Stefán Claessen

Intercollegiate Singles Championship

2009-03-15T19:34:00.005Z

On Friday at 4 a.m. I woke up to get ready for what would turn out to be the longest day of this year for me. When the clock turned 5a.m. I went and got Marcus (the swedish bowler that was going with me to Illinois) and after a quick stop at Wal-Mart to get an I-pod car-plug and some Red Bull´s we hit the road. According to Google, the trip would take about 7 hours, with that in mind and a full tank of gas we passed Kansas City after roughly 2,5 hours and since it was so early, we decided that it was time for breakfast. So with the tank running empty I took the next exit and before we got the gas, we decided to stop at McDonalds and get some food, but since it was early they were only serving breakfast (STUPID AMERICANS!!! why not have a cheeseburger on the breakfast menu!!!) so we got some gas and then found this store/diner where Marcus had the breakfast buffet and I had all you can eat ribbs, except that after having few of the ribbs, I didn´t want to eat all I could!

After getting back on the road, Marcus fell asleep again! and I kept looking at the km´s go down on the gps. Then we finally made it to St. Louis, and it´s a beautiful city, kind of urban but beautiful and especially the St. Louis arch, after a little driving around the city, we finally made it to the bowling alley, so we got out stretched a little bit, watched the girls bowl their last games and then went to lunch with Kendall and his mom and Geoffrey´s parents at TGI Fridays, I had a small steak, it was just lovely and then we went back to the bowling alley and got ready for the tournament.

I found out that the pattern we would play on was 39ft in lenght and had a lot of volume of oil, and it looked like it was very playable, so I made my ball choices and was pretty much happy about it, then in warm-ups I felt the 7 hour drive wearing me down, but I was able to make some good shots in the practice, but I wasn´t really lined up. Then we started and I made some really good shots but got rewarded so poorly. I had 2x 7-10, 2x 4-9, a 8-10 and a pocket 4-9... and my first game was a poor 134, then it got a little better but the carry (pinfall) was so terrible and I shot 182. At this point, will barnes comes up to me and tells me that the lanes are pretty open and says that I should throw 2 handed, so in game 3 I decide to throw 2 handed, and after the first 5 frames I jumped down to about 4-5 arrow and just whacked the ball on the release and saw some carry, unfortunately in this game it was too late, so I shot 184, then 210 (so things were looking up), then I found some amazing carry I shot 266 (should have been a 300, I had a solid 7 pin in 3rd. frame and missed the spare and then a solid 9 pin in shot 12), but I was making up ground and anticipation was set for the last game, I started off really bad with 2 open frames, then a double, 8 spare and another double, and just as I was about to take my next shot I lost my concentration for a second, which made my timing go off and I dropped the ball off my hand and in to the gutter :( ... however I made the spare, but lost a lot of pins on that one shot! at that timepoint I lost my line to the pocket and spared out the game for a 178, so overall I shot 1156 or for a 192,8 ave. (I was making good shots, in the first 2 games I had about 80% pocket hits, and then in my last four I had about 95% pocket hits ... so if the carry would have been better I would have shot probably in the 1280´s or 1320´s)

Overall I though it went alright, although I had to go back to my 2handed game, but since there was a slight delay and the playing took forever, we didn´t finish until 9 p.m. and then we had at least 7 hours on the road, not to mention we had to eat some dinner before we would have to get back on the road!

So we put our balls in the trunk of the car and I put in White Castle on GPS and we were going to try a White Castle burger since we were in Illinois and since White Castle is not in Kansas, so after about 10 minutes of driving we get in to this shady neighboorhood and there is was WHITE CASTLESo me and Marcus walk in and get in line, I took a look around and realized that there was not a single white person in the place besides me and Marcus! so to make Marcus aware of the situation, I decided to talk to him in Swedish, which made me realize even something worse... we were 2 white guys surrounded by black people at a White Castle, speaking SWEDISH! (and at that point I was beginning to fear for my life, so when we got our food (which took like 30 minutes) we decided to eat in the car) so when we walked out to the car with the food, we realized that there were about 15 parked cars, and all of them had black people in them, so to avoid any incidents, we decided to go to a McDonalds parking lot to eat our White Castle burgers, but as we drove off the White Castle parking lot I wanting badly to photograph this experience, so I took out my camera and started flashing photographs,,, and some black people that were walking out of the place gave us some funny looks, so that´s when I hit the gas peddle of the car with all my powers and drove off! (just want to say that I have nothing against black people, just when you´re in the ghetto of St. louis at a White Castle, surrounded by black people that look like they could bust a cap in your ass, the mind get´s a wondering!) .... the burgers were not as good as I thougt ... they were very very very greasy and tasted alright, but I would not drive to Illinois just to get them. So I´m glad I at least tried it , and LIVED!

So after this experience we got some gas, 3 Red Bulls and hit the road again, Marcus was able to stay awake the first 40 minutes but then it was just me ... a couple of Red Bulls and the road!!! The first 2 hours were really hard, because all the exhaustion and lack of sleep the last few days was really starting to affect me. Then after we passed Kansas City and had only one road to Wichita, our highway was closed due to construction, so after stopping at a Holiday Inn for directions, after 30 minutes of talking, Marcus just hits the detour button on the gps and bingo! we had our route! So at that point we had about 100 minutes left of driving and I am without a doubt sure that those were the hardest 100 minutes I´ve ever spent keeping my eyes open! At one point of time I actually saw a cougar jump in front of the car, and then realized that my mind was playing tricks on me...! but I managed to stay awake and stay alive so ... now it´s just spring break for a week and then back to school!

But until next time I bid thou Adjou :P

My Overkill

2009-03-08T17:19:00.002Z

Lately I´ve been really busy, mostly with my English 102 class, where I´ve had deadlines pushed forward instead of being delayed... so I´ve had a couple of papers due, and my next deadline is Tuesday, so currently I am working on a really boring paper.

Next week is going to be interesting, on Thursday I am going to have to drive down to St. Louis (or just outside St. Louis to a place called Fairview Heights) for the collegiate singles championship, where the format is six games and top four advance for the finals in Winsconsin May 16th-19th.

The drive will take roughly six hours (last year it was a little shorter but now I´m gonna drive a little safer) and I will probably end up staying at a motel 6(which sucks btw) then wake up early, bowl those six games, and then head back to wichita. Last night I decided that since I´m going there for less than twenty four hours, I´m going to stop at White Castle (since they don´t have them in Kansas) and get thirty White Castle burgers and take them back to Wichita for a BURGER CHALLANGE!

On Friday when I will be competing, it is also the day that spring break starts... so when I get back to Wichita after the tournament, I will be on spring break. My plan was to try to go home over spring break, for about 10 days, but that turned out to be too expensive so my plan instead is to stay in Wichita and just relax and catch up on my courses.

So until next time

Peace out!

Funsucking School

2009-02-16T01:17:00.002Z

I´ve been taking a break from my usual blogging because I was home and there was nothing to blog about. Also because the people who read my blog are mostly in Iceland so not much use blogging ...

To sum up my Christmas break ... I could not find a job so there was a lot of laying around and doing nothing... but there was family, good food and a surprising twist towards the end that I could never have foreseen, and only 3 months until I can return.

I left for the US again on 20th of January and started school immediately. I started out really good, I was working out 6x a week and was bowling on a regular, but now close to a month into school things have turned around. I´m drowning in homework and papers, so after I finish my English paper this week I should be able to relax a little bit.

Otherwise I miss home, my friends and family and especially the food ...

so until next time...

Adios

Getting Closer!

2008-12-09T21:46:00.003Z

A lot has happened in the last three weeks since my last post, I had thanksgiving dinner at the Harden´s (my friend Clint from my floor offered me and Brittany to join his family in celebrating thanksgiving dinner) and it was a blast. We drove to El Dorado and then I got the honor to carve the turkey, so basically I´m a part of the Harden´s thanksgiving tradition. Overall it was a great day, great dinner, overeating and good company.

Fortunately that wasn´t the only thanksgiving feast I got to enjoy. Melissa Hurst´s parents invite the Shocker bowling program every year to their house the day before thanksgiving for an unbelievable dinner. This year it was a lot of fun, when we got there we all had to partake in the thanksgiving quiz which Kevin wound up winning. Then after some intense pool playing and ping pong we ate and then walked about half a mile to a field where we did the eggtoss, the eggtoss was a lot of fun, people got all covered in eggwhite, but I didn´t so it was a great day :)

Yesterday I finished my last test of the semester and I only have one final, which takes place next Saturday, which happens to be my last day in Wichita. On Sunday I take a flight around 6 a.m. to Atlanta, and there to Boston, where I have to hang out for 6 hours before my flight to Iceland. With a 6 hour time difference and 18 hour travel time I will be landing in Iceland monday the 15th of December.

So it will be sweet,
but until then
Later!

No-Shave-November

2008-11-18T18:00:00.002Z

A tradition many guys take seriously, No-Shave-November is something us unemployed, lazy college students with too much free time do every year. This year I´m a partaking in that tradition.

