Pottermore!

Ever since I registered I've been logging in once every day, just to check and the page always said "We look forward to seeing you". But not today. Today the page looked completely different! I haven't even gotten my Welcome email yet! But I got started and begun exploring the world of Harry Potter. You get to enjoy the books, one by one, while you discover small elements that you've never thought of before and new material from Rowling whose imagination has just kept on spinning. I loved reading the background story for Minerva McGonagall! One of my favourite characters.

I loved when I went to Diagon Alley to buy my school stuff. I loved getting my wand, and after reading all about wandlore, wand cores and wand woods I thought that wand fitted me perfectly :) Then came the sorting...

Just like Evanna Lynch (who plays Luna Lovegood) got sorted into Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw and had to deal with the confusion, I myself got sorted into Slytherin! But after reading Rowling's description and thoughts of Slytherin House I realised that it fits me quite well. I always thought Ravenclaw to be the place for me, but Slytherin might not be so bad... I'm not all that good-natured after all... I'll grow accustomed to being a Slytherin after a while I guess...

So I'm now a first year student and I'm slowly taking my time through the first book. It's recommended to read the book while you discover the site, but as I've read the first four books around 20 times each I think I'll manage without them ;)

Now I'm off to brew potions and earn myself some House Points =D

Malmöfestivalen 2011 part 2

Second part. First part is here.

Wednesday: Slow day. Everyone was working or in school and nothing really happened. Not even in the evening. Was kind of nice to just be able to hang around.

Thursday: Started out slow, turned out real nice. Halfway through the day a group of people dressed up completely in pink and coloured pink showed up next to my stand and made a complete show out of everyone walking by. People stopped to film and take pictures, and since everyone was busy doing that I could do it as well. I had no costumers while they were there cause everyone was busy watching them. I hadn't brought my camera and tried to take pictures with my mobile, but they ended up bad and pixley. Then I figured I could film them. So here are the two best pictures and the video I put up on YouTube:

In the evening I went to the other stand by the stage to watch Jay Smith. He was part of the Rix.fm thingy. Jay Smith is last year's winner of Swedish Idol, and by far the only good thing that has ever happened to that show. He played the winner's song Dreaming People, which isn't one of my favourites. And then his, by now, famous version of Like A Prayer. 

Friday. The end. I started by the stage and stood there for almost the whole day. Was interviewed by a news paper (can't find it online). At dinner time I changed places and then around midnight I got back to the stage and was able to see The Ark's final concert ever. It was the same concert program as on SommarRock in Svedala. I was able to hear One of Us is Gonna Die Young, The Worrying Kind and Calleth You, Cometh I. I'm usually very torn about this band. I can't decide if I think they're absolutely brilliant or if they're kind of boring. Everytime I hear them live they're awesome, incredible. But when I hear only the songs, they fall flat. So it all comes down to that they are (were) a great live band. Sayonara.

My feet ached so bad. I even had work on Saturday, but was able to leave early due to my aching feet. This is gonna turn into a nice salary in September :)

Malmöfestivalen 2011 part 1

Last Friday on the 19th this year's edition of the annual festival in Malmö began. Of course I'm working there 7 out of 8 days. So here goes the first five days (including my day off).

Friday. Had arrived at my parents place the evening before to help my dad get two cars to the festival. Got there, got unpacked, all was fine. Then the electricity guy shows up claiming that we haven't ordered nor payed for the extra juice that we needed. Great. That meant we had to run the popcorn machine, the cotton candy machine and the lights on the same cable - not a good idea. Can't pop popcorn and making cotton candy at the same time without blowing a fuse. So we had to pop the popcorns while there was no people to stock up enough popcorn to last until we got that extra electricity, so that we could make cotton candy to those who wanted some. Some phone calls later and we still hadn't recieved that extra juice. 8 hours after the nasty electricty guy had left another one shows up, handing me an extra cable. Great! Turns out that there was no electricity in the cable. Traced the cable to a locked electrical cabinet. So one more phone call for Dad. Switch places to the other stand and there it turns out we haven't got electricty for the lights. The cable is pulled out of the cabinet and the cabinet is locked with white plastic strings. Great... Calls them up and they say they'll come and fix it. Before they do the guy next to us selling sugarcoated almonds has solved the problem by cutting of the plastic strings with a knife and putting in our cable and his own. The electricity people arrive after it's already dark.

Saturday. A new electricty guy shows up and gives us power in both cables. Day goes smoothly after that. It gets even better when Zombie Walk walks past us. I curse myself for leaving my camera home, but an old friend of mine was in the walk apparently and so I found these pictures on FaceBook :) Rest of the day goes smooth. Except that I and Love are sent to the stand next to the stage, cause Dad and Jeanne didn't want to listen to techno... As if I did. After five minutes of constant bass I started to wish that it'd be over soon.

