My last 5 books: Fantasy and sci-fi

1. Stockholms Undergång, by Boel Bermann. This is a short story collection all about the apocalypse and Stockholm. I got pretty odd looks on the train for reading this :P But it was a fun read. There was everything from vampires and zombies to a rainbow which sucked the colour out of the world and turned emotional people to ash. There's one where rats take over the world and another where people fall asleep without warning. Another one how people lose all inhibitions due to a brain virus and turn into cannibalistic maniacs. There's something for everybody. I'm used the apocalypse scenarios only being in America or possibly the UK so to read about it in Stockholm feels almost too personal, too close, too realistic... And I love it. I love how I know exactly where all the characters are and I can see their surroundinds exactly how they look inside my head. It gives the story a bit of realism that makes it so much scarier.

2. Dracula, by Bram Stoker. I tried to read this once when I was fourteen or so and I just thought it was so extremely boring. Now it went a lot better and I really liked it. The only complaint I really have is how Jonathan treats Mina, but that probably just reflect the time period when it was written. What struck me the most was how different Dracula looks in the book compared to the Hollywood version. Nosferatu's Count Orlok is actually more similar to the books' description than Bela Lugosi's Dracula. There's really no need to get into the story as everyone knows it, but it's worth mentioning that it's a story told in letters, diary snippets and newspaper articles. I found it really difficult to follow the story due to this when I was fourteen, but now that was no problem. And one more thing. Miss Lucy's blood transfusions made me facepalm so hard. How great are the odds that miss Lucy and five men all have the same blood type? Your frickin transfusions could very well be what's killing her, Van Helsing!!! 19th century science *rolling eyes*

3. The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson. I'm going to a wedding this autumn and the theme was set to Mistborn. Which meant I had to read the book. I had avoided Sanderson for such a long time because an ex of mine really liked his books and it felt a little too close. But I had surprisingly no issue with it. I absolutely fell in love with Kelsier's persona and throughout my reading this I kept thinking "Why isn't this a game?!" In my mind Kelsier looked exactly like Garrett in Thief and whenever the book described him using his Allomancy I got images from Thief and Dishonored in my head. This book would make an amazing game. I have a few issues with it though. This book was too vague about the fact that metal piercing the body or inside the body couldn't be used by Allomancers. I actually didn't realise this until the final battle and throughout the whole book I thought the Steel Inquisitors must really be at a disadvantage. Also the introduction of Allomancy was a mess. The first mention of it was: "Kelsier burned tin." I read that sentence several times trying to understand what it meant. But it wasn't actually explained until Vin showed up. All in all I really enjoyed this book, the issues aren't big enough to make me think any less of the story.

4. The Well of Ascension, by Brandon Sanderson. Since I liked the first book so much I decided to have a go at the second. But the driving force (Kelsier) of the first book was gone and the whole thing felt flat. The Well was barely even mentioned in the first half of the book and most of that was Elend whining and Vin whining and Sazed being confused and Tindwyl being exasperated. It was too much of the teenage romance bs that I hate "Oh I like him but I'm not sure he really likes me and how do I know I'm in love and should I stay or should I go he really deserves someone better but I like him so much" *siiiiiiiiiiigh* My favourite part of the book was when the battle actually started and the whole action of that because something was finally happening. And the ending was so extremely obvious. Sanderson has spent two book grooming this character and showing his readers how this character grows. No way is he going to die he's going to miraculously survive to grow a little bit more in the third book. This book was a disappointment after all the expectations the first book gave me, still the action in the end and also the sheer existance of Zane made me still somewhat enjoy it.

5. Cirkeln, by Mats Strandberg & Sara Bergmark Elfgren. This book was so hyped up a few years ago and I've been planning on reading it for ages but never got around to it. Until now. The hype was just that imo. This book was boring and it felt flat, as if they were keeping the story to a minimum so as to not be confusing, as if they had been forcing themselves to not divulge too much of the coming story and instead ended up with something that felt flat and stilted. To the point where none of the deaths even felt shocking. As for the characters I absolutely love Linnea (no surprise there) and Minoo. Vanessa I was just indifferent towards for the most part of the book but I 100% ship her with Linnea. Anna-Karin on the other hand is exactly the way I was back in high school (minus the dysfunctional family) and my heart breaks for her, because I know what it's like to want to be able to turn invisible. I know what it's like to get so good at being quiet and unnoticed that you actually get surprised when someone talks to you. My feelings to Anna-Karin may have contributed to my feelings for the book, because every time I read about her I got so sad.

