During Thursday we bought a new IKEA bed (as the old one was too soft for the Tempur mattress) and put our new Tempur mattress on top. The booklet that accompanied the mattress described there being a possibility of back pain in the beginning, yet none of us has felt this. It's just a great mattress, and it's hard to describe the feeling of lying on one's side, just sinking into the bed yet not hitting the "bottom" of the mattress. It's a floating feeling, very relaxing and very soothing.

After work on Friday I met up with Zak to go to the Stockholm Beer and Whisky fair, where we were absolutely tee-totalling. Hell no, we had whisky and beer. Mostly beer. I know this contradicts what I previously wrote on me not drinking when out anymore, but this was a kind of test of it all. We went to try a lot of different beers in very small quantities. We came there appx. 17:00 after an insane cab ride. Among other things, our mad cabbie took a quick turn and didn't find he was running against the traffic tide until after 10 seconds or so. Neither Zak or I told him, but we were really scared. I was, anyway! Hell, the cabbie ran over a traffic island in order to get back on track, but mysteriously headed in the totally wrong direction until Zak made a snide remark, which lead to the cabbie doing a little illegal 180 degree-turn which all in all added 50SKR to our bill. Bastard! Anyway, we didn't haggle the price over that, but were happy to reach the fair where we paid a 180SKR entrance fee and had out fair glass; thing is, this glass is to be used everywhere. You get it filled up with appx. 20cl's of drink and then you go to any of the places where you can rinse it off and then go get it refilled. The entrance fee does NOT cover free drinks though! One paid appx. 20SKR for 20cl's of beer, although some very special ones were to be found, like the Weyerbacher Heresy, which cost 60SKR for 5cl! If I remember correctly, this beer was contained in whisky casks, which helped the bourbon to present a caramel feature in the taste. It was as black as night, that colour. I also forced Zak to drink (which is a complete anomaly, one does simply not force that man a drink, you just hold it in front of him and say something nice to try to help him from drooling in public) a Highland whisky from 1962, very nice, very lean! Zak's brother, Daniel, came over and was very nice. I left quite early, getting a ride from a VERY nice cab driver who gave me advice and tips about kids. He seemed very cool, a 49-year-old dad who had his first kids when he turned 23. Anyway, I phoned my American friend Kristin on the way home, a little tipsy, getting mad as she revealed there having been a Dr. Phil TV-special broadcast on how to tell if your kid could be turning into a serial killer. Apparently he's had a mother and her boy on his show, having done some kind of test on the kid, finishing off by telling him he had great potential of becoming a serial killer. How wonderful, what a f-ing bastard he is! Argh, Kristin tipped me about this very funny article yesterday, though. After speaking with Kristin, I called my other American friend, Dennis, and left a tipsy-sounding message on his answering machine using my best BBC voce. When I got home Mikaela and I watched "Sen Kväll Med Luuk", a Swedish talk show programme where the host, Kristian Luuk, unleashed his very rampant David Letterman persona.

The day after was very easy on me. I hadn't drunk that much the night before and even brought my glass home with me (unlike drunk-assed Zak). ;) In the evening, Staffan and Patrik came by on Saturday to enhance the quality of our lives! They gave us a lovely assortment of chocolates from Chokladfabriken, and also a very horrid collage of the Swedish royal family. Note the magnetic words Mikaela used to pin it on our fridge...

Mikaela had prepared a very delicious lamb casserole with a feta cheese, beet root and pine kernel salad, together with a honey, mustard, balsamic vinegar and garlic dressing. For dessert we served some eastern delights, like baklava. I had bought a few white wines, all of which perished during the evening as I wanted them to. I'm just a little mad I didn't get more liqueur; I had a little vintage Moscatel du Setàºbal left, which didn't last long. It's like drinking very addictive candy, making you instantly wanting to sip a little more, then just a little more. And more. I had a vintage Riesling from Jacob's Creek, a Cloudy Bay plus a Grand Cru Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc to make the pick complete, I liked a couple of them, but the other couple weren't worth the money even though they were agreeable.

We then settled down in the living-room and talked, while I showed the guys Chris Cunningham's videos that were released on DVD a while back, really just because I wanted to show Staffan Cunningham's video for Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker". That shouldn't have worked out, really, but it did! Cunningham has a very special aesthetic that every freak of visual effects loves. We also played a Chemical Brothers concert from beginning to end. I really love them live, seeing them in Solnahallen a few years back, right after "Surrender" was released, was catching them at the very apex of their career. I haven't seen a normal, stiff Swedish crowd lose their f-ing mind and go bonkers like that, ever. Possible exception being when a skinhead kicked my head in during a Pulp gig at the Lollipop festival ten years ago.

Anyway, Staffan and I wanted to go out, but there was nothing on. We just all chilled out at Mikaela and my home and had a nice, calm time. It's always very lovely to meet the guys.

The day after Mikaela and I went for a one-hour walk. It was very cold outside, so I've been starting to wear a fleece jacket. After that I packed up my PS2 and went to Rade, where we played NBA Live 2005. Or so I thought! Rade went apeshit when we found I'd forgotten a boot CD which is required to start games on my PS2, which meant we had to take his car home to me. We did, and he refused to play anything other than Lugna Favoriter during the trip, which I guess was adequate for my war crime. On the other hand, fate had something else up its sleeve. When we came back to Rade's place, we played NBA for a while until everything froze. Apparently, a couple of nicks had lured their way into the DVD which rendered it virtually unplayable. It was Hell. Anyway, we hung out a while and I went home, but on the way I met an old friend's big brother, which was really fun. He's the kind of guy who smiles with his whole self. A very happy guy, even though he has clouds on his sky.

Well, now it's to the TV. Mikaela is watching a BBC documentary on the Atkin's Diet. It's interesting. Also, don't forget to check out the trailer for "Katamari Damacy", a new PS2 game that's hailed everywhere. Checking out the trailer will make you ask one question: "How?".