And - it's over?

Well,

School ended today, and I feel a bit empty. There's nothing left for me for now. I've got a summer ahead of me with a few trips with military buddies planned in. But I'll never return to Önnestads folkhögskola ("Önnestad's People's High School"). It was the best school I've ever gone to, with the best teachers, best students, and best everything else. I'm gonna miss 'em all. And I'm going to go back and visit...some time. And stay in contact with at least one of the other students...some times. It's a bit uncertain, though.

And this summer, I'm going to party with some buddies from the military. We've got three parties planned in, one in the butthole of the country, the other where I live, and the third, which isn't yet certain, in a not-too-distant city. All three will entail lots of beer, pretty girls, and hopefully, some fun.

Besides that, I'll be working this summer, of course. At the school I've just left. Three weeks at the least. It's not fancy work, but I think it'll feel good to get back to working with my body again. I need it. Just as I need the money. For my next stage in life.

That is, I'm hopefully moving out of this dump of a town, when I'm going to Visby, Gotland, to study archaeology at the high school there. I haven't officially been accepted yet, but if I am to trust the numbers I've got a good shot at getting in. Thing is, I don't trust the numbers - it looks too simple. I'm a suspicious person by nature. So it's by far not certain I'll get in. Even if I do, there is a huge-friggin-problem since I have to have somewhere to live.

Student apartment? Sure, but I won't lie - I'd rather have a regular apartment. Both have their ups and downs - student apartments make it easier to find chicks...uh, friends I mean. But a real apartment gives more of a "home" feeling. Which I think is exactly what I need. And what's worse is I have to pay for the apartment. I'll be trying to find a job, but until then, I'm going to have to live on a student's loan, which is a pain in the ass since you have to pay it back, and that sucks big time - because I never want to indebt myself.

So I've got my work cut out for me. If I get in, I have to find an apartment, and move some of my stuff there - then I have to find a job as fast as possible so I can cut the damn loan and not indebt myself too bad - and then I'll be living a decent life from there on, until three years come when I have to decide what to do with my life again. But that's ahead of time. As is, of course, getting into the school. I still have some work to do this summer - and some friends to meet with, which feels good.

But the fact is, six hours into my summer vacation, and I'm already bored and longing for the work to start. Monday, 7:30, I'll be starting my job. Three weeks worth of work, and then it's over, and time for the good part of the summer.

Now that I've shared my summer plans with everybody on the whole friggin' Internet, I guess I'm done. Take care, y'all, and may you enjoy the summer as much as I will. Also, don't feel as down as I do over finishing school. It's stupid to feel down - you can always go back and say hello - and hopefully, you'll stay in contact with your friends, one way or another. I know I will try to.

Ah, well, ain't I a barrel of laughs today?

Take care, and later//

Henrik

Back again!

It's been busy, but mostly I've been lazy. And there won't be any long rants this time. Here's the thing; I don't feel inquired to blog here unless someone is reading. So if you're a fan of this blog, let me know. Conspiracy Dawg has already died - I deleted it, partly because I didn't like my latest post - have you ever realized one cannot actually DELETE previous posts? - and partly because I felt a lack of activity from people. And asking myself which blog was most important, this one or Conspiracy Dawg, this one got it.

I'm also working on another blog right now, called "Style!". I'm not sure what it will entail just yet, only that it will evolve around lifestyles, and fashion, and I want to make it something more than Conspiracy Dawg ever was. I'm also trying to get a friend hooked on the idea and help me blog - the same friend that blogged three posts on the Undercover Interpreter, so he's a bit of a lazy-arse. I also want other bloggers - so if anyone reading this is interested, let me know, and I'll take applications as blogger on Style!.


Lastly, I'm going to try and update Rambling Spirit, but it will not be regularly, as always, and so far, not very exciting. I will try and waste my attention more on Style! for now, because I have some kind of kinky idea in the back of my mind, that I'm trying to get out, regarding what to do with Style! We'll see what happens.

