Packing

Am I the only person convinced that suitcases actually defy every known law of physics, and are in fact able to shrink as soon as you put stuff into them?

I'm not homeless! Woopdidoo!

I spent 5 days in Trondheim. They were mostly filled with warm days, blue skies, happy people, bbq-ing in the park, shopping, ice cream, one good and two bad movies, walking, talking, laughing. The good stuff you often do when you go to a great city visiting someone you haven't seen in a while. Who cares if the last two days were cloudy/rainy, and included an 8 hour bus ride home. Not only did I enjoy myself immensely, find two new dresses for the summer and read a good book. In these 5 days I also decided where I'll be spending the most part of the next 5 years. I've known it would have to be Trondheim for quite some time, but this weekend made me even more certain in my choice. I love this city. I love how it's big, but still kind of small. I love how they've kept a lot of the old buildings, and I love the gorgeous cathedral and the univeristy. I love how almost half of everyone living here are students, and I love how I'm gonna be one of them. On Sunday I signed the contract on my very first appartment (not counting the one in Barcelona. That was vacation.). The 1st of July I move in to my not-so-big, but pretty cheap and oh-how-incredibly-well-located appartment, and I'm happy.

Rise and shine!

It's 7.30 am. I have been awake since 5.06. I have had exactly 3 hours and 14 minutes of sleep.

I read somewhere the other day that too little sleep or an unregular sleep rhythm can cause you gaining weight, increase your chances of developing numerous diseases such as diabetes, even cause depression and mental illnesses. One study showed that people who sleep too little or too irregularly actually live 21% shorter lives. Really?! I'm practically a lost case. I work nights at a gas station, one week on, one week off. 26 weeks of the year I'm nocturnal. This didn't use to be a problem, after finishing a work week, I would take the first day off to turn the day around, and I would sleep at night like normal people do for a blessed while. But now, for some diabolic reason, I can wake up after 2-3 hours, feeling tired, but not being able to go back to sleep! WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!? I have better things to do than sit for 3 hours in the morning listening to birds sing and watch Good morning Norway for crying out loud! What happened to those fantastic lazy teen years, when you could sleep 12 hours straight, huh? I'm not asking for 12 hours, just a couple.. minutes.. more... zZZzzZz

Give me the flu!

You know what I really hate? Being sick. I'm sick. But not the "oh-i-seem-to-have-a-fever-mom-can-you-make-me-some-soup-while-i-watch-tv-in-bed?"-kind of sick, oh no. Just the annoying kind of sick, where your throat has adopted the texture of a mexican cactus and your nose is runny, but apart from that, you're perfectly fine. You know what I'm talking about? You feel like crap, but it's not enough to get off from work? I mean, if I'm going to get the flu, at least have the decency to give me a proper one with a fever, so that I can stay at home, drink hot chocolate and watch Disney classics!

Making plans

I'm growing up. You know you're growing up when you go shopping for an almanac. Ugh, what a horrible word, and I'm sick and tired of going from bookstore to bookstore looking for one i could like enough to share my life with (I'm talking about the almanac, not a bookstore cashier). But thank heavens for the Swedes, there's a genious over there who made a website where you can design your own, and they print it up and send it to you, not very expensive either (again, talking about the book, but would be nice if I wasn't though). So that's what I did, cause my plans for this spring/summer are growing by the number each day, and are currently written on post-its.

Today's thought provoker: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon

Addiction

[uh-dik-shuhn], noun: the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics,to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

I quit smoking. Again.

