And I'm Leaving, On a Jet Plane (Pt. 2)

Okay, where did I leave off...oh, yeah - Sundsvall.

So, Torak (aka Erucolindo in case I didn't explain that one before) had us going the wrong direction for a while.

Oh, well. Shit happens.

So, we drive up to Sundsvall in Fieldstar's car and it took a long while. Fieldstar started driving, then Torak, then me. Stopped at a liquor store to get some "essentials".

Damn, alcohol is EX-PEN-SIVE! I bought two 750 ml bottles of Absolut (a product of Sweden) and a litre of Kahlua. Total bill? 700 :-! That's about $100 US!

DAAAAAAAAAMN!

That's an espensive bottle of vodka, that is.

Anyway, we were then fortified and we went on to Torak's place to drop him off (he lives in Sundsvall), after which we continued to Shrike's mother's house (Shrike and Torak grew up together), where she was kind enough to offer us a place to crash.

Sundsvall is a bit different than Linköping. For one thing, it's a few hundred miles north of Linköping. For another, it's a coastal city with a sea port. This means a lot more traffic. Both were quite beautiful.

Later in the evening we went to visit Casino Cosmopol, where Torak works as a dealer. We went in for dinner, then spent some money gambling afterward.

None of us were particularly lucky, so, we left and walked back to Torak's pad. In the meantime, his friend Jim had arrived for the Sundsvall Gatufest, which was the main reason we went to Sundsvall.

The Gatu Festen is a 3 day street fair with several stages and lots of music.

Where was I? Oh, back to Torak's pad.

Once there I hoarded the computer to send emails to family and friends and S. And I proceeded to start making White Russians and drinking lots of vodka and beer.

Eventually we left and walked back into the city to see the setup for the festival which was to start the next day, just wandering around and shooting the shit with people.

We were tired from our early start, so, we eventually went back to Shrike's Mom's house to go to bed.

Thursday we got up around noon, as was our usual for this trip. Once we all finally got ready, we went into the city to get some food, then wandered over to Torak's place again. We then started to drink - heavily.

We played a drinking game where you place a deck of cards on top of a bottle. Each person blows on the deck to get some cards off of it. Whoever blows teh last card off the bottle needs to take a shot.

At this point I've already had a couple white russians (heavy on the vodka), a beer or two and a couple shots. Over the course of the game, I had another 5 or 6 shots, then another white russian when we were leaving to go to the festival.

Shrike, Siryn & Fieldstar - I'm sorry for that evening, I really am.

Torak and Jim disappeared into the masses, leaving the four of us to fend for ourselves. I was feeling really, really drunk. I managed to get to a public urinal with Shrike as my wing man to drain my bladder a bit, where I struck up a conversation with some drunk Swedes. They liked me. I liked them. We were all drunk together. They wanted to meet the next day in the park before the festival started.

Me: "Shuuur! Shuuuur! Shee you tooommmmor. Row."

I did mention I was drunk, right?

Anyway, we were kind of camping outside of the gates in a grassy area. I then laid down in the grass and I became an immovable object for several hours, on the verge of passing out.

The others were using me for a pillow.

Siryn was drawing stuff on my face and arms with her eyeliner.

I was saying things that are better left unsaid.

I vaguely remember a cop coming by to ask us if we were okay. The three semi-sober members of out party deflected the cop away from me. They then decided it was time to get me up and moving around a bit, so, we moved over to a picnic bench to the side.

The world was swimming and I was drowning in it.

Me: "I'm gonna puke."
Shrike: "You're gonna puke?"
Me: "Yep."
Shrike: "Can you keep it in?"
Me: "Nope."
Shrike: "Okay, come over here."

He lead me over to this metal box sticking out of the ground. I leaned next to it and just started letting it all go. He helped me out by grabbing me around the waist and squeezing every time I vomited.

This went on for a while.

Again, I'm vaguely aware of a cop coming by again. Shrike told him they were going to take me home.

They didn't.

After I had a drink of some water, Fieldstar took one side and Shrike took the other and they led me into the concert and over to a couple of stages. I managed to slip away and sat down to the side. The grass looked so cool and inviting, that I laid down in it again.

I got used as a pillow again.

