Johan Hammerby's blog

Today at work our owner’s CEO visited our paper, as well as Elin and Theodor. The second visit was better.

I’ve also taught my apprentice all the things I know about my job as an editor.

Tomorrow I will be travelling, but I hasn’t really had time to think about it.

The last couple of days I’ve been so busy.

A really funny, travelling-themed party Saturday. Very great night at Anna and Linus’s. I was a pilot.

 Sunday I went to Grandma, to celebrate her birthday.

Monday. Went to Gothenburg to see Eddie Izzard with Daniel.  I saw Izzard 2009, but this was even better. Two amazing hour filled with absurd humor about everything and nothing.

Wednesday I saw a Halmstad soccer game. Another tie, but really boring game.

And I’ve done the laundry.

And then tonight I’ve packed the bags. Because tomorrow I’m going to America!!

Me, Andreas and Henric are going to the West Coast of the US for a couple of weeks. Go around to different places, meet friends, eat lots of good food, and just have a great time.

And it’s my first paid vacation. That alone is strange.

It’s been a while since I wrote about NHL, but I have to get it out of my system now after watching the last hours of the trading deadline circus.

First of all, it was a nice broadcast that the Swedish paper Aftonbladet had.

But then the trades themselves.

This morning (Swedish time) the Rangers acquired Ryan Clowe from San José Sharks for some draft picks. Seemed nice, and with not so much time left till deadline it felt like that was gonna be the only Rangers trade today.

But no.

The news that Marian Gaborik had been traded was a chock. I couldn’t believe it. Sure, he was in the speculations, but still! And what we got for him. Three decent players, but nothing special. They better succeed now!

Well, it’s not like 2004 when ten Rangers-players were traded within a week before deadline, among them Brian Leetch. But I’m still upset.

This night I’m gonna watch the game between the part new Rangers against the very new Pittsburgh Penguins.

Damn, they have added good names. Iginla, Morrow, Jokinen, Murray. But we will kick their ass!

Columbus also did some nice moves, as well as St Louis.

This year’s NHL season is in all means nothing like what you thought last summer. Now it’s just for the Blueshirts to cramp in to the layoff. Good luck, and also good luck in Columbus, Gaborik!

Well, once again it’s been a while.

It’s getting closer to the trip to America, and it’s gonna be so much fun! All three of us is looking forward to it so much. We have now rented a car, and booked hotel in San Francisco .

Swedish soccer league started today. Halmstad got 1-1 away against Malmö, and that’s a good start.

Melodifestivalen didn’t go as well, but hopefully Sweden will do better in Eurovision song contest.

Rangers isn’t doing so well right now. Hopefully it will be better once the playoff starts.

Tonight me and the guys are gonna watch the last episodes of The Walking Dead. So excited!

Last night it was the Academy Award. Just as last year we were at Henric’s and had a bunch of food, snacks and soda.

It was a nice show too. Three Swedish awards, and the Documentary award for Searching For Sugar Man was extra nice to see.

Otherwise it was a good gala, hosted by Set MacFarlane in a brilliant way. Good winners too, I think. Of the major movies, I have only seen Les Miserables and Django Unchained, but would love to see more of the others. It was nice to see that there were so many movies that appealed to a wider audience base.

So, I’m a bit tired tonight, staying up all night for the Oscars. I got a powernap for an hour when I got home, but tonight I’m calling in early.

At my job it’s a bit better now. I have got a temp-position for a year, as the editor of the letters-to-the-editor section. For the first time ever I know what I’ doing for an extended period of time.

This week me, Henric and Andreas have booked our tickets to America! April 19^th we take of to the wonderful California. Goddammit, I’m so excited to go back there!

The Walking Dead has started again. So far I have seen two episodes, but it looks really good for the upcoming season.

And I have gotten a birthday package from Lauren :)

This weekend it was my birthday, and it was a really great weekend.

Last weekend I was with my parents in Getinge and got celebrated with cake and presents.

This Saturday there were about 13 people here. We had a great party, watched Melodifestivalen, and then went out.

I got to sleep for long both Saturday and Sunday, and Friday night I was at home eating smörgåstårta and watched Armageddon.

