I recently found a personaliy type test(swedish) online that was quite spot on. I got ENTP and one part really made me think "hey, it's me they're writing about here
"Following through on the implementation of an idea is usually a chore to the ENTP. For some ENTPs, this results in the habit of never finishing what they start. The ENTP who has not developed their Thinking process will have problems with jumping enthusiastically from idea to idea, without following through on their plans."
I usually have like 3-4 new cool projects i almost can't wait to get started on so when I've done, at most, a proof-of-concept or something like it I move on to the next one.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Screw fate
My previous motto in life has been "You should feel that you'r alive" but that's kind of defeatist, don't know if that's a word, if it isn't it should be. It is a good motto when the world seem to have decided to make your life a bit more hellish than for the rest, a roll-with-the-punches-motto. However these last months I've been feeling really good and I think it might be time to change it to something better, more positive. A while ago I spoke to Anders on a bus and he said something that has stuck with me ever since, "Don't live with broken windows". It's more of a fixer motto that seems more suitable to the "new" me so I'm now officially changing :)
That doesn't have that much to do with fate, a little but not the main reason i chose that title for this post. I've had a falling out with a previously very good friend of mine, sad but I felt like "if he/she doesn't want to spend time with me, it's his/hers loss" and spent my time with other people. It kept hanging around at the back of my head even though I tried getting rid of it so in the new "dutt the fixer"-style I decided to do something about it instead of just feeling sad about loosing a friend. It was a real eye opener to see it from the other persons side, after we had talked about it for a quite a while it turned out to be quite different reasons than I imaged was the cause of the split. When the talk was coming to and end it felt good and I hope we can pick it up again, he/she is a cool person I really enjoyed hanging out with before we had our falling out. I felt that justified the chosen title :)
That's leading me to another point, my stuttering has shaped me (...of course it has, we are formed by our experiences) but It's only this last year or so I've begun to realise another part of how it makes me different from other people. When you have been scared half to death to speak at all for most of your life it simply can't get that much worse so I don't feel particularly worried about talking about tough things like breaking up with somebody or confronting a person about what they actually feel and think about a subject that is very personal to both me and them. This doesn't apply to other persons, I'm still trying to build a kind of mental model how other people view talking about these subjects because it's alot different from my own, I can't guess their reaction based on what I think would be my own which makes it harder. Another thing I've come to realise is that I don't know squat about myself and how I really react when it comes down to it. I've stopped guessing how I'm going to react in hard situations because so far most of my guesses about my own behaviour have been wrong anyway.
That doesn't have that much to do with fate, a little but not the main reason i chose that title for this post. I've had a falling out with a previously very good friend of mine, sad but I felt like "if he/she doesn't want to spend time with me, it's his/hers loss" and spent my time with other people. It kept hanging around at the back of my head even though I tried getting rid of it so in the new "dutt the fixer"-style I decided to do something about it instead of just feeling sad about loosing a friend. It was a real eye opener to see it from the other persons side, after we had talked about it for a quite a while it turned out to be quite different reasons than I imaged was the cause of the split. When the talk was coming to and end it felt good and I hope we can pick it up again, he/she is a cool person I really enjoyed hanging out with before we had our falling out. I felt that justified the chosen title :)
That's leading me to another point, my stuttering has shaped me (...of course it has, we are formed by our experiences) but It's only this last year or so I've begun to realise another part of how it makes me different from other people. When you have been scared half to death to speak at all for most of your life it simply can't get that much worse so I don't feel particularly worried about talking about tough things like breaking up with somebody or confronting a person about what they actually feel and think about a subject that is very personal to both me and them. This doesn't apply to other persons, I'm still trying to build a kind of mental model how other people view talking about these subjects because it's alot different from my own, I can't guess their reaction based on what I think would be my own which makes it harder. Another thing I've come to realise is that I don't know squat about myself and how I really react when it comes down to it. I've stopped guessing how I'm going to react in hard situations because so far most of my guesses about my own behaviour have been wrong anyway.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Jogging
These last few weeks I've begun jogging 5km almost everyday and it's incredibly relaxing for the mind, it's a form of meditation that suits me. Occupying the body with some repetetive task so the mind is free to wander. Yesterday I had to catch up on flexitime, I overslept on wednesday so I lost 3 hours, which meant I ended up working 12 hours straight. After that my brain felt kind of like something run over by a bulldozer but when I had finished my 5km it was almost back to normal again, I felt quite good.
I feel I'm getting the hang of this climbing thing, my fingers doesn't get tired after five minutes anymore, now I can climb up and down a few times, getting the hang of the basic technique. Still loads of fun :)
Later this summer/autumn I think i'm going to take up real yoga, went a few times before but had to stop because of lack of time, but now I've got some time again so I think i'll take it up, it's incredibly relaxing, they used to have it on saturdays 11-12 and I don't think I know a better way to start a weekend.
I feel I'm getting the hang of this climbing thing, my fingers doesn't get tired after five minutes anymore, now I can climb up and down a few times, getting the hang of the basic technique. Still loads of fun :)
Later this summer/autumn I think i'm going to take up real yoga, went a few times before but had to stop because of lack of time, but now I've got some time again so I think i'll take it up, it's incredibly relaxing, they used to have it on saturdays 11-12 and I don't think I know a better way to start a weekend.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tunisia
Day 1 - Arrival at Monastir
My flight got in at around 0200, through passport control at around 0300(they're not incredibly efficient down there). Had to fill out a form with lots of different details, felt kinda weird but nothing very special.
After I'd found an ATM and caught a cab to my hotel I crashed in the, kinda weird smelling, bed, I was glad i actually booked the first night before, looking for a hotel at 4 in the morning wouldn't have been fun. I paid the cab 40 dinar(one dinar,1 TD, is about 6 SEK) for a ride that in daylight i could have walked in about...oh, 3 minutes or so. good start.