Sunday. Except for terribly aching feet the day went smooth until it was almost closing time. The sky opened on us and I had to get creative to protect the balloons and the cotton candy machine. On top of that Love wasn't feeling well. I switched with Jeanne at the stage so that she and Love could pack up the other stand. After Veronica Maggio finished at 11pm loads of people wanted to buy. Unfortunately we are not allowed to sell after 11. How did they figure that one out? And after selling to a few people I was practically chewed out by a girl not much older than myself flanked by two security guards. Then a new police office was stopping Jeanne to drive the car to the stand cause there was too many people (the day before there had been more people and it hadn't been any problems for Dad driving in). Dad went mad on all of them as did I. I was furious at this self-important bitch who couldn't step outside protocol just to realise how stupidly arranged the schedule was, and that if someone asked to buy while I was packing I would sell to that person. I was still friggin' packing! Walking to the train home I felt as if my feet would fall off. They hurt so badly from standing on stone for 16 hours/day 3 days in a row. On the train I tried to put weight on my knees instead of my feet as to relieve them, instead I got a cramping in all of my right leg. Joy. It hurt so much that I couldn't keep myself from crying and when we got off the train I walked as if I was wearing a diaper cause I had to walk on the sides of my feet and without bending my knees much for it not to hurt.

Monday. Feet pretty OK when I woke up. Still I refused to spend any time at the stand next to the stage as to avoid any extra pressure on my poor poor feet. So instead I made cotton candy the whole day. This was Love's day off and Kajsa worked instead. It was nice spending some time with her, although I was pissed at the world in the beginning. The day went perfectly fine. It was first day of a new semester. All the adults were working and all the children were at school, a nice quiet day that I could actually spend sitting more than the other days. Day was only partly disrupted by the fact that we once again only had electricity in one of our cables for a few hours. And that the backstage area where we put our stand wagons after work was completely closed down and almost impossible to get into for the first time since Friday. Kajsa and I had to push and pull and heave both of us at the same time to manage to get one of the wires loose to be able to get inside.

Tuesday. Finally my day off. Woke up around 10am (my biological alarm clock is always set on ten hours) and immediately felt the effects of doing cotton candy four days in a row. I couldn't move my right hand without it feeling like the entire thing was bruised and broken. Muscles were a complete mess. Still hurts a little now, but after showering the muscles warmed up a bit and stopped aching that terrible. Feet were OK. So my day off was spent shopping for food for me and for Dixi the Rabbit and for the start of term in a week. I also scrubbed the entire flat, changed sheets and did some laundry. All that boring stuff that one doesn't have time for when one works full weeks.

All in all management has been shit this year.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 - Again!

Yesterday I went to the cinema again to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. This time with my best friend. I had finished reading the book on Sunday and with the book now in fresh memory I wanted to see what I thought of the film this time.

Well, I can say that a lot is changed. Still I'm mad that they did nothing of Percy's reunion with his family and Fred's death... Why oh why did they destory a wonderful scene from the book like that? The wands bother me in the final battle between Harry and Voldemort. That connection is only supposed to be possible with Harry's original wand along with Voldemort's original. It's not possible when Harry's got Draco's wand and Voldemort's got Dumbledore's! Why do they have to make it so dramatic on film? In the book Harry shoots Expelliarmus at exactly the same time as Voldemort shoots Avada Kedavra. Harry's being the stronger spell of the two, Avada Kedavra crashes with Expelliarmus and rebounds on Voldemort who is thus killed by his own hand.

And WHY did they destroy Neville's moment of awesomeness!??!?! There's no friggin' hunt for the snake. Neville kills it in front of everybody at the same time he pulls the sword from the Sorting Hat!!!! Don't ruin my favourite book!

Like Kajsa said: they have exchanged the fun moments from the book with fun moments of their own creation. I love when McGonagall says that she always wanted to try that spell, and I love how it's Hermione's idea to escape on the dragon (in the book it's Harry's). But I miss Ravenclaw Tower. I hate how Harry's whole talk with Helena Ravenclaw turned out in the film.

But on the whole I actually like the film much more than the others. DH part 1 and 2 are the best Harry Potter films since Chamber of Secrets. Prisoner of Azkban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince are all blasphemous.

I'm not all that sad that it's over anymore. From the interviews I've seen Rowling seems to be having a hard time saying goodbye to Harry as well. Now I have Pottermore, and thanks to Pottermore it feels like it'll never end.

We're the Harry Potter generation

One year anniversary

It's me and Love's one year anniversary today. For me it's the first time I've ever managed to stay in a relationship for this long, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. So here's a song I dedicate to him, because he puts up with me and because I love him dearly for it.