Now, again - if you read my blogs - if you're a fan of them - let me know. Otherwise, Rambling Spirit might kick the same bucket that Conspiracy Dawg did.

Style!

Some times life is just slow...

Damn,

Alright, here's the scenario. It's friday afternoon, I'm listening to some GREAT music, and I am completely broke. It's like set up for party mood. However, I am NOT longing for a party. Oh, no, if I was, I'd just borrow some dough from my parents. Nah, I'm in a real deep shithole, because, I'm bored, and longing for adventure. Right now, I wish I had already gotten into the archaeology high school program that I want to get into. At least then, I'd have a chance to see some new horizons, and not just this cheap shot sad excuse for a village that I live in.

But so far, they haven't told anybody who's in and who's out. Lazy bastards. So I won't know until this summer or so, if I got in. Even more problems ahead as I have to find some kind of work to get some dough in the summer, and again, no luck yet.

But those are the regular troubles of youth, and things I can deal with. But I can't really deal with my thirst for adventure, not this weekend. I'll probably spend it doing homework, while wanting to see the world and go to Australia to do some diving. Another boring weekend, in other words. How do other people manage to live this kind of life? Really? I would have grown bored out of my mind if I had to live a life working in a factory, or at a desk job. I'd probably get depressed and go get drunk. And I can't even deal with a boring weekend.

Sheesh.
I can't wait for the summer.

So, anyways, other adventurous news... That's right, nothing new on any front. Still no summer around here, so still no chance for me to go out camping over a weekend. I'll have to be patient. And I still haven't been abducted by UFOs either. Maybe one day they'll gather their balls up and try abducting me. At least, it'd put a little spice on my weekend if I had to spend it fighting aliens. As it stands, I'll probably spend my weekend watching some Black Lagoon (anime), drinking tequila.

Another piece in my future plan has appeared, though.
It turns out the university I want to apply for (Gotlands Högskola), is allowing for archaeology students to do the exchange student thingie to a few parts of the world. Right now, I've got my eyes on one of the positions for Australia (Sydney university), or maybe Samoa. But Zanzibar and Madagascar doesn't sound all too wrong, either. Portugal? Nah, thanks, but not my thing (I signed up to get OUT of Europe, ya see). And no bloody Eastern bloc states either, nor the last remaining Soviet country, Belarus. I can't believe we're sending exchange students there.

But Australia, I'd jump on every day. It's even worth the near-death experience of flying there. (Yeah, I HATE flying!). And then I'll probably spend my free time diving or hiking in the wild over there, because, seriously, those dudes have ONE HELL of a country, with lots of wilderness for the sighting. Just the way I like my vacations.

Bah. Enough ramblings from this adventurous spirit, at least for this weekend. Hope your weekend will be more fun than mine. Take care now, bye bye, then.

//Henrik

Can you say "adventure"?

Diving...
We love it, we who call ourselves adventurers. I must admit, I have not yet tried it myself. But I love it. Why? Because diving means getting a chance to see a world few others have seen. Also it means a chance to dive for pirate ship wrecks, but that's another story. But I don't want to dive in tourist havens like Thailand - I'm sick and friggin' tired of hearing of Thailand and Bali, and yada yada. It will be a cold day in Hell before I ever set my foot in that tourist nest. So, where else can a man dive?

Africa, of course!
Mozambique, from where my step-mother comes, have great beaches, great tourist resorts, and great diving. It's relatively untouched as well, and has beautiful underwater life, as you can plainly see in the video. (Just ignore the ecstacy-infused music). And of course, many a pirate found the east coast of Africa a good home and hideout in the 17h and 18th Century - Madagascar was a home to many a pirate captain. So, in Africa, we have great diving, a history of piracy, and relative untouch by tourists.