A terrific weekend, that is!

Something that hasn’t been as terrific has been the start of the season for the New York Rangers. Shaky, but I think it will work out for the best. Rick Nash has started out nice, which is good.

Btw, Melodifestivalen, the Swedish entry selection for Eurovision Song Contest, has its first semifinal, and it wasn’t that good. One nice song by yohio, but in the other songs, there wasn’t much quality to find.

The work is okay. Nothing new about what happens after February, but soon I’ll know, hopefully. The last weeks I have been both on the Family section, been copy-editing, on the web, writing for the Halmstad section and I’ve been to the local office in Hylte. It’s nice that I’m good at multitasking :)

This week I have been an editor, for the letters-to-the-editors section.

Now it’s time again. Sum up the year that has passed. I have both done so much and so little, it seems. But I’ll go with the usual drill, first sum up my year, and then news, sports and entertainment and so on.

• My 2012
• Year in review – news
• Year in review – sports
• Year in review – entertainment
• Dead celebrities
• Best songs of the year
• My guesses about 2012, how they went
• Guesses about 2013
• How did I do on my new years resolutions?
• New reaolutions for 2013

My 2012.

I moved in to a new apartment January 1^st. I now live on Pilefeltsgatan in Halmstad, very close to a supermarket and my gym.

I was in America again. My first visit since I moved away from there. In April and May I was once again back in California, and I hanged out with Lauren and her family and we celebrated her birthday in Norcal. I was in Santa Barbara where I stayed with Nima and Dan, and I met a buch of old friends again, and I went to Vegas. Was there with Cecily and Lauren, and the gang was once again reunited. It was too short, but this spring I will be back again. I can never get enough of America!

 

And is that so hard to understand...?

 

Santa Barbara forever

Met up with Paige and Cecily =)

 

 

And Lauren =)

 

 

 

Went to Las Vegas

 

 

 

And stayed at the Tropicana

 

 

I couple of sad things happened this spring. My grandpa died, which was very tough on the family. And also my cat Missan died. It was incredible hard to take her to the vet and put her down, after being in the family for nearly 19 years.

But mom is doing better, so that is nice.

In May I ran my first long distance race, the half marathon Göteborgsvarvet. It was a really nice experience. Despite the fact that I ran in one of the last starting groups  there was a lot of people along the way, cheering for everyone. It went very well, the running, and I was please with my time: 1:58:18.

The summer was incredible busy. Me and my friends did a lot of things pretty much every day, so I wasn’t free that much.

Also, Lauren came to visist me and Sweden. We went to Getinge, Halmstad, Denmark, Öland and Stockholm. We had so much fun.

Öland

Me nad Lauren on Öland after a swim

 

I drove a gokart for the very first time. That was a lot of fun.

 

I also went to see Bruce Springsteen at Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg along with Daniel. My first major arena concert, but not my last. This summer Robbie Williams awaits.

Me and the gang also went to Liseberg amusement park

A lot of humor too, and standup shows with Johan Glans, David Batra and Al Pitcher.

In September me, Andreas, Henric and Anna went to Greece. A very well-needed vacation on Creete, with sun, baths and amazing food. Just what we all needed.

 

 

 

On the way home from the Samaria gorge

I became a blood donor this year. Three times I have donated so far. It feels good to be able to do something nice for others.

Overall I have done a lot of fun things. There hasn’t been one week where I have had multiple days off, cause we have always done something new. A lot of movies and dinners too.

Year in review – News

Not as many major things as last year, but still some bigger once.

In January, the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, ran aground and went down. Many peole died. The captain of the ship was the first one to leave, and he is now being charged for being a douche.

A Norwegian military aircraft went down in the Swedish mountains during a drill, killing all five aboard.

Sweden got a new princess and heir to the throne, Princess Estelle.

Princess Madeleine got engaged to an British-American finance guy, Chris O’Neill. Most famous was the announcement video, which was ended with the princess saying an awkward “teehee”.