I can be an asshole of the grandest kind

I can withhold like it's going out of style

I can be the moodiest baby and you've never met anyone

who's as negative as I am sometimes

I am the wisest woman that you've ever met

I am the kindest soul with whom you've connected

I have the bravest heart that you've ever seen

And you've never met anyone

who's as positive as I am sometimes

You see everything, you see every part

You see all my light and you love my dark

You dig everything of which I'm ashamed

There's not anything to which you can't relate

and you're still here

I blame everyone else, not my own partaking

My passive-aggressiveness can be devastating

I'm terrified and mistrusting

and you've never met anyone who's as

as closed down as I am sometimes

You see everything, you see every part

You see all my light and you love my dark

You dig everything of which I'm ashamed

There's not anything to which you can't relate

and you're still here

What I resist, persists, and speaks louder than I know

What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go

I'm the funniest woman that you've ever known

I am the dullest woman that you've ever known

I'm the most gorgeous woman that you've ever known

and you've never met anyone as everything as I am sometimes

You see everything, you see every part

You see all my light and you love my dark

You dig everything of which I'm ashamed

There's not anything to which you can't relate

and you're still here

And you're still here

And you're still here

Les Misérables and Pottermore

Last Sunday, the day after our party (which was a success btw, we'll be doing that more times), I went home to Kajsa to watch Les Misérables in Concert at the O2 25th Anniversary with her and Tiffany. It was my first time seeing this musical since I'm not that fond of musicals. I usually find that they're either great at singing and suck at acting, or they're great at acting and suck at singing. It's not very often that they're brilliant at both. This kind of proved me wrong and Tiffany assured me that West End really is brilliant at everything =P

However since this was "in concert" it meant that there wasn't much acting around and that may be the reason why I really liked it. At this moment I'm actually downloading both the show and the soundtrack. I'm gonna let Love watch it, I'm sure he'll like it. I loved little Cosette, too bad she's only in it for about 15 minutes, and then she becomes a whimp. I'm fascinated by how much Lea Salonga actually can open her mouth O.o And I thought the girl who played Éponine was gorgeous, however I though her character was pretty pathetic - like every other female character in the show (I can tell the story was written 150 years ago), the only female that wasn't pathetic was the wife of the Master of the House, and instead she was an idiot. My favourite character by far was Gavroche.

I disliked all the love scenes and I loved all the scenes that showed their everyday life, like "Lovely Ladies", "Master of the House" and when Gavroche sings that everyone comes to him. I also like the intro "Look Down".

Yesterday I signed up for Pottermore! I figured out the clue. I was head over heels with excitement after I found the Magical Quill and made it fly. And now my nick is FelicisGoblet :) You better remember it, if you're going to register ;) Now my friends are asking me for help registering, turns out the pocedure is different every day. Pretty cool actually. It's not just a new clue, but also a new procedure.

I read on about Pottermore while I was waiting for the new clue to show up today. Turns out that when it opens to everyone in October it will start at Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and it's pretty obvious when you sign in after you've registered - you're at Privet Drive and you see a wizard standing at the edge of the street. This is gonna be awesome! ^^ I'll blog more about it as I slowly gain access to the site in a few weeks :)

Youthful

I've had this song on my head for a while and I like the message it carries. 

And here's what they sing:

Youth is about never stopping

to trying to fall in love

Youth is about letting your feelings flow out

and not holding them back

Look, that guy is famous

That girl is beautiful and rich

Their envious lives

Lives that other people often look at

No more complaints

No more worries

The dreams still have more more more more to go

The 20s and 30s still have more more more more to go

More, more

Don't give up

Hope still has more more more more to go

Big brother and big sister still have more more more more to go

More, more

Don't give up

Youth is about comparing 

that girl's boyfriend

Youth is about wanting to slim down

and not holding it in

Look, the news are also getting interesting

I don't understand those difficult things

The things the people on TV are saying

are they all true?

Well, let's recieve it

with my antenna

The dreams still have more more more more to go

The 40's and 50's still have more more more more to go

More, more

Don't give up

The future still has more more more more to go

Father and Mother still have more more more more to go

More, more

Don't give up

The dreams still have more more more more to go

The 60's and 70's still have more more more more to go

More, more

Don't give up

The future still has more more more more to go

Grandpa and grandma still have more more more more to go

More, more

Don't give up

And don't pretend those "mada mada mada madayade" don't get stuck in your head!

YouTube-ing!

A few times now I and some friends have been going through funny YouTube-clips and I just wanna share a few with y'all.

So we'll start with this:

And then the classic:

Most awesome version of Dragostea din Tei (all you need to know in Japanese is that "noma" kind of means "to drink"):

Epic Sax Guy:

A different view on Sommar Rock Svedala

Thursday - Saturday there was the annual festival in my small home town of Svedala. A year without this festival would feel weird in my book, although I no longer live there.

