Well it is now Sunday (at least in my part of the world anyway), and that means it’s Sunday Morning Jazz. I always say it so I will say it again, it’s a very nice comedown to the week just passed, and a ramp up to the coming week.

Today I woke up at 08.30 in the morning, after going to bed at 05.00. The previous day I went to bed at 05.00 but woke up at 10.00. The extra time was only because I was really drunk, otherwise I would have come to at 08.30 again and not slept in so late.

This week has been very crazy and busy. I was in Finland from Sunday to Wednesday to participate in an audit. And then when I left on Wednesday, I had a feeling that we needed to work on some of the challenges and that my direct involvement was necessary. So I flew back on Friday morning and stayed the day.

Socially, I am on the brink of expanding and withdrawing at the same time. Some nights I go out and realise why I should stay in. This past weekend was one of those experiences where I might have been better served just to have a weekend in. My weekend-of-fun was topped off a dental visit that went better than I thought, but for which she did not finish like I had hoped while I still have my US insurance. So it just means that I will have to pay the dental work out of pocket. But on the flip side, it will also mean that I might take a deduction on it later in the year.

Two highlights of the weekend:
First was dinner with Sait. He’s a really nice guy and it was great to chat and just catch up. I owed him dinner because he made me dinner 2 weeks ago. So I made “Rodney’s Standard Meal” *lol* Since he had never had the honey-baked chicken I make, I made that, a homemade ceasar salad, along with a asparagus, mushroom, and tomato risotto with fresh lemon. We washed it down with a Rawson’s Creek Reisling and some long island iced teas. Since I was running late (for those who think I sleep too little, I managed to take a nap from 16.30 – 17.45), I skipped dessert, but I had some nice coffee and godiva chocolates lying around the house.

Second was seeing Chris, a good friend from Canada who moved to Göteborg last year. He was in town with his family this weekend. I saw him out at Lino and after a few minutes, I realised just how much I miss having him around. Easy and relaxed to talk to about whatever. We ended up chatting and excluding our friends for a bit of time, but then I had to leave Lino early due too much drama. And then he called me later on in the night and we chatted for like another hour. I actually really truly miss having an ally in Stockholm…someone in my inner circle…especially since I have been feeling islolated lately for reasons I can’t put down into words.

I also decided that I am going to visit the US in June. I think I will give midsummer a miss here and instead spend it in Boston and Atlanta. After all, I am an official employee of IBM Sweden in a few days, and that gives me 25-30 days of vacation every year. Have to use it!

Hope everyone is doing well and lots of hugs to everyone!

Well my apologies….I basically have went into radio silence mode for the past couple of weeks. Probably even more like a month. Things have just been super busy which is a somewhat lame excuse because I am sure that each day I could have found 5 minutes to post.

Anyway, since last posted on 21ss of May, I have been to Helsinki and back. And next week I will be in Copenhagen for 2 weeks (traveling back on the weekends). And then after that I am probably going to go to the USA for a week, but that hasn’t been confirmed. There is so much to do and everything is so very confusing and busy right now.

My brain is becoming all mushy. I need to lie down. My overall condition isn’t getting better health-wise, meaning that I am still highly stressed.

Hopefully I will get some relation time this weekend, but with my flying at 07.00 tomorrow (meaning I wake up at 05.00), a root canal treatment on saturday, and then going to copenhagen on sunday…i hope to be able to relax sometime in the end of June or July for a few days.

My Stupid Mouth
John Mayer

My stupid mouth,
Has got me in trouble.
I said too much again.
To a date over dinner yesterday
And I could see she was offended.
She said well anyway…
Just dying for a subject change.

Oh, its another social casualty
Score one more for me
How could I forget?
Mama said think before speaking
No filter in my head.
Oh, whats a boy to do?
I guess he better find one soon

We bit our lips. she looked out the window
Rolling tiny balls of napkin paper
I played a quick game of chess with the
Salt and pepper shaker.
And I could see clearly
An indelible line was drawn
Between what was good, what just
Slipped out and what went wrong.

Oh, the way she feels about me has changed.
Thanks for playing, try again.

How could I forget?

Mama said think before speaking
No filter in my head.
Oh, whats a boy to do?
I guess he better find one.

