Ann's Guide Life

This is fun! The Sweden Guide job is Fun! It’s the best employer I’ve ever had! Haha

I “meet” new people all the time, learn soooo much and fall asleep with new ideas I can’t wait to fulfill the next morning :D I “googled across” two new acquaintances yesterday, when I HUNTED for Visby pictures. Really talented photographers. Check them out!

www.rebeckasfoto.blogg.se and http://www.harrietcederqvist.se

I added my new article about Visby today. It was really hard to find pictures… I wish I had more!

www.sweguide.com/visby-gotland-sweden-guide.com

Now my latest dilemma is Midsummer Pics… Midsummer is like Sweden’s National day. Yes it is. No other day summons worshippers like Midsummer. Ever plan on going to Sweden (?) do it on Midsummer. Do it! The whole country goes crazy :D True story! You cannot compare with any other holiday, no, not even the national day. We “Swedes” lack patriotism. Haha Well more about that in my next article about the phallic holiday of mid summer. Lots of heathen nudism coming up! Njoy!

The Quote of the day…

“All things are difficult before they are easy.”
Thomas Fuller
Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_work.html#ixzz1kbRFZ5tq

I learned something new today. I’m trying to get higher in The Google Machine. I still do not exist there really, so. Well, I have been thinking about how I have named my files. And I have been using the nice looking thing –underscore, I like how it looks really. Don’t ask me why.

Like so: www.sweguide.com/summer_season_sweden_guide.html, doesn’t it look nice! Well today I read that you should preferably use the dash like so: www.sweguide.com/summer-season-sweden-guide.html. Hum.

This means that I spent my whole morning renaming ALL my files AGAIN.

Still Sweden Guide DOES NOT exist on the Google list. It’s just a mess! Haha!

Oh and you know what?! I saw this YouTube clip (they really got EVERYTHING there, not joking e.g. how to tie a tie, or how to make your own contact form ((there was this small boy 10years-old?! demonstrating for us uneducated grownups how to do it)) isn’t that amazing!), sorry, the YouTube clip was about word optimizing, and the businessman leading it said that it can take up to 2 years to climb the Google list… Who wants to wait 2 years??? Not me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L198bPCo4ns&noredirect=1

 

So what to do?

I’ll take on Google another day. Pray for a miracle!

Instead I made a search page for my sight! That was FUN! I just LOOOVE Spry! For you who do not know what it is, it is the tool I used to make my navigational bar and search accordion!

I spent the rest of the day watching educational series about Sweden’s history, now you think I’m really boring. But I like it, and I’m not ashamed! And it’s essential to me since, I’m going to work in a tourist bureau, and work as a guide for Västerås City and also for Sala Silvergruva –Silver Mine. I Love Herman Linqvist! He is the Man! Sorry Simon… Oh and I found this new history program with Martin Timell and Dick Harrison, it seems quite good actually. Martin Timell is this really famous guy in Sweden, with a, hmmm, baby voice? Is that fair to say?

Tomorrow I will start my Visby article, that’s gonna be sooooo much fun! Love Visby!

“Be Bold and Mighty Forces will Come to Your Aid”

I feel like Christopher Columbus… Making homepages is my new frontier! But getting there isn’t so easy. Every day is a new challenge. Take today, I was going to make some FAB updates to my page! Not! Didn’t happen.

First I had FTP server file problems… first thought… what the hell is that? Took me some thinking and finally I got it J Suspected it had to do with what AirPort I was using… since our Internet was/is down! So, my solution was to connect through my boyfriend’s android phone… Did NOT work, got all these different FTP problem notifications.

I call THE Loopia (my web hotel) man and ask if they knew what’s up, and he tells me that the android probably can’t upload through port 21 on android… oki think I can get that. Normal web traffic goes through port 80, makes me wonder…what runs through all the ports before, between, and after???? There is a whole new world out there!!! Fantastic! So, well, anyway, I borrowed my mother in laws Internet stick! Smart of me, before I totally freaked out.

Second… I had changed all my file names to include the word Sweden Guide. And I mean ALL of them. This was because I wanted to get higher on the search list on Google. Shouldn’t be a problem? Well it is. Now my browser only finds my old index files… so when you put in www.sweguide.com you don’t find my new updated pages. GAAAA! = Scream of Frustration.

After calling Loopia again I found out that I had made a rookie mistake, apparently you cannot name your index page anything other that index. Or their server will NOT recognize it… Who knew!? Well I didn’t. So after a day of frustration (noting compared to learning PHP…)(will not even go there) NOW the page is up and functional :D Yeay!

AND today I got a part time job at a Tourist Information Bureau! Double Yeay!

Still… not ever searchable on Google… what to do?

Tomorrow more research! Mighty Forces come to my aid! Night!

 

My newest guide adventure started in October 2011. I quit my job as guide at *** and went home to Sweden with now idea what to do. This is when my fantastic brain engine started working and I decided to launch an online magazine! So today I launched it! My own Tourist Magazine written in English with articles about Sweden and all the incredible attractions Sweden has to offer.

