10 years…

I can’t believe it’s 10 years since we first saw the new millennium!

10 years ago I was 16, living with my dad and step-mum in a teeny tiny village deep in the woods in the middle of nowhere. I was in 1st year of Gymnasiet (Swedish high school) and dad had just got us our first computer. With dial-up internet and Windows 95 :P

The big 2000 was celebrated with my then best friend Minna in her father’s house. We made a fancy dinner for everyone in the village (not as much work as it sounds like, the whole village = 8 people. That might give you an idea of what I mean when I say “tiny”) with a silver wax cloth on the table, silver confetti and silver candles. Minna’s sister even had a silver lipstick that we all put on :D It may sound like a poor New Year’s party, but it was seriously awesome!

What did you all do on New Years Eve 2000?

A decade in the rearview mirror

2000

• My 17th birthday.
• 1st year of high school ends.
• Meet my first boyfriend Johan in May. Or whatever you’d like to call it. More like kids at play than an actual relationship.
• Oh well, never mind. We break up in August.
• Start 2nd year of high school.
• Meet second boyfriend Björn in October.

2001

• Move back to my mother after 2 years of living with my dad.
• Most of my friends drop out of school and/or move so I pretty much end up alone. And I’m to grumpy and unsocial to get new friends <_<
• 2nd year ends and 3d year starts. I get to study sign language which is pretty much the only subject I actually enjoy.
• Beginning to grasp how to draw stuff in Ms Paint.
• Gets my first cell phone.

2002

• 3d year in school sucks giant donkey balls. I’m sick and tired of school and spend every day regretting my choice of orientation. In hindsight I really should have chose art over social science…
• … but in May I finally graduate! FREEDOM!!
• Moves in with Björn. He lives in a town by the sea so I finally get away from my dead end village
• Start my first “real” website. On Geocities :P
• Get to ride a motorcycle for the first (and only) time.
• After a lazy summer I get a trainee job at a local advertising agency.

2003

• My trainee job turns into a real job. I get to make signs, printed matters, car decorations etc. It’s a really fun job and I love it there!
• Me and Björn breaks up after almost 3 years together. It really was for the best, but I’m still an emotional wreck.
• Moves in to a small apartment smack down in the centre of town.

2004

• Gathers some courage and joins The Quilting Bee.
• I meet Jesse. He has long blond hair and a small zoo in his apartment: snakes, tortoises, fire salamanders… A regular Steve Irwin copy.
• Iva offers to host me on her domain :D Shortly after I start my first fanlisting.
• Buys my first own pet, the fabulous Flamma
• Work is getting fucked up. They fire me due to lack of work and then hire me again when the work load increases. Rinse and repeat 1000 times in the span of 1 year. Blah.
• Moves in with Jesse in September. With him and all his 7 billion pets.

2005

• My dog Zaphod is born on March 22 and I take him home on May 16 <3
• Goes to Sweden Rock Festival for the first time \m/
• Buys my first car, a white Audi 100 Avant from -85
• Get to see Black Sabbath, with Ozzy Osbourne, live in Stockholm!
• Buys my first own domain CyanSunrise.com! I create a blog in Swedish and an art/pixel site in English.
• I’ve finally had it with work. Jesse wants us to move to Skellefteå, his home town a bit further south, and I agree to do so.
• New apartment, new town, new life

2006

• Applies for neat education: Design for interactive media. 2 years long, in town.
• Becomes a member of the Pixel Team at the Qbee.
• Get accepted for the education! :D Meet lots of new cool people! Like Alexandra, Linda, Markus etc.
• Buys new car, this time a white Opel Omega (aka “the white trash car”) from -89

2007

• I break up with Jesse. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do but I just don’t love him the way I should. Very sad.
• In lack of a place to live I move in with Alexandra in her apartment. Zaphod has to live with another friend, Andrea. Flamma stays with Jesse for now. Life seriously messy.
• Manages to get a place of my own. Can take my stuff from Jesse’s apartment and best of all: I can get my pets back!
• Buys Rockwitch.net to cheer myself up. Moves blog + art/pixels here and keep CyanSunrise.com as a fanlisting collective.
• Strong and strangely amorous feelings towards my friend Markus. WTF?
• Sweden Rock Festival again.
• Ok, friend or not Markus is amazing. And he likes me too! We eventually decide to come clean and start dating for real

2008

• Gets an apartment with Markus.
• Buys Vittra.org and moves my Swedish blog there. Keep Rockwitch.net as an art site.
• Sees Alice Cooper in concert for the first time!
• Graduate design school. Wee bit sad, it’s been so much fun. But hey, graduation party in our new apartment! Whoo!
• Is job-hopping all summer. Switchboard operator, salesperson, janitor…
• Markus gets a car from his parents as a gift (OMG!). A dark green Renault Laguna. My old shitty Opel is kicked out immediately.
• Markus start doing freelance work for a local advertising agency. Shortly after I start doing work for them too :)

2009

• Sweden Rock again. Crappy weather but otherwise great.
• Converts Rockwitch.net to WordPress to make it a proper blog as well as an art gallery. Ditches the Swedish blog in the process.
• Summer job as a janitor again.
• 9th grade school reunion.
• Decides to close CyanSunrise and buys Heart of Snow to use as my fanlisting collective instead.

And what do I know for 2010?

• Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It’s a blank page so… I guess we’ll see what happens!