The Viking Diaries

Welcome to THE VIKING DIARIES! I'm Sharon/Shazzer (your choice), an American ex-pat and naturalized Swede getting my "new media" geek on among the Vikings. This is my home base on the web.

[shazz]

From today’s fika #2 celebrating our Goddaughter’s 17th birthday! #snaps May 31, 2026 at 04:23PM via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DZAZKZWInry/

[shazz]

Back-to-back Mixcloud Trifectas!

So BOTH of this past week's internet radio shows landed on THREE of Mixcloud's global charts: Lifestyle, Multi-Genre and Open Format.

And this despite the brief technical glitch at the start of Wednesday's livestream (it's not call Hump Day Highjinks for nothing!) and the considerable downtime the platform endured on Tuesday and Thursday this week! You check out what all the fuss is about here:

TVD Live: Sweden Sunday Brunch for May 24, 2026

The smörgåsbord AKA buffet table is always set up with some tasty tunes and tales! This show happens every Sunday (more or less) at 18:00 CE

And here:

TVD Live: Hump Day Highjinks for May 27, 2026

After a slightly dicey start featuring a mysterious "echo" ... we climbed that mid-week mountain together with some good tunes and tales of

If you'd rather listen (and watch!) live ... that happens on Sundays and Wednesdays on Mixcloud, Blast Radio & sometimes even Twitch TV!

[shazz]

When fika fades into “happy hour”! (In this case, pink suits her!) #snaps May 23, 2026 at 04:51PM via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DYr2bjEoczI/

[shazz]

Global #Lifestyle Chart Twins!

Evidently TVD Live is ticking some boxes for *somebody* because the chart action just keeps growing!

Last week's shows ... May 17 Sweden Sunday Brunch and May 20 Hump Day Highjinks ... currently sit in the 4th and 5th position on Mixcloud's Global Lifestyle Chart, respectively. I’m dumbfounded and delighted all at the same time!

What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? I have NO idea!

But am I thrilled that this fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants internet hobby radio show is connecting with people? YOU BETCHA!

Shout-out to my fellow Mixcloud-ers who continue to embrace my craziness and questionable tech skills … and even take the time to share the show with others! You all are the best!

(*This content originally appeared in the Posts section of my Mixcloud profile.)

[shazz]

So You Want to Run a Radio Show? — A practical guide to broadcasting in the age of licenses, platforms, and creative freedom

Internet radio isn't hard because the technology is complicated. It's hard because licensing is a decades-old legal architecture nobody simplified. Here are the three models independent creators are using — and where to start listening.

So proud that a lot of my long-time internet radio friends are mentioned (and even linked from) this article! Community is key! 

[shazz]

Love the song, love the parody of it, love Randy Rainbow.

"We don't want a king!"

[shazz]

1,500 followers? What's wrong with you people?! Just wanna give a shout-out to the wonderful community that ... for reasons that are still not entirely clear to me ... continues to support, encourage and cheerlead my livestreaming activities on Mixcloud. Especially for doing so despite the questionable technical quality of any given show! (The tech gremlins continue to stalk me!)

Read the full post here.

[shazz]

Sat. morning “Boat Balcony Hang” activity report: I’m listening to Australia’s top 30 pop songs from this week in 1986 and @doctordarling is refreshing her math skills. #snaps #maritalbliss May 9, 2026 at 10:29AM via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DYHG04PiJqN/

[shazz]

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I laugh every time I walk past this.

[shazz]

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[shazz]

Finnish Air Force reprimands cadet pilots for penis-shaped flight patterns

The patterns attracted attention on the Flightradar tracking service last week, around the time of a training exercise in the skies near Jyväskylä.

I don’t see any of them having a post-military career in art.

[shazz]

The Fever’s Free Agency Class Looks Modest—Until You See the Math

The Indiana Fever kept their core intact this offseason—and the contract numbers make it clear that was always the plan. Fresh off a new CBA

This team is going to be so fun to watch this year!

[shazz]

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If only the taste lived up to the visual!

[shazz]

I just might enjoy that, thank you!

Mixcloud has been doing some interesting things lately to help hosts get more exposure on the platform and increase engagement with their shows ... and I am super appreciative of that. Features like "Spotlights" and the new "Community" tab are really making a difference in how I interact with the site and the many music-loving friends I am making there. (You can see my profile page here.)

But there continue to be a few bugs in the system ... specifically regarding notifications, which still seem to happen haphazard at best. And then there's the algorithm that kicks up recommendations and occasionally pushes them out to your inbox. I do not know what the parameters are for how it picks and chooses shows for me, but evidently it does recognize that I have been known to listen back to my own streams. LOL!

*This content originally appeared in the Posts section of my Mixcloud profile.

[shazz]

Holy chart action, Batman!

For reasons that completely mystify me ... this show is currently appearing on not one, not two, but THREE Global Mixcloud Charts. Click the link above to hear what a 7th in Lifestyle, 76th in Open Format and 92nd in Multi-Genre show sounds like! W00t!

[shazz]

Occasionally very late to the party So I have this thing that I do (and have done for years) where I purposely ignore the latest trend or refuse to get on board with something or someone being AMAZING just "because everybody else says so." And for the most part, this habit has served me fairly well ... especially when it comes to pop culture.

So this means I have basically been ignoring Chappell Roan for years because the entire rest of the world was raving about her. But I recently I heard a livestream host on Mixcloud play "The Subway" and enjoyed it enough to play it on my own show a few days later ... at which point I really *listened* to it, with no distractions and headphones.

OMFG. The song is pretty much too good to be real ... especially live. And I could have been listening to it for months now! The video above is my favorite performance of "The Subway" I have found so far ... and yes, I will probably lose a big chunk of my weekend looking for more of them.

Enjoy. And please don't judge me. Or do ... because there are moments when I am, indeed, an idiot.

[shazz]

It was sunny & warm enough to have afternoon fika on the Dance Balcony! #coffee #spring #sweden #snaps March 9, 2026 at 05:29PM via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DVq56dBiNKf/