Graycat's lair

Never get attached to a show on FOX, that's all I'm saying.

Saturday we spent almost all day at the park, which was great.



Yesterday we fixed up the car [1] and went to a place called Bosjö kloster, a short drive north of Lund. There's a "castle" there[2] which used to be a convent (hence the name). It was absolutely gorgeous.

There's gardens and a park, full of trees and flowers and bushes, and just gorgeousness dripping from everything. There was a particularily nice field of tulips.




After that we went to Skånes Djurpark, a zoo with more or less[3] only Swedish and scandinavian animals, it's pretty cool actually.

After the park snafu on saturday (no camera battery) I went a little crazy yesterday - 165 photos. Thank god its digital... Some have been uploaded on Flickr for your viewing pleasure ;o)


[1] Funny story - about a week ago or so, at the fault of someone who shall remain nameless, we ran out of gas on our way home. Luckily we were close enough that we could push the car the rest of the way, and into the parking spot. So yesterday the person who shall remain nameless had to go buy a can of gas so we could get the car to the filling station before setting off.
[2] what is known as a castle in Skåne would be known as a manor house in the rest of the world.
[3] The "less" part is a raccoon that was taken into custody by the customs authority and taken on by the zoo so she wouldn't have to be put down.

( Snagged off esmeraldus_neo - results under here )

Hm... Guardian... OK? Maybe? Sounds a bit...dull, and a bit more followery than I'm comfortable being. Some of it's right though.

Today it was high summer, except that it's still spring. Good thing it's saturday, so we coud spend almost all day hanging around the park. The primary reason for going there today was that I wanted to play with the camera, but of course we'd forgooten to charge it... Oh well, I did get some pictures anyway.

This little fella was a large part of why I wanted to go to this particular place and photograph.


We saw this one and its sibling yesterday, on our way home, and couldn't figure out what it was, just that it looked really danged weird with those giant feet. So I wanted to get a photo that I could take home for identifying. However, today I also spotted the mother, and with the helpful signs put up by the bird pond in the park, I now know it's a moorhen chick.

From "The Android's Dream" by John Scalzi:

"The Kanh were violently allergic to nuts. The first state dinner ever held for the Kanh ended in disaster because kitchen inadvertently used peanut oil in one of the entrees; two thirds of the Kanh guests ruptured their digestive sacs. The fact that Soram would lobby the Kanh to import almonds was a testament to his clulessness, and the willingness of the Kanh ambassador (who was emphatically not clueless) to capitalize on his stupidity for a couple rounds of choise golf."

Yeah, so who's clueless again?

Got these absolutely lovely salt and peppershakers from my mum and her friend who stayed with us last weekend. We got a white angel and black devil, and I filled them predictably, cause pepper when you expect salt and youre tired isn't nice...

They're by Koziol, some German design company thingy, and I'd actually seen them online and thought they were awesome before - but mum didn't know that. So it all just goes to show that great minds etc.

Also got a couple of wine bottle stoppers, which we needed.

For some reason my hairdresser decided to cut my bangs differently this time - despite doing it perfectly the last two times - and now I'm hating it. It's really irritating when that happens, and for me it happens a lot. For most of my life I've disliked hairdressers more than dentists, and I don't like dentists, but then the last few years everything's worked out and I haven't hated my hair. And now, aargh!!

So, I waited at least half the movie to see in they'd put in Samuel L Jackson as NIck Fury, and was bitterly dissapointed when they didn't. Only to find out now that they did, but after the credits. Booger.

Meme from daibhid_c.

Grab the nearest book, open to page 123, find the fifth sentence. Then post the next three sentences. Then post a comment.

Holy... I can't even write what's on p.123 of the book that happened to be nearest me at this point...it has letters not on my keyboard. Hold on while I google ascii charts...

All right, here goes:

"I Vg. III 68 Stadgas:
Wil maþer aþrum vmbuþ i hant sætiæ dagh at giuæ af sinæ wæ . i . lagmalum swa sum ær drap eller saræ mall. Þat scal han göre a lanzþing hæræzþingh fiarþiunxþingh eller met vpnum brewum skiallicræ mannæ . eller ær þæt eig laghgilt."

I think that's three sentences, it's a little hard to tell, with the state of the punctuation. I'm going to pretend it is anyway, since, handily enough, it's a full paragraph.

