I’m getting things in order for my trip to Spain next week, or rather, that was the plan. I’ve done nothing other than setting up an obnoxious DJI Copilot, played Tetris 99 with a new 8Bitdo N30 Pro 2, and walked Paazu. Hopefully I’ll be more productive tomorrow, today just said “nope!”, thus far at least.

The three launches we did yesterday are official: Tak (popular Swedish Asian fusion restaurant), Lars-Johan Åge (author with a new book, Happy Happy, coming out soon), and Cabinet Entertainment (owners of brands such as Conan the Barbarian and Mutant Year Zero). Pretty cool, if you ask me!

Today is my last workday for a little while. I’m off to Spain next week, to see my good friends Tim and Salomé. The idea is to take a break from work, focus on writing, and enjoy a change of scenery. It’s 3C and cold rain in Stockholm today, and my robot weather app says it’ll be 23C and sunny when I land on Monday. Quite the change, I’m looking forward to it.

We did three site launches yesterday. There will be bubbly stuff, as you’ll no doubt see on our Instagram. One of these is international, I’ll get back to that one at a later date. It’s tremendously cool.

Have a great Friday, folks.

We’ve got fancy company in the studio today. Feels good to have Paazu watching over us, as we prepare for a site launch this afternoon. There’ll be a few of those the coming weeks, a lot of projects are wrapping at the moment.

The week races on. Plenty of meetings and things to do today as well, obviously. Some already ticked off, I’m happy to report. I did enjoy the site of my last meeting yesterday though, which was with this little fella by my side, speaking to a client based in the US.

Another busy day ahead. It’s been a while since I spent so much time working with people based in the US, I almost forgot how to get the days balanced. You don’t want to clock in a full day’s work, just to have dinner and then keep going. It’s not good for you, as noted yesterday. I did a lot of work with US clients back when blogs where The New Thing, and twisted my schedule accordingly. Granted, I was younger then, and sleep was borderline optional to me. I would be more careful today.

This all leads up to some fun announcements the coming weeks, for Divide & Conquer. We now have clients in three different countries, which I believe is a strength. It brings perspective, if nothing else.

Monday morning, coffee will be done soon, I’ll pick an album I haven’t heard in a while – or ever – and relax. Most Mondays are evening work for me, so I try hard not to get a head start by working all morning too. Cramming in every possible hour of the day, week, month, year, won’t make you more productive. Quality work hours, those are the ones who count in the creative field.

Have a great week people, and be nice to each other, even when you fight.

The photo below looks festive, but it is utterly depressing to me. It’s a state of mind I don’t like, with that touch of loneliness that you don’t wish on anyone. I took this photo last night, and shared it on both Twitter and Instagram. I bet no one thought it to be anything but a representation of a good night. Things got better, or became something else at least, but I’m putting this here as a reminder of what’s been.

People feel bad sometimes, no matter what their Instagram says. They just don’t dare confess, can’t talk about it, fear what friends and family will think. It makes me sad. Talk to the ones closest to you if you feel bad, then maybe they’ll dare do the same when they need you to listen.

I’ve decided to take it easy this weekend, cancelling all plans. Not that I had that many, but still. Other than cleaning the apartment and catching up on some correspondence, I don’t intend to do anything productive today. Knowing me, I’ll most likely get bored with it by tomorrow, so that might be a different story. I do have quite a bit of writing to get done, after all, maybe I’ll do that. No. Stop. Not doing anything. Man, that’s hard.

Working from home today, because of changed plans and whatnot. It gives me a chance to acquaint myself with some new music I’ve been meaning to give a listen. Interestingly enough, the first album – Signs by the Tedeschi Trucks Band – sounds like it came out thirty years ago. I think I like it.

Got to bed at six in the morning, after a productive planning meeting in the studio turned into interesting talks and bourbon. Like most cities, Stockholm is a bit weird in the early morning, including a selfie-obsessed girl, and sad news about online friends passing. Suffice to say, today’s been somewhat slow, catching up on missed sleep. I’ve gotten some things done though, so it wasn’t one of those wasted days. It’s the unplanned shenanigans that are the most fun.

Not feeling too hot today, and I wish it was because of the celebratory Project OK submission whisky (an Oban 14 Years Old, if you’re curious), but it’s not. Sleep was weird too. Will have to tone everything down a bit today, take it easy, which is shitty timing because this week is already packed. Oh well. Maybe I’ll have twice as much energy tomorrow?

It’s a beautiful day in Stockholm. If you find a spot in the sun, you can really soak it in. I’m taking my time getting to the studio today, mostly because I had a delivery this morning, but also to get a chance to enjoy the weather a bit. You could say I’m pretty done with winter.

Submitting Project OK today. How about that, something actually went smoothly from start to finish.

It’s going to be a rough week. There’s a lot on my plate, lots of projects with deadlines. It’s a bit stressful, to be honest. I’ll tackle it one thing at a time, as I always do, but one bad day will shatter the schedule completely. So don’t have bad days, maybe? We’ll see how I manage, I’m sure.

The Bloody Mary is from yesterday. While starting the day with one is always nice, I don’t think it’s quite the recipe for making this week work.

Paazu turned six today. He got long walks in the sun, and cream, so he’s happy.

The first draft of Project OK is done, as planned. I have no idea if it’s any good. It’ll have to sit for a while before I return to it. I finished it last night, had a wee whisky, then got to bed, exhausted. Not from writing, but from the week. It’s been a bit much, again. I’m getting there, I think. Hope.

The next issue of my newsletter is also all but done. I’ll send it this weekend, so if you don’t want to miss it, well, subscribe, maybe?