Back from a weekend in Stockholm

Oh what a trip!
I finally managed to take Amr to Stockholm and he totally loved it!
I used to go there often but since I moved to Umeå, being so far north, didn't have so many chances in the latest two years. It felt great to be in a big city for a change!

I don't know actually if I would like to live in a city, I am more of a little town woman and even if I love shopping and see different people I still think it would be too stressful for me to live in a city like that.
On the other hand Amr, used to Cairo, one of the liveliest and most populated cities in the world, felt like he was in his natural environment.
Apart from the fact that we spent lots of money without even realizing it and the fact that the humid air of Stockholm made us freeze more than here up north, I can say it was a really beautiful weekend.
We were supposed to see Pain and unfortunately we were forced to have a change of plans in the last second, but luckily on saturday night we went to a great gig in the centre: Vicious Art, General Surgery and Grave.
The venue was good, music was powerful and Grave played the whole first album, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of its release.

I really enjoyed all the bands. What surprised me the most is that the venue was full of old wolves like myself, that means people in their 30's for the most part. I was not used to that anymore! But it felt really good to be around people my age and see they are still rocking!
What I didn't like so much was the fact that most of them seems to be wasted and many guys were like hitting on like everything that moved...that was kinda sad, seen that with my sober eyes...but oh well, everyone acts like they want.
Anyways, even this time we came home with the pocket full of guitar picks!
Check this out!

All of them are from Grave, apart from the green one (not sure whose was iit). Amr has really a radar for guitar picks! It is now really time to invest in a safe or something! LOL!

I am really happy to be home now...feels great to be home in my apartment, sleep in my own bed etc...I came home more exausted than ever, two nights with almost no sleep at all, got out of the plane and went straight to work...so you can imagine how good I slept last night! I slept like a baby!
Well, that's it for now! Have a good evening everyone.

Club Greyscale rocked!

I must say that Umeå has become more lively than ever, basically every week there is something cool to do and autumn events are growing like mushrooms in various clubs around town. At times there are even more than one event in a day, hard to choose! But of course I don't complain about it...I cannot say it's a boring place to live once you know people and know where to go.
One of the coolest things of these days around Halloween was the "Utomhusbio", which means something like: the outdoors cinema.
I knew it was going to be inside a tent...I just didn't imagine what kind of tent! I honestly laughed my ass off when I went to the park and saw this military camp tent and realized it was actually in there!
Check this out!

We actually had to crawl in and didn't know what to expect...well it was awesome! Kind of crowded and warm and the screen was a lovely huge flat screen...the projector was hanging from a pole in the middle of the tent...funny but really nice and cozy!
We watched an old film called "Horror Express"...I really enjoyed it, the only thing was that I had a terrible pain in my back...I am not really used to sit on the ground like that, which by the way was wet, but then I tried to sit in some kind of yoga position and it felt a lot better.
On Halloween we went to our traditional Halloween party at Club Greyscale. It was awesome! Lots of friends, cool masks, good music...I had a blast!
I was dressed as a witch. I really loved the dress I bought and the make up I had. Check it out!

Danced quite a bit but not as much as I wished, the evening finished way too early...I hate it that clubs close at 2 am in Sweden! Come on, that is like one of the best hours, when people have finally losen up and the party is taking off!
Anyway, we had a great time. Now the next adventure will be this weekend, Amr and I will go to Stockholm! Hope it's going to be glorious! xxx
Oh by the way, before I go I just wanted to announce that I lost 2 more kgs! I am really happy! 4 more kgs to go and then I will be satisfied! :D

So it's Halloween!

Halloween again!
I seriously cannot believe how fast this year passed and especially this month of october, it's Halloween and I don't feel prepared at all! Where did this month go? It flew by at the speed of light!
I didn't do the Shocktober properly this year, I got caught up in many things and the lack of company wasn't really inviting for movie nights, although movie nights are always my favorite...especially if they are shared with someone I like or love.  The movie I chose for tonight is "The Omen", a true classic!
Just bought it today on dvd at a truly ridiculous price! Cool!
I remember watching this movie when I was little, a couple of times...it truly had an impact on me!
I guess, apart from "The Exorcist", it was the first time I saw a movie where the evil one was a child! Crazy mix that always freaks people out.
The best news of this month is that we have a new entry in Umeå, my italian FB friend Cristina from Sardinia a really cool and crazy chick! We met for the first time last saturday, we had a blast all day!
Finally a cool person to hang out with! I cannot believe how many things we have in common...we both sing, we both come from the same area ( my mom is sardinian), we are both crazy and into metal and goth music and clothes...cool!
Here is a picture we took at Pipes of Scotland, a local pub.