Thursday: Arrived at the area around 2pm to set the stand. The rain was pouring down, which made this task very difficult. Only thinking of comfortable shoes to stand and walk in I was wearing my purple Converse and Love his running shoes. They were completely soaked through after a few hours, as were our hoodies. Luckily we had both put plastic bags on our feet so our feet remained dry inside our soaked through shoes :) And after we had put on the roof the setting of the stand became somewhat easier. They had to put wooden chips all over the walking areas and the paths as to stop the mud and the slipping. At 5pm the gates to the festival opened. The bands that played today were Singel, Apolonia, K.R.A.M., Electric Boys, Rock'n'Roll Boys, and Wilmer X. In that order. Singel was mostly a cover band, they sounded quite OK, although for some reason the male singer didn't bring it all when he sang Bryan Adams' Summer of '69 with the result that that song sounded quite measly. I absolutely did not like Apolonia. Their music sounded like folk/rock/noise. Mostly just noise. K.R.A.M. are there every year and they sounded exactly like they do every year; quite OK. Electric Boys: do you use any other musical instrument than the bass? Rock'n'Roll Boys were OK. Didn't like Wilmer X. Had heard so much about them, but in the end it was mostly folk/rock and it's not a genre that I'm particularly fond of. Without much ado the day ended and we went to sleep around 1am.

Friday: Arrived at the area around 4pm to reset the stand. This was made difficult by the Crew members as there apparantly was no official entrance for us until the public entrance opened at 5pm. I was pissed off at this since we obviously had work tags, proof that we worked there, and we were not allowed in. But in the end we were showed to an opening and let inside. This day it was raining as well. Not as heavily as Thursday but still raining and our shoes got soaked again, but not as bad as the day before, much thanks to the wooden chips (they had put on more for today). The rain was that kind of unpleasant not-really-falling kind of rain. At 5pm the entrance opened and the bands that played today were Calle & the Undervalleys, Melody Club, Danne Stråhed, The Boppers, Diamantorkestern, and Mustasch. Both I and Love looked forward to Calle & the Undervalleys, since Calle was the runner-up in Swedish Idol in 2009 and he has an amazing voice. None of us was actually able to be there but we heard everything. I loved it when he played his (now famous) version of Walking in Memphis. Next up was Melody Club. I'd class them as new wave or electropop, but they try to look fierce and like rockers. I'm not a big fan and I only recognized one song: Electric. A song remembered from my childhood. Danne Stråhed always brings loads of people so this was when our work kick-started for real. He sings chansons and he does it pretty well, even I can enjoy them from time to time. "När en flicka talar skånska" is pretty much his most famous song and I like it somewhat. My parents were surprised to hear that The Boppers were on the road again. I've heard of them, but never really heard anyting of them. I thought. Then I recognized Kissing in the Moonlight. Is that a famous cover of theirs or are they really the makers of that song? I couldn't hear much of Diamantorkestern since I had loads to do, but I think they were nice. Loads of people wore pins with their name on it anyway. Then it was time for Mustasch. I saw them at Metaltown in 2009 and thought they sounded quite OK, but this time I remained terribly unimpressed. They were just untuneful. I recognized a few of the songs. Like Mine which I think is one of their best songs. But other than that they were incredibly boring. And Gothenburg dialect simply takes the edge of the hard rock, because it sounds so cute xD When the concert ended we simply covered up the stand and left. Went to bed around 1am.

Saturday: Arrived around noon. This time we had no problems getting inside. Today the sun was finally shining. This was the big day and we brough out the "large artillery", a.k.a ballons and cotton candy. This day started out with the children competition called Småstjärnorna (roughly translated into Little Stars) where they impersonate an artist and lip-synchs and dances to a song. A boy being Kiss with Heaven's on Fire won. I like!!! After the competition there was child entertainment on the big stage in the shape of two trolls called Drill & Drull. After this I barely had time listening to Martin Prahl and Anna Hertzman on the small stage because the stand was overcrowded with people. We were given a small break when September played on the big stage. I usually don't listen to pop and I haven't listened to the radio for over 6 years, but I still recognized one song: La La La (Never Give it Up). I barely had time to listen to Skai on the small stage because once again the stand was overcrowded with people. That rush lasted the entire hour Skai played and it wasn't until The Poodles entered on the big stage that I got some room to breathe again. I used to like this band when they first debuted. I still like the song Night of Passion, but other than that I feel that they sound too popish and it's painfully obvious on the song Metal Will Stand Tall, which makes the message of the song sound kind of ironic. During this performance I had to rush out of the area to buy 10 litres of milk at the gas station on the other side of the road. The coffee stand was running out. When I got back I caught a glimpse of my old middle school teacher. He noticed me and waved a little, I smiled back my hands tied since I was carrying two bags full of milk. Soon after I got back The Poodles' concert ended and another rush came crowding the stand again. I had no time listening to Perikles, which I kind of regret since they're a great live band. Everyone loves their song "Var ska vi sova i natt" and when they start playing that song the vocalist doesn't need to do anything; the crowd sings everything. Then everyone went back to the big stage to watch The Ark. This band is giving their final tour this summer and then they disband. The band got big 11 years ago and back then they played on the small stage. I've seen them live three times at this festival, couting this one, which should make it 2½ times ;) I don't know if I like The Ark or not, sure they have loads of good songs, but it's not really my cup of tea. I do love The Worrying Kind though! And It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane is quite good as well. After this was the traditional ending with Vivaldi's Spring and then beautiful fireworks. There was a small rush and then we started packing everything down. Finally got to bed around 2.30am.

