Maria

...because I'm on vacation! :D

I've been home for a week and I'm not going onboard until June 30th!

Thomas has a week off now too so we'll be home for Midsummer's Eve. It's probably just going to rain anyway but as long as we get some pickled herring, potatoes, snaps and strawberries it doesn't matter!

I've been a good girl and not my lazy self this week at home... Been out running twice and done four power yoga workouts. Every time I start doing the yoga again I'm reminded of just how sore the muscles in your upper body get! All the tiny muscles around the ribcage especially. Thomas wasn't allowed to hug me Wednesday! :D I'm also reminded of how much I love Steve Ross and his yoga... I've still only managed to find 6 episodes of his show Inhale (on Oxygen) via torrents and sadly there still doesn't seem to be a DVD in the works. (I've only waited 9 years, dammit!)

I've been out for a run (and did pretty well!), I've been grocery shopping and Ludde had his hair cut with his grand father! Now I'm planning tonight's barbeque dinner... Ludde is trying to get me to watch Pokemon with him (I'm doing my best to avoid that show and he knows it! LOL)

I think I'll take the family to Liseberg (the amusement park here in Göteborg) tonight to see Miss Li. She's so adorable and writes and sings such lovely, irresistible little songs! :D

Went running again and did pretty well! I need to start running longer distances already so now I need to find out where I'm going to run next. Running around Delsjön (the lake nearby) is sadly not an option because it's just uphill/downhill and it would kill me (and my knees probably). I might do it eventually but not now... :P

I made chickpea burgers for Ludvig and me - and he LIKED it! Yay! Last time I couldn't get him to eat any but this time he thought it was fantastic! It's not easy getting him to try new things so I celebrate whenever I succeed! (And saying chickpeas are vegetables instead of peas isn't lying, is it?)

And for rocktea. Just... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm *dies*

Afghan Whigs - Somethin' Hot


So yeah - a good day!

OK, it's official! At age 36 I'm in the best shape of my life! I'm stronger than I've ever been and after running today I realised that I'm faster than ever too! It felt so easy and I smiled the whole way! It felt amazing!

Tonight I'm celebrating with salmon and quinoa salad.

I was supposed to do that Happiness meme, wasn't I?

OK - Day 2: I'm happy that the gas station nearby sells flour! And I'm happy because Nogger Mint tastes yummy! (Swedish ice cream!!) But why can't we get Mintpuck back?

I'm also happy about sitting here in my bikini, on my way out to the garden! The carrot cake is in the oven, brother and family on their way here from Skåne, we're going to have a barbeque, Thomas will bring fantastic strawberries home, it's sunny and Ludde is not puking! (he did last night because he had too much snacks and coca cola at the party!)

The only downside is that the combination of back pain and birch pollen allergy really is killing me at the moment. I need to take walks because that's the only thing that makes the back pain better - but I shouldn't go outside and expose myself to all the pollen! Grrrrrr

Obviously I refuse to stay inside when we have summer weather like this - so I sneeze and scratch my eyes out! It's worth it though. I have eye drops now and allergy meds (which aren’t helping as much as they should...) so I'll survive!

I was going to write something about 24 but I know only one person who'd appreciate what I have to say! LOL But I'm still enjoying season 7 - and that also makes me happy! :D

Just opened a bottle of lovely Brolio wine from Barone Ricasoli! Very yummy and we had some cheese with it as a starter dish! *in seventh heaven*

Thomas is outside watching the barbecue while I'm making a salad (ie posting on LJ and sipping wine because he foolishly left the bottle with me! Hah)

It feels good celebrating being home again!

I'm leaving for Oslo in a few hours. We'll have a busy week because of the Easter Break and I think I'll be in the perfume shop all week! Yay! (But also - damn, the shaking will be awful!)

Ludvig got a Mp3-player yesterday! It's filled with AC/DC now and he's walking around saying This is my favourite!! to every other song! Adorable! It's really hard leaving him when he's so cute (and also he has a cold and is home from school - I just wanna stay here and hug him!)

rocktea - here's the thing from Glasgow where they ask for Sneakers ("I don't respond to terrorists threats") and the girl screams she loves Mark ("Thanks") and a guy then yells to Greg that he loves him! LOL
Mark & Greg - One Hundred Days (Glasgow)

And I'm sure you've read this but just in case you haven't... it's hilarious! I just had to find this interview again after all our chatting this weekend! ;)
"The problem is, we always double date. That can be quite intimidating."

Happy Easter everyone and have a great week! *hugs*

Damn, that was one fun concert last night! :) Eagles of Death Metal is such an awesome live band!

Only a real rock’n’roll star can unclasp audience members’ bras with his mind! (Or was that the guy behind me jumping up and down trying to get in front of me without any luck?)