Cristina, Leticia and me

The other girl behind us is Leticia, another cool chick from Brazil who lives in Ireland who hanged out with us that night...what a trio guys! We truly had a blast. I am so sad they don't live here permanentely, Leticia is only on visit some days but at least Cristina will stay for like six months...so plenty of adventures ahead I guess!
Next saturday we will be going to Club Greyscale ( my favorite club for Halloween!), according to my yearly tradition...but I am still not sure what I will wear for the party...maybe I will be dressed as the character I play in the movie "Alone", or maybe I will come up with something else. We will see.
I didn't do any outfit or make up try out yet.
Tomorrow I have a really long day ahead of me, first I am gonna go to the university for a seminar and then working in the evening...but hey I am just gonna go to work 2 full days this week and the rest will be just party!!! Yes, that's what I need!
Oh by the way I dyed my hair again...black this time...I think it looks great! What do you think?

New black hairdye

Before I go, I leave you with this awesome funny video I made today...hehehe featuring me as the Witch, Amr as the mummy, Bram as Frankenstein and his girl Tineke as the dj and my dear friend Alain as the Vampire! In fact he is from Transylvania for real :D
Hope you like it!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

That reading pleasure!

I really don't understand why the majority of the people I know (with the exception of some friends here in Sweden) doesn't read books. They prefer to drink to escape reality, when the easiest and healthiest solution to abandon this world and reach another dimension is just to pick a good book and have a nice read! Personally I love reading, although I don't do it as often as I wish as I tend to get caught up in many different things, like the internet for instance. I like the internet for some aspects as it is knowledge and communication with the outerworld in real time just a click away, but I also believe we dedicate way too much time to it each day. We are putting our computers and social networks in a dominant position, when in reality we should dedicate more time to the things and people around us.
As far as me I try to divide my day as good as I can, between work, housework (not that much though), sport, time for my beauty, time for my partner and of course internet. But almost everyday I need that hour or sometimes just half hour for me and my books, that one on one time when I am alone with myself and I can dream away and get absorbed by something that takes me away from reality and everyday life.
I used to be an avid reader when I was younger, when I didn't have a computer at home, before the internet.
Most of the books I read during my time in highschool, spending my free time reading and listening to music mostly...and of course going out with my teenage friends.
I am very grateful to my highschool teachers who made me love litterature and got me to read all the most beautiful and exciting novels of the masters of the international classic litterature, in particular the english, the french and italian authors. I am actually a big fan of  classic litterature, not too fond on modern authors actually, with the exception of Stephen King who writes beautifully and gives me the chills and has always been an inspiration to me.
At the moment I am reading "At the mountains of madness" by H.P. Lovecraft. Wonderful I must say. I almost read everything by Lovecraft, but this one I had never read before and I am very much into it at the moment. This book was actually a present that our ex room mate and friend Jimmy gave to Amr last Halloween, although Amr is not too fond on reading, in fact he prefers to play guitar, that is actually what he is doing right now as I am writing.

The book I am currently reading

I was just thinking that I should totally go on with the marvellous book I am writing. I cannot believe I still didn't find a cool title for it. I tend to get lazy, although I love writing so much, maybe even more than reading. I took a pause from my novel when my laptop crashed this summer, but fortunately I have the novel saved on my e-mail. I should actually print it and keep a paper version of it as well.
I really must buy a new computer or really repair my old one. I am not too fond of Amr's computer, which I am using now to write this blog. The keyboard is different from what I am used to and it begins to give some signs of over use, making it a bit difficult to type at times because it gets slow and sometimes it eats the letters.
This is a picture I took today with Amr...we were in such a unusual good mood!

Amr is so cute...he is so handsome, it's crazy.
Anyway to get back to Lovecraft...I remember being in Providence, Rhode Island, with Jake Raymonds and Tony Lazaro of Vital Remains back in 2001 and going to the graveyard where H.P. Lovecraft was buried. I remember standing by his grave, feeling right miserable and unpleasantly surprised by the simplicity of his tomb, nothing fancy, no flowers, nothing. It could have been anyone. The very same feeling I had when I saw Marylin Monroe wallgrave, a sad scenary really. But at least H.P. Lovecraft was in a lovely ancient cemetery, in his hometown Providence...the place where he lived most of his life.
Next time I am going to Italy I will try to find those pictures I took with Jake in the graveyard. I had a pretty cool one in black and white just hope these photo are still at my parents' house.
I also wonder how Jake is doing. Maybe I should look him up on FB, we didn't hear from each other for several years. He was a really good guy and nice person.
It's a period, as I may have mentioned before, that I feel like rebonding with valuable people of  my past. You know all those good friends that one doesn't understand why they have just stopped being in contact.
Yes, I think it is time for that. I got some of them back already and I intend to get more back into my life.
And to finish this blogpost tonight I must inform you that I actually lost one kg! Yay! The shakes worked.
And since I only had a shake for dinner, I leave you with this wonderful plate of gnocchi that I cooked the other day, which were absolutely delicious! Just to give myself the illusion of having eaten them tonight, instead of the shake...heheh I wish!

Potato Gnocchi with pesto, mushroom and olive filled tofu

A bit of a fail

This weekend honestly was a bit of a fail... I was supposed to go to the cinema yesterday and didn't go, today we were planning to go to a festival and for a serie of reasons we arrived quite late to the venue, just to realize that the average age of the people there was maybe 14 year old!! Never seen so many pimpled faces and "moped mustasch "( as we say here in Sweden) all at once! Or at least since I was that age myself.
Major turn off. I said to my husband " I don't think we can quite fit here...let's go home". So we went back.
We decided to instead watch a film that we planned to watch for like a week, but he fell asleep while waiting for these announced shooting stars to appear in the sky at 11 pm. From here, north of Sweden, we saw nothing at all. Did you see any shooting stars?
I feel a bit ditched actually. I must go to the cinema tomorrow, I must do something before I go crazy!
I wouldn't handle another week of work without having any fun at all, not fair!
Well at least I have relaxed, put it this way.
I don't even wanna think about the awesome two days festival in Sundsvall this weekend, which we missed. Marduk was playing and Udo, which I both really wanted to see. Never seen Udo live and Marduk it must have been the late 90's last time I saw them live, in Italy actually.
I could have gone to this festival but Amr was working and really I didn't think it would have been fair or good to go without him and also the thought of driving 4 hours on my own didn't appeal to me very much either. Although maybe some friend would have come along. Well,whatever.
To kill the boredom of this evening I took this picture of myself 14 year old style, in the bathroom and at the mirror, with the cam showing! But I think it looks cute.



37 years and still rocking!

On a brighter note, today I noticed that the Nutrilett shakes began to work! I got definitely thinner! Even Amr noticed it...maybe I shouldn't give up then. Although I really felt like eating today so this is the dish of the day...I actually dared to put some carbs in it!

Today's dish

It was totally delicious...consisted of some sallad, a soya burger and a really super tasty rice I made with olive tofu, green onions, white carrot and piri piri (really spicy chilli)...it was yummmmmmmmm!
Tomorrow I crave to burn some calories at the gym or maybe go for a swim! But I am doing good, so I just need to be constant...right on!

Food...yes please!

Finally today I had a decent meal, after 2 days of Nutrilett shakes! I am trying to loose some weight and it isn't a easy thing at all. I must loose at least 4 kgs to be satisfied with the way I look but hey it is tougher than I thought. These shakes I bought they aren't bad but they haven't got the best taste either...this forest fruit one I got tastes a little bit like a chewing gum. Not a fan of these things actually, but I wanted to give it a try.
They fill up your stomach for like 30 minutes and then you have the hungry feeling again but it is like you don't want to eat, you still feel the shake somewhere in there. Weird.
But today when I came home I was so hungry so I cooked myself something light and it turned out to be a really tasty lunch. Supposely not too caloric either, or at least I think so.
I cannot believe how good it felt to finally taste something different than the shake, the pleasure of chewing and of feeling something with different consistence and texture in my mouth! Oh I felt reborn. Maybe that's why I got so happy, because I ate?

Today's meal: fish, sallad, falafel, keso and pesto on toast

After that I went to the gym for some hard training. I was a bit disappointed in myself because, apart from the cardio training which went without problems, the abs and the exercises for the legs were a bit hard to do. I had really low energy!
All in all I feel a lot of peace inside this evening...oh it is such a good feeling...I feel harmonious and peaceful...which doesn't happen that often, so I intend to enjoy every minute of it.
My husband and I are planning to go on a trip maybe during the X-mass holidays...I really would like to either go to Belgium and Holland ( and maybe drive to Paris) or maybe London. I wanna have a nice new years eve this year...with good friends, hopefully.
I really pray this becomes true...
now time for a movie! Goodnight babies!

Those cold belgian nights

...and who could ever forget them? I am still in that room, probably one of the coldest and creepiest in the House, sorrounded by posters and figures of Freddie Kruger. I can still smell the special perfume of the House, you know something that with its atoms is like the breathing essence of that very place.
I can still hear my friend doing something in the kitchen, probably preparing some coffee or tea. And me, upstairs, with too little clothes on, shivering but with an immense peace inside me ...and the adrenaline, the excitment for the unknown, for the fantastic and mysterious things that would await me each day.
I remember losing my ride back home on purpose, from that place far away, just to savor one or two extra days in that very House, in that area that for me was a portal onto another world.
I remember asking you to sleep beside me and hold me, I was frightened like a child, not of the House itself, but by the things that were watching me and my every step, by the things that were just waiting for me to get back to normality and live my everyday life, away from that magical world.
There were also a lot of sinister sensations, all around me. If you could have looked inside my heart!
If you only knew how much I wanted to cry that night! But you wouldn't have understood that. Because I was me, I was "her" who always came and left. She who was part of something that your fingers barely could touch, a world that was beside yours, yet not really into yours.
I wish I could go back. You don't know how much I wanna cry. How much I want to say I am sorry.
I was so young, arrogant and confused. You deserved so much better. So much more gratitude that even if I would speak to you now I wouldn't know how to express. But my heart knows it.
It's like a burden I have inside. I must get back there. I have to. I just hope that door will open for me again.
You won't read this, maybe someone else will and will tell you, I am just so sorry, so sorry.
If you only knew.

that period

Metal on Metal!

Happy Shocktober everyone!
The first night of Shocktober instead of watching horror movies I went out and saw a horrorish Misfits cover band! Yay! Godless Glenn they were called. Really good party band! Everyone was in a top mood, jumping around and stuff! The singer had a great voice I must say!

Godless Glenn

Even though yesterday I was depressed all day, it was really good that I decided to go out because it turned out to be a great night! I had a real blast! I can honestly say it was one of the best nights out of this year.
I met a lot of friends, I cannot believe how many people I actually know in the Umeå metal scene, every two meters I was seeing someone I know, which was cool. I also cannot believe how many known musicians live in Umeå ( including myself LOL!).
The highlight of the evening was meeting Marcus E. Norman of Ancient Wisdom/Naglfar/Bewitched !
He was a really nice and easy going person and by talking to him I realized we had quite a few things in common. For instance the fact that Ancient Wisdom in the very beginning  were also called Ancient, like my old band, in fact I remember Aphazel telling me in the 90's that there was another band with the same name, but since we had the copyright on the name, they had to changed it, so that is why they became Ancient Wisdom. Another thing in common is that his cousin is a collegue of mine! Or better, she works at a school where I also work at! She is a cool girl! That was awesome!
Here is a picture of me and Marcus from last night

Ancient Wisdom meets Ancient!

Talking of Ancient, I got a mail today saying that at my bassist's place in Italy there is a box with about 60-70 tapes that belong to me! I got really excited to hear that! Funny to think I actually grew up in a era when the cd was not even invented and we used to listen to vynils and music cassettes! I was very much into tape trading back in the days, I have lots of rare pearls and even demos in that collection!
Next time I am in Italy I am gonna get that box back and cannot wait to go through it.
Talking about other metal musicians from Umeå, I must say that last night at the Metal on Metal night there were plenty of them! The guys of Zonaria, Plector, Moloken, The Whyrus, Raging Steel, Scumkill, Nocturnal Rites etc...I cannot believe how many fantastic bands we have in Umeå!

Here is another picture we took with Fredde and  Chris of Nocturnal Rites, for some reason we always meet them together!

Amr, Fredrik and his girl, Chris and I

I must say that this picture doesn't give me or Chris any justice, we are way hotter in real life! LOL!
A photographer actually took some photos last night of me and Erik of Plector, here is one I just found online!

Erik and I last night

Oh and before I go, about my hair, the experiment of yesterday went kinda weird I must say! I bleached my hair again for the second time in two days, because I wasn't satisfied with the outcome and wanted to fix the shade which from copper became sort of blondish. Then again the result was not very good, I guess my hair is way too dark (because of all the black hairdyes) and cannot be lightened easily, or at least with the wanted result. So I bought another hairdye, a brown one, and mixed it over the highlights. I must say that now my hair looks much better! I am really satisfied, it looks like more or less my natural haircolour in the summer, when the sun gives me some natural goldish reflections. Here is a picture I took last night before going out. Too bad it is a bit yellow, because I took it with the webcam and the light was not the best, but it gives the idea.

My hair make over...what do you think?

Anyway that is all for now! Hope you all have a good sunday! Cheers!

