Oh yeah...

...I got a new job. Details to follow...

Greetings from Järna!

Does Heinz sell organic kethcup in the States? Mattias insists that they must, but I've never seen it. Everything here seems to be organic, has a little sticker that says KRAV. Nothing seems to be Kosher though. "There are very few Jews," Mattias explains, except he says it "Yews."
But I shouldn't talk, my pronounciation of Swedish is terrible. "Talaar nee Engelska?" I ask phoenetically, and even though they do speak English, I have to say it three times before they understand my crappy Berlitz Pocket Dictionary stylings. When I tried to tell my friend Mikael I like the Swedish band Dungen, I got a five minute pronounciation lesson and it still sounded to him like I was saying a Chinese word. Yesterday Mattias took me to buy the new Dungen cd, just released here yesterday, not in the states yet for a few weeks. The shop was closed but Mattias knows the guy who owns the record store (and the record label Dungen is on), so we got to go in and buy it at a nice discount. "Nobody knows this," the guy said, "but the studio where this was recorded is down those stairs. It's the perfect, how do you say, front--a reggae shop in Stockholm." I say he gave us a nice discount but, still, American money ain't worth a George Bush. Yesterday I went to the cafe line at the Modern Art Museum and picked out a little shrimp salad, no price marked. $18! My, my. But the view was worth it, it's a beautiful town. And it's a beautiful day, sunny, summery... I'm going to clean the lingonberries and porridge out my bowl and head on out. Tack!

Shove it!

I quit my job. Something had to give and I gave. April 20th will be my last day and on April 21st I'll have a long flight to some Swedish meatballs to process the past eight years. It had been a long time coming but the actual decision was very sudden, the result of some major personnel changes...the place felt like a sinking ship. As readers of the NoP know I've been thinking about going back to school for counselling; this will allow me to concentrate more on that decision. And I do have a few leads on jobs so I'm sure it'll work out fine. But it's been an emotionally draining week. Glad it's over.

I can't quite believe how good the new Modest Mouse is. If it and Of Montreal's "Hissing Fauna" don't make my best of 07 list, either this will have proved to be an exceptionally mindblowing year for music or else my attention span is worthless.

Johnny's Stroll

Watch this brief NBC news clip for a reminder why John McCain is full of shit.