Originally as a fundraiser for various charities no shave november is something men could take great pride in doing, or basically an excuse for not shaving for a month.

It´s been 18 days now and the beard is coming in really annoying! Every waking moment I spend thinking about shaving it. I don´t know how some guys can have big thick beards, it´s itchy, gets in the way, food gets stuck in it and it doesn´t look good on many guys (including yours truly, especially this age)

By the end of the month before I shave I will post a picture, along with a post to let you see the tragedy :P

Otherwise only 26 days until I go home and probably the first thing I will do is get a pizza or a hot dog along with a tall frosty pint of beer! Also take a LONG nap in my bed.

That´s all for now
Bye

Southern Illinois Elite Invitational Collegiate Bowling Tournament

2008-10-30T04:45:00.003Z

Now that I had finished playing the PBA I could focus on the college tournament ahead. I could throw that awful gosh dang spare ball away and reunite with my Pepsi spare ball (which I wasn´t allowed to use in the PBA due to sponsorship rules).

I decided Thursday afternoon after I finished playing that I would n´t bowl, let my thumb get a break and study for my math test. Turns out I did n´t study at all cause I knew all the stuff needed so I went and took the test after lunch and scored PERFECT, yeah a 100%.

Friday morning I didn´t go to class cause I had to pack for the trip to Illinois, and frankly cause my teacher told me I didn´t need to come. So I packed and then went down to the RSC where we had rollcall, loaded up the van´s and took off, destination: Carterville, Illinois.

I had the "good" fortune of being in a van with zerbs, louis, izi, peters, barnes, aussi, mike heyes, JB and McBride... I say "good" cause McBride´s ass was litiraly on fire, burning up gas every 5 minutes, and of course can´t forget our driver, Coach V, who was a blast.

It took us some 8-9 hours to get there after like 4 stops at McDonalds but the hotel we stayed at was pretty deacent compared to other ones. However I had to share a room with Hank, Brewah and share a bed with Rob, which turned out to be okay, exept for the fact that Hank turned our room into a meat freezer!

Saturday afternoon we had the first block of 5 games, and it was suppose to be first day we play U.S. Open pattern and second day we play similar to the Qubica AMF pattern (a christmas tree), but the retard who was conditioning the lanes unplugged the machine after 14 lanes so the oil machine defaulted to a sort of house pattern so more than half was house pattern and other half U.S. Open. We didn´t realize it until the second game so it was kinda confusing. The first block I did very bad, I missed a lot of spares due to my timing was off and I had problems with carry on the house pattern, cause it dried up so fast.

On Sunday we had a block of 4 games and all on the U.S. Open pattern, which is about 70% harder than the house pattern but for some reason I averaged 20 pins a game higher on the US Open pattern so overall I averaged in the 190+
So now it´s gonna be study study study cause next tournament is in December.

That´s all for now
Later

My PBA Experience

2008-10-30T04:32:00.002Z

Sorry about the delay, I´m sure everyone´s been waiting with anticipation for this post. (NOT)

My third and last day of qualification started off great with me being notified that I made a scorecard violation and got a fined $50 and not only me but the guy I was playing with too, cause he signed verified my scorecard.

I managed to open up the lanes in warm ups really well, burned a spot around 5th board where my breakpoint was so I had a good look, and it turned out to be good cause first game I shot 190+ and in my second game after back to back open frames to start the game I managed to save it with a six bagger ( six consecutive strikes ) and if it weren´t for a freaking 8.pin in eight frame and a 9.pin in tenth frame I would have shot 250+ but shot 227. After the second game we moved down to the other end of the bowling center (where the lanes play much tighter) and I managed to keep my reaction the same and shot 220. However in my fourth game I hesitated to make a big jump to the inside of the lane and that cost me cause I shot 178. After that I managed to keep it close to par as I finished the day 10 over ( over 200 ave. ) and saved my tournament average close to 195.

So my PBA debute ended on a good note and off to the Southern Illinois Elite Invitational.

My PBA Debute

2008-10-23T01:49:00.002Z

On Tuesday I played my first 6 game block of the PBA World Championship. In warm ups I couldn´t really open up the lanes like I did in the practice session the day before, also the lanes were a lot tighter then in the practice session. I started off okay, only opened one frame in my first game but had a hard time finding the pocket but made a move and tried playing the outside, BIG MISTAKE. With probably 6 splits in my second game, 148! so after my first 2 games I´m roughly 80 pins below par. Then we move all the way to the other side of the building where the lanes play a lot more tighter and I could move way down on the lane and play the inside, and I struck gold! However that´s when my "new" spareball started messing with me, although i managed to shoot 227 and then a 202 with a disapointing back to back open frames in 9 and 10th. to finish my first block I shot a 180 and struck out for a 214 with 2 single pin misses :( however managed to keep my ave. at 191,5. Not good but alright for my PBA deubte.

Day 2

Today was my second block, and not on the fresh, so before the squad I shined up most of my balls because like I expected it got dry and a lot of guys were lofting the ball over the gutter. I started off with a bad ball and line choice which cost me, cause I left split after split after split, and shot under 150. In my second game we moved down again to the other end of the house where I could amp up my speed so the ball wouldn´t read the midlane and it worked I shot 227 (which should have been a 250 game and a 203 game which should have been a 230 game but a couple of 8,9 and 10 pins stopped that from happening. After that I hit a really bad pair and left splits left and right, and shot 150 after that I still struggled a little and shot 180 and then finished the round with a 212 shooting just below 190 ave. so my overall ave is 190.

Tomorrow morning I play the fresh again and with a little more knowledge of how the lanes play, hopefully I can make up some needed pins!

That´s all for now.
Stefán

PBA World Championship

2008-10-21T01:10:00.003Z

Today I had my practice session on the pattern we´re playing this week in the PBA World Championship. Today and all week I get to play with many of the best bowlers in the world, the "Young Guns" and the veterans of this PBA tour as well as some international superstars in the bowling world.

The tournament format is 3x 6 game blocks, 2 of the blocks are played on fresh oil and 1 is played on "used" oil. After those 18 games, they cut to top25% of the field and those who make it there cash and play 9 more games before they cut to top 40 and from there on is matchplay. By playing this world championship, pba event, I am breaking ground in Icelandic bowling (which is kinda cool) cause no one from Iceland has played a PBA event. But what´s really cool about this week is that I get to play with all the pro´s.

However there is a chance of a dilemma, if I cash (qualify) I will have to play on Friday, a block of 9 games, which means that I won´t be able to go to the SI Elite Invitational tournament in Carterville, Illanois. Which wouldn´t be that bad cause I would get great experience and cash in the pba, on the other hand I would be missing out on one of the 2 collegiate events left of the season for the development team. That will all be worked out on Thursday afternoon.

So I will be updating this site with scores and stories later ....

that´s all for now!

Team Selection and Midstates

2008-10-14T02:57:00.001Z

Okay now I´ve come to the decision that since I have some free time during the day, I´m gonna devote more time to this blog.

The Wichita State University Collegiate Bowling Team was posted two weeks ago, and as I predicted I did not make the selected team; However, I did make the Developmental Team ( the B-Team) and the difference between the two is that the selected team plays more tournaments, is the official representative of the school and they get equipment and more intense training.

I got assigned an associate coach, I don´t really know his first name, but I know his last name is Slaugther and he´s a cop. It will be good to get some regular training and get to work!

Last week they announced the Selected and Developmental teams for the Midstates tournament, which is the first tournament of the season and I was on a pretty good team, so I thought. As been told throughout history a team is as strong as it´s weakest link, which turned out to be someone I kinda dislike (let´s just say clash of characters) but i´m not gonna spend time cussing someone out cause they had a bad day/tournament, cause it happens to everyone.

I started the tournament off really good and after the first block (four games) I was over par (200+ average) and psyched about what was going on. The format of the collegiate tournaments is usually in the way is that teams consist of five players and they play a block of three to four games at a time and then another three to four games without reconditioning the lanes, they also consist of so called "baker" games where the team plays one game with each player playing two frames. This specific tournament had 10 team games and 16 baker games. After seven team games I was doing quite good, I didn´t miss many makeable spares and was hitting the pocket like a mad man.

