I have to back up my computer!

I only have one song on it so I think I'll buy....

a 500 megabyte hard drive. Perfect!!

This was an ad in the subway for a shopping center, it basically says:

"To buy:

a jacket,

a pot,

a robe,

a 500 Mb hard drive,

a cable"

La Festa Gracia!

While Dad and I were living in the Gracia neighborhood of Barcelona, the Festa Gracia took place! It is Barcelona's biggest local neighborhood festival.

During the parade there were lots of these firecracker things and the kids were really into running around and getting their eyebrows singed.

Locals decorated their streets with different themes.

a bearded lady performs

another decorated street

hey! It's Doraemon!

Mali love's Obama

If Obama can't get reelected in America, he should try running for president of Mali!

Let's take a little trip back there...

The lucid dream work out plan

Ok, so a few nights ago I had a dream about lucid dreaming. No, not a dream where I was lucid dreaming, I've never actually been able to do that. But a dream about lucid dreaming. Basically it was a Snabba Cash (in English called Easy Money, a novel from 2006) meets lucid dreaming scenario.
    So I'm Mrado in the dream and after some boring stuff like riding around in a car with no driver while I'm trying to change clothes in the passenger seat and being caught on one of those speed cameras after I almost hit some DB who tried to cross the road in a cross walk when there was a car without a driver coming towards him, (hello!) THEN the more interesting part of the lucid dreaming work out plan comes into play.
    So, the big new thing in the body building community (Mrado was a body builder in the book, and also had problems with being a bad driver, but not to the extent that he rode around in the passenger seat and let the car drive itself) is working out while you are lucid dreaming, which totally maximizes the effects of the workout. But, since it's a dream everything is totally screwed up. So I'm in the gym and I'm not lucid dreaming, I'm basically sleep walking, or sleep working out I guess is more accurate. I'm on the bike machine sort of slumped over like half way sleeping and the gym owner comes over and is like oh cool you're doing the lucid dreaming technique! I'm all excited and say yeah, it's the first time I've been able to do it! The owner of course is a lucid dreaming pro and starts bragging about how he's done it at least 50 times while he's flexing his muscles.
    I think at some point I also, while "lucid dreaming", tried climbing up one of those ropes and also do handstands.

Here's me (aka Mrado) breaking bones while lucid dreaming :D

The Smiskotheque turns 100 (posts)

Hey! This is the Smiskotheque's 100th post!

Where have we been since the Smiskotheque started a little over a year ago?

 I moved to a new apartment where I had a small neighbor who liked to hang on my terrace.

 I contributed to the takeover of Stockholm by rabbits.

 

I rummaged through drawers and found  my great great Grandfather's notebook from 1894

 I visited Berlin with some friends

Stockholm got covered in LOTS of snow

 I visited Mali

 Miss Kattson came to live with me for a while

 I went to Cyprus

 I collected a ton of cans at the Walpurgis festivities in Uppsala

 Visited lots of cows

Took a trip with Zach to Croatia and a few neighboring countries

 I was plagued by dead birds over the summer

 I moved to a new hood

 I celebrated my birthday with family and friends and stinky fish

I took a trip to Spain

CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!

Today Mary and I went to the Chocolate fair at the Nordic museum and totally pigged out on chocolate samples.

We went to the kids room where we got to make marzipan sculptures. Here's Mary's crocodile on the left and my weird snake thing on the right.

 Here's me pigging out at the supposedly world's biggest chocolate fountain.

Here's one of the many stands selling chocolate truffles, but this one had the most variety and they all looked AWESOME!

The truffles I bought, minus one cause I ate it before I got home to the camera.

Clockwise from top left: pear cognac, wild strawberry and rhubarb, glögg (christmas spiced wine), blueberry cardamom, blackberry vanilla, and fig/red wine.

YUM!

The missing one was ädelost which is Swedish blue cheese.

Two AWESOME things!

ONE

Kattson has a new home!

here's an old photo of her laying in my sock basket

Yay for Kattson!

TWO

Etran Finatawa is coming to town! Me and Othmane are all about it, mostly me though, I'm PSYCHED!

Etran Finatawa on Spotify

Meanwhile in Estocolmo...

 Gamla Stan (Stockholm's old town) rebels

 and breaks into stores

(Translation: "Please! Don't break in here anymore. We have had 2 burglaries within a short time and don't have any computers, money, or alcohol. NOTE! The bottles in the window contain apple juice".)

ponders whether to break into this store as well...

 These are the culprits, drawn by Stockholm's best sketch artists, Henry and Kelly.

 Danielle came to visit before going back to the States and while she was here grew the most amazing mustache.

 Friends came over and we attacked a tray of messy cookies Pedro made.

La Sagrada Familia

Pictures from the COOLEST CHURCH EVER!!

La  Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, was designed by Antoni Gaudi. Construction began in 1882 and is expected to be completed never. No, seriously they say 2026 but we'll see...

It's basically a construction area right now, but it is probably the most amazing building I've ever been inside of.

There's lots of pictures around of the facades and I'm sure you've seen them. I personally was blown away by the interior so that's what my pictures were mostly of.

in the Spanish boonies

Before I came to my senses, I spent 3 days in a place I can't remember the name of in Spain helping a guy maintain his bazillion fruit/almond/olive trees. I took a few photos while I was there, here are two.

By coming to my senses I mean bailing on the work I did for free to live in the sweet apartment in central Barcelona I managed to trade my room in Stockholm for 10 days for!

Hanging out with animals

Some photos my Mom took this summer when we went on a photo safari and spent some time with cows and goats.

 So cute and smallll! Only 2 months old (if I remember correctly)
NO! 2 weeks, big difference. Mother informed me of the correct age.

 Hello!!

 I got really tall this summer!

 New friends

They have long tongues so I didn't want them to lick me while I wasn't looking