Kallhall Boys
Jonas' Blog about Javed
"The aim of this blog is to write more in depth about him, and about us as friends"
That evening we formed group by the name “Kallhall Boys”. It was Javed who made it, thus naturally ignoring the extended Latin character “ä” on his international keyboard.
I am thankful for the fact that we had a lot of fun during that last gaming event. Like in the “good old days”.
The aim of this blog is to write more in depth about him, and about us as friends. I was thinking for days about what to name it, but when I remembered this crew name the choice was clear as day. When we were young Kallhäll boys – which in a sense we always were and always will be – everything was possible. The internationalization of the name Kallhäll even gives it the perfect final modern touch.
We grew up in a small, insignificant suburb to Stockholm, Sweden, by the name Kallhäll. Strictly speaking, Javed moved there at age 9 after a nomadic lifestyle in other countries. Without a doubt this Swedish suburb would gradually manifest itself as the anchor in the world to Javed. He spent ten profound years there with me and other friends. We made childhood special.
The very first activity we did was to play a video game together at a local video store. The very last thing we did was also to play a game together, not many hours before the terrible car accident. This game happened to be Grand Theft Auto V, to some bleak irony. We had tried to play it before but decided to give it another go.
Speaking of names, Javed seemed to prefer calling himself “Jay” after having lived in the US for some time. I have respected this preference, especially when writing to his friends there, most of who knew him just as Jay. Here, though, I have made a conscious decision to use Javed, even when writing in English. He was “Javed” in Sweden to us, and so that is the name that echoes true in our hearts.
Blog Posts
Our Gaming History
January 20, 2019. I wanted to structure up a record of our shared history of computer gaming.
This is of both for nostalgic reasons and as a sort of therapy.
No Salesmen
October 20, 2018. Me and Javed were kind of industrious (at least in theory) and had plans to earn money. At the very same day as our graduation we had a scheduled meetup at a sales company. It was a one-day education in the art of forceful, ugly peddling.
The Desk Chair
August 2, 2018. In 2002 Javed came back to Sweden with the intention to stay here for some time. He managed to get an apartment (about a hundred meters from where I lived) and, of course, went to IKEA to buy furniture.
The Intuitive Seeker
July 28, 2018. In 2015 I discovered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a personality categorizing theory based on works on human archetypes by Carl Jung.
Javed in the Military
July 14, 2018. In 1994 Javed went up north to do the military service, which at this point was mandatory for all men. He got placed in the largest garrison in Sweden, near the town Boden.