World Wide Friends

I wonder how many times I've heard "I prefere to see my friends in person, not on the internet", insinuating that IRL meetings are better than socializing on the Internet. Well, fun for you that you have all your friends within a radie of a few miles. I don't. I'd LOVE to be able to hang out with my friends IRL but I take what I can get. Why not enjoy friends, interesting talks about big things as well as the small ones and a never ending source of interesting information, not to mention the positive feedback that strengthen and simply makes you smile.

I don't know if I seem harsh, writing like this. I am just a little tired of all the comments about what is "better" just from their rather narrow point of view when it comes to the ways of communicating and being friends with people. Things work different for different people, it doesn't necessarily make something better or worse, just different and it certainly doesn't make me less social.

I like that I am able to show in this picture that I actually do have friends and acquaintances that I want to stay in touch with and have no other real options to do that than through the Internet. Some say that God moves in mysterious ways. I prefere to think that life moves in mysterious ways. You never know what might happen if you talk to that person, go to that place, apply for that thing or simply says "yes". Life it too short to make the least of it.

Manson & friends

1999. MTV. TV-couch. Mexico.

I'm using my friend Björn's Spotify list as my main playlist at the moment. Not that you can tell what kind of music he likes by looking at him but me playing his list is definitely a good sign. Manson, Slipnot and Inflames are good energy kicks when a sharp mind is required. While writing my application letter to work as a volunteer for the Amnesty's international council meeting this year (as I did 2009), the tunes of Manson's music and voice fills the apartment. I think it is a good thing that I live on the top floor (8th) and therefore have no neighbor on top and thick cement walls on the sides.

Why I chose to post "The Dope Show" is because it is the song that made me aware of Manson's existence and it was when I started to like him. It was played frequently on MTV which was a good friend of mine during my time in Mexico 1998-99. I watched/listened to the MTV music quite a lot in lack of other good music sources and it also to keep me company at times. Not always easy to find ways to keep busy when everyone else have their own lives, their own friends and things to do.

In my class in school, Promedac, there was a girl who some called Marilyn Manson because of her gothish style. I felt a little sorry for her because she felt like an outcast even though she was part of one of the larger groups in the class. Hm, what did that make me then? I never really belonged to any of the groups there even if I started out in the same group when I came there. Still I don't think I was as big of an oddball as she was and I am pretty sure I got more friends than she had...more than several people I got to know there actually.

I have managed to find quite a few friends and my host family on Facebook but there are still a handful of people I don't know how to get in touch with. There are especially two people I really would like to know what have become of them. They were special and important to me but yet another reason for me wanting to get back in touch is because of their backgrounds and their peculiarities. How did their lives turn out?

Walpurgis night

Taken by F.O. in the woods. A nice evening with friends, BBQ and delicious home made buns to celebrate Walpurgis night (valborgsmässoafton).

Multiculturalism - good or bad?

I had a discussion with a friend about whether multiculturalism is good or not. He meant that there isn't a well needed discussion about it and that it is not clear that it is a positive thing. It's not the first time I've heard that kind of opinion. Frankly I don't see how multiculturalism ever could be a negative thing. I can't help think that only people who has lived in a tiny world of mostly people who are just like them and never really been in a international situation. I am not saying that it always is easy and without problems but how could ever be a reason to avoid multiculturalism? The best thing in my life is all the interesting, different and wonderful people from all over the world who has entered my life since I was born. It is also in that international context that I've learned most about myself and the world around me. Life is easy when nobody talks back to you or question your way of living and thinking. By the way, I am the only person talking back at this guy, at least within our common group of friends. The rest always sits quiet and listen when he talks.

On Thuesday afternoon I am "guaranteed" a nice time with some multiculturalistic touch. I am going to have a coffee with my very nice new friend who is Muslim and Lebanese and who came to Sweden at the age of 16. In conversation with him I learn new things that no one else of my friends could teach me because his experiences and his background is unique, just like everybody else's.

No title

I don't have any title on this post because I just want to write what my friend from Bulgaria wrote this to me tonight. It made me smile.

"i just want to say the world will be much better if people like you are determine the rules.."