A day for myself

I am unusually in a good mood!
One of those weird days to mark red on the calender! I guess it is a backlash of the gloom I was in yesterday. Had a bad night, couldn't really sleep, was very agitated, woke up in the worst mood ever and denied myself food until like 11 PM. For like no reason. I wasn't fasting or anything, I just was in a dead mood, didn't wanna do anything with myself. Ask me how much I hated that from one to a million?
A million!
Today I woke up with an unusual happy feeling. I am having my second breakfast, ok it is 3 Pm, but whatever, times doesn't matter to me unless I have to work, which luckily today I don't.
Chatted briefly with a friend, which made me really happy and now I am sitting typing this with some bleach in my hair, I wonder what kind of outcome this experiment will have! I don't really care.
I then will take a good shower and go out to breathe some fresh air and then head to the gym.
It's amazing how my body quickly reacts to movement. I only trained a few times this month, after the long summer break and yeah I must say I saw already some great results!
I rediscovered the pleasure of swimming again, in fact I may go for a nice swim after the gym, since the pool is in the same building...then a nice jacuzzi and sauna, why not! Total spa treatment for me today!
It can do me so good. That's what I need.
I have no idea what I will do this weekend, not sure if there is anything cool happenning in Umeå.
What I know is that in november we are heading to Stockholm for a weekend and be at the final gig of the tour of Pain! I cannot wait for that! I miss hanging out in the city. I know that Amr will fall in love istantely with that city, because it is so lively and beautiful and I will probably have to drag him back to Umeå with a vengeance! LOL. I wouldn't mind living in Stockholm, but we cannot really afford the city life there I have never been a city girl, more of a town girl, I like to live in communities where you know like more or less everyone in the scene and you know where to go and where to get your things done.
But oh well. Let's see where life takes us. I was looking at some pictures of Ghent in Belgium yesterday and man I was blown away by its beauty! It is marvellous! Such great buildings and great atmosphere! I miss visiting Belgium, although I feel there is a very negative aurea in that area that can drive people mad. Some serious evil shit going on. But beautiful, oh so beautiful!
Time to wash off the bleach...maybe gonna write more later. Hej då!

So that is how it turned out..streaks

Well the result was not the best one could wish for, but not extremely bad either. You cannot really see from this picture but the hair now got some reddish blondish streaks here and there but the problem is that it is not even...kinda random actually. I feel like buying a light brown hair dye and do a Frankenstein, ya know, fixing here and there. Since I felt extremely trashy after this failed attempt to lighten my hair I decided to go ghetto all the way and take this cool pic! LOL!

Too much freetime! Nah, it's never too much!

Various thoughts before bed

Some days ago I saw a video on youtube where someone was trying to scare people off by saying that this huge meteorite which supposely today was going to pass between the Earth and the Sun, was going to provoke terrible earthquakes all over the globe and that enormous tsunamis would come and make Japan, Australia, Indonesia and Russia disappear under the sea. I don't believe in these things but I must admit this video seriously disturbed me, to the point I almost wanna go find this person and give him a good slap in the face!
They have been trying to terrify us for decades now...aliens stories, global warming, mayan predictions...how many times did they announce the end of the world? Countless times! I wish these fake predictors would shut the hell up. Only God knows when the end of the world will come, no human can read the future or can tell when this day will come! These people really irritate me! Thanks God we are still here and still alive!
Time is a gift and a test, it is limited and we should not waste it, we should just make the best out of the time we have!  I didn't sleep much last night and had a long day and I feel really exausted.
This morning I let some negative feelings enter my heart and got really irritated with a friend for ignoring me.
I was getting so angry because I have so much affection and good feelings inside me that I would like to pour them all out of me and shower the people I love with lots of good things and good vibes and I really find it frustrating when I cannot get to show all the love I have...friendship is a gift that is rare to find...if my friends knew how much I love them they would be amazed! I guess I am too sensitive. People sometimes have other reasons that make them act a certain way and not always they want to share them with others. It would be so selfish of me to expect them to notify me and confide in  me or seek my help if what they need is to be alone.

 Anyway, what I want to say is this...if you are reading this and still feel bad remember that you shouldn't let anyone affect your mood and ruin your day. We cannot know what goes on in other people's heart or mind, or about everything that they have to go through. If someone hurts you and makes you feel bad just remember that I am here for you and I will always be. No matter if we keep in touch or not. I am there whenever you need, because that is what friends are for. And remember this, for each person that hurts you there are maybe dozens out there or more who love you. So don't let anyone make you feel miserable, because indeed around you there are people who love you to death the way you are and they wouldn't change you for anyone else. Me being one of them. I love all my friends. So if you feel down, think of me, maybe it will make you feel better.
Goodnight...and good vibes and hopes for what tomorrow will bring.

