In other news I started max contraction training yesterday, and parts of my body feel quite beat. Remains to see if this kind of training brings good results for me, but really, I feel like I need someone to train with, to really max out on what I can handle contracting against.. We’ll see.

Uhm, aside from that, I am a week old (somewhat cheating) non-smoker and feel pretty damn good about it. It has seemed to affect my will to get other things done to some extent, and my sleeping pattern is slowly getting affected by it too. My appetite has increased, or perhaps it has only changed to a healthier diet. In any case, I think I might just keep this up..

Sweden has a lot of amazing artists, such as Stina Nordenstam:

and of course that fantastically skilled The Knife (incidentally also features a superb music video):

Anyways..

I better get my ass to work!

- Alex

Anyways, I told the mom my dismay that they were even thinking of piercing her ears when she cannot consent to it, which of course wasn’t taken in a serious way.

And I talked to the father of the child today, and I was dead serious when I said I do not like the notion of what they are considering one bit. He laughed and told me he had expected me to be the last person to say that, which I find quite insulting to my intelligence. The fact that I like piercings does not mean I just condone any-fu*kin-thing to do with piercing. I would not condone slapping some rope around a baby and bungeeing it down a bridge either, although it looks crazy fun.

Anyways, I understand that it’s one of those topics that it’s easy to say “aaah, so whaaat, it’s just ear piercings, she can take them out if she doesn’t want them when she’s older”, but frankly – that doesn’t sell me one bit. I don’t like any kind of bodily distortion where the defending party is unable to consent for one reason or another. Circumcising baby boys (or girls) – not okay. Piercing baby’s lobes – not okay.

If you read this and you are those people I speak of (and please read this next sentence without a put on air of drama) – know that I fail to mention your names because I am disgraced by what you are doing. It flat out embarrasses me that you put your child through pain and potential infections she cannot consent to deal with, for highly vain reasons that only you yourselves “benefit” from.

Euch.

and Jake Johannsen:

enjoy..

- Alex

I kinda cheated and got away with doing 2 suspensions this time, although my original intention was to do one combined thingie which unfortunately didn’t pan out the way I wanted it to. Anyways, below is a pic of my 2 point chest and then my 2 point suicide for your viewing pleasure. Thanks to Stephan for the pictures..

..people not into this often ask me something like “but doesn’t it hurt?” – I think this picture is a clear enough reply to that question.

..but man is it worth it when you get to the fun stages..

So I won’t go into too much detail about this, mainly because I am kinda tired, and I have written about it in other spots, and I want to mention some other stuff.

The first week of my holiday I spent in Oslo, living at my sister and her hubby’s place, and it was really nice. Got to see some friends, among others my best friend Markus, and I had a blast with the family too. ..and yeah, it was just a pretty frickin nice week. Then I shifted my atomic composite over to my hometown Tonsberg, and here I have lived with my best friend Karsten and his wifey and their child, and it’s been a real nice chilled week, with lots of sun, lots of swimming (and of course practicing various flips off of diving boards), and lots of eating ice lollies. I’ve had some time to myself, which isn’t new to me, but what has been slightly different over here has been having time to think about some more important stuff than I have been doing for a long time.

There’s so many things in life which confuses me, especially in terms of feelings and such. It has been nice to reflect on those, although I haven’t really been able to come to any clearcut conclusions. But I have also had time to think about ..all the stuff I want to do. Things to improve myself, improve my persona if you will. I have started writing a list of things I want to achieve, and I am going to make them into SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achieveable, Realistic, Time-set; thanks nursing, something stuck..) goals by picking them apart and setting small targets along the way which don’t seem as difficult to achieve as my normal ‘big hairy goals’. I have also decided that perhaps the main thing I seem to lack to achieve the goals I want to achieve is lack of organization. If I can manage things better, as in perhaps schedule my life better, I think things will fall into place a lot more. This is a principle I use in day to day life quite often (e.g. I am a tick-box maniac. The more stuff I can write down and tick off as I go through the day, the more pleased I feel at the end of it, and the more manageable these little tasks seem), so really it’s idiotic that I haven’t yet applied it to the bigger more important issues.

The other thing I lack is self-discipline (a cultural phenomenon to some extent?), but I think I will find it easier to be more disciplined once this new ‘system’ starts showing it’s effects. It genuinely feels like I’ve had an epiphany, and that I WILL change my life for the better.

Well, one thing I’ll need to do now is to get some sleep, so I’ll leave you on that note. Bless you, and have a nice summer still.

- Alex

I won’t go into the specifics of it, because it’s one of those things that would make me very similar to my opposition, but I will say this.. When I have a serious problem with someone I know, I go to them, and I tell them. Sometimes angrily, other times calmly. I expect the same of those around me. Granted there have been occasions where a bad remark has slipped my tongue, and certainly there have been other times when cockiness or arrogance have got the better of me – I hold my hands up and admit I am no more perfect than the next guy. But yeah. Have some decency. Don’t stab backs. Bringing others down with false allegations is never a good way to raise your own standard. Challenging yourself to raise the stakes and improve your methods or ideals if the competition appears stronger is a truer and better way. And if you can’t do that for some reason, then just keep your mouth sealed, and get on with it.