A lot of this year has been about the American election. All spring was about the Republicans’ primary elections, and for a long time it wasn’t clear who would be the nominee. Eventually it became Mitt Romney who was their rep, even though many republicans didn’t really want him. A bunch of weird quotes, like 47% of the Americans being lazy social welfare demanders, and something about binders of women, as well as the fact of hime being a bit stiff and boring, lead to the election not being as close of a race and people at first thought. Obama won, and will remain for the next for years.

In Sweden, the Secretary of defense was forced to leave office.

A controversy surrounded the Sweden Democrats, the xenophobic party. Three of their politicians had been videotaped on a night out, saying racist and sexist comments, as well as following a drunk guy while waving iron pipes at him. Another of their MP:s was drunk in a bar and forgot a bag. He later accused imigrants of robbing him.

Strangely enough, the party gained a bit more popularity during the fall, despite all they’ve been through.

The Swedish Social democrats was forced to swift leader, after 2011’s controversies.

Russia is less and less democratic. The group Pussy Riot was put in prison after a Putin-critical song was performed in a church, and Putin also made it tougher for homosexuals. He also “won” the presidential election again.

A robber in Stockholm robbed a guy on a subway station. The victim was drunk and had fallen on the tracks. The robber took his wallet, but didn’t help him up, and the train came. The victim survived, but got severely injured. The robber was caught and put in prison.

The incarcerated Swedish journalist Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye was released for the prison in Ethiopia, and returned to Sweden.

Many shootings in America. One in a movie theater in Colorado killed 12 people on the Batman premiere. In December a shooting at a school killed 28 persons, of which 20 were small kids.

A woman went to a museum and thought she should fix a painting. She ruined it, and it was hilarious.

Felix Baumgartner beat a record by skydiving from space, 39 kilometers, after a free fall for several minutes.

The world didn’t end December 21^st, even though some schmucks believed the Mayan calendar said so.

NASA put a vehicle on Mars.

More fights in Syria.

An attack in Libya against the US embassy after a film about Mohammed was put n YouTube.

And speaking of YouTube, South Korean musiscian and his son Gangnamn Style reached over ONE BILLION views. That’s cool. Everybody has danced to his song this year.

Dead celebrities.

Neil Armstrong, Michael Clarke Duncan, Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Sixten Jernberg, Hans Villius, Lars-Gunnar Björklund, Dick Clark, Mike Wallace, Larry Hagman.

Sports

The Olympics was just so and so for Sweden. Only one gold, eight medals in total. But many close calls.

The European soccer championship went straight down the drain. We were out after just two games.

The soccer fall was much better. In one of the best games every Sweden came back after 4-0 away against Germany. It ended 4-4 after one of the most heroic efforts ever made by a sports team. Amazing.

And later, in a game against England on Sweden’s new national arena, Friends Arena, Zlatan Ibrahimovic made one of the most beautiful goals ever, with a bicycle kick.

New York Rangers made a great season, and was just two wins away from the Stanley Cup finals. Henrik Lundqvist won the Vezina Trophy as goalie of the year.

The NHL this fall hasn’t been as great. It hasn’t been at all. A very unnecary lockout is taking place, and it’s so much more stupid than the one 2004-05. There is still a chance for play in 2013. I hope it will solve somehow, and then all the hotshots need to resign, because this is embarrassing and unworthy of the NHL.

Nicklas Lidström finished his career. Sweden’s best player ever, and one of the world’s best ever, too.

The Swedish junior ice hockey team won the world championship.

Halmstad played in the second division, but did it well and are back in the top division for next year.

Entertainment.

Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden! Really cool that Sweden is best in music in Europe again. And the song got high points from all countries, except Italy.

I have discovered the TV series The Walking Dead. It’s about survivors after the zombie apocalypse. Insanely good series, and during the fall’s season 3, me, Henric and Andreas has been so excited about every episode.

Some nice movies I have seen in theaters this year: Hunger Games, Skyfall, The Dark Knight Rises, En gång i Phuket, Rock of Ages, Men in black 3.

