Today was a good day. I got a lot of food from dumpstering and my friend followed with me. It was his first time dumpstering.

Me and Ed where originally going to meet at bar which is also a record store at 19 o' clock. I was on the buss to the place, a bit late and saw that he was already there. He was writing that it was full and that we have to find another place. I called Ed immediately. I recommended that we go to a bar instead and drink a beer before the stand-up comedy. I say that Ed should choose a good bar and send me an sms about which one it'll be.

Today a friend, or a teacher to Ed (he studies at a music and film production school) where gonna perform along with some other artists at a stand-up comedy club. I was really excited to see it because I've never been to a stand-up comedy club ever in my life. I entered the bar and found Ed. At the time I was listening to some really good music so I took the headphones off and gave them to Ed, told him to watch my iPod while I order an alc-free beer.

I came back up. "Classic, Unfinished sympathy", says Ed. "Yeah, embrace the classics", I reply, to not appear too old-fashioned. I mention the fact that they have vinyl record covers hanging on the wall. It's easy to mistake them for paintings where they hang along the framed art. We start talking about various subjects, the vibe is pretty good. I bring up the fact that my dad has a large record collection and my mom's husband also has a large record collection. There is 10 years between the men so they grew up with different music. Even though both collections are around 150 records, they have very different music. My dad, who was born in the middle of the 70's, has a lot of music from the era when digital music creation through sequencing samples and triggers for synth-sounds became available to the general public. My dad also has some niched tastes, which include a large "gold mine", a varied selection of underground plunder-phonics, turntablism and instrumental hip-hop from the 90's. My dad has many records from the Mo' Wax, and the Ninja Tune record labels. My dad also has lots of jungle, breakbeat, and lot's of jazz. My dad has a lot of well known jazz including John Coltrane. My dad also has some more popular music for the time when he bought the records, like The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, and more.

My mom's husband, on the other hand, has a totally different selection. His music is funk, rock, experemental rock and some acid jazz. He has lots of Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, Yes (the band). He has an album by Pink Floyd. My mom's husband really likes the artist "Foetus Of The Wheel". He has more than 6 records of them. Both men also have lots of classical music.

Even though there are only 10 years in between them there is only one record that I found in both collections. Me and Ed talked (or just me) about the fact that music changed so quickly through the entire last quarter of the 1900's and the first quarter of the 2000's. "Yeah", said Ed. "Nowadays it's a lot about mashing up different genres, back in the 90's music was more sticked to specific genres". Ed believes that the 90's was the "peak" for music, the time when the most defining work was made for the genres that appeared in the 60, 70 and 80's.

* * *

Me and Ed start walking to the place where the stand-up comedy is taking place. On the way I bring up a very specific subject that I had on my mind. "Hey, Ed. What do you think about when an artist has done something very bad?". "If an artist has done a very bad thing, such as rape, being a pedophile, having killed someone or lives a lifestyle of crime, do you avoid listening to their music?". Me and Ed has a long and serious discussion about the topic. We came to multiple conclusions. Art and the artist who made the art are separate things. The artwork is a thing separate from the artist and doesn't have anything to do with the artists background of bad or criminal actions. Of course, the artist can express an appreciation for, and advocate bad or criminal things, for example through lyrics of a song. But that doesn't have to be the case.

Me and Ed discuss weather listening to music, created by a person who committed a bad action destroys the listening experience or not. Ed gives an example of a man, who's music Ed likes. There is official information about a series of brutal crimes that this man has done in the past, but still Ed listens, and appreciates his music. Ed explains that the music that this man made never points at the crimes the artist committed. The music is about different topics.

We also discuss "shady" album covers – covers related to pornography, gore, children in sexual positions, etc. We come to the conclusion that a shady album cover doesn't have to mean that the artist is associated with the crimes that the cover expresses. It could just be an example of an artist who want's to be "wack" or "shady".

I bring up the fact that if a person has a lot of darkness, they might want to express a sort of polarity as a way to fight it. Ed brings up the fact that listening to an artist for whom there is a record of criminal, or other non-acceptable actions can be thrilling. "It can be a thrilling kick to listen to an artist that you know did something very bad". I don't agree on this point, but I ask Ed more questions in order to understand him. "A thrilling kick because you have an interest in understanding someone with ridiculous thoughts and ideas?" I ask. "Yeah, sort of", responds Ed.

