Dream BIG

2020 Year End Review

2020-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

Another year has come to an end and 2020 has been challenging for a lot of people all over the planet. In this post I reflect on my progress this year and am looking forward to reach new outcomes in the coming year.

I struggle to consistently do weekly and monthly reviews (especially during a hectic trimester) but at the end of every year I take some time to reflect on where I want to take my life next. It’s an opportunity to share a slice of my life and hopefully it gives value to someone out there. 🙂

What did go according to plan, what did not, in what ways did I change, what pop culture did I consume, and what do I look forward to in 2021? Keep on reading to find the answers.

Rasmus Nordling’s 10 Goals for 2020

At the beginning of the year I wrote down these nine (no. 10 has disappeared) goals below that I believed would take me closer to some of my dreams and close the gap to my full potential.

I have put down fear of failure as one of my Comfort Zone Challenges and I think it’s very natural not wanting to fail, but I’ve come to realize it’s better to set BIG, ambitious goals and maybe fail rather than going safe. There’s always opportunity for growth in every failed attempt.

Goals I thought would be accomplished in 2020:

I scuba dive in the ocean by the end of the year
I exercise for 150 minutes each week to prioritize my health, by the end of October
I sleep for 8 hours each night by the end of the year
I meditate most days of the week by the end of the year
I review my goals and plan the coming week, weekly by the end of the year
I have diversified my savings in four buckets with varied risk by the end of the year
I explore Australia and do fun activities with friends on the weekends by the end of the year
I release my debut album with 10 songs and 30 minutes of original music by the end of the year
I live in a share house in Brisbane with less than 200 AUD rent/week by week 6 2020

I watched this video by Brian Tracy on How to Create an Effective Action Plan and intentionally set goals in different areas for me to grow.

My Business & Career goal went from I release my debut album with 10 songs and 30 minutes of original music by the end of the year which is more a personal achievement, to me more focusing on passing all my subjects at uni. Assessments have priority over recreational songwriting.

I collaborated with producer 9/10 on some unreleased songs in the beginning of the year. In trimester 2, Brisbane went into a lockdown due to COVID and we transitioned into online learning with BlueJeans and Zoom. I kept my head down and adapted to the circumstances. I managed to do all of my assessments with decent grades, without access to the campus facilities.

Although I admit, at times I woke up just in time to join the lecture.

For Ensemble in trimester 2 me and Sarah rearranged popular songs into disco style.

I then had my scheduled break between June - September where I focused on my personal growth and joined RedStone as a guitarist. We worked on and performed original songs, drove to Old Petrie Town for a photoshoot, and recorded the single Drifting Away.

What about Sarah you might ask? She continued with trimester 3 and formed Flight of Thoughts.

After the break I resumed my degree and formed the “guitar driven rock band” Junktion with Mandy (vocals), Rob (vocals/guitar/keyboard) and Joohan (drums), while playing with RedStone. Junktion recorded the single Righteous Brother (that I wrote) with producer Steve James, who also produced Drifting Away.

Righteous Brother sounds like Island in the Sun and Mighty Quinn. - Lecturers at JMC Academy

I enjoyed attending masterclasses in Guitar (Simon Gardner), Vocals (Emma Wilson and Shamus Kirkpatrick), Songwriting (Loic Valmy), and to perform with my talented mates several times at the zoo during the trimesters.

Some assessments:

Analysed Karma Police and Money, and wrote a Music Tech Report (let’s not talk about it)
Arranged Phil Collins - Another Day in Paradise into hard rock (inspired by Ghost, The Offspring, and KISS) with score for a band with a contemporary horn section (trumpet, saxophones, and trombone)
Remixed Speak Softly - Broken Man
Produced a song to the vocal stems from Lorde - Homemade Dynamite

Outside of regular assessments, RedStone took on several collaboration projects this trimester:

Recorded our debut EP with help from our Audio Engineering mates Alex, Connor and Nato. Keep your 👂 and 👀 open for The Long Way Round
Shot a music video for Ghost Train 👻🚂
Produced a game trailer soundtrack for Animation student Jason
Covered Shania Twain’s - No One Needs to Know for a trimester 2 audio project. We also played a gig at the Loft in West End for the audio students to practice live sound with a band
Performed together with Lavelin, Khara Van Park and Piece Of Mind at The Flamin’ Galah, where we played for an hour and had more freedom over the setlist (sadly no dancing allowed)

Although I managed to pull through, there were some doubts in the beginning of tri 3 whether I should keep going, drop some subjects or just defer for some time. I then had a remote session with Sydney counsellor Rochelle and the rest is (music) history… I’ve mostly struggled with Ear Training and Guitar Performance this year and underestimated the workload of assessments.

A reminder that I should keep on top of my music studies.

You deserve a reading break for making it here. Allow yourself to Drift away to the single while browsing some of our photos. 📷
You can give RedStone a 👍 on Facebook and follow us on Instagram to stay up to date.

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My Health & Fitness focus was to exercise for 150 minutes each week to prioritize my health, by the end of October.

I went out for a 5,8 km run on 16 January after battling a sore throat. It was the first proper exercise since I rode Cykelvasan 94 km in August 2019. I followed a marathon training plan (intervals, long runs, distance runs) and looked forward to Brisbane Marathon. Every run had a purpose and intended intensity zone. I reluctantly logged all activities via my iPhone (Runcoach app), when I didn’t have a working GPS watch.
During my break from uni I started running more with ambitions on going ultra (distances longer than marathon).

Events & Races:

Ran a whooping 3,8 km on Global Running Day
Ran the charity runs Coronamilen 21.1 km in June, and Mustaschmilen 10 km in November
Ramboll Stockholm Halvmarathon Virtual Edition 2020 21,1 km in September. Stopped after 15 km and a time of 1:30:11
River Run 100 - Sunrise Marathon 42,2 km in October with a 5 AM start. Ran the same 5 km along the river 8 times and finished as they were packing up after 6 1/2 hours (long story).
The Ultra X #Holiday100 66,28 / 100 km (8:58:46) between 24-31 December
~~Icebug Xperience Gaustablikk~~ and ~~Icebug Xperience Mountain Trail Weekend~~ both in Norway, got cancelled due to COVID

Stats:

Total distance ran in 2020: 661 km
Running peaked at 152,5 km in June vs. lowest point of 19,51 km in November 🤷‍♂️
Avg Weekly Distance: 12,5 km
My only cycling this year was when I rode a CityCycle 7 km from Teneriffe ferry to Dutton Park at 2 AM (another long story)
Picked up a habit of Monday intermittent fasting again in January. Was fairly consistent with it over the year but allowed me some days to eat

The Running Experience on YouTube has helped me with follow along warm-ups and cooldowns, among other good things.

Here is my Garmin Connect profile, if anyone wants to compare stats or just stalk me. That’s fine too!

