I've been struggling with three chapters for a while not. The main characters from two different story lines are about to meet and it's a little tricky to merge those story lines and still maintain the unique style those two story lines are written in.
Today, I sat down and just focused on the problem and wrote detailed outlines of the chapters and basically put the puzzle together. Now I'm unstuck and can move on. It was such a relief and I deserve a big glass of Highland Park now.
It's my last week here in Hawaii. I've written so much and I really love the story that's growing out of the embryo I created a couple of years ago.
I don't think I would have come this far without taking time off and isolating myself from the real world. Next week though, I'm returning to my normal real life and there are some exciting new projects waiting for us when we get back.
North Korea Declares Sweden an Enemy 2008-08-19 13:17:09
Apparently the North Korean government felt that Sweden poses a great threat to their fabulous nation, so they decided to declare Sweden an enemy to North Korea. This according to some articles in Swedish newspapers (DN, Sydsvenskan).
I guess Swedish papers are blowing things out of proportions since not a single news source outside Sweden have reported this. It could also be that all important news are drowning in the massive Olympic news coverage.
Or Sweden might just not be important enough that anyone would think that this was newsworthy.
Or maybe there's nothing newsworthy about a crazy nation (with like two friends on their international friends-list) that thinks another country is their enemy.
North Korea, I got news for you. I would think twice before pissing off the peaceful country of Sweden, which has one of the biggest and most powerful armies in the whole world.
North Korea: Your days are numbered! We'll send in half of our army (about 12 guys and a minivan) and crush you! Ha!
I had a little crisis the other day while going through the remaining chapters. The book was turning very dark and depressing. It was becoming too serious and I wanted to find my way back to the adventurous spirit I had when I started writing.
So I sat down and rewrote the second and third acts of the plot and came up with something really interesting. I'm very happy with the direction I'm taking now and it opened up so many new possibilities of evolving the current characters.
Here's some photos from my recent excursion to the North Shore.
The sun is setting over the North Shore. Moments ago rain poured down on me and I thought the clouds were just beautiful.
The beach at Turtle Bay.
The beach at Mokuleia.
The ocean as seen from the parking lot past Dillingham airfield.
Sunset at Waialua Bay.
This huge turtle is dead/sleeping. I couldn't tell. Yes, he was moving that slowly (Actually he didn't move at all, maybe he was just meditating. Ah, a Buddhist turtle).
After spending a lot of time in Korea I kinda got tired of Korean food. So when my friends wanted to eat Korean after the club, I was a little hesitant at first. But, once I got my bibimbap I felt right back at home. Weird ya? And with some Cass beer it felt like I was back in Korea with Johan and Rasmus. I miss that a little. (Okay, being sentimental at six in the morning. Fine)
I just wanted to point out that I think Kristen Wiig is hilarious. I watched a little bit of Knocked Up again and even though she's not in the movie that much her appearance stands out. Kristen is doing SNL and has been doing it since November 2005.
Apparently two homeless guys tried to kill each other at Värnhemstorget outside my apartment in Sweden. It was a nasty fight that landed one of the men in the hospital with the wounds from a smashed bottle through his throat.
I can't believe how much violence there is in Malmö these days. I read in the papers that people get shot, mugged, beat up all the time and city burglars break into houses at a record rate. I would feel safer in Chula Vista or Compton than in Malmö.
What's going on in my city? Why isn't the police doing anything? What's the cause for all of this? Is life so miserable that robbery and assault is the only way for these criminals to survive? Or is life just too easy? Is robbery and assaults just another past time for bored maniacs, wanting to add some excitement to their boring lives?
I don't know, I don't feel very excited about spending my life in that city anymore. Politicians, police are the ones to blame for this deteriorating city that has become a haven for criminals and maniacs. The government is to blame for a failing justice system and failed policies to help or take care of homeless people, alcoholics, and drug addicts.
Malmö seems to be in shitty hands right now. Where's Batman when you need him?
You probably didn't know that Hawaii along with Guam and South Korea are the biggest consumers of SPAM. No, they're not exceptionally prone to order V1aGr4 or enlarge their genital members or help out poor Nigerian millionaires stuck with all their money in some bank. No, they are consumers of the canned meat product called SPAM (<- yes, with capital letters).
Spam in the wild.
SPAM was first created back in the 1930's by Hormel Foods Corporation. It's basically just precooked pork shoulder and ham meat.
It's extremely popular here and McDonald's even locally serves SPAM burgers here on Oahu. There's also SPAM with rice - served more like a snack. Weird.
