Wise Words

So on Sky News, they've had a vote for Britain's favourite quote. Now I'm not sure what mine is but one of the better ones from the top 10 on this poll would have to be the number 2 by old Abe Lincoln :

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

Bloody good advice if you ask me...it's amazing that the 'classic' American Presidents have such useful bits of information, just like George Bush hey?:

"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein."

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."

Ok, so I could go on....but I'll be kind....oh what the heck, just one more:

"I understand everybody in this country doesn't agree with the decisions I've made. And I made some tough decisions. But people know where I stand."

Is there something wrong with this picture?

Can you see anything out of the ordinary? Anything at all?

Hmmm....Johanna......

A pic of my Birthday cake

Ahh my lovely Johanna, thanks for making my cake, was so good!!

A little poem

Just getting my creative juices flowing:

The importance of life is to have fun,
Not to be scared and not to run,
To see what we have not what we have lost
To move on to the future at all cost

Look at ourselves and strive to be more
To see who we are right down to our core
To struggle but in the end succeed
To let our inner thoughts be freed

We should not be scared of what isn't known
To have ambitions and make life our own
To look at the future with open eyes
And not get caught up with potential lies

Live life to what you believe is true
Don't give yourself a chance to lament and rue
Do something amazing, get inspired and set the trend
But most of all be proud and positive until the end

10 down 9 to go

Ahhh don't you love Xmas time?? The chance to build snowmen, open presents, watch Home Alone.....oh the possibilities are endless. We see family members that we avoid for 364 days of the year (yes on purpose,haha) then are forced to spend time getting pissed with them. We put on half a stone in one day by over indulging on the finer things in life, yes turkey and we find out that Santa is really a kiddy fiddler, I aint sitting on your knee anymore you old perv. Ok, this post is really because System Bolaget is the shit, well ok, not really but they have just stocked a new Sam!! Oh yes, so here it is, the Holiday Porter...mmm....nice full bodied, bit easier going than the Cream Stout (that I talked about before), Ok, I'm not going to pretend I know the first thing about beer etc, but put it this way, it's Sam, it's amazing, enough said.......

Ahh perfection (besides Johanna of course), what else are you going to pull out of the bag Sam?

My Birthday weekend

Probably too much to say really!! I'll keep this one short, then put some more up later on in the week. My biggest first over here (apart from getting engaged, a car and an apartment with J) was watching a hockey game, Djurgarden (haven't got a Swedish keyboard) vs Modo, in Stockholm. The game was really good, it's great to see any sports live, and this was fab as my Dad came over too. It ended up 4-1 to Djurgarden, much to the dismay of Johanna, haha. Saw plenty of sin bins, goals, a penalty, the referee sliding on his arse in to the net too (classic moment!)...the full works, was a quality day/weekend.

So now I'm 24 do I feel any different?

Of course not!! Mentally I'm always going to be young, a healthy mind is a healthy body. All I'm waiting for now is my Xmas holiday to Salen, my board is itching, waiting to get kitted up, waiting to 'shred the gnar'.....oh dear I miss America, haha

Just a random little clip, it's a shot on goal, better than nothing!! Listen to the crowd when the keeper saves the puck....just one of the many 'words' in the language repertoire...lots of grunts and mmm's.......

Taxi for McClaren

So the infamous P45 is lurking over Mr. England managers head, with just and unjust reason. I mean what the hell were we thinking? We get rid of Sven (who was one of the most successful England managers...yeah says a lot doesn't it?!) for his right hand man, as in did they think McClarens tactics were going to be any different from Mr. Sven?! erm...it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. Why not get a good manager in, like Guus Hiddink for example, I mean we've had bloody Keegan, Taylor, Hoddle and Venables, all absolutely retarded managers, how about we try and score lots of goals by punting the ball in the air all the time...yes, I mean by probability alone, the chances of the ball going anywhere near the goal are slim, especially when banana boy Beckham can't kick a ball straight to save his life.

