Maximo, Maximo, Maximo!

This poor little kid has been labeled a drama queen since the day he could reveal his personality.

In fairness he is. He has a wonderfully 'dynamic' personality, he is ridiculously intelligent - he speaks like a 3 year old, he's taught himself to count to 10 (yes himself - from listening to his older brother) . He knows his ABC's, his colours, and he generally doesn't like a single thing about being anything other than a 'big boy'!

He also knows how to top anything anyone does!

For instance, I recently mentioned I had had a hospital visit - which resulted in a fair bit of attention being focused towards me for a few days. It would seem that Max decided to see me my hospital visit and raise me, I don't know, one of the most frightening experiences of his parents lives! Max begin last Thursday having what we now know were 'drop seizures'. His poor mother assumed that he had a middle ear infection (as who would suspect that their perfectly healthy child was suddenly having drop seizures?).

This lead to a suspected 'febrile convulsion' that evening (despite Max not having a temperature). This particular seizure lasted more than 7 mins and left him unconscious for almost an hour afterwards. Long story short - Max was released from hospital 2 hours after waking, despite having no obvious source of infection (a prerequiste for febrile convulsions). Funny enough both the drop seizures and the 'grand mal' seizures reoccured the next day - culminating in approx 30 seizures in 3 days (and a 6day hospital visit!).

While this was as horrible as horrible can be - and something I wish upon no parent. What I can take from it (my blog is MY ego) is that firstly, it made me realise that what is going on in my life is quite insignificant. Secondly, we were forced to face the reality that, while this is horrible and scary and many other emotions in between, we are actually very fortunate. Things could be so much worse. One of the obvious reasons for the onset of seizures is a brain tumor - and while we don't have the confirmation that it is NOT a brain tumor, we all feel in our heart of hearts that Maximo the drama queen is around to stay for alot longer than a few years!

However, we don't know now, and we may never know what causes these seizures, possibly he will have them whenever he is unwell. That's also ok as well - we just have to make sure we all stay well, and don't share our germs with him!

2009. Can only get better from here! Just you wait and see...

January - off to a bang!

Happy New Year!
Or happy crappy start to 2009 - which can only mean things are on the rise!

2009 - wow where do I start?
I decided to end 2008 in hospital. I mean the only way to top the crappyness of 2008 was with a life threatening experience, right?

I have always had a crappy neck and back - and on my second or third beer on new years eve i decided to 'crack' my neck to relieve the tension. Needless to say it was a BIG mistake. Long story short my C1 (very top bone in your neck) was already out of place, and I made it worse = migraine = tension = pain = me feeling like my head was going to explode.
Which it turns out it almost was!!

After a couple hours I became fairly concerned as, although I hadn't had a migraine for some years, I knew they had never felt like this one. Being New Years Eve, I walked myself to the hospital (you try getting a cab - and I am a nurse - I would never call an ambulance for a 'headache') Natty escorted me and we were both astounded how seriously they were taking a migraine! Something tells me in hindsight that I looked pretty bloody terrible - terrible enough to have me in a hospital bed with a doctors undivided attention within 20 mins of my arrival to the hospital (Remembering this is one of the busiest emergency departments in Australia).

Long story short the pain was exacerbating my blood pressure which in turn exacerbated the pain (and so on) which lead me to have a blood pressure of 197/123 (for those who don't know what that means - high enough to have caused a stroke or a vessel to burst in my brain)

So after this little event, 2009 is going to be about limiting stress, looking after myself and learning to be completely happy again. Oh and staying near my family! Cause they are the ones that are there when we need them!

Happy New Year everyone, 2009 is going to be exciting to say the least! xx

Time flies when your unorganised :D

(Whoops... I forgot to post this earlier)

It really really really does!

First of all - God Jul/Merry Christmas!
Although almost a week late, I hope you believe that the sentiment is no less sincere. I had forgotten how busy life can get in Brisbane - luckily I caught up on sleep while I was living in Sweden. I'm going to need it!!

I had some Swedish friends here the week before Christmas or Jul! Linnea and Fredrik are friends of Nettan's whom I've adopted as my own. It was GREAT to spend time with them, although I probable wasn't the best host for them! Between being back at work at the Mater (which feels like 1 million steps in the wrong direction) the stress of not being able to complete an assignment and the plain weirdness of it being the week that Håkan should have arrived in Australia - I was a little off my game. Nothing major, but I just feel I could have showed people 'my Brisbane' better than I did that week! (Sleep deprivation is a bitch!)

