Category Archives: Personal

When in China

Last Christmas, I gave my parents a trip to China (and back!) as a Christmas gift. We couldn’t afford going abroad when I was a child (except for that one time in 1991 when we had saved up enough to go to Spain for a week, by bus) so I wanted to take them now instead along with my lovely wife.

About a month ago it was time for the actual trip. We mostly stayed in Xi’an, the first capital of China, but took day trips to other places.

Here, it’s easier if I just show you…

Cable management in China
Muslim Quarter in Xi’an
Candy crush live!
Candy crush live!
Xi’an Drum Tower
Moon over Xi’an Drum Tower
Birds, now on cable
Nice hooters!
On our way to Xi’an Terracotta museum
Terracotta Army, Hall 1
Me at the Terracotta Army puzzle ward
Terracotta warriors in a different perspective
Terracotta warrior details, face
Terracotta warrior details, body
Terracotta warrior details, horse
Horses, wagon and driver all made in bronze
Huge Emperor Qin statue on the Terracotta Army museum parking lot
At the Shaolin temple
This tree has been used for hundreds of years by Shaolin monks to train finger punching
Details on a Shaolin temple roof. That guy sure has a lot of pets!
Main Shaolin temple training hall. Thousands of monks has for hundreds of years trained kicks, jumps and stomps, making pits in the floor.
Tower at the Shaolin Temple
Martial arts performance at the Shaolin Temple
Every Shaolin abbot has since the year 791 had their ashes buried in a pagoda on the holy Song mountain. The area is now called the Pagoda Forest, containing 228 pagodas, one for each master. This pagoda was raised for the previous abbot when he passed away 2010. Note that aside from martial arts, the inscriptions also depict a video camera and a laptop.
Mom & Dad at the Pagoda Forest
Me and my wife Marianne at the river Yi
Xiangshan Monastery
The 17 meter tall Lu She Na Buddha
Buddha’s buddies
The river Yi
Lóngmén shíkū – The Dragon Gate Caves, a.k.a Longmen grottoes. 2345 man-made caves on both sides of the river Yi, housing around 100’000 stone statues – all carved directly from the mountain.
In the streets of Xi’an
Almost all scooters in Xi’an are electric. This was an exception.
Me sniffing flowers and stuff. Neat.
Small Wild Goose Pagoda, completed year 709. After a violent earthquake in the 1500’s, the top two floors collapsed and only 13 stories remain. It has otherwise survived more than 70 earthquakes.
Playing Peek-a-boo behind a 1300 year old tree
Scenic area outside the Small Wild Goose Pagoda
We found Barad-dûr in China!
We also found the Chinese Princess Leia
Guangren Lama Temple, a Tibetan buddhist monastery, seen from the Xi’an city wall
Shopping sunglasses with my dad

All in all, it was a very interesting trip. There is a radical difference in cleanliness, culture and people’s behavior compared to e.g. Japan.

For one thing, we were constantly photographed by strangers. Some additional facts may have contributed to this though. This will take some explaining, so please bear with me;

We went to several places where we didn’t see any other westerners, or only very few – the ones we did see were pretty much all in their 20-30’s, carrying backpacks and cameras. We stood out from the crowd even in the cities for several reasons:

  1. We didn’t see any older westerners (40+).
  2. We hardly saw any people with white, or even gray hair.
  3. We hardly saw anybody with facial hair other than a thin mustache, and nobody with a full beard.
  4. We didn’t see anyone with visible tattoos – 75% of our group had very visible tattoos on our arms.

We also went to China during the Qingming Festival, a holiday for honoring the dead, but also a time where many are traveling. A lot of people from the countryside go to visit their friends and relatives in other cities, this can be the only time of year where they leave the immediate surroundings of their villages. It appeared as if many of them had never seen westerners before, at least not like us. Some days perhaps 20 people came up and wanted to take selfies with us, but mostly people just took pictures or started filming us without asking for permission. It even happened that while we were sitting on a bench, parents came up and put their children in our laps to take pictures of us together as if we were a tourist attraction. I don’t mind people taking the occasional picture of me, but that was a bit much. This behavior was much more visible when going outside the cities to more distant areas such as on Song Mountain, Shaolin and Lóngmén shíkū. Though it did become more amusing when I started playing a game – when I saw someone take a picture of me or anyone in my company, I pulled out my camera an took a picture of them as well. Often I only had a second or so to take the photo before the people started reacting and sometimes hiding their faces. People who wanted to take selfies with me using their phones  & cameras seemed absolutely puzzled when I instead took a picture with mine (though I always did let them take one as well). But it gave us all a few laughs.

