Still here, Update time!

As expected, there has been a break in posts lately and that is mainly due to me not having much to say, well not that I need an excuse to ramble..

It is just that when writing these, I normally want to have something to share and not just me writing about nothing and filling it out with even more nothing, like the start of this post.

Anyway, this will be a little way of catching up on what has happened lately, and I think I will do it in form of bullet points.

·        Work:
As always plenty of stuff to deal with at the office, even though I currently have a bigger workload than normal, as I am also assisting the VIP team in their stuff, due to some changes in staffs, but it is all good, I want to have stuff to do when I am in the office. Hopefully we can finish off the year in a good way.

·        Living/Time to move:
Yeah, so Totti with all his millions has decided to move to Thailand for a bit, which I cannot blame him for, as we now will be going into the boring winter time in Malta, so why not get away to a better climate if you have the time and money.

This also mean that we will be ending our contract a bit earlier than expected, (2 months earlier) and I am now in the hunt of finding myself a new place to live.

For the last couple of years I have stayed in a flat that has not had a balcony or terrace, so this is somewhat a priority for me when looking, as I really, REALLY enjoy having a bbq and eating outside. 

Sadly enough, trying to find a flat in Malta is a full time job, which will end up driving you insane, mainly from dealing with so many stupid agents trying to trick you into paying much more than you want to, and posting fake ads on Facebook and then saying the flat was “just rented by another client”.

As soon as I find a place, I will do a little “cribs” video and share with you, as to give you all a little bit of insight in how the living in Malta can look like, and what it costs…

Next week, Battle of Malta is finally here again and there is a bunch of people from back home that is coming down to take a stab at the main part of the €1,000,000 prizepool.

For the moment, I will get back to the search for a new place to live, and updates will show up along the way, but I hope to come with good news.

/J

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TRIP REPORT

Overall the trip to Sweden was a good one.

Meeting my parents and my brother and his sons and making sure that everyone is well, had time for a short stop to talk with Linda, one of my lovely cousins who just moved her shop to a new location and I wish her all the best, and you can all check it out through the link below and see if you find anything of interest.

https://mytivoli.se/

Sadly enough the trip felt like it was a bit too short, as there was more people that I wanted to meet up with and spend more time with, but this is a good lesson for the next trip I guess.

I will also plan better and rent a car on my next trip, as to avoid having to find someone to pick me up or drive me to the airport, as well as to be more flexible and not having to borrow a car if I want to go visit a friend.  

Only thing is that it is a bit too expensive to rent directly from Arlanda most of the times that I have looked.

If you have any experience or suggestions, please share them.

At the moment I am back at work and with all the football leagues up and running this will also bring a boost for my casino product and hopefully we will start going in a good direction to have a good 2^nd half of 2019, as this always make work so much more enjoyable.

Below are just a few clips and photos from the trip to summarize it all up before we proceed with stuff happening in Malta going forward.

My brother catches a small pike

Olle catches a small pike

Brother catches a very small perch

Brother's biggest catch of the day..the bottom of the lake...

On our way home with both nephews Viggo and Olle as well as my brother. 

During my stay, I also had the chance to visit Monroe's for the delicious burgers that they offer, and this is one of them, with a little bit of everything on it. 

And below is a nice sandwich cake that my mother made for us. 

I also went and visit my grandparents on my mothers side and their house is surrounded by forest and it is so peaceful and there is no way to get stressed while you are there. A few pictures below from where they live. 

Below is 2 pictures of me and Olle, the youngest of my nephews, and last picture is of my brother and both nephews Viggo (10) and Olle (7). 

I wish you all the best and hope you all have a wonderful day. 

Regards,
J

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THE TRIP DAY 3

As suspected, there has been a whole lot of eating on these few days, and there will sadly be even more.

The scale is working overtime and it all started off with Max hamburger at the airport, but sadly enough I made a horrible order at American Pizza Place where I ordered some really plain crappy pizza that got even myself disappointed with it all.

Saturday I went to see my oldest nephew Viggo play football and of course met his younger brother Olle as well as their mother, and it is always nice to meet them and see how they have grown.

Sadly enough they lost the game, but at the age of 10 the winning or losing is not as important as it will be later in life I guess.