I sleep for 8 hours each night by the end of the year:

Well… I like to sleep during the weekends but I rarely go to bed before midnight, especially if I’m in the zone. Things I tried was to be out in the sun for 30 mins each day, and go to bed while listening to the ASMR Meditation app Synctuition since January. I’m soon at level 4 after having listened to 54 25-minute episodes. I used Garmin-data and Excel to calculate an average sleep of 7.4 hours.

I meditate most days of the week by the end of the year:

Early in January I found Tanja Dyredand’s video Introduction to the Art of Doing Nothing (#TomGlo). I started my mornings with 5 minute short meditations and got back in to the habit.
Then I attempted to do Zen Habits 44 Training Program for the second time. Basically it’s 11 practices done for 4 days each, that improves patience, awareness, compassion and other good stuff. I kind of did it all with some gaps where I got off track. I have drafted a separate blog post on this if you would like to know more. Leo Babauta from Zen Habits is one of the main reasons I got myself meditating in 2014-ish. I also meditated 4 hours with the app Oak.

I have been mostly healthy and managed to stay safe from the virus. I did take a test once and spent time isolated to be on the safe side when I felt warm one morning.

The outcome with my Financial Goals is to have my money work for me and utilize the 8th Wonder of the World, compound interest.

I have diversified my savings in four buckets with varied risk by the end of the year:

I’m guilty of keeping most of my eggs (savings) in the same basket/bucket. The plan was to follow a guide from RikaTillsammans to structure my savings in 4 buckets as a better way to spread the risk. I did take some action by doing a budget but I sort of got stuck in a Catch 22 when trying to work out how large buffer (1st bucket) I need.

I live in a share house in Brisbane with less than 200 AUD rent/week by week 6 2020:

I wanted to move out of the share house in Fairfield and after doing some research, I applied to Raymont Residential College in Auchenflower. Turned out to be a really good choice that has improved my life this year. It’s an all inclusive college with a wonderful community. I think it beats living by your self and even with your parents. 😉

This was my bedroom in Fairfield where I lived between October 2019 - February 2020.

My door in Unit 4 at Raymont, themed Decades.

I also opened an Australian bank account at Bankwest to transfer SEK –> AUD with TransferWise (invite that gives you a free international transfer of up to A$1000).

I had to apply for an Australian Tax File Number to give to my bank in Sweden.

Let’s be honest Planning, Reviewing & Organizing haven’t been my strengths.

I review my goals and plan the coming week weekly by the end of the year:

At least I get more stuff done since I started using Todoist, but I need to build a habit of reviewing my goals and make sure I don’t lose sight of my outcomes. Did about 16 weekly reviews this year. 😬 One thing that helped me was having weekly calls with my family (accountability) that forced me to recap my journal and review my completed tasks.
Here’s a good article called Create a Weekly Attack Plan that I got inspiration from.

I didn’t do much with the Recreational goals. I scuba dive in the ocean by the end of the year has been put on hold.

For Australia Day 🇦🇺 I didn’t know what to do so I went in to Fortitude Valley but it was hardly any party happening. I had a drink with a girl and she pointed out that the bartender was her BF and then she was off to work. 👍 I was later told that a park, beach, or backyard is where most people hang out… 🤦‍♂️

I have seen some live music this year including: JMC trimester performances at venue and in the auditorium, recital performances from graduating students, Virtual Blues on Broadbeach, Innerocken - particularly Strange Days, 2020 Virtual APRA Music Awards (similar to Grammy Award and Grammisgalan).

~~Book of Mormon musical~~ excuses got in the way
~~Elton John Farewell Yellow Brick Road~~ didn’t get a ticket
~~Live Music at Gröna Lund~~ in Stockholm, cancelled due to COVID

What went well? / What did I do right (or well) this year? 👍

College life: Probably the best decision this year was moving to the Raymont College. I have gotten many new mates, good food, and a safe community to be part of during hectic times this year.

Performed Cat Stevens Father and Son with Daniel Grammon and G-Man on Father’s Day in September
Attended Music tutorials with Scarlett Gallery to get help with assessments
Studied outside of my room to be more productive
Applied for Spirit of Raymont Scholarship ($1000 that goes toward paying rent) - Waiting for decision

Relationships:

Skyped with my parents and sister more or less every weekend since I arrived in 🇦🇺
10 year anniversary with my friend Mathias. Rang him up a couple of times during the year to ask for life advice, from someone 2 days older. Here’s us performing my song Empty Apartment
Caught up with my Bulgarian friend, Atanas via Zoom
Conversed with Jelena from Serbia again 🦌 (met her via Slowly in 2018)
Met heaps of fantastic JMC students and alumni this year 😁
Met Maako Ishikawa, the second Swede 🇸🇪 currently studying at the Brisbane campus 🪁
Reconnected with Gabbe, Emil, and Niklas on Facebook
Reconnected with Elina on SoundCloud
Formed many new friendships this year with residents at Raymont. I’m writing this in Primmer as I prepare for Christmas and wait for everyone to come back next year.

Are You Still Awake? Here’s for the nerds 🤓

Updated my MacBook’s macOS from High Sierra (10.13) to Catalina (10.15.7)
Updated my iPhone’s iOS from 12.4.1 to 13.6.1
Transferred my domain name (rasmusnordling.se) from Miss Hosting to EgenSajt for a better deal on renewals

What did not go well? / What did I do wrong (or poorly) this year? 👎

Did not review the material from the previous trimesters before starting the next, especially after having a big gap between T2 and 3
Trying to create a Facebook account with a fake name
Trying to raise money for the Polished man Campaign. 💅 My campaign only received one donation from my mate Chris. Maybe work on a better strategy for 2021
Did not finish or publish my blog post drafts (they keep piling up)
Installing Roland keyboard drivers and not being able to boot MacBook afterwards 😱 (I solved it)
Attempted Brian Tracy’s 30 day affirmation challenge. Broke my streak on day 16. 😔
Said some FUCK Jante affirmations in Jan - Feb but never made it a habit
Cracked the screen on my iPhone

I do the 50/90 Challenge and write 50 songs between 4 July and 1 October:

How do you get better at your craft? By practicing regularly and challenging yourself such as trying to write 50 Songs in 90 Days. I completed 3 songs but then got way to busy in the trimester I suppose.

Events

With Raymont College: 🏘❤️

Climbing, biking, laser tag, bush dance, and commencement dinner
Day trip to Kings Beach on Sunshine Coast
Croquet
Leadership Workshops (I’m now a certified leader-person)
Unit 4 Community Night with inline skating at Stafford Skate Centre. I was a bit worried that I would fall but got around decently clockwise AND anti-clockwise. At the end we did the classic limbo
Corona by Candlelight 🎶🎵
Battle of the (unit) Bands where Unit 4 performed our take on The Rembrandts - I’ll Be There For You and lost to Unit 3 by only 1 point (a fair victor)
Gala dinner with good food and late night drinks on my 30th birthday
Two Christmas lunches (julbord 🇸🇪), the first one in July with the Raymont students and the second one in December with the synod staff 🎅.
Home cooked dinner in the Albert room with Ray’s Summer Survivors on Christmas Eve 🤶
Played Jackbox with some of Ray’s Summer Survivors
Dumplings and ramen with G-Man on several occasions throughout the year
Bowling and drinks where I more or less got 4 strikes in a row 🎳 Then we headed out to a club in the Valley and stayed late. One mate feel asleep in the bathroom, his phone died, got left behind, kicked out, and slept outdoors until he was found in the morning (surely, I’m not that bad of an influence?) 😈
Watching Formula One with good mates in Unit 11 🏎
Day trip to Movie World on the Gold Coast and enjoyed some of the attractions

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Spiritual Encounters:

Went to the Uniting church in Yeronga and Mount Gravatt a couple of Sundays when I still lived in Fairfield. I also visited Hillsong twice before the lockdown to enjoy contemporary worship music. Stepped out of my comfort zone and went alone to meet new people. It was a mixture of singing, praying, taking communion, and gaining new insights and outlooks on life
Zen Habits Zoom Meditation 🧘‍♂️
Spent Christmas day in Mount Gravatt with my mate Jock and his large family. I had an Australian Christmas with lots of good food, drinks, laughter, and songs!

I have been to a couple of new Meetups this year:

BrisRuby on Ruby development (this is a Jekyll blog after all)
Brisbane Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design
Stockholm Personal Productivity & GTD (attended remote twice)
Burger Thursday 🍔
Jam with Brisbane Rock Music in Lutwyche
Jam with BASEQ (Blues Association of South East Queensland) in Goodna
Combined Yoga 🧘 and Positive Goal Setting 🥇 Workshop in City Botanical Gardens
Lunch and 🍻 with Thor 🇸🇪 and I returned his guitar that I borrowed on the night I arrived in Brisbane
Karaoke in Surfers Paradise with Lee and Cassidy 🎤
Performed at Tiger Eye Open Mic with Lee
~~So, What’s Your Story? “From 1940 to 2020 - A Live Retrospective.”~~ didn’t happen, or did it?

Rasmus and Lee with acoustic guitar at South Bank.

How am I different?

More confident
Enjoy performing on stage
Better at guitar
A better musician
Transcribing songs by ear (and eyes) and avoid tabs unless I’m stuck. Ear Training + Music Theory actually WORKS! 😇
I pay more attention when listening to music. I have become better at hearing time signatures, cadences, rhythms, and drum parts
Have fallen in love with contemporary worship music. Singing hymns is not so bad either
After another two trimesters and halfway towards finishing my degree, I see myself more as a composer and arranger now that I’ve acquired new skills in those areas
Have a YouTube channel
I bounce from screen to screen. Things like: Facebook, Messenger, and Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow

I turned 29… No wait, that was last year. I turned 3️⃣0️⃣ in October.

What I’ve been practicing 🎸

Disco/Funk guitar
Eye of the Tiger, Jolene, Geronimo, Son of a Preacher Man, Come as You Are, Supermassive Black Hole, Layla, Whole Lotta Love, I’ll Take Les, Little Wing, Holiday, Painted by Numbers, Extraordinary Girl, Letterbomb
Blues licks
Slide guitar
Technical work such as chords, scales, and arpeggios
Lead guitar techniques

What I’ve been reading 📚

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. - W. Fusselman

I track most of my reading at Goodreads. Here’s a summary of the year.

Started:

Kenny Werner - Effortless Mastery
Pat Pattison - Writing Better Lyrics
Timothy Ferriss - The 4-Hour Workweek Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Thomas Frank - 10 Steps for Better Grades
Alistair Reynolds - Pushing Ice (second time)

Finished:

Johan Langer - Musikbranchen - Från dröm till verklighet 🇸🇪 (book on the Swedish music industry)
Bill Crecelius - A Meditator’s Handbook How to Untie Knots

What I’ve been watching 📺

YouTube seems to be my biggest source for video content. I have listed some highlights further down.

These are the only movies and shows that I saw in 2020.

Batman Begins
Finding Joe
Peaceful Warrior (also see Dan Millman’s TED Talk below)
A Year and a Half in the Life Of Metallica 🤘
ABBA: Secrets of Their Greatest Hits
Hangover II
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
The Help
Batman Returns (Catwoman fan edit from IFDb)
Back to the Future trilogy (back to back)
Ford v Ferrari
The Departed
Begin Again
Once 🎸🎹
Role Models
Project Power
NERVE
The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young
Christmas with the Kranks 🎅
The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two
Snowed-Inn Christmas
Yrrol - en kolossalt genomtänkt film (I’ve got ENG Sub if anyone wants to have a movie night…) 😂 🇸🇪
Housos S01
Hannibal two episodes with G-Man
The Boys (Pilot)
Nail Salon Paris, K-drama with Stasia from Raymont 🇷🇺🐼
Eurovision - Australia Decides
Music Videos ❤️
- Sakuran Zensen - TAXIMAN
- Shania Twain - No One Needs To Know
- Esperanza Spalding - Move Many (joints)
Running 👟
- Every Single Street with Rickey Gates
- Dream Trip Norway
- The KETO DIET - Good or Bad for Runners?
TED Talks, Ideas worth spreading
- 8 TED Talks to form better habits
- Go with your gut feeling - Magnus Walker
- Are we born to run? - Christopher McDougall
- The secret to living longer may be your social life - Susan Pinker
- How to stop swiping and find your person on dating apps - Christina Wallace
- How to Ikigai - Tim Tamashiro
- Dan Millman at TEDxBerkeley
- Reggie Watts disorients you in the most entertaining way
- How sampling transformed music - Mark Ronson
- Who are you, really? The puzzle of personality - Brian Little
Brian Eno: Behind The Reflection - BBC Click
DragonForce live stream
Everything Music with Rick Beato
Gibson TV Icons: Metallica & Mötley Crüe Producer Bob Rock
Guitar related reviews from EytschPi42
Guitarsonist guitar “lessons” 😂
Kel-n-Rich reaction videos
Music Production videos from Musician on a Mission and Recording Revolution
Sunday with Ola Englund (guitarist in Feared and the Haunted)
The Art of Mixing - David Gibson
Tony Robbins Rapid Planning Method (RPM)
Videos on passive income/side hustle ideas
Videos on growing a YouTube channel and editing videos in Final Cut
Videos on living in Longyearbyen, Svalbard

På svenska: 🇸🇪

Falkenberg Forever (Pilot)
Får vi följa med? (Rewatch of the Pilot)
Alla mot Alla med Filip och Fredrik S03-04
Hitlåtens historia: Broder Daniel - Shoreline
Auditions from Swedish Idol
Sven-David Sandström: I Bachs fotspår

What I’ve been listening to 🎧

At first I was just going to list all the artists and albums that I consumed over the year and then realized we’re almost in 2021 now and it’s way more convenient (and fun) to share music as playlists!💡

Here’s the 100 Songs from 2020 that the Spotify algorithm gave me.

Here’s another 80+ songs that became the soundtrack of my life in 2020.

Podcasts

In English:

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond
College Info Geek
Listen Up: The Oasis Podcast
No Guitar Is Safe (Pilot with Joe Satriani)
Sodajerker On Songwriting
The Bulletproof Musician
The J Files Podcast
The Zane Lowe Interview Series: Lady Gaga
Various interviews with Tobias Forge (Ghost)

På svenska: 🇸🇪

Close the Gap
Deluxe (Finished in January 😔)
Lagom kondition
Paul & Marie Rein Låtskrivarpodden
Psykologipodden
Rikedomspodden
Sveriges Radio Musikdokumentär: David Bowie
SYNFÄLT FRAMÅT!

Chainsaws! 🤘

Tack Maako 🤠 for sharing this nugget, haha!

Husqvarna · Husqvarna 60 years of chainsaws

What I spent my SEKs and AUDs on 💸

Obviously things like rent, insurance, 🍺 , mini Babybel, Uncle Tobys muesli bars, guitar strings, and CONNOISSEUR ice cream tubs.

Here’s some of my other expenses this year:

chord!
Songcraft Pro
Another year’s subscription to Musition & Auralia
Creative Guitar Studio, Premium membership
Apple Pro Apps for Education Bundle (Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage). Tools I need to produce music and edit videos for YouTube
2 ADATA HD710 Pro 4TB Rugged External HDD
Levovo 28” 4K monitor, bluetooth keyboard with numerical keypad, and Apple Magic Mouse 2, to be more productive when working from home
EDU licence for Sibelius Ultimate (notation software)
Line 6 HX Effects (Guitar Multi-effects Floor Processor)
Sterling Gig Bag at Riffs & Licks Music
Suit, shirts, and shorts at yd.
Clothes at Lifeline Op Shop in West End with Stasia from Raymont 🇷🇺🐼
Thong Sandals and Skechers Summits walking shoes
Bubble tea
Aloe Vera Juice at Hanaromart in Toowong
Icebug Outrun RB9X running shoes and Garmin FĒNIX® 6 to replace my Forerunner 735 XT multisport watch

A one-of-a-kind Frankencaster for 300 AUD

Things I look forward to in 2021

Ghost’s fifth studio album
Foo Fighters tenth studio album Medicine at Midnight
Going to Sweden for some holiday
Fernando Alonso’s return to F1 (and Lewis Hamilton’s 8th title 😉)
Grow as a musician (writing, producing, performing, scoring, etc.)
Publish/Release my first solo album on Bandcamp and streaming platforms
Joining APRA (Australia’s copyright collection society) and registering my original songs (maybe not so much the registering part)
Joining a choir
Unlocking all journeys in Synctuition
Learn more about my HX Effects and create some great guitar tones
Elective units in trimester 4: Music Tech III, and Lyric & Songwriting II
Run my first ultra, 100 km ? 🏃‍♂️😜

tl;dr

Lucky you, I decided to make a summary at the end.

Moved from shared house in Fairfield to Raymont Residential College in February (2020s best decision)
Did trimester 2 and 3 of the Songwriting bachelor’s degree at JMC Academy, with mostly positive outcomes
Wrote a couple of more original songs
Meditated, ran virtual races and Brisbane River Run 100 - Sunrise Marathon
Turned 30 years old in October 🎂 (I still look 23 apparently)
Bought some new clothes, shoes, software, a second electric guitar, multi-effects unit
Got back on Facebook after 881 days or so of staying away
Started the YouTube channel Ras World of Music & Lyrics
Recorded Drifting Away, an EP, and starred in a music video with RedStone
Formed the band Junktion with fellow students Mandy, Rob, and Joohan
Recorded Righteous Brother with Junktion
Ran 661 km
Raised money for the Polished man Campaign and painted my nail blue. My campaign only received one donation from my mate Chris G

Okay that is everything. Did you bother to read it all? LEGEND! Peace Out! ☮️✌️

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/ Rasmus

My Life in Blekinge (2010-2016) - Decade Review part 1

2019-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

Hello from a warm Brisbane! We are about to enter another year but also a new decade. I would like to take this opportunity and review my past ten years and share some of it in this post. This decade has been very fun and varied, yet demanding at the same time.
In this first part I will take you through the first half of 2010s where I spent most my time in Blekinge.

If you don’t know me that well or want to know what my latest adventure is, you can check out the page about Dream BIG and Rasmus.

My Life in Blekinge (2010-2016)

“Studying”

Doing this review feels a bit like a CV, and in actuality it is.

Back in early 2010 I lived in Ronneby, Blekinge and studied Game Programming at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH). For those not familiar with Swedish geography, Ronneby is ca 385 km from Stockholm.

This was my first time living by myself and away from the family. I didn’t bring a computer, which my neighbor Christopher thought was funny since we were going to study programming. He lent me one of his desktop computers and taught me the basics in Linux.

Since the Ronneby Campus was closing, me, my friends, and girlfriend at the time moved to the Minerva apartments in Karlskrona. When the campus in Ronneby closed, the two organisations 6& (Ronneby Sexmästeri) and 6:- (Carlskrona Sexmästeri) would merge and a group of sixteen handpicked students were assigned the task to form a new organisation. Myself along with my fifteen friends came up with the name Sexistenz. It’s one of the groups responsible for organizing events for the fellow students.
We voted on a new outfit and kept the best traditions, along with making new ones. We all had different skillsets and I was SpexMästare, which I guess meant my skillset included being creative, spontaneous, and make people have a good time. In reality I helped the others with all kinds of work and managed to get some sponsorship from local companies.
The most important mission of the year (my opinion) is the Introduction Week for new students. I believe all of us planning the introduction in 2010 were ’80s and ’90s kids so our anthems became Narcotic and Electric, which we listened to on repeat the whole week while doing all sorts of fun and crazy stuff.

After handing down the responsibilities to the next generation of Sexistenz, I was able to join other groups and got approached by the “quasi” (in lack of a better word) Kååtha Kamrater. I really enjoyed their company and got inducted along with “Molle”, “Smulan” and “Lill-Rauken”, all from Sexistenz, to get my own camo vest. We have many good memories together. Some nights were even to good to be remembered.