Then came day two, with a 7:30 a.m. roll call after an exhausting day before I had a hard time lining up to the lanes. The lanes were hooking much more then the day before so I absolutely butchered my average during the last three team games. On to the baker part of the tournament, in the beginning of the tournament, our team (team Steelsmith) made a bet with team Waliczek that whoever had lower pinfall would have to do 50 reps. After the 10 team games we had a 20 pin lead on them. When the baker section started I was on fire I had a good reacion on the lanes and only left 2 splits and struck like a machine. After 14 baker games with only 2 left I was anchoring our team with a good 60 pins on team Waliczek but then they started striking like maniacs, they shot a 255 and after a bad start to our game we managed to string 6 strikes in the end for a 212 so with one game to go we had roughly a 20 pin lead and we started off really good, after 5 frames we were on par but after the other team finished with a 222 we knew we needed to fill frames to win. With that in mind with 4 frames to go it looked like we were gonna do it but then Hank threw a solid pocket hit, but a ringing 10 pin came to our fall as he didn´t spare it. Also Andy missed the pocket for an 8 count and chopped the spare, which he shouldn´t have done cause he made a stupid decision to use his strike ball for the spare, so it was up to Matt and me to finish the game to win with a small margin. So Matt did his thing and struck so it was all up to me I needed 2 strikes in the 10th to seal the deal, I got up to the approach and I was playing so deep that I was lofting over the gutter, I threw the ball really well but it read the lane earlier then I predicted and with a real high pocket hit I left a 4 pin :(

so it was all over, I made my spare and threw 2handed on my fillball, and when I threw the fillball a cameraman from the local news was taping me so I ended up being on the sports highlights, which was really cool cause they only showed clips of 3 bowlers...

This week I need to bowl a lot cause next week the PBA tour comes to Wichita for the PBA World Championship which is the first major tournament of the PBA season, and yours truly is going to be playing, and also breaking down barriers for Icelandic bowling.

well that´s all for now, I promise to follow up with updates
Good Night and Good Luck

Tryouts!

2008-09-14T06:25:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of commitment to this blog and the both readers but I´ve been really busy.

Since my last post I´ve been robbed, sunburned, traveled a shitload and started school.

A week ago a process started that is part of the Wichita State bowling program, known as tryouts, which determines which players are selected to represent the school´s collegiate bowling team. The tryout process is basically a fitness test and 33 games of bowling over 3 weeks on 10 different oil patterns. The first two weeks are split down to four 3 game sessions bowled on the so called "dual" patterns(which is basically the pair you play on has a different pattern on each lane) which is really hard and requires much concentration, not to mention that all the patterns we play on are extremely difficult, they say compared to the patterns on the professional tour, that they are easy in comparison to what we´re playing on in this tryout process. In week 3 they mix it up a bit and we have three sessions of 3 games on 6 different pattern(which is going to be very difficult) and then one session of a so called "skills test" where we have to hit targets out on the lane in order to get points.

The first week I didn´t really bowl that well, my stats are not good but my score has been consistent although I need to raise the bar a bit to have a shot at making the team.

So right now I´m somewhere in the middle but hopefully in week 2 I can better my stats, and score

well that´s all for now

:)

tata

20 year old SOB

2008-07-31T00:42:00.003Z

Hey ... it´s time for a LONG overdue blog from me... let´s just say that I´ve been on summer vacation from my blogging duties :P

So I finished my semester at WSU with a B ave. which is really good but I intend on improving that next semester, I already picked out my classes so it´s going to be fun (except for the calculus).

From the end of May til mid July I worked my ass off trying to make as much money as I could working two jobs. One at a bank during the day and the other at night making pizza´s but unfortunately I had some tax problems and didn´t make as much as I had hoped, but sei la vi.

On July 16th I embarked on a journey to the wonderful place of Orlando with the Icelandic U23 National bowling team. Our mission was the World Youth Championship, I started off great with even par ( 200 ave. ) after day one and was sitting in 40th position only 50 pins behind the cut. Then disaster struck during the doubles event and I just simply made wrong decisions and played the pattern all wrong! which led to my downfall in both doubles and team, but Hafþór and Róbert got the bronze in doubles, which is the first medal Iceland has received at a world championship in bowling, so good job guys! However this trip tourned out to be AWESOME ... I met a lot of new people, made some new legendary friendships and other things happened which I can not disclose here on this site for reasons unknown.

Today I turned 20 years old and it turned out to be one of my best birthdays yet (eventhough I realized I´m getting OLD!). Today I packed my bags for Spain and took off at 4p.m. and was greeted by my parents at the airport and after a 40 minute long drive to the house we´re staying at we had a massive BBQ on the roof (well for lighting reasons we ate inside, but we had desert on the roof, which was awesome b.t.w.) and we toasted with some champagné and had a few cold ones, I finished the night by watching a rerun of the world ten pin masters where Chris Barnes shot 569 (290,279) to Kristen Penny´s 546 (248,298) and it was AWESOME... I have a feeling this trip is going to be LEGEN----- wait for it------ still not there------ almost there------ aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-----------DARY!!!!

well that´s all for now... I´ll be putting in more pic´s soon ... :P

Adios ,
Hasta Luego
Stefán Claessen

The Final Countdown

2008-05-14T05:26:00.002Z

I really haven´t been paying attention to this poorly constructed blog so here´s what has happened between the last post and now...

School, bowling, wedding, old brides may hitting on me, more bowling, back injury and finals started.

With official school over, meaning that finals have started, I´ve already taken 2 finals before official finals week began and they both went really well and a high A in both classes can be expected. I´m literally counting down the hours until I can begin my 20 hour journey home. I have a final today at lunch, an English exam which is a written final(that means I don´t have to study for it because all I´m going to do is write an essay) then on Friday I have my Public Speaking final, and I need 55 points out of 100 to get a C for the class ( which is also a pass ) then on Monday I have my Astronomy final, the good thing about that final is that I´ve already passed the class before the final, I only need 30/100 to get a C which means I´ll get a high C or possibly a low B. The finals I already took were Human Comm and The Art of Dance where I can´t get lower than an A which means my GPA will be either high B or a low B depending on my last finals. After my finals I have two days to pack all my belongings(although I kinda went a little nuts the other day and packed most of my stuff so there is little to do). I have to get a storage space for my mini fridge and microwave and my bags which contain most of my clothing. I´ve been working really hard on my game with Justin Romeck, and it´s going pretty good, my swing is almost there and the release is on it´s way. So watch out WYC Orlando!!!

It´s Danielle´s birthday today so a happy birthday in order to her. My journey home will begin on May 22th and starts 7:50 in the morning with a flight from the ITC airport in Wichita although I´m going to the airport at 1 or 2 a.m. or about 5 hours before my flight and fly for about 2 hours to Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Minneapolis I have to wait for 9 hours so what I´m going to do is go to the Mall of America for a couple of hours, shop a little and get some junk food before my 6 hour flight back to Iceland where I´ll arrive about 7 in the morning and my parents are flying to London the same morning so we are going to meet inside the airport and pull of the greatest switch in history, where they give me their car keys and I take their car home from the airport! Brilliant! I know!!!

Right now it´s about 00:40 and I´m waiting to see Gavin DeGraw perform on Last Call with Carson Daily(which is a lame talk show but it´s going to be worth it)

There´s nothing much coming up for me except finishing my finals and returning home, where I will probably pass out from all the eating I will do, because over here in Americaland they don´t have any good candy or food (that isn´t fast food)

That´s all for now, I will make a new post as soon as I get my grades but adios.

Stefán

Shockers, National Champions!

2008-04-26T18:57:00.003Z

Last Saturday, The Wichita State Shocker mens and womens team competed Intercollegiate Team Championship semi finals. The womens team seeded 1st so they only had to win one round, best of 7 games match, while the men seeded third and had to win two rounds, best of seven game matches, while their opponent Saginaw Valley, ranked 1st in the nation only had to win one round of best of 7 game matches. Wichita´s mens team fell behind 0-2 making bad shots and not matching the strike number of Saginaw Valley, but they managed to turn things around and win the next three games making it 3-2 in favor of the Shocks. When Saginaw won the next game, making it even 3-3 and only needing one win to knock out Wichita, the Shockers kicked it into next gear and pulled a 4-3 win and forcing Saginaw into a second best of 7 game match. After that win Wichita got the confidence to put the nail through Saginaw´s coffin and knock them out almost 4-0 but in the fourth game it came up to the 10th frame where Saginaw´s anchor Dan McLelland kept Saginaw in the race, with both teams shooting 260+ game but Saginaw with a close win making it 3-1. It did not last long for Wichita guaranteed it´s spot in the TV finals with a 4-1 win over Saginaw ( and I think it´s worth to mention that by defeating Saginaw, Wichita stopped them from winning their third consecutive National Championship).

The Wichita womens team breezed through their semi final with a 4-0 victory over Morehead State University, as the number 1 seed they only had to win one round of best of 7 game match. The women were looking at facing Pikeville college in the TV finals.

The mens finals was up first and I was sitting in the stands besides the lane cheering on the team. Their opponent in the final was the University of Nebraska Las Vegas (UNLV) and I knew from the moment Wichita beat Saginaw that they would be victorious, and it proved to be right. The Wichita State shockers beat UNLV 202-171 and 203-169 quite easily on their way to win their 8th National Championship in school history, which made 16 overall National Championships including the womens 8 titles which could have been nine after their final.