Later, on Saturday evening I went over to Niklas and Lina and had a really tasty BBQ with them and their kids. We had some meet and potato wedges with béarnaise sauce of course, and later played some poker and caught up on what has happened in the last couple of years.

Sunday was booked for a trip to Gävle to catch some of the elusive tasty kebab that they have at Pizza House, and O M G was it good, it is one of those that could be worth gold if it was available in Malta, but sadly enough there is still no good place for “Swedish style kebab” down there.

It was me, Stubben and Fjuno, as we all get the value of good fucking food, and do not take it for granted J

After that we spent the rest of the day with the nephews and watching premier league football and eating some tasty Swedish sandwich cake, and even though Man United won against Chelsea, it was a very good day.

Next up we will be going to Valbo and do a little shopping and let the kids buy themselves a birthday present since uncle Jonas has been away and missed birthdays, and see what they decide to get.

Later on Monday we plan to go for some fishing and hopefully catch something worth putting on the grill, while spending some time with my dad and Rosie.

These are the main things of going back to Sweden, to make sure that family and friends are doing ok and are in good health, and anything more than that is just a cherry on top, stuff like eating a shit load of junk food.

Below you will find a few pictures of food, if you want to see a little bit of what me and my friends has been stuffing our faces with.

Regards,
J

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THE TRIP, DAY 1

We started the day at 9am with a "Bolt"-ride to the airport, which of course took longer than it should, due to all the damn constructions that is happening everywhere in Malta nowdays. 

Finally there the place was so crowded I really wanted to turn around, but with some planning, I had decided to not check any luggage, and just travel with my carry on bag. 

After security checks I decided to buy a water at Costa Cafe, and after waiting in 30+ heat for 20 minutes (maybe less) I had to go to the toilet and change my shirt, as it was drenched in sweat (great start). 

Checking the board and see the flight is delayed 90 minutes (great...), so I sit down and wait, and Fjuno joins me and decide to get something to eat, and at this point my spideysense is tingling and I decide to check the board again, yeah the flight is boarding as we speak... (I watched the wrong flight of course, who knew that many flights were going to Sweden), so we had to stress a bit and Fjuno had to cancel his food order. 

Finally on the plane I sit down and see what looks like smoke (video below). 

However before I freaked out, the flight attendant informed everyone that this was just due to the temperature difference inside the plane and outside (yeah right...). 

CAR FAILURE

Just as we are about to land, the phone buzz and I get a message from "Stubben" who had been great enough to agree and pick us up at the airport. 

He sent a photo of the car on a trailer and tells me that the car broke down in Uppsala (halfway to the airport) and that he had to get a rental car to get back home. 

We of course felt shit, and hope that the insurance will cover this shit for him. 

After some quick thought while inhaling a hamburger at Max (oh my, it was tasty, but forgot to take a picture), I did for a while thought about getting a rental car for us as well, but we took the financially more mature decision and took the train. 

The evening was spent with my mom and Uffe and a couple glass of whiskey and just catching up a bit, and Friday will be spent playing poker in Gävle and saying hi to some old friends. 

Some photos below. 

I will try and document the trip and share with anyone that feel like reading this. 

Have a great day everyone. 

/J

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MALTESE LOGIC...

People always ask me how it is to live in Malta, and I always try to not tell them the entire truth, as I wish to keep the tourism to come to Malta.

But if we are to be honest with each other, just between me and you (it sometimes pisses the fuck out of me).

Sunday at around 14.00 I went to Park Towers at Spinola Park as I had to do some random stupid shopping, and while in the store they announced that the store would be closing in 5 minutes.

As a good person I hurried up and go what I needed and then went to the cashier, and while I stood in line I noticed that 1 of the security guards (lets call him that instead of something bad) was standing inside the entrance as to make sure there was not any further people coming in, since the store was closed.

All this is fully logical, and of course normally the stores also have the doors only opening from the inside, but some people can still sneak in of course, and this is where the guard stood to say “no no, closed”.

When I had paid my stuff and was on my way out, I noticed that there was a bit of a line to get out, and I was wondering why.

