My Face Says It All

Infected

A week before I was going to take out my wisdom tooth it became infected. This tooth has given me pain before and it was time for it to come out. Since I was in pain before the surgery I was worried they were going to postpone the surgery and I would be stuck with this pain. I did not know what to expect. My mother and brother both were given laughing gas and both of there procedures went smoothly. When I asked my brother how it was to take out his wisdom teeth he said,”It’s not bad, people exaggerate”. That was a comforting thought until I asked my oral surgeon if I was going to be given laughing gas. He did not even know what it was. Instead he tried to tell a joke. I don’t see the connection but he thought he would try. I thought, “oh my this will be interesting” but he never told me a joke. He did give me numbing gel though.

The plan was for the tooth to be split in three and carefully extracted so no piece of the tooth would touch my nerves after they were pulled out. Everything started out fine until half way through when the numbing gel started to wear off a little. This was caused by, from what I heard, the acidity in the infection which was wearing down the numbing gel solution. I stopped the dentist twice to have them inject more gel. This helped a little but still I felt the drilling, prodding and the sutures at the end. I battled through it all shedding some tears but finally all of a sudden it was over. In a exhausted voice I breathed out “Fuckkk”. The dentist said, “Yeah that is a good way to sum it up”.

The oral surgeon and Jess did a great job considering the circumstances. The only thing I am bummed about is that I never got my joke.

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A Bohemian living in the moment

Here I am. Back in Sundbyberg. Since moving in April this year my summer has been busy in all senses. I moved from Sundbyberg to my friend Walter’s apartment at Telefonplan two days before I left to Shanghai,China. Upon my return from China I became awfully sick to the point where I could not leave the couch. Poor Walter was stuck not only with me living there but being sick at the same time. The great friend he is he helped me more than I could have asked for. I am very grateful. After my short time spent at Telefonplan I moved in the month of late May to early June to Roslagstullbacken/Odenplan which is where Stockholm University’s student apartments were located. I was able to rent a room in the same apartment where my baseball friend Shawn, his wife and baby lived. That lasted three months until they decided to buy an apartment therefore forcing me to relocate once again. Half my things were already in boxes so when it came time to move it took me two hours to pack and four hours to move and unpack.

Four days ago I moved to Sundbyberg (Sumpan). Again. Full circle. Now I live a couple streets away from where I used to live in April. I am currently living with my friend Emelie’s mother Maria, her dog Isa and cat named Trasan (Rag) in a beautifully furnished apartment.

The other day when I spoke with mother I thought back on all the different places I have lived and all the people I met during those periods. After travelling Europe for a month in 2005 I moved into a rather large house in Täby Kyrkby. I lived with an elderly couple, Hjortis and her husband. I lived on the second floor all on my own and stuck it out through winter. At the end of 2005 I found out that there was baseball in Sweden so I set my sights on joining a team in 2006. My thoughts were to play with Stockholm in the south of Stockholm so I decided to find a place nearby. That was not the case. I found a place in Fisksätra. I lived there one day. The polish women I lived with was going deaf and the walls were extremely thin. So me trying to sleep at 11pm and her watching TV was not a good mix plus my bed was shaped in a permanent upside down “V” which was impossible to sleep in. I frantically called my mom to help me find a place and get the hell out of there. We found a place in Kärrtorp, Haninge in the south of Stockholm. Turned out to be a cute little red cottage in the forest outside of Haninge. I took it and moved in straight away. That cottage was a magical place. A bucket as my toilet, stolen internet and warm water for the shower which lasted three minutes was all I needed. I was completely alone. I truly experienced the sound of silence there. I awoke to sunlight every morning shining through the trees and into my little bedroom. I did not meet to many people that summer in my area besides the dysfunctional family across from me and deers that came around once in a while and hung out on my front lawn. The funny thing about where I lived was that it was not at all close to where I played baseball. I ended up joining a team in the North of Stockholm where I had to travel to three times a week and took me almost four hours back and forth just to practice. It was all worth in the end because we won the Championship in the highest division of Swedish baseball. I also won the MVP award along with an invite to play with the Swedish baseball National Team. Then I moved back to California for the winter.

In 2007 I came back to play my second year for the Sundbyberg Heat baseball team and ended up living with my baseball buddy Michael in a fairly small apartment in Kista, Stockholm. Finally I lived close by only being one metro stop from the baseball field and four stops from my work (Jobbexpressen). The downside was I did not have my own room plus I lived with two very hairy but friendly cats. My buddy and I lived together, worked together and played baseball together. After six months it was enough. We both were tired of each other and it was time for me to move on. So I went back to California for the winter.