The womens team had breezed through the sectionals, qualifying in the Nationals, matchplay and the semifinals, but when it came came to the actual finals everything just fell to pieces, a foul in the 8th frame following a spare, lost the game for Wichita. Giving Pikeville the first game, the shocker girls needed to pull out the big guns; however, some bad decisions cost them a national title, Pikeville won 184-171, 183-158 and stopped the Wichita womens victory stride.

I give my congratulations to the Shocker men.

for now that´s all.
Stefán

The Scandinavian Society

2008-04-12T16:58:00.002Z

First of all, my apologies for being lazy and preoccupied, and not making the time to blog, I know a "lot" of people who read this were disappointed.

The other day I received an e-mail from an anthropology professor from Wichita State University, and in that e-mail was an invitation to a dinner in a Scandinavian Society here in Wichita. At first I was really exciting, with the picture in my head that I would be meeting young Scandinavian people that had residency in Wichita. When the event took place, Peer the anthropology professor picked me up and he´s Danish so the little Danish I still know had no use at all since he´s been in the states the past 30 years but I managed to show off a little bit. We got to the assembly early because Peer needed to attend a meeting before everything started, this "dinner" took place at a church common room, which was really nice; however, when I walked in to the church I had a major shock, the average age of the people inside was in the late 70´s!!! Peer introduced me to some people and left for the meeting, fortunately all the people was really nice and they had a lot of questions about Iceland, most of the people was 2nd and 3rd generation Scandinavian, with a couple of exception. Let´s just say everyone under the age of 55 was 1st generation, I was seated with the people that I was introduced in the beginning, which was quite alright because it was actually fun, they kept shooting questions at me and we exchanged stories and I learned a lot from those people. When Peer told me about this "dinner" he mentioned that I would have to tell people something about Iceland but little did I know that I would have to step up to a podium and give a speech into a microphone, I started off by talking about myself and my family, then just gave them some facts about Iceland then when I ran out of things to say, I said what every great speaker says when he´s out of words:"Any Questions?" From there on people shot right and left and my "speech" wound up being about 15-20 minutes, and I´m pretty sure I made at least one fact up, that´s what nerves do to you. After I gave my "speech," the youngest girl in the room at the age of 24, Helena which is from Sverige talked a little bit and then Jon spoke, he also is from Sverige and in his 20´s so I was not the only one born after 1975. Like I said about the age average of this "Society" when it came to the "dinner" that the members had made, it was of course the kind of food the mostly elderly people eat so let´s just say that I did n´t eat very much. A couple of things that were kind of new to me but before everything started we stood up and saluted the flag and joined together in prayer, which I felt strange doing but as an American this their bread and butter. After the event had finished people came up to me and thanked me for coming and sharing my thoughts and experience and even a couple of them came up to me and told me that I just have meet their granddaughter, which is fine with me if they are cute, but blind dating not really something I´m keen on, but in the words of Andréa: You should go on blind dates just for the fun story out of it. Also because I´ve been single for a couple of months it couldn´t hurt.

This weekend is going to be pretty sweet! My roommate is out for the weekend and I don´t have any homework so I can begin a couple of my final projects and relax and hit the gym.

For now that´s all

Illinois, ITC Sectional Qualifiers, PBA Regional and spring break

2008-03-20T21:43:00.002Z

Last Thursday I had my final midterm and then headed straight for St. Louis, Illinois. People say it´s a seven hour drive but I made it in 6 hours 45 minutes including a real long stop at the slowest gas pump in history, let´s just say I could count faster than the machine pumped. When I had driven about half way it started pouring and driving 80 mp/h but I finally made it just after 10 p.m. and went straight to bed, which seemed like a good idea at the time but after the 8 o´clock wakeup call, my back was locked. I could not twist my back at all, which was really bad news, cause I had to play in two hours. When I got to St. Clairs bowling center I found out that we were playing the Kegel "Boardwalk" oil pattern which is 35 fet with big volume of oil, and I went to the event with the idea in my head that we would be playing at least on a 40 ft. pattern, so in the first four games I could only use my total inferno until the 5th game the lanes were open enough to play 25-4. With my back so locked I couldn´t really open up and playing the gutter is hard, over these six games I had about 11 gutterballs and a lot of trouble with right hand spares and ended shooting 180 under. Scores were pretty high, the cut for top 4 was 1334 and Wichita had 1st and 4th spots so at least 2 men shockers will be representing.

I placed 99th which is not very good but considering the circumstances I´m okay with it. Good experience goes a long way. The following day I had a PBA Regional tournament, and I´m the first Icelander to partake in such tournament, which is kinda exciting. The tournament was held at a army air force base, and getting clearance for the weekend was a lot of waiting. Once I got the pass I was able get into the base and to the bowling center and check inn. Playing in a PBA tournament has a lot of requirements, such as a approved shirt with your name on it and only pba approved equipment and a PBA patch on your right hand shoulder. Once the practice began before the squad started my back really hurt but I was able to loosen it up but still was pretty bad. The pattern we played was the Viper, 37ft and your suppose to be able to play it from many angles but I had to open up the lane to play a lot of angle, I was fortunate to be playing with a very nice fellow called Jeffrey Gentry Jr. and playing with him was a blast, and he´s thinking about coming to Iceland so you could say that I managed to network. I started real bad with a 141 and after 4 games I had 642 ( which is really bad) however game 5 I had a 230 ( which dould have been a 240 but had a ringing 10 pin in the 10th and in game 7 I had a 240 ( which should have been a 250 if it weren´t for a stone 9 pin. I finished the round -100 which is all right, considering it was my first pba tournament and due to my back problem!

After the tournament I went back to St. Clair's bowl to watch the team event and it was really cool actually seeing it. However, I didn´t stay there for long cause I wanted to head home before dark. The drive home went real smooth cause over half the way and all the way to Kansas City ( which is not in the state of Kansas) I was driving along side of a black Camaro and we were driving together very synchronized and it was fun, both time and miles just went flying by and I made the drive in record time without exceeding the speed limit to much. The important thing is I got "home" safe and sound.

Returning "home" was a treat as this week is spring break or as known Easter break so a lot of sleeping and relaxing; however, the cafeteria is closed so I´ve been living on cereal and campbell´s soup with a couple of exceptions including Hooters, Chili´s and McDonald's and I have stay on that "great" diet until Monday when the cafeteria reopens.

I think I´m not gonna keep this any longer, finally got my microphone working so I´m able to talk to family and friends online...

That´s all folks
Stefán

Midterms

2008-03-10T21:05:00.002Z

This week is going to be one of the most boring weeks of this semester because it´s already half way through the semester which means only one thing Midterm Exams

Before I go better into that, being a college student in a foreign country with limited funds, you´re living on a budget and you try to save as much as you can,

That brings me to the other day when I only had $40 on me and I needed a haircut, and when I had to use 20 of those dollars and had only 20 left for a haircut, and the only place you can get a haircut for less than 20 dollar is SUPERCUTS :S

So I had to swallow my pride and walk into Supercuts where I got a haircut for $12.99 ! Although I have to say it didn´t look bad but you get what your paying for, bad service, probably internet certified stylists that dropped out of dental school and after they cut your hair, they don´t even blow all the loose hair of your head and really is 12 dollars worth!!!

Back to the midterms, tomorrow I have an exam in human communication, it shouldn´t be to hard but I got a -B on my first exam so I´m trying to improve that. Then on Wednesday I´ve got two exams, the first exam of the day will be Public Speaking, probably not hard but I have to cover a lot of material- then the second exam is in the Art of Dance, now that exam will be real easy cause the teacher told us what´s gonna be on it, it can´t fail!

It ends on Thursday with an Astronomy test which is gonna be tough, I´m gonna go to the SI session the day before, so I can pull my sad 2,4 GPA up.

After the test on Thursday I´ll be heading down ( or more like up) to St.Louis Illinois, to play the Intercollegiate Singles Sectional Qualifiers, basically 7 hour drive to play 6 games. I decided to stay the weekend ( or at least through Saturday ) and play a PBA Regional tournament, which is a tough tournament, and it depends on weather I qualify if I stay until Sunday but starting on Friday SPRINGBREAK!!! which means a lot of sleeping, napping and maybe dose of a little bit.

Until next time
Later

At the Gay bar!!!

2008-03-01T04:37:00.002Z

Like Electric Six sang about in their song, titled Gay bar!!!

Last Saturday I got a call from Izi and he tells me he´s going out with some friends, to this club called Fantasies, little did I know that it was a gay bar. The reason we we´re going there is that the age limit is only 18 to enter, so we we´re just going to have some fun, Izi and his friend Marco picked me up and then we were off, when we got there things didn´t look to good but once we met Izi´s friends it was much better, because three straight guy´s going in to a gay bar, doesn´t really look good, from a straight perspective. To make a long story short, a couple of guy´s groped my rear in the wrong way ( not that there´s a right way to grope someone´s ass) but not a pleasant experience and just let´s say that I´m not going there again.