So, I don't know how you feel, but one day, I'm going to set my foot in Mozambique for a loooong while of R&R with diving and respite from the hectic life of modern "civilization". Because, let's face it - even if you go to Thailand these days, that's no guarantee you'll escape the hectic life you live normally - nowadays, tourism is just as hectic as ordinary life.

Take it easy//
Henrik

Can one truly enjoy life without testing it's limits?

Sure you can. You see people do that all the time - despite what our mainstream media might tell us, there are people out there who live happy lives, and I dare say they are in a majority. But I've begin to realize lately that I do not belong in that majority.

At first, I thought this sense of lacking something, wanting something more in my life, was nothing but my wish to get out and party with my friends and pick up some hot chicks. But even when I was out partying with friends for two days in a row, this feeling of want did not ease. But it helped, because it made me realize that to ease this feeling, I have to carve out my own life - cut free from the home I've lived in for my entire twenty-one years in life - and carve out my own life somewhere else.

Furthermore, it's not just about carving out a life for myself. Sure, getting away from this back-drop village is a start. But studying to become an archaeologist in a city way away from my home town probably won't be enough. And this feeling of want, of course, compels me to search for a way to ease it. I think that to ease this feeling, I will have to live life the EXACT way I want to live it; as an adventurer - travelling the world, experiencing it to the fullest, meet incredible people that I will be friends with forever - and even then, I'm not sure it's enough.

We've all seen movies with these types of scenes, where the protagonist walks through the night with a pretty girl to some beautiful music, or when the hero of the police show is on his way to meet the badguys in what he knows will end in a shootout, to the tunes of "In the air tonight" by Phil Collins (That's a reference to Miami Vice for you Vice lovers) - these are life-changing moments in the lives of the protagonists of respective film or series. And I realized that what I'm thirsting so for isn't partying, having sex with a pretty girl when I'm feeling lonely, or getting drunk with my friends. That's all fine and dandy, but...

What I'm thirsting for is beyond that. It's a life changing moment. I'm not foolish enough to think that those come very often. And I'm not a madman who want to drive to a meeting with a bunch of criminals knowing it'll end in a bloodbath, either. But I know that this is the emptiness that I feel inside me, that I'm seeking to fill. I've never experienced such an event in my life, and that's the one thing I would sacrifice everything I have to experience.

Why? Because I've realized that you can not claim to have "a life" until you've experienced such a moment with it. This is all my thoughts and suspicions of course - but I suspect they are true just the same.

And perhaps, in some way, a moment that will change my life will truly change me as well, for the better. It might be the final push I need to dare to fully live my life as I want to. Or it might be the moment where I meet a friend who I will live the rest of my life travelling on adventures with - or the woman who I will spend the rest of my life loving. Nobody can tell until they've experenced such a moment. And I least of all, since I have never truly experienced it, and don't even know if such moments are possible, though I suspect they are.

Bah...

I guess I'm earning the nickname "Rambling Spirit" today, but this is important to me. My life has been decent so far, but until I've experienced this feeling, until I've sated this thirst for such a life experience, that lives within me, I suspect my life will never be more than "decent". And as I'm sure you all know, I don't want to live a "decent" life - I want to live a life where I can do what I want, where I am truly free - and "decent" doesn't even begin to describe what such a life would be.

Thank you, and take care, dear readers

Henrik

Yeah, I'm still alive!

Yeah, I know, I know.

Y'all thought I'd finally kicked the bucket on some fool's errand into the deepest parts of Amazonas looking for El Dorado, or drowned while searching for Atlantis, right? Well, you can be at ease - I'm still kicking. Haven't been much with adventures lately, though. School is taking up way too much of my time. I gotta study like hell to get into the university education I want, so that I can become an archaeologist. And I also must find a job that brings in some reasonable dough for me to use on getting a driver's and diver's license (Haha, get it? Diver's, Driver's... Gawd, I'm funny). Other than that, I've just been generally lazy and tired.