Winter 2007 I moved to Santa Barbara to start school at SBCC where I went to school and played baseball for three full semesters. During my time there I lived in a nice house close to the ocean where I rented a room for about 900$ per month. I lived with a married couple by the name of Joe and Paige in a large house along with other housemates. Over the span of two semesters my housemates included, a young friendly gay man, a Xena loving lesbian, a boring teenage couple, a wine drinking teenager and a super rich hippie surfer from Malibu.

In 2008 I was still in school. When June 1st rolled around I was back in Sweden to play ball. A kind hearted woman by the name of Lena Wikman took me in over the summer. I took over her living room for the time being. That summer just flew by. In mid June my brother followed along to Czech Republic to watch me play ball with the Swedish National Team. Boy did we have a blast. Remember that last day Willie? Two months after I had arrived in Sweden it was back to Santa Barbara. School flew by and before I knew it was 2009!

I completed my third semester at SBCC in May 2009. I left two weeks before the semester was over to fly to Florida and meet the National team. We travelled around to different training camps including Atlanta Braves spring training camp and Detroit Tigers spring training camp. What a blast! The weeks were to help prepare for the upcoming 2009 World Cup played in the same town I live in now, Sundbyberg. I returned to California for five days before I was off to Sweden once again. I was lucky enough to stay with my friend Johanna for a week or two at her parents house until I moved in August into an apartment in Sundbyberg. Shortly after that move I my mother came to visit and watched me play in the 2009 Baseball World Cup. I did not return to Santa Barbara that year. Instead I received a job as a Graphic Operator at Expohouse.

The first few weeks in 2010 were spent at home visiting my family. Then back to my apartment in Sundbyberg. Living wise, I did not move around at all. I was able to stay in the same apartment the whole year. What a wonderful feeling it was to be able to not have to think about moving. Regarding travelling throughout the year I went to Vietnam in February, Italy and Germany in July and then Scotland in November.

2011! An interesting year it has been. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post I have moved three times this year. I can honestly say it takes a toll on your physical and mental health. As much as I like to travel and move around not having a permanent home to come back to is a frustrating and tiresome feeling. Everyone says, “Nick why don’t you buy an apartment”? Well, I simply can not afford it. The time is not right. On top of moving I have met a lot of new faces this year who I have really enjoyed getting to know. So far my travelling this year includes Shanghai China, Oslo Norway and small cities outside of Stockholm Sweden. I don’t think I have had much time to focus on travelling this year but I hope to see some new places soon. Off the top of my head some of the places I want to visit is New Zealand, Southern Spain and Fiji.

2012. What will happen then? I hope it is not the end of the world like the Mayans say. There is so much to live for.

The Inning

0k enough about my facial hair. Lets get down to business. We faced Stockholm today in the second game of the subway series. The game was away at Skarpnäck and quite a few people showed up to support their home team. It was a great night to play ball. To bad the game ended on such a bad note. The darkness was creeping in already in the fifth inning and when it came to the sixth inning it was starting to get dangerous. That is when I made my appearance, in the sixth inning. The score was 1-7 Stockholm. Standing on the mound I had trouble seeing the catcher give signs so he went to tapping his chest to give me the signs. I was feeling great tonight. I was throwing hard and most important of all throwing strikes. They got a couple hits off me but what killed the inning was the amount of errors and one walk. I don’t have to go in to details but lets just say it was embarrassing. After my one inning appearance the game was over. The game was discontinued due to rain and darkness. Not only is the game going to have to be played on another date we are losing 1- 10 in the sixth inning. Bringing the focus back on me. I am improving, throwing harder and controlling the ball around the strike zone. That is what matters to me. The trick is to not let others affect your approach. That is what I learned today.

Facial hair

It’s true. Since the last time I wrote in this blog I have grown out my facial hair. I love it. I feel so comfortable and confident walking, I mean strutting around with with a full face of hair. I even style it to drive those Swedish girls crazy. With my foreign brown eyes and my awesome facial hair I am guaranteed a Swedish wife in no-time. Yesterday I tried my luck at the crayfish party I went to. After a unbelievable meal, some beerpong and more beerpong I was happily unsuccessful. Darn. Tomorrow is a new day and as long as I have my facial hair I still feel like a million bucks. Thank you facial hair for making me feel so special. Here are some pictures below of the crayfish party:

Next Stop: China

How many of you have been to China? How many people do you know that have visited China? When you think of vacation China is not the place that first comes to mind. I never thought of visiting China until the possibility arose. This is how it happened. My buddy Walter called me and asked, “Hey do you want to go to China with me, the tickets are cheap”? I told him I would call him back later that night. Which I did and within an hour of that the tickets were booked. I love being spontaneous. It makes life worth living. Getting caught up in the excitement of going to China I realized that the dates were the same time my friend Shadia was possibly going to visit me in Sweden. I say this because I was looking forward to that very much. Hopefully she will be able to visit another time when I am making less spontaneous choices to travel to Asia or anywhere else.