Speaking of my Brisbane I have been slowly reintroduced to the local culinary delights of Brisbane - of course I've been enjoying this with my foodie sidekick Lib. (Hopefully she'll forgive me now I've given her a mention - she felt somewhat neglected after I failed to mention her in my first Australian blog post!) As foodies go we're difficult to please, and to be honest I haven't eaten anything in Brisbane that is worth mention so far (except for Tandoori King - expect more on that later). I'm not sure if this is a case of me having creating a world of exceptional brisbane cafes in my head over the past two years, or if we've just been plain unlucky.

I'll leave you with a couple of photos I've taken since being home. One day I will get Fona to teach me to edit them properly, however as it stands now I only have a lap top and photoshop causes laptops to CRASH regularly....

Home is where the heart is....

Apparently. I'm not sure if I am convinced it's where my heart is, but it's certainly where the hearts of my loved ones are! I arrived home on Monday, with the gorgeous Sambo literally pushing his little brother out of the way to get to me. Poor little Maximo (who is not quite two) took a little while to come to terms with me not being inside a computer. He certainly knew who I was - he whispered to his Mum 'It's Aunty Cas?' With a very confused and puzzled look as if to question why there would be a real life version of me!

My comming home 'treat' was Cirque De Soleil - I had never been to Cirque De Soleil before, so I wasn't sure what to expect exactly. I had seen one or two of their performances on TV -so I knew to there would be Dance, Theatre, Acrobats, Music - I wasn't prepared for the level of comedy nor the element of suspense! This particular performance is titled 'Dralion' which claims to be a fusion of the ancient Chinese circus tradition and the avant-garde approach of Cirque du Soleil - 'Dralion derives much of its inspiration from Eastern philosophy with its perpetual quest for harmony between humankind and nature'.

It's safe to say that all of the performances certainly met their mark! I could not fault anything - other to say than some of the more tranquil and delicate acts saw me almost slip into a jet-lagged coma - so possibly not the best idea to an evening performance with jet lag! The performances were so well executed that had it not been for a few minor mistakes (possibly life threatening) I imagine I would have forgotten exactly how remarkable and difficult most of the movements were. Needless to say I think CDS meet their goal of "to entertain, uplift and enlighten audiences the world over."

and the countdown... it begins.

In ten days time I shall be on my way to Australia, full of uncertainty and quite possibly even more anxious than I already am. I guess I will no longer be 'Cas i Sverige', I assume I will just be normal old Cas again. (Although I was told recently, that I wasn't really of domestic quality; I was much more of the 'export' quality.... so who knows).

The begining of goodbye drinks and dinners have begun (to my mortification with my current fringe debacle!) and it feels strange. For so long I was looking forward to moving home to Australia, which was primarily based on my own feelings of inadequacy. I had no goals, dreams or aspirations here, and of course now I have finally found the life that I had craved - it seems it's time to go home. Please don't get me wrong, I am very much looking forward to spending time with my family and friends again, it's just that this feels a little like a cruel twist of fate. And of course this blog allows me to express my true inner emo!

On the plus side there will be daylight! As i am writing this the sun has all but set at 4pm, so the thought of sunshine and heat is fairly exciting right now. I am also looking forward to improving my english skills - to re-include complex structure when speaking; and to use adjectives other than those of awesome, good, nice, great and cool!

When bad hair happens to good people!

I have always had crazy sleeping patterns when I'm dealing with tranisitions in my life. So it came as no suprise to me that as I am preparing to uproot myself again, that sleep is becomming a rare commodity! Monday night I decided to do something productive with my 'awake time' i.e the midnight to 2am time bracket. I decided to redo my hair. Which included cutting my fringe.

I've done this 100 times before - there shouldn't have been a problem. Of course there was. I stupidly cut my fringe at the length I wanted it to sit.... while it was wet! Roll your eyes people - it's just one more ingredient in this #!@*cake I seem to be baking... (Maddie's metaphore not mine!).

I have a 60's party to attend on Saturday night - which Håkan will also attend - so I am desperately searching for a wig to wear - as we all know your hair makes or breaks you - and right now it damn well breaks me!

I will post about Stockholm and Paris before the end of the week!

All the leaves are brown.....

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I've been for a walk
on a winter's day

I'd be safe and warm
if I was in L.A
California Dreamin'
on such a winter's day......

Technically, it's not yet winter, and the leaves aren't brown - they have all but disappeared.
Cycling is no longer fun at this time of year, and it's dark at 1630hrs!

In 3 weeks and I will be hot hot hot... So why do I feel sad about that?

Perhaps it's because there will be no chance of snow.
No snowboarding in Chamonix. No making snowmen. No snow angles.

There's always a trade off...