The text is from a book called "Bidrag till läran om arbetsbetingsaftalet enligt svensk rätt" by Hugo Wikander, and it is a law essay/thesis thingy from 1913. In translation the title is roughly "Contributions to the doctrine of work contracts[1] according to Swedish law".

What the text means however...is trickier to answer. It's an exerpt from, as far as I can tell, the book is somewhat unclear (on many points), an old Swedish law called Västgötalagen - the Westrogothic law - which is the oldest known written law in Sweden, from the 13th C, and the language is...archaic, to say the least.

It is, in the words of one T. Pratchett, written in old, you know, before they invented spelling.

It's something about how to employ an "ombudsman" [edit: actually, that's just "ombud", dunno where I got the sman part from...] - in this case it appears to mean a legal representative of some sort - a proxy. It seems (and I am extremely uncertain about this) to say that you need to pick a suitable man, and announce it at þing - which is the council/court/assembly thingy - or in an open letter (?), or it isn't legally binding.

[1] This is my own translation, and is probably way off. What is meant is a type of contract where you contract a person or a company to do a specific task for you, such as build a house, or dig a well. Not a contract of emplyment.

Edit: I have a new guess, or more complete guess (haven't been able to find for sure which old law it's from though...):

Vill man annan ombud i hans [säte/ställe] dag att giva av sina [ord som jag tror saknar bokstäver] . i . [lagmalum, gissningsvis något liknande talan (inför rätten)] [swa verkar kunna betyda svear, fast i singular] som är dråp eller [såramål - skada/misshandel typ]. Då skall han göra vid landsting häradsting fjärdingsting eller med öppet brev skäliga män. Annars är det inte lag-giltigt.

So it's about the hiring of a lawyer??

No, really, I am. I just don't look like it.

I've been reading so much stuff about sexism, and racism, and the boob debacle...and so much of it has been really thought provoking and...dangit, I want to say think-worthy, my swenglish filter must be out of whack. It's a mess in my head right now, so this is probably gonna come out wrong.

But I've reached a conclusion. A few conclusions actually.

1. Living is like driving - if you try to do it consciously it becomes impossible. The only way it is even remotely possible to be the person I'd like to be with regards to the environment, sexism, racism, ablism, animal rights, eradicating poverty, and so on and so forth and gaaah, exhaustion - is if I can manage to make the right attitudes subconscious, instead of the wrong ones. I despair of this ever actually happening fully, but I guess I can but try.

2. We're all men, more or less. Which is to say, sexism isn't about men, or women. It's about a pattern, or several, in society, that gets ascribed to men and women. But if women aren't making themselves conscious of these patterns, they behave the same way men do, and think the same things men do. Or, rather, in accordance with the male pattern. Which isn't really a male pattern, but "the norm" - which gets ascribed to men, and in many ways is more advantageous for men than women, because it's developed in a world where men have largely been the ones with the power.

My point is this. When I dress in a way that I find sexy, I do it for me, because I want to feel sexy - but what I find sexy in women is what men find sexy in women. So even if I do dress "for me" - I dress to please what is commonly called "the male gaze" - because that's my gaze too. Because that's what I've been "taught" - by which I mean, that's what I've osmotically absorbed from the society I live in. I have no way of knowing if this is what I'd be attracted to even if I'd grown up without ever being exposed to the current norms.

The same way, women have the same subconscious assumptions about women that men do - because these are not exclusively male opinions - they're societal opinions. So we think of each other as silly chickens if we don't guard against it. We think of each other as slutty or asking for it when wearing short skirts if we don't guard against it. And so on.

There's really no difference. Except, that since we are both on the receiving and giving ends these things are easier for us to spot - so we tend to be the ones who complain. And then you feel attacked.

You shouldn't. It's not about you. It's about all of us.

(also posted on afp)

As some of you may know by now I've been accepted as an exchange student by Suffolk University Law School, which means that starting in mid august I will live in Boston, USA. Probably until mid-may/june next year.

So I'm looking for three things:

1. Cheap, preferably roach-free, accomodation.
2. Ways to fund my stay.
3. Possibly a meet or two :o)

Anone who has any ideas as to any of the above, feel free to share :o)

Also - does anyone know what the compatibility of the Wii (and games) is between the US and Sweden - probably none huh?

So, the renovations have now reached my building. We've seen them slowly approach our row for months, but then a few days ago I woke up to find that the view from kitchen window had been replaced by a giant heap of dirt.



