Time for a change of tune

Another year has passed, as they do. (Quicker and quicker, it seems.) This time I explored the djungles and wonderful beaches of Costa Rica, revisited Victoria, had countless cups of coffee in Vancouver and went to St Louis (twice).

I enthusiastically watched Seahawks win the Super Bowl, Germany win the World Cup and on a warm summer evening I suddenly found myself on a floating bed in the middle of a Lake Union sail race. I went kayaking and hiked around Mt Rainier, joined the Seattle Pride Parade and practiced my Italian sign language. I achieved a much wanted science writing goal and was appointed co-chair of the Fred Hutch postdoc organization.

I went to two magical farm parties, including the burning of a straw Guy Fawkes on a starry fall night. I had friends and family visit me, tried numerous restaurants, had too many drinks and sang karaoke way too loudly. I dated, and met some truly wonderful new friends. I found love and lost it again.

2014 was good to me, but it ends on a low note. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new year - a year that I hope will bring solace, healing and less misfortune to my loved ones.

Be well, all of you, and have a sparkly, funky, kooky and absolutely extraordinary New Year's Eve! Let's make 2015 the best year yet.

Gott Nytt År!

This is all very random

I was really terrible at taking pictures when I was home; I'm not blaming the fever, but it might have been the fever. (Ok, I just blamed the fever. The fever can have it.)

Anyway. Here are a few random photos that make me happy, in no particular order.

Being in Sweden means catching up with as many friends as possible, as many times as possible. This trip was no exception, although there is little documentation of the social events I attended. Luckily, some of my very best companions are selfie-addicts; thus, I can at least prove that I got to spend some time with these lovely creatures:

My faithful sisters in crime, how I miss you (and your little saplings) when I'm away!

Christmas Eve was rainy, as tradition has it, but the weather gods kindly offered a couple of crisp, cold, snowy days after that.

I'd say it qualifies as a White Christmas, especially seeing as this guy suddenly showed up at our doorstep:

Hullo, fellow Frost!

When I wasn't out frolicking with snowmen and childhood friends, most of my days in Halmstad revolved around yummy treats like these:

The not-too-shabby view from my sickbed (i.e. the living room couch):

Biathlon! For those who don't know, Swedes can't get enough of it. It's a genetic disorder we share with the Norwegians.

This year we didn't bother with putting the Christmas gifts under the tree until about 10 minutes before it was time to open them. I just kind of forgot about it (damn you, fever!). I have to say that mine had the prettiest labels, though; handcrafted by yours truly.

Yeah, and Gothenburg was pretty too.

Ok. That's all, folks. You can go home now. (Damn you, fever!)

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Admittedly, I could be merrier. Had I wished for fever, headache, a sore throat and an excessively runny nose for Christmas, then this would have been the final proof of Santa's existence. Still, it's lovely to be home and I'd rather be sick in good company than on my own in a faraway land. Believe me, I'm being excellently cared for as I'm recuperating in the warm glow of our Christmas tree.

With a bit of luck, I'll be back to my normal, bouncy self in a couple of days. If not, then Santa's dead. DEAD, I TELL YOU.

From all of me to all of you, a very merry Christmas!

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good night

I'm off! Take care, lil' Fremont. Have a happy holiday and I'll see you in a couple of weeks.

Sweden, brace yourself.

The December issue

Whoa! Already? Yup. (Christmas comes early this year.)

How to breed a rare bird: Endogenous T cell therapy made possible
Settling for second best - not so bad, after all

Now: inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...

Bittersweet memories and an American classic

The past week was... interesting. It's Sunday evening and I'm completely exhausted, physically as well as emotionally. High highs and low lows; I've had some amazingly good times and fun encounters, but they've been mixed with severe anxiousness, frantic frustration and plain ol' sadness.

Yeah. This lady is singin' the blues.

That being said, Friday was one of the most magical nights out I've had in this city (and that says a lot), although technically it was a farewell party. Without going into detail, there are certain memories that will be kept deep inside my heart for a long time to come; equal parts thorn and feather.

