my room smells of smoke again

it's been almost two months since our last barbeque, but yesterday it was time again. we have a new flatmate and decided to have a nice bbq for the entire orientation. and it turned out really well:


we had some absolutely delicous marinated chicken on the grill, together with mashed potatoes, salad, roasted almonds, beans, and some awesome tadig (literally "bottom of pot"):

  

both potato and corn flakes, turned out really, really well. it wasn't as massive as the last one, but we had a lot of fun, some great desserts, and rounded up the evening with a nice devotional. both food for the body and soul, and a great end to the week.

maybe this should be a tradition too?

update: the entire album can obviously be viewed here

wow, what a weekend!

so after having pancakes on friday, I went up to the office for some work (although I wasn't on schedule, so coming up at 10 was no problem). had a nice talk with a couple of people, and suddenly another guy comes in and wonders if we want pizza for lunch. how can I say no to that?
so ended up having pizza and great company for lunch, french toast for dinner, and worked quite a lot in between. oh, and not to mention the sun was shining while walking up in the morning. absolutely lovely. and in the evening we just relaxed at a friend's place, they'd started watching the new (?) turtles movie, so I saw the last half hour of it or so.

so come saturday... my flatmate and I decided to clean up our whole flat, so the day was more or less set aside for that. but first of all, there was the arts and crafts show of 2008. there's an amazing amount of talent here, and they had the chance of showing some of their creations - pottery, jewelry, paintings, pictures, handiwork, etc etc. it was really amazing to see! some of the stuff was available for sale, and I got a little something for myself as well...

on friday I had decided that since I was obviously going to spend a lot of time in my office, I wanted to make it more homely. I've brought up a few things from my flat, and also want to decorate it a bit more in general. I don't think I'll ever be completely done, but there will be a picture coming up soon. there might be a small surprise/shock for you :)

so after that I went home, and my flatmate had already started cleaning. I helped out, we fixed everything, and after about 4 hours total of work, it was spotless, clean, and beautiful. so we decided to mess it up by inviting a few people over for dinner...

mashed potatoes, fried chicken, onions, peaches and ice cream. really delicious. and a lot of dishes. but we took care of that, our visitors thanked for the dinner, and at 9 everyone was out. a bit early to go sleep, but not really in the mood to do anything major. what to do?

my flatmate made an excellent suggestion - say some prayers! it was a really nice feeling to sit there together and say prayers together, back and forth, for a while. created a really nice and calm atmosphere, and I felt really relaxed afterwards. we decided to try and do this as often as possible, but definitely make it a saturday tradition, to end the week, and I'm really looking forward to it.

all in all, I was feeling really happy about the weekend, everything was great. and then I cut my thumb while doing the dishes in the morning... :(

my room still smells a bit of smoke

last saturday we had a barbeque. it was huge. it was massive.
there was meat:


there was more meat:


on top of this, there was a bit more that was brought later on. this is what we had in our fridge/freeze in the morning. it would make the most ardent meat-lover proud.

there were people:



there was music:


(there were also lots of desserts, but I have no pic of them - they were eaten up too quickly!)

I think pretty much everyone enjoyed it. we had a total of 65 (+/- 2) people showing up, and I think no one left feeling hungry at least. there were a lot of people playing the drums, with a lot of singing and laughter - videos of that will be coming up later.

a big thank you to everyone that helped out, that showed up, that made this barbeque something to remember for a long time. it will probably take a while until next time, but that one will be even bigger, if possible. stick around and find out!

update: I forgot to mention that you can see all the other pictures here.

bedroom quotations!

remember my kitchen quotes from back home? I continued here, but put them in my bedroom, since my closet is so huge. it's a really good way of reading some Writings in the morning, or in the evening, or when just dropping by my room. I'd say it looks quite good:


and here they are, top to bottom, left to right (you can also click the pic...):

The recital each day of one of the Obligatory Prayers with pure-hearted devotion.

The regular reading of the Sacred Scriptures, specifically at least each morning and evening, with reverence, attention and thought.

Prayerful meditation on the teachings, so that we may understand them more deeply, fulfil them more faithfully, and convey them more accurately to others.