Sunday's late breakfast and various thoughts

Man it is like 5 Pm and I am having coffee..it feels like I just woke up, or better I still didn't wake up properly although I have been up for a few hours. I don't understand why I feel so tired?
I am gonna fight this with a good work out at the gym, as soon as I finish this coffee.

Last night we went to Verket, the local punk venue and we saw two bands live, My Last Escape and Scumkill. It was cool, although of course after Pain, it is hard to find a band that can keep up with that level. Depending on musical tastes of course. I must say that at the moment Pain and Triptykon are my favorite bands, along with my old time favourite Satyricon.

Last night on the way out...cold so I had to put on my leather jacket!

Anyway, last night turns out that the guys in My Last Escape were shooting a video! And guess what, behind the camera there was Tonie, our friend and director of the film  we shot this summer "Alone".

I was there banging my head like crazy in the front row, so I guess you will be seeing me in the video!

I will definitely post it up once it is finished.

Tonie and I at Verket

Scumkill was really heavy. I really liked the bassist, who is actually a female, she had the attitude, the skills and the looks...nice! It made me feel like grabbing a bass and start grooving. Many of you may not know that when I was younger I was actually learning to play bass a little, had an acoustic bass which I borrowed from someone and stayed at my place for like 10 years or so. When I was in Egypt I was also training a bit with Amr. Bass is cool, but not as cool as guitar...wish I could play guitar so much. My dad is actually a decent guitarist, he was even in a band when he was young. The band was called Cherokee. But they never released anything .
I have been singing quite a bit these days as well, preparing my voice for a new Dreamlike Horror recording.
I have been so lazy with music, I hate when that happens. I guess it is just life sucking me in a sea of other things to take care of...but when you are a musician and you want that real bad, music has got to be the number one thing in your life and the only priority. I feel a bit embarassed that I put that huge part of me aside all these years. Amr is always on my ass because of that. The man's got a point.
I am quite happy because just a few days ago I found two old friends again on Fb, we haven't talk for like 10 years and we are so happy to be in touch again. I cannot wait to have a nice conversation with them to catch up with all these things that we have been doing all this time. This is the proof that when you really click with someone it doesn't matter how many years you stay without each other, life will bring them back into your life and affection is always there, no matter how many years of silence there were in between. I know you two will read this, probably, you know who you are...big hugs...and talk soon yeah!

A night with Pain and Raubtier in Umeå!

Man, september what a month!
All kinds of stuff happenned. Bought two cars, sold one, rented out one of our rooms, went to the police to report someone who tried to screw me over...and the month is still not over!
I will skip all the bullshit and come straight to the highlight of this month: last monday night! What a pearl!
Went straight from work to the Pain/Raubtier concert at folketshus, changed in a hurry in the office's bathroom, ran to the venue under the rain without an umbrella...and when I went in I looked like I had just taken a shower with my clothes on!! Even my make up was half gone and had no time to fix it, but I still looked alright despite all that!
Unfortunately I missed Raubtier but I came early enough to be able to catch a cool first row spot right in front of Peter, at the centre of the stage!

From left: Simon of Zonaria, Amr and I during the concert

the amazing Peter Tägtgren

Lots of people I knew were there, the atmosphere was just pure magic, the concert was awesome!! I couldn't get enough, I wish they had played one more hour! Anyway after the show we got lucky enough to enter the backstage, together with our friends in Zonaria...and it was awesome! We met Peter and the other guys and witnessed some crazy shit in the backstage LOL!! We had a blast! Peter actually signed Amr's BC Rich Wartribe, I guess that made the guitar become kind of sacred now!




David and Johan of Pain and Emil of Zonaria



Peter and I

funtimes in the backstage

Pär, Peter and Amr

We also met Pär, the singer of Raubtier, who was really nice and when he heard I was italian he played me and sang me an italian song on a piano which was in the backstage! I really had a awesome time!!

Pär playing a song

We were lucky enough to come home with three PAIN guitar picks...Amr and I must be really skilled at pick catching, we developped this skill and now after every gig we manage to go home with at least one pick! We have quite a remarkable collection I must say, I am considering buying a safe for that! No kidding!
Here is a photo:

Hopefully when the guys come back to Stockholm in november, after the whole european soon, we are gonna go and see them again. I really hope so!