Day 2 - To Sousse and onwards to Douz
After about four hours of sleep i wasn't exactly runnig out of bed, but hey. You can sleep at home, at this being the first day of my trip I was quite excited so it wasn't very difficult :)
I thought about taking a swim but the water turned out to be quite cold and the weather was cloudy so I skipped it and took the train to Sousse. When I read "Sousse.SUD" on the sign I got off the train...in the middle of nowhere, turned out to be a suburb-station. But I met some nice old men that tought be some basic arabic :)
At this point I hadn't really decided on how my trip would go but when I got to Sousse i caught a taxi to the bus station to see when the busses left, which was really lucky since the bus to Douz only left 2 times a day and it was supposed to leave, a very different time than when it actually leaves in tunisia, was just 5 minutes later. So I decided to start in the south.
The cab ride to the bus stop was a quite interesting experience. If you have ever ridden a cab in Thailand or a similar blood-curling, life-flashes-before-your-eyes ride you know the kind I'm talking about. Once when our lane was blocked he simply crossed over into the opposite lane and I think we were like 2m from the car going in the other direction when he had got past the queue and got back into the right lane. A...memorable...experience.
It was quite noticable that most turists that come to Tunisia do not take the bus, it was just me and alot of Tunisians. A little girl in the seat in front of my stared wide-eyed at me for quite a while until her mother probably told her to stop bother the weird white guy ;)
At one of the stops during the 7 hour bus ride to Douz I decided to try their Mint-tea they serve almost everywhere. It was very good, one of the best i had during the entire journey. Not like any other tea i've tried anywhere else in the world. It was murkier with a much smoother taste, and always served in very small glasses which if you wanted to you could probably gulp down the entire serving in one or two mouthfulls, but that didn't really matter, when they cost 300m (about 2 SEK) they can be small as long as they taste great :)
They journey south continued in a not very timely fashion with stops for tea and a smoke for the rest, almost everybody in Tunisia smokes, very annoying.
Once I arrived in Douz I walked about for a bit until I found a place to grab something to eat. While I sat there eating my first, of later to be a large number, harissa, a guy walked up and said I should take a look at his hotel, I took a look at what The Book (my lonely planet-guide, wouldn't have gotten 5 meters without it...) said and since the hotel sounded alright I walked with the owner once i had finished my dinner. Now, for those of you who has never tried harissa. It's chili, ground down and mixed with oil and some other things to make a paste that can start a minor firestorm in anybodys mouth. I'm not weak when it comes to hot food but a few times I got a little much and..well, i started sweating a bit, more :) Back to why I started the rant about the hotel, the room looked alright so I took it and after a short while the owner came back and asked if I wanted to take a trip into the desert. Since seeing the desert was kinda the reason I got over there in the first place I wasn't too hard to convince.
After that I went to a local café, ordered a glass of tea and settled down to watch a football game from the european championship. Since I got on the bus in Sousse I have yet to see another westerner, a quite nice feeling but at the sime time a bit weird.
Day 3 - Shopping in Douz and Ksar-Ghalein
The car to didn't leave until noon so I had some time to walk around and see at least a bit of Douz. I went to the market (souq) and bought a few things. After my first round of haggling I walked away a turban richer and 5 TD poorer, haggled the price down from 12 to 5 TD which was fun :) Also bought some spices, 100g of saffron costs about 18SEK down here although then you just get the leaves raw dried leaves. One of the shop owners told me about a swedish Marie/Maria that apparently arranges trips into the desert. Shame I didn't have time to find her, might have been able to arrange a better trip.
Then it was time for the trip out to Ksar-Ghalein, an oasis about 150km south of Douz, so it's on the edge of the real desert, dunes as far as the eye can see and the whole deal. My guide was a tunisian that hardly spoke any english so we had some trouble keeping the conversation alive. The hotel could have got me an english-speaking guide...
On the way out to Ksar-Ghalein we saw a nice sign, "Danger: Dromedaries crossing" :) (Once I find my camera again i'll put up a picture). And the Tarzan-café. In the middle of nowhere there was a café consisting of two simple single-room circular houses. The guy living there probably got quite lonely, but he apparently had an internet connection ;)
Conversation was a general problem in Tunisia, generally I had to rely on the five english words they knew, the five french words i know, the ten german words we both knew and general sounds and body language. Didn't really bother me at first but it got old quite fast. My next country will be one where the population speaks english, i think one would get alot more out of Tunisia if you speak french.
Once I get arrived at the oasis I walked out in the desert for a while and got completely sandblasted. After a while I gave up and walked back to the tent to get my turban, it's worth its (very light) weight in gold when you'r walking about in a mild sandstorm. After about half an hour of getting less sandblasted it was time to ride dromedary which was an interesting experience. When they rise up from lying down the begin with the hind legs so you sit slanting forward at a quite steep angle until they decide it's time to get level again.
At the break during the ride the berber-guide leading us out into the desert walked to a dune that look like 300 other dunes within sight, but when he had dug in only a decimeter the sand was all wet. Impressive.
After the ride we stood and watched the sun set, it's an incredibly beautiful view. One feels incredibly...temporary. The desert is probably one of the few places mankind would have to try to screw up.
Day 4 - Berbers and Matmata
After waking up covered in a fine layer of sand and the usual worthless breakfast we left for Matmata. On the way there we stopped in Tamizret, a berber village up in the mountains of south-east Tunisia. The berbers lived kind of like Luke's father in the first Star Wars, houses holed out into the hills themselves.
Out here in the nowhere of nowhere hardly anybody means even fewer people speak any english at all. Once I had managed to get a room without speaking any of the language i bought my souvernier from this trip. A little bottle of sand with different colours shaped like a camel, for only 6SEK it was quite good value :)
Later at the hotel I met an american and we started talking, it felt great to actually talk to somebody again. "conversation! wohoo!". He had also been travelling around alone for a while and felt the same so it wasn't really any long silences :)
Day 5 - Sfax
After a morning of talking to the american it was time to leave for Gabés and then Sfax. The bus was supposed to leave at 1400 so I walked up to the stop around 1330...and saw the bus leave. The busses here didn't really seem to run on any real schedule. The driver left when he got bored, which could be an hour early or an hour late. When you wait for the bus, after five they can say "5 minutes". Five minutes later it's "oh, it's here in half an hour", "It's probably here in an hour or so". It get's you relaxed but I have no idea how people there keep schedules.
I took a shared cab, a "louage", to Gabés and then the train to Sfax. I hadn't really decided where to go next when I got on the train but when the it arrived the plan was set. Sfax, Tunis, Kairouan and then directly the airport and home.
After arriving in Sfax and finding a hotel I walked about the medina(market) for a while and then sat in a café to grab a glass of tea, it was quite good and then a local boy that looked about 14-ish waved me over and asked if I wanted to share his waterpipe, sheesha. The usual language complications was present but after a while he started talking about sex...but later he started talking about sex, so I left but he followed and asked me for money. After alot of questions and denials later I figured he thought he had sold himself to me when I left. I got quite shocked and walked away, he started bothering me when he figured out I wasn't interested but after completely ignoring him for a while he gave up. A quite shocking experience, he looked normal, if he had walked around in rags it would have been less of a shock. That took quite a while to shake off but I managed and walked away to get dinner.
After having a good pizza I found a café and saw the game Sweden - Greece at a bar. I was probably the only guy watching the game, the rest was busy drinking the local beer, and alot of it. The bar had a guy that seemed to have replacing empty bottles with full and keeping tabs as his sole job, was probably a big money maker since the customers didn't have to get up from their tables to keep drinking.
Day 6 - Tunis
After hardly sleeping at all I got up and walked to the train station and got to Tunis. The environment clearly changed when I got further north, aloot greener. There was actually quite alot of plants beside the tracks, got a bit shocked after almost seeing none in the south. After finding a hotel it was shopping time. I have been looking for a good chess game and found one made out of olive wood. After haggling the price down from 52 to 30 I bought it. I also got a new pair of sunglasses, he started at 45 so I said 5, we ended at 10 so I was quite pleased, haggling was fun :) Something less fun was a technique some of the sellers used. They put their hand out as if to greet you, but doesn't let go if you don't get into their shop. Which I didn't out of general principle.
Alot of eye shopping later I found this really nice café deep into the medina that had one of the best teas i drank during the entire journey.
More window-shopping later I walked around town for a bit, grabbed dinner and then found a really great café with I spent the rest of the evening reading and people watching.
Day 7 - Kairouan
After alot of walking around being confused I found the bus to Kairouan, leaving 1½ hour later than specified, a classic case of the phenomena I quite quickly named "tunisian time".
The plan was to walk around Kairouan, see the mosque and the town. But that didn't work out, at all. When I got to Kairouan I first met a couple that when I asked for the way to the medina they offered to show the way, nice. Turned out to work at a hotel, so I thought they would expect me to live at their hotel later, and then they dragged me into some kind of stuffy hotel that had higher entrance fee than some of the hotels I stayed at. Later they thought we should get a cab to the next place but I didn't really think comfortable with them any more so I said I didn't have any money for the cab and then they quickly lost all interest.
The next guy I asked to point the way also offered to show the way, now I had the general direction we should be walking in and when he turned into an empty side street I didn't want to follow and said thanks and goodbye, then he tried to kiss me after licking my shin. I had some trouble not punching him.
Third guy later actually showed me the right way but then came the empty alley and at this point I didn't trust anybody. Well, I didn't trust anybody from the start but now I was quite unfriendly in general to people. He tried something about "No mafia here", riiiight.
When I arrived at the medina at around 15 I found out the mosque closed at 14 and the medina at 16, at this point I was mostly pissed at the place in general so i grabbed lunch and then started walking toward the bus stop to get away. On the way there two other guys started walking with me, they spoke incredibly good english for tunisians, which is to say a bit below average. But after a while came "We're all brothers and sisters, I help you you help me." and similar things. After that it was mostly a question of time and later the very expected "we have a problem, we have no money"...being a cash cow for people gets old really fast.
So I went back to Sousse, had dinner and then on to Monastir and a hotel close to the airport.
My flight got in at around 0200, through passport control at around 0300(they're not incredibly efficient down there). Had to fill out a form with lots of different details, felt kinda weird but nothing very special.
After I'd found an ATM and caught a cab to my hotel I crashed in the, kinda weird smelling, bed, I was glad i actually booked the first night before, looking for a hotel at 4 in the morning wouldn't have been fun. I paid the cab 40 dinar(one dinar,1 TD, is about 6 SEK) for a ride that in daylight i could have walked in about...oh, 3 minutes or so. good start.
Day 2 - To Sousse and onwards to Douz
After about four hours of sleep i wasn't exactly runnig out of bed, but hey. You can sleep at home, at this being the first day of my trip I was quite excited so it wasn't very difficult :)
I thought about taking a swim but the water turned out to be quite cold and the weather was cloudy so I skipped it and took the train to Sousse. When I read "Sousse.SUD" on the sign I got off the train...in the middle of nowhere, turned out to be a suburb-station. But I met some nice old men that tought be some basic arabic :)
At this point I hadn't really decided on how my trip would go but when I got to Sousse i caught a taxi to the bus station to see when the busses left, which was really lucky since the bus to Douz only left 2 times a day and it was supposed to leave, a very different time than when it actually leaves in tunisia, was just 5 minutes later. So I decided to start in the south.
The cab ride to the bus stop was a quite interesting experience. If you have ever ridden a cab in Thailand or a similar blood-curling, life-flashes-before-your-eyes ride you know the kind I'm talking about. Once when our lane was blocked he simply crossed over into the opposite lane and I think we were like 2m from the car going in the other direction when he had got past the queue and got back into the right lane. A...memorable...experience.
It was quite noticable that most turists that come to Tunisia do not take the bus, it was just me and alot of Tunisians. A little girl in the seat in front of my stared wide-eyed at me for quite a while until her mother probably told her to stop bother the weird white guy ;)
At one of the stops during the 7 hour bus ride to Douz I decided to try their Mint-tea they serve almost everywhere. It was very good, one of the best i had during the entire journey. Not like any other tea i've tried anywhere else in the world. It was murkier with a much smoother taste, and always served in very small glasses which if you wanted to you could probably gulp down the entire serving in one or two mouthfulls, but that didn't really matter, when they cost 300m (about 2 SEK) they can be small as long as they taste great :)
They journey south continued in a not very timely fashion with stops for tea and a smoke for the rest, almost everybody in Tunisia smokes, very annoying.
Once I arrived in Douz I walked about for a bit until I found a place to grab something to eat. While I sat there eating my first, of later to be a large number, harissa, a guy walked up and said I should take a look at his hotel, I took a look at what The Book (my lonely planet-guide, wouldn't have gotten 5 meters without it...) said and since the hotel sounded alright I walked with the owner once i had finished my dinner. Now, for those of you who has never tried harissa. It's chili, ground down and mixed with oil and some other things to make a paste that can start a minor firestorm in anybodys mouth. I'm not weak when it comes to hot food but a few times I got a little much and..well, i started sweating a bit, more :) Back to why I started the rant about the hotel, the room looked alright so I took it and after a short while the owner came back and asked if I wanted to take a trip into the desert. Since seeing the desert was kinda the reason I got over there in the first place I wasn't too hard to convince.
After that I went to a local café, ordered a glass of tea and settled down to watch a football game from the european championship. Since I got on the bus in Sousse I have yet to see another westerner, a quite nice feeling but at the sime time a bit weird.
Day 3 - Shopping in Douz and Ksar-Ghalein
The car to didn't leave until noon so I had some time to walk around and see at least a bit of Douz. I went to the market (souq) and bought a few things. After my first round of haggling I walked away a turban richer and 5 TD poorer, haggled the price down from 12 to 5 TD which was fun :) Also bought some spices, 100g of saffron costs about 18SEK down here although then you just get the leaves raw dried leaves. One of the shop owners told me about a swedish Marie/Maria that apparently arranges trips into the desert. Shame I didn't have time to find her, might have been able to arrange a better trip.
Then it was time for the trip out to Ksar-Ghalein, an oasis about 150km south of Douz, so it's on the edge of the real desert, dunes as far as the eye can see and the whole deal. My guide was a tunisian that hardly spoke any english so we had some trouble keeping the conversation alive. The hotel could have got me an english-speaking guide...
On the way out to Ksar-Ghalein we saw a nice sign, "Danger: Dromedaries crossing" :) (Once I find my camera again i'll put up a picture). And the Tarzan-café. In the middle of nowhere there was a café consisting of two simple single-room circular houses. The guy living there probably got quite lonely, but he apparently had an internet connection ;)
Conversation was a general problem in Tunisia, generally I had to rely on the five english words they knew, the five french words i know, the ten german words we both knew and general sounds and body language. Didn't really bother me at first but it got old quite fast. My next country will be one where the population speaks english, i think one would get alot more out of Tunisia if you speak french.
Once I get arrived at the oasis I walked out in the desert for a while and got completely sandblasted. After a while I gave up and walked back to the tent to get my turban, it's worth its (very light) weight in gold when you'r walking about in a mild sandstorm. After about half an hour of getting less sandblasted it was time to ride dromedary which was an interesting experience. When they rise up from lying down the begin with the hind legs so you sit slanting forward at a quite steep angle until they decide it's time to get level again.
At the break during the ride the berber-guide leading us out into the desert walked to a dune that look like 300 other dunes within sight, but when he had dug in only a decimeter the sand was all wet. Impressive.
After the ride we stood and watched the sun set, it's an incredibly beautiful view. One feels incredibly...temporary. The desert is probably one of the few places mankind would have to try to screw up.
Day 4 - Berbers and Matmata
After waking up covered in a fine layer of sand and the usual worthless breakfast we left for Matmata. On the way there we stopped in Tamizret, a berber village up in the mountains of south-east Tunisia. The berbers lived kind of like Luke's father in the first Star Wars, houses holed out into the hills themselves.
Out here in the nowhere of nowhere hardly anybody means even fewer people speak any english at all. Once I had managed to get a room without speaking any of the language i bought my souvernier from this trip. A little bottle of sand with different colours shaped like a camel, for only 6SEK it was quite good value :)
Later at the hotel I met an american and we started talking, it felt great to actually talk to somebody again. "conversation! wohoo!". He had also been travelling around alone for a while and felt the same so it wasn't really any long silences :)
Day 5 - Sfax
After a morning of talking to the american it was time to leave for Gabés and then Sfax. The bus was supposed to leave at 1400 so I walked up to the stop around 1330...and saw the bus leave. The busses here didn't really seem to run on any real schedule. The driver left when he got bored, which could be an hour early or an hour late. When you wait for the bus, after five they can say "5 minutes". Five minutes later it's "oh, it's here in half an hour", "It's probably here in an hour or so". It get's you relaxed but I have no idea how people there keep schedules.
I took a shared cab, a "louage", to Gabés and then the train to Sfax. I hadn't really decided where to go next when I got on the train but when the it arrived the plan was set. Sfax, Tunis, Kairouan and then directly the airport and home.
After arriving in Sfax and finding a hotel I walked about the medina(market) for a while and then sat in a café to grab a glass of tea, it was quite good and then a local boy that looked about 14-ish waved me over and asked if I wanted to share his waterpipe, sheesha. The usual language complications was present but after a while he started talking about sex...but later he started talking about sex, so I left but he followed and asked me for money. After alot of questions and denials later I figured he thought he had sold himself to me when I left. I got quite shocked and walked away, he started bothering me when he figured out I wasn't interested but after completely ignoring him for a while he gave up. A quite shocking experience, he looked normal, if he had walked around in rags it would have been less of a shock. That took quite a while to shake off but I managed and walked away to get dinner.
