germany) for work till Wednesday evening and after that, I've stayed in Zürich. Yesterday I actually bought some shelves and wardrobes and now I feel a bit better about everything setup here. Fixing bank accounts and such a practical things always take time in new countries and tomorrow I'm driving to Stuttgart (Germany) for the last presentation at Bosch.

So, about everything else, I've been doing some running and mountainbiking here to activate myself and a little dancing since I got here. It's been late nights though and haven't seen too much I upload some photos as yesterday was sunny and I got a sweet ride.

I try to set up my plans for the next bunch of swing camps very soon and I also look forward to some ice climbing and skiing, if my ice "partner" just get healthy about his knee (screw it up last

Hope you all are enjoying the new year!! See you.

A short information about what has happened lately: I've passed all interviews and tests (5!) for the Zürich Elite Business School where I will do an IMP-education. That's basically a MBA education 18 months, which is a management/financing post-grad education for people who already have a degree (at least bachelor).
This means I will "work" as project manager for an international project at Reutax, an international IT Consulting company with office also in Zürich. The "education" is seminars 3 intensive day per month, and lots of practice by actually leading a real-world project from nothing to something hopefully good.

I'm excited I got this position and I will move to Zürich and start working in the beginning of January 2009. I've not made my final presentation for the master thesis yet and together with Christmas reasonsI will travel a lot the next 3 weeks. Don't expect me to answer any e-mail on a daily basis...

I'm looking forward to be able to stay in the middle of europe (for all dancing) but also that I get closer to the mountains and can enjoy nature even more. I will miss (and already do) lots of things here in Stuttgart though... but that's something I was aware of when I moved here.

Letzte Mittwoch war ich nach  Budapest, Ungern, gefahren mit dem Zug. Ich teilnehmte die Lindy Shock, ein echt tolles Tanz camp mit ungefähr 5 Stunden unterrichtung pro Tag, meistens Lindy Hop aber auch Balboa. Abends und Nächte war es natürlich Socialtanzen. Mit mehr als 10-12 Stunden Tanzen jedes Tag war ich todmüde wann ich kam zurück Montag Vormittag. Es hat mir doch echt gefallen und ich möchte gern nächstes Jahr auch teilnehmen.

Übrigens, haben alles fortgesetzt mit Arbeit, Step tanz und rock'n roll. Akrobatik Freitags motiviert mir mehr zu dehnen, als ich bin immer noch zu steif, besonderes in dem Oberkörper.

Gestern hatten wir wider eine auftritt mit der LindyGruppe, in Winnegen, Ostlich von Stuttgart mit ~500 Personen in Publikum. Es war viel spaß aber die Wochenende ist sonst ziemlich langweilig gewesen. Habe auch Mountainbike gefahren und heute 2 Stunden gelauft, aber suche immer noch vor Arbeite bevorgezugt in die Schweiz.

Kann kaum warten für Waterkannt Jam in Hamburg und die andere Lindy Camps die folgende Wochenende!


[English version]

Last Wednesday I went to Budapest, Hungary, by train. I participated the Lindy Shock, a really great dance camp with about 5 hours classes per day, mostly Lindy Hop and Balboa. Evenings and nights, it was social dancing of course. With more than 10-12 hours dancing every day I was totally exhausted when I came back Monday morning. I really liked it though and I would like to participate also next year. Otherwise, it have all continued to work out, with work, step dancing and rock'n'roll.

Acrobatics in Fridays motivates me to stretch, as I am still too stiff, especially in the upper body. Yesterday we had a show with the Lindy Group in Winnegen, East of Stuttgart with ~ 500 people in the audience. It was a lot of fun but the weekend is pretty boring otherwise have been. I have also been mountain biking and today I ran 2 hours but also I'm still searching for works preferably in Switzerland.

Can hardly wait for Waterkannt Jam in Hamburg and the other Lindy camps the following weekends!

Servus alle,

Was ist passiert seit der letzte Schrift? Ziemlich viel... ich habe fortgesetzt mit Tanzen (natürlich :) Stepp-tanz macht immer noch spaß und die letzte Wochenende, am Samstag hatten wir ein auftritt mit der Swing-Kultur Stuttgart Gruppe, bei Kulturnacht Stuttgart. Ich machte ein Solo mit Christiane aber auch eine gemeinsamme Ausführung mit die ganze S-gruppe.
Sonntag morgen war ich nach München gefahren für ein Balboa workshop mit amerikanische und deutsche lehrer. Ich bin ja ein Anfänger auf Balboa so es war sehr vergnüglich etwas neues zu lernen. Im abend war es meistens Boogie Woogie Tänzer aber es gehts. Es war schon zwei Parties gewesen, am Freitag und Samstag abend mit mehr Balboa/Shag. Leider konnte ich nicht zurückfahren Montag morgen wie ich hatte geplant, als mein Autoführer hatte seine Pläne verändert. Schließlich war auch ich in München die ganze Montag und in der abend war es eine Lindy hop workshop mit Nick und Carla (USA). Es war super und habe beide neues Moves gelernt aber auch mehrere dinge in meine Lindy basic zu üben.

Was mehr? Hmm.... die letzte Woche war die Wetter sehr schön mit 23-24 Grad im Tag, aber diese Woche ist es wieder Herbstwetter mit kühl und niedrige Temperaturen.

Heute abend war ich erst auf akrobatik training und danach ging ich lindy hop tanzen zu ein Jazz band mit Denise und ihre schwester.

[English version]
Hello everyone,

What has happened since the last publishing? Quite a lot ... I have continued with dancing (of course), tap dance is still fun and the last weekend, on Saturday we had a swing show with the Stuttgart-cultural group, at culture night at Stuttgart. I made a solo with Christiane but also another performance with the entire S-group. Sunday morning, I went to Munich for a Balboa workshop with American and German teachers. I'm a beginner at Balboa so it was very enjoyable to learn something new. In the evening, it was mostly boogie woogie dancers but it's ok. It had already been two parties, on Friday and Saturday evening with more Balboa / Shag. Unfortunately I could not go back Monday morning as I had planned, as my ride had changed his plans.
Finally, I was in Munich for the entire Monday too and in the evening, it was a Lindy Hop workshop with Nick and Carla (USA). It was awesome and I have both learned new moves but also several things in my Lindy basic to practice.