So, anyways, a pal of mine asked me on a forum here on the Net, what's your absolute number one dream vacation? I had several. The Andes - to wander them would be like the vacation of my life! Kilimanjaro - to walk to Kilimanjaro would be an adventure like nothing else, though I wouldn't try to climb it - too cold, and I hate cold. And of course, diving in the Carribbean or Bermuda, maybe find the lost city of Atlantis.

We all have our dream vacations, and as long as they're our dream vacations, they are adventures in their own right - you don't have to cross the Sahara desert by foot to experience an adventure. At it's essence, an adventure is individual, and means basically, as long as you do something you wouldn't normally do, and as long as you enjoy, nay, love it, then it is your adventure. And I think everybody feel better experiencing an adventure, a chance to get away from the hectic life we live these days.


Well, I have no real message for y'all today, just that I'll try to blog more often, if there is anyone who reads my blog regularly. Oh, one more thing. If there is, PLEASE, make yourself heard and voice your opinions, be it through email or leaving a comment on my blog entries. I enjoy reading responses to my ramblings.

I'm also still single, so if you're a pretty girl, please let me know.

Henrik

The Scale of Life

When I got an assignment in my nature science class to do a piece of work about something that could be connected to nature, I didn't know what to write about at first. But I remembered hearing about a beautiful region in South America once, called the Pantanal. It's supposed to be lush savannas combined with wetlands, and a heaven for ecologists and biologists because of it's wide array of species and fauna. So, off I went to the library, and grabbed all books that I could find about Brazil and the Pantanal.

Now, I've started to read about it. I've seen pictures as well, and I think it's safe to say that one day, I'll be setting my foot in the beautiful paradise known as the Pantanal. That is of course, if it's not gone before my time.

Because, you see, the threats to the Amazon rain forest are bad enough. But there is also a threat towards the Pantanal. And this is not just Brazil being a corrupt nation where dough matters more than Mother Nature's gifts to us. No, no. Here in Sweden, I see the same thing - we give up more and more of our wild nature, to get more and more energy, to support a growing society that soon won't be able to support itself any longer - and Mother Nature is groaning from the weight of it.

I don't believe in the Global Warming at this point. But I still believe in heavy metals, chemicals, poison, diminishing species due to poaching and hunting, poisoning of rivers and other raping of Nature. These threats are very real. If the Global Warming is true, at best it will raise the temperature a few points, but this... This is where our real threat lies, not only to Nature, but to ourselves as well. If we poison Nature, pretty soon there won't be anything that can help us support ourselves, that we have not poisoned.

I believe life on this planet was meant to develop as it has, including us. But I also believe that someone somewhere in the skies made a mistake when he planned this. I think that humans were meant to walk in a constant balance with Nature - our industrial capability, versus Mother Nature's needs and wants. And right now, on that scale we humans are obese, and Mother Nature is starving. The balance has been disrupted, and if it continues as it does, then pretty soon, we will fall through the floor and we as a human race will be completely wiped out because of nobody but ourselves.

In other words,
We as the next generation of leaders, businessmen, and coincidentally, adventurers, must take a step backwards, see what we've done to our planet. And then it's our job to restore the balance on the Scale of Life. Only after that can we begin to make a better world for ourselves and our fellow humans.

Never sacrifice your home out of greed for money - because what is money worth when you have nowhere to live, nothing to feed on, no pure water to drink? What is money when your entire race collapses because of your need for it? Let me answer that question for you.

It's a curse.



Henrik

Yo, my fellow adventurers!

Well, I know many of you aren't reading my blogging, but for those of you who are, sorry for not blogging lately. It's been real much with school, taking driver's license, training, reading, and hobbies, and little room for blogging. I will make a long ramble soon enough, maybe in the morning. For now, let me comment on the little vote I had. That was just to see how many of you that were actually visiting my blog. And fyi, I don't care if you think I ramble, I will keep rambling!!!! Rambling for the world!!!!