After having a good pizza I found a café and saw the game Sweden - Greece at a bar. I was probably the only guy watching the game, the rest was busy drinking the local beer, and alot of it. The bar had a guy that seemed to have replacing empty bottles with full and keeping tabs as his sole job, was probably a big money maker since the customers didn't have to get up from their tables to keep drinking.
Day 6 - Tunis
After hardly sleeping at all I got up and walked to the train station and got to Tunis. The environment clearly changed when I got further north, aloot greener. There was actually quite alot of plants beside the tracks, got a bit shocked after almost seeing none in the south. After finding a hotel it was shopping time. I have been looking for a good chess game and found one made out of olive wood. After haggling the price down from 52 to 30 I bought it. I also got a new pair of sunglasses, he started at 45 so I said 5, we ended at 10 so I was quite pleased, haggling was fun :) Something less fun was a technique some of the sellers used. They put their hand out as if to greet you, but doesn't let go if you don't get into their shop. Which I didn't out of general principle.
Alot of eye shopping later I found this really nice café deep into the medina that had one of the best teas i drank during the entire journey.
More window-shopping later I walked around town for a bit, grabbed dinner and then found a really great café with I spent the rest of the evening reading and people watching.
Day 7 - Kairouan
After alot of walking around being confused I found the bus to Kairouan, leaving 1½ hour later than specified, a classic case of the phenomena I quite quickly named "tunisian time".
The plan was to walk around Kairouan, see the mosque and the town. But that didn't work out, at all. When I got to Kairouan I first met a couple that when I asked for the way to the medina they offered to show the way, nice. Turned out to work at a hotel, so I thought they would expect me to live at their hotel later, and then they dragged me into some kind of stuffy hotel that had higher entrance fee than some of the hotels I stayed at. Later they thought we should get a cab to the next place but I didn't really think comfortable with them any more so I said I didn't have any money for the cab and then they quickly lost all interest.
The next guy I asked to point the way also offered to show the way, now I had the general direction we should be walking in and when he turned into an empty side street I didn't want to follow and said thanks and goodbye, then he tried to kiss me after licking my shin. I had some trouble not punching him.
Third guy later actually showed me the right way but then came the empty alley and at this point I didn't trust anybody. Well, I didn't trust anybody from the start but now I was quite unfriendly in general to people. He tried something about "No mafia here", riiiight.
When I arrived at the medina at around 15 I found out the mosque closed at 14 and the medina at 16, at this point I was mostly pissed at the place in general so i grabbed lunch and then started walking toward the bus stop to get away. On the way there two other guys started walking with me, they spoke incredibly good english for tunisians, which is to say a bit below average. But after a while came "We're all brothers and sisters, I help you you help me." and similar things. After that it was mostly a question of time and later the very expected "we have a problem, we have no money"...being a cash cow for people gets old really fast.
So I went back to Sousse, had dinner and then on to Monastir and a hotel close to the airport.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Packing
Time to plan what to pack in my new shiny backpack
Stuff
Clothes
Things i haven't yet got
Stuff
- Earplugs, in case i have to sleep at loud places
- Sarong, in case i have to sleep at not very clean places, borrow from Anders.
- LED flashlight
- Towel
- Plastic bags, good for either dirty clothes or things i don't want wet/sandy, got it.
- Hostel International card, get from STF for 125:-
- Photo copy of my passport and plane ticket, leave one of each at home too.
- Note with important phone numbers, takes a short while to write each down
- Knife
- VISA card
- first aid kit
- Passport
- Plane ticket
- Travel Guide (Lonely Planet)
- Hygiene-related things
- Toothbrush
- Compeed
- Travel tissue packs
- Wet wipe tissues
- Toothpaste
- Deodorant
- Pincer
- Alvdeon
- Hairwax
- Solid soap
- Sun block
- Sun balm, in case i get burned
- Spork
- Pens & Paper, always good to have
- Neckerchief, this can double as sunprotection for the head. Though i will need to buy sunglasses anyway.
- A good book, will buy this at Pocket shop at either Stockholm Central Station or Arlanda.
Clothes
- 3 shirts
- 3 t-shirts
- Sandals, got it
- 1 warm shirt, the desert gets bloody cold at night
- Bathing shorts, can be used as regular shorts too near the beach but i heard that short pants are unmanly so i should mostly use a pair of long pants.
- A pair of long loose pants
- 3 underpants
- Two pair of socks, shouldn't need more since i plan on spending most of the time in sandals.
Things i haven't yet got
- Note with important numbers
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Tunisia - Preparations pt 1
During the entire spring I've been harassing my friends about taking a trip somewhere, they didn't want to or didnt' have the time/money. I was whining about it to two friends yesterday and they convinced me to go alone, seemed like a pretty good idea, Lately I've been looking around for a new laptop, my current have begun acting up and it's over 2½ years old, which in my 3-year change schedule means it's time to start looking for a new one. But these new SSD discs that have recently begun popping up all over the place, I want one. However I don't want to pay current prices. So I switched a new laptop for a travel to Tunisia. So later yesterday evening I called dad and asked if he could come up with any good reason why I shouldn't go and since he couldn't I bought plane tickets to and from Tunisia. I leave during the evening of June 6 and return late June 13. I'm flying to and from Monastir, a small-ish town near Sousse. Apparently it only takes 20min by cab to Sousse.
Since I only decided yesterday there have been quite a lot to do in preparations. Currently I have bought plane tickets, a backpack good for travelling (50 litres in the big with a attachable smaller 5 litre bag), got my vaccination done and bought a travel guide (Lonely Planet - Tunisia).
Current expenses:
Plane tickets: 2899:-
Vaccines: 600:-
Backpack and lock: 1249:- (this doesn't really count for this trip since I'll be using it for, hopefully, lots of other trips too)
Travel guide: 188:-
Total so far: 4936:- with pack, 3687:- without.
Not too high so far and Tunisia is supposed to be a quite cheap country to live in. Totalling this trip around 10k shouldn't be that hard.
