A look back at my 2012

The first two months were pretty uneventful. Pretty much all I did was start this blog in January.
Then in March several different people told me if I really want to get a job I need to get a driver's license. So at the end of March I spent a lot of my savings and started doing just that. I finally had the license at the end of June, so approximately three months to get that.
Then when I still didn't get any job offers people kept telling me I had to have a car to be interesting on the job market so I spent even more of my savings to buy a cheap car at the end of July.
Just to keep score:
Job offers without a driver's license = 0
Job offers with a driver's license = 0
Job offers with a driver's license and a car = 0
So yeah, that helped... It helped wasting almost all of my savings on nothing. Yay...
Anyhow, after that nothing much has happened. Not even the end of the world happened like that moron said and that everyone spread as if it was real. For all of us who actually bothered to read about the Mayan long count calender it came as no surprise at all. That calender lasts for at least another five million years or so before it starts over and goes on forever. Kind of like how we count months, years, decades, centuries, millenia and so on.
What else happened this year? I got back to pretty much my high school weight again. That's about the only positive thing that I can think of...

My plans for the new year. Get a job... As if that will happen.

Where I lay my head is home?

On Sunday, October 21, I have lived in my current apartment for 5475 days (approx. 15 years). That's one whole day longer than I've lived in any other apartment/house. The weird thing though is that I still don't feel like it's my home.
Even if I would move soon I will not get more than one or perhaps two chances to beat this record. If I can't feel at home after 15 years, how big is the chance that I will find another place where I do feel at home?
I actually hope I can move out really soon. I need to get a job though. That's the biggest problem.

I don't know where I wanted to go with this rant, I just felt so sad that I've lived here longer than anywhere else and can't shake the feeling that I don't belong.

2012 (the movie)

I just watched the movie 2012. Even if I overlook all the made up "science" and faked stuff and bad CGI it wasn't a very good movie. They did get one thing right though. If we ever find ourselves in the situation that we need to evacuate this planet the rich will be the first in line to board the spaceships (or "arks" that stays on the planet). The really important people that know how things actually work in the real world will be left behind and that will be the end of humanity. Now that I think about it, it's not such a bad thing if humanity did exterminate itselves...

Decisions...

I've been posting here on this blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a few months now. However I feel that I have too much to do IRL at the moment so I've decided that from now on I will only post when I actually have something to say or show.

Spring is in the air... continued

As I said in my previous post I dislike this time of year. So I dug up two old photos from the season I like the most. I'm sure you can all guess which one that is.

Spring is in the air

The Sun is shining bright in the sky. Almost no clouds can be seen. The temperature is rising. People are wearing less clothes. I HATE THIS TIME OF YEAR!
Ok, that some people are wearing less clothes is fine with me, but I can't stand the heat. Also this is the time of year when everything starts to blossom. That means allergy season is here... Woo... hoo...

Chocolate

As I've said before I haven't eaten any candy or snacks or such in a long time. Today I heard someone talk about a certain type of chocolate pralines. That made me almost drool and really, really want some chocolate. It's going to be hard for a few years to stay away from all kinds of snacks...
One advantage I have at the moment is that since I'm unemployed I can't afford buying any snacks.

Friday...

So it's Friday again. Nothing to do but sit at home. Actually even if I had something to do I probably wouldn't. So damn tired today. Haven't slept well in a few days. I'm feeling kind of like this photo that I took a few years ago. Empty and a bit foggy with some light shining through. Maybe tomorrow I can do something fun.

Driving lessons

As I've said a few times already I'm taking driving lessons. So far I've only had four. At first I was a bit scared of driving on the road with other cars around me, but now I'm already getting more comfortable with it. That does actually make me a bit scared. What if I'm relaxing too much?
Oh well, I guess I will get over it before it's time to actually get the license. With a bit of luck that will be before Midsummer. It kind of depends on how many driving lessons I can get before all the kids start picking them because school is out for the summer...

Too many books. If that's possible.

I'm currently trying to pack all my books, CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes in boxes in case I get a job so I can actually move somewhere. Some of it, like the VHS tapes, I will probably never unpack ever again. Anyhow, I have a lot of books. A LOT of books. Maybe even too many. If that is possible. I've packed three boxes already and it doesn't even make a difference in my bookcases.
It's really hard to find boxes that you can pack especially CDs and DVDs in. I've managed to find boxes and pack almost all my DVDs so far, but less than half my CDs.
The day after I move my back is going to hurt so bad from carrying all those boxes... Maybe I shouldn't worry about it until after I get a job. Before that I won't be able to move anyways.
Hm... Maybe I should give some of the books away. Or try to sell them. At least the ones I will never open again.

Learner's permit... possibly

This is an update to something I wrote about last week. I know I said in this post that I would not get a driver's license, but as I wrote last week I don't seem to be able to get a job without one...
Anyhow, I have finally been able to apply for a learner's permit. It appears that I was not in the database that everyone in Sweden should be put into automatically when we are old enough to get a learner's permit. Stupid government.

On a happier note, my weight loss is really turning out well. Today I was under 80 kg (176.4 lbs) for the first time. The scale showed 79,8 kg (175.9 lbs) this morning.

Catch 22

This isn't about the book by Joseph Heller, but if you get the chance you should read it. It's really good.
Anyhow, I have a bit of a catch 22 situation going on. I'm unemployed and I don't have a driver's license. For some reason companies nowadays wants you to have a driver's license even if the job in question is "sitting at a desk moving numbers from one excel spreadsheet to another" or even just working as a cashier. I don't know if they think you need to drive from one side of the store to the other.
However, since I don't have a driver's license I can't seem to get a job and without a job I can't afford getting a driver's license. It currently costs between 15000 and 20000 SEK (that's around 2225 to 2970 US Dollar, or 1680 to 2240 Euro, or 1400 to 1870 Pound sterling) to get a driver's license here in Sweden. So it's not exactly cheap.
Yesterday I thought I could at least start taking some driving lessons with the help of the money I have saved. So I went on the web to apply for a learner's permit. It turns out that I can't get one and I have no idea why. The customer service was not open in the evening, and I don't like calling unknown people anyways, so I sent them an e-mail to see if they could look at it. Still no reply. So I can't get a job and I can't get a driver's license apparently.

Canon 5D Mark III

Today Canon presented their new fullframe digital SLR: Canon 5D Mark III. Not that I will ever get one, I'm happy with my crop sensor EOS 550D (Rebel T2i), but everything I've read about this new camera on forums is scary. Even before anyone has gotten a chance to test it or even seen sample photos taken with it they jump on the bandwagon and cry about it being "worse than Nikon D800 because the way I read the specs tells me the D800 has more megapixels and that's all that matters".
Some people have even said "that's it, now I'm going to sell all my Canon equipment and buy the D800 instead". Why would someone do that? Because the D800 has 14 megapixels more? That's ridiculous. Who, besides the professional "billboard photographers", has the need for 36 megapixels? And who needs it so badly that they are willing to sell all their old equipment just to buy a camera that has instead of buying a very good camera that has 22 megapixels? Morons, that's who. Or more likely forum trolls that will never get rid of their equipment. They just want to complain because it wasn't the best camera in the world ever for an extremely cheap price... Preferably less than the cheapest compact cameras.
My advice to anyone out there interested in the Canon 5D Mark III: Wait until you've had a chance to read reviews and been able to go to a store to look at it and feel what it's like to have it in your hands. Then make up your mind. If it's not right for you, then have a look at another camera. If you already have Canon equipment, maybe you have a camera that's still good and wait for the next release.