Cutest thing ever!

Oslo Terrorist Attack

One of the most peaceful countries in the world was attacked today. A bomb was detonated in Oslo and the Norwegian people had their first true encounter with evil since the Second World War. While chaos ripped through the center of Oslo, a mad man pointed a gun at children and young adults at a political party's youth camp. The two incidents are believed to be linked. It is most definitely a terrorist attack, but it is unclear if it is an international terrorist organization behind it or if it was a domestic terrorist.

In the end of the day, it makes little difference, especially for those who lost loved ones. To them the challenge is to understand and come to terms with the fact that lives where lost for no reason at all. I feel the deepest sympathy for them and I also count my blessings that I'm not one of them.

Regardless of the motives and people behind this act of madness, I ask you to judge them for the individuals they are and for their actions, and not to judge them for their nationality, color of their skin or their religious beliefs.

I have an unsettling feeling that many hope and wishes for the perpetrator to be a muslim. It would "fit" better. It is always easier to be afraid of someone foreign and unknown than to be afraid of your own. I really don't care. If you take an innocent life I don't need to know your reasons, I just need to know you've taken an innocent life.

Google makes me cry

I bet you think I'm going to write about Google+. I'm not. But if I was I would have written a rave review. Maybe I'll do that later. Instead, I'm letting you now how Google makes me cry.

A few months ago my husband showed me an ad for Google Chrome. I've seen it and showed it countless times since. There is no explanation to why I haven't blogged about it until now. Well, better late than never. Here is how Google makes me cry:

Glorious predictability

It's 4:37 am and I'm wide awake. I wish I was sleeping, not because I'm tired, but because I should be and could be. It's the never ending battle between me and jet-lag.

I came back from Sweden two days ago. I was gone about three weeks. I spent my days doing the usual stuff, chatting and eating with my favorite people. I also managed to squeeze in a weekend in Birmingham, to attend a re-union with my former university flatmates.

Usually I'm all about experiencing and discovering new things. But sometimes nothing beats the tried and tested. This becomes blatantly clear every time I'm back in Sweden. I always stay with my parents, in my childhood room. I enjoy my mum's cooking like there is no tomorrow. At every dinner we sit and talk for hours, just like we've always done.

I've also spent countless of hours with my BFF and I knew we'd do what we do best. Talk. We talk each other's ears off, and it has always been that way. We've been on countless trips together and never found the time to open a book or a magazine. We live continents apart, but she still knows every intricate details about my everyday life, as I know hers. We are so predictable that we literally know the next word out of each other's mouths. Not only can we finish each other's sentences, on multiple occasions we say the exact same sentence at the exact same time.

I also got to catch up with a childhood friend. She became a mother about 6 months ago and I hadn't had the opportunity to meet her since. It was great! But I would've been surprised if it wasn't. We've known each other since we were six and she's one of my closest friends. Since 1994, when I moved to another part of town, we've had, periodically, a very sporadic relationship. We haven't lived in the same country since 2002 and we usually meet up once a year. But I know we'll just pick up where we left off and our friendship is completely effortless.

The trip to England was another fine example of familiarity. The city of Birmingham has barely changed in 6 years. Maybe that's no surprise. However, my old flatmates and I live very different lives today compared to 2005. This had some interesting consequences. The amount to taxis we used this weekend by far exceeded the amount of taxis we used during our three years at uni. One of us owned a house where we stayed. We could't and didn't want to drink like we used to. But despite all these new changes, we were all pretty much the same people. We shared a home for a year and when we prepared dinner together, it felt amazingly familiar.

My theory is that you will appreciate predictability in a whole other way, when you live a fairly unpredictable life. Cause when you do, predictability and familiarity is not just about security and control, it's about having a harbor to return to. So, after three amazing weeks, I returned to the familiar arms of my husband and the feeling of coming home was great, just as predicted.

TOMS vs BOBS

I've said it before and I'm saying it again, I LOVE my TOMS shoes! Not only are they the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned, the brand is all about making a difference in the world. For each pair you buy, TOMS gives a pair to a child in need.

The business model is very admirable and the founder of TOMS has said that he hopes more companies will follow in their footsteps.

And some companies have. Some more than others.

Last weekend I was in Birmingham for a university reunion. As I passed by a shoe store, I saw that they sold TOMS. Curious to know how much they are in England, I went in to have a closer look. But to my surprise, they were not TOMS, but BOBS! Not only were they not TOMS, they were more expensive than TOMS!

I was outraged! Did BOBS have the same social conscious as TOMS? Why were people buying a "copy" when the real deal is cheaper to begin with? There had to be an explanation! And of course there was!