Germany 2018 - day four

Last day in Germany! I got up early and packed my bags and then went down to have breakfast. The past two days we've had a British pair sitting next to us, and today they were talking business during their breakfast. Serious business; delivery, numbers, costs etc. Both my dad and I were like: guys, you have the least anonymous language in the whole world, maybe you shouldn't talk about these things where anyone can hear you?

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and went to the fair. We did mostly the same things again, but also checked out a few areas we hadn't previously been to (yes, ISM is big enough that you can miss entire sections of it). One of the Spanish companies my dad buys from had been slowly diminishing over the days. According to his contact there was a flu epidemic going around in the city they're from and apparently they had brought the flu with them. So slowly over the days more and more people had to stay home sick, and by this day their area was pretty empty compared to the first day :P Even our contact hadn't come to the last day. Talked a bunch with some other Spanish companies and when it was time we picked up our bags and went to the train.

That's when we proved that German efficiency is a myth. There were only two ticket machines at the station. I got the tickets easily enough like last time. Then we went to check the tracks. Found our train, went to the right track. Why were tracks 1-2 and 11-12 pointing to the same place? We deduce that our train is late after a combined "I heard that part what did you hear?" conversation concerning the German announcement, because ofc "the whole world speaks German and so we only do all announcements and information in German" is the standard attitude in Germany (not even the information desk at the main train station in Cologne spoke any English). The train finally arrived and we got on. After just a little while there's another announcement over the speakers in very fast and very slurred German. We kind of understood that the train wouldn't be stopping at two stations. We arrived at Düsseldorf Hbf 20 minutes late and there was another announcement in very fast and slurred German that mentioned flughafen and for a second we were all very concerned that we had to change trains because we only heard flughafen and didn't understand the rest (English pretty please?). But we noticed that nobody else travelling with suitcases was getting off the train so we also stayed put. We arrived at Düsseldorf airport 20-ish minutes late. And got on the sky train for the terminals. We got there and were transported 10 years back in time. Because self check-in apparently isn't all that common in Germany and so we had to do it the old-fashioned way and queue up by the bag drop. We go through the security check and then go have dinner.

After dinner we have a look at the board and it says gate 49. We go to the gate and wait around. When the boarding pass says that boarding should have started, but there's no sign of any staff we have another look at the board. Gate switched to 48. No announcement about the gate switch whatsoever. Go to the new gate and everyone is lined up to board although the screen says only priority boarding. Turns out everyone is boarding they just haven't put it on the screen. We get on the plane and then ofc there's a queue to the start off strip. Four planes before us. So we just sit around. The plane is late when we finally get up into the air, but the view sort of made up for it. Clear skies all the way to Copenhagen, it was brilliant.

We arrived back at my parents' place around 9pm. Tomorrow I'm getting up early to catch the train home to Södertälje.

Good night :)

Germany 2018 - day three

Earlier start than yesterday because dad had an early meeting. I spent most of the day doing the same things as yesterday - following my dad around and not talking much. The most wtf moment was when we went to the display for brand new items and I found lollipops in the shape of fidget spinners! That's when you know a trend has gone too far...

In the evening we met up with friends again at Dominkaner and had another laugh at the bartender there. His mannerisms made him ressemble Mr. Bean and we had an ongoing discussion whether he was drunk or just really hated his job.

After several beers at Dominkaner we finally went to Haxenhaus and ordered up one metre of beer (three times during the course of the evening) and then I got my first introduction to Haxe. It was so delicious. Perfectly cooked pork that just fell off the bone. Nom!

After dinner we continued on to Papa Joe's, but that place was very different from last time. The bartenders were rude and the Germans were inconsiderate and kept trying to squeeze in between me and my group. So we decided to leave after only one beer - but we did get to hear the live band play Always Look on the Bright Side of life, which actually got some sing-along going among all of us.