Chili, Ms Big, Jesus Fistus and Lill-Rauken from Kååtha Kamrater.

When we weren’t in Blekinge we would take trips to other Swedish cities such as Kalmar (SPIIK Bandy), Halmstad (Hjärtslaget) and Visby (Absolut Gotland). I was also in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen a couple of times to visit the the Carlsberg museum (Øhlreise).

Rasmus at Absolut Gotland in May 2011.

After Minerva I moved to Annebo with Christopher and Mikael Sundström, both classmates of mine. When they both got employed in Stockholm, I moved in with my best friend Robin instead. After a while he moved out and I lived by myself until March 2016 when I moved back to Stockholm.

Rasmus with Christopher and Robin in January 2011.

Rasmus at Rotundan holding the pin “I’m So HAPPY I Could Shit”, probably a Sexistenz reunion.

During all this time I was a full-time student until 2012 when the expected graduation would have been. This was the whole reason I moved to Blekinge in the first place. I still had a couple of courses and exams to pass before I could get my degree. I swapped one of the courses for an online based course in web development taught by Mikael Roos (also at BTH). The assignments we did are probably available on some FTP somewhere.
I also worked part-time at Student IT Helpdesk at BTH between 2011 and 2013 until I got my job at Wise IT.

“Working”

My first full-time position was as an IT Support Technician at Wise IT. I was providing user support of an application for the Swedish Coast Guard. I was pretty sick at school at this point and took a sabbatical where I just worked. Later I would join CGI and split my responsibilities between one part support (which turned into more Service Desk work), and one part back-end web development in C# and ASP.NET.
During my time at CGI I also did a shorter gig helping another government agency (National Board of Housing, Building and Planning). This time with the front-end in JavaScript (AngularJS).

I got my degree in 2015 and then started looking for other opportunities in Stockholm.

“Living”

In the summer of 2010 I was back home visiting my family in Stockholm and met a funny photographer/musician named Mathias Andersson. We shared a couple of drinks and he was kind enough to take pictures of me. You can see more of his photos on his Facebook page.

In October 2010 I turned 20 and took my first of many trips to the liquor store, Systembolaget.

Rasmus at a party in September 2011 🎸.

In 2012 I travelled to USA 🇺🇸 with my friend Emil A to visit New York, Washington, D.C., and the Orion Music + More festival in Atlantic City. We also went in to a casino, flew helicopter, went on a speed boat, drank beers and ate at White Castle. Just normal stuff young guys do I suppose 😉🍺.

Back in 2013 I had long hair that I don’t even remember having 😂.

I ran in to Emil S at BTH and later Rotundan, a guy I recognized from a previous school in Stockholm. We quickly became friends and shared many beers and laughs together during the years we both stayed in Karlskrona.

I did manage to work on some games as well. Feel free to visit my itch.io site where you can see and download my games. I plan to upload more of my old stuff at some point. Downhill Willy, which I did together with “Micke” from Sexistenz, is probably the most popular one we did. See my post about Downhill Willy.

During the summer of 2014. Me and Robin went on an all-inclusive holiday to Alanya, Turkey! 🇹🇷

Rasmus in 2014.

For some reason I collected Zingo cans 🤔🥤.

Regards to my personal development I tried becoming a vegetarian, a meditation practice, and skipping alcohol. I managed to stick with it for about 12 weeks before I broke the habit. I approached one habit at a time to increase my odds but maybe I wasn’t motivated enough. I did come back to meditation later in the decade though…

Conclusion

This is the first part of my decade review. The next posts in the series are Second Time in Stockholm (2016-2019) and Moving to Brisbane, Australia (2019).

Hope you have a good new year’s! I sure got many chuckles traveling down memory lane.

/ Rasmus

2017 Year End Review

2018-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

You can make a lot happen in 365 days but it can be hard to realize the magnitude and get appreciation when you’re busy advancing from one day to the next. So in this post I will reflect on the stuff that made my 2017. Things I accomplished, what I learned and how I have changed as a person in the last 12 months.

This last year didn’t involve as much changes as 2016 did and I feel like these last two years have been very similar, only in 2017 it was more of everything. You can read my 2016 Year End Review here.

What Went Well

New job: During my unemployment period (September 2016- April 2017) I applied and got in to Lexicon’s 16-week program in .NET development to improve my skills in full-stack Web Development. I met a lot of interesting people and among them my favourites Per and Atanas. During the studies I applied for different jobs and went on interviews with Handelsbanken, Metamatrix, tretton37, Cloud Nine, HiQ, Lexicon IT, Goodminton, Sigma Young Talent, Everdea, Lots Group, Decerno, Sogeti and the list goes on. A few companies wanted me to do coding assignments and have more interviews. In the end I decided to sign a job contract with tretton37 and have been working there as a .NET Ninja since the studies finished in April.

Intermittent fasting: For most weeks during the year, I’ve had an eating gap from Sunday dinner to Monday dinner where I only drank water or tea (sometimes with coconut oil).

New Productivity Tool: I would say my productivity has been a roller coaster aligning with how I was feeling at different times during the year. Some low lows and high highs. Deleted my accounts at Wunderlist, Moo.do and Zenkit and migrated my to-do lists to Todoist. I have found a much better structure now for organizing my life and late 2017 I reached Karma level “Todoist Master”.

Nordic Game Jam: Once again I travelled to Copenhagen for some weekend game hacking. The theme was “Not there” and it resulted in a VR game called What’s There?.

The objective of the game is to figure out what that weird object is that’s been placed in the room. Use the tools and your imagination to conduct various experiments to narrow the options. Game was made by me, Jakub Švehla and Michail Nenkov.

Running: I would be a fool not to mention all my exercise as something that went well (part from an injury). Started running with adidas Runners thanks to Per for recommending it. In December I replaced some of my running with Nordic walking (jogging with poles) to prepare for the upcoming skiing. New Personal Best for 10K is 50:34 (MilSpåret).

What Did Not Go Well

Running injury: During one of my hill running workouts I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my calf which turned out to be an injury that meant I had to go to rehab training and miss a few workout sessions and races. I limbed for about a week but quickly recovered so the muscle probably wasn’t completely off.

Habit Challenge: I did several attempts to stop biting my fingernails. But it’s not been a habit that I could keep permanently. Longest streak according to my journal was 96 days from January 24 to April 30.

Volunteering: Was board secretary for VISIR Stockholm/Uppsala between January to September. I didn’t really handle all the extra work very well and I put a lot of hours and energy into something I later had to drop because of a frustration that wasn’t aligning with what I wanted with my life. I still plan to engage in activities to reach the goal of a tobacco free society some day with year 2025 being the closest target. As an own side project I bought the domain tobakspodden.se to be used for a podcast that didn’t really take off and is still In the initial planning phase.