Best songs of the year:

• Train – 50 ways to say goodbye
• Fun – We are young
• Marina and the Diamonds – Primadonna
• Train – Drive by
• Carly Rae Jepsen – Call me maybe
• Panetoz – Dansa pausa
• Ivi Adamou – La la love
• Psy – Gangnam Style
• Loreen - Euphoria
• Linnea Henriksson – Lyckligare nu
• Petra Marklund – Händerna mot himlen

My guesses about 2012, how they went

Mitt Romney becomes the Republican presidential candidate, but Obama wins the election.

Bouya, I nailed it!
New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup.

Unfortunate not, but they were close.
The Social Democrats meeting new difficulties, it becomes a crisis, but Juholt remains.

No, they let him go.
Sweden go far in the European Championships. However, it will be only five medals in the Olympics.

Completely wrong with the soccer, closer on the Olympics.
Nothing serious happens on December 21, when it is intended that the world should perish, but it becomes a whole lot of parties!

True that. But no party for me, since it was during the only day this year I had a cold.

Guesses about 2013.

The summer will be awesome!

Al-Assad will be forced away from the ruling of Syria, one way or another.

I will sit in the audience of Eurovision Song Contest, watching Sweden bomb.

Sweden will qualify for the World Cup of soccer.

NHL will start in January, and the Rangers will at least reach Conference final.

How went my New Year’s resolutions?

Promise 1: I'll go and visit in the U.S.
Promise 2: I will somehow work out at least three times a week, preferably more. Does every week, except when I am out of town or sick.
Promise 3: I'll update the blog more often

Promise 1: Check!

Promise 2: Went pretty well, until the end of the year. In December I had so much to do, so I couldn’t keep up with three times a week. But the rest of the year I did.

Promise 3: Well, I could do better.

Resolutions for 2013

So, for 2013 I will have the same resolutions, and hope I could continue keeping them.

This was 2012. A year of big peaks and deep lows. I look forward to 2013, and I think it will be good. Many tough things, but I believe in this. So thank you for an interesting year, and welcome a new exiting one!

As usual it’s been a long time since I blogged. There’s just not enough time. I will give a little glance of what I’ve been up to since last time, besides the usual Thursday quiz and Sunday hangout.

Last weekend was really fun. Saturday there was a job party at a convention farm out in the woods. We had games, barbeque, a sauna, swimmed in an ice cold lake, bathed in outdoor hot tubs, had dinner and dance.  A lot of fun. And drinks :)

Sunday I worked an extra shift pretty much all day. But before that I had been to a dance show. My friend Katta is one of the trainers, and her crews were really good. Here you can see some photos and a video clip.

 Here you can see some photos and a video clip.

And now for this weeks’ packed schedule:

Monday: We went to Anna and made Christmas candy and cookies. We went on all night, and got a whole lot of sweet things.

Tuesday: Except work I have managed to do FOUR things today. Christmas shopping with dad, workout, bought things for tomorrow and tonight we are gonna watch the extended version of The Two Towers.

Wednesday: Gingerbread house competition, and then the premier of The Hobbit.

Thursday: Anniversary quiz, it’s the 100^th, so a lot of fun things is to expect.

Friday: Go out with some work buddies.

Saturday: go to Gothenburg. Shop, and go to a house warming party.

Sunday: Christmas fair at Liseberg.

A lot of things to do, and soon it is Christmas. I have fun, and it’s good now, even though it’s not much sleep nowadays :)

Btw, tomorrow it’s 121212

Last week I was probably more busy than ever before. Here are some examples of what I have done, plus comments (and I’m not even counting the 8 hour work days, grocery shopping and work out).

Monday:

Walking Dead marathon

The night before we had watched the two last episodes of season 2, to get set for season 3. In America  there have been some episodes this fall, so me, Andreas and Henric sat down to watch the first four episodes of season 3, and… wow. WOW! So freakin great! Brutally good, and brutal in general. Surpassed all our expectations and we were on needles/on clouds, or how ever you want to look at it. We can’t wait to see the next episodes.

Best scene evah!