This week was busy for me, a couple of papers, and a lot of bowling. I´ve been working very hard on my spares and it´s really starting to show, also been working on my timing... it´s not rogressing as good as my spares; however, it´s in the right direction

Couple of good grades this week, two -B in Astronomy and Human Communication, so I´m starting quite good, although next week I´ve got 2 exams so that´s gonna be a pain. I´m just gonna study hard and improve those grades...

I managed to register for the Inter Collegiate Singles Championship Sectional Qualifiers, the tournament is in St. Louis, which means a 7 hour drive, I´m gonna miss a day of school ( which is the last day of school before spring break, so it doesn´t really matter). The drive´s gonna be really boring and also visiting a state I´ve never been in, so also exciting. It´s also my first tournament representing Wichita State University, so I´m gonna bring it, watch out Fairview Heights, IL.

Well that´s it for now,,,

Until next time,
Good Night and Good Luck

A very busy man

2008-02-18T01:33:00.002Z

Sorry but I´ve been very busy this last week,

two tests, one report, one paper and one showcase.

First I had to do a discussion question in Astronomy and the question was:

Einstein´s discovery that energy and mass are equivalent has led to technological developments that are both beneficial and dangerous

Overall, do you think that we would be better or worse off if we had never discovered that mass is a form of energy?

Then I had to take an Astronomy quiz, which was kinda unfair because we were being quizzed out of 4 chapter and then quiz was made of 10 multi choice questions and 3 short answers ... I think I did alright, but not to good though ....

Then it was time for the Human Communication quiz, it was made out of 40 multi choice and roughly 10 true and false questions. The teacher claimed that she wouldn´t trick us and she was right on in that department, however some of the questions were a little misleading, but overall I think I did pretty well... so from there I had to hand in my English composition paper on a sports event, I managed to squeeze out 500 words on that ( it was only a first draft) so I have more time to work on it.

And then we had the "showcase" for a course I´m taking called The Art of dance, and we were split in to groups of 3 and we had to create a minute long routine, and I was in group with Lea and Rebecka, and we did more of a performance ( storytelling) than dancing, we used the song "Pussy Liquor" by Rob Zombie and I think we had the best act of all. The teacher really loved it, and I´m using this course to pull up my GPA, but I´m also enjoying it because it´s a lot of fun.

Also last week I drilled up a couple of balls, an Ultra Zone, Pepsi Spare ball and today a Rapid Fire. I drilled the Ultra Zone with the pin below my ring finger with the CG a quarter inch kicked out, and the ball picks up real early and rolls good, the Pepsi spare ball looks real cool and for the Rapid Fire, we´ll find out tomorrow how good it is!

I didn´t get to bowl all that much last week, so this week i´m gonna try to get at least 12 hours

Today I bought a "32 VIZIO HDTV :)
So finally I don´t have to watch tv anymore in the common room

But anyways that´s all for now...

Later

Number 4

2008-02-03T03:13:00.001Z

Yeah that´s right, number 4 out of 31 !!!

But before I tell you the story of number 4, let me take you back to Wednesday. School as usual except I dropped my World Music, and why you might ask? Well it just basically stunk ass! So instead I enrolled in a class called the Art of Dance, which is kinda exciting and the teacher is just great, funny and full of life. But then after 2 hours of bowling my journey took me to the Wal-mart super center to purchase a mini refrigerator. And after I found a good looking, fine working fridge I purchased it, however I though it would fit inside the passengers door on my Mustang, but I was wrong. So later I got Hallie to drive me in her SUV and I decided to carry the fridge from the store to her SUV and I didn´t find it to heavy, but again I was wrong, 55 pounds don´t really seem a lot of weight, however again I was wrong but I managed.

Thursday was a remarkable day : SNOWDAY!!!! well kinda.

On Wednesday evening I got an e-mail from my English Comp. teacher saying that because of terrible weather forecast class would be canceled, so because of that message and people were talking I thought that my Human Comm. class was also so I decided to sleep in, however I found out later in the day that some classes were taught, and my HC class was one of them. But it was fine cause the teacher told us if the weather would be bad that we shouldn´t have to come.

And now to the blockbuster story of 2008. 2nd and 3rd floor LASER TAG!!!

yeah you heard me LASER TAG, every month the floor CA´s get money to do something fun for the floors and this month it was LASER TAG. So when we got down there our first mission was to pick nicknames that would appear on the results, I had no doubt in choosing my name : Flonkerton ( The Office U.S. humor) and we got in to the huge dome and everybody went crazy and people were shooting right and left, I thought I did really good but as usual wrong again and I was ranked 19th. out of 32 !!! So when it came to round 2 I was certain that I´d found a good place to camp ( hang around one specific place and not move around to much) but It wasen´t so I was pretty screwed, but as I decided to just run around like crazy I came upon a spot that was just perfect, isolated yet had many angles to shoot people, so after I literally went nuts there, and when the score was posted, I was ranked 4th. out of 31 people and nobody on my floor was above me ... it was all Indian exchange students that probably are in the Indian national Laser Tag Team, so technically I was ranked nr. 1 ;) in theory

so that concludes this week´s story ...

I´m out for now... Saturday night fever ... get my groove on so LATER!!!

Stefán

Americanized

2008-01-29T01:53:00.000Z

After a long weekend of sleeping and basically doing nothing, where as I had almost no homework, and my bowling balls were grounded in the Rhatigan Student Center. On Friday I went with Matt and Hallie to Matt´s friend´s place, but the reason why we took Matt´s car is so that he could take gas, but no we didn´t get very far cause after about 3/4 of a mile the car ran out of gas. However Taylor was nice enough to pick Hallie up to go to her car to pick up her gas can then to get her to the gas station to get back to Matt´s car. We hung out at Tyler´s until like 3:30 in the morning so I slept in on Saturday, woke up around 4 in the day, and spent most of it in bed... kinda slow day.

Yesterday I managed to buy a microwave so I can microwave some noodles and soup and possibly some popcorn, also I bought a pre payed cell phone from Verizon Wireless and it´s called something like Chocolate or something ( which I found really weird, but it had touch keypad with censors and it´s super cool ! (not)) However my new phone number is :
(316) 213-3830

And yesterday I got a call from my good friend Stephen Pierron in Allen, Texas and I got the phone number just in the nick of time, he had been having a tough week so it was good to hear from him. I´m considering if school is going good and also if bowling is going great then I´m thinking about participating in the 65.th U.S. Open but it´s highly unlikely that I´ll be doing that so I´m probably gonna visit Stephen down in Allen, TX.

Otherwise I´ve just been bowling and working out a lot. But tomorrow I need to see my insurance guy, to finish one little thing, and also buy a mini fridge for my dorm room, on Friday I´m going to request for a room transfer, I would like to have a single room, because my room is really small, I share a bathroom that I cannot lock with 3 other people and my roommate comes from the planet Blargon 7 and I kinda sense a clashing of cultures, I don´t really know what language they speak over there on Blargon 7, and just their rituals are just bizarre.

How ever I´m gonna stop here in leave you with the words of Dwight K. Schrute :

Dwight's Speech:Blood alone moves the wheels of history! Have you ever asked yourselves in an hour of meditation, which everyone finds during the day, how long we have been striving for greatness? Not only the years we’ve been at war … the war of work. But from the moment, as a child, we realized that the world could be conquered. It has been a lifetime struggle, a never-ending fight, I say to you. And you will understand that it is a privilege to fight! We are warriors! Salesmen of Northeastern Pennsylvania, I ask you, once more rise and be worthy of this historical hour! Maniacal laughter Yes! Yes!
No revolution is worth anything unless it can defend itself! Some people will tell you “salesman” is a bad word. They’ll conjure up images of used car dealers and door-to-door charlatans. This is our duty to change their perception. I say, salesmen … and women … of the world, unite! We must never acquiesce, for it is together, together, that we prevail! We must never cede control of the motherland for it is…

TOGETHER THAT WE PREVAIL!

p.o. for now

No longer a ghost town

2008-01-24T04:13:00.000Z

Yesterday my journey here in America officially began, school started and it´s never been this hard finding a parking spot on campus. So I´ve decided to go 30 minutes before classes start to get a parking spot ( that´s when I´m in classes on the other side of campus) All my classes except World music sound exciting, my Astronomy teacher is real funny, although he´s actually kinda nerdy. But it´s gonna be interesting to see how the class is going to be.

The last two days I´ve been bowling a lot, which is not so good news for my fingers because they are messed up, ripped to pieces. But today when practicing, around my 14th game I got some help from Chris Drewes, he´s a real nice guy, one of the key player in WSU´s successful team. Also Mr. Sienicki stopped by and said hi. And after my two hour long practice I decided to hit Chili´s and get some of those famous baby back ribs.

Besides a lot of homework now a days ... and giving my fingers some rest from bowling there´s a basketball game on Saturday, otherwise I´d just probably hangout with Taylor and Matt.

Well for now it´s bye bye
so until next time

Good Night & Good Luck
Stefán

Balls balls balls

2008-01-20T02:20:00.000Z

Yesterday I finally got to drilling my bowling balls, I went down to Thunderbird bowl to meet up with Brent and this other guy, I don´t really remember his name but he was on tour for about 15 years or so, a real nice guy.

