Notes from the Sub-Basement of Mars

I don’t like to kill time.
I’m not one of those people who feel as though getting older speeds up my concept of time. I was miserable in school growing up, and if I’m having a bad time now, time moves just as slow.

We still don’t have a car, but public transportation in this country is very accessible, and getting to the major cities near me is a breeze. The nearby bus arrives every hour, and just over an hour later, I’m in a city that over 750 years old.
Neat.

I’ve tried to stop taking The Perfect Photo. It’s a problem I’ve had since I was a photography major – if it’s not perfect, why bother? It’s a great way to feel as though I’ve wasted a day, and a direct path to fail even the most basic photography assignments. Paying for film back then didn’t help, I guess.
But none of these photos are being graded. Hell, I don’t know if anyone else is going to see them besides me. So why not take dozens of photos and select a few that Means Something to me?

We’re all overwhelmed with data every day. So much brain power is devoted to subconsciously parsing out what’s important and what’s not. For some reason, I enjoy taking time to actively participate in the process. Taking a beat to linger on a moment feels like engaging in a moment.
Time flows differently.

There are two types of public buses in Sweden – yellow regional buses link towns, cities, and rural areas to each other, and green city buses. For some reason the county’s transit app doesn’t seem to include the city buses, so I end up walking more often than not.

I found a really nice coffee shop called 1998. They roast their coffee in-house, and have a small vintage shop attached full of clothes that don’t fit me. I don’t know if I was immediately clocked as an American, but the barista greeted me in English.
This has happened a few times now.
I enjoyed a really nice cappuccino. I eavesdropped over the staff discussing new coffee roasts and wanted to get a photo of the three of them hunched over three cups, but I wasn’t bold enough. I still don’t know how people here would respond.

It was lovely to wander aimlessly around the city. It’s such a stark contrast to cities I’ve experienced in the US, which seem to be more car-oriented. I remember walking through Vancouver, WA and not seeing another person on the street for about half an hour.