...nah, but seriously, I'll try to make my blogs shorter. But once I write something, text just seem to fly away. I guess that's what happens when you like writing, and I certainly do.

I also want to take a bat at my pal Freddie's blog, "Undercover Interpreter". He's the guy interpreting all manner of weird things, like why women are called sluts and men are admired for having sex with many people. Who thinks about that kind of stuff, EXCEPT the one, the only, THE UNDERCOVER INTERPRETER?! Exactly...absolutely nobody.

Still, although his spelling is crap, he's fun to read, and he'll be going to London and report from there in a few weeks, with photos as well, so keep up to date with his blog, I certainly will, despite his smart-assed mouth. (I'll have to shut that one some day). The link is in my link list to the right of this site.

I also want to advise you to check out my other blog, Ramblings of a Conspiracy Dawg. That one will focus on politics rather than the life of an adventurer, and bring you the information that the Mainstream Media doesn't dare to tell you, and I find out from conspiracy news sources. But unlike them, I post it with a cool head, telling you and letting you decide what it means. There won't be any UFO's and aliens, there won't be any "We never landed on the moon", not because I don't believe in it, but because it doesn't belong in my blog. So you can rest assured that I won't bring that in.

Finally, I want to say that life is good, and everybody should enjoy it as best they can. And everybody should also be aware of anything that can threaten said good life. If you choose to ignore these threats, you do not deserve a good life. Nothing good comes without an effort. Just keep it in mind, I always do.

Love y'all.

Henrik


P.S. You who asked if I wanted to marry you, send an email with a photo to me, tell me about yourself and what you seek in a man, and... Nah, just kidding. But I still love you.

What makes an adventurer?

Music is usually what keep giving me ideas. And here I was, listening to a great song, and before I knew it, I had an idea for my next blogpost. I found myself asking what it is that makes an adventurer, or rather, what it is that separates him from other humans, those that are satisfied with living their lives in peace and quiet, while he seeks out adventures and excitement at the very far reaches of civilization.

Sure, we may be driven on by an almost unsateable thirst for excitement. But I think that is only half the truth. To say adventurers are adrenaline junkies is to do us injustice, as if we should call all politicians war mongerers (which, of course, is true only to about ninety percent). Ultimately, and I can only talk for myself here, I think it is a force within us that wants us to travel and see the world, experience nature in all it's raw beauty, and live off of her, rather than buy what we need to survive in a store.

It's not only some sort of remaining macho gene from our ancestors, the homo sapiens, that makes us want to live so far away from civilization. It's something more. The simplicity of it all, and the self-reliance required to survive such, makes us stronger, but also makes us relax, and we love the trials of ot, compared to the questionable trial of walking down the street to the local 7-Eleven and buy a bloody steak for dinner. Compared to that, the satisfaction of having gathered your own food, through hunting, foraging or snaring, is priceless, and a feeling hard to achieve in today's society.

But it's not only about the food, either. To travel the world, see places few others have seen, places almost untouched by civilization, is to gaze at the very soul of Earth herself, in her pride and beauty. Some might argue we're just loners and sociopaths. Granted, there are people who do this to get away from the rush of civilization - and I admit, I am one of them - but it never was about whether or not there were other people, but about seeing new places. Exploration, not as a civilization, but as an individual. Few people seem to have that urge these days - sure, they go on vacations, but they make sure to stay close to the cities. Few of us take the time to explore the wildlands of the world, places where few others have been and where civilization has not yet reached.

When you find yourself standing in the Scottish highlands, gazing at Nature in her most untouched and widespread beauty, there is a solitude, a peace of mind, that can never be achieved while in the city, be it in Miami, London or Paris. When one is so close to nature, one is almost at one with her. And I believe that might be the ultimate reason that many take up the mantle of adventure, searching, not only for solitude, but for peace of mind, in a world that is ever speeding up, ever becoming more and more stressful.

