Because this is what it looks like when the best of worlds meet, Scando boys in West Coast sunshine. And because Jonathan Franzen's Freedom has been one of our summer readings during flights and pool sides. These are a few noteworthy lines we would like to share.

He nodded and ate, and it occurred to her that she was a person who dwelt in fantasies with essentially no relation to reality.
/.../

"It's not you. You're a good-looking chick. You just may be too nice for New York. It's a pretty naked economy there."
"But how come there are so many girls like me? And no guys? Did the good guys all decide to go somewhere else?"
Katz cast his mind over the young males of his acquaintance in greater New York, including his former bandmates, and could think of not one whom he would trust on a date with Jessica. "Girls all come for publishing and art and nonprofits," he said. "The guys come for money and music. There is a selection bias there. The girls are good and interesting, the guys are all assholes like me. You shouldn't take it personally."
/.../

"So let's go. I want to see it. I want to sleep with you."
"That sounds great," he said, "but I think my mom might be uncomfortable with it."
"I want to sleep near you. And then I want to have breakfast with you."
"That we can arrange."

Because you make us dance for hours and hours, making us happier. Because we love bright smiles and handsome, older Brits who reside in Venice beach. And because we forgot to ask if you meditate, but of course you do.

Because the warm sunshine feels sweeter with you. And because one of our latest insights is this that things very seldom work at the first try. Once you realize that, you are less disturbed when things don’t go your way at once. They so rarely do. We have also experience a ridiculous amounts of failures, declines and the like this spring, which we like to see more as a sign of multifold activity from our side, than that we should be inadequate as human beings. Of course, the universe is guiding us in the right way, and these things were simply not meant to be, regardless of how hard we tried. There are other missions in our destiny that would be distorted by becoming a California start-up community manager, attending Singularity university, winning the green card lottery, etc. In a way, we might be this sunny sided simply because we are such good friends with failure and always see it as an opportunity for learning something new or taking another direction. Like our poetic interpretation of keeping to the right in the escalator: Active or still, but always forward.

* Three Months Later *

You are an engineering nerd, and I assume you work all the time
Yet your handsome stature, your boyish charm, is surely worth the climb

The reason I behave as I know you, is because I see
So much of me in you, or so much of you in me

That shadow of a smile, waiting to burst into laughter
Unruly curls, as extensions of thoughts of similar character

A sense of humor, unintentionally entertaining, not really witty
Sparkling eyes, striving still to replaced judgement with curiosity

Communicative, attemptingly pedagogical, we try to make sense
With a contagious enthusiasm, luring people to our side of the lens

Yes, intelligent eyes, the mirrors of a soul and widely seeing
Injecting in its spectator a sense of confidence, calm and well-being

Rich in knowledge, accumulating wisdom. Hard to impress
But lightly amused. Difficult to catch, but easy to undress

Likeable, from the relaxed way in which we move around the world
experiencing life on a different level, another spin, a smoother swirl

Learning from mistakes, and not really knowing what to believe
being happy for each day of health, and the developments we achieve

Yet, my heart beats louder than yours, words flow freely in abundance
A longer way for you to go, tracing unknown paths of emotional distance.

Because sweet Swedes are even better when they are in California, explain their choice of education to parents through pie charts and have worked in Botswana. We do have a rule against younger brothers, but when they are this charming, we just want to share.

Because in California we've learnt that a key to prosperity is to replace judgement with curiosity and create a lot of ideas worth stealing. We've also understood that ideas are cheap and that execution is key, that you can solve a lot of problems using post-its and that ambition levels are contagious. Most things are in flux and the only thing you can (aim to) control is your own excellence. It is better fail than to do nothing at all, or rather, fail fast to succeed sooner. The success of others will reward you too. Greater challenges offer more space for innovative solutions. Bedroom eyes, prominent cheek bones and all the things you do will connect in the end. That's why you should be as open and exploratory as possible.