I don't understand why we actually have any expectations of England, I mean the Premier league is the 'best league' in the World...dubious, we need some passion....check out the Brazilian leagues, check out their fan base...mind blowing. I mean we have the most over rated players in the World, we have very few playing top football and I honestly can't think of many 'World class' English players.....

Give some of the Championship players a chance, give someone who has a bit about them, a bit of passion, that gives everything all the time, damn it put Danny Carlton in the team (yeah Morecambe), he'd give the other team a good kick in.

I mean Sweden aren't supposed to be better than us for Christ sake, I mean check out Gefle footy team, in the top Swedish league, mid-table team and they get like 1,000 people per game. This is less than some non league football teams in England, yet our National team is shite. We always said Spain were the most overrated team in the World....but what the hell....have they not looked in the mirror?! England suck so bad, we lack talent, we lack passion, we don't try anything new, same old boring shite. All I'm waiting for is Johanna to marry me so I can become Swedish and support a team that doesn't suck.....so much.

Great Opportunities

Sometimes we have our moments (no not 'that time of the month' moments) like mini epiphanies, where we actually switch off from subconscious thinking and realize what we have/what we are doing. I had one such moment earlier when, naming no names, a certain person proved once again that they are indeed a total waste of time. Now this may seem weird but it kinda lead me towards realizing how good I've actually got it over here. Too many of us too often always take things for granted, cliche as it is, it's most definitely true. For those who haven't seen it, watch Lucky Number Slevin (quality film) and take note of the Rabbi's taking for granted scene...so true.

Why do most things lose their appeal over time? When do things become 'normal'? This is to me a way of thought more than anything else....We all live in our own little world's, all in a bubble, some live in a bigger bubble than others and some choose to make their bubble bigger. I say this because of our knowledge is self limiting, the more we venture out and gain information, the bigger our bubble gets. Not in terms of simply reading a book, but living it, playing sports, travelling, anything really.

What I don't understand is when someone gets an opportunity of a lifetime, why they wouldn't take it and then some? May be it's because they are blinded by what they don't see? Or scared of what is going to happen? Who knows....but if someone said to you here's a million pounds, no strings attached you'd probably take it, right? I guess there must be an element of 'effort' in this opportunity malarkey, as in, although some opportunities are amazing....they may also require a huge amount of effort in order to achieve them.

I say this because I am unbelievably fortunate to be where I am today, who do I thank for this? Tough question....I guess we learn from everyone, it's hard to see why we accept information/traits from one person but not from the next, do we learn from people we trust or like, or are we impartial to most things that people say? Who knows, for me now though it is motivation, again I don't know from where this comes from...well I have my own thoughts on this, but it's too long and boring to talk about.

When I take these 'moments' I realize that I'm doing something good, I don't want to be compared to anyone accept myself, we all have our own goals so it's pointless to compare (even though we do). I think you have to take the person as a whole and compare to how they were to how they are and to how they are going to be or what they will do.

I want to live my life and be able to be proud of it, for my own benefit ultimately. Of course making your loved ones proud is probably hand in hand with this. For me, the sudden realisation that I'm in Sweden, have an amazing fiancee then all the rest (i.e. material things...car, new apartment etc) is almost a constant wake up call to say enjoy life and be proud of myself. Now of course we can't always do seemingly huge things all the time, e.g. live abroad, get a new job etc, but this goes back to why things become 'normal' and why we sometimes forget to appreciate what we have- if we thought that going to work everyday, not just to pay the mortgage or because we 'have to' could be an exciting/interesting thing, then we might enjoy work a little more! Ok, hard one to contemplate I guess.

But for me, I can't ever sit here and think that what I'm doing is 'normal'...it's almost self inspiring (again for me, not necessarily for the next person), I love going to the gym, playing squash etc etc, as soon as I fall in to the trap that it's normal or routine I'm probably not going to do it anymore. This is something we all don't do enough of, to sit and think about it in a different way can help this.