I've begun looking around for what to visit and it seems a southern town, Douz, is quite nice. I really look forward to seeing a desert again. I've seen pictures of what seems to be a very very beautiful mausoleum in Monastir which I look forward to seeing.
Next; what to pack?
Since I only decided yesterday there have been quite a lot to do in preparations. Currently I have bought plane tickets, a backpack good for travelling (50 litres in the big with a attachable smaller 5 litre bag), got my vaccination done and bought a travel guide (Lonely Planet - Tunisia).
Current expenses:
Plane tickets: 2899:-
Vaccines: 600:-
Backpack and lock: 1249:- (this doesn't really count for this trip since I'll be using it for, hopefully, lots of other trips too)
Travel guide: 188:-
Total so far: 4936:- with pack, 3687:- without.
Not too high so far and Tunisia is supposed to be a quite cheap country to live in. Totalling this trip around 10k shouldn't be that hard.
I've begun looking around for what to visit and it seems a southern town, Douz, is quite nice. I really look forward to seeing a desert again. I've seen pictures of what seems to be a very very beautiful mausoleum in Monastir which I look forward to seeing.
Next; what to pack?
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Boiling water, try #14
Some days your brain just isn't up to speed on reality. I put water in the waterboiler to make rice, when it's hot I poured it into the saucepan, only to half-way think that i have to measure it. So i think "I'll just pour it out and measure some of what's left in the boiler"...and begin pouring the water from the saucepan and the boiler. So I pour some new water into the boiler to start over and some rice in the saucepan. Then I somehow forget the water in the boiler and pour some cold water from the pipes into the saucepan with the rice in it. So I decide to skip the whole waterboiler entierly and let the water boil on the stove. Only to five minutes later discover that I turned on the wrong plate...not my brightest moment.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Sketch på nya regler
Midgård
Brädet består av ett antal kvadratiska rutor som slumpas ut i början på samma sätt som i Settlers. Det finns några olika typer av brickor Äng, Skog och Vatten. Förflyttning sker rutvis och en ruta kan bara ägas av en spelare, levande pluppar från två spelare kan inte samsas på en ruta. Vissa rutor innehåller gårdar, i början så väljer varje spelare en gård och sedan är det kamp om de resterande. Jag velar lite över vatten, då är tanken att att man kan förflytta sig Äng<->Skog utan problem, men man behöver stå i en ruta med skog för att kunna förflytta sig ut på vatten, utan trä kan man inte bygga skepp. Det är dock problem med detta då skepp inte var något man byggde i en handvändning direkt så jag funderar på att strunta i terrängtyper helt och hållet.
Varje spelare kontrollerar ett antal pluppar som representerar kämpar, när en enhet dör så förvandlas den till en död plupp för den spelare som ägde enheten när den levde.
En tanke som slog mig nu var att man kan representera terräng och sådant ganska tydligt genom att ha "Ut-pilar" på brickorna. Om det finns en ut-pil åt ett håll så är det fritt fram att förflytta enheterna till nästa bricka, är det två pilar så tar det två rundor(bergig terräng som tar längre tid att ta sig igenom eller något sådant). Simpelt och då spelplanen slumpas ut så borde det innebära lite mer strategi hoppas jag.
Rankingen ("Odins hall"?)
Brädet består av en relativ ranking mellan spelarna och den avgörs av hur många döda pluppar spelaren äger. Desto fler döda pluppar man har desto högre upp i rankingen hamnar man, detta leder förhoppningsvis till att om man har motgångar på ena spelplanen så går man upp i rankingen och har chans att återta lite med sina nyvunna krafter. Vad man ska få för att man ligger högt upp på rankingen är jag osäker över, för nuvarande lutar det åt något sånt här:
1: Har möjlighet att trolla 3 ggr för högst 6 döda pluppar
2: Har möjlighet att trolla 2 ggr för högst 4 döda pluppar
3: Har möjlighet att trolla 1 ggr för högst 2 döda pluppar
4: Får inte trolla alls
Som trollformler tänker jag mig varelser, en ovanligt stor varg(tänk Garm) för 2 pluppar eller något sådant.
Strid
Striden går till ungefär likadant men med tillägget att man bara har 30 sek på sig att göra ett drag, har man inte bestämt sig före tiden har gått ut anses det att man velar och den andra spelaren får göra ännu ett drag. Spelare kommer förhoppningsvis inte vara övernitiska med tidsgränsen, har man börjat flytta en pjäs och tiden går ut så får man göra draget iaf. Striderna i orginalet gick alldeles för långsamt, det var som schack. Skillnaden är att det är okej om ett parti schack tar 1½ timme, Myt innehåller en hel hög med strider och en hel del annat som ska göras också, då måste striderna kortas ner.
Vadslagning i strid introduceras för att ge de två andra spelarna som för närvarande inte slåss något att göra. När striden inleds så kan de bestämma sig för att satsa ett antal pluppar var och om de satsat på vinnaren så får de plupparna den andre satsade. Enbart detta skulle nog antagligen bara leda till att spelare satsar i enbart solklara strider och då vill båda satsa på den starka. Därför tänker jag mig även att man kan hjälpa till, just nu går stridsystemet till ungefär så här. Spelaren Abel har enhet A som står brevid Baal enhet B och A är riktad mot B, då sänks B's hälsa med samma siffra som A's styrka, om B's hälsa blir eller hamnar under 0 så dör B, annars händer ingenting. Detta gör att om A inte kan döda B själv så behöver A hjälp av en annan enhet, A2. Jag tänkte mig dock att Cain och Damien som inte är med i striden själva kan betala pluppar för att sänka hälsopoäng(2 hp per plupp eller något), så att A kan besegra B utan att ta hjälp. Detta tillsammans med vadslagningen gör förhoppningsvis strider lite intressantare för alla.