What more? Hmm .... The last week was the beautiful weather with 23-24 degrees in the day, but this week it is again with cool autumn weather and low temperatures. Tonight I was on acrobatic training and then I went Lindy Hop dance to a jazz band with Denise and her sister.

Am Freitag machte ich ein bisschen Akrobatic in innerstadt Stuttgart bevor ich später im nacht nach Lippstadt gefahren war. In Lippstadt (in die nähe von Düsseldorf) war es eine Lindy hop Wochenende mit Workshops des Tages und Parties im Nacht. Es war gute Unterrichtungen und auch viel spaß social Tanzen. Ich habe auch Freunde seit München und Schweden getroffen.
Sonntag nacht kam ich zurück zu Heilbronn, aber leider zu spät den letzten Bus nach Abstatt zu nehmen. Ich dachte daß, "es ist nicht so weit entfernt, 15 km und 7 km/h macht 2 Stunden" aber es daurte noch länger und es war 3 Uhr wann ich zu Hause kam.

Montag war ich müde aber im abend machte ich ein bißchen Gymnastik in Ilsfeld und Dienstag war es stepp tanz. Mittwoch habe ich in Stuttgart, lindy hop mit Renate unterrichtet und auch eine neue Choreography gelernt.

Wetter ist echt schlecht die letzte Woche gewesen. Meistens graue Himmel und viele regen. Es ist deprimierend... Mit der Arbeit geht es gut (glaube ich). Ich rechne viele ähnliche Ausdrücke wie ich an die Uni gemacht habe. Ich habe auch ziemlich viel auf mein Report geschriebe, so ich glaube das ich immer noch halte die Zeitplan.

Donnerstag war ich zusammen mit zwei Schwedische freunde in die Alpen gefahren, nach Lenggries. Denn waren wir am Freitag auf Brauneck aufgestiegen, in konstant regen. Ich habe eine Erkältung bekommen aber Samstag machten wir doch ein Versuch auf ein anderem Berg. Wir angefing an 800 m aber um 1400 oder etwas ähnliches hatte es schon seit 300 m geschneen und ohne sicht kehrten wir um und fuhrten ein kurzer Ausflug zu die grenz des Österreichs bevor wir zurück nach Hause fuhrten. Sonntag machten wir eine besteigung auf eine ziemlich hohe spitze, 2101 m und die höheste berge in die Gebiet. Es war fantastisches Wetter mit Sonne und +1 grad wann wir fingten an, aber noch warm und wann wir zurückkam um 4 Uhr war es 14 Grad. Schnee von 1100 m ungefähr und fast windstill. Toll!

Die Heimreise war 5 Stunden in Verkehrstau...


[English version by google translator]
On Friday I made a bit of Akrobatic in Stuttgart before I later in the night went to Lippstadt. In Lippstadt (near Dusseldorf), it was a Lindy Hop weekend with workshops of the day and parties at night. It was good information and also a lot of fun social dancing. I also have friends since Munich and Sweden which I met. Sunday night, I came back to Heilbronn, but unfortunately too late, after the last bus already left to Abstatt. I thought that "it is not so far away, 15 km and 7 km / h makes 2 hours" but it took even longer and it was 3'a clock when I came home.
Monday was I tired but in the evening I made a little gym in Ilsfeld and Tuesday it was tap dancing. Wednesday I went to Stuttgart, where I taught Lindy Hop with Renate and also learned a new Choreography.

The Weather have been really bad the last week. Mostly gray skies and heavy rainfall. It is depressing ... With the work is good (I think). I calculate many similar expressions as I did by the university. I've also written pretty much on my report , so I think I still keep the timetable.
Thursday, I and two Swedish friends drove to the Alps, to Lenggries. We were on Friday to Brauneck ascended in constant rain. I got a cold after this but on Saturday we made an attempt on another mountain. We started at 800 meters but around 1400 or something like that, it had been 300 meters and without sight and constant snowing we turned around and we made a short trip to the border of Austria before we returned home runs.

Sunday we made an ascent in a fairly high peak, 2101 m and the higher mountains in the area. It was fantastic weather with sunshine and 1 degree when we began, but still warm and when we returned at 4 clock, it was 14 degrees. Snow from around 1100 m and almost windless. Great!

The homeward journey was 5 hours in traffic jam...

[German]
Am Donnerstag die letzte Woche fährte ich allein nach München für die Lindy Exchange. Das ist eine mehrere Tage lang Tanzparty wo man jedes Tag/Nacht tanzen lindy hop, ungefähr wie die Schwedische "Dansmaran".

Ich kennte niemand da was ich wusste, wenn ankommte. Aber das war doch viele leute da und nach eine Stunde habe ich schon viele leute von Herräng dieses Jahr getroffen und auch viele neue Freunde gemacht.
Freitag war ich mit meine Mountainbike auf eine Tour in die Wälder Ost von München. Ein schönes Tag mit Sonne und Natur wie ich gewöhn bin, auch in Schweden. Freitag nacht war es ein neues Platz mit viel Boogie und Rock Musik. Das war ein echt Toll nacht mit echt energetic Tanz und ich hatte so viel Spaß! Ich durfte auch Tanzen so viel mit gute Tänzerinnen und sie erlaubte mir zu spielen mit die Musik, mein selber und die Partnerinnen in neue Hinsichte.

Samstag war ich in die Stadt mit einer Frau von Bosch Stuttgart. Ich habe ein 'neues' 2nd hand Anzug gefunden. Die abend Tanz war wieder in ein neues Platz, diesmal viel größer. Es war auch eine fantastische Nacht mit viele gut Tänze (fast alle) und es war auch mehr Raum für großere "moves".