I'll probably be there next year as well. So if you read this or my blog, come by and say hi :)

Lord of the Rings inspired fantasy RPG #2

We crossed the river and on the other side there's a forest. We brought with us five bandits to get their ransom. After we got through the forest we discover a village a bit further down the road. There's a party going on in the village. Neela is once again washed up and dressed up in a dress. Lilja askes her to go down to the city with a tray full of trinkets to sell. Leithe is asked to do the same thing. Evol is sent into the city to ask the sheriff about the bandits and their ransoms. Lilja herself goes down to the village to have a look around and Runik stays to guard the wagon and the bandits.

Leithe gets robbed by a child that she can't catch. She trips and falls and loses her grip of her tray. All the children take what they want . Lilja sees this happening and grabs one child by the ear. She walks back towards the wagon with the child, but the child breaks free. Lilja returns to the village.

Neela tries to sell her things from her tray but there's music coming from inside a big crowd of people. Neela pushes her way to the front and sees acrobats and fire-eaters for the first time. She's bewitched by the sight. Later she notices that an ocarina is missing from her tray. She looks around but can't see anyone with one. A "volunteering" (obviously part of the stage crew) boy is brought up from the audience. He's thrown up into the air by one big guy and he does somersaults before landing on the shoulders of a smaller guy. When he lands an ocarina falls out of his pocket. Neela aims for him with her slingshot. He runs off the stage and behind it. Neela manages to balance the tray and push through the crowd to the other side of the stage. There are a lot of mobile homes and she can see the top of his hat sticking up in one of the windows (windows with no glass). She aims for the hat but misses and the stone goes through another glass-less window where something breaks.

In the meantime Evol has asked the sheriff and found out that the man they killed (John Little) was a very disliked farmer from the village and not a bandit. "His Merry Men" is of the same sort. The girls love him for having killed this farmer (Lilja killed him) and Lilja later finds him with two girls on his lap, one of which is feeding him pie and he's holding a pint of beer in his hand. Evol is ordered back to the wagon.

At the wagon some people from the village has been trying to lure Runik away from the wagon by having him competing in a competition with bow and arrow against the best man in the village. He refuses but they keep trying to pull him away from the wagon. Then they are scared off by robbers; wild people, coming out of the forest along with their horses. He takes cover behind the wagon and start shooting at people. He is later joined by Evol. Evol steals a horse from the wild people and races past the wagon towards the place where the people are coming from to fight them with his sword. Leithe tries to get back to the wagon to get her frying pan to fight with but trips and falls into a ditch. She's ordered back into the village by Lilja. Most of the villagers are now moving closer to the fight. Lilja is directing them into fighting formations.

In the village Neela keeps firing stones at the hat but she keeps missing her target. The boy manages to convince Neela to stop shooting. He offers to "buy" her bonbons in the village. Neela is hooked on this suggestion (an orphan, how long has it been since she last had bonbons?). The tray is left behind completely forgotten as the two make their way into the village to "buy" bonbons at the market. The boy's name is Maill. He and Neela get along well. Since the market is empty of people they can easily "shop" for different kinds of treats. Then they leave to climb a tree. They quickly get to the top of a large oak. From there they can see the entire battlefield.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

At 11.30 yesterday I walked down to the cinema to watch the midnight screening of the eighth and final Harry Potter film. I was excited and terrified at the same time. This was the closure of my childhood. Harry Potter has meant so much to me and millions of others and now it's over.

10 seconds into the film they showed Dobby's headstone and that's when I started crying. But before the seriousness began at the Battle of Hogwarts there were a lot of laughable moments, one of my film original favourites being McGonagall saying: "I've always wanted to use that spell" looking like an excited little school girl. And they didn't destroy the most awesome lines from the book. 1) Bellatrix Lestrange attacking Ginny and Molly Weasley coming at her (Bellatrix) saying "Not my daughter, you bitch". 2) After Harry has had his talk with Dumbledore and Dumbledore says: "Of course this is all happening in your head. Why would that make it not real?"