Jesse "The Devil" Hughes does indeed flirt with anything that moves! Hahahha, he’s just so funny! I ended up way up front, second row, and it was sweaty and fun and I was dancing and smiling the whole time! I could have done without the smelly guy and the two guys fighting their way to the front but it didn’t really take away any of the fun! Several guys where I stood had fake porn moustaches and sunglasses and I was followed through the crowd by cute 23-year old who repeatedly tried to grab my ass. Hah – hilarious! He couldn’t quite keep up with me though and was soon way off to the side! ;)

I took only a few photos. I was too busy dancing and since the crowd was so wild it was hard to keep the camera still long enough to get any focus! I might play around with them a little more when I get home next week because I’m going onboard again in a few hours.

None of the Joey pics turned out any good – sorry about that rocktea! He’s just drumming away too hard and too fast! ;)

Have a great week everybody! :)



( 3 more pics under here… )

Update on the forum incident - The section is back up and reading the thread I posted the link in I can't really see why everyone got so worked up. Of course there's a great possibility of deleted posts…

The idiot who called me a princess has apologised! Apparently he's sent me a private message as well but I haven't bothered to log in to read it.

The whole thing seemed to be about old conflicts regarding FLAC v. MP3, having a download section at all, and some lady stopped taking her meds as well as quit drinking (I swear - that was her defense!!!!) What a crazy place!

I had a great birthday and a great weekend! I've been busy cooking (lots of yummy dinners!) and I've had my cousin here for a quick visit! (Got her to listen to some Gutter Twins and Lanegan and she loved it! *evil laughter*) We got lots of snow Saturday but it all started to melt away Sunday - we did have time for a snowball fight though!

They called from the ship today and I'm going to take the bus to Oslo on Wednesday! Perfect! I need my workouts after all these dinners...

I’m home again. It was a long week – we worked an extra day so I’m pretty exhausted! It was fun as always though and I managed to break the internet while I was away!

Well, not really - but by accident I created a fight over at the onewhiskey board (Mark Lanegan fan forum) and the Downloads section over there is now down!

On the board someone had posted a link to www.dimeadozen.org and the bootleg of the Gutter Twins concert I went to in London. To download you need to be a member and it's really difficult to get an account there - I know because I had to try so many times before I managed to get one and I've had to rely on nice people to upload stuff to other sites so many times. Now I was lucky enough to get an account and I then re-uploaded the files to megaupload to make sure my Mark Lanegan buddies got a chance to hear this amazing concert as well.

And since I had the link I thought it might be useful to more people - especially since one guy asked for it in a reply to the dimeadozen post - so I posted it! He thanked me and everything was alright - or so I thought…

I checked the forum when I had some time off onboard and this rude idiot accused me of making inferior mp3s of the files (against the original uploader's wishes) and called me a princess (in a not very kind way). I saw a few posts after that defending me, reminding the idiot about manners, and I also got a nice private message to just ignore the bastard but I was still upset since I had just posted the same files as the original poster! I hadn't changed anything! So I wrote a quick reply saying that the megaupload WAS a FLAC file and that I don't want crappy sound either but everyone should be able to hear the show (the uploader said spread widely and freely!). I was so nice in my reply – refrained from commenting about how the guy attacking me obviously doesn't even know what megaupload is (he seems to think it some kind of service turning the files into mp3s with crappy bitrates) and I didn't even sign it with princess Mary! ;)

Anyway - seems like the whole place blew up after that! I don't know what was being said after my reply because I wasn't able to go online until this weekend and then I discovered the whole section was gone! (They're doing some work in it - some think it won't be back at all!)

And it’s apparently all my fault because I didn't specify that the re-upload was FLAC in my post! To me it really was obvious that I posted the exact same file and of course my little mistake didn’t merit such a nasty reply. He could’ve just asked first! Grrrrrrrrr

So I’m thinking I’m going to stay the hell away from that place… This is what you get for being nice!

Oh well… I think I’ll survive! Right now I’m just a little curious about what was being said… But – tomorrow is my birthday and I’m turning 36 which is a lucky number for me and I’m going to have lunch with my mom and then my best friend is coming over to give me a haircut. (I really need it!) I’ll be making my favourite pizza, we’ll have wine and more people might show up! :) And I bought a litre of Braastad XO Cognac onboard!

I love my co-workers! (I've said it before, haven't I?)

Yesterday there were 8 crazy ladies out on an island in the archipelago eating lobster bisque and tasting wines. We had so much fun!