Sonntag habe ich lange geschlafen  und im Nachmittag habe ich in die Stadt gefahren (furchtbares Trafikumwelt) aber nach einer Zeit habe ich ein Parkplatz gefunden und mit inlines zur Oktoberfest geschafft. Es ist ein Verrückt großes Bierparty in München mit lustige Klamotten (Volk kleide) aber vor allem Trinken. Ich habe nicht meine Freunde gefunden, wenn die Reservierung nicht auf die Liste war, so ich fuhrte weiter zu die "Tee-dance" in ein Park. Ich blieb da ungefähr 2 Stunde bevor ich zurück nach Stuttgart fährte. Es ist so viele Baustelle  auf der Autobahn so trotz höhe Geschwindigkeiten nimmt es einige Zeit. Aber fahren in 200 km/h ist eine schönes gefühl :D

#pja... und noch ein Ding. Ich haltete bei Burger King aber die nahm nur Bargeld, keine elektronische Karte. Das ist so 1900 Jahrhundert... Auch in lebensmittelgeschäfte, kann ich fast nie mit VISA bezahlen, und mann kan nie die Karte ziehen bevor die letzte Ware eingeschlagen ist, und keine Raum nach die Kasse für seine Beutel zu packen....

Total, was es eine fantastische Lindy Exchange mit ungewöhnlich viele gute Tänze  und viele Frauen hatten mir inspiriert neue dinge zu machen und mir auch gezeigt moves ich ncht wusste ich machen konnte. Danke!


[English version]
 On Thursday last week I alone went to Munich for the Lindy Exchange. This is a several days dance party where every day / night dance Lindy Hop, about the same as the Swedish "Dansmaran."

I believed that I knew nobody when I arrived, but there were many people and after one hour, I have seen many people from Herräng this year and also made many new friends.
Friday I was with my mountain bike on a trip into the woods east of Munich. A nice day with sun and a nature that I am used to, also in Sweden. Friday night, it was a new place with a lot of boogie and rock music. That was a really cool night with really energetic dance and music and I had so much fun! I was also dancing with so much good dancers and they allowed me to play with the music, myself and my partners in new ways.

Saturday I was in the city with a woman from Bosch in Stuttgart. I found a 'new' 2nd hand suit. The evening dance was back in a new place, this time much larger. It was a fantastic night with many good dances (almost all) and it was also more room for bigger "moves".

Sunday I slept long and in the afternoon I drove into the city (terrible traffic environment), but after a time, I found a parking place and with inline managed to Oktoberfest. It's a Mad large beer party in Munich with funny clothes (national dress), but mainly drinking. I have not found my friends, the reservation was not on the list, so I went on to the "tea dance" in a park just north of downtown Munich. I stayed there about 2 hours before I returned to Stuttgart. There is so much constructions on the highway so despite higher speeds, it takes some time. But driving at 200 km/h is a nice feeling :D

# pja ... and another thing. I stopped at Burger King, but they only took cash, no electronic card. That is so 1900 Century ... Even in grocery stores, I can almost never pay with VISA, and you can never draw the card before the final product is set, and there is no space after the payment for packing the bags ....

Total, which is a fantastic Lindy Exchange with unusually good many dances and many women had inspired me to do new things and also showed me moves ncht I knew I could make. Thank you!

[English translation further down]

Aber noch eine dinge... ich folge ein Rekommendation dass ich bekommen habe, und weiterhin will ich alle auf Deutsch schreiben. Aber weil ich auch möchte meine Amerikanische und Schwedische und andere freunde zu folgen mir, brauche ich eine Übersetzung program nach Englisch. Dass hier ist ein erstes Versuch und ich weiss noch nicht wie es gehts. Die Ursache ist meine Bedarf an mehr Deutsch zu üben.

Nun ja, die letzte Freitag war ich nach Nord Stuttgart gefahren für eine Akrobatik klasse. Es war echt spaß und ich hoffe dass ich es mehrere Mal teilnehmen kann. Etwa 3 Stunde mit meistens Paar übungen aber auch Pyramide von 2 bis 5 Leute haben wir gemacht.

Wenn es zu viele regen in die Wochenende war, konnten wir nicht nach Zugspitze fahren. Hiermit habe ich eine echt Ruhe Wochenende gemacht mit Rennradfahren Samstag und ein bißchen lindy hop mit eine Show Gruppe in Stuttgart. Ich habe Ihren Show routine gelernt. Montag war es wieder Stepp tanzen in Heilbronn aber wenn ich nicht genug körperlich müde wirt, schlafe ich schlecht so damit habe ich auch Laufen mit Stirnlampe gemacht. Es gibts viele alte Schlösser und Burgen um hier so ich habe ein besucht. Dienstag war es wieder mehr Stepp und auch Boogie Woogie und heute habe ich MTB gefahren mit Nils und Florian (zwei Kollegen von Bosch) und danach Lindy hop in Stuttgart.

Ja, ich bin echt zufrieden mit meinem Leben jetzt. Ich habe viele Aktivitäten in die abends und auch die Arbeit geht besser und besser. Ich viele dass ich Kontrolle auf es haben. Ich habe auch ein bißchen mehr sprechen gemacht, und wieviel ich verstehe ist sehr unterschiedlich wenn die Deutschen mit Schwäbische dialekt sprechen oder nicht, und auch wie schnell. Aber ich bin angefangen auch mein Betruer zu verstehen und dass ist gut :)

Wir haben auch mehre Kontakt zwischen die junge Leute bei Bosch jetzt, z.B. während Kaffeepausen.
Was ist nechst? Ich fahre Donnerstag (heute) bis München für Munich Lindy Exchange, bis Sonntag. Und danach ist es viele Swing Parties in Oktober und November.
Ich antworte alle e-mail dass nach mir geschickt sind, aber es kann einige Tage nehmen.

Bis denn,
Ciao!



[English version... sorry for the bad translation, but I don't take the time right now to do it in 2 languages]

But one more thing... I follow a Rekommendation that I have received, and I want to continue to write in German. But because I also want my American and Swedish and other friends to follow me, I need a translation program to English. That is a first attempt and I still dont know how it goes. The cause is my need for more German practice.

Well, last Friday I was driven to North Stuttgart for a class acrobatics. It was really fun and I hope that I can participate several times. Approximately 3 hours with mostly couple exercises but also pyramid 2 to 5 people, we have made. Because there are too much rain the weekend was, we could not go to Zugspitze. Hereby, I have a really calm week-end made with biking Saturday and did a bit lindy hop with a show group in Stuttgart. I have learned their show routine.

Monday was again Stepp dance in Heilbronn but if I do not become enough physically tired, I sleep so bad so I also had to do running with head lamp. There's a lot of old palaces and castles around here so I have a visit. Tuesday was it Step again and Boogie Woogie and today I drove MTB with Nils and Florian (two colleagues from Bosch) and then Lindy hop in Stuttgart.

Yes, I am really happy with my life now. I have a lot of activities in the evening and also the work goes better and better. I feel I have it under control. I also talk a bit more, and how many I understand is very different if the Germans with Schwäbische dialect speak or not, and how quickly. But I'm starting my supervisor to understand and that is good:)

We also have more contact between the young people at Bosch now, for example during coffee breaks. What is nechst? I drive Thursday (today) to Munich for Munich Lindy Exchange until Sunday. And then there are many swing parties in October and November.
I answer all e-mail that are sent to me, but it can take several days.

Until then, Ciao!

Things becomes better and better, slowly... I got my German bank card today (I have hardly been able to use my Visa card) and I also did 2 good bike rides last weekend, well, the saturday ride was nice but about 1 hour of rain made it a bit cold, also with +21 degrees... but the one on Sunday with my MTB was awesome as after 20 min, when I had found a "forest", a guy passed by so I hanged after him and started chatting. He was a really nice german doctor who led me around on great mtb-trails for about 2 hours. He was not at all as most german people I've met so far, and I'm glad he proved me wrong about "all" germans being a bit closed.

Monday I also took my first tap-class (stepp) ever, it was great and I will try keep doing that. Tuesday I tried boogie woogie in Stuttgart, unfortunately it wasn't too many couples there but it was good practice.
Wednesdays do all internship-people, summer job guys and also all thesis-people (me), have lunch together. It has been very nice and it's way more "very" young people then, like 19-25 instead of 25-40. We went to Heilbronn together after work for a beer and then I went to Stuttgart for some lindy. It was at a (for me) new place, where it use to be most of the season, and this meant also many more people which was great. It didn't last more then about 2 hour social dancing though... and it's still extremely warm here. 24 degrees at 23.00 is quite warm, but especially the high humidity makes me sweating incredibly much.

Today a friend at work asked me for a bike ride too! so we went some hours mountainbiking. It's really nice nature here, a huge national park just around the corner, and very hilly. Not as many small bike trails as Sweden though, but still many dirt roads combined with bike trails.
Later tonight I also tried my first Rock'n roll lesson ever. It's a bit different dance style but some similarites with lindy, as it's derived herefrom and mostly kind of swing music we dance to. I will try keep doing it, if my rock dance partner stands me :)

The plans for the weekend fall apart though (some mountain hiking) as the forecast says constantly rain for the next couple of days... To everybody going to Dansmaran: have 2 great nights and dance for me as well!!

Ville bara säga nånting om trafikmiljön här... Skulle på en dansfest ikväll med alla möjliga danser - swing, tango, walz mm.. och det var ca 6 mil bort. Tyvärr var det inte längs Autobahn utan in i skogen med en massa småbyar (gula skyltar här, dvs. allt som inte är autobahn är typ riksvägar). Förutom spöregn och svart asfalt med svart skog gör det förbaskat mörkt att köra, så är skyltningen grymt dålig. Var miljarder med andra namn som pekade i helt andra riktningar, rondeller som plötsligt fick en extra utfart (som inte var skyltad) och massor med småkurvor och omvägar. Tog 1½ h  dit, lika länge hem... På de 4h som jag var "borta" så hann de dessutom stänga av de sista 2km från en by ut till Autobahn med 12 km omväg som följd. Nä att köra utanför de stora vägarna är inge vidare, om man inte har en kartläsare och en väldigt högupplöst karta....

Dansen? Jo det var ok, men på ett litet ställe och då jag inte "kan" vals och tango så blir det såklart lite improvserat med viss bakledning för att det ska likna tango. Wienervalsen funkade väl ändå, men rumban stod jag över :/

Ja just ja... de har mycket poliser här också. På de här 1½ veckorna har jag blivit stoppad en gång och åkt med när vi blev stoppade 1 gång. Sen jag tog körkort (drygt 7år sen) har jag aldrig blivit stoppad i Sverige...

I've been in Germany for 1.5 week now and the first week at my new 'job' is over. I have my new position for writing my master thesis at Bosch car body (karosseri) unit in Abstatt, just north of Stuttgart in southern Germany. It's a really cool place with about 2700 employees and what we do is developing the electronic devices that one find in all cars. We have all kind of cars: e.g. BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, VW, Volvo and so on. Basically ALL car brands! My specific area is developing and testing some theory for an electronic device that will improve the new cars' road maintenance.
On Wednesday we drove to a testing district little north of here for doing some tests and there were all kind of tracks for testing the cars. A little bit as a swedish 'halkbana' where you can test a car's brake distance but here where all kind of tracks. I drove a BMW and  pushed it to the limit on a curvy test road among others.

Everywhere you can also see the new cars covered in different disguises (förklädda) when driving around and doing tests, but avoiding the journalists cameras. At least I think it's a really cool environment and also in the garage it's much "cleaner" than I expected. Not a single spot of oil anywhere, you can almost eat  your food from the floor there.

Wednesday night I also tested the lindy scene again in Stuttgart, I met some more interested people but the scene isn't very big, despite it's many jazz bands around. Yesterday Friday a lindy friend, Denise, brought me to a Jazz basement in Stuttgart and different live bands are playing there 3 nights per week. We danced about 3 hours and I really like these nice and cosy (mysiga) places that I've been to - so far only in USA and Germany - the very genuine and real jazz feeling is really there. We were the only dancing couple yesterday as most people were there to listen, so we got some hugs and applauses too (on top of the band) for dancing.

It's been very warm (according to me) here, yesterday night it was still 27C at 22.00 and most people think it's nice but when doing activities (as I always do), it make me sweat unlimited.

The other days this week have I been biking and some weight lifting, trying to find a good gym for my training. It's very expensive though (about twice the Swedish prices - 4000 kr/halvår) so a probably stick with the gym they have at Bosch.

I was biking quite a bit today, and it came some rain that made me a bit cold. I thought a bit about the nature and differences to other places, and most of the German (should I say south-german?) nature is made up of either leaf trees, fields or cities. In the city, it's like cities everywhere in the world. The fields can be found also in other countries but one (for me) new thing is that it's so many trails and bike roads crossing the fields everywhere. I'm also surprised it's so many farmers here, in Sweden it feels much more industrial than here. Also here in the village Abstatt with 5000 people, just in the "town" there are suddenly a lot with horses or goats (getter) so it's a very relaxed and country feeling.
It's many apple trees everywhere too. Along the roads, out in nowhere there are lots of trees with apples, free to take.

When biking a long some of the smaller roads it's still a lot of cars. Sometimes so many so I becomes annoyed, when I can't even cross the road because it's constantly coming cars and they all drive fast. I thought USA was a car-driven country but now I'm sure most industrial countries are so. Also in northern Sweden or a lot of other places, the way we live is a total dependancy of the car. Here they take the car just to drive around on the roads though in the weekends. That's not too usual in Sweden, maybe with motorcycles.

It's a little bit reserved people in general I've met here. Very bureaucratic too. Nobody want's to directly take care of anything (e.g. at the gym or bank/state departments) but all people want one to make an appointment and come back in a couple of weeks. No sense for service at all. Also the opening hours for most things are very bad, many food shops have open 08-20 wich isn't too bad, but many close as early as 16 too! And no shops are open on Sundays. A surprise though, is the post service. I ordered some bike parts on Friday, and today Saturday! it knocked on the door and some of them where delivered, to a very low price.

When living in another country as an exchange student, you get so much things automatically: a natural and direct contact with lots of people in the school, often many clubs with activities (as sports, dance, theater...) at the university, and can from there create your own life in whatever way you want. Here it's been very hard when I sit and works alone on a problem for many hours, in an office landscape, but still without a lot of speaking to other people There are neither many clubs right here, and it pushes me a lot more to search for activites in the near-by areas so I don't have to sit home alone in the nights. But till now, it's been a lot harder to making friends and "getting into" good groups of people than US.
The lack of natural contact with people also prevent me a bit from developing my language, as I don't get as much speaking practice as I would like to. Hopefully everything becomes better after a bit, beacuse many clubs and activities I've found have "summer vacation" until next week. I feel quite OK with reading now and also kind of OK with listening to someone speaking to me, but not listen on the TV. Neither my own speaking is close to what it has to be for calling it "fluent".
Well, more time to come!

Last Thursday (August 21) did I leave Örnsköldsvik to begin my trip to Stuttgart (Germany). I have been "dancing my way down in Europe". First stop in Sundsvall with bugg/fox and crashed at a dance friend that I became friend with a week before. Thank you Tünde!
On Friday I arrived Svabensverk in Dalarna (Sweden) for a swing camp Friday/Saturday. It was awesome to get some lindy again, I had hardly danced any lindy since Herräng. Sunday I planned for lindy in Stockholm but I had some problems with my car and was towed to Falun where I spent the night outside the garage - waiting for it to open Monday morning. I had my bikes though so I did a ride around Falun and to the nice areas where I competed in XC skiing several years ago. I slept outside in a sleeping bag in the night but it became a bit cold w/ only 0C so at 5 am did I wake up and took a walk for about 2h, seeing Falun waking up, and walking around the Mine.

I got the car fixed (stupid electronics that was re-programmed handling the start of the engine) and took off for Nyköping and then I drove all the way to Lund and some swing dancing followed by a short time at the pub afterwards. There I met another guy from Copenhagen so next day I trained a bit with a friend (Annika physio terapist) and took off for Copenhagen with Lasse. There we had a trankey doo class (fun when doing the mirrored version!) and then biked around in Copenhagen.
Wednesday morning, I alone drove to Rödby in southern Denmark where the ferry brought me to Puttgarden in Germany. There I kept driving, was in a traffic jam outside Hamburg for about 1hour and then the Autobahn allowed me in 160-180 km/h driving against Stuttgart. I was still passed by black Mercedes and other faster drivers every minute but it's sweet when you actually can go really fast. Outside Stuttgart there was another traffic jam that stopped me about 20 minutes but then I arrived Abstatt (37 km north of Stuttgart) around 7pm. It was still +26 C and after unpacking, food and a shower it  followed by driving to Stuttgart and the weekly lindy night!

It wasn't easy to drive downtown Stuttgart and it took me quite a long time to find the dance place but it was nice dancing again. It's so fun to hear the different choices of music too, it differs a lot depending on where you go (west/east USA, europe, sweden...) but the common thing is still swing dancing (lindy). I also got an out-of-town lindy jam while playing a Stockholm swing song. (for those who might not know, it's a common thing that out-of-towners and birthday 'kids' get into the jam circle where only these people stay for the entire song. Their partner is changed whenever someone else 'dare' to steal the jam person.)

Thursday I went downtown Stuttgart to deal with practical things, like a german mobile account and so on... but also to meet up with Malin, a friend from southern Stuttgart that I got to know in Herräng as a volunteer and dancer. It was great hanging out with her and later on we made dinner with some of her friends. Then we drove to Tübingen with some other friends (east of Reutlingen) for some clubbing in a Jazz keller. It was nice to do some "youth things" again, but I don't really like the fact that they allowed smoking inside. In general, Germans smoke a lot but as long as I don't get affected that's Ok for me... but passive smoking isn't too good. I stayed at Malins place this night and I like seeing how other people lives (in other countries) and also such a basal thing as breakfast can be interesting when doing it somewhere else. A balcony in south Germany, surrounded by other stone houses and green nature. We made a bike ride today to Tübingen (from Reutlingen, about 16 km) in the nice sunny weather with +30 degrees. Later, after a german dinner, I drove home to Abstatt again.

Today (Saturday) I've been fixing my bike and inlines followed by a lot of biking. First among all wine plants but also to the city Heilbronn just north of Abstatt. So far I've experienced German as a lot of old green trees and big fields and meadows. In the forest it's unusually much stinging nettles (brännässlor) and the fields are covered by sunflowers, wine plants and corn plants. All houses are made of stone and the village feeling is very obvious here... On Monday I start my job at Bosch, can't wait!

So, long time since last post. What has happened? I've been in Herräng for 5 weeks and I've got a master thesis job in Stuttgart where I'm moving in a couple of days. But first thing first I guess:

In the end of June I drove to Herräng but first I picked up my dance partner and did some social dancing and gymnastic training with her and her gymnastic troup. We arrived Herräng on Saturday afternoon and already the same evening it was a solo Charleston taster class. The first week, I was in the beginner-intermediate authentic jazz group, week 2 I volunteered and week 3 I was in the advanced 3 lindy hop. Week 4, the plan was competition/show lindy hop but my english dance-partner bailed out the same morning just before the audition and at this time the advanced group was full for leads so I took the int-adv lindy instead.

A typical day consists of 3-4 classes, 1h20m each between 10am and 7.20 pm. This usually means the free gaps is just eating, rehearsing or revising the class or change to dry shirt. After the last class I usually had dinner or some more revising of material is common and at 9pm there is a daily evening meeting. It's kind of a talk-show with Lennart as the front figure, combined with different performances, interviews with teachers and different "jokes". After the meeting different "taster classes" take place, it can be everything from learning blues or tango to someone teaching Michael Jackson's thriller choreography (w4). At the same time the social dance starts taking place on 3 different dance floors in Folkets Hus: the main ballroom, dansbanan and in the library. There is also a bar where troubadour's sometimes are playing...

The social floors keeps playing music as long as there are people dancing, but the main ballroom usually closes around 8-9 am. I often went to bed after the taster class and slept till 2 or 3 am and then had a shower and went dancing. Sometimes one or two more hours of sleep but sometimes dancing until closening, having breakfast and then go to class at 10am again.
The jazz week was very good and inspiring, I really learnt a lot and want to do this kind of dancing more. The lindy weeks were good too, but at this time they felt more like "any camp" as one learn new moves, practice technique and rythms as well as music adjustion and styling are tought. The volunteering week 2 was interesting. I was distributed mainly to the school crew who cleaned changing rooms and toilets e.g. but in the spare time I was also in the passport control or wherever help was needed.

The 5th week, the crash-down week, was different even if it was volunteering. We worked hard, both physically and mentally, from 9am to 11-12 pm. We had tons of beds and bikes to bring to two different barns and storage rooms but also all the tents and the metal bars to take care of and dismount. In the end we cleaned and painted everything, as detailed as scrubbing the asphalt. It was a huge fellowship working with this though, and in the night we often spent a few hours together at the camp fire.

Getting the chance of staying in Herräng for 5 weeks in a row is a huge privilegium and I'm glad I got the chance of doing so this year; next I might not have this opportunity due to work or other circumstances. I still recommend everyone to taking the chance at least once in their lifetime, to experience Herräng just because it is its own little bubble, a lindy heaven, independent of what happens in the rest of the world. The "best" dances are often catched after 4-5 am when the floor is less crowdy, but if you stand to dance the entire night, you can always follow Peter Loggin's advice of pretending it's a vide game: jumping over one's leg or avoiding a stiletto heel gives you extra points while the other person is loosing points...

I was just about finish my notes here, but as I mentioned Stuttgart I better tell you something about that too. I've got a master thesis project (Diplomarbeit, examens arbete) at Bosch vehicle unit in Abstatt, just north of Stuttgart (Germany). I'm very glad to get the chance of moving down to central Europe and having just 100 km to the Swizz border and even closer to any other place in Europe then I had from Luleå in Sweden to the southern parts of Sweden. I'm staying at least till February 2009 for writing my thesis but there are lots of lindy camps around Europe and I'll try as much as I can to get around a bit and see what the "continent" has to offer. I'm moving there within 2 weeks, hopefully the Wednesday just coming up.

Today one of my "old" school mates called me, I haven't seen him in almost 4 months and we didn't study together in 2 years, but still, he just gave me a ring to check out the status about everything and this made me so happy.

Nothing more to tell, just waiting for Herräng to begin (5 more days!) and am stressing out to get everything setup to be gone for a year or so... documenting all my boxes and re-arranging what I think is needed.

Just some reflections about time and how we use it. I have a friend who has dedicated his life entirely to his sport. In the morning he train or does what is best for it, he then spend another few hours in the day to optimize and train and then the rest of the evening he also train or does what has to be done to develop his performances in this sport. He works just enough so he can perform his sport all the non-working time of his life.

Even if I don't live my life exactly the same, I do understand why he lives it as he do. Also I spend say, 4-5 hours per day, on average, just to optimize my training and hobbies. That is what I usually do when I don't work... but, anyways, in fact a lot of people nowadays don't want to "work" anymore, but only live their dreams and make money of things connected to their dreams. Maybe it always has been like this, but in my short life experience, it seems like more and more people get the chance of doing this. Today it's very common among young people graduating from high school (gymnasium) to just take a year off, travelling to e.g. Australia or really dedicate their hobbies into something specific so they make money on it. In the past, "everybody" had to has a job, and maybe they could spend a few evenings per week on something else but only a few of them could make money on their hobby.

(...)

I met someone yesterday, who just got my really into the subject and we kept talking for an hour just because of the very interest and exchange of experience and ideas. I was excited, and became even more excited listening to her talking about her exciting life goals and what she had done trying to reach them. 'Suddenly', she said something like "funny that also you really gives it all when you start doing something". -"Did I say that I'm doing that?" -"No, but I can hear of your conversation that you do".
What we talked about? Dancing, athletics, athletic injuries and travelling...

I'm sitting on Arlanda, tired but satisfied waiting for my domestic flight... I have been in Lithuania since Friday when I flew out of Luleå 6 am and after changes arrived Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania at 11.30 am. After a short wait, a guy with a sign "Lindy hop Harlem" came and picked me up. I stayed at dance friends place, Margarita. I hadn't seen her in a while but we had to get to classes that began already Friday afternoon. Joanna and Skye held the first class and really got me into the swinging mood again and the intermediate-advanced lindy group was interesting. I knew a few of them since before, participating other camps together and dancing at Herräng and so on.
Dax and Alice tought the 2nd class and Dax is really good of explaining the philosophy of anything one wants to do. Running on overtime, we rushed home (10 min by bus), had a shower and got back to the 1st night's dancing place. It was an old school building and the echoes made the sound really bad. It was a bit crowdy and lots of people to dance with, especially girls :) but the style was definitely a little bit different. Later in the night, a show by local dancers was performed and also a live band played for some hours. This made the sound a lot better and after the live band stopped, also the DJ:d music quality was improved. Late, when the music stopped playing we got a ride (shared with Alice and Dax) back home. It was a great night! Not to say, a lot of fun to be asked for a dance by Alice e.g.

Saturday... about 4 hours of sleep and a tired feeling pushed me to wake up and a little sored we had classes all day. Outside it was sunny and +25C and also inside it was really warm. Really great to take classes again and between these, just hanging out with brand new friends. We also had an optional class... I took Dax solo movements class. It was great and got me a nice introduction and more ideas of how to practice my bounce and "swinging feel". Got back home, had a 15 min nap and then a shower to wake up. Margarita was one of the arranger of this camp so we had to get to the nightly dance early. After we got there, I fall a sleep on the sofa and one woke me up after an hour and some people had arrived and started dancing. It was a small dance floor but a very nice club feeling. The night was mixed up by social dancing, live band playing and locals performing some choreographies as well as a tap show.
Later in the night a lindy JJ competition also took place, "without any rules" was the theme. So a girl grabbed me and asked me to dance with her and so we did, having fun but it wasn't the best dance so no surprise we didn't make it to the final. It was almost only lithuanian teachers and advanced dancers but happy to see, a few of them also talented new couples taking classes together with me. Late, again, we got home at 4am and had another 4 hours of sleep and started over on Sunday.

Classes, one electable and now I picked the aerial class. I worked with a girl called Evelina. At 7pm, we all met at the cathedral in Vilnius to do "Lindy Maratonas". This is dancing to the musick we brought on a cart pulled by a bike. People stopped by to watch, and after a while, we moved on to some other streets and squares, sometimes doing the Shim sham and some other time one did a performance. Later in the night it was social dancing again but also a pause with a history lesson held by Vincent Gregorio. He talked about the history of jazz music and the lindy development. Impressing how he could speak without any papers for more then an hour, about lindy during the entire 20th century. Again, a late night when I went to bed half past three, and had to get up at 5 am to make it to the airport. Quite tired, I slept on the flight back to Stockholm as will for sure do so also on the domestic to Luleå. It was a good weekend!

I haven't found the time for writing too much in this blogg the last month. A quick summary is as follows:
Club championship in dancing. I competed in strictly boogie woogie, strictly lindy hop, jack'n jill bugg, strictly bugg and strictly  foxtrot. A swing camp in Gothenburg, tons of fun and lots of friends to see again. A ball at the school, mostly drunken students, but the biggest ball at the year. Then a weekend of competition practice of lindy, but also a long trip to Umeå for some social dancing. Met many people I havent seen since last summer, so that was a lot of fun.

School is almost done. I've just finished the last important parts of my two last classes I am currently taking. So now I'm writing reports about it and prepare for the final presentation in 1½ week.

I had my 25th birthday last Tuesday, and I was overhelmed by how many who actually remembered me. I've never got so many Fbook messages, e-mails, phone calls/texts and congrats ever. When people I konw all over the world congratulates me, it feels fun even if I know it's "easy" to say hi even if I don't know them a lot.

This weekend the school (once a year) also had a ceremony and big ball kind of, to celebrate my (soon coming) master degree so my family came visited me and it was a Big Band playing in the night as well. Really fun to dance!! And the Diploma of course...
My parents also brought a  trailer so I've spent most other time this weekend packing and cleaning out the apartment. I can hardly understand how I could collect so much junk during this (these) year(s). I only have clothes and silver basically left...

It's a bit weird moving out. For the first time in a very long time, I don''t even know where I'm gonna be in 1½ week, even if it's very probable I'm moving to Örnsköldsvik for a few weeks. Then I plan to visit Herräng for 3 or 4 weeks and hopefulle I've got the formalites set for my master thesis that I hopefulle am doing in Germany, so I can start with that in August. The Switzerland plans crashed last week but I've already got a position in München that I'm dealing with.
Another weird thing about moving is that it seems to be what is needed for people to tell me, that they like me or are gonna miss me. Or just say they appreciate hanging out with me. As long as you're as expected as any day, nobody bother to tell you any 'properties'. But I guess it's better to hear some nice things now, than no at all.
I somehow miss the american friendlyness, the Swedish mentality feels very much as a colder and not as friendly environment compared to what I epxerienced in the US. I hope Europe and Germany or some country down there can give me some more positive energy.

People ask me how I feel about moving, and the answer is - not a lot. I'm gonna miss the dancing and my dance friends here in Luleå. Especially my dance partner, but I'm not gonna miss the town or nature here a lot. Neither th school. It's an awesome school and lots of nice memories and activites, but I don't feel any problems at all leaving it, when I already has had so much fun and done so many things here. It's also my 3rd time in 3 years I'm breaking up from my life, and 5th time in 6 years, so I'm kind of used to it now. I would like to settle down a bit though, but not before I've found the correct place, if there is one.

There were some more things I planned to write about, but they fell out of my memory. We'll see what more to mention. It's been really cold the last week and it actually came some snow and hailstones that fast melted away.

Until we meet, take care!!

So the last couple of weeks have contained less dancing then it "use to be", at least in the way I've practiced the last half a year. I miss it, but it hasn't just been bad, instead I've replaced some of the trainings to other forms of dancing, core/balance training and weight lifting. Everything applicable in the lindy.

Why am I always looking for things to improve? Someone once told me that "can't you just dance, without asking for comments or looking for things to improve?".... and that had me to think about myself and my actions, but another comment also reminded me how I use the word training. For me, improving and training is equal to fun, amusement and endorphines. Its as hard connected that I don't even think about it; using the word "it's awesome training" has equal meaning in my head as "it's a lot of fun". But I've (now) understood that other people don't look at it in that kind of way, and I guess I've accepted that I'm a nerd then. But, as a reply, I do dance without thinking, just because it's fun and relaxing. But not as often as I dance for improving, because that's even more fun.