Apparently, BOBS are produced by Sketchers. And just like TOMS, Sketchers donates a pair for each pair sold. So far so good. In the end of the day, children in need don't care if they wear TOMS or BOBS. However, the fact that BOBS is an EXACT design copy of TOMS, infuriates me! BOBS copied everything, down to the name, logo and placement of labels. A big company like Sketchers surely can afford to design their own shoe! But instead of creating a design that could add to the "one for one" market, they are trying to steal TOMS customers! Is that really something a company should do if they are trying to position themselves as "socially aware"?

In conclusion, I urge you to buy TOMS. Not only because they did a great job at designing an appealing shoe, but because it's important that they are encouraged to continue their good work. Nowadays, TOMS also sell sunglasses and apparel and everything they sell are matched with equal donations. Sketchers is a huge company, with hundreds of shoe models. But only one shoe model is matched with donations and they still couldn't even be bothered to dedicate time and money to design their own product. Shame on you!

Drawing the line

I'm happy to report back from my Portrait and Figure Drawing class. I've now completed the class and I have about 18 hours of drawing under my belt. It's been fantastic! Not necessarily my drawings, but the experience was great!

Before this class, the last time I drew was in Junior High. And back then it was not so much about the drawing as it was about having a fun class that didn't require homework. But this time around, it was all about the drawing. I still have a lot to learn, but now I know that drawing is something one can learn. And I plan to sign up for the fall classes so that I can continue to learn.

I leave you with a few drawings of mine I've produced over the last few months:

Gaming is for men!

... And women are missing out!

I was at Fry's Electronics store today. A random stranger stopped me and said: "Wow, you look happy. You must be having a great day!"

He was right! In my hand I was holding "Infamous 2". I've been looking forward to the release of this game like a child waits for Christmas. It's a Playstation 3 (PS3) game and if it's anything like it's predecessor, I know I'm in for many hours of pure joy. I played the last game so much that I ended up collecting 97% of the trophies (if you don't game, ignore my last sentence).

Gaming... I can recall reading multiple articles in different magazines dealing with the problems of gaming. Ignoring the obvious problem of children gaming rather than doing homework, many of the problems around gaming seem to be between women and men, specifically it seems to be women having trouble with men's gaming.

Ladies, if you can't beat them, join them! Do you really think men and women are soooo different that something enjoyed by millions of men can't be fun for women? It's time to get with the program!

I'm here to encourage women to give gaming a try. If you don't know where to start, here is my "how to guide". You don't need to have any previous experience. I surely didn't. Even though I grew up in the "Super Mario" generation, I never played a consol game until 2007.

If you have the possibility, you can do as I did and start off easy with a hand held Nintendo DS. Nintendo Wii is also a good way to start. Most people find the Nintendo Wii less intimidating than the Xbox and the PS3. However, I'm not suggesting you to buy three gaming devices. You can go straight to the Xbox or the PS3.

My consol of choice is the PS3. A good introductory game is "Little Big Planet 1 & 2". It's a platform game, so you might recognize the format from Super Mario. Just the cuteness of the game makes you wanna play and keep playing. Don't get me wrong, the cuteness is just a cover for a great, and sometimes very challenging, game. Sackboy rule!

The next game might be something driven by a good story. "Heavy Rain" would be a great pick. It's best describes as playing, watching and directing a detective's story. It's well made, the plot is interesting and the character's have a real sense of personality. You will wanna know how it all ends!

From there you might want to venture into some of my all time favorite games. Still driven by an interesting story and interesting characters, games like Uncharted, Grand Theft Auto and Infamous are high-action games and if you're anything like me, you'll soon fall in love with the adrenaline kicks of shooting, fighting, running and stealing cars.

When you've come this far, you might be satisfied with staying within one of the genres you have already played. God knows there are plenty of games within each genre to keep you busy for a loooooong time. However, I strongly encourage you to try a First Person Shooter (FPS) game, especially one in the Call of Duty (COD) franchise or one of the Battlefield games. If you've played and enjoyed one of the action games I mentioned earlier, I know you will be loving to shoot stuff, and when it comes to shooting, nothing beats a good FPS. The story and characters are no longer particularly important, it's all about the gameplay. However, if you still like a bit of humour and enjoy characters with a little personality, I would recommend one of the "Battlefield: Bad Company" games.

If you've made your way through these steps, the intimidation of gaming should be completely gone. Hopefully you've found a new hobby along the way. Obviously you don't need to pay any attention to my suggestions, you can go straight to the FPS games if you like. You might not need the "warm up" like I did. Regardless of how you do it, I recommend you to play the games I've mentioned, they are all pretty darn good.

Furthermore, if you have a friend or partner to join up with, there a some great co-op games out there. And also, there are many more genres to discover, such as sports games, racing games, roleplaying games, interactive games (singing, dancing, music), strategy games etc. And if you are really brave, you can go online and get you butt whopped by 13-year olds.