I'm actually looking forward to my next 'moment', they aren't all the same and sometimes you think 'shit, what next' for example, but that's not always a bad thing- I mean when we change we actually might lose a part of what we had before, then hindsight can show us it was good/bad. If only we could use this every time to move forward and appreciate what we have at that present moment and what we want/will do.......life for everyone would be much more fun.

There's always one

Just a quick note to say I've removed the comments from here as there is one penis who is quite clearly an uneducated retard and needs to go back to school. If you're going to leave a stupid comment on someone's blog, you've obviously spent time reading it, so don't being a hypercritical nob jockey and write something shit, especially when you've just taken a moment of your pointless life to say something no one on this world cares to here, dumbass.

Winter Jam 2007

For those who don't know, Snowboarding is one of my 'things'. I first went boarding in 1998 at Mammoth Mountain in California, it was a momentous thing, as it changed my future.....my last 2 winters I have spent teaching boarding in the States, at a resort, Sunday River in Maine (near Boston), which is incredibly ironic because my first ever experience on snow (skiing) was on a school trip to Sunday River in 1997!! Who knew 8 years later I'd be teaching there, definitely weird how the World works and more than enough proof that we are capable of more than we can imagine.

Last year when I first visited Sweden, I ended up at Stadium in Stockholm (exactly this date- well last weekend but a year ago) and randomly stumbled across a big ass jump built in the middle of this Stadium (it's called Stadium as well so it's not just me being retarded). Turns out the top pro's were there (minus a few Americans) as it's an event on the FIS World Cup...kinda like a league of Snowboarders etc who tour around the globe and compete in these events.

Last year I saw the likes of Risto Mattila, Andreas Wiig, Antti Autti and the legendary Stefan Gimpl (The names prob don't mean much to you I know...but amazing athletes and known globally to the snowboarding world!) but unfortunately I missed it this year!!!Aaaaahhhhh.....ok, not as bad as it seems, I was watching a Queen musical in Globen with my lovely fiance, but yes I did have the odd moment of 'kinda wish I was there' (I'm not saying I didn't have a great time!!) especially as last year it was pissing down with rain and last weekend was clear skies and great conditions. I managed to catch it on TV and even watched the skiing big air, including seeing Simon Dumont (from Sunday River!) who came 3rd.

The Finns dominated the Boarding, Janne Korpi came first....he is just immense, pulled a cab 10 (look it up if you don't understand!) with a nose grab. So I will leave you with a pic of last years and hopefully the video will work. For those who have no interest in Boarding or Skiing, I beg you not to just pass up on either, you'll be amazed how much fun (and how easy it is too) you can have, it opened up my life, let it in to yours-I promise you won't be disappointed!!

p.s. It really isn't about doing stuff like this, you just appreciate it more when you know how to ride/ski properly!! Check out a short vid of some clips from this year

What a weekend

Really short one as Johanna has the camera with the pics, will tell all later....but went to Stockholm, had a picnic in the snow, watched a musical at Globen, visited the Gustavsberg place, watched Alpha dog and Bobs your Uncle, Steves your cross dressing Aunt, sorted......

Now that the cold is here...

A quick post as am tired beyond belief, but now I truly understand why Swedes have to have heated seats in their cars!! Not only does it feel kinda nice, you know warm cheeks and back, but if you didn't have it, your arse would probably freeze to the seat.....Now I say this as the temps have been very cold the last few days, everything is becoming very white.....so are the lovely shiny footpaths, which are more like frozen tundra than a place to walk. It's really funny because now people on bikes actually speed up instead of slowing down, otherwise at slow speeds gravity and ice start to have some funny effects, so you just see people gunning it everywhere then coming to a grinding halt right at the last second.

