Copy/paste from my Last.fm :

Jens Lekman (SWE) - Store Vega - 15th feb
The Mars Volta (US) - Store Vega - 22nd feb
Yeasayer (US) - Debaser - 1st mar
Kaizers Orchestra (NOR) - Kulturbolaget - 29th mar
The Kills (US) - Lille Vega - 31st mar
Portishead (US) - KB Hallen - 4th apr
Nouvelle Vague (FR) - Kulturbolaget - 10th apr
Girls in Hawaii (BEL) - Loppen - 24th apr
Explosions in the sky (US) - Debaser - 6th may
Flogging Molly (US) - Mejeriet - 10th may
Pacific (SWE) - Bleginska Nation - 23rd may
Sunset Rubdown (US) - Loppen - 28th may
… Festival(s) ? …
The National (US) - Store Vega - 11th aug

For the first time since I started to work, I am working overtime. It is not so common here, but it is ordered by managers from time to time… Except last saturday when I wanted to do everything but working, I must say I am not really affected by that. Of course, I don’t have so much free time these particular weeks, but after all I get extra money, and soon it will be over. And by working overtime, I feel much more involved in the critical deadlines. It feels to good to have some pressure sometimes… More generally, I should say that I enjoy more and more my work. It took me a few months to get used to the tools and the environnement, but now I feel confident enough to take responsabilities and initiatives. Finding a good balance between being involved at work and get enough free time to do something else than sleeping, I guess that is the real challenge for a starting career !

I like the freedom that is given to IT employees here in Sweden. The notion of “flex-time” seems to be the same in most of the companies: appart from the so-called core hours where you have to be at the office (monday to friday, 09 to 15), each employee is free to schedule its 39,15 working-hours a week as he feels like. So I know what to expect for the spring and the summer: I will work longer on rainy days, and leave as early as possible on warm ones

Samedi dernier, pour la deuxième et dernière fois du mois de janvier, le soleil a fait une apparition. Cette fois, elle été prévue… une fenêtre de 5h de ciel tout bleu que je suivait consciencieusement par météo déjà 3 jours avant. Moi à qui le soleil de faisait ni chaud ni froid il y a quelques années, me voilà totalement transformé par les 2 hivers suédois que j’ai passé et celui que je passe actuellement.

Je ne suis pas le seul, les amis que j’avais convaincu d’aller à la plage pour profiter de cette fenêtre de beau temps sec et froid (température ressentie de -3°C tout de même) étaient dans le même état que moi. L’hiver suédois est long, gris et sombre, et j’a appris qu’il ne fallait pas rater les quelques moments annonciateurs d’un printemps encore très lointain. Mais c’est ce rude hiver qui fait que j’adore la Suède au printemps, alors j’attendrais patiemment…

The National - Friend of Mine
Arctic Monkeys - Mardy Bum
José Feliciano - I can’t get no satisfaction
Simon & Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy In New York
Wir Sind Helden - Nur Ein Wort
Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence (2004)
Aretha Franklin - Think
The Beatles - Octopus’s Garden
Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad moon rising
CSS - Music Is My Hot Hot Sex
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Details Of The War
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Santa Esmeralda - Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
The Doors - Light My Fire
Emilie Simon - To the dancers in the rain
Fatboyslim - Praise you
Finlay Quaye - Your Love Gets Sweeter
Lily Allen - Friday Night
Interpol - C’mere
Peter Bjorn And John - Young Folks
Calvin Harris - The Girls
Mylo Vs Miami Sound Machine - Doctor Pressure
Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
The Beatles - Revolution
Jackson 5 - Abc
Blur - Song 2
Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For
Green Day - Basket case
Alex Gaudino - Destination Calabria (Destination Unknown)
The Strokes - Last Nite
Timbaland ft keri hilson - the way i are
Madonna - Hung Up
Franz Ferdinand - Jacqueline
Timbuktu - Alla Vill Till Himmelen Men Ingen Vill Dö
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack ft Timbaland
Britney spears - gimme more (kaskada rmx)
Bellini - Samba De Janeiro
September - Looking For Love
Usher ft lil jon and ludacris- Yeah
Blues Brothers - Everybody
Elvis Presley - Hound Dog
The Beach Boys - Barbara Ann
Lou Bega - Mambo No.5
Scissor Sisters - I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’
Radiohead - Creep
dEUS - Nothing really ends

For the new year break, I spent a few days in Amsterdam, the sin city that I had already visited two years ago. I don’t know if this is me getting swedish and longing for blue sky all the time, but I feel frustrated visiting a city when the sky is grey. And that was the case 90% of the time spent there… Anyway, I discovered the city from another angle than last time, since I “knew” someone doing Erasmus studies there. This time, I was not impressed by the number of bikes downtown though, it seemed almost natural after two years spent around Lund and Copenhagen. Amsterdam is a beautiful rebel city; unfortunately, the sex&drug tourism makes it a little bit artificial… A perfect place for a week end anyway!

For new year’s eve, the whole city turns into a huge field where fireworks are simply everywhere. In the center, the majority of the crowd was obviously under the influence of one or several drugs, and it did not feel really safe to walk with explosions all around… We finally gave up and decided to retreat and enjoy the countdown far from the crowd. From 23 to 02, fireworks were continously illuminating the sky, making it impossible for us to distinguish official fireworks from the rest. A crazy city, really…

Apart from the sightseeing, I had a great time there listening for the first time to the terribly addictive Love album from the Beatles. Under the supervision of the two remaining Beatles, around 130 recordings have been mixed together in this 80-minutes album. The album should probably be called “Beatles in a nutshell”. It is not just a best of, since for some songs, up to 3 different versions have been mixed together to create a “brand new” version. Other songs such as the one you can listen to in this post are combinations/bootlegs of several existing songs. A masterpiece, both technically and artistically.

Please accept my best wishes for 2008. I hope it will be as good as 2007 for those who had like me a wonderful time during the past year. Friendship and relationships in general are valuable and fragile, especially when one is abroad, and I am really thankful for all of you: those that are around me almost daily, those that I could see much more, and those that I cannot see as often as I would like to.

Enjoy 2008 and for those who would need hope, do not give up, there is always a light shining in the dark and a spring waiting right after winter. See you soon!