The Past - Per-Anders Stenman

A lot of news!

I’m in Luleå. I’m studying to become a nurse. And it rocks. Steelers just beat up on the Ravens. And that rocks too.

Lately a lot of things has happened, I’ve been very ill for a long time but are now receiving treatment, I’ve meet someone special, I’ve spent the Christmas holiday at my parents house in Jokkmokk and I’ve moved in with two friends from home, changing from a smaller (very expensive) apartment to something bigger. (Though I am living in the kitchen at the moment(!)).

However, tomorrow we’re signing the contract for a 5 room apartment and adding an additional runner to the crew, making us 4 guys. Each having a separate bedroom and a bigger living room that houses couches, movies, computers and so on. That’s really exiting.

The bad news is the first flag of news above. I’m sick. It’s nothing life threatening but it’s pretty bad due to the medication I’m on I’m forbidden to work out since it lowers the strength of the joints making them weak to pressure, if I lift to heavy, the might snap. So no climbing for me.

On the other hand, I’ve been looking into the football situation here in Luleå and me and the guy (that’s getting added to the apartment crew above) are going to their practice tomorrow (tuesday) to talk to the coach and see how they are doing. I can’t wait to get back on the gridiron.

So, unless my doctor tells me otherwise, I’ll hope to return to playing in a couple of weeks when the body is back in business.

That’s all for now, thank you and good night!

The time has been going by so quickly!

I’ve been exploring more characteristics in the art of climbing with an old friend that I recently reconnected with after a few years of absence communication. He pointed out that: going to a huge hall, climbing as high as you can on a wall with difficult grips on to reach the top, go down do it all over again (x10) then going home and after a day or two: Repeat. It is kind of silly, isn’t it? Even going outdoors, to a cliff to climb it is a pretty weird thought. But fun nevertheless!

My classes at the university is running along smoothly. This week (Wednesday through thursday and friday) I’ll be doing a internship-light at the Hospital of Sunderbyn. I’m greatly looking forward to this since it’s a chance to get out into the work life and have a look around on the nursing practice in action.

And then it’s pretty much a easter break with a couple of seminars before the exam-week rolls around.

I think it’s about time I start studying!

Time to get back to the books and be more productive!

-Cheers,

The weekend has been pretty slow. Friday was going out night and I spent some time at a classmates house before we took a cab into town. We started of at a smaller cocktail bar and after that we headed down to a nightclub. It was a pretty nice evening and I had a lot of fun just hanging out with people, having a beer and a laugh.

The evening ended after we all went to a burger place and had a meal. It’s more of a tradition having a meal after a night out in Sweden then some other parts of the world where I’ve had the blessing to set my foot. None the less, food at 3 in the morning is just superb. Specially if your a bit tipsy!

Before heading to my classmates house, I finished up my climbing certificate with a small theoretical test and a practical test on an inside climbing wall. Everything went smooth and I’m so glad I did it! Finally, I can go climb indoors wherever I want!

Saturday was staying home day. Watching movies. I saw Hancock and Wanted. Both were satisfying movies in the action genre. I wouldn’t place them on my top 100 movie list of all times. But still, good entertainment.

Right after the movies ended. Another classmate called me up as he was passing by on the way to the university nightclub. I agreed to tag along and have a beer and meet some people.

Sunday. Oh sunday. I’ve sleept in pretty badly. All I’ve done today is washing, grocery shopping, cooking and watching a movie. Slow sundays are the best. They let you reflect on the previous week as well as give you a heads up on what’s coming along the following week. Oh. I spent some time on Skype talking to a girl from Germany that I meet during my stay in the US and I got the urge to go out traveling. I got to admit, I haven’t spent all that much time in Germany. Maybe now is the time to go explore it some more? I’ll see if my wallet will let me as soon as possible. Hmm.

One of my best friends played guitar - accompanying another artist - live on national television this morning and I was thrilled to see it was a lot different from what I thought it would be. And a lot better to tell you the truth (the performance can be found here and is listed under the artist Markus Fagervall)

Oh well. That’s it for now. Pretty slow weekend.

I’ve been permanently away from blogging since I got back home from the University of Umeå. I just haven’t had the energy to write. The final thesis took all my energy and left me bone dry when it comes to the internet. I just haven’t felt like spending time online when life has so much other things to offer!

So, what’s new?

Well, I’ve worked on and of for the fire dep. during the summer back home. Spending time with my friends, charging my batteries and getting to know new people at home. I’ve spent some time with a good friend from the University in his hometown, the capital of Sweden known as Stockholm. Which was a well needed vacation!

