Helge Magnus Heggli`s blog

I did something stupid, I decided to stop “snusing”. I have been dealing in the nicotine business for 12-13 years now, first smoking some, then snusing on a regular basis. Snus is kinda the lesser evil, but contains evil amounts of nicotine, so quitting is hard. I am rambling here, but with good cause. I have been on the spaceship for 50 hours, so my body is nicotine-free.. Now the withdrawals can kick in big time. The last two days have been a mix of joy, anger, sadness, craving, you name it I have felt it Lets see how long I can go, but my goal is no more at all, not even when partying. Next, save the world!

Everyday I live my life, taking life for granted: I get up in the morning, eat some breakfast, go to work, go home, eat some more, then sleep. Life becomes a routine. You never know when something unexpected might happen though. You might meet someone, you might win the lottery, or you might see a life get extinguished right before you. I usually never blog about my personal feelings, but I think today qualifies for an exception.

At around 1800 today, I was waiting for the subway on my way home, when the unexpected happened. The train appeared in the tunnel just about to stop at the platform when a figure gained speed and disappeared down on the rails, just a blink of an eye before the train pulled in. A loud thumb followed as the train ran over the figure. The noise as the emergency brakes on the train kicked in, and the figure was probably torn apart by the wheels of the train, really didn’t sink in until later. The platform was evacuated, and all the people in the train stuck as the train came to a stop 1/3 onto the platform, most of the train still in the tunnel. I reacted with shock, not just for the figure who just had its life ended, but also because of the kids laughing and shouting “did you see him jump?”, the adult people who seemed more worried about how they were about to get home, and the lack of control of the platform guards. I really hope they reacted with shock , and that this indifference of a figures life isn’t characteristic. I feel sorry for the disturbed figure who chose to end its life by jumping, but even more for the poor soul who drove the train, having to live with the images of those crucial seconds.

Two hours later the trains are rolling again. The figure has been removed. The rails have been cleaned. The only indication of whats happened is a note on the metro website saying there was a temporary stop due to an “accident”, as they understandably don’t say anything about suicides. I wont forget what I saw though, the driver will probably not forget either. Life goes on…

The Olympics in Vancouver is nearing its end, and it`s a bumpy ride for us norwegians. You would think that one should reflect around this on a blog, but frankly: I dont have the time to do this. Must rush home to catch todays olympics.. Need to feed!! 4 days left, then life continues w/o Northug, Bjørndalen etc (i think).. Uhm.. I think I have lost my identity to the olympics.. HEJA NORGE!

I`m having my lunch now, eating yesterdays Stinas kyckling, which basically is frozen chicken, with rice. Feeling all studenty all the sudden. Last weekend was Superbowl weekend, which swapped funny TV shows with stupid american football and lame ass commercials. This meant I had to entertain myself without family guy etc yesterday, and to my luck, I remembered my Star Trek TNG dvds. So I popped a random disc from a random season in and watched a couple of episodes. I had forgotten how good that series is, better than the movies.. [read Nemesis]. They had continuity in the story line, and no stupid mistakes like all the movies has. Picard follows the prime directive, and he is not a lame older version of John McClane. I think later I`ll watch some more, getting that trekky wibe lately, must be the winter.

So to sum up, my ship is armed with: Phasers and Quantum Torpedoes! Warp 5, engage!

I always formulate my best blog posts when I cant sleep. Lying in bed I think of stuff to write about, and many times I think to myself, my good that post is going to be good. Then again I am too tired to get up and fetch the computer (guess that is my iPad need), so I always say: tomorrow I am going to write it.

So today, ofcourse, i have no idea what I thought about last night. Just that it was a fantastic idea.

/fail

This is where you go to kill some time, and have a laugh. Click Below:

It`s a TRAP

From time to time I don’t listen to my instincts and catch a ride home with colleagues driving. Bad idea as always..

2 subway rides and a local tram ride equals 25-30 minutes

I’ve been stuck in traffik for 20 min now, and we have driven 400m maybe

Looks like I’ll be home later than usual.. next time say nooooo

Feels like living on Hoth! In the last weeks we have seen cold weather I have not seen since I moved here, averaging around -8c maybe? And today it is -17, with -21 arriving this weekend. The funny thing though, my apartment has never been warmer =) The cold has really kicked started the heating in my apartment, and having 27degrees in the floor is heaven. The thing that is hard for me, even though I am used to cold and have been out snowboarding in -28, is that the ocean brings allot of moist, so it feels like -40! I think I am getting old, as I find myself googling warmer climates, wanting to go back to Byron Bay and spend winter there. And I am talking about the weather all the time?!? WTF.

Tomorrow is a “day off” in Sweden, but I am working anyway. Got to earn those easy red days when you get double pay.

As we all have heard: Politicians have decided that the earth is warming by 2 degrees every, 4 minutes?, so you can imagine my surprise when it was snowing in Sthlm the other day. And if that was not enough, the temperature has been around -10 for a week, with even more snow arriving. Funny, cause by my calculations (based on the (hope)Copenhagen summit, the temperature should now be aprox 1 billion degrees with a pure CO2 atmosphere.

Anyway back to the mystery: We live up here, just south of the artic circle. We pride ourselves with our winter sports. We brag about our sturdy cars. We are vikings! Anyhow every year it seems the people of Sthlm is just as surprised when SNOW arrives. Traffic stops, public transportation breaks down, and planes are on the ground.

The tvärrbanan is always delayed from Sickla Udde towards Alvik, but not the other way. So when I am standing one stop before the end location (which holds two trains in a mini depot) how the hell can three trains come one way, but none the other way. WHERE ARE THE TRAINS? I cant comprehend it, and I will not try.

Merry Christmas