Tema
Allt det här måste tematiseras ganska grovt, jag har lite idéer. Levande pluppar kan representera kämpar och döda pluppar blir då einherjar(eller hur nu plural av einherjer blir), kämparna som slogs i odens hall. Detta ger dock problemet att det bara var två gudar som hade kämpar, Oden och Freja, vilket lämnar två spelare utan. Just nu så står jag lite handfallen, vet inte riktigt hur jag ska få ihop det.
Trolla fram varelser kan, om man kör på kämpar/einherjer, ses som att det tar ett visst antal einherjer för varelse att anse sig besegrad och spelaren värdig att ge varelsen order i strid.
Jag har funderat en del över spelslutet, just nu massakrerar jag mytologin ganska grovt. Nästan gudar ska dö och bara två människor överleva, men om man väljer gudarna som överlever, t.ex. Odens söner Vidar och Vali samt Tors sönder Magni och Modi. Då skulle iofs man kunna motivera att einherjer följer dem för att de gjort sig förtjänta av det genom att vara bra på kamp, måste undersökas.
Övrigt
Det kommer bli en hel del flyttande av pluppar fram och tillbaks men jag har blivit lite förtjust i mekaniken efter att ha funderat ett tag. Jag oroar mig lite för att Midgård kommer bli översvämmat av pluppar så jag funderar på att dra ner antalet ganska kraftigt, men om man har någolunda stora(några cm per sida) rutor så borde det lösa sig.
Jag har hittat ett verktyg för att skapa digitala versioner av brädspel, jag kommer antagligen att skapa en enklare version av Myt i det här för att enklare kunna ordna testspel.
Brädet består av ett antal kvadratiska rutor som slumpas ut i början på samma sätt som i Settlers. Det finns några olika typer av brickor Äng, Skog och Vatten. Förflyttning sker rutvis och en ruta kan bara ägas av en spelare, levande pluppar från två spelare kan inte samsas på en ruta. Vissa rutor innehåller gårdar, i början så väljer varje spelare en gård och sedan är det kamp om de resterande. Jag velar lite över vatten, då är tanken att att man kan förflytta sig Äng<->Skog utan problem, men man behöver stå i en ruta med skog för att kunna förflytta sig ut på vatten, utan trä kan man inte bygga skepp. Det är dock problem med detta då skepp inte var något man byggde i en handvändning direkt så jag funderar på att strunta i terrängtyper helt och hållet.
Varje spelare kontrollerar ett antal pluppar som representerar kämpar, när en enhet dör så förvandlas den till en död plupp för den spelare som ägde enheten när den levde.
En tanke som slog mig nu var att man kan representera terräng och sådant ganska tydligt genom att ha "Ut-pilar" på brickorna. Om det finns en ut-pil åt ett håll så är det fritt fram att förflytta enheterna till nästa bricka, är det två pilar så tar det två rundor(bergig terräng som tar längre tid att ta sig igenom eller något sådant). Simpelt och då spelplanen slumpas ut så borde det innebära lite mer strategi hoppas jag.
Rankingen ("Odins hall"?)
Brädet består av en relativ ranking mellan spelarna och den avgörs av hur många döda pluppar spelaren äger. Desto fler döda pluppar man har desto högre upp i rankingen hamnar man, detta leder förhoppningsvis till att om man har motgångar på ena spelplanen så går man upp i rankingen och har chans att återta lite med sina nyvunna krafter. Vad man ska få för att man ligger högt upp på rankingen är jag osäker över, för nuvarande lutar det åt något sånt här:
1: Har möjlighet att trolla 3 ggr för högst 6 döda pluppar
2: Har möjlighet att trolla 2 ggr för högst 4 döda pluppar
3: Har möjlighet att trolla 1 ggr för högst 2 döda pluppar
4: Får inte trolla alls
Som trollformler tänker jag mig varelser, en ovanligt stor varg(tänk Garm) för 2 pluppar eller något sådant.
Strid
Striden går till ungefär likadant men med tillägget att man bara har 30 sek på sig att göra ett drag, har man inte bestämt sig före tiden har gått ut anses det att man velar och den andra spelaren får göra ännu ett drag. Spelare kommer förhoppningsvis inte vara övernitiska med tidsgränsen, har man börjat flytta en pjäs och tiden går ut så får man göra draget iaf. Striderna i orginalet gick alldeles för långsamt, det var som schack. Skillnaden är att det är okej om ett parti schack tar 1½ timme, Myt innehåller en hel hög med strider och en hel del annat som ska göras också, då måste striderna kortas ner.
Vadslagning i strid introduceras för att ge de två andra spelarna som för närvarande inte slåss något att göra. När striden inleds så kan de bestämma sig för att satsa ett antal pluppar var och om de satsat på vinnaren så får de plupparna den andre satsade. Enbart detta skulle nog antagligen bara leda till att spelare satsar i enbart solklara strider och då vill båda satsa på den starka. Därför tänker jag mig även att man kan hjälpa till, just nu går stridsystemet till ungefär så här. Spelaren Abel har enhet A som står brevid Baal enhet B och A är riktad mot B, då sänks B's hälsa med samma siffra som A's styrka, om B's hälsa blir eller hamnar under 0 så dör B, annars händer ingenting. Detta gör att om A inte kan döda B själv så behöver A hjälp av en annan enhet, A2. Jag tänkte mig dock att Cain och Damien som inte är med i striden själva kan betala pluppar för att sänka hälsopoäng(2 hp per plupp eller något), så att A kan besegra B utan att ta hjälp. Detta tillsammans med vadslagningen gör förhoppningsvis strider lite intressantare för alla.
Tema
Allt det här måste tematiseras ganska grovt, jag har lite idéer. Levande pluppar kan representera kämpar och döda pluppar blir då einherjar(eller hur nu plural av einherjer blir), kämparna som slogs i odens hall. Detta ger dock problemet att det bara var två gudar som hade kämpar, Oden och Freja, vilket lämnar två spelare utan. Just nu så står jag lite handfallen, vet inte riktigt hur jag ska få ihop det.