Sunset park 2011

Wow, first blog I wrote in august!
Ramadan is almost over, one more day of fasting left and then finally Eid! It went really well alhamdulillah, the best thing with the end of Ramadan is that I will be able to have breakfast again in the morning! It will feel absolutely amazing to be able to eat my cornflakes or cereals and drink my lovely cup of coffee! Coffee is absolutely what I miss the most, the kick that gives me in the morning to start the day!
It will be perfect now that I started to work again.
Anyway last night we went to Sunset Park festival and I must say I had a great time. Met lots of friends, some people that I didnt see for a long time and saw some cool shows...dancing, music, fashion show, art gallery, fire show...it was just great! The guys of the organization did a fantastic job...I enjoyed last year Sunset Park too, but for some reason I liked this year edition even more.
The only weird thing is that the legendary band Das Ich, which was supposed to play at the festival never showed up, without a notice, which was a disappointment. They left Germany the day before in the morning and then they disappeared!
The organizers didn't manage to get in touch with them anymore, they contacted the police, the band's record label and the german embassy to find out any news about the band and no one seems to know anything.
This is really strange...a professional band like Das Ich, wouldn't cancel a gig at a festival at the last second without even contacting the organizers...at this point everyone is worried that something may have happenned to the band on their way to Sweden...maybe they got arrested or involved in a accident? I am really curious myself to know what happenned.
I would have totally loved to see them live.
Apart from this, what counts is that I saw Zonaria and let me tell you, they were totally amazing in every way! I really loved the show so much, their presence on stage was excellent and the music just blew me away. I think I got hypnotized during the concert! For real...
I wish they would play more often around here...
I wanted to film the show so much but my camera stopped working...Amr filmed something with his mobile but I don't think it would be very good quality...oh well I guess someone will put some good footage on youtube before we know it. Anyway here is a picture from the show
ZONARIA

That is Emil and Simon. We ended up sleeping at Simon's place, who actually has a truly lovely apartment, really well decorated! Great guy!
We even got his guitar pick, found it after the show. One more for our pick collection!
Well I had a blast, I am so happy to have had a great night after so much negativity in the last two months. I deserved some happiness!
Next show will be on wednesday, Plector and Moloken! I can't wait to see Plector because I never seen them live before and of course I cannot wait to see Moloken again! I will probably write a blog after the show with some pictures inshAllah.

The Haunting

Oh my God!
I saw a lovely film the other night from 1963, The Haunting! I loved it!!
It was in black white, no special effects, filmed in a excellent location, it gave me the chills!! The actors were absolutely outstanding!
Here is the trailer:



I got so inspired I am really looking forward to work more with films, I crave to be back on the filmset! I truly have a passion for old films...in the past it was all about the plot, the psyche...they had no special effects so they had to rely on other things, such as finding the perfect location, building what needed to be built, suspence, drama, intrigues...
now film makers are running out of ideas, they keep copying each other or stealing from Asia, where fortunately creativity is always something vivid.
Not to mention all the remakes of old films that Hollywood is doing...nothing ever beats the original, in my modest opinion!
I am so dead tired of 3D films, of all these graphics they have to put everywhere in every flick they make...even music videos...it is all based on computer technology these days and nothing is real anymore.
Well let me tell you, this for me is a major turn off!
I prefer an old movie, in it's brilliant simplicity any day!
If you have the chance to watch THE HAUNTING from 1963 do it, you won't regret it! I would like so much to have it on dvd, I am so going to order it!
I am happy to say that I watched it alone in my living room, in the middle of the night and I actually got afraid a little...and I am not easily impressed...so this means that this film served its purpose! Thumbs up! :)

Call it 6th sense

Call it 6th sense, the 3 rd eye or whatever, as stated in my previous blogs lately I have been suffering of serious mood swings...I noticed that everytime I feel this unexplainable sadness inside, something happens in the world...it is like my body or brain, whatever makes me feel these sensation is like preparing me for some bad news or upcoming tragedies.
It is not the first time this happens to me, but I definitely learned to pay attention to these signals. I knew something would happen...and here you go, what a horrible weekend this was for the world...yesterday the bombing attack in Oslo and the shooting of those poor innocent teenagers and today the death of Amy Winehouse.
The accident in Norway was totally unexpected and that is what shocked me the most. Norway is the most amazing country in the world in my eyes, a true natural paradise and norwegian people are really amazing, so correct in their behaviour, so kind and peaceful. I truly love Norway and I would like to move back there someday. Just yesterday I was sending emails about a course to become an official tourguide. I really hope I get accepted to this course, it would be awesome to work in Bergen next summer and eventually that being the first step to moving back there.
I was also thinking to start studying norwegian online. I understand it really well already, it is so similar to swedish, I think I can learn it really fast.
As far as Amy Winehouse I felt really sorry for her when I read about her death earlier this evening. It was kind of expected for years now, she abused too much drugs and acohol, it was just a matter of time.
I knew she would die young. I feel so sorry for her, she could have been a great star, enjoy fortune and fame, she had an amazing talent, a true natural gift from God and she threw it all away making some really bad choices in life.
She left us some great songs though. She was unique but now she is gone.
Oh Amy, what have you done?!
She had it all and she burned it.
Enough with sad thoughts. We are having a lovely storm right now as I am writing and I am really enjoying it. In Italy, in my town, it rains a lot, especially during the summer we normally have some heavy rainstorms with thunders and lightnings. Those are my favourite. When I heard a few thunders roar I just got so happy! It's like the rain is coming to wash all this sadness away, all these bad things, like a blessing from the sky.
It feels like all the tension inside me is like gone.
Earlier today though it was really hot, hot for Sweden I mean.
I was even sweating. We had 25 degrees so we went to the beach.

