When I started all this, I thought I was going to do something noble, like fund raise. I even started a PayPal Donation account so that I could, for example, help one of my mother’s best friends, who passed away last Saturday from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), alleviate her nightmare.

All I have done is write about myself and how I see the world and now that my 29th birthday is coming up on July 11th, I am going to ask my friends and family to donate money so that I can go hottubbing naked in our garden. Noble indeed, Maria.

It seems that one of my favorite words “inshahallah” (God willing), which I have come to use when referring to the past three months of my life, figure in both the Arabic and Hebrew language. I don’t believe that everything that happens is the work of God. How can I when “people die, buildings burn…”? However, the fact that “…(but) love lasts forever” makes me hopeful that God does play a role, somewhere.

On Saturday morning I listened to the last five minutes of the sermon held by the “Youth Pastor at Fiskeback Evangelical Covenant Church” for the thirty odd 15 year-olds getting confirmed. I sometimes pass by the church when out walking or cycling to light a candle or two. Call me whatever you like. I usually say that I’m a Christian-Buddhist-Scientist. Suits me perfectly. I realise this religion may be the fourth arm of Abraham, Bahá’í Faith. Praise the Lord, it too has it’s governing body in “Israel”.

I had fought a battle with my husband and cycled off to lick my wounds. To regain some of my dignity I was going to do a Forrest Gump. Lucky for me (but perhaps a great loss for Sweden), I didn’t get further than Citrusgatan 16. In there someone started talking about how the Christian faith is all about love and forgiveness, bla, bla, bla. I hate it when others are right and Maria is wrong. I’ll never get used to that part in my life.

I recently flipped through all the cards and letters that have travelled through my family’s postbox these past weeks and they are all beautiful. There are so many of us who have the gift of words. I don’t mind having fika either, though, and I have a long wait ahead of me so feel free to ring me. I’ve lost my calendar and my mobile is not permitting outgoing calls/texts (i.e. Maria therapy).

Thanks for the photos from Canada, Martin, where I hope to go around October 7th (Thanksgiving). I hope you don’t mind me publishing them. I don’t think I ever got an answer from you when I asked. I took your silence as “informed consent” (don’t ever try that for enrolment in clinical trials).

Should I add that the first photo, from Massassauga Provincial Park, was taken on September 11, 2001 and the second a few days later? As I am still a blue girl, my family were relieved to receive the card containing one simple text that helped them get through rough times beyond belief. Thank you.

How can there not be a God?

Inshahallah.

Måns Zelmerlöw sang to me at Nordstan in Göteborg on Sunday. I was walking by with two terrific girls, Julia & Olga, from the Ukraine and someone sang Cara, Cara MIA and looked deep into my eyes. I’m sure I noticed a wink there as well.

Julia, you forgot your poster. I hope you are okay with me giving it away to someone else, like my bathroom? One is definitely going up on the other restroom door. Robbie Williams “I was there” is upstairs and Måns will have to go up on the downstairs loo.

Måns said his favorite song on the record is “Work of Art (Da Vinci)”, but it’s not the song I can listen to on his homepage. It’s CARA MIA.

One day you are not going to be singing for free. I’m glad I got to hear my song and get my newly bought record autographed for free. I’m not likely going to see Robbie Williams doing anything similar any time soon. Besides, I can hardly afford his tickets anyway.

“Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a hang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?

I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have.

My friends tell me to calm down. They say, “Lee, you’re eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people.” I’d love to – as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I’m going to speak up because it’s my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I’ll tell you how I see it, and it’s not pretty, but at least it’s real. I’m hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don’t vote because they don’t trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us.”

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
by Lee Iacocca

We have just managed to get our boy to go to sleep. Should I add that the time is 23:09 (11:09 pm) and that he finished off by pouring water down his uncle’s old “Sweden is Fantastic” t-shirt?

We’re terrible parents, it’s just that I feel that the fewer times I can say “no” to that boy, the better. I haven’t changed in how I bring him up, I have just changed my attitude somewhat.