Striving every day to bring our behaviour more into accordance with the high standards that are set forth in the Teachings.

Teaching the Cause of God.

Selfless service in the work of the Cause and in the carrying on of our trade or profession.
(six steps towards spirituality)

The friends of God must so live and conduct themselves, and evince such excellence of character and conduct, as to make others astonished.

Rely upon God, thy God and the Lord of thy fathers.

And if thou art overtaken by affliction in My path, or degradation for My sake, be not thou troubled thereby.

Strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers.

How couldst thou forget thine own faults and busy thyself with the faults of others?

Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.

True loss is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self.

One endowed with the gift of hearing gets the mysteries of God from all things and all creation conveys to him the divine message.

Consider the past.

The past is the mirror of the future.

Armed with the power of Thy name nothing can ever hurt me, and with Thy love in my heart all the world's afflictions can in no wise alarm me.

Make whosoever arises to serve Thy Cause as a sea moving by Thy desire, as one ablaze with the fire of Thy Sacred Tree, shining from the horizon of the heaven of Thy will.

The time is come when naught but the purest motive, supported by deeds of stainless purity, can ascend to the throne of the Most High and be acceptable unto Him.

True peace and tranquillity will only be realized when every soul will have become the well-wisher of all mankind.

Let deeds, not words, be your adorning.

O thou who art turning thy face towards God! Close thine eyes to all things else, and open them to the realm of the All-Glorious. Ask whatsoever thou wishest of Him alone; seek whatsoever thou seekest from Him alone. With a look He granteth a hundred thousand hopes, with a glance He healeth a hundred thousand incurable ills, with a nod He layeth balm on every wound, with a glimpse He freeth the hearts from the shackles of grief. He doeth as He doeth, and what recourse have we? He carrieth out His Will, He ordaineth what He pleaseth. Then better for thee to bow down thy head in submission, and put thy trust in the All-Merciful Lord.

By faith is meant, first, conscious knowledge, and second, the practice of good deeds. (not up yet)


thank you to everyone who contributed with the quotations. my way of putting them up was entirely random except for the six steps; I had them upside down, and then just picked one and decided where it went without reading it. this way I know I'm not biased :)
and what I really like about this is that people find it inspiring, and many say they're going to do it themselves. yay!

kitchen poetry!

we got quite a lot of kitchen magnets (see here for an example), so last night I spent a few minutes making up some "poems":

remember the delirious search
some want to manipulate their friend
I will free you and part
live then here and head to eternity


and the second:

fiddle elaborate and design
beneath next rock
there our essential language
wind water forest storm
beauty in rose petal
vision of night
gift of dream
always think
light


kinda fun to do these, as you never know which words you end up with... :)

delivery!

a family is here from sweden on pilgrimage, and as any other family coming from sweden will discover, they had stuff for me. since they were the first ones from sweden to come, this time it was a lot of stuff. here's how my bed looked this morning after unpacking it all:


I even got my keyboard now - yay! feels a lot better, I'm obviously more used to my own than the ones here. and I also brought my own mousepad and mouse, so it should be all good. I'll get a picture of my office up soon, and then I also have my room and flat to show and tell about. but that's for later...

luckily there won't be so much in the future, I might even get to send home a few stuff...

home, sweet home...

after a hectic, cleaningful (that's not a word...) weekend, I have finally managed to stuff all my stuff (haha!) and move it back home. it's all a big mess though, books, clothes and other random objects filling my room and bed, as well as another storage room. needless to say, it's time to start thinking about what I need and want to bring to israel, and what gets to stay at home. and a bunch of it will probably also find its way into the trash bin. stay tuned for updates... ;)

the last week

today starts the last week of many things... I have only 5 days left of work, and so have to wrap up things here so that no loose threads hanging when I'm gone. friday will probably be quite a long day as I have to go through everything to make sure it's all checked in, uploaded, and all that. and then in the end hand in my computer and my access card.

and then I'm also moving out in the weekend, so my last days of living on my own. my place is already more than half-empty, so it's already a bit weird being here. but as I said before, it's pretty much just tv and computer that needs to go out, and then a proper cleaning. I'll get help from my parents, so I hope to be able to finish it off without stressing too much in the end.

and I'm limping since yesterday's game. got a knee right on my thigh, so it hurts. even sleeping is kinda painful, and let's not even talk about shoes, socks and trousers. yikes. I hope it goes over soon, but it'll probably take a couple of more days. means no sports for me, just gym. boring :(

my apartment looks... empty.

