no real computer access until next week or so, but things here are good, I'm alive and well and enjoying everything here. I'll hopefully get more things written here later on :)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
I hope I didn't forget anything
in some strange, bizarre way, we (read: mom) managed to pack everything into one suitcase. I do have a backpack and a small bag with me too as carry-ons, but that suitcase is massive. it weighs 31kgs (limit is 20kg...), but I hope it'll be okay. it's almost my whole life there, so hopefully they'll be kind and realize that I'll be gone for quite some time. otherwise I guess I'll have to empty a bit of stuff... we'll see.
I'm gonna hit the bed, at least get a little bit of sleep.
I'm gonna hit the bed, at least get a little bit of sleep.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
I'm a collector
ok, I've started packing, and I've realized that I'm very bad at this kinda stuff. going away somewhere for just a week or so is no problem, because then I only need to bring clothes and some extra things. but going away for a long time...
I've spent half the weekend looking at things, and throwing some out. (the other half was spent with sports-related stuff, most notably squash.) and no matter how much "junk" I throw (I mean, come on, boarding passes for flight tickets 5-6 years back?), there's still a whole lot of I-don't-know-what left. I would say it's quite a relief to be able to finally look at things and say "I don't think I'll ever have any use for this" and then throw it in the bin. needless to say, I haven't been good at that at all previously.
now I've pretty much put down everything that's not clothes in a suitcase. and I almost filled it up... I think it's going to be very difficult to get it all under 20kg (which is what I have), but I hope to be able to sweet talk my way into getting at least a little bit more. (and by "sweet talk" I mean telling them I'm going to be a religious volunteer and be away for 2.5 years.) we'll see how that goes...
tomorrow's going to be insane. I have badminton at 7.30 in the morning, and then I'm going to drop by work to see my mates there. afterwards I'll probably head back home, try to take care of stuff (not sure exactly what), and then I have squash again at 4.30 in the afternoon... got one, possibly two, friends coming over tomorrow evening, going to visit my 2nd mom, and then probably staying up all night with my brother to watch nfl before he takes me to the airport. that's packed!
but now, bed.
I've spent half the weekend looking at things, and throwing some out. (the other half was spent with sports-related stuff, most notably squash.) and no matter how much "junk" I throw (I mean, come on, boarding passes for flight tickets 5-6 years back?), there's still a whole lot of I-don't-know-what left. I would say it's quite a relief to be able to finally look at things and say "I don't think I'll ever have any use for this" and then throw it in the bin. needless to say, I haven't been good at that at all previously.
now I've pretty much put down everything that's not clothes in a suitcase. and I almost filled it up... I think it's going to be very difficult to get it all under 20kg (which is what I have), but I hope to be able to sweet talk my way into getting at least a little bit more. (and by "sweet talk" I mean telling them I'm going to be a religious volunteer and be away for 2.5 years.) we'll see how that goes...
tomorrow's going to be insane. I have badminton at 7.30 in the morning, and then I'm going to drop by work to see my mates there. afterwards I'll probably head back home, try to take care of stuff (not sure exactly what), and then I have squash again at 4.30 in the afternoon... got one, possibly two, friends coming over tomorrow evening, going to visit my 2nd mom, and then probably staying up all night with my brother to watch nfl before he takes me to the airport. that's packed!
but now, bed.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
the most random drink ever
had a dinner at a friend's place yesterday, and was told to bring something to drink. figured we'd bring something normal (coke zero) and something completely random, and this is what we found:
don't know if you can see properly what it says on the bottle about the taste (quite a bad picture), but it's a mixture of chocolate and banana. now, the color doesn't help much to enhance the taste.
after a few sips and tastes, we still couldn't figure out which taste was the most dominant of the two, and it was indeed a very strange feeling. but it was a lot of fun to try it out, and definitely an odd experience.
not to mention that the dinner and evening was a lot of fun and pleasure too. have said good bye to more and more people, time is really flying by quickly!
don't know if you can see properly what it says on the bottle about the taste (quite a bad picture), but it's a mixture of chocolate and banana. now, the color doesn't help much to enhance the taste.
after a few sips and tastes, we still couldn't figure out which taste was the most dominant of the two, and it was indeed a very strange feeling. but it was a lot of fun to try it out, and definitely an odd experience.
not to mention that the dinner and evening was a lot of fun and pleasure too. have said good bye to more and more people, time is really flying by quickly!
hugs!
another half-random poem:
There's something in a simple hug
That always warms the heart;
It welcomes us back home
And makes it easier to part.
A hug's a way to share the joy
And sad times we go through,
Or just a way for friends to say
They like you 'cause you're you.
Hugs are meant for anyone
For who we really care,
From your grandma to your neighbor -
Or a cuddly teddy bear.
A hug is an amazing thing -
It's just the perfect way
To show the love we're feeling
But can't find the words to say.
It's funny how a little hug
Makes everyone feel good;
In every place and language,
It's always understood.
And hugs don't need equipment,
Special batteries or parts -
Just open up your arms
And open up your hearts.
- Jill Wolf
There's something in a simple hug
That always warms the heart;
It welcomes us back home
And makes it easier to part.
A hug's a way to share the joy
And sad times we go through,
Or just a way for friends to say
They like you 'cause you're you.
Hugs are meant for anyone
For who we really care,
From your grandma to your neighbor -
Or a cuddly teddy bear.
A hug is an amazing thing -
It's just the perfect way
To show the love we're feeling
But can't find the words to say.
It's funny how a little hug
Makes everyone feel good;
In every place and language,
It's always understood.
And hugs don't need equipment,
Special batteries or parts -
Just open up your arms
And open up your hearts.