The second thing, which is quite amazing is the heated roads....well the main ones anyway, they are drier than a nuns crotch...very bizarre when you look inches to the right or left, where the paths are!! The famous saying with flying, is 'it's safer than driving'.....not in Sweden it aint.....in order of danger......walking (worst), then flying, then driving.....I knew the winter tyres were only for show........


The trips to Ikea proved quite treacherous

The scary thing about life

I truelly believe that its when things go apparently wrong in life, is when we actually show our true colours. Its when we have to dig deep, to find something about ourselves we didnt think was there is what makes us the person we really are.

Im a believer in you make life what it is, in terms how you see it and how you act. Our futures are full of unknowns, now to most people this is a very scary feeling. Ive been brought up in a modern culture of exposure to many things, Ive worked and lived in another country, Im studying in another, these are all pieces of the puzzle that is life.

Most people dont thrive on being scared of the unknown, now for me I want my life to carry on in this way. I think the only way you get a sense of pride, purpose or achievement is by dealing with a new situation, one that you have to adapt to. Life becomes very mundane if we did the same thing we did the last day, week, month or year. The stereotypical view of you never appreciate things until they are gone I believe is only partially true, it depends how you go about your life. I can see I have so many things, not simply materialisitc bits but Im genuinly happy as a person, Im going down a path that has lots of doors, lots of different routes until I come to the end. Now some of these roads are scary, the fear of the unknown will and does hit me, but its how you deal with it, how you let it affect you that could make this fear something to almost look forward to or something to put you back in to a shell, to make you even more scared.

Why is it people are great at giving advice to others but never can give the same advice to themselves? Ok, "never" isnt probably the right word, but the way to think is may be to turn a seemingly bad situation in to one where you are now on the other side, what would you tell someone else if they were going through your pain, because more than likely it is something that someone is telling you. People can be their own worst enemy. Life is full of challenges, its these events that shape us a person, not all challenges are fun or wanted, but still we have to deal with them. Just remember that if life was straight forward, we would all be very very dull people, everyone would get along, no one would have an opinion. The next time something is forced upon you, a situation you cant avoid or hide from, greet it with an open mind, change is not necessarily a bad thing.....

It's getting cold

Ok, typical English conversation here...yes the bloody weather. We spend more than half our lives talking crap, moaning about this and that, I guess that's part of life. The way I look at it, is this moaning per se is a balance against positive things too. Hence we somehow make up for this negativity....just it's harder to see I think, whether it's the smile to someone as your walk passed or just mentally being positive. It's humanly natural to easily show we don't like something, than if we do....if we say how much we love something, it usually turns in to a comment about being 'weird' or 'obsessive'....but no-one will ever say you're obsessively negative....prob just a moaning git.

So no, I'm not moaning about the weather...the statement 'it's getting cold' has the assumption that this is a bad thing....however I beg to differ. Cold = snow = good = snowboarding = fun = life......by this chain of totally causal words (yeah right) we can deduce cold = life......erm....or something like that. The point is, cold weather isn't necessarily a bad thing, sure we have to put 2 pairs of underpants in the morning, wear 3 T-shirts, turn our heating up to sauna level and our skin drys out like a prune in the oven...but it's not all bad. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but yes winter is here to stay, yes it gets dark very early but so what. If we can't accept this, then we only live for a few months out of the year each time....hmm...we must waste a lot of something....

Just think of the good things with winter..... you can put your beers outside for a natural coolness, you can light candles and crap so your lady is pleased (something about setting the mood or something) and feels cosy, you seem to get more hugs in winter, you put on so many layers walking in to things doesn't hurt, you get to pretend you are a choo choo train, you get a much better feeling once you walk inside to a hot room, in England as chavs can't afford clothes they disappear for the winter, early darkness makes it feel like night so going out at 3pm when it's pitch black instead of 10pm is good, you get way more sleep!! I could go on.......