I've had some wonderful help here during the weekend, packing and cleaning my apartment. I now only have the absolute necessity left; tv, computer, some clothes and a few books - the rest is back home. I have one more week of work, and in the weekend I'll be moving back home. it's gonna be strange to come back home and have "nothing" to do for a while, but I'm sure my mind will be so preoccupied with planning and preparing for leaving, so that should be quite okay in the end. have a few things I want to take care of :)

I almost wanted to move back already this weekend since there's nothing left here, but it would be too stressful to try and take care of everything tomorrow (cleaning and stuff), so I'll take care of it next weekend. will give me a bit more time and a bit more relaxed environment to take care of it. it should be good.

home improvement tip #2

here's another way of improving your home value, hang up lovely towels:



a closer look at my hitchhiker's towel:

kitchen complete

and here's the final pic of my kitchen quotations:

my kitchen

I finally got the quotations up in my kitchen and took pictures of them. there are a few missing which I will put up after I print them, probably on monday.

the quotations I have put up all mean something or remind me of something. and besides that, it's always good to read a bit of the Words of God whenever I am in the kitchen. so breakfast, dinner, and usually some sort of snack in the evening, I'll read at least one or two of them. they're kinda hard to miss, as it's pretty much covering everything now.

here they are:


the last one here has two, but they're closely related, and very good reminders. couldn't really choose between only one of them...


a big thank you to everyone for your one-liners :)

monthly monthly, part 7

here we go again...

finger
my finger is slowly healing... still taped up, but can at least bend it a bit more. however, not at the first joint, which is where it got dislocated. have to keep it this way until the end of the week, and then I'll have the finger free at least. hope it gets better soon, I really want to play basketball again.

phone
I got my se... phone back. was just a software update that was needed. I might've been able to do it myself, but I couldn't get any contact with it through the computer. may have been another way of doing it. but, 295 kr (~$40) later and I at least have my good old phone. lost all my messages, contacts, calendar, settings and everything else on the phone. luckily I had synchronized my contacts with my computer a while back, so I haven't lost everything, just the most recent numbers (not sure from how long back). and for some strange reason, all the + signs are gone from the international numbers... yikes!

home
I put up a few quotations in my kitchen, but need a few more. it looks kinda nice, and is good reading them to remember different things and situations. there's a reason for each one of them :)
will put up pictures of it later...

uk, canada and us
I'll be posting more and putting up pictures later on. things are a bit hectic right now, but it'll slow down soon, I hope...

monthly monthly, part 6

it's now been a little bit more than six months that I've been here, and so the updates continue. a bit shorter, and slightly later than on time, and this time in alphabetical order...

bed
it's dangerous to have a large-sized bed, things easily get transferred there to remain for a while. currently I have a towel, a folder, and a bunch of clothes from last laundry. with a smaller bed one's forced to always keep things tidy and clean. but not so here!

food
I've noticed that when there's food around, I'm quite silent. I eat and let others do the talking. I've got much more important stuff on my mind, and in my mouth! ;)

gym and excercise
I've gotten into a good routine of working out now. there's not so much sports to be made (weather's horrible), so I've been able to do some workout in the gym instead. it used to be a bit of "argh, nothing else to do, I'll go to the gym", but now I'm more looking forward to going. didn't think it'd be that way... and the results are encouraging too!

hair
my hair is short now, with summer coming up (hopefully?)... compensated the shorter hair with a beard, and I must say I kinda like it all :)
however, it's gotten longer now to the degree that I actually have to look at it in the morning to make sure it's not sticking out somewhere. time to go for wax soon...

