A handful of random

This is the book based on the movie based on the novel.  People usually think the book was better, but what about when they write a book about a movie based on a book?  How do you even write a book based on a novel?  I'm all kinds of confused by this recursion.

I don't get it.  I mean, obviously it's a blatant contradiction in terms, but how/why did it happen?  Did some Swedish entrepreneur, about to start a restaurant, just like the sound of "soul food"?
Did he forget to do any research on the meaning of the name at all?  Or is the idea that Swedish people have no idea what "soul food" means, and so would think it's enchanting and intriguing?


There are a lot of little things that I can't find in the grocery store here.  Like malt vinegar.  And frying batter just isn't quite the same with white wine vinegar.

I made deep fried pickles today.  I don't have a deep fryer here, so I just heat up a pan of oil on the stove.  The only problem is that I don't have a temperature gauge on it, so I don't know how hot it is.  I think the oil is getting a lot hotter than usual and that's why my battered pickle slices exploded.  I don't remember that happening back home.  On the other hand, the scalding spatter from the explosion didn't seem to sear my bare arms as badly as some other times, so maybe it's the white wine that made them explode.

One of my corridor-mates came in near the end of my dinner.  I had already made and eaten a hamburger, fries, and onion rings.  She asked what I was making and I showed her that I was deep frying pickles.  I'm sure she's writing a blog post tonight about how a traditional American meal consists of fried pickles and a big pile of salt.

A very frustrating thing about building address numbers on streets here: they are not divided up by block.  In America, a block will have, say, 4100-4200, with 4110 roughly across from 4111, and if there aren't 100 buildings, they skip some numbers in between.  Not so in Sweden.  They start with 1 on one side of the street and 2 on the other side.  If one side has more buildings than the other side, the numbers are soon way out of sync.  For example, one of my classes is in Ekonomikum at 10 Kyrkogårdsgatan.  I found 9-13 Kyrkogårdsgatan but couldn't find 10 anywhere (the other side of the street is a cemetery.)  Finally, after almost an hour, I found 10 Kyrkogårdsgatan... around 4 blocks away, across from 35 Kyrkogårdsgatan.  That doesn't make sense.  Not only does it add a lot more confusion, what if they add a new building?  10 1/2?  What if they add several more buildings?  I shouldn't have to figure out whether 10 3/16 is bigger than 10 5/8 to figure out which direction I need to go.  For a people who are supposed to care about order and efficiency, I'm not being impressed.


Speaking of not being impressed, for a welfare state, why are the buses so expensive?  I mean, really?  You can afford socialized healthcare, but a bus fare costs $4.50?


Speaking of buses, if a bus is scheduled to stop for more than about a minute, they shut off the engine until it's time to start again.  I feel like that's taking energy efficiency a step too far.


Speaking of energy efficiency, the central square and several of the main sidewalks are heated, so they are always dry and free from snow and ice.  At the same time, there are crews of city workers who go around the city knocking large icicles off of buildings.


My nickname around Vastgota Nation is now apparently "Mr. Fantastic" because I have a tendency to answer the question, "How's it going?" with "Fantastic!"  And now that the word has spread, if I answer anything different, people are disappointed and say, "C'mon, say 'fantastic' for us!"


"Fantastic" is one of the things I picked up while selling vacuums a few summers ago.  It's toned down from the "Super-Fantastic!" we were required to say.  We also had to sing songs about vacuums to get us energized for our day of sales calls.  There was a vacuum cleaning hymnal with around 100 different songs.  If you made a sale the day before, you got to choose one of the songs to sing (otherwise the boss chose.)  If you were late to the meeting, you had to stand in front and sing a solo.  I wish I was kidding about any of this.