Saturday night - turn on the summer heat

A month has gone by in the new apartment.
It's bigger, better and more peaceful.

I did a lot of shopping this week. It's dangerous to have a day off from work two days after payday :)
I bought three dresses, one skirt, one pair of 3/4 lenth pants, two tops, a bag, two kitchen towels, a teapot, six drink-mixing spoons, earrings, a necklace, and more... In other words: I had o lot of fun!

Tonight I'm having a pre-party at home with some friends and then we'll go out in Södermalm for more partying and fun.
But before the fun can begin: I have laundry to do. :/

Valborg

Spending the evening with good music, knowing tomorrow will be very hectic and crazy. We move to our new apartment, everything packed and ready. Almost.

Yesterday was Valborg, a holiday when you light a huge fire and just stand there and stare. Masses of people gathered as if they never seen fire before. Then when you get bored of the fire, you go to a bar and continue the celebrations with drinks and good company!
Saying that, you might draw the conclusion that I'm a bit hung over today, but you'd be wrong :)
The only part of me suffering from last night are my feet, since a chose last night as the perfect night to use my new shoes... Yes, people loved them and commented on them, but my feet sure suffered... Poor little feet!
So tomorrow will be insane and surely stressful, so to wrap up the weekend, I'll go to dinner and a movie with Johanna on Sunday.

In the news

What could possibly make a 47 year old man want to marry an 8 year old girl?
There are some things that I will never understand and never accept as anything else than repulsive. Children should be kept out of the problems of adults, not be forced to settle some debt with their own life as the prize. It's disgusting that judge Sheikh Habib Al-Habib didn't annul the marriage, and even worse that the mother of the girl was not allowed to represent her in court.
I don't think it's a defense to talk about culture in these cases either. To say that, is to say that there is no individual choice and that everybody in Saudi Arabia feels like marrying little girls are ok. People don't think it's ok. Not in Saudi Arabia and not anywhere else either.
This is about changing the law to protect children, no matter where they happen to be living. A child's situation must be taken into concern every time there is a legal issue involving children. Anyone has to be able to defend a child, if that person has a reason to think that the well being of that child is questioned.

The captain is free, cheerios to that, but why is ransom ever paid?
Every time someone pays the ransom for a kidnapped person, especially in such an infected situation like the piracy along Somalian coastline, they give a boost to the pirates, that it is a sure way of getting money.
There are other methods to fighting for the freedom of a kidnapped person. Rewarding the kidnapper with cash is hardly a way to show that the method of earning a buck is wrong.
The methods I'm thinking of is more along the line of using military personnel to get some fear into the pirates. Free the hostage at a higher price, perhaps, but who would continue to kidnap people if all they got out of it were a crew with gunshot holes to the head?
If you wanna win, you have to be more of a bad ass than your enemy.
The reason I even mention violence as an option is not that I'm bloodthirsty, cause I'm anything but that. The reason is that I think the situation is very infected and I think negotiations are a lost cause at this point.
If the path of riches is continued, I think the situation will get worse, to the point of companies not daring to have their ships sent on that rout any longer. Is that really the result we want?

Travel around the world

I feel a strong urge to just fill a backpack and
travel around the world.
I'd love to have a theme, like visiting places with funny names or
just go to cities that start with a particular letter.
But right now... I guess all I can do is fill up with inspiration for the
future. :)
I've invited my sister along for the trip, and it will be done. I guess such simple
details like life comes in to play a big role, so I guess
it will be a while before I can gather up a budget large enough to
take me around the world. But hey, I'll have time to find all the great places, so
not to get stuck in some turist-trap, drinking pink drinks and getting busy doing nothing.
What about Borneo? I'd love to go there!
Not to mention Machu Picchu in Peru, that's something I have to experience.
Well, the list goes on and on!

Turtle in the waters of Malaysia.

A Kenyan landscape.

Iguazu waterfall in Brazil.

Accompanied by Pearl Jam, U2 and The Doors... what could possibly go wrong?

An evening captured by music and too many cigarettes, lovely and with a cup of tea to warm my spirit further, as the hours pass. Choosing music is always so much fun, as it to me is to show personality. Whatever song you pick, it says something about you.
A movie muted on the TV, someone trying to save mankind by taking a trip to Mars. I think it is Val Kilmer, if Rami got it right. I really don't know. It doesn't matter.
I'm in the best mood I've been for quite some time, and I must say the conversations I have had in the past few days with wonderful Rami and the best sister in the world Sandra is the cure for any blues I might have had.

Having a three day weekend now, this being the first of the three days, is just what I need. My mind, that usually is calm and a great place to be, has been a mess lately. Today I have done absolutely nothing and it's been fantastic!

Many answers, many solutions and plans for the future... Life is better that good, moving towards great and I'm enjoying the ride, accompanied by Pearl Jam, U2 and The Doors... what could possibly go wrong?

It smells like spring outside, finally!

Fact Update

I feel it's time to update the facts I wrote here in the summer, as I love facts and guess I'm not the only one :) or at least I hope so.

Updated facts:

The top ten countries visiting (% of total number of visitors) Petra's Notes are:
62,05% Sweden
13,63% United States
6,29% United Kingdom
4,40% Jordan
1,89% Bulgaria
1,47% Canada
1,47% India
0,84% Finland
0,84% Ireland
0,84% Spain

8,2% visit longer than an hour.

31 countries represented among the visitors.

53% of all users use Firefox.

53,40% use Windows XP and 0,20% use Linux.

I must add that the facts are collected from the newest 500 visitors, not the total amount of people that's been here :)

The result from this summer can be found here.

Zipp me this and zipp me that...

A new day, never seen before, takes form right in front of me. I'm still a bit tired, but I know it will be a good day.
I can't believe it's snowing outside, I really thought spring would be here with the little birds and so on. But I guess we'll have to wait some more.
My right hand hurts, or it hurts if I forget it's bruised. This weekend, I think I set a new personal record in how many times I can shave skin off it by accident. My knuckles are red and small pieces of skin is missing. Very pretty!

1½ hours left until I leave for work. I like these weeks, when I start work so late that I get plenty of me-time in the morning. The bad thing is that by the end of the day it barely feels like I have a life...
The zipper on my jacket broke yesterday. That's just my luck, off course it just HAD to start snowing last night. :(