Saturday was spent recuperating at the Frayos, drinking glögg, decorating their tree, eating freshly made Christmas cookies, sipping on wine, nomming down dinner, watching Elf and snuggling with Cian.

One of the highlights was getting a very special Christmas present. I've started working on a bucket list with things I want to do, see and experience before I eventually leave this part of the world; even though it breaks my heart just thinking about saying goodbye to Seattle, I've got to be rational and make sure that I'm not missing out on unique experiences by being in denial. Therefore, the list includes activities ranging from seemingly trivial endeavors to more adventurous enterprises. The gift from the Frayos might perhaps land in the former category rather than the latter, but it doesn't make it less precious.

On my list was: eat a Twinkie. This super processed, nutritionally horrendous sponge cake with "creamy filling" is an American classic; an "an icon of junk-food snacks and guilty pleasures", and I had not yet had one. So, Shani made sure that I could cross that item off the list.

How it was? Well. Pretty terrible, I have to admit. Nonetheless, "Eat a Twinkie": check! (In case you were wondering, Shani's sweet cookies were several orders of magnitude better.)

Sunday started with work from 7 to 11, but things improved radically after that. Most importantly, Seahawks kicked some Californian butts, knocking the 49ers out of the playoffs. (Hah!) Had a fun time at 9 Mill watching the game, making friends and enjoying the overall holiday pleasantness.

 
Monday and Tuesday will be a ticking clock, counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until I get my behind in the airplane seat and head eastwards. I have a ton of things to wrap up at work (and at home) before I go, however, so there will be no downtime to talk of.

Better that way, says Melancholy Molly.

Busy bee

Starting today, I'm counting down nine days until it's time to board the plane to Sweden. In those nine days loose ends will be tied up, articles finished, experiments crammed in, holiday parties organized, meetings attended and friends bid farewell. Besides everything Fred Hutch-related, I need to also do my laundry, clean the apartment, wrap gifts and pack a bag or two for the upcoming travels on the 17th. But you know what? It's going to be great.

However, my busy schedule leaves no time for writing letters to Santa. Instead, I'll let Lindi Ortega sum it up: All I want for Christmas is a cowboy. Now you know.

A Festivus for the rest of us

Here's a post that probably won't make much sense except for the Seinfeld nerds out there, unless you do some research. Ever heard of Festivus? If not, read up.

...done? Great.

Life in Fremont is the source of constant amusement, and I was honestly not the least bit surprised when I started seeing posters about Fremot Festivus taking place on December 5th. Somehow, I had managed to miss this tradition in 2012 and 2013, but luckily not this year. Besides the customary Festivus practices, the celebrations also included the annual Lenin lighting; or, as the organizers so nicely put it, a chance to "Celebrate the start of the Fremont holiday shopping season by helping light up a bronze statue of a dead dictator!" Eh, count me in.

The hour-long festivities included everything you would expect, such as Airing of Grievances, Feats of Strength (at least, a version of it) and a proper Festivus pole.

In addition, the celebrations included some things you might not expect, such as representation from the city in the form of Miss Seattle. Yes, seriously. (The one with the tiara, to the left.)

Shani and I decided to make this event into a proper girls' night out, and after the decorated dictator was lit up we spent the evening going from place to place, happily shopping, eating and drinking; basically enjoying everything that makes Fremont such a gem.

The rest of the weekend was equally lovely; on Saturday Amanda and I met up at the University Village outdoor mall for a Christmassy breakfast/shopping date, which turned out to be not only super fun but also super efficient. Sunday meant football at Eastlake Bar & Grill (go Hawks!), after finishing a few things at work and then crossing off the last items on my Christmas list. Finally, as I'm writing this, a batch of just-made glögg is cooling on the stove behind my back; one bottle will be brought to work on Wednesday, and the other to the Frayos next weekend. Good times they are a-comin'.

Happy second Advent, from me and Vladimir!

A (not so) short marathon report

If I ever get the stupid idea of running a full marathon during wintertime again, please smack me in the head with something hard. Like, really hard.