In truth, adventurers are the last bastion of a dying breed, or so it would seem, with the day's world looking more and more compartmentalized and all-business no-pleasure, hard work and threats from terrorism, war, famine and diseases. But we adventurers are also the most at peace with ourselves, because we get a chance to escape all of this once in a while.

Of course, I'm not saying that it's wrong working at an office. All I'm saying is that once in a while, everyone, even the most fanatical city-dweller, should leave the city and go out into the wilderness for a while, to experience her wild solitude, and to rely, not on a store, an employer or a politically elected leader, but on yourself, to survive, to gather food. If you do, I guarantee you that you will never want to go back to the city again.

After all, it's in our blood, the urge to explore the world, expand our horizons.
We've just chosen to ignore that urge.

Henrik

Introducing the Adventurous Spirit...

Yo, y'all, and feel welcome to my blog!

I just happen to be new at blogging. This is my first attempt, and brought on by my will to write, and if possible to change the bleak world we live in.

Now, I should probably write something about myself, and that's a tough one, because there is so much to write! You will notice this in my future blogging, I'm sure. They will most likely vary in subject, everything from history, to adventurous exploits, to politics and even - hear and behold! - conspiracy theories, though my fellow conspirators dislikes the term conspiracy theories.
I use the term because it is blunt, easy, and tell you straight in the face what my beliefs are.

Now, about me. My name is Henrik, but you may call me Henke. I am twenty one years old, and live in Sweden. And because I'm paranoid, that's all the information you'll get about that...unless you're a pretty girl, of course. And just for the record, yes, I'm single and open for invitations. I can also cook, though I wouldn't advise you to eat what I make unless it's Chilli. I love Chilli, especially with a shot of tequila to boot.

I am in that time in age when I must consider what to do with my future life - what work to choose, how to live my life, make some dough, and live happily ever after. You know the drill, some of you've been there, some of you will be there soon. So, anyway, I've spent my entire life so far wondering what I'm going to do for a living. It messed my life up because I had no idea. In truth, though, I had an idea, but I was too afraid to really see it. I've always fealt that I would never be able to stand a "regular" life - the kind where you live with a wife that henpecks you, have ten kids, and a house in Suburbia (not that there's anything wrong with kids and Suburbia, but it's just not...me...not yet anyway).

But then one day, it came to me. I realized that people in our world has gone a bit...cowardly. They are afraid of going after the jobs they really want, worry too much about having a job instead of the job. And I can't stand that way of thinking. It takes the quality out of your life, and makes you just...miserable.

So, I decided to go with what I really want to do. Become an adventurer. You've all seen them on TV - Indiana Jones, Dirk Pitt, Rick O'Connell, Lara Croft, and so on. Well, people say the world is different in reality for adventurers. I'm sure it is, in fact. But that won't stop me from going after what I want to do. So, my current goal in life is to become an archaeologist. After that, a marine achaeologist, and then a diver. And finally, an adventurer.

Then, we'll see where Lady Fate takes me. If all works out, I'll find myself one day working with what I want to work with - diving for wrecks, digging for gold in South America, travelling through Africa on a completely pointless but exciting adventure, and so on. In short, living the life of an adventurer.

One of my friends said to me when he heard it that, "You want to work with what one wanted to be when he was a kid - an adventurer, fireman, and so on..." He made it sound ridicolous, not only that, but impossible, as if it was the most stupid idea anybody had ever come up with. And that was when I realized what a ridicolous world we live in, because people simply don't have the guts to go for what they want.

This is what I want, and this is what I'm aiming for.

That's all for today. Thank you for reading my rambles, my friends, and may we have a lot of fun together. Don't take me too seriously. I can't stand serious people. But take my message to heart; Don't let anybody tell you that your dream job is too far-fetched. If you give up your dream, you will truly lose yourself in it and find yourself a slave to your own life. And there's already too many people that think like that in our world. Like my friend.

Be free, live free

Henrik