What lies in my gaming future? In December I will be back at Fry's, buying Uncharted 3, which I expect to be the game of the year. Eventually, I also want to beat my husband in any racing game, at least once. I might try some roleplaying games and hopefully I will fine-tune my already acquired skills. I loved playing Black-Ops (COD) on Hard. Next time I get my hands on a good FPS, I might even go Veteran.

Music to my ears

Good music. Sometimes it's about discovering new music. Sometimes it's about discovering old music. Too seldom is it about reevaluating music you already know.

Usually you tend to hear a song and instinctively have an opinion about it. You might like it, dislike it, love it or hate it.

There are a multitude of different artist out there. Some aim at pleasing the masses and some choose to stay alternative. I've always listened to radio and been subjected to lots of radio-hits. My husband, on the other hand, has listened to a very broad spectrum of different genres, radio-hits as well as alternative music. 7 years ago he opened a door to a whole new world of music, and I was reluctant to walk through it. But now, 7 years later, I've somehow (unbeknown to me) made my way to the other side.

This became very apparent when we went on a road-trip recently. My husband has been a huge Björk fan for years. I've always found her music somewhat random. When we started dating he tried to show me the wonder that is Björk. I didn't really buy into it. In summary, he hasn't been playing too much Björk in the recent years.

But, on our road-trip my husband brought a Björk CD. One of her songs I didn't mind too much came on. I instantly recognized the song, but I was chocked to realized how much I liked it. When I came back home I listened to it again, just to make sure I actually liked it as much as I thought. And I did. I even dare to say it's one of the better ballads of all time. It's amazing (especially the chorus).

We grow constantly. We grow older, our lives change, our priorities shift, we grow new interests and preferences. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has seen a rerun of an old childhood favorite movie or series and wondered why I used to like it. Why would our taste in music be stagnant?

I leave you with one of the best ballads ever written and I challenge you to rediscover and reevaluate something, something that deserves a second chance.

The Laser and the Botox

Courtesy of Groupon, I've been a customer at "The Laser and Cosmetic Center" in Los Gatos. It's not nearly as juicy as it sounds, just some heavily discounted laser hair removal. I'm lucky to be blessed with limited body hair (as many of my ethnic Chinese people), but I still don't think it's haha-funny to shave. The Groupon gave me three discounted sessions and I've just finished my last one.

I'm not going to write a detailed description about laser hair removal, even though it has been a very good and interesting experience. Maybe I'll write something about it when I've seen the final result, who knows? Instead I would like to focus on what happened at my last appointment.

The beauty technician who was going to do the procedure was not the same lady I saw during my previous visits. We said our hellos and chit chatted for a while. When we were about to get started, she took a look in my file and made a comment about me turning 30 soon (not that soon if you ask me). Then she leaned in and took a close look at my face and asked me if I've been using Botox!

Either she thought I was well preserved for my age or she thought I had an emotionless, windtunnel looking appearance. Obviously I chose to believe I'm well preserved!

A cosmetic center was the last place I thought I would get validation for my looks and a ego-boost, especially without wearing make-up under florescent lighting. If I see a Groupon for Botox, I know I won't be buying it. It's better left for those who need it!

Eurovision, a final note

It's been almost a week since the Eurovision Song contest finale, and there is a reason why I haven't written about it until now. There is nothing to write about. Well, actually there are plenty of things worth mentioning, but in the end of the day, I'm far from excited enough to put in the effort.

Ell & Nikki from Azerbaijan won the song contest. My feeling is that they won because they had an ok song, not great, but good enough to score some points from most of the countries voting. But I doubt there were passionate enthusiasts out there. All in all, I'm going to enjoy listening to the song in my car, but it's a pity they won. They didn't bring anything new to the table, they weren't that special at all. I had them as my 10th favorite song.

Sweden came in 3rd place, which was good news I guess. But since Eric Saade wasn't my favorite in the Swedish qualification competition, I'm happy about his success solely from a patriotic point of view. However, my happiness is also followed by some worry. I already think there are too many mainstream club songs in the Swedish competition and I worry we will see even more of it next year.

Unlike most of the previous years, I liked several of the songs in the finale. Unfortunately, my top 10 songs all did pretty badly. Of my favorite 10 songs only 5 actually made it to the top 10. My top 3 did horribly! I loved France, Germany and Finland, but they ended up 15th, 10th and 23rd. I also happened to really like Switzerland who ended up in last place! So, I'm not happy about the overall result, but I am very much looking forward to the arrival of my Eurovision CD.

The most memorable things I will bring with me from this year's competition was Kseniya Simonova. She competed for Ukraine. Not as a singer, songwriter or musician, but as a sand artist. She won Ukraine's X-factor and no wonder why! She is a true wonder!

As a final remark of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, I leave you with a video of Kseniya Simonova and one of her performances in X-factor.