Songwriting: During the year I was very excited for all the different songwriting community projects such as: FAWM (February Album Writing Month), 50/90 (The 50 Songs in 90 Days Challenge) and NaSoAlMo (National Solo Album Month). Despite I have been playing the guitar quite a lot and also toying with GarageBand I feel that I failed at writing any complete songs and I’m nowhere near a finished album.

What I Accomplished

Read two books, Gratislunchen (the Free Lunch) and Getting Things Done
Uploaded an old song on SoundCloud
Started a Patreon contribution by $1 for every new episode of the Markus and Malcom podcast
Finally looked up a dentist in Stockholm and booked an appointment after a long time of procrastination

Events

Meetups: Attended several meet ups in different areas. Learned more about politics, Software Development, Songwriting and tips for starting a podcast.

Went to Blueberry work & travel exhibition and got more information regarding Australia and also studying at the ICMP in London
Haninge Musicians guitar jams and co-hosting a songwriting workshop
YOGATHON STHLM 2017 with the yogi Swami Jyothirmayah & Stockholm Culture Festival. Morning yoga in a rainy Kungsträdgården followed by lunch, ice cream, meditation and breathing exercise with my buddy Atanas
Several Foo Café’s in Hammarby sjöstad and Code Nights in Hornstull

Political and Sustainable Development: Spending several days in Almedalen visiting my sister and engaging in political discussions was the highlight of 2017. Some of the other political events I’ve been to include:

Tobacco Endgame/Global Development seminars that I mentioned in this post
Public seminars about NATO- among the organizers was Vänsterpartiet (Left party)
Stockholm Act, Global Bar and a concert with José Gonzalez
People’s Climate March Stockholm – Together for a Sustainable Future!

Concerts:

Stone Sour, The Pretty Reckless and Ghost with Wesku
The Hives and Bad Religion with Mathias
José Gonzalez

Therapy: Since September I’ve been seeing a therapist about my procrastination and fear of burning out. I have done a mixture of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Mindfulness exercises. We have touched on several topics to improve my life and more of this in an upcoming post perhaps.

Knowabunga & Leetspeak with tretton37: I visited Berlin for the first time and had curry wurst, German beer, some ninja adventure and looked at the view from the Berlin Fernsehturm. I’ve also been to my first developer conference, Leetspeak in Stockholm with talks about “Build For The Globe!”.

There’s definitely more to say but it’s already February and I can’t put off this post anymore, maybe I come back and add more stuff in the future. (Post updated on 2018-02-02).

As always, take care and be your best today!

/ Rasmus

To live according to my life principles - part 1

2017-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

Hello again,

In this series of posts I will share my current version of my life principles and how well I live by them. This will both help you to understand where I’m at the moment and also help me to identify in what areas I’m failing.

Yesterday I tried to do my weekly/monthly review but got frustrated with organizing in Wunderlist and ended up reading on Lifehack instead. Anyone following the GTD-principles would agree that doing the weekly review is critical for staying on top of your life. So why do I struggle and procrastinate on this so much? Well it might got to do with self reflection and I have been reflecting a lot lately. I actually came up with the idea for this post in the shower this morning and now I’m composing the beginning of it on my way to work.

The following quote comes from the 7Life System.

Your principles are the foundation on which you stand, and if you don’t define them, you leave it to the world to do so for you. The 7Life system has you define seven principles – those core values that state who you are, how you behave and how you operate.

Rasmus 7 Life Principles that is current June 2017

Help myself first, then help those who do good for others
Encourage others to follow their dreams and offer my help
Don’t be judgmental towards strangers and avoid prejudice
Step out of my comfort zone as often as possible and face my fears regularly
The Boy Scout Rule > ”Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.” - Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
Always choose the healthier option
Make a difference for others and share my knowledge in a polite way when possible

Help myself first, then help those who do good for others

This is essential for achieving success. I agree it’s nice to help others and offer your services but you also need to think about your needs. With personal/professional success often comes more money which in turn can be spent better and do more good than what would’ve been possible had I not advanced and just kept going in the rat race. Now I’m more aware of the world around me and how to be successful. Goals are just dreams if you don’t have a plan on how to achieve them. I always keep my eyes open for organisations and individuals who contributes for a better future and some I help financially but I’m also volunteering. My biggest focus right now is on tobacco prevention where work needs to be done both nationally and globally. Many lives can be saved by stopping the tobacco industry, so this is literally a matter of life and death.

A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which I will look more into.

There are probably several reasons for me being stressed out, frustrated and over loaded. One of them is my weakness of not really being able to say No. I may be trying to save the world and forgetting about saving myself. But should I really slow down? People need me and so far I haven’t seen anyone stepping up to fill my shoes. The world is not gonna change itself. Motivated people make change happen.

That was all for now, I have to practice on being more agile in my life and by breaking this up into smaller posts I can teach myself that publishing small “drafts” perhaps isn’t so scary. Hopefully it will help me not procrastinating so much and I hope you all look forward to more content coming up!

As always, leave a comment if you have any questions, feedback or just want to contact me.

Be your best today

/ Rasmus

Weekly News 2017-05-19

2017-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

Hi,

I know it’s been a long time. I haven’t been at my best these last couple of months and had to prioritize the things that’s more important.

Anyway the aim with this blog is to challenge the world and myself, go outside of my comfort zone and achieve those big life goals that I have (and you hopefully have yours).

Week 20 May 15 - 18

Travel

I spent the weekend in Berlin on my very first Knowabunga with tretton37. It was nice to get together and meet colleges from the other offices. Before we flew back to Sweden I took the U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz and went up the Fernsehturm to get a 360 view of the city. 🙂

Berlin Fernsehturm

Tobacco Endgame

Attended two seminars about tobacco and alcohol and got further knowledge in how it prevents sustainable development, globally. The world would be better of without these industries and their “products”. I later pitched my idea to a few people about a podcast discussing tobacco politics and I got good response. After more investigation at The Audacity to Podcast I realized there’s more work before the launch (it will hopefully be before the _World No Tobacco Day, 31 May). For news and articles about tobacco restriction I would point you in the direction of Tobaksfakta.

Approached a few smokers at the subway station and on the street. We briefly discussed their habit. One guy was from Syria and he thought I asked for a smoke. It was difficult sitting next to him and inhale the poisonous smoke but he turned out to be nice. Even if they chose to continue smoking I got a confidence boost and will continue to hand out information to those who want help saying NO to Tobacco!

I spent some time on Facebook actively promoting the World No Tobacco Day, 31 May.

Running

Yesterday evening was MilSpåret at Djurgården and this time I really pushed for a personal best (and got it). Distance 10K and final time was 50:34 minutes, giving a pace of 5:03 min/km. That’s an improvement by 1 minute and 38 seconds. I still chase sub 50 though. It was really hot running in the sun and I had my new clothes that shows I support Swedish running. I ordered it from Intersport. Next up, ASICS Stockholm Marathon which is happening on June 3!

