Moving on

Busy weekend coming up. I'm quite glad. I need to keep myself busy. Big dance party tonight, karaoke party tomorrow and dinner at a friend's house on Sunday. Uh oh. The bills. Must pay those too. Oops..

The coolest school project

I've arranged for 3 of my students to interview Tom on Skype since they are working with law vocabulary in English class. On Wednesday they'll be talking, and they're very nervous. Tom, in the meantime, has received an mp3 of one of the boys singing which I recorded in my home studio. The kids received the following mail this morning:

Hey guys,
I've booked an appointment with Tom Koerner for your interview. You will be talking to him on Skype on Wednesday morning at 8.30. You must be on time. Have great fun with it, he's a great guy and really really nice, and he's got three sons of his own!

Short background.
Back in February I saw Tom Koerner dancing on Youtube. I thought it looked awesome, and so I decided to write him a letter. He was happy, and read it out loud at Glen Echo a huge dance venue in DC, which takes about 700 dancers. We've written emails ever since, and talk on Skype all the time.

He's the owner and co-founder of "Gottaswing" - a swing dance business in Washington DC. He lives in Fairfax, VA (Virginia, one of the two Washington states). He's a very important person in the lindy hop scene today, and is one of the first people to bring back this dance (which originally started in the 1920s). He is famous and knows alot of important people. But apart from being a dance promoter, and teacher - he works as a defence lawyer in Washington DC.

Please remember that in the US, the people democratically vote for their President. The President shares his / her power with the Supreme Court and Congress. Nobody has more power than the other - every one of them HAS to approve all decisions made - a pretty neat system, no? So, the President (Obama) alone cannot make a decision without the approval of the other two. A system we call "checks and balances". The whole country has their own laws, all set out in the CONSTITUTION (grundlag). All kids in High School learn alot about what's in the constitution, for example "The right to bear arms" (rätten att bära vapen). So, the country has laws, BUT all the states and counties all have their own little government with their own laws - like little separate countries. This makes it complicated in DC, which is situated across TWO states - the state of Virginia as well as Maryland. (This, as you understand, creates difficulties because both states have different laws and regulations , yes?)


To prepare, I want you to do the following:
1. Send me your questions.
2. Check out these websites:
www.gottaswing.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_hop
search for "Tom Koerner" on youtube. (If you search for "tomandlina" you'll find an embarrassing clip of me dancing with him in October).
search for "lindy hop" on youtube.
3. Learn the following vocabulary attatched to the printout of this mail.

It's going to be great great fun!!
Love,
Lina

Lindy-exercise focus

I haven't felt that great for the past two weeks. I think the solution would be to get even more physical exercise. I spend way too much time on the computer and sure, the schedule below looks hectic, but I do have quite good working hours, finishing quite early some days. We'll see what happens.

Mon: BOSU and dancing.
Tue: spinning
Wed: BOSU (+gym)
Thu: Dancing
Friday: gym
Sat:
Sun: Spinning (+gym)

Ohhhh, start early!!

Gunhild Carling is a wonderful lady, albeit a bit crazy at times. She has two kids. One of them can be seen here. They make 'em start early in this family, for sure! Fun!

Tom's comp clip

I was sent this the other day. I hadn't seen it before. Filmed ten years ago. I like how the music is all alive and kicking, with lots of clapping, enthusiastic hammering on the keys, people shouting "alright then, well alreet then" in the recording, as the audience sits very still, focused - watching.

I want to learn more this week. How about a quickstop? Or maybe do better swivels. Or both. Johan baby, bring it on!!

Tom

I'm so glad I got to know you. You inspire me, you're always there for me, and you're a great person. Keep swingin'! Love you.

The past few days have been very confusing. "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus" springs to mind.

Nonetheless... I want to dance. Again and again and again.

For the first time

For the first time in my life I really felt like misfit yesterday. I was always quite confident in who I was and what I was all about.

Now, aren't we allowed to be just who we are, without people talking or thinking out loud or having opinions. If I wear jeans, sneakers and a shirt people think I look like a boy. If I wear a dress and dress up a little, people think I'm desperate for a man.

Just leave me alone if you're not going to be nice. I'm trying my best to be nice to everyone I know and care about.

All I want, is to dance - whether it be in a black dress, a pair of jeans or in my fucking underwear, goddammit.

Music that soothes the soul.

The storm is coming but i don't mind.
People are dying, i close my blinds.

All that i know is i'm breathing now.

I want to change the world...instead i sleep.
I want to believe in more than you and me.

But all that i know is i'm breathing.
All i can do is keep breathing.
All we can do is keep breathing now.

All that i know is i'm breathing.
All i can do is keep breathing.
All we can do is keep breathing now.

All we can do is keep breathing
All we can do is keep breathing
All we can do is keep breathing
All we can do is keep breathing.
All we can do is keep breathing now.

Confused

I'm so confused right now.. I thought we all spoke the same language. But yet, it's so hard to read some people. No?

Thursday

Dancing on Monday was the biggest kick. I can't wait for the dance tomorrow, I just want to dance all the time right now. (Is that news to anyone?)

I was glad to hear Tom's voice this morning. He's had a busy few days in court, and he was telling me all about it.

Other than that - I think most guys are retarded. Present company excluded of course.

Astrud Gilberto in Candlelight

Having a nice evening here. Just turned out all the lights. Switched on some Astrud Gilberto. Leaning back into a comfortable chair in the candlelight. So relaxing. Wish I had someone nice to dance with.

I had a dream

I slept alot this weekend, and last night I met someone in my dream, whom I would rather just erase from my memory. She is worth less than zero to me, and how someone can walk right in and do what she did, is unbelievable. I have wished for worse things when it comes to her, but right now I'll settle with pressing the DELETE button. I have so many new real, great friends who see me for who I am, and what I strive for. Thank you everybody, I love you.

People have asked me: well, why are you not angry with him? I am angry now, and I'll tell you why: I didn't feel like he treated me and our ten years together with respect, by having a 2 month time-out where he could think and breathe, and reflect on things - good things and bad. Not to change his mind, but as if to say "hey, this is hard for me too". Day 1 he was ready to buy me out of the house (I was quite shocked), and started seeing my former best friend. Lack of respect. Sorry, I don't want any more assholes in my life.

This guy is great!

He calls himself MonkeylessJohn on Youtube, and records the most enchanting versions of great songs. This Leonard Cohen cover is amazing.

the Feel-Good factor.

You know, I love people. I love listening, I love hearing stories, I love comforting people in my life, and being there, I love seeing people for who they really are instead of for who they wish they were. I love providing a space where those I care about can relax and breathe. I find it a great honour when someone lets me know something about them and their outlook on life. Or when they tell me how their day was. Right now, the desire to love someone is so much stronger than to be loved in return.

Saw Jonas Gardell on TV today. He's very inspiring.

Sunrise

This view sometimes greets me when I arrive at work in the morning. Pretty spectacular!

Back on track

Yesterday I went to a sauna with Ali. I got to try lying on a special mat with spikes in it. It was very nice, but a bit painful at first. Afterwards, we made snow angels in the snow outside. Since I didn't get to go to Kallbadhuset recently, this came a good close second. Not bad!

Worked for a few hours on Cats Corner stuff. Was fun to get it all up and running. It's taken a long time to do everything, but not it's done.

Kids start school today. I've slept only five hours last night, so I'm not too keen on the very high noise level around here. I can deal with it better if I sleep properly. Were we really THIS loud when we were growing up??! I remember, I used to keep myself to myself and hang out with people I felt I had something in common with. We would eat candy and talk about boys, or music. But I don't hear my kids here sit and talk, they do shout alot when they talk, and this apparently is the normal way of communicating. I get tired, just hearing it. If I were a kid in school, I would leave the room and go sit somewhere else during recess.

Kajan på riktigt!

Idag hade vi brandskyddsutbildning på jobbet. En herre i 60-års åldern med bred skånsk dialekt kom in i rummet och körde teorilektion följd av praktiska övningar utomhus där vi fick släcka bränder i kläder etc. Det var ganska nyttigt att testa att hantera en brandsläckare (dock inte svårt ju), men jag kunde bara se Kajan framför mig och det blev extremt svårt att hålla sig för skratt och undvika att citera:
"Naura fraoogur? Jag är full av svaoor!"

Ready, steady, whatever.

I've just spent many hours preparing for this season's opening of dance club Cats' Corner, by printing and laminating membership cards, frequent dancer cards, and 2 other types of discount vouchers that we'll be using. Also updating facebook, dygnet runt and the website takes a long time. I think it's great fun doing it, but would prefer if I had a good printer to do the job and a big heavy cutter instead of little scissors.

I've had a really nice holiday with loads of dancing, albeit not much relaxing. My goals for the immediate future must be to wind down and sleep more than 6 hours / night. I do alot of stuff, but yet I feel like I don't accomplish much at all. Do you recognize the pattern? I also spend way too much time on the computer.

On that note....

Gottaswing!!

I wish

I wish you could see yourself for the lovely character that you are. Love, always.

Loffe - vilken människa!

Janne "Loffe" Carlsson. Stjärnorna på slottet. Ja, där är han visst med nu. Jag har alltid gillat honom, ända sen jag var liten. Det är något mänskligt, gulligt och lågmält kring hans person som tilltalar mig. När jag såg förra veckans avsnitt av "stjärnorna på slottet", där han visar flera olika sidor av sig själv, blev jag bara ännu mer glad över att det finns såna människor i vår värld. Jag körde massa Youtube och fick världens nostalgikick. Är du lite nedstämd, så kan du börja med att lyssna på den här gamla godingen. Jag kommer ihåg att jag satt klistrad vid TVn när Loffe På Circus gick.

Jag har heller aldrig förkovrat mig i Hansson & Carlsson, den berömda duon från 70-talet. Här kommer deras "Taxfree" i orginal, samt covern som Jimi Hendrix gjorde. ENORMT coolt. Mer Hammond åt folket!!!

Everybody's chilling

Even the cats are enjoying the sun, here in the glass room in my parents' house. I'm just updating blog and planning a few things for next year today, but apart from that, just getting plenty of rest for a day or two, before I return to Malmö.

Snowball 2008

Attending the Snowball event was glorious. I danced so much. Sometimes I even got fed up. It's cool the way your body just says "Thanks, but no thanks" sometimes. I love the music, and that's the reason for me dancing. If, for some reason, I'm not enjoying it, I won't force myself to dance.
Most nights, however, dancing was great. I filmed some sequences we did during class and also took some pictures. New Years Eve was nice, with a 3 course dinner before the dance. I sat next to Sakura and Johan, people I know from back home. One night Charles (a guy I worked with in Herräng) and Jessica took me to their brewery. It's a micro brewery, and they gave me some nice beers to try. I also got to see how it was all done. The place is called MONK'S.

I miss dancing with the people back home now. I love Mondays.