And I'm sure when I'm swimming in the salt water, with the harsh Australian sun tingling my skin and eating watermelon with my nephews; falling down slopes with a snowboard attached to my feet wont seem that great :D Will it??

Well someone likes a "Classic"

Apparently so!
After several emails and an embarressed phone call - I have discovered that apparently someone decided that the "Classic" Nokia was worth keeping.
Now they haven't used my account (which is locked anyway) but the phone is not at the bar. Even after I remembered where I left it!! Soooo.... there you go - apparently there are some people worse off than me in mobile phone land!
For them perhaps the classic was an upgrade???

hahahahaha! Hilarious. I caved and decided to order another SIM.
I will be contactable by the end of the week I would imagine.

For now I'm just looking at iPhones! I had intended on buying myself a new ipod for christmas (and not just because my current ipods inscription sucks!)- but I decided that i might get an iphone, working on the basis that if I actually LOVE my phone, I'll possibly be a little more careful with it!
You know I've been carying around my favourite lipgloss since January 2005 - cause I LOVE IT!

Today - I wish I was American.

I really, really do.
Never before have I contemplated that those words would pass my lips.
Not only do I wish that I was an American who could vote; but an American who could vote and who lived in AMERICA! This has to be one of the most exciting periods for Americans this millenia.

Imagine contributing to voting for someone who will potentially be the first black President; Now consider a black president ruling in an era where Paris Hilton took mainstage for at least 2 days during the presidental campaign! (for those who live under a rock see here

In an ideal world, celebrities and politics would never be mentioned in the same sentence - but we dont live in an ideal world do we. Obama is absolutely a celebrity which is actually one of the reasons that I hope to god he is elected today. I do believe that his representation in the The White House will signify change and reignite hope for Americans at this very cruical time. And that is certainly the message that his communications staff are sending out through Facebook!

Whichever way you look at it we live in a narcissistic identity obsessed world; A world where any old person, with any old thing to say, writes a blog (:D); checks their analytics daily to see how many people in which part of the world are reading it; checks their text messages, emails and social networking platforms almost constantly; and 'enquires' every so invasively (via these tools) into other peoples lives.

The majority of the world has been negatively looking at America through the eyes of 'Bush' for some time. America needs a leader who knows how and why people are pissed off. Unfortunately John McCain doesn't seem to know how many homes he owns; so I doubt he undestands what it is like to loose your home in a recession which is vastly contributed to a war that barely anyone agrees to. So Obama - facebook as many people as you want. It's 2008 - you would have my vote if I could give it to you. And if it just so happens that you become the first social networking black president in the world - than DAMN I'll be smiling tomorrow :D

Do you know I really believed I'd grown...

My slightly older and possibly wiser sister claims that I have self fulfilling prophesies which force me to loose everything! A form of self-punishment if you will. eg. If i dont put those "wallet/puffer/smokes/keys" etc in spot X I will loose them. Of couse I dont move them, and I "purposely loose them" just to punish myself!

Unfortunately, I tend to agree with her, so much so that lately I have been telling myself over and over 'I do not loose things'. Really I recite this in my brain up to - well a few times a day. Even the sticky note on the sidebar of my computer says "I don't lose things anymore!". This has been working fine for me, that was until I broke the cardinal rules of drinking!

Generally I have 3 rules that I like to follow when drinking....

1) dont drink on an empty stomach
2) dont emotional drink unless your with good friends (preferably really good friends)
3) dont drink when exhausted.

[maybe I should add 4) NEVER EVER drink if you fall into all three categories!]

Saturday night I drank a bottle of wine on an empty stomach with virtual strangers when I was extremely sleep deprived. WHOOPS!

Long story short - I no longer have a phone.

My friend kindly described my phone as a "Classic Nokia" as I drunkenly tried to convince the bar staff that in fact, no-one had stolen my phone, I just couldn't remember where I left it.

I suggested that if they were to have a good look after the bar had shut they will probably find it. Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaase take my number - whoops - her number and let me know if you find it.

This was met with a mixture of looks which I felt described the following emotions:
1. "Why would I look for a phone after I finish work - I have mine right here in my pocket thanks?"
2. "Why is this drunk Swedish girl slurring in English"?
3. "Why is this drunk Swedish girl trying to give me her phone number (which she doesn't have) - this is a gay bar and I'm male!"

Oh the humiliation. To make it slightly worse - the two girls I was with come from Copenhagen and Stockholm respectively - had offered accommodation to Mads and I next week when we are visiting. I'm really a little bit frightened to see if they suddenly withdraw their offers after my stupidity :(

Hold you thumbs they dont!