Yeah, well as you can see by the picture, the genius people at Towers had lowered the safety door down a fair bit and pushed the main doors together, which mean that everyone (yes everyone) had to bend down to get out of the store, and if you had a couple of bags and were about 65-70 years old, this was of course not the easiest thing to do.

And therefore some other people had to help out… and yes, the guard stood there just watching instead of actually helping out and raising the fucking door.

I did not want to take a photo from inside, as there were a nice bunch of people there at this time, but once everyone had come out, I took the picture to give you a little bit of an idea on how smart they are.

This is a typical example of the logic that you will run into here in Malta.

Another example was when we needed Melita (our internet provider) to come by and install our new fiber connection.

They called and said they would come on Tuesday between 12.00 and 17.00, yeah that is how precise they were…

Of course I checked with the office and made sure I could leave and work from home after lunch, to make sure that I would be home when they were to arrive.

Around 10.30, Totti called and said that they had already been at the flat, but could not complete the install since I had to sign (as internet is in my name).

When I call them up to confirm that they would come back and let me sign the paper, the technician says “oh, I am not in the area any longer, you were not home when I was there”…

I explained to him that the reason was that he was supposed to come AFTER 12.00, which totally went above his head and his reply was “yes, but I finished other job early”, like this would justify him to skip my appointment.

The sad part is that no matter how pissed off you get, or how much you try and explain the lack in their logic, nothing helps, it is what it is…

To summarize it all up; Mela!

/J

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TV SHOW REVIEW - JETT

Are you getting a bit fed up with vampires, zombies or the regular police shows that are currently running on tv and would like to see something else for a change? 

I would suggest that you give Jett a chance, another new show from Cinemax, the company that a couple of years ago gave us Banshee, and earlier this year also showed the first season of Warrior. 

I am in no way saying the show is doing anything that has not been done before, but it is a step towards the older style of tv, where there is no excessive action or impossible tricks. 

The show is about a professional thief named Daisy "Jett" Kowalski that is played by the all so beautiful Carla Gugino. It is one of those shows that get you rooting for someone that in real life would be considered the "bad guy", but I guess there are different grades of bad, and then it makes it easy to root for the least bad of the bad. 

The entire show gives the feeling that it is played out more during the 90s, but I cannot remember that they actually declared when it should be taking place, but it has the classic criminal style, mixed in with the all so popular mobster style. 

Being a show that is shown on Cinemax, you can expect it to have some "direct" language and no bleeping or rewritten words to avoid penalties from the censoring boards in the US, and all this make the show even more..well I guess "real" would be the correct word, even if played out in a world where I do not spend my days. 

If you lack stuff to watch then give Jett a chance, I would probably rate it as 6.8 out of 10 after seeing the first 7 episodes of season 1. 

Enjoy

/J

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I THINK I AM A GEEK

How do you define what a geek is? 

According to Wikipedia, part of the meaning is: 

The word geek is a slang term originally used to describe eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast or a person obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. 

If we are to go by this definition I would absolutely consider myself a Geek, and proudly so, as I would not see anything wrong in being very interested in your hobby, even though "obsessed" would have a very negative ring to it and more used to describe stalkers. 

What are the hobbies that I would consider myself to be very interested in? 

Well, poker has for the last 15 years been a major part of my life, mainly as I for almost 10 years lived from my poker winnings, even though there were months where I barely made it work, I still managed to keep it up for just about 10 years, this however had its downside as well. 

Being a full-time poker player and mainly playing online, this would mean that I spent most of my time during a day and night was in front of a computer and having only a few short bursts of time for eating. 

To explain that further, that was mainly due to me playing tournaments online, and when doing so, you had 5 minutes of paus every hour, and if you took a paus at another time, you would lose chips and also miss out on hands that could have gained you more poker chips. 

The easy way for this was to order food and have it delivered to you, and you avoided the cooking of food, since this took time you considered yourself not to have, and being lazy and sitting still and eating junk food, we all know this is far from a healthy lifestyle. 

It got me to gain even more weight, and to spiral and become even more lazy, and all this of course is a very bad spiral from which I have yet to get myself out of. 

Further to this, what do you do when you have a lazy lifestyle, you spend more time doing lazy things, and even though I have always loved movies and tv-shows, this interest has grown even more in the years that has past. 