Trolla fram varelser kan, om man kör på kämpar/einherjer, ses som att det tar ett visst antal einherjer för varelse att anse sig besegrad och spelaren värdig att ge varelsen order i strid.
Jag har funderat en del över spelslutet, just nu massakrerar jag mytologin ganska grovt. Nästan gudar ska dö och bara två människor överleva, men om man väljer gudarna som överlever, t.ex. Odens söner Vidar och Vali samt Tors sönder Magni och Modi. Då skulle iofs man kunna motivera att einherjer följer dem för att de gjort sig förtjänta av det genom att vara bra på kamp, måste undersökas.
Övrigt
Det kommer bli en hel del flyttande av pluppar fram och tillbaks men jag har blivit lite förtjust i mekaniken efter att ha funderat ett tag. Jag oroar mig lite för att Midgård kommer bli översvämmat av pluppar så jag funderar på att dra ner antalet ganska kraftigt, men om man har någolunda stora(några cm per sida) rutor så borde det lösa sig.
Jag har hittat ett verktyg för att skapa digitala versioner av brädspel, jag kommer antagligen att skapa en enklare version av Myt i det här för att enklare kunna ordna testspel.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Funderingar kring Myt
Jag har under en tid funderat och klurat kring ett brädspel baserat på nordisk mytologi och har efter en del arbete samt hjälp från vänner(hinz skrev om det rejält till mer läsbar form) kommit fram till en version av reglerna som jag ansåg kanske var spelbar(finns här, inledningen skriven av hinz :) ).
Efter lite tjat fick jag med mig Alex, Åsa och Linus på en provomgång och...det visade sig inte vara ens i närheten av spelbart, vi spelade en halvtimme och resten av tiden satt jag och Alex och diskuterade hur man skulle kunna förändra reglerna medan Åsa halvsov och Linus såg förvirrad ut. Jag skrev ner en samling saker som behöver ändras och några förslag på hur man kan ändra dem. De stora problemen som upptäcktes var att saker tog för lång tid. Striderna tog för lång tid, de som inte stred höll på att somna. De två huvudspelplanerna var för lika, blev lite tårta på tårta, och båda tog för lång tid innan något hände, innan själva spelet faktiskt drog igång. Spelet lider även av ett problem som är väldigt vanligt med lite äldre spel, spelarna vars tur det inte är kan knappt göra ett smack.
Under tågfärden hemhem idag så funderade jag en del och kom på några förslag.
Efter lite tjat fick jag med mig Alex, Åsa och Linus på en provomgång och...det visade sig inte vara ens i närheten av spelbart, vi spelade en halvtimme och resten av tiden satt jag och Alex och diskuterade hur man skulle kunna förändra reglerna medan Åsa halvsov och Linus såg förvirrad ut. Jag skrev ner en samling saker som behöver ändras och några förslag på hur man kan ändra dem. De stora problemen som upptäcktes var att saker tog för lång tid. Striderna tog för lång tid, de som inte stred höll på att somna. De två huvudspelplanerna var för lika, blev lite tårta på tårta, och båda tog för lång tid innan något hände, innan själva spelet faktiskt drog igång. Spelet lider även av ett problem som är väldigt vanligt med lite äldre spel, spelarna vars tur det inte är kan knappt göra ett smack.
Under tågfärden hemhem idag så funderade jag en del och kom på några förslag.
- Asgård görs om helt. Det blir istället en relativ ranking mellan de fyra gudarna som avgörs efter hur många pluppar(jobbar på namn :) ). Man får fler pluppar när ens enheter dör(eller något annat bra sätt) och kan spendera dem på att ge sig själv eller någon annan temporär hjälp i strid. Jag velar lite över vad ordningen ska avgöra. Det ska dels ge något bra under själva spelet samt något bra när Ragnarök väl inträffar. Just nu funderar jag på att det ska finnas fyra olika bonusar som gäller hela rundan, så att varje gud alltid får en, och att ordningen man liger i är ordningen man får välja i.
- Midgård görs betydligt enklare geometriskt. Dumpar den fasta spelplanen och gör om det till ett nät av lösa rutor. Vissa rutor innehåller byar, andra skog etc. Gör varje omgång lite intressantare, jag tänkte mig ett rutnät på kanske 12-16 rutor totalt. Vissa rutor hjälper spelaren på vissa sätt, detta borde göra att varje omgång blir ganska annorlunda strategiskt sett. Man kan inte röra sig från alla till alla rutor heller, tror jag. Skog->Vatten går bra för då kan man bygga en båt, Äng->Vatten går inte pga just trädbrist. De mytologiska varelserna som tidigare fanns i Asgård förflyttas till Midgård, jag funderar på om man ska kunna framkalla dem mot pluppar, lite som Magic: The Gathering. Funderar också på om jag ska göra pluppar till en generell grej, i Midgård är pluppar enheter, sedan är de "metafysiska-guda-pluppar"(ja, bättre namn...). När man skickar ut en armé så tar man ett antal pluppar ur enhetsplupphögen och sätter på ett numrerat kort, sedan tar man en numrerad bricka med samma nummer och knatar omkring på spelplanen med. Jag velar lite över om antalet pluppar i armén ska vara dolt eller inte. Lite krångel om det ska var dolt men det kanske ger ett extra spänningsmoment.
- Stridsplanen får ett timglas som rinner genom på 30sek, har man inte gjort sitt drag på 30 sek så tappar man draget. De andra spelarna som inte slåss har möjlighet att satsa pluppar på hur striden slutar, om den andra som inte slåss antar vadet så har de båda möjlighet att påverka striden genom att offra plupar för bonusar("ritualer"?). Jag tror på själva stridssystemet, lite schacklikt för er som inte orkat läsa reglerna, behöver bara snabbas upp.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Tecken
Inatt hade jag en mardröm om kapsyler som jagade och försökte äta upp mig, vaknade med ett ryck och slog omkring mig. Kan ju tydas som att jag kanske behöver en vit helg ;)
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