And then. I’ve enrolled at nursing school! So, three more years at the University! Not that I’m all that keen on spending more time (or money) on my education.. But.. It’s something that I want to do. And I’m most likely be able to combine it with my other degree in political science. So. Now I’m residing out of the town of Luleå instead of Umeå as before. Small change in spelling and pronunciation but big change in scenery and location!

The good news is that I’m now living in the same town as one of my oldest and best friends Erik, which we haven’t been able to do the last 15 years, and it feels great to be able to hang out and do stuff whenever.

I’ve also enlisted for a new sport that I just need to try out. Climbing. I’m starting next monday and that feels so good! Finally something to look forward too when it comes to physical activity.. It feels good!

So, that’s it. I can’t make any promises, but hopefully I won’t be such a stranger in the blogg community from now on!

Cheers,

I’m sorry for the long absence of posts.

Right now, my day consists of authoring of thesis, sleeping, eating and hanging out with friends that brings inspiration.

The thesis is coming along ok. Right now, we’re a bit behind but working on getting back on track.
Yesterday we had our last “opposition seminar” on the thesis and got a lot of great ideas and feedback. We’re working on applying that to the thesis as we speak.

I’ll post more info as progression is made. Hopefully, I’ll be able to translate the thesis into English so I can either post it here or send it to you guys who’s been asking for a draft/copy.

Anyway, I hope you all are safe out there and that you take care of the onces you love!

I’ve been keeping myself busy this last weeks. Mostly with training at the gym doing “2-a-days”, but also, trying to find material for my thesis and browsing through it.

I’m a “reality show”-oholic. Actually, I’m more of a “TV-Show”-oholic.

I love TV-shows. They make me forget about the troubles of the day and gets me relaxed. Over the years I’ve followed everything from House M.D., The West Wing, Boston Legal, 24, Futurama, Heroes to Numb3rs.

And now, “Roomservice“.

Roomservice is a Swedish TV show, starring a carpenter, a painter and a interior designer (the interior designer is changing from episode to episode) where they “invade” a persons home (with consent) to redecorate/redo a room, everything from kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms, you name it. They ask the owner of the place a couple of basic questions about how they want their place re-done and after that, they go to work, designing.. It’s a blast. Especially if you like design and interior design. It’s a Swedish version of “Extreme Home Makeover” of sorts, (actually, I think there is a “Extreme Home Makeover” branch in Sweden as well, but that show is not as compelling or charming as “Roomservice”). I’m having a blast. Problem? I want to tear down my parents kitchen, living room, bathrooms and redo the whole house. I don’t think my parents would appreciate that. I’m glad I just got a small apartment at the moment. Not to much to be done!

So, over to the “turn for the good” part.

I’ve applied to another university, (Luleå Tekniska Universitet). I’m going to nursing school. Becoming a nurse as my mother. This in combination with my exam in “International Crisis- and Conflict management” (political science) will assist me in my struggle to help people. I’m not quite sure how to combine them yet, but I will. For you who only known me for a while (or just getting to know me) this might come as a bit of a surprise, but for you who’ve known me for a long time, you’ll know it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time.

I’m very exited that I’ve made this decision and I’m really looking forward to it. But first, I have got to finish my thesis so I get my diploma this summer!

Time for a final episode of “Johnny and Mattias” from Roomservice! Then: Bed.

After being grilled for an hour on an opposition paper this friday I got into the car around 5pm with a friend, heading up for Jokkmokk. The reason was that one of my oldest and best friends turned 30, and this time, I was in Sweden to actually be at the event.

The trip wasn’t without complications. Around 9pm as we stopped for a 10 minutes dinner the cars battery light started to act up and by the time we were about 1 hour from home, the car just died. (Turns out the coal in the generator that recharges the battery went MIA) and I had to make an emergency phone call to my dad who came and picked us up.

Arriving late, around midnight, it was a blast to see the surprised face of my friend and the celebration lasted until early morning.

The day after, saturday, me and another friend got into a car, drove to where my car had stopped working, charged the battery enough to make me last home and into the garage where I did some emergency repairs, taking out the generator, replacing the coal and putting it all back together since we had to get back down to Umeå the day after (sunday).

It’s been nice to spend so much time at my home town. When I was living there, I dreaded the place and all I could think about was getting “out into the world, living life”. But after being away from home for such a long time, spending a month in Thailand and roughly 6 in the US, I have started to appreciate the comfort of home and friends. Being back in Umeå feels like a whole new challenge as I turn my attention to my last paper before graduating this summer.