Im never speaking up again. it only hurts me.
Id rather be a mystery than she desert me.

Oh Im never speaking up again.
Starting now

One more thing.
Why is it my fault?
So maybe I try too hard
But its all because of this desire
I just wanna be liked, I just wanna be funny.
Looks like the jokes on me
So call me captain backfire

Im never speaking up again it only hurts me.
Id rather be a mystery than she desert me.

Oh Im never speaking up again
Starting now

This is fast becoming one of my favourites parts of the week. Some jazz and a nice brunch. except yesterday i made dinner for Markus and I since we both dislike Schlager and the Eurovision Song Contest. I made honey-glazed chicken, ceasar salad, and a wild mushroom risotto. All served with a reisling wine. I had also made baked lemon and goat cheese canapes on crustini with anchovi, but I burned the goat cheese in the oven because the setting was a bit high. 🙁 but i will get it right next time.

the point of describing dinner was to say that i am so full that today will be only jazz music and no brunch. maybe a glass of afternoon wine and nice walk around the city. I go to Helsinki tonight through Wednesday. And then in Stockholm for the rest of the week.

And I also feel like I need a holiday somewhere. Not only have I done a good job at work, but I passed by CISSP certification and I have yet to reward myself. Maybe I am running at capacity.

I work here. Doing stuff. Stuff that keeps me awake at night.

lj-mood: tired

lj-music: Prodigy: Firestarter

So it turns out that I am supposed to
go to Helsinki tomorrow, but I am having a problem to find a hotel room.
 Every room in Helsinki appears to be booked and I am not sure why.
 It is not that Helsinki is not a fun place.  It is that it is
not so much fun that it should be operating at such a capacity that the
nearest open hotel room is in Estonia.  Really strange indeed.  I
have to go next week anyway, but there were some meetings and engagements
that I wanted to keep, so I am little pissed that I might not be able to
find a room in time.

On another note, I found this picture
of me, my best friend Markus, and the owner of Storstad (where we were
having dinner) on the internet.  Actually, there is a website called
www.stockholmsfinest.com that takes pictures at several clubs of people
they deem cool.  And then the next day you can go and see if your
picture made it.  Our picture made it on 21 January 2006.

I am also very tired, but I am not sure
why I am awake.  I think with all of the new workload and things on
my mind, I can’t even relax and fall asleep.  Which is a shame really
because I could use the sleep.  And maybe listening to Prodigy isn’t
helping too much either.

On a different note, I decided to e-mail
this post into my livejournal to test out whether it will post as I have
formatted it and as expected.  If so, that will be cool.  Especially
when I have something on my mind that I want to post, but I can’t go and
open up LiveJournal at work without feeling like a total slack-ass cow
pie.  At least now I will be able to look like I am typing something
official-looking.

Peace. Rodney

(let’s discount the fact for the moment that I also work unofficially over the weekends)

This week has been one of ups and downs.

The plusses this week include:

• the fact that for volunteering to take a later flight on an overbooked plan, I got a €300 travel voucher. That brings it up to €600. So SAS has just paid for most if not all of my flight to a vacation destination in Europe or a trip back home.
• The dry cleaners managed to do a terrific job dry cleaning the sofa cushion covers. And all for like $200. Could have been worse. They are great and comfy sofas!:-)
• My landlord will let me stay through September. So a break on the pressure to find an apartment
• The first weeks of my new job are going well. So much to do and learn

The negatives are:

• That my mind hurts. Actually my brain. Like there is alot of pressure on it.
• My body is telling me that I need to relax, but I don’t know how. I have so much to do and I don’t want to disappoint. I keep telling myself the 80 hour weeks will get better soon.
• The stress-induced nosebleeds have started to return. But that only happens when the stress is at a severe level. Nothing else that I can notice physiologically about me changes (not a higher heart rate of anything).

I can’t seem to unplug now. It is making me nervous. I have been running at continuous high-octane for months now. If I don’t get ina decent vacation, it might become bad. I can handle it now because the situation calls for sustained performance at least through July. But I will need some time to chill out wuthin the next 12 weeks.

Does anyone know the way to Santa Fe? 😉