The Five Days of Crayfish

Crayfish season is coming up again in a few weeks. I however happened to get invited to a pre pre-crayfish party. Being me and having awesome friends, we decided to go by Kayak and adventure.

The plan was to kayak for three days hit the party just in time and kayak back. It did not go quite as planned though. It turned out to be a hell of a chill out place and thus we decided to establish base camp.

Using Karolinska Institutets (KI) place in the Archipelago we did daily trips by kayak in the archipelago. Rock Climbing, Fishing, Kayaking and the occasional crawdad was achieved.

I strongly recommend kayaking the in the inner archipelago of Stockholm. It's a great way to get to know the land and waters which make up Stockholm and have contributed to what the area is today. In my opinion it might be the most beautiful archipelago around.

There were more than a few homely culinary treats out in our back yard. Fresh berries really helped give the pancakes that little extra touch. Who in their right mind can fail to appreciate fresh pancakes, ice cream, whip cream and fresh berries? Oh and so the pancakes here are the thin ones, the ones Americans call crepes, The original pancakes :p

Ending every night with a fire is more or less the rule out in our summer life style. Although "Danger Mouse" and associates had a fascination for huge fires we all escaped unharmed, something the leftovers from the burnt down sauna did not.

The Bodyguard

One night in KL I got some info of where there where some latin dancing to be done. I figured that it might be a good opportunity to learn something. So I make a shutout on some online forums to see what happens. Suddenly I get a text with some info on a souk club. Ok, latin dancing here we go was my thoughts.

This was wrong.

During my after-work with my buddy in KL the unknown souk specialist shows up. On his walk I can tell that he is no dancer. Well that or he's a real good a shape shifting. But who knows maybe I'm wrong? (I wasn't). After a little awkward conversation it turns out that the souk club or "club zouk" is not at all a latin dance club. But they do have free drink during a few early hours tonight. So he suggests that we hit up that place before 20:00. We decide that that is way too early and that we should go check out twenty one despite his puppy eyes and black tee with a naked lady on. In fact this graphic t-shirt was the only thing that would give away and otherwise uncanny similarity to a bodyguards appearence in KL. Having shaved his head with a bulls neck, stiff walk and a tendency to not speak while walking a step after us or a step ahead of us it really did look like we had our own bodyguard. So much in fact that we where at first asked if this was the case. Later that night it was just assumed and not even asked any more. It was quite amusing to my inner self when asked who my friends where I responded that's my buddy A and that's the body guard. The amusing part was that no one questioned this. This was something natural. Obviously a 25 year old dude has his own bodyguard. No I'm not 25 but people tend to thing I'm about that age. All in all it was a strange experience. Highly amusing but strange, oh and also quite baller.

What kind of society requires one to have a body guard when going to a bar like the Hilton anyway. Well maybe like Jakarta and of course Kuala Lumpur obviously.

That guy should seriously think about changing professions though. I'm sure you get better pay as bodyguard than a bookstore clerk...

The High School Party

I recently attended a high school party. Well not really. The apartment was a little too baller for that and there was no mom and dad that would come home. Age wise I think most people should have been out of collage but it was still a high school party.

It was not what I was expecting but it was a nice opportunity to observe. As the night went on the music became louder. The conversation became less audible and less coherent. But what was interesting was the interactions fueled by sexual drives. getting laid was definitively in the air. Or in a lot of boys minds anyway.

Hour 1

The crowd is divided into groups of girls and boys with a few mixed ones. quite a random mix.

Hour 2

A few more beers has been consumed. The DJ has increased the volume with a good 15%. A good portion of the boys are scanning for pray. A few girls are doing the same.

Hour 3

More than a few sips of alcohol later it's quite clear who is looking for some action. The girls on the prowl definitively have had a few too many but they are still kinda functional. The boys are displaying the characteristic change in interpersonal skills. Volume has increased with another 25%.

The interesting part is taking place during hour 3 and 4 of interest. This is where a gradual change of approach is noticeable. From shy or maybe overly humoristic and clearly masked approach to start with and ending up with a near verbal nincompoop for intelligent responses using mainly body language to charm the ladies. The lack in ability to read the opposite visual response leads to a dance roughly described with the following example.

1. Person A: leans forward says something he already said a few times and tries to smile.
2. Person B: moves away a little but tries to listen anyway
3. Person A: moves closer and asked for some irrelevant detail
4. Person B: moves away and interacts a little with a nearby bystander, or a fried, or a boyfriend
5. Person A: tries to move in close to break the personal space
6. Person B moves away
7. Person A tries again or changes targets

After all sometimes it leads to success. Sometimes the initial success is aborted and proceeds to intimate relations with the toilet bowl. Then Person A or B might try again. Or not. Either way, the relationship between alcohol consumed, degradation of verbal skills and rise in confidence is interesting. Where is the golden balance? Where is the tipping point of where one shall not go any further?

We did stay a little longer than this tipping point for sure. But left quite swiftly as large parts of the premises became occupied by high-schoolers. 

Naturally this did not happen to all of the visitors. But to enough for me to notice. The rest of the gathering was very nice and I did have a few good conversations with random people from, well everywhere.