I did love the film (that's a first!) but that's probably cause I've only read the book twice and last time was two years ago. I'm gonna put Joe Abercrombie's "The Blade Itself" on hold for a while to re-read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" before I'll probably go see it at the cinema again. I love how Snape's tale turned out, although I hate how they did Petunia there. Not the casting, but her reaction. She actually didn't think Lily a freak until after she (Petunia) had asked Dumbledore to take her as well and Dumbledore had turned her down. Petunia's hatred for her sister roots purely in jealousy.

When I got home from the cinema I felt empty but exalted at the same time. Now it was truly over. I felt that already when I got into the salon at the cinema and saw that on the screen they showed behind-the-scenes after the last filming. How Dan Radcliffe thanks everyone and saying that it's been a privilege to work with all of them and hoping to see them again sometime. And Emma, Dan and Rupert hugging... This was the end of a worldwide phenomenon.

I met Harry Potter in 1999 when I, on my 9th birthday, was given Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (I refuse to accept the American name) in Swedish. For 12 years I've always had something Harry Potter-ish to look forward to, but no more. The gap between the fourth and fifth book felt ridiculously long and the wait was the hardest. In eighth grade I and a friend sat in the back of the classroom whispering rumours of what was going to be in the fifth book to eachother. When I finally got my hands on the fifth book I finished the 1000-pages novel in two days. The sixth book became the first one I read in English. I bought it in 2005 when I was in England on a language course. I sat late into the night reading. I couldn't believe the end, I had to read it twice to actually understand that it wasn't a joke. He actually died. My hero died. The next day I felt like exploding cause I had no one to talk to about it. I stood in line at midnight on the release of the seventh book and the next day I had finished reading it. Even after finishing the seventh book I felt empty, but back then I comforted myself with the knowledge that the films were still there. Now there are no more films. What can I think of now? What can comfort me now? My childhood is now truly over.

The most fitting to add here now I feel is this poem, written by the winner of Beedle the Bard writing contest:

When I was six, he was eleven

I learnt how to be brave

When I was seven, he was twelve

I learnt to misbehave

When I was eight, he was thirteen

He taught me how to cry

When I was nine, he was fourteen

He showed me how to try

When I was twelve, and he fifteen

He taught me to forgive

When we were fourteen and sixteen

I learnt what it was to live

When we were fifteen and seventeen

He showed me he could bleed

But growing up with Harry taught me, mostly, how to read.

When we exited the cinema Love said that now I have to find a new obsession. I told him that it was impossible. I switched Heroes for Game of Thrones, but to switch Harry Potter for something I will have to find a new series that spellbinds an entire generation, a series that is published in 200 countries and translated into 70 languages. I'll have a hard time finding something like that...

Old writings

I should have helped grandmother move out today as well, but woke up with a bad-ass cold. Awesome. So I just continued the last two days of laziness. Oh wait, Sunday was everything but lazy. I studied French and some kanji, I wrote almost a whole chapter on my story and I collected all my RPG-notes into one notebook.

Yesterday my brain was really slow (a warning of the forestanding cold?) and almost all I did was to play The Sims 2 and I wrote a little. I also looked through my very old notebook of all my old ideas for stories to write. In some of the written ideas it's painfully clear that I was no more than 15 when I wrote them down, but most of the ideas are still good material. I'm getting all excited when I think of them. Two of them are fantasy stories that don't take place in this world, but in different worlds that I've created from scratch. Nowadays I don't have the energy to do all that. I prefer to write the more subtle urban fantasy. I pretty much hate reading urban fantasy cause they are all the same; sexy vampires and/or werewolves in a big city with a hot chick that may or may not have some supernatural powers of her own (if she doesn't she'll obtain them somehow as the story goes on). I prefer to write it more subtle. Like, this is our world, but there's something more to it. No vampires or werewolves and such, but magic. I'm heavily influenced by Harry Potter as always, although I've found my own style by now, unlike when I was 12 and pretty much wrote copies. But it's all good, Sweden needs more fantasy writers.

As I looked through all my old notes I got really interested in taking up writing an old series I had in mind. It was my big main story a few years ago and now I'm gonna restart it again from scratch. Alongside my big main story of now. The story I'm going to take up again is of a Japanese/Swedish girl moving from Tokyo to someplace unspecified in Sweden. There she goes to a magic school. Very Harry Potter-ish, I know, but I actually thought more of Creep School than Harry Potter when I wrote it. She's a rebel and she does everything opposite of what the society and the school thinks. I'm always having a lot of fun when I write this. I'll let you read the new prologue. I write in Swedish to get every part of the language correct. (Click on pictures to read).

My present main story takes place in the 19th century. The magic involved is kind of like the abilities in Heroes, only mine are better ;) It's the story of twins Jennifer and Jonathan getting accused of a crime they didn't committ and having to run away from their country. By doing so they get aboard a pirate ship. This is more a story of growing up and dealing with hardships. But I can't really write well without the magical element and thus this became a fantasy story. Once again I'll let you read the prologue in Swedish. (Click on picture to read).