SPAM was ridiculed in a Monty Pyton sketch, in where the restaurant goers can only choose from a large selections of menu items, all based on SPAM. The undesired presence and large amount of unwanted items on the menu led to the use of the word Spam in regards to unsolicited and unwanted emails on the Internets.
Today I decided to leave the comfortable hotel and head out to the north shore. It's quite amazing up here. I rented an SUV and drove out to Dillingham airfield. I sat down in the trunk of the car and wrote. It's so much easier getting the atmosphere in the book right when you're looking out on what you are trying to convey.
It's bloody Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds on my balcony. I've rolled up a piece of news paper and are fighting off wave after wave of stupid doves and indigenous island birds. What the hell?
I'm up here on my balcony trying to write. It's hard to focus with those shiteous animals circling me like vultures waiting for me to die off. Get the frak out of here!
Today has been a day of weddings. The Halekulani wedding machine has produced, I think six happy couples today. As soon as one couple is done they move everyone out and rearrange the seats and sets it up for the next couple.
So I've been writing book today to the tones of the wedding march played on harps, violins and saxophones all day long. Right now there's a Octette(?) in the courtyard playing Can You Feel the Love Tonight while servers are handing out hors'devours to wedding guests. Hopefully this is the last wedding of the day.
Shanel told me that Obama is coming here next week. He's actually staying here with his family at the same hotel as I am. If he's lucky he might get a chance to meet me. We'll see.
Then he's holding this $2.500 a seat fundraiser at the hotel. His people asked me if I would want to join them *. I told them that I had other obligations, like drinking champagne and getting a massage, and couldn't possibly change my busy schedule. And besides, since I'm not an American citizen I can't give money to any of the candidates.
So instead of joining the fundraiser I will sit on my balcony and write my book. Then I will go drink champagne somewhere else with Shanel. Ha!
It's cool though that he's staying here. Maybe he wants my autograph. Hmm.. I really have to get someone to adjust my out-of-control hubris.
Surveillance and Control Hysteria 2008-08-06 23:57:57
This will be just a quick mini rant, since I have more important things to do than, well, rant.
I read this article in the Honolulu Advertiser (the newspaper here in Hawaii) that a company in San Francisco handling personal identity information for TSA pre-screened travelers had a laptop stolen the other week. An unencrypted laptop nonetheless (not that encryption bothers those who really want the information). So now thousands of records are on the loose.
This will always be the problem as we collect information on people everywhere (all in the name of War on Terror). Data will get stolen. Systems will be hacked. There are no perfect systems. Every system can and will be hacked by either criminals, intelligence agencies (foreign or domestic) or people that are just curious.
I'm not saying we shouldn't collect any information. Some of this information is vital in stopping financial crime, human trafficking and other global crimes. I'm just saying that we should be AWARE that any information we think is safe with the government or their agencies AREN'T.
The government wouldn't always have the resources to collect and secure all that information so these tasks are sometimes outsourced to third party companies (private companies with the goal of making a profit). And within every company or government agency there are always people who are just curious, or criminally tempted to make some extra cash on the side, or just plain stupid.
Keep this in mind when arguing about surveillance, personal information and the collection of ridiculous amount of data. Tell that to the ones believing that "if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear".
Coming up this fall is the European Union's new law mandating the collection of information about every phone call made, or sms sent. Yeah, like that information will remain private for long. It's just a matter of time before that data is "stolen".
Hawaii is GMT+11. That means 12 hours from Sweden which is kind of neat since, if you're an evening person like I am it's easy to talk to Sweden at night.
Although, being here, timezones can be a little stressful. You know that at any given point of the day, some of your friends or co-workers are awake and cheerfully awaits your promptest reply.
Like now, it's 5.20am in Tokyo (where Amy is), 5.20am in Seoul (where our office is), 10.20pm in Norway (where the loved one is), 10.20pm in Sweden (where our HQ is and where my friends are), 3.20pm in Chicago (where another one of our offices are), 1.20pm in San Diego (where I live and work) and 10.20am in Hawaii where I'm working on my book.
The funny thing is that I'm actually aware of these timezones all the time. I always know what time it is back in Sweden, or in Seoul, or in Chicago. Isn't that strange?
I've had so much fun writing these last couple of days. Being out here in Hawaii is very peaceful and I feel like I can write without any distractions at all. I'm up to about 3000 words a day on the main story and I still have time to enjoy the occasional Oban and do some sketches for other stories.
I have two more things in development but it's still only early treatments and I want to focus on the big adventure before getting down with these new stories.