We went past the cathedral on our way back and there was this stunning moment with the full moon shining between two towers. My picture doesn't do it justice.

We went by the train station to figure out which train we'd have to take to Düsseldorf tomorrow so we'd know when we'd have to leave the fair. Took a picture of that too just in case we'd forget.

And then we went back to the hotel. I thought about whether to pack now or do it tomorrow morning. But I'm so tired that I'll just do it tomorrow. Nighty!

Germany 2018 - day two

Woke up at 8am to go have hotel breakfast by 8.30. One of the things we noticed was that while they served scrambled eggs they didn't serve bacon with it. Instead they had meatballs. My dad went for the scrambled eggs with meatballs before I did and he discovered that the meatballs were extremely spicy. As if they had dropped the entire pepper container into the mix. I decided to not have meatballs.

Afterwards we went back upstairs for a short while and I tried to make myself look more adultlike. Not sure if I succeeded or if my face still says that I'm 16...

Then we went to the fair. We're in Germany specifically for ISM, which is the biggest fair for sweets and confectionary in the world, and my dad is one of the biggest sweets dealers in Sweden. We weren't exhibiting this year and instead mostly just walked around looking at other people's exhibits, collecting hand-outs and free samples, tying new contacts with people who looked like they might be manufacturing things my dad could sell, and talking to already established contacts getting to taste new flavours and comment on consistency of the sweets and the packaging and labelling. I didn't really do much else but listening, but I did offer up comments here and there and my dad always let me have an input if the contact person asked him a question. Last time I was here it was mostly as an interpreter for my dad's friend who isn't very good at English, but my dad knows English pretty well and I very very rarely have to help him on that front.

We also went to visit the Swedish pavillion. I was surprised at how many people there recognised me. It's been two years since I last saw most of them. It was kind of funny to be there though. It's very common in Sweden to sell sweets in bulk, even in the supermarkets. There's always a wall of containers with bulk candy and you grab a bag and a spade and scoop up whatever you like into the bag and then the price depends on how much the bag weighs at the end. But I've come to realise that that's something very very Swedish. It was packed with people checking it out. Welcome to ISM - where bulk candy for private citizens is exotic!

We had buckwurst for lunch, which is basically a boiled sausage in a bread bun. An actual bread bun, the kind you usually have for breakfast.

The fair closed at 6pm and we went back to the hotel for a quick freshen up and then met back downstairs in the lobby. A couple of minutes walking from the hotel is the pub Dominikaner where we met up with friends from Stockholm and had several beers. We had planned to go to Haxenhaus this night, but one of our Stockholm friends wanted to see the handball game. Sweden was playing against Spain and apparently it was pretty important game in a Cup (don't remember if it was European or World). They had TV screens and a pretty decent menu at the hostel where they were staying so we decided to skip Haxenhaus tonight and instead have dinner at their hostel while watching the handball game. The hostel staff was amazing. They quickly found out that their TV package didn't include the channel which aired the game, but instead they found a stream online and connected a laptop to a TV screen so that we could watch the game. Their menu was also really impressive. My dad and I decided to share a Colognian style tapas plate as a starter and then almost all of us had steak for main course. I was pleasantly surprised and actually impressed that the rare steak I ordered actually came our rare. For some reason it's not uncommon to get medium when I order rare :/

Colognian tapas plate. What looks like spring rolls actually had black pudding in them. What looks like fried sausage slices are actually liver. I liked everything but the liver.

Sweden lost the game (although we were in the lead in the first half) and after dinner and some wine three of us ordered Irish Coffee (except it came back as black coffee with whisky in it and then they had to mix flat cream into it themselves).

With a pleasant buzz we went back to our hotel and now it's really time to sleep.

Germany 2018 - day one

Today we arrived in Cologne. We went by plane to Düsseldorf and then from there with the train to Cologne. From the terminal you take the sky train, which is like a normal train but the tracks are in the air like on a rollercoaster, to the Düsseldorg Flughafen train station. Funnily enough I had no issues whatsoever in using the machine to get three tickets from Düsseldorf to Cologne. Didn't even have to ask for help, felt like the DB ticket machine was pretty straightforward as long as I changed the language to English first.