Other News

I watched the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix and discovered the singer Hannah Grace. I have been listening on repeat all week and my favorite song is still the cover Praise You.

The Bad News

It’s time to finish this post with some bad news. This week I have been biting on my fingernails like a mad man so that habit I still haven’t managed to quit.

This was just a recap of my week so far. Stay tuned for more in depth content about my other adventures and discoveries.

Take care!

/ Rasmus

Arena Run 2017

2017-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Hi everybody,

Yesterday I ran the obstacle course Arena Run.

What is Arena Run?

“Arena Run is an obstacle run where you run, crawl, jump in, under, over and through obstacles in a unique arena environment. It gives you the opportunity to challenge yourself as an individual or as part of a team. The race has a total distance of 5K within the arena premises and you run up and down stairs, in-between bars, through tunnels, stands and corridors, and out on the pitch.” - arenarun.se

I’ve been off my running practice for a few weeks because of a stubborn cold but I didn’t wanna miss this event that I’ve been so excited for.

With the Foo Fighters album in my ears, I traveled to Friends Arena. Upon arrival I saw the finishing ramp which looked steep and some doubt appeared. I wasn’t sure if I could run the whole way up. After watching the first runners complete the course I reassured myself that I could do it without any problem as well.

Part from all the other participants I saw a lot of trainers from TSM (not so strange really since the Marathon group was one of the arrangers). Later my family arrived to spectate and I went with my sister to the participants area. While waiting for our start, we saw a runner dressed like Jason Voorhees with the white hockey mask and an apron. He didn’t run with a machete though.

The race itself had an interesting setup where the obstacles were divided into four sections, meaning we left and entered the pitch several times. A lot of the running were done in lanes and it was slippery and I lost my grip a few times. Among the twenty different obstacles, I’ll only mention a few:

Ramp run was my favorite and I’m happy they chose to use it several times
Fast wheel knees is a classic and I made a mistake on the first wheel and almost tripped
Big wheel was the only obstacle that offered a challenge. I got over the first two with a small struggle and on the last I got a gentle push from behind to not block the way

I paced my running with my sister so we could finish together.

A reminder for coming events will be to have colorful clothing so the supporters actually can see you among the crowd. I will keep this positive feeling of accomplishment and bring it to Stockholm Tunnel Run Citybanan which is in 34 days.

Oh and BTW I didn’t got picked for the ASICS FrontRunner team but at the same time I got a nice hat from TSM for attending every training session in January so I’m still happy that I at least applied. You win some and you lose some. 🙂

This year’s first medal and the biggest one to date.

Friends Arena in Stockholm.

Gift from TSM 👌

Take care! 🙂

/ Rasmus

The Running Machine

2017-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

We’re a machine built to run - and the machine never wears out. Just move your legs. Because if you don’t think you were born to run, you’re not only denying history. You’re denying who you are. - Dennis Bramble

While reading the book Born to Run I pictured myself as Caballo Blanco (the white horse). A true limitless inspiration, yet made of flesh and bone like everyone else.

My big fitness goal/challenge this year is to complete my very first marathon. I expect it to (and of course it will) be the best day of my life so far.

It’s still over 100 days left of PPP (practice, preparation, protein).

Another exciting thing is that I applied for the ASICS FrontRunner Swedish team. It’s an opportunity to be an ambassador and represent ASICS in different races. You also get to try out products before everyone else and promote the ASICS brand.

My current race calendar for 2017:

Arena Run - February 18
Stockholm Tunnel Run Citybanan - March 26
ASICS Premiärmilen - April 1
STHLM Trail Run - May 6
Milspåret - May 18
ASICS Stockholm marathon - June 3
STHLM 10 - June 15
Stockholm Halvmarathon - September 9
Lidingöloppet 30 - September 23
Hässelbyloppet - October 8

I am just getting started on this journey and in 2018 I’ll climb the ladder even HIGHER! Why be stuck on the ground when you can fly in the sky?

My new T-shirt

Take care 🙂

/ Rasmus

2017 First 30 Day Challenge

2017-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Hello!

I have decided to go public with my first 30 day challenge of the year. And as in the definition of the word “first” (being before all others), I am going to make this a lifestyle change and not just a one off.

For thirty straight days I won’t be biting on my fingernails! I have tried this several times before but got to a point where the impatience got me in the end.

This time it’s different.

How will I do it?

With more knowledge, experience and a HUGE drive to go from Unbearable to Unstoppable!
I have you guys to keep me accountable for following through on my promise and I want to be a man with high integrity 🙂
Runner gloves to wear at all times when the urge gets to tough (is this cheating?) 😀

Hal Elrod is talking about The Miracle Morning Facebook Community (which as of this writing has 79 085 members) in his podcast Achieve Your Goals. That seems like a good group to join in order to get and give support. The more people I tell the better, that means I’m more likely to perform (that’s how psychology works).

The episode on accountability and 30 day challenges got me even more motivated to continue changing my life for the better.

Oh and btw there will be a follow up post next month where you can see my progress. The current state is horrible and I thought this to myself last night:

Grow your fingernails like a normal person and Don’t chew them off like a psycho!

That was all for now.

Leave a comment below and continue to stay awesome. I am always up for criticism or talking about life in general (because there’s a lot to talk about these days).

Take Care,

/ Rasmus

2016 Year End Review

2017-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Once again we enter a new year and in this post I reflect on the changes that happened in my life 2016, both good and bad. One of my many inspirational people is Leo Babauta who among other things got me interested in meditation and Getting Things Done. As a good habit I will do my annual review and post it on this blog. If you’re interested in doing the same thing I highly recommend you read this post by Leo.

Business/Career

New job: In the beginning of the year I quit my job at CGI for an employment at Academic Work Technology working as a Software Developer helping Emric (acquired by Tieto in September 2016) with their credit loan administration software. 6 months later the contract ended and I am currently studying C# and .NET while looking for practice or new employment.

Family

Fun in Eskilstuna: Drove a Buggy with my sister and we got drenched in mud 😮. Afterwards the family went to Eskilstuna zoo.
Cinema: Went to see Inferno and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Me and Sofie in a buggy

Fun & Recreation

Big spender: I try to cut down on the stuff I buy and own. If you also like minimalism then have a look at the documentary My Stuff. Despite the minimalist lifestyle I bought a motorcycle, leather suit, bass guitar and mic stand which will help me in achieving some of my goals.