Alice Cooper

My back still hurts from those past few days. Saturday and Sunday were work. Monday was a 4½ hour train to Stockholm to go to the amusement park Gröna Lund. The main show of the day was the Alice Cooper concert in the evening at Gröna Lund, but since entrance to the park is more expensive after 6pm and admission wasn't guaranteed since they closed the entrance gates after the area in front of the stage was full, we decided to get there early. Thus, as a bonus I got a full day at Gröna Lund amusement park! ^_^ Me, Love, his friend Roger and my friend Kajsa went together and of course we rode all the roller coasters (there are four of them), the Funny House, Free Fall and one more. Soft ice is mandatory when going to an amusement park :)

At 6pm we went to the stage to find ourselves a nice spot. We sat down on this spot on the ground, then we took turns going out to buy ourselves some T-shirts, food and drink. At 7pm we could no longer sit down because the place had gotten wuite crowded and finally at 8pm the show started. No support act. I was in heaven. Then he started out with Black Widow. Such a great song! Standing on a podium with an extra six arms that all followed the movements of his own arms (probably attached by nylon threads or something)

All in all he played the classics No More Mr. Nice Guy, Poison, Billion Dollar Babies, I'm Eighteen and School's Out. The whole crowd sang along to all the lyrics of Poison. I wonder how sick he is of that song by now? I loved that in the bridge of School's Out he had added the chorus from Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. The crowd loved it and sang along with "We don't need no education..." Awesome! I also loved that he played Hey Stoopid. One of my absolute favourites. The only ballad played was Only Women Bleed. And he played one brand new song called I'll Bite Your Face Off, which was actually quite good. I'm looking forward to the next album!

I loved the theatrics of the show. I've seen Lordi twice before and they have quite theatrical shows, but nothing like this. To one of the songs (I don't remember which one) he had a real live snake around his neck and shoulders. To one song i guillotined himself and afterwards the masked hangman walked around the stage holding a doll copy of his head by the hair. The really big part of the theatrics was the song Feed My Frankenstein. Alice put on a lab coat and then there was a big kind of fake machine that seemed to work like a cauldron/oven. In this cauldron/oven they put a doll that looked like a dead person. Then there was an explosion with smoke and next thing we know Alice has disappeared and there's a 4-5 m tall mechanic doll walking out on stage singing the rest of the song.

For the encore he walked out on stage carrying the Swedish flag and singing Elected and one more song that I didn't recognise but it seemed to be quite popular cause half the crowd was singing along. He ended the show saying Happy 4th July :) During all of the show people at the very front had been jumping up and down with an American flag. 

When we got to the tram station there were loads of people and Roger got us on the tram in the opposite direction (only two stations til the final one and then it made a turn to go back the same way) This way we got seats before the whole crowd took over the tram and turned it into something slightly similar to the constant crowd at Yamanote Line in Tokyo, but not quite as bad as the morning rush. 

So to conclude this concert. I thought it was awesome and when I walked away from it I didn't feel like he missed anything. But now that I'm home and I've been going through my Alice Cooper songs I realise that there are some that I feel he could have added... But no harm done. It was amazingly incredibly fantastic (although it felt like my back would break in two from almost constantly standing up for three days in a row) and it felt like my knees and feet never would work properly again. It's hard, he's made so many good songs. But I feel like he could have played He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask), Vengeance is Mine, Perfect and Dirty Dreams. 

On a sidenote, though. Concerts are the only time I wish I had been 5 cm taller. Or that I would've liked a genre of music that didn't attract all the big, tall guys. This time I had a hell (my neck still hurts from me standing on my tip-toes with my head bent as far back as it goes to see over heads). The person in front of me seemed to be making a fuss of taking up as much of my view as possible. (s)He was wearing a bright pink shirt, tight black jeans and pointy loafers. (s)He had long blond wavy hair down the back (I was seriously convinced he was a she before he turned around at one point). And everytime he had made something with his right hand in the air he didn't retract it fully but just let it rest on the top of his head (sometimes even playing with his long long thick hair). For some time I tried to figure out a way to push him out of my way without turning the whole crowd over like a bunch of dominoes, but in the end I gave up. Love helped a little by switching places with me and for some time I could see really well. Then the Pink Shirt's friend who was equally tall went to stand in front of me. Oh well... At least it makes me feel short...

I also somewhat hoped to see Johnny Depp join in and play a guest guitar on some songs. I read that he had been in shows with Alice Cooper in London. This would (if possible) have made this day even better. But no sign of Johnny.

Lord of the Rings inspired fantasy RPG #1

In this RPG all of us are only human. We are one merchant widow (who runs the business now and has loads of money) named Lilja (Swedish for Lily) and her sword-for-hire named Evol. There's an orphaned 12-year-old girl who's something of a cleptomaniac. She's a tomboy, who hates girly stuff and taking baths (yup, that's my character). Oh, and her name is Neela. Then there's the cooky called Leithe and a knight called Runik.