- Jill Wolf
Friday, October 19, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
birthdays galore!
today is the birthday of six (!) of my friends. tomorrow three more, and on friday yet another two. you might wonder what the odds are for two people to have a birthday on the same day? well, let me tell you the answer: it's enough to gather a group of 23 people, and you'll have a 50% chance that any two of them will have a birthday on the same day.
does that seem counter-intuitive? I agree. that's why it's called the birthday paradox. but the maths prove that it is actually true, and a little bit of probabibility theory will do it for you.
we start off by seeing that with 23 people, you can form 23*22/2 = 253 pairs, which is more than half the number of days in a year. (with 28 people you get 378 pairs...) so already there we might suspect something.
to attack the problem, we first start out by finding out what the probability is that for each person we add to the group, that one doesn't have a birthday in common with someone already there. the formula for that is (365 - n)/365 for n being the number of people already in the group (starts out with 0). these separate probabilities are then multiplied, for the n amount of people we want to have. despite each probability being quite high (for n = 23 it's still ~0.9397), multiplying all of these brings the number quite far down, actually all the way to 0.4927, meaning there's a 49.3% chance that our 23rd person doesn't have a birthday already taken. if we then subtract this, we see that we get a 50.7% chance of two people having the same birthdays. done!
if you have 30 people, there's a 70% chance, and with 50 people, you're up to 97% chance to have two people with the same birthday. quite amazing, huh?
in other news, going to the gym is a lot more fun nowadays. a friend of mine suggested that I change the way I do my routines, and pretty much do maximum every time. only 2 sets, and quite few reps. it's a lot more intense, and takes a lot less time. I only do about 3-4 muscle groups, so all in all it's over in about 15-20 minutes. gonna keep this up and do it every day before I leave, and then probably rest a week or so. and then I'll see how it feels, probably going to try and keep it up. it's fun!
does that seem counter-intuitive? I agree. that's why it's called the birthday paradox. but the maths prove that it is actually true, and a little bit of probabibility theory will do it for you.
we start off by seeing that with 23 people, you can form 23*22/2 = 253 pairs, which is more than half the number of days in a year. (with 28 people you get 378 pairs...) so already there we might suspect something.
to attack the problem, we first start out by finding out what the probability is that for each person we add to the group, that one doesn't have a birthday in common with someone already there. the formula for that is (365 - n)/365 for n being the number of people already in the group (starts out with 0). these separate probabilities are then multiplied, for the n amount of people we want to have. despite each probability being quite high (for n = 23 it's still ~0.9397), multiplying all of these brings the number quite far down, actually all the way to 0.4927, meaning there's a 49.3% chance that our 23rd person doesn't have a birthday already taken. if we then subtract this, we see that we get a 50.7% chance of two people having the same birthdays. done!
if you have 30 people, there's a 70% chance, and with 50 people, you're up to 97% chance to have two people with the same birthday. quite amazing, huh?
in other news, going to the gym is a lot more fun nowadays. a friend of mine suggested that I change the way I do my routines, and pretty much do maximum every time. only 2 sets, and quite few reps. it's a lot more intense, and takes a lot less time. I only do about 3-4 muscle groups, so all in all it's over in about 15-20 minutes. gonna keep this up and do it every day before I leave, and then probably rest a week or so. and then I'll see how it feels, probably going to try and keep it up. it's fun!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
*looks to the right*
Days left in Sweden: 7
that feels quite amazing. I told the football people today that I'm leaving, and they were quite surprised to say the least, hehe...
my days are currently spent with sports, meeting ppl, and some other stuff. I think I need to start packing soon, but that'll probably take until weekend or so. not a day too late...
and yes, I became top scorer. my competitor "only" scored three goals today, so he ended two behind me. here are the final results. yay!
that feels quite amazing. I told the football people today that I'm leaving, and they were quite surprised to say the least, hehe...
my days are currently spent with sports, meeting ppl, and some other stuff. I think I need to start packing soon, but that'll probably take until weekend or so. not a day too late...
and yes, I became top scorer. my competitor "only" scored three goals today, so he ended two behind me. here are the final results. yay!
capocannoniere?
yesterday was our last game of the season, and we needed a win to make it through to the playoffs. it didn't start well at all, with a 0-2 deficit in halftime, despite having about 5-10 clear goalscoring opportunities (I missed about 3-4).
the second half turned out to be pretty much the same. an abundance of missed opportunities, and spirits were sinking. however, two quick goals, one of them by me, meant that we needed only one more goal to go through. and with 5 minutes left it came, and it felt gooooood. the last few minutes we were just playing possession game, even though we did have a few more chances to score. (and yes, I missed some there too.)
my one goal of the game meant that my total tally came to 23 goals in 18 games, of which I think I missed four or so. 23/14 = 1.64, which is quite a good average. the remaining games are played today, and there's one person with 18 goals scored, which can equal me. they're playing against quite an easy team, but the rules only allow you to score 5 goals per game. which means I'll at least be shared top scorer, if not alone. the award ceremony is the 30th of october, which means I'll miss it...
the second half turned out to be pretty much the same. an abundance of missed opportunities, and spirits were sinking. however, two quick goals, one of them by me, meant that we needed only one more goal to go through. and with 5 minutes left it came, and it felt gooooood. the last few minutes we were just playing possession game, even though we did have a few more chances to score. (and yes, I missed some there too.)
my one goal of the game meant that my total tally came to 23 goals in 18 games, of which I think I missed four or so. 23/14 = 1.64, which is quite a good average. the remaining games are played today, and there's one person with 18 goals scored, which can equal me. they're playing against quite an easy team, but the rules only allow you to score 5 goals per game. which means I'll at least be shared top scorer, if not alone. the award ceremony is the 30th of october, which means I'll miss it...
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