Photographing the photographers

Life

I’ve said it before, but I want to remind both myself and others, because this is really important; you don’t stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing.

I think we as individuals need to hit pause more often and just enjoy ourselves, not giving a damn about what others may think about it. The ideals of others – or rather what we think are their ideals – are not applicable to us. But still we live a large part of our lives in these narrow templates, fearing what others may think of us, even though their thoughts doesn’t even affect us.

It’s entirely up to you if you want to be part of that gray mass, holding you back from doing what you would really like to do but don’t dare to, or if you want to be true to yourself.

You can write your own rules, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else (or is, you know, punishable by law).

Buy a cake for dinner just because you want to. Make out on the bus no matter how old you are. Wear a sombrero when shopping ingredients for tacos to make them more fun to eat. Get that (cool/beautiful/silly/awesome) tattoo that you’ve been thinking of for months. Jump in puddles as long as your legs will carry you. Always choose the option that will give you the best story and the best memories, no matter if it’s about buying Milky Ways to your coworkers for no particular reason, trying a tandem skydive with an instructor (worth it!) or saying no thanks to that thing at work because you just bought your first coloring book in 25 years and would rather spend time with it, sipping that wine that people are dissing but you deep down actually like.

And most of all, only surround yourselves with people who make you happy. People that make you laugh, that make you think and that make you love.
There are plenty of pessimists and energy thieves out there who will do their worst to drag you down to the same miserable level as them – avoid them if you can. If not, don’t take what they say too seriously. They are only human too, and don’t know more about how to live a life than you do.

And it’s your life. You should be the one to decide what to fill it with.

Nu.

I got a new tattoo last summer. Nu means Now in Swedish.

Four reasons why I did this:

  1. To not live in the past; I can’t change things that happened half a lifetime ago.
  2. To not postpone things that I can do right now.
  3. To remember that it’s the only time I’m actually alive.
  4. To always have an answer when people ask what time it is.

Best of Tokyo

Me and my wife have been to Tokyo twice now, and I am still enchanted by this fantastic city. I miss it and have no doubt that I will return to it later in life.

I want to share a few of the things that I like about it. What you can’t see in the photos is how extremely friendly everyone is; not just the people trying to sell you things, but strangers in the street who will go out of their way to help you in any way they can.

And it’s clean. I mean really clean. If anyone sees a candy wrapper on the street, they pick it up and bring it with them until they find a trash can. This doesn’t happen very often in Stockholm.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite things about Tokyo. Click to enlarge:

The view from the 41st floor
The view from the 41st floor

This photo was taken from the bar on the 41st floor in the Park Hyatt hotel. This is the bar where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson meet in Lost in Translation.

The streets at night
The streets at night

I can’t put my finger as of why, but I really like walking around the streets of Tokyo at night. It might be that I feel completely safe and can relax.

Godzilla
Godzilla

It turns out that Godzilla is real.

Yes, Godzilla
Yes, Godzilla

A close-up of Godzilla. Nicely done, Godzilla-game-for-PS4-marketing team!

The side streets
The side streets

Parallell to the main streets, things slow down a bit. But these stores and restaurants are often more enjoyable that the ones on the main streets.

The back alleys
The back alleys

The back alleys are often filled with hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Highly recommended if you have a limited budget and/or want a more genuine culinary experience.

The ninjas
The ninjas

As  in all big cities, the buildings are crawling with ninjas.

The old stores
The old stores

This is adorable.

The new... whatever this is
The new… whatever this is

This is not… quite as adorable, but definitively different.

The restaurant blackboards
The restaurant blackboards

Outside a small restaurant in a remote back street.

The smoking prohibition on the streets
The smoking prohibition on the streets

This should be implemented world wide! Smoking in Tokyo is prohibited on most (all?) streets. Aside from the obvious health benefits for both first- and second-hand smokers, it also helps keep the streets and sidewalks clean from cigarette butts.