mornings
it seems regardless of my plans and intentions, it always takes me an hour to get ready to get out. breakfast, prayers, tv and a bit of computer - takes almost exactly an hour.


and yes, this is written at 5 am, after watching argentina lecturing mexico in how to play football. 3-0, and two lovely goals by messi and riquelme. I don't see any other side being close to stopping them. it's going to be a very interesting final on sunday!

cleanliness

I will start by quoting the virtues project about cleanliness:

Cleanliness means washing often, keeping your body clean, and wearing clean clothes. It is putting into your body and your mind only the things that keep you healthy. It is staying free from harmful drugs. It is cleaning up mistakes and making a fresh start.

I just cleaned up big parts of my home, and wow, it really does make a difference, not only in that it actually looks clean, but also how it makes you feel. just seeing the cleanliness around really makes you a lot happier. here's one for always keeping it clean at home.

montly monthly, part 2

it's been more than two months since I moved out, and a bit more than a month since my last post, so here's my second update on things. this time I will focus on sleeping, relaxation state and friendly invitations.

sleeping
I can of course sleep longer now in the mornings, since I don't have as far to travel. however, since I have no train to catch, I am more keen on snoozing once or twice in the mornings, which usually makes me get into a bit of a rush since I want to get to work at a certain time. usually not too bad, but something I should probably try to avoid.

relaxation state
since I'm not at all as stressed in the mornings, I'm feeling a lot more relaxed. most mornings I have my breakfast in front of the tv, taking my time to eat and do the other things I do in the mornings. I don't have to worry about taking a maximum amount of time to eat and do everything else; if I want, I can just get to work 5 minutes later.

friendly invitations
since I live in town, it's easier to meet up with friends living in town. random invitations an hour ahead of time are easier to accept when going home only takes ~15-20 minutes. yesterday I met up with a few friends and played "mig", the mobile intelligence game (link), which is kinda like trivial pursuit except in a smaller version (physically). it was good fun, and the blueberry ice cream was delicious :)
last week I also invited a few other friends over for dinner, breaking the fast together... I don't think they would've come all the way out to väsby just for dinner ;-)

homestyling

here's how to significantly raise the value of your place:



now it's invaluable ;-)

my own style

and here's back to my old style... easy to fix, easy to take care of.



was snowing all day yesterday, so I had to do some shoveling in the evening too. luckily got a hold of the keys and got a proper shovel. went quite a lot quicker, I must say :)

it's winter-fall...

no red skies gleaming though, but at least a lot of snow... and it turned out to be my turn to shovel the snow today. luck had it however that they've switched the keys to the storage room where the shovels and stuff are and the key I had didn't fit, so I couldn't do anything else but use my shoes. got my feet a little bit cold, took longer than expected, but at least it turned out pretty well:



or what do you think?

phone salesmen

there are a lot of people calling with different offers and whatnot. as I'm renting 2nd hand, I'm not really able to accept any of the deals, but it doesn't mean I can't have fun with them. generally when they call, they're looking for rebecca, and I tell them she's not home at the moment (true). they ask me when she'll be back and I say I don't know (true), though I don't tell them that it might take a couple of months, hehe... so they say they'll call back later, and that's okay with me. more fun for me ;-)

so here are two experiences:

a girl from a phone compan calls and talks about how to lower my phone costs. since I usually have a hard time saying no right from the start (and I don't want to be rude and just hang up on them), I let her talk. she goes on for about 2-3 minutes telling me how it will be cheaper to call to mobiles, to friends, etc etc, and ask me if I'd be interested in changing my current plan. I politely tell her no, and I guess she's used to that. next she asks me if I can tell her why I'm not interested, and I think for a while... and just say no. she sounds a bit surprised, and on top of that I start laughing... did feel a bit mean, but hey, it was fun :)

next one happened just recently. they call from svenska dagbladet (morning paper), and offer it to me for 6 months, for "free". the only cost would be distribution cost, which would be 4 kr a day, a total of somewhere around 750 kr. that's not really what I call for free. after he's done with the offer and asks what I think, I simply tell him I work at aftonbladet and have free access to the paper there. case closed.