* * *

Me and Ed enter the place where the stand-up comedy is taking place. It's an Indian restaurant where there's also a scene. Behind the scene hang red curtains. A man, (Ed's teacher) has the first act. He introduces everyone to the night and is pretty funny. The second act is also pretty funny. I laugh at times and I am focused on what the man is saying. The third act doesn't interest me as much though. Instead of listening i think about other things and look out of the window. The man jokes about hailing (Hitler hand-sign) and says something among the lines of "There will be a lot of hailing this night". This is not fun. The man makes a joke about Kiev and the war. He said something similar to "Instead of being in Kiev, I'm here every wednesday". This is supposed to point at the fact that Kiev is in a state of war and the place where that stand-up comedians are performing are also in a turbulent, war-like state. I really don't think that is funny. The man then made a milder comment; "...But i think that it is very rude to make fun of russians. They don't deserve to be mocked. I only mock russian women and small ethnic minorities". After the man said this a woman that sat close to the stage let out "Thank you for that!" with the tone of relief. The man had begun a milder conversational tone about an emphatic subject as a way to begin the action of stating forgiveness for having made rude comments, but countered the expression with implication of inverted sarcasm as a way to create a fire made out of worshiped lies.

This was too much for me. I went out of the restaurant. I was going to take a walk and then return, or not return to the indian restaurant. I turned on the album "Push The Button" by Money Mark on my iPod. The album is about being happy, the mysteries of life and falling in love. I walk around the block. On the oposite side of the house complex a girl was standing outside a bar, smoking a cigarette. I got the idea that i would try to be very relaxed in my body, as I imagine that people where more back in the days while asking her for a cigarette, and see what happens.

"Hi", I ask. "May I have a cigarette?". "Yeah, sure", answers the woman. She is small, blonde, has blue eyes, is pretty cute, and also appears pretty relaxed. "A cold day, it is". I say while borrowing her lighter. "Yes.". "Cigarettes makes you feel warmer though.". "Yeah, that is true", i say as i keep walking further around the block. More so than agreeing upon my statement, i said it as a way to create warmth.

I reach the exit of the indian restaurant and stand along the wall, finishing my cigarette and listen to Money Mark. Ed exits the building and aproaches me. "I don't want to stay there when i have to stand". (there where no unoccupied chairs). "We should leave", Ed said.

As we walk towards the tram that takes you to the the place where the container is located at I let Ed listen to Money Mark through my headphones. At first he seemed to enjoy it but after a while I think that it made a too strong impression of happiness and everything-is-perfect-and-lovely sort of vibe. He gave the headphones back and i could sense that he was not in the right mindset for this music. "Very happy music, almost a little bit too happy", I say. "Yes", says Ed.

* * *

Me and Ed approach the container, the dumpster where the food has been thrown away. Not every convenience store in our city has a container like this but this one, and a few others has. It was Ed's first time dumpstering and he was pretty excited about it, also a little worried that we would get busted, but that actually mostly just was because of the fact they they had just closed the convenience store. While we walked by we saw them turn off the lights.

I showed Ed how to climb into the container and lit my flashlight. I was the first one to jump in the garbage. I lit with my flashlight. "Oh! Sausages". We looked at the expiry date and the sausages expired yesterday. I kept shining the light and found about four more pacages of sausages! Then i found about 6 bottles of orange juice! Ed jumps in the dumpster. We find many different pacaged vegetables. A really good find, you can say. We only had space to carry around half of the stuff that we could have brought from the dumpster.

We also found a pack of butter, a glass jar of strawberry jam (this jar had the expiry date of 3:rd july 2023 which made me suspicious of there being another reason other than the food loosing the quality, for it being thrown away). We also found bananas and kiwis.

Ed was the first one to climb out of the dumpster, then came I. As i hit the ground beneath the container and walked towards Ed, i lifted of the heavy plastic bag, filled to the brim with food and said: "Look at me, I have been buying lots of food for 800kr" (1kr = 0.1€). Ed thought it was funny and said that his food probably was worth 500kr at least.

When we arrived back at the closest tram station to the dumpster, me and Ed took trams in opposite directions. I was sitting alone in the back of a tram, listening to Money Mark and drinking orange Juice. My knees was on the seats that stand in the back-most region of the tram, my face pressed straight against the glass, looking at the tracks and the flashing lights.