The food
The food

The food is so good! Well, most of it anyway. I tried to eat something I’ve never tried at least once a day, and not everything was a jackpot. But sushi, udon and the other “classic Japanese” dishes are superb (as you can see from my wive’s expression).

The pastries
The pastries

Found in a bakery/candy shop. I think the picture speaks for itself.

The Engrish
The Engrish

The Engrish was actually not as widespread as I hade expected, but did see it a couple of times a day.

The toilet controls
The toilet controls

Japanese toilets are crazy, often with built-in automatically extending bidet arms with multiple spray modes and water temperatures. And built-in air driers. The really good ones practically eliminates the need for toilet paper.

The guest bathroom in a coffee shop in a suburb, way off any major street, gave me this experience:

  1. I enter the room and the lights turns on automatically.
  2. I approach the toilet, and the lid opens automatically.
  3. When I sit down, I notice the porcelain ring is not cold as I expected, as it has a built-in heater adjusted to about the same temperature as my skin.
  4. Sitting down also activates the sound system which plays nature sounds with gentle streams and babbling brooks, teamed with rustling leaves and singing birds.
  5. After I’m done and get up, the lid closes automatically and proceeds with flushing and self-sanitizing.
  6. Sensors at the sink activates the soap dispenser and water tap when I simply hold my hands under them.
  7. The airblade hand dryer also activates when simply putting your hands in it.

Aside from opening and closing the door, I never had to touch any buttons, handles or lids with my hands.

The fashion
The fashion

Far from everyone walks around like this, but it’s not uncommon.

The fashion
The fashion

This is more common than the kimono getup, at least in the Harajuku district.

The street performances
The street performances

Street performances, festivals and other celebratory events seemed to happen almost every day.

Big in Japan
Big in Japan

Being big in Japan was fun. 🙂

The biker culture
The biker culture

You see a lot of scooters in Tokyo, and hardly any European or American motorcycles. But I did find this beauty from Spice Motorcycles.

The biker culture
The biker culture

Despite being on the other end of the biker scope, this guy still managed to stay (sort of) cool.

The small shrines
The small shrines

Often crammed in between large buildings, these tiny shrines could be found every now and then.

The larger shrines
The larger shrines

Larger shrines can also be seen here and there. This one in Ueno Park houses a flame that was taken from the burning ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (later merged into a single flame). It has been burning ever since the atomic bombs were detonated over the two cities in 1945.

The temples
The temples

From small to huge, the temples are plenty.

The pagodas
The pagodas

The 5-story Kan’ei-ji pagoda was built in 1631, rebuilt 1639 after a fire, and still stands today.

Wedding ring in titanium with a diamond seen.

The beautiful cemeteries
The beautiful cemeteries

The absolute serenity of this cemetery was stunning. We came to see a single, specific grave, but couldn’t help but walk around among  the others as well.

The grave of the real Hattori Hanzō
The grave of the real Hattori Hanzō

This is the grave of the real Hattori Hanzō. Not the fictional sword maker from Kill Bill, but the real-life ninja, samurai and general that helped Tokugawa Ieyasu become the ruler of a united Japan in the 1500’s.

The nature
The nature

Even in the middle of a city with more than 35 million citizens, nature like this exists.

The parks
The parks

Got to love the parks. Beauty and stillness unlike anything I have  ever seen in a large city. This was a fairly short walk from our hotel near Shinjuku station – which is used by about 4 million people per day.

The turtles
The turtles

We also found turtles! I think this is Donatello.

Sharing this with my wife
Sharing this with my wife

Call me sappy, but the best part of these trips to Tokyo was that I got to share them with my wife.

The story of Lumien

As you might have understood from the URL redirection and name change on the blog, my last name is no longer Johansson.

Johansson is, along with the almost identical number of bearers for Andersson, the most common last name in Sweden. I’ve never felt common, and have never imagined staying a Johansson for the rest of my life. So when I got married last year, me and my wife took the opportunity to take a brand new name for ourselves. This turned out to take almost a year before all the hurdles of bureaucracy was overcome.