Now, a few days later, it's a big hole instead.



I've seen what they've done with the other buildings, so I know it'll turn out pretty decent, but right now, it's a mess. A loud mess.

Icons, let me show you them
1. Reply to this post, and I will pick four of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee!

esmeraldus_neo picked:
( the chosen four - and a bunch of bonus features )

Remember this?

Yea to the power of 10...

We have quite a lot of birds around here - it's one of my favourite things about this apartment. Just behind the building is a stretch of lawn, and then a bunch of trees and bushes, where, as I said, we get a lot of birds. Right now I think it's the start of the mating season so they're all singing like crazy, it's like a concert out there.

We get a lot of blackbirds and chaffinches and they sing very prettily, and last night I think I heard a nightinggale (or several) which was pretty cool. It's a bit hard to confirm that one though, since by looks they're like the most unremarkable bird ever, and they only sing at night, when I tend to be asleep. We also have a lot of wood pigeons, and I have to say I'll probably miss them most when we leave. Theyre very restful when they amble around and coo.

The most numerous bird around here is probably rooks, but they don't make a lot of noise (luckily, since not so pretty), and they tend to stay out of our "garden"[1]. They're some really vicious looking birds though...and they get into the garbage if you leave it out, with not so artistic results.

Also there are lots of magpies, great tits[2] and house sparrows. Probably tree sparrows too (I haven't actually looked for them, just noticed we get brown and grey little birds, and that's usually house sparrows and tree sparrows).

The area where I live also has a heck of alot of cats, which I'll also miss, but that doesn't seem to deterr the birds any.

[1] Not really ours, it's a kind of common, and not really a garden...
[2] Seriously?? You guys need better bird names.

From st_lemur, who got it elsewhere.

This is a test for a film or, more generally, some form of narrative fiction. The piece passes if:
1) it has to have at least two women in it
2) who talk to each other
3) about something besides a man.

Applied to TV-shows I watch/have watched a lot:


* Angel - I'm pretty sure Cordelia and Fred talk about monsters rather than guys quite often. And random people occasionally on the show, like Darla/Drusilla, who talk about stuff like eating people.
* Battlestar Galactica - yes
* Big Love - yes. Most often they talk about family issues and things though.
* Bones - Yes, they usually talk about work.
* Buffy - yes
* Canterbury's Law - ...sort of. Canterbury has a female minion who she snaps at sometimes. So not really. But it's got a female lead. Edit: Oh, she also talks to female clients about their cases, so maybe that counts anyway.
* Carnivale - yes
* Gilmore Girls - ooooh yes, constantly.
* Grey's Anatomy - yes, usually about work. Also about guys, but often about work and other stuff.
* House - can't recall. Yes, they must talk about work and diseases occasionally - but the usual crowd is one woman and three guys, so it's only rarely that one of the other two women on the show says anything to the woman on the team.
* New Amsterdam - Sort of, but it doesn't count. The show is about a guy, and focuses 90% on him. He has a female sidekick/partner, and a female boss, and they have spoken to each other not about him. Like once. for a few seconds.
* Rome - yes
* Scrubs - yes.
* Smallville[1] - Yes, fairly often the girls talk to each other about something other than Clark. Usually Chloe and Lois. But it's not really a central feature of the show.
* The Wire - Edit: How did I forget this one? Anyway, most of the people on the Wire are men, and the women in it are usually, as I remember it, the only woman in the scene. And also often wifes girlfriends or mothers. However, there's a female cop and a female prosecutor I'm sure talk to each other about work. And the female cop talks to her girlfriend - obsviously not usually about men.


[1] Disclaimer - my pride will not let this stand without adding that I was pretty desperate at the time, that a lot of it is really stupid, and that Lana should have been dropped several seasons ago.

1. My username is Shriker_tam because Graycat, my default nick, was allready taken and Shriker Tam wasn't possible. The name was made up when I made an angsty teenaged goth boy avatar for IMVU, that I never really used. It's made up of the Shrike[1], from the Hyperion books by Dan Simmons, and River Tam from Firefly - because I wanted something that sounded like an angsty gothy name, but also cool, and that was related to sci-fi stuff I like.

2. This question was ated.
Edit: Research (read: googling) suggets this question is actually "My name is _____ because _______". So; My name is Elin because, I assume, my parents liked it. They went with family names for both me and my brother. My first name, Elin, was my dad's grandmother's name and both my dad's mother and sister have it as a middle name. My middle names are Birgit and Margareta. Birgit is my mum's mother, and Margareta was another relative, but right now I can't recall which one.