Check it out at www.sweguide.com

The work was nothing but trouble, ok, FUN trouble. I learned new languages… html and a bit php. And I also learned to work with Dreamweaver! Since I’m a guide I don’t have unlimited funds so I decided to start close to home.

My first article was about the historical landscape of Badelunda. I had the pleasure of meeting a super guide who took me on a tour of Anundshög and Tibble Labyrinth. He is really talented and inspiring and looks a bit like a Viking, yes he does, and he dresses up like one too :D

I love this place, and it has so much history, preserved to this day! GO there!

www.sweguide.com/badelunda

One problem is the photo issue… My camera isn’t the best and winter can be quite dark when there is no snow :( Luckily, I have lots of nice friends and family who have better cameras and old pictures of nice places in Sweden.

But I have to admit that it is lots of fun running around and taking pictures of beautiful places! Especially when I have the best crazy company! <3

My dream is to be able to travel all over Sweden and take beautiful pictures and write kick ass articles that inspire all!

 

Well this is a good start, lets see how it all goes…

Getting around the City by Subway is easy, but not necessarily easy on the eyes. The subway is honestly the most unflattering I’ve ever seen. Brussels and Paris caters art on the way to your next station. But perhaps I’m unfair in my judgment of Rome’s subway culture, since the trains themselves are sprayed in modern art.

 

 

 

One stop we made was at the Colosseum. Honestly, I didn’t think I would enjoy the place as much as I did, but the Audioguide really made a difference.

 

 

 

The feel of the place is a bit haunting, especially if you think of all the people who fought for their lives here, and died, all for the spirit of entertainment. What is more, imagine all the animals they kept under the stage in stone cages, in the dark, cramped up together, only to be let out in the beginning of the Games as a kind of appetizer. Now it’s empty and looks rather innocent, like a labyrinth. A labyrinth with walls covered in blood…

 

 

 

Well it is still life left in these stones, not what you had expected perhaps, but still there is some ;)

 

 

 

So it's kind of sad thinking of what is left, and that the monument has been “recycled” in other buildings, for example, St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican State. Ok, so it’s nothing new to recycle building material but I idealistically wish that they hadn’t plundered the Colosseum.

 

 

Well, the stones are pretty nice in the walls of the Basilica, don’t you think?

 

When packing for Rome, in August (the big vacation month here, for the locals). DO NOT forget, toothbrush, deodorant or shampoo… it might take you three days to find a supermarket with full stock, or a Pharmacy open during holiday days. Not to recommend for your traveling companion or your personal hygiene.

 

 

When finding a beautiful building with military men/vehicles outside – DO NOT cross the street to admire the house closer. It might be the Russian Embassy… and the military men might find your activity suspicious.

 

 

 

 

When walking in central Rome DO NOT enter random beautiful courtyard gardens, they might be private and have Asian Gardener Watchdogs… with big hoses.

 

 

 

 

When eating in Rome, DO NOT put anything on the table: hats, sunglasses, shawls or cameras… this upsets the waiters. And DO NOT dear to ask for a tooth pick directly after finishing your food… the waiter might misunderstand you and angrily blurt out the total of your bill and then get insulted when you look confused. And when he realizes he has misunderstood he might get even more upset and destroy your whole dinner experience.

 

 

 

 

When going to the Vatican, DO NOT believe the sales men outside that say you show too much skin. They look like they just want to sell you clothes, trust your instinct DO NOT buy more clothes because they don’t know anything about the dress code in the Vatican. If your shoulders and knees are covered, it’s enough! The rest just makes you sweat.

 

 

 

 

This requires some background. I love the whole restaurant experience. The setting, the mood, the menu, the personalities and of course the food! In my world I expected something from “the lady and the tramp”.

Imagine my chock after a couple of days here when I realize that not is it possible to find anything even close to this but it is more than rare to find good quality food and polite service minded waiters.

We encountered clearly rude men, even insulting men, inconsiderate men, raising their eyebrows and looking down their noses men – perhaps that was covered by rude and insulting men? Or perhaps I am pampered in Crete and cannot compare the two places?

Lucky for Rome that it has some golden spots and some gentlemen left. When it comes to food, that is! Go see Mamma Angela’s Trattoria, the first place we went to and the best! Or just skip eating in Rome and go past GO and directly to Crete.

 

 

 

This is the City of Contrast! Such blend of old and new, rich and pore not to forget ugly and beauty! It’s a city for the living and the dead. What chocks me the most is probably that the Romans are so… nonchalant? Where did the manners go? Out the door while they concurred the known world in Ancient times??? For fucks sake, just gimmi a smile, wont ya?!

How do you know if you’re going insane? My grandma once told me that aliens visited her in the night, and they tried to hump her. My aunt once peed in the sofa for some reason my family does not talk about, and it’s not that she has bladder problems. I guess madness runs in the family. At least that’s what my sister always said when I was younger.