The balls I got were

Brunswick: BVP Rampage, Vapor Zone, Target Zone(spare ball), Total Inferno and a Twisted Fury
Ebonite: Total NV
Hammer: Black Widow

And I´m really liking the Rampage and Vapor Zone, the twisted and the both totals are alright but I´m not feeling the black widow( I think it´s the layout but perhaps I just haven´t found the right lane condition for it.

Couple of funny things, seeing both Asian and African people adopting to the weather here in Kansas. The other day I saw a Japanese guy using an umbrella in a snowstorm, with the strong Kansas North wind, it didn´t go to well for him. And this African student was walking on this icy sidewalk on was like a cow on a skating rink, while I walked past him like I was the ground was just normal.

Classes begin on Tuesday, I picked some fun classes ( at least I think) the classes I picked were: Public Speaking, Astronomy, Human Communication, English and World Music ( I really hope these classes are fun)...

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. day so everything will be closed, that´s a good thing for me as a student, however I don´t understand why Americans celebrate every single thing just for example Columbus day and those days that ain´t that important. I mean sure they´re important to history, but to close down everything and giving people the day off for something that a person they didn´t even know and at a time so distant that the only thing we have from that time are books.

It´s getting real cold here and I´m not feeling it, I´d like it to get a little warmer. But only time can tell

so for now farewell

Stefán

Final Destination

2008-01-15T02:19:00.000Z

After a long difficult journey I have arrived. Wichita Kansas, a great place to be.

We flew from Keflavík to Minnesota and that went by pretty fast and smooth, and we spent the following day in Mall of America shopping and then took a late flight to Wichita and went straight to the Hyatt hotel.

The day after we arrived we headed down to Wichita State University, and checked in to the Garvey International Student welcome center, filled out some forms and then off to the Fairmount Towers, which would be my home for the next two semesters. Once we got there and entered room 331 I had kinda of a shock because seemed so small and cold looking, but when we we´re done shopping for sheets for the bed and things to fill the little space, it actually was kinda cozy.

And then it was time to find the perfect ride. And our journey took us to Davis Moore, where we didn´t have to go far, our used car sales man Dirar, took us to one of Davis Moore used car lots where I found this beautiful 2000 V6 3,8 L black Mustang! And now I´m a proud owner of this beautiful piece of machine. The only problem I´m facing now is that because I don´t have an American drivers license it´s hard getting insurance, and without that insurance I can´t drive my vehicle out of the dealership.

Right now I´m just trying to turn time forward because this school is like a ghost town, for the reason that school don´t start for another week and only the international students have arrived and nothing really one can do but hang out, because not having transportation is really hard, for the reason that very few things here are in walking distance.

Tomorrow I´ve got quite the day, it starts with a tuberculin test at 10:00 A.M. then I´ve gotta take a taxi down to M&M insurance ( yes, I´m not joking, it´s called M&M) and then I´ve got some free time before I take a maths and English placement test, then when it´s finally over I have to get online to pay for my English course.

So until next time ( then I´ll put some photos on)
in the words of the Governor
HAsta la vista
Stefán

Movie Musicals

2008-01-04T22:03:00.001Z

First of all, Happy New Year!

Hope this year will be filled with promise and hope.

I spent this new years eve, well the first half of it with my family. We had some good dinner and then enjoyed the fireworks until midnight, then we toasted to a new year, and I was off to a party with some friends. I went with Maggi, Arna, Magga and some friends of theirs to a party in Kopavogur and when we get there we´re told that there´s free beer ( which in a way sucked because I brought a lot of beer) but didn´t matter we were gonna celebrate the year in style.

In a way we had a lot of fun although we didn´t do a lot, mostly sitting and chatting and me and Magga making fun of her "classmates" who were also at this party. I consider the night a success.

But the main reason for my blog entry this week is that the other day me, Maggi and Arna went to the movies, well I had to convince them to go to the movie "Enchanted" and after seeing it´s trailer I found the short clip very funny and interesting, and it didn´t look like a musical movie. But I was DEAD WRONG, my first thought was that the movie only had one or two songs but no they just kept on coming! And even for a Disney movie it was so incredibly corny, and honestly at some parts of the movie I just wanted to throw up, simply it was to much for me.

And I consider myself kinda of a fairy tail kinda guy ( well at least a superhero worshiper) so I am a believer in the impossible ( unless it´s psychic, then it´s total bullshit) but this was so unbelievably strange and corny that I just felt bad watching.

And pulling off a movie musical is not easy, you can´t just do anything you want, there are rules and guidelines you need to follow. For example of great movie musicals: "Grease", "Cry Baby" , "West Side Story" and "Mary Poppins" however couple of bad ones include: High School Musical 1 & 2, Spice World, Grease 2 and so many more.

However I will say one good thing about this movie, Amy Adams played her role better than perfect, even though she was very annoying she played it perfect!

Well that´s it for now, I´m gonna tell you next time about my travel to the U.S. of A.

so until next time

See yah
Stefán

Christmas in the desert

2007-12-29T11:03:00.000Z

Well right now I´m back home in Iceland, but let me take you a few days back to the 24th. of December.

The started kinda slow, but around noon me, my mom and my older sister Ásdís went to this indoor street market which was kinda cool, but after roughly 40 minutes of browsing I forgot myself a little bit inside an instrument shop and mom and Ásdís went on without me, which got me lost. And it didn´t help that the market was really confusing, regarding directions and I spent an hour and a half looking for them, practically running around the whole market then eventually I just took a taxi back to the hotel. And then minutes after I got back to the hotel room, my mom and Ásdís walk in.

Then After a few hours of relaxation it was time to go to a desert safari, we were picked up in a jeep and then we had an hour of driving to where the desert began, and also where our safari would begin. When we got there the jeep´s had to release pressure from the tires to get more grip on the sand and then we we´re off. And the ride through th heart of the desert, up and down all the sand dunes, it was really bumpy, but on the way to our final stop in the desert, we made a few drink and photo stops and it was really beautiful, and running around in the sand was amazing.

When we finally got to our final destination in the desert there were a lot of camels and we could ride them, and riding a camel is so much fun, the guy that led our camels took us for a really long ride and it was great. Then we sat down to dinner and there was a buffet and open bar, and since this trip was not really cheap I decided to get the most out of it so it came down to every time I walked towards or past the bar the bartender opened a beer and handed it to me, so let´s just leave it at there. And after dinner me and my sisters got a "henna" tattoo which is still on my hand, however it won´t last for long, maybe a couple of days more.

After the tattooing there came a belly dancer ( not the best looking one in the business) but when she did her thing we went over to this section that had a lot of water pipes where the whole family came together and smoked something with a hint of apples and it was great.

well and that kinda concluded the Claessens Christmas Eve

Right now it´s the 29th. of December and a new year creeping up on people so until next time

Later
Stefán Claessen

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T14:17:00.000Z

I just want to wish everyone Merry Christmas

and I will give an intensive blog when I get back to Iceland, because of the United Arab Emirates censorship is so dominant.

That´s all for now,

Later
Stefán

A whole new world

2007-12-21T10:14:00.000Z

The title is not an understatement, because it applies to two things this week. First thing was going snorkeling, and it was really amazing because I´ve got this huge phobia about the ocean. Don´t get me wrong I can swim fine, it´s just being in the middle of the Indian Ocean and not knowing what could creep up on you when the sight you have is 2-3 meters. We woke up real early to get as much clarity as we could, we went on a boat/yacht to this reef which is a home to a lot of turtles, and the guide´s said that if we were lucky we would see maybe 5-10 turtles. So it was time to take the big plunge, giant leap of fate in to the murky ocean, and then it was finally my turn to jump I did it but as soon as hit the water I started kinda panicking, but still kept my cool ( didn´t show the fear). But then I finally got used to the feeling that this could be my last moment on earth, and that I could end up as food for some vicious creature so I said, What the Heck darn it! and got on with the diving.

And the guide´s took us along the reef and it was amazing, although it was kinda the same as we got further and further, it didn´t change the fact that I was in the middle of the ocean holding on to a turtle 2 meters below in the Indian Ocean. We saw a clown fish, so of course I called it Nemo, and there were so many fishes like the fish "Dora" from "Finding Nemo" and loads more.
And then we spent the rest of the day mostly in our Villa, when night fall came mom and dad had a huge surprise for us, because of the occasion that my sister had her 22 second birthday on this family vacation and they had set up a BBQ dinner on the beach. It was surreal sitting on the beach with tiki torches and servants and it was unbelievable. And it was a night I´ll never forget.