So much so, that now when I see a new show coming, I way to easy identify flaws and bad casting and even though this is a good thing, as it stops me from spending time watching 4 to 7 episodes just to then hear the show has been cancelled. 

You also quickly learn that some actors just cannot be a leading man/woman in a show, and this as well may lead to a show being cancelled, but I will also admit that I am trying to grow my pallet for shows, as I have been very judgmental when it comes to some shows. 

For example, I have always been somewhat negative to Swedish tv-shows, mainly due to the poor budget, which often lead to more comical and amateurish look of a show, however this has changed a lot in the last few years and I am proud to say there are several really good Swedish shows out there. 

I will try and give some recommendations of some of the shows I like in coming posts, in case there are some of you that want to have some tips and suggestions. 

Best regards,
J

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PREMIER LEAGUE START

The daily routine of refreshing twitter or gossip columns to see if there is any new transfers about to happen is coming to a close and the real football season is about to start. 

I am a Liverpool fan and Premier League is always a bit of a sore subject for us Liverpool fans, due to the lack of titles, yeah it is hard to believe I know, but it is true. 

Last year was a year that had Liverpool fans excited as we were involved in the title race up until the end, and of course ended up winning the Champions League. 

And I know there are some people that gets upset when a supporter is phrasing it as "WE won" and so on, but this is a way of expressing that we are a part of club, not as a player or staff but as a fan, a fan that is spending money on tickets, shirts, and whatever else there may be, all to show our support to the club we truly love. 

We also suffer with the players when they have setbacks, and we share their joy when there is success, and this is why supporters use the phrasing of "We" when talking about the club that they love. 

I also know that there are plenty of people out there that has no interest at all in sports, and this is just as surprising to me as it is for them that I really love a club or a sport. 

With Liverpool winning the Champions league for the 6th time last season (yes, 6 times!) we fans of course wants to see our club fight for the title this year, and seeing as we have managed to keep the entire squad and they have gotten to know each other even more, this will be a very interesting season, and I really hope that I will not have lost hope after 10 weeks. 

YNWA!

/J

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GOING HOME!

Last time I went back to Sweden was for christmas 2017, which makes it high time to pack the bag and put my fat ass in one of those "way to small for my ass" airplane seats.

Currently at my all time high on the weight scale and traveling is a pain in the ass and hopefully the plane will not be fully booked and I could be lucky to not get someone on the seat next to me, for both mine and their sake. 

Even if I were smaller, I really due hate the traveling part, standing in line, sitting on uncomfortable seats, waiting, waiting and then having to wait a bit more, and then when I am finally on Swedish grounds, I just have to take a 2 hour ride by car to finally arrive in my home town Sandviken. 

There are of course the obvious reasons to go back home, to visit family and friend and to make sure that everyone is fine, and then there is of course all the great junk food that I have been missing. 

Going home and eating a whole bunch of junk food is not exactly the best of plans, but who would be able to resist the kebab from Pizza House in Gävle and a pizza from Verona, and just to make sure that you get a little better understanding, I will be sure to share a few images with you from the visits. 

I will only go home for a week, and then there is back to work again and try and get into the right mindset to then go and win the Battle of Malta in October. 

I wish all of you out there all the best and talk to you soon. 

/J

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NFL Season Start

It is that wonderful time of the year again, most football leagues in Europe is about to kick off and every fan is refreshing to see what is happening with their favorite team on the transfer market.

However, on the other side of the world there is something else going on, there the interest in European football is to be, well luke warm to say the least.

As a NY Giants fan this is no longer a time of excitement, but more a time of dread and fear of what will happen this season, and of what Eli Manning will do..or not do.

Giants dropped the best wide receiver they had, and looking it from a players perspective it is understandable, since he had no QB that could offer him the deep routes.

Left behind is one of the more promising running backs in the league in Saquon Barkley, who due to lack of other options, probably will be used more often than any other player and I find it unlikely that Giants will manage to have a good season with the lack of depth in quality players.

Maybe this is the year that Eli will step down when Giants are 1-7 and newly drafted QB Daniel Jones will be offered a chance to take some snaps in a competitive game.

As we say, maybe next year...

/J

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