Siryn said it was amusing that I appeared to be asleep/passed out, but I was tapping my foot to the rhythm of the band on stage.

When they got me up to leave, we had gotten about 100 feet when I declared "I need to puke again."

Off to the side someone led me - Shrike? Fieldstar? I dunno.

I did my business, then we caught a cab home, with me hating the world in the back seat. I managed to get downstairs without killing myself, then the other three helped undress me and get me into bed.

I did say I'm really sorry for that night, right? I am. Really, really sorry.

Surprisingly, when I woke up the next morning, I didn't have a hang over.

Once again we went into town for some food. My throat was raw and I had a sniffle from the night before, and I eschewed all manner of alcohol that day. We ultimately went to the concert after another drunk fest (which generated some truly funny footage with Torak).

When we got to the concert, Torak went berserk. We managed to follow him into the huge crowd there, where he proceeded to just jump, sway and sing, regardless of who was around him.

As a side note - concerts in Sweden are a lot tamer than here in the States. I didn't see one person crowd surfing, for example.

Poor Siryn, due to her height, was getting pressed on and crushed by the party goers around us, so, Fieldstar, Shrike and I managed to herd Torak into a circle, then the four of us surrounded Siryn to keep her protected from the crush.

It worked in an interesting manner, but, ultimately, it worked.

We kept the crowds off of Siryn and we kept Torak off the crowds. Sympatico you might say.

We eventually made it back to Shrike's Mom's house after Torak made his escape from us. All in all, it was a fun evening.

It's now Saturday, the last day of the festival. We head into the city and then over to Torak's, as per normal.

Torak and Jim decide to make some Absynthe drinks. I reluctantly try one, then decide I don't like it. Or maybe that happened on Friday. I don't really recall anymore.

Anyway, we did our usual drinking, then went out into the city. We stopped by a friend of Torak's house, where I decided to spike my orange juice (my sniffle had become a cold) with some, surprise, surprise, vodka! After a little while, we went on to the concert.

At the gate, I had the orange juice in my hand. The security guy looked at it (no alcohol allowed to be brought in, btw), then asked me what was in it (as iff the big orange on the side didn't give it away).

Me: "Orange juice."
Him: "Anything else?"
Me: "Nope." (I lied, so sue me.)
Him: "I need to smell it. Do you mind?"
Me: "Nope. Go ahead."

I hand it to him, he takes a whiff.

Him: "Okay. Have a nice evening." (he hands the OJ back to me)
Me: "Thanks!"

As I get into the venue, I just started laughing my ass off. I handed it to Fieldstar, who takes a whiff and announces "I can't even smell orange juice in that! Just the vodka!"

Wheee!

It was a bit more subdued evening. We stuck to the side of the concert this time, Torak disappeared early, then the remaining four of us eventually went back to Shrike's Mom's place again.

It's Sunday. My last full day in Sweden.

We went into town to do some shopping. My Mom wanted a "Swedish teapot" and I was looking for other little keep sakes I could get, which culminated in getting these 2' long plastic shoe horns from Ikea. Which were made in Spain. Oh, well.

We were wandering around downtown, looking at different places. Fieldstar and I had moved on ahead of Shrike and Siryn while on the way up to Torak's place and had taken a break to wait for them to catch up.

While we were sitting there I was lamenting about not being able to find this damn tea pot. That's when I noticed the place across the street. It didn't register immediately because it was in swedish, but it finally dawned on me.

An antique shop!

I went in and sure enough they had a collection of tea pots. I bought one for about $100. My Mom loved it when I gave it to her, by the way.

So, with that out of the way, we went up to Torak's for a while, then returned to Shrike's Mom's house for dinner - she wanted to make us something.

All in all it was a nice, leisurely day of doing nothing. I believe Fieldstar even bought a copy of Kingpins and we watched it that evening.

We ultimately got to bed early, then the next morning we hit the road (with me driving) to Stockholm so I could catch my flight home. Fieldstar drove the rest of the way to Linköping, then he drove himself home to Malmö, several more hours to the south.

My flight was uneventful, except for a baby SCREAMING FOR EIGHT HOURS!!!!

So much for sleeping on the way. It sucked.

On the good side, S. was picking me up from the airport shuttle, so, I had that to look forward to.

More on that in the next installment...