The following day was our last in the Maldives so we had to check out around noon and just hang around all day, because our flight didn´t leave until 2:30 a.m. so we just played some games, hung around on the beach and had some good food. Then it was time to go back to Male ( the airport) and the boat ride over there was pretty smooth, and maybe the reason for that was that I was really exhausted. But then we had to wait two hours at the airport on Male, which was a bore, however I saw one of the most beautiful girl I´ve ever seen, so I managed to waist some time on that. When we finally got to our plane, it was really sweet. A tv screen in every seat and an option of around 300 movies, a lot of games and flight information. And it was just amazing, although I only got an hours sleep on the plane but the main thing is that we got to Dubai, safe and sound. I´ve gotta say it´s unbelievable here, the view, the culture and just everything.

Well that´s it for now... I´m gonna put some photos on the site next time but for now it´s byebye

Stefán

A really long day!

2007-12-18T11:39:00.001Z

Just when everything was perfect, everything was set, I was ready, packed and very very very very very excited. So excited that I didn´t even fall a sleep until a few hours before the flight, and then I was awoken by some horrible news. My father walks in the room and tells me that our flight to London has been delayed indefinite, at the time it wasen´t such bad news, and two reasons why. The first one being that I had just woke up from a 2 hour sleep and the second one being that I thought there was like an hour or 2 delay.

And after a few more hours of sleep I found out that the delay would be more than a couple of hours, and then I just spent the day in my sweats rolling around in self pity and cursing the weather in Iceland. Meanwhile my mother was calling everyone she knew, trying to get us on flight that would take off, turned out we just had to wait and see. then finally at 5 p.m. we could go to the airport and it was a rough ride on the way to the airport, I just felt lucky getting in the air that day.

The first good thing happened at the airport when me and my parents went to the Saga Class business lounge, because they are gold card members they can ask for an upgrade in the flight, so they asked for an upgrade and then we went in to the lounge and had some drinks. Then the lady who requests the upgrades for guests came to us and told us that we could all have upgrades ( including me) only if we switch to another flight to London, so without even thinking about it we switched and it was a good flight.

Then we finally got to London and walked over to the London Airport Hilton and got a room and then went down to get some dinner and a few drinks, and then went to bed after a long and horrible day. Then we woke up around 11 and packed what we had unpacked, and then checked out of the hotel and started what was going to be a really long and dreadful day. So when we got to the terminal we checked in to the flight and then found out there would be a slight delay on our flight from London to Munich, and this was not very good news for us because the check in for our flight from Munich to Male ( the Maldives). It turned out that the delay was 30 minutes so throughout the flight we were a little bit worried that we would miss the check-in, so when we landed in Munich we almost ran through the airport and to the check-in, despite the very "good" information and "help" we got from airport staff members. The important thing was that we got there just in the nick of time, and the woman who checked us in was so very helpful and very nice which was really comforting after our travel disaster, but that didn´t change the fact that when we finally got to the airplane that was gonna take us to our final destination was more compact than the back seat of a supercar! and we we´re gonna spend the next 9 hours there. And to make bad worse, the only thing they were showing on tv was commercials and a movie from the 1980´s, until the last 4 hours of the flight, then they showed The Simpson´s movie, which came to a shock to me because of the crap this airline was.

Then when we finally arrived, and I had been awake for almost 26 hours a man from our resort welcomed us and took us to the yacht that was taking us to the island the resort was on. And the really bad news he gave us was that is was gonna be another hour before we came to our final destination, and although the yacht was really nice and the service on board even better that didn´t change the fact that I was feeling so weak from the travel that I got sea sick from all the commotion in the waves, however I managed not to throw up. When we arrived on the island I just craved to lie down and take a nap, and the wait just got longer and longer, we had to fill out some forms, then they took us on a ride on a golf cart to our cabin, and although the ride was only 5 minutes it felt like 50. But we finally got to the cabins and we were greeted by my 2 older sisters and we caught up and were just all excited being here and we were ready to start our relaxing vacation.

I didn´t really accomplish much the first day, for the reason I was on my 40.th hour awake at the end of the day but we had a late lunch and then dinner in the evening. And the evening ended with me basically knocking myself out do to being real tired, but that nights sleep was the best I´ve ever slept, I think. Yesterday we started our day with some island breakfast and then went on a golf cart touring the island. It has been almost a tradition for me and my dad to play tennis when we go on holiday, but the crazy thing about it we always seem to do it around noon ( which is the hottest time of the day, no matter where in the world you are). So we went and played and it was like running a marathon in a Finnish sauna, but like the soldier I am I won the 1.st set 6-1 and the second set 6-3, although in the second set I was down 2-1 after 3 sets. After that crazy "fun" me and my sisters had an appointment in the spa, and had a Bali something massage. When I went in to the changing room before the massage, I took a tropical shower and relaxed a little in the pool they had, then I got dressed in this really tiny spandex, fishnet man panties which didn´t cover anything at all because they were see-through. But anyways I just put them on and the robe they gave me and went out to this tent where I waited for the woman who would give me the massage. Then this cute and lovely Indian woman named April and took me to this little cabin, but before we went in she gave me a great foot massage and then we went in and she gave me a superb massage.

After the massage I just went back to our lodge to lay down and enjoy the air condition, then it was pretty much late so we went to dinner and then had a few drinks but then it was time to go back and again I fell a sleep very hard. Today we started the day again with breakfast, then me, dad and my sister went and played some badminton, billiard and table tennis. And I was unbeatable at table tennis( ping pong) until after like 8 rounds of ping pong, my dad was like an animal and won 5 matches in a row. So we were pretty beat after all that playing so we went back to the house and me and Ásdís ( my sister) went swimming in the ocean looking for lagoon sharks.

Well that´s pretty much all for now, tomorrow we´re going snorkeling and I´m gonn put in some photos from the vaca ;)

So I´m out for now.

Stefán

Peace out

National Claessen´s Christmas Vacation

2007-12-13T23:50:00.000Z

With all my Christmas shopping done, packing for the trip is finished, I´m currently loading my i-pod with 6 movies so all I can really do is go to bed and try to catch some z´s before the flight, however before I go to bed let me tell ya´ll about the vacation of a lifetime.

The Journey begins with a 2 and half hour flight from Keflavík to London, in Heathrow airport we meet up with my two sisters coming from Austria and Denmark. Since the flight from London to the Maldives is not until late in the afternoon, we´re gonna waist some time in downtown London. Then around 9 p.m. we have an eleven hour flight from London to the Maldives which is gonna be "great" especially flying "monkey" class ( as my sister refers to it) with Singapore Airlines, when we land on Saturday in the Maldives a driver is going to pick us up and drive us to the boat that sails us to our island. We are going to spend 5 days in 2 cabins on the beach ( and it´s like 97% sure that it´s going to be great) although my father said the weather forecast being chances of a thunderstorm, but that´s not gonna get our spirits down.

After spending 5 days in the Maldives our Journey takes us through 5 hours of flying ( again with Singapore Airline) to The United Arab Eramites, a little more specific, Dubai. Where we will be staying at a great hotel, and stay another 5 days and over Christmas eve and Christmas day, well I think we fly then from Dubai to London on the eve of boxing day and then from London to Keflavík with the late flight with Icelandair and will be arriving around midnight. Then on the 27th. of December we are gonna celebrate little Christmas by having our usual Christmas eve dinner and exchanging the few gifts we bought ( because the trip was instead of gift giving ) but us "youngsters" in the family will still be giving out loving older folk in the family gifts for just taking us on such a lovely journey ( and we will also be opening presents from our friends ;)

I will give you more details and thoughts on the trip when I arrive in the Maldives,

So for now ... Good bye,

And good bye nasty weather !!!

p.o.
Stefán

Hot dahm it´s cold !

2007-12-07T12:54:00.000Z

Frrrrrrrrrreezing cold here in Iceland! This morning it was -8°C ( roughly 15°F) But that´s not stopping me because I just got my student visa approved so I can go and pick it up on Monday. However the whole process was not my idea of fun, I went down to the embassy this morning and before I could step a foot into the building I had to show some form of identification and go through the medal detector. And the rental cops, security guys took their jobs real serious and they had a mean look( for rental cops), when I finally got through the security I had a conversation with a woman through a glass wall, and after I gave her all my forms and data, then she asked how I wanted to pay for the 3 minute interview and I handed her my card but then she said " we only take cash". Then I had to run 5 minutes to the next ATM and b.t.w. in -8°c cold! But I am a soldier and just ran through the cold, however when I got back I had to go through security once again! which was kinda pushing my last nerve, but the main thing is that I got my visa!

And with only 3 more days of work until I start my vacation, so between Monday and Friday I´ve got time to sort out my housing situation and also finish my Christmas gift shopping, for the reason that I won´t be home until "boxing day" ( the 26th) But I managed today to buy 2/8 of my Christmas gifts so I haven´t got much left.

Well that´s all for now, I´m gonna squeeze in a nap before work so

Later
Stefán, out

Really exhausted

2007-12-01T17:12:00.000Z

Well as the title says, I´m really really really really really really tired. And you might ask yourself, what is the reason he is so really really really tired. But to answer the question it could be that my new "diet" and the last 3 consecutive workouts I´ve had over the last 3 days which resulted in me losing 7 pounds, also it could also be that I just came from a 3 hour practice with Robban.