So I have a bit of a hangover today but that's OK - TV400 has a 24 marathon and Nina just said "I invite you to try"! Don't think I'll be able to watch her final ep though (I’m STILL not over it, dammit!) so I’ll probably sit right here in front of the computer for awhile trying to decide if I should do laundry or not today! ;)

We got some snow last night – it was so pretty when it snowed out in the archipelago! It’s probably going to melt away today though. If the sun comes out I’ll take a walk. It took me 24 minutes to walk from our house to the top of the Avenue the other day! I walked pretty fast but still – it means no more bus for me (unless it rains or snows)!

I think I need coffee.

Happy Birthday libbi!!! *hugs*

I hope you've had a wonderful day in all that snow! (We don't even have any snow and I'm glad it didn't happen when I came to visit you!)

I'm back home again and will probably not go onboard until next Thursday. Last night I basically passed out around 9. I think I might do the same tonight, actually! Finally I'm tired enough to sleep. It was a rough weekend - all the Danish passangers going up to Norway to ski during their winter break almost drove us insane.

Why are ALL my friends on Facebook eating semlas? I want one too!!! But I have decided to only eat the ones from the bakery I used to manage (because they are the best in the city) and I wasn't going to go over there today. Too bad I don't live across the street from it anymore. (Or actually - it's probably a good thing! Heh)

I'm finally going onboard again tomorrow! Just for the weekend but it's a start. I really have missed it and I become so damn listless when I'm home this long. I need and love the daily work-workout-eat-sleep routine onboard that fits me so perfectly.

The bus trip up to Oslo is kinda boring though. I'll bring book, magazines, notebook, mp3 player and lots of fruit - and probably end up sleeping most of the way!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Well, hello there FL! I’ve just hung out in hit_the_city and Mark Lanegan forums lately! For obvious reasons…

I’ve been back from London almost a week now and I’m still trying to come down! I’m still not sleeping!!! Someday soon I should just pass out or something, right???

Firstly – Thank you so much,libbi for letting me stay with you and the kitty! You’re so lovely and it was so great to finally meet you – and hug you! I wish I could’ve stayed longer and you need to come and visit us soon.

And the concert? Was so fantastic I still can’t find words… AND I GOT TO MEET MARK LANEGAN! I missed him in Copenhagen and the damned flight to London was cancelled in Dec, but this time I got to meet him! He was so nice, quiet and he smiled! And he’s tall… He is my big ol’ bear! ;)

Maria and the Gutter Twins (Mark on the left, Greg Dulli on the right)


The concert was so amazing. Union Chapel is a real church and so beautiful. That, combined with a worshipping crowd, great acoustics and wonderful songs created an almost religious experience. Mark even joked on stage (mind you he rarely speaks!) and I never wanted the night to end. I wrote a longer review here.

They played Gutter Twins songs as well as songs from Mark's solo albums,Twilight Singers, Afghan Whigs - and some great covers: I am in the Heavenly Way, All I Have to Do is Dream (Everly Brothers!!), Tennessee Waltz, and ended the show with I Get a Kick Out of You – which had us laughing like crazy! Mark sang the first part: “I get no kick from champagne” and we all started giggling and you know everyone was thinking no, you got your kicks from other substances(heroin). But then Greg sang the line about not getting a kick from cocaine (which was his choice of drug) and we totally lost it! The front rows were laughing so hard and Greg got a really big smile on his face. Mark was laughing behind the microphone! It was such a great moment! They obviously don’t take themselves too seriously and must have a great sense of humour to pick a song like that! :)

Btw - fandoms collided when Mark sang the “play me, save me" part in King Only and I suddenly realised that I was thinking about 24 and Jack/Nina! _ila_, remember the video you made using that song? I almost died because after “Play me” Mark licked his lips before singing “Save me”! It was incredibly hot and now I’m so obsessed by this live version of the song…

Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan - King Only (acoustic with Mark on backing vocals)

And speaking of 24 - I’m enjoying this season so far! Yay! I might not be a fan of Tony being back but there are enough interesting new characters to keep me happy! It’s fast-paced, exciting and fun to watch! Hopefully the rest of the season is just as good! After I had seen Redemption I almost wrote a Daniels fic (mainly because in the movie he was exactly like I thought he would be after being president awhile) but sadly I lost my inspiration again! At least I’m writing other stuff so I’m happy.

Oh, and last week I finally got the stuff Isobel Campbell promised to send to me! Signed by both her and Mark! I adore her so! I was beginning to think she had forgotten (or that my handwriting had been impossible to read!) but she hadn’t! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

( autographs under the cut )

This is coming to you from the couch in the living room!

Yup, I FINALLY got that USB thingie for my lap top so that we can take full advantage of our wireless broadband! Yay! Now Thomas can edit his photos of orchids all night long and I can still... hm, spend too much time online? ;)

OK, so my lap top hasn't been online before (poor baby!) so I'm going to spend the night prepping it for the harsh world of virus and spyware...