I’ve spent a couple of hours going through all the news that’s been reported the last couple of days and I’ve also taken time to go over some new trailers for movies coming out this spring/summer and some of the clips that has got me longing to hit the cinemas is the following: Street Kings, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hancock, Leatherheads, The Fall, Chaos Theory, Where in the world is Osama Bin Ladin?, The Bank Job, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, How to lose Friends and Alienate People and finally, Midnight Meat Train. As well as Dark Knight that I mentioned earlier, this might be a good time for the movies..

Now I’m going to kick back for a while, watching Walk the Line since I’m probably the only one in the world who hasn’t seen it..

Today has been a slow day.. I went to bed around 9am last night and woke up around 11pm this morning. I don’t know why I was so tiered, but the sleep did me some good.

I went downtown after a brief read-through of the news and answering some of the mails that has been piling up over the week I was gone for easter holiday. Once downtown, I meet up with a friend of mine that I got to know during my stay in the US and we went out for a “fika” (basically, a good conversation over a cup of coffee and some pastry..) but instead, we ran into 3 of the guys that I study with here in Umeå and we all went out for lunch together. It was really good. After that, me and my friend spend some time wandering around the shops. It was good to get out for a bit and change the scenery.

By a accident, one of my friends told me something today that gave me closure to a problem, that I’ve solved, but haven’t really gotten to terms with. It feels good. A weight has been lifted.

I watched “Shoot ‘Em Up” today, and it was just as good/bad as I expected it to be. It’s definitely a movie worth watching, for the action if not. Don’t get the impression it’s a “realistic” movie though, because then you’ll be disappointed.

Tomorrow I get to defend one of my papers and do an opposition on another students’ paper. And after that, it’s the weekend!

I hope your all safe out there.

Easter.

What a lovely holiday.

I’ve spent the holiday at home in Jokkmokk at my parents place. I’ve had the opportunity of hanging out with my friends all last week, spending time outside with my parents and one of my cousins and on top of that, gotten some parts of my paper done. Oh. And I’ve tried out “Guitar Hero“, that was a blast. I’ve also spent some time at the gym and it really did me some good working out.

Yesterday I turned in my final paper for this part of my course and today I picked up the printed version that I’ll have to defend at a opposition the day after tomorrow. I’m not totally satisfied with the end result, but oh well, “what you gonna do?” so to speak.

Today I visited Iksu here in Umeå, contemplating registering for a month to try out the facility. We’ll see. It’s pretty expensive, but then again, it’s an investment of health so..

Time to get back to reading some of the published work before it’s time for dinner.

Meanwhile, you can enjoy this trailer of “Shot ‘Em Up” that I hope to watch sometime during this week!

I’ve been working on my paper all day. I’m not making as good progress as I thought I would. There’s a lot more work to it then I initially presumed..

I’ve aborted the writing for tonight and been surfing around the net for a while to see what’s new. Right now, the Swedish media is covered in “Schlager” (European song contest country final) and I can’t stand another article on the subject. Isn’t enough enough?

The media is going to kill the interest for everything with “over exposure” they should be focusing on other, more important things, as world famine, war, disasters etc. etc. Not discuss the latest dress, drama and rumors at a song contest.. What is the world coming to anyway?

So, instead of getting all cynical, I decided to list some of the books I’ve wanted to read (or read, just “want” so I can re-read them!) for a long time, here goes,

Terry Pratchett - “The Color of Magic” and “Light Fantastic” - A wonderful trip into the Disc World Series..
Neil Strauss - The Game - This one, I haven’t read yet, but from what I hear, it’s not just thrilling, but inspiring(!?) too..
Stephen Mendel-Enk - Me uppenbar känsla för stil - Swedish book where violence as a male dominated doctrine is in focus.. Interesting..
Aleksandr Fursenko & Timot Naftali - One hell of a gamble - A book on the “Cuban Missile Crisis” that I didn’t have time, unfortunately, to read at the University..
Graham T. Allison & Philip Zelikow - Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis - The ground breaking theory of organization theory to explain the “Cuban Missile Crisis”, excellent work..
Matti Larsson & Lasse Wierup - Svensk Maffia: En kartläggning av de kriminella gängen - A book about charting out the Swedish Mob and it’s organization.

Time for this guy to hit the sack, there’s a new day tomorrow!

[EDIT]
Martin Gilbert - Churchill: A life

Forgot to add a book!