We are all at an inn. Neela are walking around the guests and gets food thrown to her, but also recieves some kicks and empty cups while she tries to steal things from people's pockets and bags. The cooky Leithe stumbles over Neela and spills wine on Lilja's very expensive dress. Lilja wants compensation. The host refuses and Lilja is fully serious in her threat to burn down the inn. We all exit. Evol has a burning torch in his hand. The host is somewhat panicky hand has a weapon. Lilja throws some copper coins at him and declares that she has now bought his weapon. He attacks her. Evol sets fire to the inn's straw roof. Runik puts an arrow through the host's leg. The host crawls to the well to get water to put out the fire. From the well comes a grey, colourless hand that pulls the host down. From the well we can hear a chewing sound. Neela is very interested in Lilja's wagon. Lilja asks Neela to pick up the coins she threw at the host and asks her for how long she would consider herself employed for that amount of money. Neela pockets the 10 copper coins and is for three days an employee of Lilja's. Out of the back of the burning inn comes the most drunk people carrying the boar that would've served as dinner. One more disappears down the well and people start going to the river to fetch water for the fire. We make ourselves ready to leave.

It's dead quiet. No sounds of animals in the evening light. We find a shanty where the fire is still burning. Kind of big shanty. Runi knocks on the door. We can hear people quickly moving away from the door. They don't want to open. Neela is sent forward and manages to convince them to let them sleep in the barn for the night and just for a second the door opens and some blankets are thrown out. We light a fire outside the barn and Lilja asks Leithe to cook something that smells really good. Neela and Evol har afraid of the creatures of the night. They are watching us from the cabin. Lilja asks if they want food and that if they do they will have to come get it. Several children, a few women and a big man comes out. There's one boy about 14 years old who thinks Evol is the coolest thing he has ever seen. The boy himself tries to act cool and it all ends in a staring contest between the two. Runik is minding his own business and two children are talking over his head discussing what they think he's doing. Lilja are negotiating trade with the women and later the man. Neela is guarding the wagon and a girl in her own age wants to see what's inside. Neela says that she can't or she won't get any money or food. The girl says that Neela's mother is a bad person and Neela says she doesn't have a mother. That final comment makes the girl take Neela to one of the women and she's thoroughly nursed. The food runs out and Runik gives Leithe a bit of dried meat to do something with. It's dried meat from a nightcreature. This makes them all run back inside the cabin. ¨

We go inside the barn and make sure the wagon is inside with us. Following the advice of the man we put salt on the doorstep. Neela is bathed, has braided hair with flowers in it and she's wearing a dress. Her own clothes along with her slingshot are tied together in a very hard knot that she can't untie. A very pouty Neela goes to sleep with the rest. Evol can't sleep with worry. He unties Neela's knot. In the night the door opens and on the other side is a nightcreature. Evol rushes to his feet, but the creature stretches a hand toward him and the hand starts burning when it crosses the salt. The nightcreature takes off leaving the door open. Then he wakes up. It's morning again and the door is closed.

Neela changes back to her old clothes. Runik has gone out earlier. Lilja and the man negotiate and it's going well for Lilja. She recieves a very beautiful and valuable piece of jewelry in exchange for a year's supply of tools, iron, cloth and food. Lilja also puts up a route of what time her goods will arrive next year. When leaving Evol gives a knife to "his" boy. At a ford in a river we are stopped by a man with a big cane (he was named John Little by us, the players, and then we just waited for Robin Hood and the rest of his Merry Men) who's standing in the middle of the stream. The man claims that they can offer services to help us get over the very dangerous river (which he's standing in the middle of). He and Lilja negotiates. We notice that there are more men hidden in the bushes. John Little slaps Lilja and she gives a signal to Evol to attack. When he does we are attacked by the men in the bushes. Runik puts an arrow through a man in a tree who falls down and doesn't get up. Neela hides under the cape over the wagon with her slingshot at the ready. She hits John Little hard in the head. Evol attacks the same guy. Leithe is fighting a guy climbing the wagon with her frying pan (made us all thing of Rapunzel and Tangled). Lilja has stepped away from the fight between John Little and Evol. She kills another man coming at her with a knife. Another man climbs on the wagon and catches Neela. She screams and kicks. Runik kicks him in the head. The man is knocked out cold. Evol kills John Little. Leithe strikes down hard on the man climbing the wagon and he lands on his head. We tie down the unconscious ones to get the bounty. Neela empties the pockets of both dead and unconscious. She finds some wet tobacco leaves (she doesn't know what they're for and throws them in the river), some coins (that she gets to keep after asking Lilja) and a mouth harp that she gives to Lilja.