Tuesday:

Al Pitcher

Stand-up comedy at its best. I have seen him on Youtube before and really like him, so when he know came to Halmstad, me and people form the gang went there. And once again: Wow! He was sooo good. Al Pitcher is from New Zeeland and have moved to Sweden, and he jokes a lot about Swedish traditions, the language and stuff like that. And the second half he showed photos he had taken in Halmstad during the day. So the other half of the show was very local, and thereby unique. And the whole time the audience was very much involved, no matter if they wanter to or not. Very successful.

Election coverage.

There was an election in America, if anyone didn’t notice. I wanted to see it all, but I couldn’t. I altered between watching CNN and go to sleep, wake up, watch, sleep and so on. I watched the most important states and their exit polls. I had Obama for my bet, and he won too. Four more years!

Wednesday:

Laundry – that didn’t work.

The only day I was a bit free I did laundry, among other things. It went well the first two times. But when I was to take out the third laundry machine, it didn’t work. The door was stuck. Didn’t move. And it didn’t for a couple of days. Sunday I managed to get it open, after re –washed it again.

Friday:

Party. It was supposed to be just a chill afterwork, but it soon became a full-on party. Party on!

Saturday:

Soccer.

Our team Halmstad’s first qualification game to come back to the highest division. Me and Andreas went there, and it was an amazing game. Halmstad won against Sundsvall with 3-0, the gameplay was great from Halmstad, but not from Sundsvall, and the audience was totally great. It’s looking good for the next game the upcoming Saturday.

Party 2.

This party we had prepared for for two months. Everybody was so excited, and it went so well. Everybody had so much fiun.

Sunday:

Fathers day.

Celebrated dad with cake, gifts, glögg and gingerbread.

Sunday dinner.

As every week, dinner with the gang. We watched Euopean Music Awards on MTV. Good performers and awards, but horribly produced show. But Heidi Klum was a good host, who did the best she could and was good.

So, to sum up, amazing episodes of Walking Dead, amazing show by Al Pitcher, amazing election coverage and amazing parties. A very good week, that is.

Now it’s Halloween again. I like that holiday. You eat candy, have gunny decorations and dress up in costumes. I have now costume party to go to, though, so I probably won’t dress up this year.

But a Jack-o-lantern, of course! I bought one at the grocery store tonight, and I have been sitting here carving it tonight. It was a bit tricky, cause it was too thick.

But it was also nice to be home and to this, cause I’m not free that many nights.

Also, I can remember the Halloweens in the States. Oh, the memories.

Here is another funny thing, which would be really scary in real life. It’s a squirrel that got trapped in a Halloween decoration, then this happens:

During the summer I have only had one week of, when Lauren was here. Otherwise I have been working all the time.  To just be able to not set the alarm has been sweet. And to not do it for a whole week, at a place where the weather is amazing is so awesome.

I went to Crete 2005 when me and Magnus were boat hiking in Greece, but we never went to the western parts of the island.

This time we went to Platanias, almost 20 miles west of Chania. It was a conducted tour, which I haven’t been to in a really long time. But it was so great. A wonderful hotel with nice pool areas and close to the beach.

The weather was amazing. At least 85 degrees each day, so we have tanned and swam a lot.

 

 

 

 

And the food. Wow. We have had so great food. Every dinner we ordered starters and shared with each other, Then big main courses and desserts. Everything have been so tasty.

 

We went to two field trips. Wednesday we went to the Samaria Gorge, the longest Gorge in Europe. 12 miles in extremely uneven terrain. It was amazing views and sceneries wherever you looked. The gorge varied between 10 and 100 feet wide, with pine forests, creeks, mountains and cliffs. And when we got to the end of the groge we got to a totally awesome beach,

 

Saturday we went to another field trip. We went by boat, first to an island with a mountain which had an old fortress on top of it.  Then we went to a lagoon, where we had to walk in the water to get to the place were we could lay on the beach in turquoise water.

 

This vacation was exactly what we needed. Sun, bath, good food, good drinks, nice experiences and great company. Tanned and nice we now prepare to survive the Swedish fall.

Now it’s windy, cold and wet. So even I have to admit that the summer probably is over. So, here is my summary of what I have been doing this, the best summer ever. You will hear about the fun things I have done, and by that also get an explanation for why I haven’t written that much here. But to understand why this summer have been so awesome, first you need to know about the shitty year I had before the summer started.

