This is what is up.

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

A (official) creative hiatus along with a pile of stuff to do in school has led to me neglecting you all for a bit. Might also be apart of my new web strategy. When I have something to tell, I’ll tell it. If you need your daily fix I suggest you follow me on Twitter. I have som ideas on what to do with this site, implementing a twitter flow better, or perhaps every flow. We’ll see. Hang tight.

So whats going on…

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

…with your music? My brother asks.
Not much. Nothing. Was my answer.

That could also be the reason as to why I’m not posting anything here. I mean, when there was a hiatus in music production, before, I bothered you with all kinds of stuff going on in my life. That, I do on Twitter now.

I have some kind of plan for the future web-me. I’m going to make some changes. Stay tuned.

6 years ago today…

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

…Camilla and I sat on a bus. We had met a couple of months earlier, and a few weeks earlier we had started dating (as they say in the movies). As we sat on that bus, my anxiety got the best of me. I’ve never been much of the dating/in-limbo type. So, then and there, on the bus, Camilla and I went from dating to being a couple. Then we went for asian food.

So today, to celebrate our 6 years together, we’re going for asian food again. (It’s a coincidence, not something we do every year… maybe we should.)

Here’s to us, and to another 6 years (at least)!
I love you.

Last years anniversary; outside the best veggie restaurant we’ve eaten at (so far) Cookies Cream – Berlin. (I know, she’s far too good looking for me. But what the heck, it’s not like I’ll complain.)

Running myself to nausea.

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

Went out on a 8.7km run.
Felt great.
Last km, I decided to push it some.
Shouldn’t have done that.

After stretching, my vision went.
Not all black, but all blurry.
As it does when I’m about to get a massive headache.
Then I started feeling a bit nauseous.

It’s been about five hours and I’m starting to feel a bit better.

Have to learn something from this.

Attacked to a few days silence.

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

It’s been awfully quiet around here.
It’s because we, my little family, has had a pretty crap long weekend.

On Thursday, The Boo got attacked and bit by another dog.
On Friday we found the wound. (He’s got lots of fur; thick fur, the vet. says she’s never seen anything like it.) The it was of to the vet’s for operation. About 10 stitches. Then we tried to get a hold of the other dogs owner. (It was not the owner who was walking him as the time of the attack.) After that we had to fix things with our respective insurance companies, and in the midst of all this taking care of The Boo.

I’ve taken some pictures of his injury but I’ll spare you them. Stomach turners.

We seem to be back on track now.
His wound is healing up nicely and everything is sorted.

Just a thought to all dog-owners out there: keep your dog on a leash. And, even if your dog is the nicest most cuddly thing you’ve ever seen, you have no idea what kind of temper that unknown dog he runs up to has. Might be you running to the vet. and cleaning a wound… if your lucky.

About me: Revised.

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

Tenth Revision; Gigantic Rock, Göteborg, 2010-10-17

Hi!
My name is Tomas Halberstad.
I am 32 years old, old, old.
I live in Göteborg, Sweden, on the island of The Hisingen. Sadly, I really want to move.
I live with my girlfriend, Camilla, and our dog, Bosse.
I am a student and a songwriter.
I’m studying towards a Master’s Degree in Philosophy and I write songs.
I started this blog in order to publish my music. The idea was to write, record and post. (That hasn’t really happened but it might.)
I like my little family, food and The Arsenal, also sneakers and beer. (Might even like running!)
I dislike a lot of things. So many, in-fact, that listing them would take up too much space.

(Almost) First Swedish Mile!

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

Yesterday I ran a Swedish mile (and then some… very little ‘some’).
A Swedish mile is 10km and, I am very proud of this feat.

I’ve once before covered this distance running. It was about three years ago, and I did it not being prepared at all, and going way to fast. Ended up getting sick (not ‘throw up’-sick, ill-sick). Yesterday I was prepared, and it felt great (not only the being prepared part, but the running part as well).

So, I’ve reached my first goal with regards to running; to run 10km. Next goal is to be able to run 2 10km a week (and three shorter runs, all in all running 5 times a week.) Then, 3, 4 and eventually 5 10km a week. After that I’m going to focus on speed, trying to reach my end goal of 5x10km@50:00mins (or faster)/week. It’s totally reachable, I mean, people do it. (Maybe not with a 40kg/80lbs back-pack in the form of excess fat as I do… still.)

Happy running!

Cake-eater.

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

It’s my birthday today.
I’m going to eat cake.

10/10/10 10:10:10 Collaboration.

Posted on October 10, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

Sunday, the crappiest of days, is upon us; soon past us (thank you).

Two cool things about today though.
1. Today the date was 10/1o/10 and at one point (well several taking into account that the world has 24 time-zones) the time was 10:10:10.
2. I got the first mix/production/sketch of the song; the collaboration between 047 and myself. (Not the one mentioned below.) Sounds nice. Clearly not a song written by only me, nor by only them. The sound of collaboration is upon us.

Compact blabber.

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

So here I sit, in the sofa, as I have been all day, watching football. So many games, they’re all a blur now. Still feeling a bit sick, still having an aching back. Haven’t been out running. It’s been four days now. Four days. Really want to get out there. We’ll se what happens tomorrow. If I wake up without my throat feeling like a dried beach of broken glass and stuff, then I just might get out there. Really need to. Something else I need to do tomorrow is clean the apartment and fold laundry… and watch football. Big game tomorrow. Chelsea v. Arsenal. If we beat them we’re only one point behind. Them being Chelsea, we being Arsenal, behind being the leaders of the table (incidentally Chelsea). So, until tomorrow, you all have a good one.

Bkfjwodsfipdfpsavdsvdfospvs…

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

I’m sick, and I really hate being sick. I have a cold and my throat hurts. I feel heavy in my head and my back is acting up… the Indian food I had yesterday (and the left-overs today) is not helping the situation either. Did I mention that I have a headache and also a fever (I think)? Yeah, all’s crap. Can’t run while I feel like this either. Hope I wake up feeling fantastic tomorrow. Have and old upper secondary school pal coming for a visit. Don’t want to be sick for that. Also, I’m dog-sitting tomorrow. Don’t want to be sick for that either.
Did I mention I feel like crap?

I don’t want to eat again… ever.

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

Father in law turns 60 today. Three big cheers and a bottle of expensive Scotch to him! His birthday has, however, almost meant the end of me.

The celebrations started yesterday after Camilla and I took a train ride about 30 mins out of town to a fantastic hotel. There we hooked up with the in-laws and Camilla’s sister with boyfriend. Then began the massacre. Afternoon tea. Sounds harmless enough, right? Wrong. Three kinds of cheese, five kinds of baked goods, scones, fresh cheese and jam… and tea of course, or coffee in my case (since tea is for wimps).

Having just barely recovered from this meal we hit the dinner table. 4-course dinner, with beer and drinks.

Breakfast was not better. Buffet. And not the kind of crappy buffet you can get in hotels in England and Germany, no, a proper one. Mountains of food.

Four hours later we were at it again, and this was the one to top all: American brunch buffet at the casino here in Gothenburg. Oh. My. God. Now, I’m glad I’m a vegetarian, that way I didn’t need to stuff my face with ribs, ham, hamburgers and what not. However, there was plenty of french fries, macaroni and cheese, pancakes, doughnuts, cole-slaw, bagels, Corn Chowder and so on, and so on.

I’m so full, almost 8h after that meal, I may never have to eat agin.

Good birthday party!

Sunday, thy can’t go away soon enough!

Posted on September 19, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

What an utterly crap day.

Started out good enough. Camilla, my mom, The Boo and I took a morning walk to the poling station to cast out votes in the Swedish elections (which are, obviously, being held today, and no, The Boo didn’t get to vote, which left him really pissed because he’d been looking forward to the ‘winter all year round and meat for everyone, always’-party to win and give him a break).

All I’m going to say now, about my voting is: Democracy through representation is a joke, and a paradox. (I’ll get back to this later in the week.)

After we got home we had breakfast, then I’ve done absolutely nothing. Not one thing! man, I really hate Sundays. I must start planning my weekends better. So I always have something to do; a work out, a trip into town, whatever, so days don’t end up like this one.

Now I’m going to go down to the pizza-place and get our dinner.
Ah, Sunday effin, Sunday. Thy can’t go away soon enough!

Something’s Up…

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

…with my body.

It might be that I’m coming down with something, or that I’ve had something for a while. Something being a cold… or something.

Even though I got a headache after running yesterday, and still felt some of it today, I decided to go out running. Or no go out per say; I decided to go down to the exercise room, we have in the building, and run on the treadmill.
I had to do this, had to see if the headache was running-induced.

So, I got on the treadmill. Whilst running I wasn’t feeling great, but not crap either. Then, after about 2.3km, the treadmill started smelling of burnt plastic. The piece of shit machine was obviously not built for muscle-mountains such as myself.

I turned off the machine and went out to run proper, outdoors. In doing so, however, I got completely out of rhythm. I ran something like 4.5-5km today, and was completely battered.

Something’s not right in the body of Tomasville.

Rain, Thesis and Lunch.

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

The rain is coming down hard here in Gothenburg and motivation is at a low. Also, the headache from yesterday had not quite left me. Head feeling heavy.

I really ought to get going on my bachelors thesis. But it’s hard. I know what I have to do, I know how to do it and I know how much time it will take. Taking all those factors into account I know when I’ll be done. And, that’s before I need to be done. I therefore put all on hold. Not good. Why not just get going and have some spare time in the middle of the semester? Or, have the time to alter; correct; change stuff if anything goes wrong.

Maybe later.
Right now I need to make lunch…

Running/Headache, Song-Writing and Promo.

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

Hi!

Welcome to the Runners-Blog! (Well, no. Not really. But, it will be about running today… and a bit about music, at the very end.)

Today I started running again, after four days rest. Did not feel all that great. I decided to only go 7.1km. The 10km will have to wait. I’m going to stick to running 7.1km for a while. Let the improvement part of running not lie in distance but in speed and comfort. When it feels comfortable, I’ll go further.

Un-funny thing happened. After the run, whilst stretching, my vision started to go blurry. My peripherals went, and my focus-point was really small.
I’ve had this feeling before, but the last time was probably when I was 15. It’s the start of a migraine-attack. Previously I’ve been able to stop the migraine if I popped some headache pills at the first symptom (the vision-thing), so I did that today aswell.

Maybe it helped. But, if it did, the migraine I would have had, had I not taken the pills, would have been massive. The headache I got whilst in the shower was massive. I had to put myself to bed for a couple of hours. Even now, some 8h later, I still feel it.

I’m still going out for a run tomorrow.
Have to check.

Ok, music news… or something.

Today I wrote a song that I’m pretty sure I’ve written before. Just can’t find it; remember it. Might even be something on the album I’m recording.
And, I’ve started to talk to a promotion company about getting help getting my music out there. If all pans out they’ll help me. If not then… well, not. Either way I’ll let you know.

September 12…

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

…nine years and a day after.

I remember coming out of the Lundbybadet/Rambergsvallen gym here, on Hisingen, Gothenburg, Sweden. I had been lifting weights. Tired and showered. I switched on my phone, a Siemens S35i only to find a text beep in.
It was from my sister. It read:
Have you seen on television about World Trade Center? [my translation]
I hadn’t. I thought it was a show about architecture or something.

I got on the tram. I got home. Made some food then turned on the TV.
It was not a show about architecture.

If I remember correctly, the second plane hadn’t hit; the second tower hadn’t been hit. I saw that live. Can’t really remember what I felt. Numb from distress? Something like that.

Over the following days, weeks and months (maybe even years), we were on a daily basis fed with these disturbing images, making us, or at least me, more and more numb (and not numb from distress instead, the other, cynical, kind.)

Today I almost feel ashamed to say it but, I remember at some pint during all this feeling; being of the opinion, that they would/should just stop broadcasting about it. “We know! Let’s move on!”.
It was the numbness talking.
Must have been.

Two days ago I saw that image of the second plane hitting; the second building being hit, once again. Hadn’t seen it in years. The plane coming in at high speed, banking slightly then just disappearing into the building.
For the first time, whilst seeing it, I really felt something; something real. The image was so disturbing. The feeling was despair. Not for me, for everyone involved.

It’s a strange thing how, or when distance can make you feel more; feel at all.
It says something about the impact the event had. Certainly on me, perhaps on the whole world.
A thing so strong you don’t allow yourself to feel.

I truly hope we never have to experience something like that again.

New English Word Learnt: Stye.

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

Today my body said “Eh, hold up a minute!”
For the first time, since I started running, I could not improve from the previous run. I had no energy. And, when I got home, my eye started to fuck up. Don’t know what happened. All of a sudden two styes [I don't care what the WordPress spell-checker says; it's a word] blossomed up in my left eye. (Might have been the 8.1km’s of constant headwind – and how is that even fucking possible running circle-ish like I do? Might have been the cold I now feel I have, and must have had this morning.)

I checked my training schedule and found out that I had not had three straight days rest since mid May, two days straight rest come very seldom and I go out running (or doing other stuff previous to starting running) about twenty days a month. Might not sound like much (to some of you) but about 180 days ago, I worked out zero days a month.

So, I’m taking a bit of a break from training. Four days. To let my eye heal and my body recover. I’ve got that 10km to run you know and I’m going to do it!

Rock stars need to be fit too you know!

Here and onwards.

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Tomas Halberstad

After our (Camilla’s, Bosse’s and mine) vacation we’re back in Gothenburg.
A storm greeted us. Hello Gothenburg, I see you’ve been… the same. (We, here in Gothenburg, really need some government weather authority, modelled after the Chinese equivalent.)

I’ve started to get things together for September, and all that will be happening then. (However, it seems ridiculous to talk about upcoming record-releases when the one, supposed to be, released August 10:th has yet to see the light of day.)

Some pictures from Högfors tomorrow.

Night.