We arrived at the same hotel as last time and I had almost the exact same room. We arrived pretty late so no fair for us this day, but after we checked in and unpacked we met up downstairs in the lobby and went out to eat. We were planning to eat on Fräu but due to the festival that's always happening exactly this weekend that place was full to the point of bursting so instead we went to Löwenbräu and started off our German cuisine with a schnitzel :P I also made a point of taking a picture of the amazing cathedral because that thing is so darn impressive I can't help staring at it every time we go past it (which will be every day).

 Interior of Löwenbräu to the left. The cathedral to the right.

After dinner we took a walk and then went back to the hotel. I spent some time reading and now it's bedtime.

See you tomorrow!

Rollspel: Mutant År Noll - del 1

Det här är först rollspelet som jag är spelledare på och de här inläggen kommer till största delen att vara min anteckningar och lite tillagda förklaringar.

Första spelmötet handlade helt och hållet om storyn som medföljde "För en munfull vatten" eftersom den storyn var tänkt som en introduktion till världen så tänkte jag att den kunde vara en introduktion för mig också till spelledarrollen.

"Gruppen har tagit sig till sjön där rengöringsverket ligger på en ö mitt i. De upptäcker ingen fara. Danko kastar sig i vattnet och upptäcker att det är ofarligt och bara en meter djupt. De vadar till ön och hamnar i bakhåll mot zongastar. Jony och Danko parerar men Dankos vapen går sönder. Mohamin tar en skada. Index gömmer sig bakom en vägg. Mohamin lyckas skada en zongast och de flyr. De testade bara nykomlingarna. Gruppen tar sig till kontrollrummet. Jony börjar klättra upp i tornet och hittar vattenletarnas ledare (rollspelsgruppen är en grupp utsänd efter en tidigare vattenletargrupp) Vorhan. Han hittar även en kvinna som varit död länge och hennes dagbok. De andra tre har hittat Nogga och de andra. Lambda lagar Dankos pilbåga i utbyte mot att de hjälps åt att jaga bort zongastarna. Gruppen är på väg att lämna tornet när en dörr öppnas och en delegation av zongastar som vill prata kommer in. De erbjuder gruppen allt vatten de vill ha i utbyte mot deras skjutvapen. Danko manipulerar Nogga att gå med på det, vilket hon gör men hon vägrar följa med ner i bassängen. Gruppen återses på gården och berättar för varandra vad de upplevt. Jony delar ut de två skjutvapen han hittade i vråkboet. Han förstår dagboken. De går in i bassängen och träffar zongastarnas ledare. Ledaren ser deras nya skjutvapen och säger att gruppen lurat dem. Jony manipulerar ledaren, Lutrell, med hjälp av Index. Lutrell ger med sig och går med på det gamla avtalet. Då kommer en masksvärm. Danko attackerar med sin mutation. Index attackerar med sin mutation. Zongastarna flyr. Danko hittar en generator. Mohamin hittar en signalpistol. Danko flyr. Mohamin ger signalpistolen till Jony som med hjälp av Index förstår den och skuter den mot masksvärmen. Skottet gör tre skada. Svärmen har 5 STY kvar. Danko har kommit tillbaka och sett. Ljuset från signalpistolen driver iväg svärmen. Alla kommer tillbaka. Vattenkälla säkrad till Arken.

Best of 2017

Best book: Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

Best songs: Magic Forest by Amberian Dawn, I am Machine by Three Days Grace, and Dance With the Dragon by Dark Sarah

Best games: Far Cry Primal and Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Best movie: Murder on the Orient Express

Best TV show: Doctor Who

Best food stuffs: Been crazy about sushi rolls all year!

Best clothes: My new favourite is my hoodie with Espeon and Umbreon on the back

Best accessories: Finally bought a Time-Turner at the Sci-Fi Fair in Stockholm!

Best experience (work-related): Promotion! Aw yea! :P I got business cards and everything :3

Best experience (life-related): Got engaged :3

Best decision: Starting a subscription on OwlCrate!

Best in fandom: The Morrowind release for ESO. Seriously. Best. Thing. Ever. :D

Best event: Not sure if SRF or the Alice Cooper concert. Probably SRF ♥