It is more important that he develops into a healthy human than remember me as the “no” Mom who just moaned that he should clean his room, stop listening to loud music and above all NOT watch “The Chainsaw Massacre” on the television he does NOT have in his room. How can I when his Grandfather and Father are chainsawing most weekends during Autumn, Winter and Spring up at the country house?

It’s a massacre of trees, that’s for sure, and it’s bloody dangerous, that’s why they try to keep their boots and helmets on during the operation. Don’t get me started on the tractors.

My Aunt who works selling the machines gave him one as a “welcome to the world” present almost two years ago. It’s a forest green tractor, with the magic words “John Deere“ written on the side, that the two men I mentioned above dream about at night.

According to one of my favorite Swedish tabloids, Aftonbladet, below are TEN clear signs of unfaithfulness:

1. You partner draws away and sends text messages, without being able to tell you who’s getting them all.
2. Your partner is happy but seems to have their thoughts else where.
3. He/she has all of the sudden an increased mobile phone bill, even though nothing specific has happened at work/in the family.
4. You often realise that your partner is lying about where he/she has been.
5. You partner switches between moving away and being overly present and cuddly.

1. He/she sits up and email until late at night to an unknown receiver.
2. He/she has suddenly become more keen on their outer appearance.
3. Your partner works overtime more than usual.
4. You receive time and again telephone calls that break when you answer.
5. Your partner has started a new hobby that takes up all their leisure time, but you can’t join in.

Oh, and there is an NB! (Obs!) at the end: “One occasional sign does not necessarily mean infidelity. However, the more signs you recognize, the greater the risk…

P.S.The lover is often a friend, neighbour or colleague and some people use infidelity as a springboard.

I am springboarding everywhere at this point in my life together with my friends, neighbours, colleagues, people I meet on the bus and tram, in the taxi… I don’t know how I would have survived otherwise. Does that make me unfaithful? Is that so wrong?

It’s all about asking the right questions and not being scared to do so (or hear/feel the answer I suppose).

You know what? I have HAPPY FEET and here’s the guy…

I have had a brilliant week. I have had so much fun that I have had very little urge to sit and write for hours. Am I becoming THAT much easier to impress or am I just becoming more relaxed and not so worried about what others think of me? What? I am the least of all vain. I wish I would have been, especially during my high school years, so that I could have felt less like a freak.

My impressive week? I start off in beautiful London, my home away from home, in South Kensington to be more precise. My husband and I gain a star (*) every time we fly over there. This time round we stayed at a super duper friendly hotel where everyone must have starred in their CR classes, namely the RYDGES. They even gave us a double-bed! Some three years ago, at a 3*** hotel, which was a mini-honeymoon I would like to add, we landed with twin beds, which felt a bit ironic considering we had been through a three year long-distance relationship whilst I had been living in Manchester.

Wednesday and Thursday I went into retreat at Johannesgården ”to listen to the soul in a monastery environment”. That pretty much meant I had to shut up for two days, and you know what? I LOVED IT! Not as much as my romantic London trip, but it came a close second. I got some time for myself, to think, to ponder, to reflect. They’re right, it is not about finding the answers; it’s all about asking the right questions.

And now? 11:38 pm on a Friday night? I have returned back from the Elite Plaza Hotel in central Gothenburg. This was central Gothenburg year 2001:

Six years down the line, my Toastmasters speech club is enrolled in the Business Smart, District 59 Spring Conference. Click here to see Gothenburg from a completely different, non-YouTube point of view. I hadn’t seen my Toastmasters friends in a long while and I ended up having dinner with three of them at Krakow. Oh yeah, if any IB reunion people are reading this, I switched the date to June 9th, so I hope we’re all hunky dory.

“Our starting point is not the individual: We do not subscribe to the view that one should feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, or clothe the naked… Our objectives are different: We must have a healthy people in order to prevail in the world” [...]