3. My journal is called "Graycat's Lair" - because that's what I've called all my personal spaces, blogs, profiles and homepages since my very first one back on Skunk, which was The Cool Place to Be in Sweden in 1998.[4] (So I was 16, which is a little late, by modern standards, but we had to start late, we didn't get proper angsty communities before then.)

4. My friends page is called Friends because I am imagination deprived - much like Håkan Hellström and Quentin Tarantino I'm only creative when I can steal...

5. My default userpic is a piccy of me, becuse PhotoBooth is the bestest program ever! And the only fun thing on the Mac when I got it, and before I learned to use the darn thing.

[1] Learned today that the name of the Shrike in the books was probably[2] taken from the bird with similar gruesome habits... Before looking up the bird today I thought it was just a cute featherpuff and the name was a coincidence, chosen because it sounded cool. Well, you live and you learn. (Though, in retrospect, I should have figured out that nothing Dan Simmons writes is by coincidence...)

[2] I'd say definitely except I don't have Word of God[3] on this. But it's very very likely.

[3] TvTropes has eaten my life... I blame you Daibh.

[4] Later replaced by Lunarstorm (Used to at any one time have over 50 000 people logged in, today, when I checked purely for the purposes of writing this, it was 7000. Teens are fickle.), where I followed, Helgon.net, Snyggast.se and multiple others where I didn't. Now I have no clue, I'm out of touch with the fjortis[5] community.

[5] I can't translate this, but every language should have it. The expression that is, not the phenomenon, which, while probably unavoidable, is annoying.

The lovely bf gave me Tomb Raider Anniversary for...um...I'm sure there was a reason of some kind. Finishing my essay? Anyhow, he's great.

So, I've been playing this game, and it's a lot of fun - the quality of Lara's movements is amazing (though, I get to hear the bf complain that she's too skinny every fice minutes...)

There's just one tiny thing that drives me nuts. She's looking for this thing called The Scion - and everyone in the game keeps pronouncing it ski-on - which is not a word! It's what you do with snow!

It's supposed to be sion, like sience.

So, thanks to esmeraldus_neo, I've been reading my way through The DM of the Rings (LOLing all the way, hilarious stuff). Anyway. As usually happens at this point I get curious about rolepaying. I have an idea that I'd be absolutely rubbish at it - but I'd like to see it done right at some point.

My only experience with roleplaying is as follows:

1. When I was about 10 a friend of mine thought we should try it. I don't remeber much other than that the DM tried to off us the entire time, which was short. In the end the dungeon caved in and we all died. We got no loot. It was boring.

2. A friend and I made a sort of rpg where I was the DM (we didn't really have any dungeons though) and basically told a story, and left gaps for her to fill whith her character's reactions. We had great fun, but it wasn't based on any rules or any system I know of, we just made it up as we went along. Also there were no dice.[1]

3. I've played Oblivion. A lot. Like, any-more-and-I'll-flunk-out-and-find-myself-suddenly-single a lot. But I don't role-play it. I just get my character going, and then do as many missions as I can and loot as much as possible. I do try to avoid the unneccesary killing of animals, but that's because of how I am, not my character. As far as I'm concerned, it's an adventure game with more action.

And I can't help but wonder if I'm missing out on something...

Edit: Oh and I just remembered something - the same friend that's under 1. also thought LARPing would be cool. So once we visited a LARP where his sister was playing. We didn't really have worked out characters or anything, but we were dressed up and stuff. We got chased down a hill and into the forest by a bunch of dark elves, it was really scary, but also kind of cool.

[1] It was nutty though. The main character was called "Smushed Snail" and was a plains indian, last of his tribe. The world had this mythology that I'd worked out, with a mother godess and her four children ruling it - they ruled over different parts, like one had the sea, one had the air, one had the land and so on. The main quest was finding the giant "Digger-plutten-tott" which was a kind of robot/golem/digging machine built by the digger-plutten-totts, which were a kind of lemming-like creature that lived under the ground in the northern tundras or plains or something (iirc), so that this could be used to build a hospital for orphans (or just people? I think it was orphans). As I recall there was no fighting and no monsters - just the regular dangers of wandering around the wilderness looking for the holy excavator tractor of the lemmings...