I don't want to be too lengthy in my descriptions of the difficulties of running with numb feet, or trying to open energy gel packets on the go with lobster claws where hands should be. Neither am I going to overly stress how tricky it is to drink water from a squeeze bottle when you can't feel your lips. Or hands. (Meaning, no squeeze.) Well, then you can always drink the water provided at the water stations, right? You just need to remove the ice layer floating in the cups first. And then swallow the freezing liquid. When you're already numb from cold, everywhere.

Then, as you eventually cross the finishing line and someone hands you a power bar (which you can't get out of the box without help - lobster claws, remember?) and a water bottle (whose cap there is no chance whatsoever you will be able to unscrew), it's a little problematic to hold on to the aluminum foil blanket they hung over your shoulders, so you lose it immediately but are too stiff to bend down and get it so you leave it. You then limp all the way to the bus stop in wet, sweaty clothes, carefully cradling the water and energy bar you so badly need but can't uncork/unwrap. When you get there, the bus is waiting at the stop but your legs just won't move fast enough so you inevitably have to see it leave right before you get to it. When the next one shows up about 15 minutes later you almost cry of joy, and then you almost cry for other reasons as you try to enter the vehicle. The bus driver sees your struggle to lift one leg after the other in some sort of organized manner, and loudly exclamates OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH!!! so that everyone in the entire bus stares at you as you not-so-elegantely flop down on a seat. Then you almost cry again as an older gentleman solemnly applauds your effort (because you're still in marathon gear; bib, medal and all).

Finally, when you get off the bus (not very elegantely either) your entire body has started shaking uncontrollably to the point where you're nearly incapable of getting the house key into the lock. (Again, lobster hands are not helping.) Once inside, you see yourself in the mirror and get a slight shock. What the heck have you been eating, and how did you get it all over your mouth? It almost looks like dirt! You're confused, until you realize that it's neither dirt nor food: your face has become blue from the cold.

At this point, only one thing matters: to get warm. So you do the only right thing: fill your bathtub with hot (!) water, bring a cup of hot (!) tea to the tub, plus the power bar and water bottle you still haven't been able to get to. When the water gets too cold, you empty the tub and continue with a hot (!) shower. To hell with global warming; all that matters is that your icy bone marrow melts.

So... Without going in too deep into detail of my endeavours (I really don't want to bore you) I'll just conclude that running marathons in negative Celsius is not my thing. But damn, did I do well! 03:35:55, ladies and gentlemen.

Pre-race mirror selfie. (Yes, I look a little tense, because I was a little tense.)

A closer look at the result.

The course.

I'm now sitting in my little Christmas-decorated place, happy and proud, and still full from the late brunch that David and Amelia treated me to after I regained some color to my face (anything but blue).

Perhaps I should try a summer run next time...? (Hah.)

Thank you all, for encouragement, thoughtful comments and happy cheer! It means the world to know that you've all got my back, and that I can share my happiness with you. Extra gratitude goes to Paprik, for excellent long-distance coaching (in dual sense).

Love to all!

Ready, set, go!

It's 9:15 Saturday evening and I'm going to bed in about 30 minutes. This, my friends, is the life of a marathoner. Granted, I have no idea what the other runners are doing tonight, but I'm guessing few of them are out partying. My alarm is set for 4:55 am, which leaves plenty of time for a hearty breakfast to settle before I take off towards Seattle Center and the 2014 Seattle Marathon.

The starter pistol fires at 8:15 am (17:15 CET), and powered by a combination of stubbornness, stamina and good fortune I'm hoping to cross the finishing line sometime before noon (21:00 CET). Supposedly, those who are interested should be able to get continous updates on my progress through Twitter. Otherwise you can check the results afterwards, and search for either my name or bib No. 691.

But as all Swedes are well aware, tomorrow is not just marathon day; it's also Advent Sunday, marking the start of the season of Advent. Without coming off as a religious nutcase, let's just say that to me it signifies the official countdown to Christmas, or rather, the first day that it's actually okay to listen to Christmas music and indulge in holiday treats. Besides mentally preparing for tomorrow's challenge I spent the day scrubbing and dusting my little place, and then decorating it with some essentials. Advent candles, check; calendar candle, check. And then some glittery stuff.

Lovely, innit?

Have a cozy advent morning folks, and I'll see you on the other side...!