I'm addicted to a lot of things. Cigarettes, chocolate, music, my favourite TV shows... The cigarettes obviously being the most serious and destructive of my addictions, and also the one I've struggled the hardest to rid myself of. I've tried it all: the cold turkey way, cutting down, nicotine patch, nicotine gum.. Doesn't work. The one thing I haven't tried, though, is this ingenious invention: The electronic cigarette! (YouTube video) Amazing. So-called "e-cigs" were first invented and marketed by the Golden Dragen Group in China, under the name Ruyan which means "almost like smoke", and are quickly becoming popular in the US and parts of Europe. There is no burning of tobacco involved, only vaporizing nicotine, meaning that you can even smoke your e-cig in the non-smoking section (today's society, that is). You can also choose the nicotine level of your e-cig, from 10 mg to nothing at all. You can even choose between different flavours, like vanilla, menthol or chocolate! Imagine that, get me one of those with chocolate and I have my two deepest cravings, on a stick. Would I consider trying it? Yes. Will I buy one? No. Too expensive, and it's the habit I need to get rid of, and I don't see how changing my lucky strikes into slightly nicer plastic cigarettes is going to help that. Plus, it sounds too good to be true, so it probably is.

I guess I'm just going to have to do this the hard way. Again. The fourteenth time's the charm..?
"For thy sake, tobacco, I would do anything but die." - Charles Lamb (1775-1834)

Today's thought provoker: Worldwide, approximately 10 million cigarettes are purchased a minute, 15 billion are sold each day, 5 trillion are produced and used each year.

Poker

/ˈpoʊkər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [poh-ker], noun: a card game played by two or more persons, in which the players bet on the value of their hands, the winner taking the pool.

Tonight I won. The last 10 minutes I was heads up with the host, he was short stacked but hanging around, stealing blinds. The pressure was on, I had folded my fifth hand in a row, until I looked down on what was going to be my winning hand; K-9 of hearts. For the umpteenth time he went all in. I couldn't take it any more. Did his eye twitch?
- Call.
Poker by the book? Probably not. But the flop showed a king, and I was safe. I had won. 1. place paid out less than a fraction of what you would tip the dealer on any table in Vegas, but I won. Amateur poker: you gotta love it.

Today's thought provoker:
The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, recorded music, cruise ships, theme parks, and spectator sports, combined.

Teeth of wisdom

[wiz-duhm tooth], noun: the third molar that is the last tooth to erupt on each side of the upper and lower human jaw, typically in young adulthood.

Earlier considered a sign of maturity. A full, whole set of teeth. Congratulations!
Thank you, where can I return them? Some people are lucky enough to never have them, my grandmother got one at the age of 54. Some scientists say evolution is working on removing wisdom teeth from the human race all together, but that's a few more generations down the line. I had them all before I was 20. Four times now over the last couple of years my lower left wisdom tooth has gotten infected, taking my tonsels down with it. I got sick of it (literally), so I decided to face my greatest fear.

I am no fan of dentists. I don't like syringes. I have no problem admitting I felt highly uncomfortable lying nearly upside down in my dentist's office early last Monday morning.
- Seems this flap of skin over your wisdom tooth is causing the infection, do you want me to cut the flap off or extract the tooth?
Shit. A scalpell or a pair of tongs, any other options? A magic wand, perhaps? No? Ok.. I told her to get the tooth out, wisdom teeth in my family have rarely caused anything but trouble, so I thought the sooner the better. But the syringe is out sooner than I had expected.
- Open wide.
Pulling teeth out doesn't hurt, it's just so damn uncomfortable. The pricking and tingling from the sedation, then the sensation of inflated lips, the drooling. And of course the part where she starts pushing and pulling and twisting the tooth to get it loose, so that it creaks and cracks throughout the skull. Thank goodness I haven't inherited my mom's teeth, her wisdom teeth didn't have roots, but hooks. Mine was a real beauty.


As I paid an insane amount of money for someone taking something away from me and half an hour of pain (660 NOK, close to 100 USD. Toothfairy refund?), I thought to myself "Well, at least it's over now". Oh, how wrong I was. 4 days later I'm still living on painkillers, and to top it all off my nose has started to run and my throat is sore. Boo hoo. But hey, silver lining: my 31 other teeth are looking good!

Today's thought provoker: Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself". Oh, and in China, September 20th is "Love Your Teeth Day".