And tomorrow I´ve got another 3 hour practice with Robban so it´s good bowling wise, on the other hand it´s bad for my laziness. But it´s good for me to practice before I go to the states.

Last night me, Maggi an Arna went to the movies and saw the new Steve Carell movie called "Dan in real life" and it´s about a widower father of three daughters and on their yearly vacation to meet the whole family in some out of the blue town in Rhode Island and before he meets his brothers new girlfriend he runs into this girl in a book store and they flirt a little and then get talking and really connect, and to make a long story short it turns out that this girl is his brothers girlfriend. And although the movie got seven stars out of ten on imdb the movie takes forever to start and if Maggi and Arna hadn´t gone with me I would have walked out. But after intermission the movie really picked up and the jokes kept coming and it really saved the movie for me, still it get´s 4 stars out of ten for me.

Next week I´m gonna be working very busy with getting the correct visa I need to get in to the United States of America, and the whole process is a bitch!!! And the people at the American embassy were not at all helpful or reaching out for you so it was like someone F***** you in the a** but I´m setting up an appointment for an interview so I can get that freaking visa.

otherwise I´m out for now...

p.o.

SC

Long overdue

2007-11-26T23:33:00.001Z

Well, I think it´s not overstated in the headline but I promised a blog last week but this past week has been crazy. I´ve been working 12-13 hour shifts, for the reason that at Domino´s ( my work) was "Megaweek" ( Megavika) and they have these weeks only a few times a year where pizza´s and other side dishes are at bargain prize ( compared to Icelandic standards, even at these Mega weeks the prize compared to for example the U.S. real is still expensive )

However to summerise the weekend trip to London, it was awesome, the hotel was good, weather was alright and the concert, only one word can describe it : Unbelievable ! ! !

It was the last concert of their tour, and for that reason they decided to go nuts. Played songs they had not played in years, and it felt like a jam session where they just did their thing, and still played their hits and I enjoyed every minute of it. And spending some time with my family was nice (although we live in different countries and continents, we always find time to meet somewhere in the world and have some fun).

This week I´m only working 2 short days, so I can sort out my living arrangement in Kansas and get my student visa. Also a lot of bowling this week, doesn´t help that the conditions are terrible. Robert Anderson, a 2 time world champion and multi member of the Swedish national team is coming to Iceland as the "official" trainer of the Icelandic National teams ( mens, womans, youth and junior teams) so my next weekend is dedicated to him and some serious bowling( which means a lot of "fun") especially bowling in this crappy center!

But I´m not gonna make this any longer than I have to , but I will post more blogs soon.

p.o.
Stefán

I´m back baby yeah

2007-11-21T00:05:00.000Z

Well the trip to London was great, and couldn´t have gone better. Even though I was crippled most of the trip it was a success ...

Tomorrow I´m going to post everything from the trip and put some awesome photos I took from the concert!

Later

Ready, willing and disabled...

2007-11-16T21:11:00.000Z

You might ask, ready and willing to do what exactly ?

Well I was ready to go to England, willing to go to a Foo Fighters concert. So where does the disabled part fit in?

While finishing my last delivery of an already to long shift, I was walking down a steep hill when I misplaced my foot and stepped wrong down on the ground which resulted in me pulling a muscle in my foot. And I´m walking around on a crutch!

Well it has it´s ups and downs, for example of a down is that my foot hurts like hell, while the upside I got an upgrade on the flight from Keflavík to London because I was on the crutch, and that was sweet.

However, I´m in merry old England, and the main objective in this trip is to go to a Foo Fighters concert and they are 2 days from now, so all we can do in the meantime is enjoy London.

well my minds kinda blanc as it is, so i´ll be back with more news and thoughts

peace out

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night

2007-11-14T01:10:00.001Z

Well today started great, I slept in and woke up around one ish and just felt like it was going to be a great day, especially were as I didn´t have to work tonight.

So my main objective today was to make a phone call to get the apartment lease confirmed. And the call couldn´t have gone better, I spoke to this very nice person. although she had one of the shadiest name I´ve ever come a cross. Her name is Ashley Lies!!!

Well it turned out that the apartment I saw online, 500 square ft. studio apartment with a swimming pool and tennis court on the estate, it was available and the last one. So after a little chat with Ashley Lies ( haha still funny) then she told me I only needed to send an application and a deposit and the apartment would be mine.

I immediately called my father with the good news and also told most of my friends that I just leased my first apartment. And nothing but smiles from that point, so I went and cleaned the apartment, for the reason that my mother is coming back from China and Russia, so I got the apartment in to tip top shape ( or like almost clean)

After a little light cleaning to some very loud music , it was time to hit the bowling alley. After last weeks league cancellation, I was excited to finally get to play some bowling. Well as I got to the alley I found out it wasen´t league night, instead we had a league cup night ( means played in doubles , I only played one game) so it sucked so big time! When I got home Maggi and Arna were gonna come over and we were gonna watch Charlie and the chocolate factory ( for some school project they had) when really it was an excuse for me to have a cold one.

And then the blow of the week hit me as soon as I checked my e-mail, I received an e-mail from Joan Petersen, a Wichita State University employee and it was regarding my question on housing situation( my apartment) and she gave me the "great" news that everyone attending WSU ( Wichita State University) under the age of 21 have to live on campus unless they´re married!

So everything I looked forward to, living by myself, the freedom and privacy was just flushed down the toilet. Of course unless i age 2 years or get married it wouldn´t be a problem, but I find this very stupid. Well I understand it partly, but to make it a rule that they have to live on campus is absurd!

Well I´m gonna leave it at that ... for now, so I´m off and the quote of today is:

STUPID = Smart Talented Unique Person In Demand

Later playjas

Gives the term "getting out the wrong side of the bed " a whole new meaning!!!

2007-11-12T12:14:00.000Z

Well it all started with a phone call from my dad at 10 a.m. this morning, and at that point I figured out that I overslept a doctors appointment and that I was 5 minutes late for work. And as I stepped out of the bed my, I managed to step on my belt buckle and by doing that I pierced the bottom of my heal, which I thought was very thick but as it started bleeding I noticed that it´s not that thick.

And at this point I´ve got my sweats and my coat on and I´m practically running out the door, so I get in the car and rush to work. So I finally get to work and the supervisor that was working was Polish, so when I got in he said something, but I didn´t really understand him. I changed in to work clothes and was about to clock in when the other employee walks in and says " what are you doing here" and I said that I´m working from 10- rush ( usually to 8 or 9 depends on how busy we are) and he told me to look at the shift schedule, so I did and it said that i was suppose to work from 6 p.m. to 1 o´clock in the morning. So after all the trouble of getting up and hurting myself, and of course the rush of going to work.

So if I make it through the day I´ll blog more later!!!

p.o.

Boring, boring and so much more boring!!!

2007-11-11T02:14:00.000Z

If you got the idea that I´m bored, well then you are correct.

With this weeks league canceled, time just floated around, like everyone drifted to their destinations. If I´m not working, skipping on gym sessions or bowling those 2 days a week, I´m just laying on my ass doing absolutely nothing,

Although on next Friday I´m leaving for London, merry old England. And the purpose for this trip? You might ask, well both my sisters are coming, one from Austria and the other one from Denmark, and my dad is coming from Spain. So basically my mother and myself are flying from Iceland, but we all meet up at the Sanderson hotel in London ( which is b.t.w. the hippest hotel in town) and on Sunday a week from today we´re going to see a little band called Foo Fighters play live in the O2 arena, and the seats we got, well let´s just leave it at their good!

And since the 1st. of November, I´ve been completely home alone so there has been some extreme cooking going on, ( mostly dominos, but also subway and Chinese takeout ). It´s been nice having some peace and quiet for myself, nobody to boss me around or "ask" me to do stuff,

Well I´m going to stop right now , I´m kinda beat so I´m going to sleep but with these words in mind,

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you get!

peace out

Creating a blog

2007-11-07T13:58:00.000Z

Well... It´s time for my first blog on this site. The reason for creating this blog is that I´m moving to America, and so the world can keep up with what I´m doing, going through and what I´m not doing

But right now, and until I go to Kansas in January i´m working at Dominoz Pizza. Not the best place to work at or the best payed job, but a job is a job. And I just wanna get some money before I move to America.

Some of my other activities include bowling practices 2-3 times a week in a bowling center so bad that you kinda feel depressed every time you go in and with such incompetent employees with an IQ lower than 95 and the approaches worn out and the lanes wrecked, the machines scratch your balls. Just basically every time you go out of the center you feel like you been taken advantage of ( almost mind raped )

One of my favorite hobbies in lying in bed with the computer or watching the same movies.

But probably spent most of my free time hanging out with Maggi and Arna ( b.t.w. owe me some dough !!! )

but I´m gonna leave it at there ....

so until next time ...

Later