I turned a bit pink, but I don't think I am going to be able to get any tan, this sun is too weak for my skin, doesn't do much.
Anyway I managed to bathe. The water was freezing cold. I didn't really swim, but it was so nice to be in the water, apart from the temperature.
Hopefully tomorrow we will go to the pool, I am really in a mood for a nice swim!

Holmsund is pretty!

I took a lovely evening walk with my husband today by the sea and we saw a really awesome sunset...the light was of such a strong gold orange shade that it reminded me of some footage of the sun in Africa I saw on Tv...luckily I had the camera in my bag ( I often carry it with me when I go out) ...of course here it can never be as hot as Africa but I swear it was so lovely. I felt enchanted...here are some pictures...

and here is a picture of me in the red sunset light

Holmsund is really pretty, all sorrounded by sea and forests, it is really charming ! I love to live here! The only thing that spoils it, it is the fact that there are a few factories, but otherwise it's really lovely in the summer...there are many nice walks for jogging, hiking etc...I keep discovering new places all the time. Which is good!
Here is a street...

The "summer" continues

Actually it feels like summer never came...unless I bathe and get some kind of tan, I cannot really call it summer.
It's been cloudy most days, slightly raining nearly everyday and honestly there were only 3 days in which temperatures were around 30 degrees, for the rest we are lucky if we even reach 20. Anyways the other day with 19 degrees we made this desperate attempt to go to the beach here in Holmsund...result: no bathing and after not even one hour we went back home...it was too cold, had goosebumps!

I must say that July hasn't been as cool as june...I was hoping for more summerish fun, maybe a little trip or something but noooo...nothing but mood swings...I have been mostly sad and crying a little bit almost everyday for some reason...either because of the difficulties we sometimes have to go through, like for instance the car broke down and after that my laptop also broke down (and it is not only extremely irritating...think about all the files I have on there!)...finances are getting drained in stupid things like this it really bothers me. Not to mention the fact that I was working full on on my book and on my new Dreamlike Horror record...
now to do anything I have to borrow Amr's computer, which by the way, doesn't have the swedish fonts I need and some of the files I need...
at least if the weather was better or if I had the chance to go on vacation I would feel much better...
I cannot really make my mind up on where I want to live...Amr doesn't seem to like it much up here in Sweden, or at least here in the northern part...he is used to Cairo, a metropolis!
I think one of the best places to live for us would maybe be London or New York City...but the problem is always the visa and all that immigration paperwork...we will see...I will work some more months, until december at least and then we see where life takes us.
Anyway it seems I only complain but I must say that I also had fun with lots of parties and concerts...it is not like I sit home depressed all the time :)
We went to see The Whyrus the other night, Tonie's band, our friend and director, it was really cool. They rocked!
Here is a pic:

It was a cool gig in the park, there were many people I knew, some good friends, it was so nice. Just something I hated happenned, I was looking forward to hanging out with a new friend but for some reason I got totally shy and felt so blocked I couldn't even talk. I don't know why! Sometimes I just freeze. I hated it.
To change the topic, today they shot some more scenes for the movie, in fact Amr has not even come back from the set yet, but he called me and said they shot something really cool today. Nice. Soon they will also make a trailer...I can't wait to see it. I really miss acting and I hope I can get more work as actress in some professional film in the future.
It's a true passion.
What else...oh yeah I made a Dreamlike Horror page on facebook today...

http://www.facebook.com/dreamlikehorror

I think it's a good idea to make this page evolve and get spread around, because I am working on the new album, so people get prepared for it...
this new album is going to be much more mature...I just wish I had better equipment at home to work with...but for now it will do.
Cheers!