When applying for a newly created last name, you first have to apply to the patent registration office (PRV). This cost us about 3600SEK (~380€). Once that is approved, you have to apply for changing your legal name. If the first application is approved, the second can be sent automatically. If not, you have to reapply to both instances separately.

We sent in the first application for a new name more  than a month before the wedding.  Unfortunately, it was denied on the grounds that there was a small record label registered in Sweden with the same name. This decision could have been bypassed if we were to get a written permit from the company on whose grounds we were denied the name – so we wrote them and asked, but they refused. PRV then gave us six weeks to send in a new application, or else the paid sum would be forfeited.

After much thinking and discussion, we came up with a second name that we both liked and could agree on. That application was denied because there were 7 people in Sweden that had a similar last name – with a different spelling – but that PRV decided could be confused with the one we applied for. We again had six weeks to send in a new application.

On the next application, we got denied because there was a housing cooperative (bostadsrättsförening) with the same name.

The application after that got denied because there were businesses that used part of the name we applied for in their company name.

And so it went back and forth for about a year. If anyone thinks of applying for a newly created last name, be advised that your application will be denied if any of the following conditions are met:

  • There is at least one person in Sweden that has the same name as their first name – or even as a middle name.  If you think that you have come up with a unique name, chances are there is someone living in Sweden (not necessarily of Swedish heritage) having that as part of their full name.
  • It can easily be confused (due to spelling or pronunciation) with an existing last name.
  • It was previously an existing last name but no longer in use, unless you are a direct descendant to someone with that name, no more than 4 generations away.
  • There is an existing company name, trade mark or brand name – in Sweden or within the EU – with the same or similar spelling, or that can easily be confused with any of them.
  • The name is generally known as a last name in any other country.
  • There is a generally known historic person or family with the same last name.
  • The name is a title on someone else’s protected literary or artistic work.
  • The name of, or otherwise associated with, a foundation, non-profit organization or similar group.

After hundreds of suggestions to each other, months of discussion and a whole bunch of applications, extensions and waiting periods, we finally found a name that didn’t clash with any of the above and that we were both happy with. And my wife (who is a Finnish citizen) got a part of her other language in it.

Lumien.

It’s a combination of words; Lumen: Latin for light. It can also be used for lifeLumi: Finnish for snow. Lumien as a whole can actually be used as a conjugation for snow in Finnish, though it is a rare one.

Once the application to PRV was approved, the second application for legally changing the name only took a few weeks.

So there it is. Frank Johansson is no more. I am Frank Lumien.

Reasons to like me

I’m not sure if I’m easy or hard to like. But for those who are about to decide, I’ve put together the following list to better the odds in my favor.

Reasons to like Frank:

  • He does his dishes at least five times a year
  • He doesn’t turn into a werewolf during full moons
  • He knows the capital of Mongolia
  • He is not an alien from another dimension bent on world destruction
  • He subscribes to the theory that the Earth is round
  • He doesn’t scrape his vegetables onto someone else’s plate when nobody is looking
  • He has never opened fire on an innocent group of unarmed people
  • He calls his comic books “Comic books” and not “Graphic novels” or “Sequential art”
  • He has most of the time no major problems remembering his own phone number
  • He rarely stares directly at the sun
  • He has never broken into a bear’s home and eaten all its porridge
  • He has never given the finger to a lady over the age of 73
  • He never stares at someone’s wart for more than 2-3 minutes
  • No tyrannical system of government is named after him
  • He neither smoke nor drink while pregnant
  • Contrary to popular belief, he does not comb his hair with a fork
  • Unlike Vincent Van Gogh, he would not cut off his ear to impress a girl
  • The rumors of his involvement in the Chernobyl crisis are mostly unfounded
  • He no longer bears a grudge against Santa Claus for failing to deliver a working space shuttle in Christmas of 1987
  • He refuses to play “let’s hide grandma’s teeth”
  • As of yet, he has never overlooked the importance of regular, continuous breathing

Short update

Sorry for not posting anything for a while. A lot has happened and I’ve been busy with work (a lot of it), travel, health problems in the family and preparing to move (in two weeks).

In short; The Chest Case mod is finished, I’ve been to Prague and around Sweden, health situation the family is still under investigation but somewhat stable, and I have enough tasks on my to-do list at work to last me for at least 6 months.