The crappy year

For exactly one year I had the worst year of my life. It lasted form June 1 2011 till May 31 2012.

June 1 I had to leave America. After the two best years of my life I could no longer stay. It was horrible. For many months after I returned to Sweden I was depressed about this, to not be in Santa Barbara any more. It was really rough.

During that time my mom got ill,. It was so tough during this year. Thankfully she is a little better now.

I also had a difficult time job wise. I had job, but I never knew more than a month ahead if I was to have more job or not.

Also during this year, my grandfather Erik and my cat Missan died. Missan died May 31^st, so that was the last day of the year that started june 1^st. It sorta flet like some kind of closure, and from there it could only get better.

And it did.

Hang with the friends, big time.

This summer I have done more than during most summers before combined. I have always had something to do, and never been un-busy. I have worked, but every afternoon/evening after work (or morning before work when I worked the night shift) I have had something to do with my friends, or sometimes with my parents.

The times during this summer that I have not had anything to do, or just been by myself I can could on my five fingers. And I haven’t had any free Saturday or Sunday since the spring. I’m never free. And I just love it.

Thanks to my lovely friends there has always been something going on, even on a “regular” day. Minigolf, going to the movies, soccer, dinners, going out, beach, parties, roadtrips, hikes, trips, games, film marathons, and much, much more. With Andreas, Henke, Linda, Katta and Anna in Halmstad, the exil-hallandians in Gothenburg, and all the others we are having fun 24-7. Then the Silver-Fridvall couple, the Logara couple, new and old workbuddies,many other friends from the past and many more.

This very night I’m at home doing the laundry, so I’m “free” and that is very unusual.

Sundays with home coocked dinner at Hank’s, Thursday s with pubquiz, Saturdays with parties, and everything else on the rest of the week.

We went to Gothenburg and Liseberg. I also went to see Bruce Springsteen with Daniel.

 

Friends from America.

My dear friend Lauren was here visiting form the States. We had som much fun for a week and a half, and we spent time in Halmstad, Denmark, Öland and Stockholm. There, we met up with other old friends form Santa Barbara, such as Ola, Mariana and Gaby.

I’ve also been to Uddevalla and visiting the people there.

 

Foooood!

I’ve had so much nice food, both at restaurants as well as home cocked. We invented the dish Nachosheet

I’ve also had disgusting food, as when I tried the North-Swedish dish surströmming. Totally horrible, and it was the first and last time I tried it. But, at least I have tried it now. Btw, it’s rotten fish, if you don’t know…

 

 

Sports

The Olympics passed, and that is nice to watch, even though Sweden didn’t to so good. One gold at least.

The UEFA Euro 2012 in soccer didn’t go well, either.

But Henrik Lundqvist won an award for best goalie in the NHL. Finally!

 

Other things

I drove gokart. That was nice.

 

I have been working a lot, but it has been nice. I have tried to be an editor, for the letters-to-the-editor section. And now I have started to write again.

 

The weather wasn’t to nice. But since I worked so much, it didn’t bother me that much. But I will have much better weather next week, cause then I’m going to Greece! It will be so lovely, and a nice closure to the summer 2012.

 

So, it hasn’t been the big events that made my summer, but the small ones, that have kept happening all the time, every day. Often I have not been home till 2-3am, no matter if I have been on a movie night or a party. Same thing when people have been to my place. So there hasn’t been time for many other things, and unfortunately neither rblogging. But I have had so much fun, trust me.

 

So screw the past horrible year. Now my family and my friends are just pure awesome, and everything is getting better and better from here one :)

Once again I have waited to write for quite some time. But I have had so much fun and done so many things that I’ve always been busy. Soon enough I will have a sum-up of the summer, which has been the best one in a long time, maybe ever.

Till then, here is a funny story, which I just love.

In Spain a woman visited a art museum. A painting of Jesus looked old and needed a restoration, she thought, and this is what she did.

So much fun. And this has spun a wave of other internet jokes in the same spirit.

Soon enough I will write a better post. See ya!