Health & Fitness

Became a runner: I have previously been running on and off but when I joined TSM Running back in June a spark if you will got lit and I realized how much good comes from running. Since then I have raced several times and the best day was when I ran Lidingöloppet 15 km.
New diet: In December me and my sister went to a lecture with the Swedish athlete Jonas Colting. He spoke about how to be in fitness and in health. So the last few weeks I have been eating low carb and ketogenic food.
Ergonomically aware: Purchased a height adjustable desk to reap the health benefits of working vertical at home.

Lidingöloppet

Personal Development

Awaken the procrastinator: A great frustration has been not getting things done and on time. By realizing this is a psychological behavior and doing some therapy exercises found in the book Dance on deadline, I am on my way to break this behavior and getting the right things done ahead of the deadline.
Less fixed mindset: Among all the lectures I attended this year some gave me insights on finances, choosing your friends, realizing your potential and be successful in general.
Realization: Society is not Black nor White. By reading the book Netocracy: The New Power Elite and Life After Capitalism I got more knowledge and understanding of the modern society and the politics and classes in it.
New blog: This blog is all about my goals tied to my values. In 2017 I will get the following goals done:
- Produce a music album with cover or original music
- Run ASICS Stockholm Marathon on June 3
- Take my drivers license for motorcycle

Physical Environment

Move to Stockholm: A big change this year was the move from Karlskrona and Blekinge where I have spent the last 6 and a half years. I longed back to Stockholm and just wanted to come home. I didn’t feel well with a lot of stress and traded my job and apartment for unemployment and return to living with the family. Some positives and some negatives are a part of life.

Romance

No change in 2016: I am still Single and ready to Mingle

Meetups and events: I found the great site for meetups and have among others attended meetups for GTD, Arduino development, Code Nights, Lounge Hacks, Indie Game Dungeon. Here’s my post-mortem from Nordic Game Jam.
Red Hot Chili Peppers: The only concert I went to this year and I went from “not liking them that much” to really appreciate their work. It was fun spending some time with my friends Wesku, Dennis, Robin and Steffen. More concerts to come in 2017.
Lyric workshop: Went to a 3 part workshop hosted by Jonelle Vette. I got into object writing and have some samples that might turn into great songs. I really focused on writing and playing guitar during these weeks. I should get that mood and productivity back. FAWM is only a month away.
Escape Room: One of my favorite shows is Prison Break and for an hour I got to be Michael Scofield. Thanks to my boss at Emric who brought us to an escape room puzzle after work. They had several puzzles and I definitely will return in 2017 for more escaping menace.
Trampoline: Everybody likes bouncing on the trampoline and I spent 2 hours at BOUNCE in Stockholm. It’s a different kind of workout and I will be back with more friends for some bouncing joy!
Photoshoot: Spent a day with Mathias as his model for some shots. More photos by Mathias.

Spiritual

Has withdrawn from the Swedish church: This is not a big deal since I hardly am religious. The money I will save from not paying tax can be spent in a better way. :) Angry Foreigner has a video on this topic as well.
Burning Dinner: Went to the Node in Stockholm for a Spanish tapas dinner with sangria.
Giving money to those who deserve it: I became a patron to Angry Foreigner for all his liberating videos. Other organizations that got my money and support was WWF, VISIR, A Non Smoking Generation and Skiftet (The Shift).
Tobacco Endgame: I have been somewhat active spreading information about Tobacco Endgame and the dangers with tobacco on Facebook, through email and a letter to the editor that got published in Metro. It’s a good cause and I will continue to help the organizations and the Swedish government to reach the target of a non smoking Sweden by the year 2025. I became a member of VISIR and helping them realize their goals.
Keep Sweden Clean: I have been randomly picking litter as I took my walks around Stockholm. I encourage more people to care for the environment and to support Håll Sverige Rent.
TTIP: Went to my first demonstration which was against TTIP and CETA.

December was all about finishing on a high and to bring momentum to the new year.

Take care of each other and I know we will have the best years of our lives ahead of us! 🙂

/ Rasmus

Night Trail Run 2016

2016-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

Hello again!

I am back standing in front of my computer after a “long” 10K run in the dark woods.

To sum up my feelings, I am mostly relieved that I fought through the whole trail and got my tired body (with no broken bones) over the finish line.

The start was a bit delayed due to an accident at the E4 highway and I was really freezing since I’m stupid and don’t know how to dress properly according to temperature. I realized that I most likely had the wrong shoes for the occasion as well.

The trail was slippery and demanding. It was hard to get a grip and I was close to fall too many times to keep count, luckily it never happened to me (some were not as fortunate). I got annoyed on my left shoelace which untied itself two (fucking) times causing me to stop and lose valuable positions. Oh well it was either that or tripping over myself which would have been even worse! 😀

I managed to keep the tempo and pulse quite steady at 175-180 BPM and in some parts where the visibility was bad it got so fast I ended up outside the trail. This was my first time running in the dark with a headlamp and also this kind of trail run. A lot of roots to trip over, rocks to hurt your feet, hills to climb and fallen logs that you had to jump or walk over made it even harder. Luckily I’m not a pussy and got my sorry ass to the finish, even though my mind started to doubt halfway through. That should count for something.

Image found on nighttrailrun.se

Result

Distance	Time	Behind (category = male 10 km)	Average Pace (min/km)	Place (category = male 10 km)
10 km (6.2 miles)	1:16:58	+36:47	7:41	244/267

Afterwards I had two hot dogs and the mandatory Kexchoklad 😉

Verdict: 7/10 tears of joy! I will be back next year (most likely), bring some running pals and come better prepared.

Tomorrow (today actually) is Run-Off with TSM Running so I better get some sleep. 🙂

Did you enjoy this race recap? I can definitely post more in the future!

/ Rasmus

Dream BIG

2020 Year End Review

Rasmus Nordling’s 10 Goals for 2020

What went well? / What did I do right (or well) this year? 👍

What did not go well? / What did I do wrong (or poorly) this year? 👎

Events

How am I different?

What I’ve been practicing 🎸

What I’ve been reading 📚

What I’ve been watching 📺

What I’ve been listening to 🎧

Podcasts

Chainsaws! 🤘

What I spent my SEKs and AUDs on 💸

Things I look forward to in 2021

tl;dr

My Life in Blekinge (2010-2016) - Decade Review part 1

My Life in Blekinge (2010-2016)

“Studying”

“Working”

“Living”

Conclusion

2017 Year End Review

What Went Well

What Did Not Go Well

What I Accomplished

Events

To live according to my life principles - part 1

Rasmus 7 Life Principles that is current June 2017

Help myself first, then help those who do good for others

Weekly News 2017-05-19

Week 20 May 15 - 18

Travel

Tobacco Endgame

Running

Other News

The Bad News

Arena Run 2017

The Running Machine

2017 First 30 Day Challenge

2016 Year End Review

Business/Career

Family

Fun & Recreation

Health & Fitness

Personal Development

Physical Environment

Romance

Social

Spiritual

Night Trail Run 2016