MAY 16th, 2007 is JERUSALEM DAY (“Yom Yerushalayim”)! Jerusalem Day? I love Jerusalem. I think this is a GREAT DAY FOR FREEDOM. But I am still at LOST FOR WORDS… for according to Wikipedia, on this day, May 16th, the World has also seen the following five (or ~6?) events:

• 1204 – Fourth Crusade: Count Baldwin IX of Flanders was crowned the first Latin Emperor in Constantinople.
• 1866 – Root beer was first prepared commercially.
• 1877 – President Patrice de Mac-Mahon dismissed Jules Simon and installed Albert, Duc de Broglie as Prime Minister, triggering a political crisis in the French Third Republic.
• 1929 – The first Academy Awards were handed out at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.
• 1943 – World War II: SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop (pictured) put an end to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the first mass uprising in Poland against the Nazi occupation during the Holocaust.

• (1967) – In my opinion, the reason why the world looks as it does, and I’m just not thinking of the conflicts of the Holy Land [...]

“(They) came, the police, and they started banging houses… one baby started to cry … the other baby started crying. So the mother urinated in her hand and gave the baby a drink to keep quiet … (When the police had gone), I told the mothers to come out. And one baby was dead … from fear, the mother (had) choked her own baby [...] “

• (2007) - (May 17th) “Two men on the wrong mission(?) – Their tough talk suggests Bush and Blair may be preparing to attack Iran”, says Robert Fox [...]

“We heard a loud voice repeating the same words in English and in German: “Hello, hello. You are free. We are British soldiers and have come to liberate you.” These words still resound in my ears.”
—Hadassah Rosensaft, inmate of Bergen-Belsen.^[128]

The slide show is a tribute to Mimmi. Cheers mate. Funnily, within 48 hours, cats have assailed into my life. Our beautiful black n’ white Findus has been notoriously fed with “Junky Cereal” by Elton this morning.

Junky cereal on a Wednesday? We caught on to the Junky-Cereal-on-weekends idea when my husband and I visited a truly amazing family (and one of Maria’s very few blood relatives) in Halifax, Vermont. Lisa! We took an OTIS elevator at the World Trade Centre (WTC) in Ney York City and just yesterday I was in an OTIS elevator going to Heaven23 for lunch (thank you E&A!) at the WTC in Gothenburg. Amazing, huh? And to think that OTIS is buried just behind your house. Wow! We think of your beautiful family often, every time we walk into an elevator as a matter of fact, for most of them are OTIS’ after all.

For now, Elton and I are having JuNkY-cErEaL-dAy-EvErY-dAy (sorry Zaman). Mmm, honey coated Kalaspuffar with Fil (yoghurt, but much tastier). Findus (click “Information in English”; it’s a blast) seems to find the attention amusing. It’s strange to have a cat that thinks she’s above everyone else. Findus is female I should add. Strange to give such a masculin name to a female, huh? First of all, we WANTED a Findus (link click, I love it to bits) and secondly, our very own “women’s right’s activist (F!)” and ”Left Party politician” Gudrun Schyman stated that girls should be allowed to be christened with boys’ names. She didn’t mention cats, but we took the liberty to do so, in Sweden, which as far as I can see is still ranked as a free nation by The Freedom House. Not sure whether she would agree, as Communism is her party’s cup of “Boston tea party”, but hey, who can blame her? I really want to go to North Korea and Cuba as well. It would be hugely interesting, I’m sure (as long as I don’t have to worry about being shot). Castro going, who knows what can happen…

My second “cat invasion” was the other day when I met some of my favourite sisters’ Mum and Dad, who have an awesome swing in their back yard, perfect for crawling up and reading Små Citroner Gula. As I’m a blogger and EH is a blogger, she let me in on her anonymous blog site. I hope I haven’t divulged too much, but she has an awesomely cool husband who I can talk to for literally hours and she does not get jealous. I like that, so here’s to Katten Svea!

Last but not least, here’s to Cats in Sinks and Tim’s cat blog (the latter inspiring me to write this one), who came and visited us for the weekend and I didn’t even think of giving you (or Hanna) any sheets. Apologies. I’m glad you thought of asking for a towel, Tim. Thank you.