 

Aren’t insane people supposed to be insane and not know about it? Is insomnia, deep grief and tremendous life pressure enough to drive you crazy? I know hearing constant cell phone ringing is less than sane. The crying isn’t strange but my lack of appetite worries me. I haven’t coped to go further than to the laundry room in 2 days. I’m shaky and I have physical pain, and I can’t work. Just waiting for the extras to come pay me a visit.

 

I think that people drive you crazy. And I know there are some things no one should have to go through. And if grandma’s brain coped with tough shit by imagining aliens and who knows what more, I guess I’m lucky I hear phones…

 

I don’t know how I got here, I Just know I got to get out. I wish that I’ll just pull trough and leave crazy town with a larger bullshit bag and perhaps a hotter body.  Well I’m working on it.

I heard that life is all about the choices you make. Really now? If that were so then you would have a relatively predictable life. If you make the “right” decisions you should get the “right” results, no? What you deserve, yes? What’s coming to you, absolutely? In Sweden we say “Som man bäddar får man ligga” kind of like, if you make your bed you have to lay in it.

 

I think all these proverbs are crap. It’s all about chance, you never know what you’ll get. So its better to have a well equipped bullshit bag, and never forget it on the transfer buss. You get taught never to lie, cheat, steal or get violent. But what do you do when you are in the real world where 99,99% do all this? You can live your life in a respectable way, and still get shit because the less respectable will drive right over you, and laugh.

 

I meet these people most every week. Usually, in small amounts. But these last days have been crowded with crazy people.

 

We have the people who are taught how to charm and take the easy way out… no responsibilities at all. These are the bull shitters. You know them on sight. They will find small pretend problems for you to solve in order to get a dinner or some sympathy.

 

And then we have the real psychos, who really know how everything is, never do wrong and have a violent streak. The narcissists.  Don’t piss them off because then you are in trouble. Or so they definitely will threaten. They actually believe they have a problem, even though they don’t, and if you explain to them that there is no problem… well then you are in big shit. And they are either lawyers, journalists or they know someone in the company. RUN when you see them.

 

Then we have the drug addicts and alcoholics who end up in a real bad place and want someone else to get them out of the bad situation. When you can’t help them they lie, scream and talk shit about you and everyone around. They make fools of themselves. And they make your life miserable. They will get robbed, abused or beaten up… take your pick. And usually they travel with no money, or young children or simply unspecified…

 

Well there are a lot of less than respectable people out there, and unfortunately I’ve had them in my face the last couple of days. Makes me think who I really am. Respectable or not. Good or bad. Because if I can handle them, I must have a large bullshit bag, and where in the world did I get that? Hmmm

I have planned to buy a sailboat and sail away my broken heart. No, I haven’t. But right now it sound to me like a good idea. If it weren’t for my fantastical job, yes I do mean in the sense fantastical, I couldn’t cope with all the feelings in my body. How can heart break actually hurt, and in my whole body?

A few days ago I thought things were going good, I was starting to feel strong and work was “happening”. It’s a good distraction working crazy hours, not to forget having nice perks. Every month we have monthly rewards, this is really fun, a half day doing nice things together and then rewarding our best colleges of the month. It’s a day for smiles and laughter. This time we went out with a Pirate Ship and enjoyed the sea, good food and excellent views. I sat at the best table with some of the most awesome girls I’ve ever met. And yes they are as crazy as me, think you have to have a crazy gene to stay in this job longer than one season.

 

So why the broken heart? Your thinking get over it, you dumped the guy so what’s up with all the complaining. Believe me, I’m thinking the same. But what goes on in my brain is not how the rest of my body reacts… I have been shit hard with my decision not to go back to him since we couldn’t cope with our problems. But I do think somewhere deep inside, hidden, I wished and hoped he would change and we would get married and have bambinos and live happily ever after. He actually asked me the other day if I still would say yes if he asked me to marry him. I was surprised, panicked and thought yes no yes no yes no, I don’t know, how can he ask me that? And instead I said, “It depends on how nice ring you buy”. A few days later I said that I didn’t want to marry him, ever. Mostly because it was the right thing to say. Wasn’t it?

 

In hindsight, I don’t know what was right. Should I have been so hard with him or not? It’s not like you can keep your ex after you break up with him, or can you? Well anyhow, he invited me to the bar, he was gonna make me a diabolo mohito, a drink we “found” on our latest vacation, and he had just found out how to do it. So I got dressed up, yes stupid me got all dolled up for him, went out with my colleges and went to the bar. As I was speaking to his college 4m from him I saw how he started to make out with a girl… and my world shattered. I didn’t know what to do at all. Walked towards them, and he didn’t stop kissing her. I wished for him to stop, that it wasn’t true. And then I exploded, grief, anger, hate came out and then just huge sadness… After he had sex with her and now I’m here. And I can’t believe it happened, I can’t justify my sadness and I can’t breathe.