As I'm not teaching snowboarding this year my winter could have been some drizzle infested, wet soggy aftermath which we get in England (see I'm not complaining am I?!)...however, as Sweden is a real country they get snow and plenty of it.....so my winter is going to feel as close to the last 2 years as it possibly could......oh I can't wait until January/Feb temps! (with windchill in Maine, it got down to almost verging where Fahrenheit equaled Celsius at -40, it was the case of sit on the lift to get to the top of a run and you would have frostbite on your nose, was lovely)

All that needs to be said now is bring on the winter, bring on the snow

Giant microbes!!

I finally think someone has nailed the market for soft cuddly toys, no not bloody beanie babies, teddy bears, funny shaped animals oh no, this is amazing! Ironic is best defined by this invention: I am doing a microbiology course, meaning I deal with lovely little bacteria and any other thing that can't really be seen with our useless eyesight. Guess what some genius has come up with........???

....Giant Microbes!!

These are 'exactly what is says on the tin' to coin a phrase- novelty plush microbes, which show all our favourite and exciting diseases etc....not only informative and totally hilarious....I definitely wouldn't mind having the Ebola virus and may be gonorrhea after......


The common cold virus...oh rhinovirus you funny little bugger, I know what I want for xmas!!

My new car...real one this time

A life changing thing is owning a car....trust me, you can go places youll never see otherwise, you can see things you could otherwise miss. So my car is now my second love, well may be third, haha, Johanna and snowboarding (in no particular order...just kidding). The car is fanstastic....it has not only got 5 doors (even though I only use 1 at a time), air conditioning, sunglass holder but wait for it.....heated seats!! Now to the average Swede this might be totally normal, but at home this is most definitely a luxury!! So now wherever I drive I can have a warm arse and back....fantastic. Oh yeah, did I mention the new car smell?! So pictured below are a few images of my beast (no, not that)

Someone stuck some nails in my tyre!!

My many firsts!!

What can I say? This weekend (well Friday too) has been immense and Ive done somethings Ive never done before. The biggest thing was collecting my new car from Skövde (where Johannas family is from....well Tibro anyway). So not only was the train journey from Uppsala down there a never done before for me, I now own a new car....its a very weird feeling, I mean weird in a good way, not only is that new car smell the nicest smell ever, haha, but having a new toy is just amazing. The freedom of having a car is just unexplainable, yes I dont "need" a car, but its as close to needing a car as possible.

Other firsts...hmm....I drove Bosses new Chevy Captiva with all the bits on too, very nice. Its also the first time Ive seen snow this early in the year. What else? Johanna after completing her massage course, bought one of those big massage benches, which she practised a full body massage on me (no nothing sexual you pervs), thats definitely a first. Erm....I got up at 5.30am to catch the bus ready for my train journey to go and get my car....def a first getting up that early to go on a sodding train.

Anything more??? I tried Swedish meatloaf made by Inga-Lill (Johannas Mum), very nice too, I tried grynkorv...a white kind of sausage....no comment. I drank Jagermeister out of a short glass, I had cheese and biscuits whilst fighting an Irish terrier for a seat at Bosses pad. I visited 4 different Swedish houses in 1 day.....the list continues...so all not quite as impressive as "Ive eaten sausage" but you know what I mean.

This year has been full of firsts....Im not going to list all the "big" ones.....but stand out ones include actually dragging my butt over here, so studying in a foreign country is definitely a big one for me. The biggest obviously is getting engaged....not to just anyone, to an absolutely amazing Swedish lady...could my life be any better?

Well yes actually...not far around the corner is my new apartment, so me and J are gunna live together, which I am very excited about!! I have a holiday in Sälen to look forward to (providing my bastard knee heals in time). My birthday would be on that list, but is that really a good thing?! haha......24..hmmm....

One thing I do know is that if Johannas family are going to be this nice to me, Im not going to have a hard time over xmas, as this will be another first for me....spending time with the other half of my new family in Sweden.....hopefully meatballs will be involved.



Just the other side where Johannas brother, nephew, cousins, uncle or 2 and some chickens live...in the country side