Smoke the Sky Away

this is the last semester of my masters. which means that this is the semester in which I am to write my thesis. as usual I have picked a subject that others might depict as weird or unbusiness like, but to me it is very much business. it deals with a field that is growing as we speak, to such proportions that it more than qualifies to be investigated. I am going to research creative consumption in online games, more specifically World of Warcraft.

If you did not know, I have been playing WOW for 5 years. And it is more than a game, it's a social system within itself. When you begin to play, it takes on such a power over you than you actually need it every day. You can be whatever you wish, a knight in shinning armour, a grumpy dwarf, a jolly gnome or a graceful elf. The choice is yours and helps you wash away the dissapointments of the real world. In the world of the game you have more power than in the world in which you were born. But ultimately, you do need to remind yourself that it is just a game, otherwise you won't be the one with the power, but you will be the one controlled by your needs to be all that you are not.

might sound a bit gloomy, but it's true. in the beginning I was addicted to WOW, I needed my daily fix. Now I see WOW as more of a recreational activity. I don't think WOW is a bad thing, I still love the possibilities it offers in terms of storytelling and roleplaying, but all that seems to have died away a bit since the start of it all. Now it's more about who has the better items, or who deals more damage.  So needless to say that I will try and capture that lost side of WOW through my thesis. :D

Scream

I am so happy Linda recommended Serieteket to me. Up to this point, I have been literally drooling in the comic book store in Gamla Stan or in the Sci Fi store, but comic books are so expensive to buy. 100kr is quite a lot for someone who doesn't have a salary or help from the government. But never fear! Linda came to the rescue! and so I discovered the comic book library of Stockholm!

it's a pity that so many are in swedish. I hoped to find comics like DMZ, Walking Dead, but no such luck. It was fun to find out that I am allowed to take out 50 items!!! 50!!! I went into a frenzy! I stuffed 11 heavy comic books in my backpack until it almost popped its seams. Hellboy and 30 days of night will keep me company the following days.

Light and Frost

"evil laugh" first try outs with my new lens, the 55-200. i really do enjoy it, but i still feel the need to buy more... if only i had the money...

it's becoming brighter and brighter outside, perhaps signaling the impending doom of winter, whispering to us that we should take out and dust off our non-winter clothes. but then again, this is sweden, so no such luck. according to my bf the snow might stay here till june...

Updates

and the cold keeps getting worse... two days ago it was so cold outside that our car's battery died. it was a predictable expense at a certain point, considering the car is 8 years old, but in good condition. and when the problem was fixed, we had to struggle to get the car out of the parking lot, because it was stuck on ice.

as of next week, i am a full time student studying swedish... monday=1 and a half of computers in swedish, tuesday= 2 h of swedish, wednesday= 2 h of swedish, thursday= 90min of swedish biology, 90min of swedish AND 1h of consumer behaviour or something like that in swedish... and to top it off, on friday 3h and a half of swedish... hopefully i'll remember how to speak my native tongue after all this :D i'm already dreaming in english, now i corner romanian with swedish in a forgotten room of my mind.

Winter... when will you be over???

it's frickin cold here! and I've been sick for 3 days now, with aches all over my body, fever and feelin dead tired all day. I'm on vacation, I'm supposed to feel good not sick.

bf's been playing wow all day "pouts" I played a little too so I can't complain. but I sort of wanna go to the movies. I wanna see both Dr. Parnassus and Sherlock Homes. He doesn't wanna see the last one because he loves the old type Sherlock Homes movies, and he doesn't wanna ruin his idea of Sherlock by watching the naughty Guy Ritchie one. Oh wells...