Ludvig turned 7 Tuesday (January 6th) so I searched the computer for some of my favourite photos and found so many funny ones! I can't believe he's SEVEN already!!! My baby!!!

Poor thing is feeling a little shy after his long Xmas break and I'm letting him stay home from school today. I'm just going to take him there a few hours tomorrow to get acquainted with the whole situation again.

Right now he's obsessed with my old Game & Watch games! Anyone old enough to remember them? My mom gave him one she found in her basement on his birthday and then I managed to find a few more! Can't believe they still work! :)

And now on to the LUDVIG PIC-SPAM:



( + 13 more because he's so adorable... )

I was going to write something about 2008 and what I would like to happen in 2009 but I still haven't quite recovered from my horrible cold so I blame it for rambling here...

I can say that 2008 was the year I started feeling really passionate about music again (and Mark Lanegan's music in particular!). I got to go to some really amazing concerts too - Gutter Twins, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan and In Flames.

I almost became obsessed by The X-Files again but it was effectively thwarted by my Mark Lanegan obsession! I did finally see I Want To Believe though - a few weeks ago! LOL My expectations weren't very high (because of the reviews) but I adored seeing Mulder & Scully again. I felt the story wasn't solid enough for a movie though.

We moved of course! To the perfect house in the perfect neighbourhood and Ludvig started school!

I've worked with my favourite crew onboard all year and we've had some great times! Especially going to the Absolut Distilleries in Åhus! Best party this year! I'm hoping to keep working onboard next year as well! I really adore the people I work with and working one week and then having one week off still fits me perfectly!

When it comes to music and concerts 2009 seems promising so far:

I'm flying to London (and this time there better be no protests over at Stansted!) to see Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli in January! And I'm staying with libbi! Yay!

Eagles of Death Metal are playing in Gothenburg on March 8th. I'd love to go but can't get Thomas to join me. Good thing I'm getting used to this going to concerts alone thing by now! Perhaps my brother wants to come along? Or nirakh - wanna go?

We somehow managed to get tickets for the AC/DC concert on June 21th! :D They may not be my favourite band but it's going to be awesome seeing them live! Thomas's been a fan for many many years so he's really looking forward to it too!

(Mark Lanegan is doing another album with Soulsavers and is going to be working on a new solo album as well! And I'm hoping he'll tour with Soulsavers to promote the album - perhaps in the summer?)

Our new toy will make sure we'll be able to catch up on/follow a bunch of TV shows in the new year! And I will watch 24:Redemption any day now! *nods*

Downloaded Honeyhoney's album last night... Should I fear the wrath of Jack Bauer??? ;)

Merry Xmas!

Hope you all have a great holiday! :)

I survived the fire drill! I was rescued from (the smoke-filled) deck 2 by the Oslo fire department and I'm not going to complain about the ship suddenly being filled with lovely firemen! ;) We should have these kind of drills more often! And all the make up was fun too - I got away with just some blood on my face and arm but you should've seen some of the others! LOL

I'm not over the missed concert yet... Red wine and crackers with chèvre and pear jam didn't work (although it was yummy!).

Now I'm just waiting for my sister to drop by and leave her stuff here. She's leaving for Australia on Sunday. I'm not jealous... nope, not at all! Tonight she's going to "Lucia movie night" though. It's Lucia night and we need to stay awake and drive off the demons! :)

Perhaps Ludde will sing for me in the morning? Or perhaps I should put on the Lucia crown and sing and serve breakfast to my boys?

I haven't baked ginger snaps yet... But I have made marzipan candy with nougat and pear cognac!!

I can't believe it's almost Xmas! When I get home from the ship I'll only have one day until my brother arrives with his family!

Can I crawl under the covers and die now?

Seriously!

I was supposed to be in London right now... But some fucking idiots decide to have a protest over at Stansted Airport early this morning and our flight was cancelled.

I was supposed to meet Isobel and Mark, dammit! I was supposed to see them live again and show Thomas how amazing they are and then he’d get to meet Isobel! And I’d find out if Mark ever got my silly note! And does she still have my cd booklet and set list?

I don’t think I believe it still… It’s a nightmare! And just before Xmas too – there was a lot of other things I could have spent that money on! Ryanair gave us the money back for the flight but none of the other stuff was refundable. *cries again*

Thomas and I haven’t done anything like this together in at least 7 years! I was so looking forward to it being just the two of us.

And yes, dammit, LJ – I know my account is expiring soon! Sending me all these reminders is not helping me cheer up – although I don’t think anything would at the moment.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

However – Everyone is feeling so sorry for me now and suddenly I’m allowed to see the concert with Mark and Greg on Jan 19th. We’ll see if I can go…

libbi - are you going to be online tonight?