Further updates on the above will come, but right now I don’t have time to focus on that until things settle down for a bit.

Rome – The good, the bad and the ugly

The last week I’ve been in Rome, Italy. Monday to Friday I’ve lived in Frascati and worked in Morena, and during the weekend I’ve stayed near Termini in central Rome together with M.

Frascati was okay, I guess. Small, worn down but not completely without charm. We found one good restaurant there with both good food and nice staff.

Work went well and the clients appeared very happy with my part, so no worries there.

The bad and the ugly
Going into central Rome, I realized that the worn down thing was not specific to the suburbs but the city core as well. The streets were very dirty and we often came by areas that smelled very bad. The traffic was horrible, and the subway stations felt like nobody has bothered to renovate or otherwise improve them since 1986.
Everywhere on the streets people were trying to sell us cheap imitation bags and various crap with a very intrusive attitude. This was worst when eating at outdoor seatings, we often had to tell the peddlers at  least 3-4 times that we were not interested before they gave up. And came back again 30 minutes later.

Speaking of eating; I don’t know if we just had bad luck, or if the italian restaurants really are very bad. About 3/4 of all meals we had were a major disappointment. Service was most of the time terrible, and even though we always tried to be friendly and start the conversations in Italian, we were often treated with arrogance and not the smallest of smiles.

The good
The ice cream/gelato was good and the wine was cheap.

Sure, Colosseum was impressive and there were a lot of ruins, fountains and statues that would probably be reason enough for some people to go there, but after a while things start to look the same everywhere.

For us, Rome was all together quite a bad experience.

I hope I don’t have to go here again very soon. It will be really good to go home tomorrow.

Work in Italy

The last few weeks has been quite hectic for me. Being involved in several top-priority projects coupled with preparations for next week has meant a lot of overtime at work, and too little sleep. But the bulk of the projects is over (at least for now), and I can hopefully get back to a normal speed soon.

Tomorrow I’m flying to Rome, Italy for a week. I’m going to hold a course there in one of my areas of expertise for a group of people at one of our big partners. I’m a bit nervous as I have never done anything like this before. Sure, I’ve held small workshops for a handful of people  before, but that was always in or own office and never more than a day long.

Well, at least it’s warmer in Rome than in Stockholm right now. I put away the motorcycle for winter storage the other day due to the cold. Partly because I can’t ride more than an 45 minutes or so without starting to get cold (especially the hands), but mostly because it’s dangerous. Frost in the mornings and fallen leaves on the road is not a good combination when you’re on two wheels. I hope the winter is short this year so that I can bring out the bike early.

Now, time to start packing.

4000 kilometers in 3 weeks

So, what have happened since last time?
I’ve been riding. And riding. And riding.

First off, two days after passing my driver’s exam and buying my bike, I went upp to Strömsund in Swedish Jämtland, around 700 km from Stockholm by bike. From there we went to Finnish Lapland by car, to a town called Ranua about 80 km from Rovaniemi. After close to a week we went back, and I took the bike back to Stockholm via a night in Mora.
Back home I took a few days to wash, repack and plan,and also to install my first modification to the bike: A 12 volt power outlet (cigarette plug) hidden inside the toolbox compartment. This is in turn connected to a relay that I installed, so that it only gives power when the bike is started to prevent the battery from discharging in case I forget the power adapter to the GPS plugged in.

Anyway, me and three friends went back on the road again.
First stop was Tibro, where I lived between I was 5 and 16. Of course we went straight to Tibro Bar & Grill, and then off to our respective friends and family to sleep (3 of 4 were raised in Tibro). The next day it was more or less pouring down the entire time, so we took the shorter route to Hökerum, Ulricehamn, where my parents live. After spending the evening and night there we went on to Linköping, still in the rain. We split up again, and met the next day, when the sun finally came through. Onward to Västervik where MC-dagarna, the largest bike event in northern Europe, was held. Lots and lots of awesome bikes, both at the exhibition and in the camping area. We camped there for a night, and then the rest of the guys went back to Stockholm while I continued on to Öland where my parents had rented a house. After 5 days there, I went back to spend another night in Linköping before going back to Stockholm. Besides that I’ve been cruising around a lot in between, both in Stockholm and on Öland.

Pictures have been requested so pictures are produced: