just a note inbetween craziness.

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wknd hanging.

A few things that makes me happy right now:
- Summer in November (how fucking awesome is that!!)
- Mikaela dear is in Melbourne.
- My fear of dogs has suddenly disappeared and all kinds of random dogs has started to like me. They even come up to me at cafés to have me throw sticks for them (ah, but seriously, that dog was a little annoying).

self-assessment and things that helps.

I'm currently doing a bit of self-assessment by going through what I've actually learnt during the last year of supposed "freedom" from academic torture. It's actually very interesting, rather amusing and potentially essential to the progression of my career. My list of advice for graduates (which I blogged about a while back) can possibly be extented with another 40 things, and then be reduced again when I realise it's absolute bull crap. There are simply no easy ways of doing things and I don't know if any advice will ever help. It helps drawing stuff like this in your sketchbook though. It really does. Getting paid helps also. The drawing is obviously for those jobs of the opposite kind.

random answers.

Where were you 3 hours ago?
Right here, watching The Proposal.

Have you ever eaten a crayon?
No, but I once ate a lip balm by accident while using it as teeth protection when I was boxing. I was 5.

Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?
Yes, my blanket on my bed and my walls are pink. I like to collect pink things in photographs also.

When is the last time you ran?
It feels like I'm running all the time.

Can you touch your nose with your tongue?
No.

Your dream vacation?
I've been almost everywhere. The only place I consider vacation is going to my parents house back home in Sweden.

Worst injury you've ever had?
Concussion in 6th grade.

Are you the kind of friend that you would want to have as a friend?
Probably, yeah. We'd have the same taste in music.

What song always makes you happy when you hear it?
MMMBop by Hanson

What music are you listening to right now?
Band of Sculls - Friends

Does your pet do any good tricks?
My cat back home is really good at pretending to faint in front of my feet, just to get attention.

What's the farthest-away place you've been?
Here.

Think fast, what do you like right now?
Time.

What do you do most when you are bored?
Watch stupid stuff on youtube and drink instant coffee.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
First I wanted to be a seamstress, then a trumpet player, then an animator at Disney, then a photographer, now I hope I can be a graphic designer without growing up.

Do you have a tan?
Hell no. I think I have a backwards tan, sort of transparent almost. Good thing vampires are so in right now...

the worst thing that can happen...

...will happen. Yep, two days ago I was faced with the horrific fact that my dear, sweet Macie had died. And in his death he took with him everything I had worked on and had forgot to save elsewhere, as well as a massive library of fonts, some handy programs and about 20G's of life-saving music. I was devistated. Crushed. Heartbroken. Angry. My sweet, sweet Macie... it really hurt when you left like that. So I went to the Apple Store and got myself a new hard drive. It's not the same of course. I still cry myself to sleep. But I'll be alright. One day I will be alright. I hope you're free and happy, wherever you are, Macie. Rest in peace.

nostalgia my ass.

Sometimes I get overwelming feelings of nostalgia. Usually connected with maple syrup and associations to pancakes in New York, or when it rains on Collin Street it reminds me of when I went to Paris and it rained the entire time I was there. There is also a massive amount of things that brings my thoughts back to England. Not so strange perhaps, after all I lived there for 3 years. But I guess these types of nostalgia separate themselves from the other kind in the sense that I absolutely don't wish I could go back there. Carlisle was aweful. Uni sucked. Just have a look at these photos from a night out in July last year. Half-naked teenage mums and dodgy, desperate men. And this was one of the best nightclubs in town.

hero of the day.

Dad, you're totally awesome for looking through my entire room and the attic to find a stupid sketchbook. You're the best!

3 today.

Number of random costumers today that guessed I was Irish: 3.

Fun fact; I've never even been to Ireland.

what everyone wants me to be?

A very naive and trying-to-be-hip pre graduate version of myself, where I was asked to explain what kind of designer I am. Clearly I have no idea.

this is what i do.

I DO: Graphic design, illustration, some animation. I freelance, intern and am always looking for exciting new projects.

I DON'T: Work for free, I'm a human being and my life has value. Exceptions; if you're my best friend, a house mate or a member of the Johansson clan.

(Yes, Scarlett, I probably would work for free for you).

yo, queensland!

To all my fans, friends and pathetic ex-boyfriends out there who follow my blog; please except my apology for the lack of postings lately. I have been out of town, Queensland to be more precise, doing some travelling with my family who decided to go across the globe to see me.

Three weeks went really fast. After a few freezing days in Melbourne we caught a plane to Brisbane. Our hopes of sun were slightly smashed when we arrived to yet another cold and rainy city. It got better though. After a few days in a camper van, heading north, we had a bit of warmth and semi-summer temperatures. First we arrived in Noosa Heads, which was a pretty sweet spot. I would have enjoyed it more though if it wasn't for suffering from a bad hit to the head while pulling down the loft bed in the camper van. I guess I'm only averagely clever now.
Moving on, we went to some other wicked places like Hervey Bay and Fraser Island, where we saw some cool wild animals, such as dolphins, iguanas and dingoes. I swear I also saw a vampire in Maryborough, but nobody believed me. Fraser was a really cool place. It had super cold lakes which I did not swim in, a rain forest, massive beaches, wicked sand dunes, a super fresh creek and a shipwreck. Oh, and the guide told us 19 types of snakes lived on the island, of which only four were non-venomous. The red belly snake, the brown snake and inland tipan... Oh, great! That's only like the most dangerous animals on the planet. Awesome. That stopped me from randomly walking into the forrest.
Living in a simple van for two weeks was amazing. You have no idea what a relief it is to not be able to use Internet and not giving a damn if you smell bad. I could easily have gone on like that for a year. No problem. Maybe I should actually do that sometime. Or perhaps I would have made a really good hippie back in the 60's. Staying at various camper parks was an interesting experience also. I'm 24 years old but nobody has ever guessed my age right. Ever. This came very handy when the camping park entry fee was per person and based on wheither you were adult or child. One day I'd be paying as an adult of 24 years, the other I'd be going as a child of 16 years, at one point I was the 15 year old twin sister to my 17 year old brother and other days me and aforementioned brother didn't even exist and had to hide in the back of the van when the camper park owners cruised around the premises. I aged backwards and constantly impressed strangers with my amazing English skills and rug-sack of experience for my "young years". By the end of the trip our parents listed me as 18 whenever we had to enter a park or attraction. That still made me go as a full paying adult, but I guess it just made more sense to everyone, like it would seem like they didn't have anything to hide while we weren't entirely truthful about concession discounts and so on.
The parents were good people to have around sometimes though. One day we went to an Aboriginal Visitor Center and learned how to throw a boomerang. We went to a beach afterwards and played with the souvenir we had bought. Soon enough my brother came back to the van, without the boomerang, and demanded that our dad would go get it for him. He had thrown it into some bushes and he was so scared to go in there, only our dad could do the job. "There are probably some freakin snakes in there, no way I'd go there!" he explained, "You have to do it, dad!". Dad, who is the only member of our family without extreme phobia of snakes, did probably not feel very loved for this not so noble assignment, but did it anyway. Armed with a metal stick he found the 18 dollar souvenir, which I later broke while throwing it against the wind in Agnes Waters.
The camper van was freedom. I'd fall asleep watching the stars through the mosquito net, I'd feel completely relaxed while seeing clouds above split to the sound of She&Him and being rocked to sleep by the forward motion. It was a sweet vacation, which I had needed very much, and it was sort of good to be taken care of for a while. It was so inspirational to be away that I wrote a self-help book when I got back. I guess my target audience is self-laothing, pit of despair people who can't afford to go to Queensland. (P.S. The last part is meant to be ironic.)

advice to graduates.

I can't believe it's been a year already. A whole year has passed since graduating from uni. A year since I lived in Carlisle, had drunken midsummer and hippie parties in our awesome garden, a year since I started my so called professional career as graphic designer. Well, there's been some ups and downs since then. A lot of things has happened and I've learned some stuff. For all of you new graduates out there, here are my advice to you:

1. Never work with anyone that you don't feel comfortable with. It will damage you in the end, no matter what job it is. In this business so much is actually relying on personal chemistry, so if you work with great people things will work out, and if the chemistry's not there it can get sour. So know what your limits are, and if they are trespassed just quit. You don't wanna end up being stalked or worse...

2. Live somewhere were you actually wanna live, don't just live somewhere because it's convenient. I know this one can be a little tricky, because you wanna live where there are jobs. But feeling good at home is actually the key to everything. If you don't have that it doesn't matter how great your job is. The atmosphere of a city or a particular place can be pretty hard to ignore. It can be your biggest inspiration or the opposite.

3. Say yes to everything. If people offer you even the smallest project, unpaid or paid - take it. Replace all your uni projects in your portfolio with as many real life projects as you can and as fast as you can. You will come off as much more professional than just a recent graduate, someone who's actually interested in working and not just showing off their skills. People will wonder "hey, why do this person have such awesome portfolio pieces but no job?".

4. Be humble. Don't pretend you know everything because you just graduated from uni. Because you don't. Listen to what people have to say and if it makes sense, learn from them. And ask questions often. Clear communication is SO important.

5. Life after uni sucks and rocks. You will be poor, have periods of massive self-doubt and it can be scary as hell. But there is also freedom to do whatever you want. No more essays, no more crap tutors telling you what to do. Time after uni is great because it's real life and not just a rehearsal for what's coming. The projects that you'll get will be important for real. Nobody will grade them, but you will know yourself if they are good or not. And you'll get a better understanding of what you want in life and your career as well.

I hope this will help some of you. It can be a relief to know what's coming and also know that it happens to everyone. Not in the same way of course, but the hard vs good parts will always be there. I think one of the biggest problems I've had was just to accept that, and once I got over it everything's so much easier. I am now a designer because I choose to be and loving it.

time to pretend.

It's been a while since I last updated the blog, a huge gap in my usual posting habit. Probably because I said I was gonna stay productive, which I have, only that's been at work and not so much at home, and when I promise myself stupid stuff like that I usually don't do anything. It's been chilling time in front of this show every night, which I'm becomming addicted to. I can sometimes find myself thinking about the art of food in the strangest of places and I reckon Marion or Adam will be the winner in the end. Lately I've also rediscovered this song by MGMT, which is just effing genius. I had an intense period of listening to this song sometime around April 2008, but not until now could I relate to the message in the lyrics. Not that I'm a drog addicted rock star, but being in the creative industry is sometimes a little bit like "being faited to pretend". Sometimes you're dead tired and "miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone" but you still have to pump out the best you have because that's what you do for a living. Jónsi from Sigúr Ros also made his own version of it, which I like a lot.

swedish party.

This weekend was all about my home country, with meatballs, lingonberry jam, brown sause, Norrlands Guld and heaps of Swedish music. A lot of people knew about the music, but just didn't know it was Swedish, which made me feel pretty proud. I was also very surprised to find that this song became sort of a croud favourite. It's such a cheesy old song, that's hilarious...

today's soundtrack.

This was my day.

old bodies, young souls.

Today I met two charming ladies while waiting for the tram. They were German and on their way to a flower exhibition. They just couldn't stop talking, praising Melbourne and beaming with excitement, literally jumping up and down. They were like little kids in old peoples' bodies. Just amazing. When the burgundy city circle tram arrived to take them to their destination, I laughed to myself to see their childish enthusiasm. They barely had time to wave good bye. Old people can be so awesome. And beautiful too, with wrinkles and all, when having such cool personalities. Fuck botox.
(The photo is taken by awesome photographer Carl Kleiner).

i'm going to where the wild things are...

I've been getting used to saying goodbye a lot during the last 6 months. And soon I'm about to do it again. This time I'm going as far away as I've ever been. I'm off to where the wild things are. Which basically is Australia for 2 reasons; 1. The movie Where The Wild Things Are were actually shot there. 2. The most dangerous and exceptional animals in the world lives there, making Australia quite literally where the wild things are. Well, these are not the reasons to why I'm going there, I could definitely live without venomous snakes. The reason why I'm going to Australia is basically because I need some new adventures and this is the last unconquered continent I haven't been to. I will continue doing creative stuff, even more than I am right now, while getting work experience with other design folks. Be sure that the posts here will be filled with inspiration and action. At the moment I still have a few weeks left in Sweden, so if you know somebody in Australia or have links to talented people down under, please feel free to drop me a few lines: stina@stingosaurus.com

a bit of nostalgia #2.

Let's move forward in time and discover the next lesson in my musical developement. These guys are probably seriously hated by tons of people. Let me just tell you that I'm not one of them. I was 11 and heard this song on the Swedish pop chart program Voxpop. It was just before the summer holidays between 4th and 5th grade, the summer of exceptional heat and warming sun, and it was just like something clicked. I never had a crush on Taylor (I probably agreed with eveyone that they all did look like girls) but I did have a massive crush on this song. On our family's roadtrip to France that summer I listened patiently for the song to appear on the radio. And each time it did it was like every cell in my body wanted to smile. I think I fell in love with music from here on. I abandoned my anti-CD attitude (what the hell was so wrong with tapes?) and bought a CD player so that I could buy "Middle of Nowhere". The album smelled sweet and wonderful (not even today have I owned an album smelling so significant). I spent ours reading the lyrics, dreaming away in every song. I wished I was part of Hanson. Every day after school I came home to listen to the album over and over, pretending to play piano while I was doing my homework. It was too bad I was given the wrong musical instrument to play back then, I would probably have rocked my socks off if I had played guitar, keyboard or drums.

a bit of nostalgia.

Being home often hits me with funny, familiar, embarrassing and sometimes really cheesy memories. I guess you call that nostalgia. Today I've had this song on my mind, it's like an anthem of Stina, 6 years old. Me and my friend used to dance to this song and we knew all the awesome moves. I was the girl to the right, the one with the stairy oh-i'm-so-sexy eyes, basically because her name was Susie and my name started with the same letter. My friend was Lili, because her name started with the same letter. So convinient and perfect. Such awesome song too, even though I don't really know what it's about. I was told as a child that it was about a mother who was blind and deaf and that was why they had to "ring the bell". I was so missled... if anyone could tell me what the lyrics really mean, like in a good context that makes sense, please enlighten me!

new habits.

The new year started with a new habit; waking up dead early and going for walks in the snow with me mum. It prevents being a slacker and sleeping all day, plus it's good with a little excercise and quality time with the parent. I recommend it, even though it makes me slow like a freakin' zombie for the rest of the day.