The trip is booked for a week and we plan on staying in Shanghai. I will be travelling with Walter and his friend Dario who has a girlfriend in China. I hope to write more about whats to come when I find out more.

zài jiàn (goodbye)

Busy Soubeeeeia

Good morning/God morgon! To start off with some fun news and Swedes favorite topic, the weather. Stockholm received about 30 cm of snow yesterday. Yes in one day! With the wind blowing it made it impossible for the busses to drive so they didn’t bother showing up. I was standing at the bus stop with my fat brown jacket on listening to Daft Punk – Tron for twenty minutes. I said screw it I’m outta here. I called up a co-worker to give me a ride. While I was waiting I helped two and a half cars out of the snow which had piled up around them. I asked one guy if I could help him and he said, “Yea, you jump in my car and I will push”. A bit of fun I must say trying to get a car out of the snow especially if it is not your own car. Although it was fun I was not able to help him get his car out. My ride showed up. On the way to work everything was a mess. Sitting comfortably in my co-workers 4×4 Audi I pointed and giggled at all the cars and trucks stuck in the middle of the road unable to make it up a small slope.

My weekend ahead of me looks to be a busy one. In another hour or so I have baseball practice at the Military Academy. A new addition to Sundbyberg Heat but a veteran player in Swedish baseball has given us the opportunity to practice at the gym within the compound. The gym is equipped with everything. You name it they got it.

Tonight after practice I will be having dinner at my Aunt Lena’s house with the company of my Uncle Krister and his son Daniel travelling down from the north. My cousins and their children will be there as well. I look forward to seeing everyone again.

When dinner comes to an enjoyable end I will be meeting up with my buddy Walter. We are planning to attend a inflyttningsfest (moving in party). I heard that there will be something like 45 people in a 47 kvm apartment. Which means we will be lucky if we even make it in the door. We’ll see.

On to Sunday. A pretty chill day. I will be recovering from today. In the evening I will be playing basketball with the Duvbo mens team in Husby. I plan on tearing it up.

Time for me to head out on my busy route and buzz about. l8ter.

A peace and quiet moment

I was invited to a baseball camp this weekend to help kids learn the basics of pitching, fielding and catching. The camp was held up in Leksand three hours north of Stockholm. A small town where the locals speak with a funny la la la accent and everyone is a die hard hockey fan.

Everything was covered in English. We had two American coaches and one Swedish academy coach. We got a lot done and I picked up a lot of good tips. Mostly things I learned in high school or even little league but have forgotten over the many years. There were roughly 40 kids that showed up very eager to learn something. I liked that. I had my doubts about how they were going to deliver all this information in two days but they handled it well. I was impressed. There was a good balance of lectures and physical activities to keep the kids interested and focused. If only there would be more camps like this there would be a brighter future for Swedish baseball. The second day of the camp I had about twenty minutes to slip away after lunch or fika (coffee break) to get some fresh air. A distance away from the buildings there was a frozen lake that overlooked all of Leksand. Here is Leksand in a little clip I made. So tilt your head and check it out:

Basketball

The other day I was invited to play basketball near by where I live. I decided to go. Around fifteen guys showed up ready to play some ball. Awesome. Once the game started I was surprised by their speed. They were flying all around me! I had to sit myself out a couple times to get a breather but towards the end of the game I was loose and started to pick up the pace. Then everyone else started to lag. My team was up 9-5 in the last game but we ended up losing 9-10 in a matter of minutes.

I’m glad I decided to go play and meet some new people. I think I got along with almost everyone there. Some of the guys are on the team and play every Sunday in Division 7. The lowest series in Sweden I heard. That however doesn’t matter to me. In my opinion I thought they played well and I had a freaking blast.

I met a man there who ended up being a father to one of the baseball kids I coached. We spoke a while and I found out he was a Industrial designer along with an art degree. He was a cool guy to talk to and said he would give me a couple pointers regarding schools in Sweden. Lets see what I find out in the next week or so.

Goodnight my family

Procrastinate with me

Here are some video’s lately I’ve been peeking at to keep me in good spirits.