Ok, an explanation (not excuse) might be that I've had the training as the main handrail and central controlling part my entire life, and then we always try to better things and get payback in the competitions, independently of what training I'm doing. My friends and my entire friendship world act in that kind of way, conscious or unconscious. We try to make things as optimal as possible.

XC skiing has been my main sport during most of my living years, and also when I practiced running, biking or climbing, I did those trainings for the fun and the variation, but also because I wanted positive energy and good training that I in some way could get back in my skiing. The adventure racing was quite natural as it contains all the main components I've been practicing the last 10 years but now when I've switched over to the dancing, a new world is taking place.

From the "brand new experience" with the fun of just learning something, getting to know lots of people (girls were of course an important part in this) it has turned over to be a life style, as I since the fall 2007 have replaced all my trainings (cardio and wt lifting) against dancing and different practices that can be applied in dancing.

My weight lifting exercises have been replaced to something that I can use for lindy aerials, acrobatics or maybe break dancing. I've realized I have some too weak foundation parts to build my lindy hop on, if I want to take it any further from now. Therefore Iv'e sniffed on the gymnastic for acrobatic and body control stuff. Bugg is good for music improvisation but also learning to "show off" and be in front of people, on a scene. Ballet is just an awesome form of training, to improve body control and awareness and the isolation moves and cool stuff that street and break dancing plays with are just awesome and very inspiring as well as the music. I wish my music awareness was a bit better but maybe I should start playing the instrument?
-OMG, he's such a nerd and take things so serious...
Was this what you just thought? I wouldn't be surprised. But if you have read this far, I guess you know me a bit and then I can keep being honest.

This is a life style. Either you do it consciously or as me, pays it a 2nd thought, I think everybody do the same thing This isn't a lot of "hard work to become something" for me. It's too late in life, for me to become a world champion dancer. I do this for fun. I plays around with all kind of practices and trainings that challenges me, because I love to learn. I love to improve. And I do it in my own pace. I have found the lindy hop to be central, and I can pick up so much from all other forms of dancing and trainings but this is the inspiration. This is what makes it fun.

I was at a dance show tonight, a street/break dance show, and in the end the audience had the performers to do a jam where they also invited anybody. A bunch of younger kids, maybe 5-10 years old went up there, and just played around, soo f**ng cool, and soft relaxed in front of a couple of hundred watching. These guys are the one who might be the next champions! It makes me glad, when seeing these young kids being so good, but it also reminds me why some are just incredible why some other has to be realistic and do the best of it.

It isn't long time left before the summer, and the master thesis will take place. 5½ week and a discussion with a friend got me to realize what I feel about leaving Sweden again. Now I know, that of course I will miss a lot of people and friends I know around here, and the people at the dance club are just so friendly. BUT, I can handle all that and I've accepted that's just another part of life. What I also have to handle, but I know I definitely will miss indeed, is my dance partner. We have made so many hours together the last two semesters and the individual I spent most energy into. But it's positive, it's good having good friends but even better when you really know to appreciate them. And leaving them, handling it in a good way but still being friends are special.

A friend of my childhood, that Iv'e known for 19 years, I don't have to speak to him for a couple of months or half a  year. But I can still call any time in the day or night, and we immediately know each other. It is special!

All people are different, that is what all of us has to accept. Still we have the choice to do active decisions, what people we prefer hanging around with or not. When you have got into "something", it's harder though to change one's situation, but it's possible and just take little more effort.

School is speeding up again and now it's the last 7½ weeks in school before my university classes are finished. Who knows what is happening after that?

After the intense weekend last week, I got the flu and was really sick with high fever about one week but I also had an important final so it was a hard week with fever lowering pills to be able to study a few days at least.

Since that it has been Easter and I and my friend Roland went to my familie's hütte in the mountains. We had awesome weather with perfect blue sky and lots of sun, but it was also a bit cold with as low as -27 degrees Celsius yesterday morning. It was good to get some nice skiing and we did a peak traverse in Marsfjällen between Ainantjakke's two peaks, but we also had a day of nice alpine skiing in Kittelfjäll.

Now i study for a final in economics and work on a final project in the media coding class, in parallell with thinking of and loving dancing more then anything else... well, the ice figure dancing world championship was held in Gothenburg, Sweden now during Easter and it also kept my interest in front of the TV and they are so beatiful to watch. I love ice skating and ice figure dancing is way more interesting to watch then ice hockey - oops.... wonder how much people I stirred up now.


I also have to say that it was really revealing coming back to Luleå tonight. I rarely care that much about being home or somewhere else, and we have had such an awesome days in the mountains...but it felt really good being back here and get into some "routines" with training, planning and everyday things. I'm not sure why, but I haven't been stressed or very busy, so I kind of miss the busy things a litttle.... Today when
we went up "på fjället" with the snowmobile (skoter), we sat down in a sunny slope and just relaxed, but I can hardly be relaxed... after a few minutes I grabbed my Palm and started thinking about plans or something else to do... and after half an hour I had to take off and playing in the snow or doing something. I really like having things to do!

Yes, "as usual", have I been dancing most of the weekend. Some fun playing around at Stuk both Friday and Saturday night, but on top of that have I been training a new program w/ my dancepartner for some hours on Sat, and today did we also practice but we had club practice too, followed by some wt lifting and another 2h of social dancing at the school. Oh, by the way, I was skiing with a friend out on the ice in the Luleå archipelago too this Saturday. It was beautiful.

And, eventually, have I decided to move to Switzerland for doing my master thesis. I'm probably gonna start around beginning of August and finishing it at Christmas 2008. It's close to Bern and I definitely look forward to it, but there are a lot of things I sureley will miss here though... but I can't cling firmly on to old things all the time so that's why I will take the chance doing this! Another adventure, and I like adventures! And old friends and habit's doesn't have to stop being friends or being something negative just because I'm moving on...

Time for bed!