-

*phew..*

-

I have got to know one of the doctors quite well over the past few weeks, and she seems to be under the impression that I ought to do my medicine. As you may know if you know me, I have had some serious doubts, mostly relating to whether my mind will ever be focused enough to go through the laborious and intense training, but speaking to her has certainly boosted my confidence, and I think medicine is certainly a strong option once I get my BSc, and possibly my MN (Masters in nursing).. We shall see! I certainly see that while I have started enjoying my nursing a lot in the recent times, medicine and cold science is where my main interest lies. Neurology remains a strong interest, and the doctor taught me a cool mnemonic to memorize the cranial nerves the other day, which goes “Oh oh oh, to touch and feel a virgin girl’s vagina and hymen” and translates into the 12 cranial nerves (in the right order of course) which goes as such “olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, facial, vestibulocochlear, glossopharyngeal, accessory, hypoglossal” I keep writing it just to make it stick a little better, and although I know very basically the functions of the 12, I need to get a better grasp of them all too. Below is a videoclip of neurological examinations to check the different cranial nerves, it’ll only be interesting if you have at least a moderate interest in how the brain works, but do enjoy!

Other than that, I’ve had a smashing weekend, although my electrolytes seem somewhat out of balance.. Haha! Thanks to Sofie and Mikey for the night out – was a right frickin laaaaf!

- Alex

A) I am still alive!

B) I am becoming more proficient as a nurse by the day. There are certainly times where I feel a bit freaked out by everything I don’t know, but I am becoming better, and it feels so damn good.

C) I like meeting new people now. I am really getting to enjoy the company of new people. Yeah.. It’s nice!

D) Business is good.

E) Sunday I am going to Liverpool tattoo convention with my lovely employee Becky.

F) Goodbye for now, more to come soooon! Promise!

- Alex

Yesterday, I helped my pop and bro with a bit of manual handling so to speak, putting together a shed in their garden and stuff. They are moving house too at the moment, so it’s all go for the Trowells. Speaking of which, my dad delivered me with a beautiful set of Trowellian Logic last night (this is my new nickname for improperly planned out things that seem easy at first glance and then prove to be like.. proverbial sodomy). He says “Alex, we need your help, and you’re the only one who can do it. I took a stab that it had something to do with climbing, and sure enough, I was spot on in one..

“Could you climb onto that roof, and we’ll try and roll the trampoline over it, so we don’t have to take it apart.” My scepticism was out the window because I was given a “good” reason to climb a roof, which is quite rare. So I jumped up and tried to make it happen, but I could just see what was happening when I tried lifting the bugger up onto the roof. Smashy smashy – the most interesting fracture story I’ve ever had possibly?

Later, when one of his friends arrived, he introduced me to one of his friends or co-workers who had come round, and well played on the wordplay in this setting, well played indeed. Before I go on, my sisters and I have had a kind of innocent in-joke about him setting up franchises across the world, nothing malicious or anything, just a bit of banter. Anyways, so he introduces me to his friend, and goes “this is my oldest son Alex, from the Norwegian branch” – which I found hilarious..

Then we had to move my Avante, but obviously, with the engine being out, it turned out to be more a ride than a drive, as I got towed. It was scary, but super-fun, sad as that may seem. And I am (well, my sister did the hard part) trying to get a mechanic on the case, just to get the engine reattached to everything, hopefully meaning I can get the beast out on the roads for summer. I really need to. It’ll even save me a bunch of money on my insurance as I can get rid of the Citroen. Hoorayh!!

K, well, I was gonna put some pictures up with this update, but never mind, pictures will come laters!

XX

Today I am bringing Natalie with me to go fix car, although saying that, the weather looks a little unsteady, so we’ll have to see if I chose a bad day to continue my engine works..

*yawns* – Got Tales From Earthsea yesterday, and I plan on watching it projector style tonight, I am really excited about seeing whether Miyazaki’s son Goyo will show promise in following his father (Hayao), who is with no doubt in the world my favourite director when it comes to animation..
Most people this end of the world will know him for Spirited Away; then Princess Mononoke (my favourite no doubt), but he also did a lot of other films, such as Castle in the Sky (oohh); My neighbour Totoro (awww..); and Nausicaa (WOAH!). If you are unfamiliar with all these film names I suggest you got and grab a copy of spirited away or mononoke, they are utterly worth your while!

Finally, Michael helped me discover some new things the other day, one of which is Nick Pitera. Check out this guy’s voice (listen past 1:00 by the way) – it’s pretty amazing (I guess), and has got Aladdin songs jammed in my head..

Something amazing..

Ohh, I would also like to say thanks a lot to Vicki, if you read this, I am really grateful for the Dawkins tickets – going with Daniel to see a Richard Dawkins lecture/seminar type thing in Liverpool come Monday, and I am well and truly chuffed! He’s like Michael Jackson without the dance routines and kiddi-fiddling (and singing, personal playground, plastic surgery and everything else really – but he is a star! )

K people, off to be productive!

XX Alex

P.S. – Dual core:

Today has been good, then okay, then raaabbish. And to top it off, my navel silicone came out, and the hole has closed to about 3mm, but since it’s already migrated so much anyways, I am leaving it out for the time being. The future, as it goes, is bright, but right now – she sucks. I still appreciate the roller-coaster-esque turns of events going off in my head though. Thankfully I got Vegas 2 today, so at least I can go take my anger out on some deserving terrorists..

- Alex

EDIT:

It’s technically saturday, but only by about half an hour. I killed some terrorists, and now I am going through old drawings, letters, and general trivial alex memorabilia. It is evoking sentiment, mostly of good times. I found a bunch of pastel drawings which I haven’t looked at for a while, and even a little message from me to me, and possibly you.. So I decided to stick them on flickr, as that seems to be what I am most preoccupied with these days. The one below is the aforementioned message, while the example below that is a girl which always makes me think more of a flower than a girl..

After looking at these pictures from years back over the past coyuple days it seems clear yto me I need to pick up on my drawing again so I don’t loose the ability.. I am gonna sit down and start playing with my new ergosoft pencils now, see what happens..

Have good times people

x – Goth Kid.

EDIT 2:

I am in love with these new pencils. Self portrait (I may be flattering myself somewhat here.. hehe):

Peace, – Alex

P.S. Enjoy the man: