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
Friday, 17 April 2009
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Reminiscing
"cocacolabeercervezaaguabeer!"
Never in my life could I have imagined how much it was possible to miss a place, or rather a feeling, as much as I miss Barcelona. Right now. My Barcelona. The phrase above is well known to anyone who has enjoyed a day at the beach in BCN. The hard working, sweaty men in their dirty T-shirts, running around la playa with their plastic bags filled with (more or less) cold beverages, shouting out in their monotonous voices what they can offer of refreshments. I miss them. I even miss the group of Asian women trying very hard to give you a massage. Looking back I wish I had accepted, just to have tried it, and also to support them; people with that level of persistency should be rewarded.
I miss the smell of salty ocean mixed with exhaust. I miss the sand beneath my feet. I miss the architecture, I miss Las Ramblas, and the parks. I miss being scared of the transvestic prostitutes in the parks. I miss the surprisingly simple metro system. I miss stumbling across great artists on a random corner doing their thing. I miss eating tapas, I miss how proud I felt having eaten squid the first time. I miss the fountain show at Plaza Catalunya, the incredible week that is the festival La Mercé, salsa-dancing, the market, the Lidl-store on my block, Milka chocolate and shots on fire. I miss staying out dancing till 6am. and going to school at 9am. I miss the building shaped like a giant blue penis. But most of all, and this is what has got me all nostalgic and depressed and is the reason why I've eaten two liters of ice cream tonight; I miss the people. Thank God I'll be seeing some of them again soon.
I was lucky to spend three months in this wonderful city. It's been five months since I came home, and to this day, everytime I hear Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe sing Barcelona, I weep like a baby.
Never in my life could I have imagined how much it was possible to miss a place, or rather a feeling, as much as I miss Barcelona. Right now. My Barcelona. The phrase above is well known to anyone who has enjoyed a day at the beach in BCN. The hard working, sweaty men in their dirty T-shirts, running around la playa with their plastic bags filled with (more or less) cold beverages, shouting out in their monotonous voices what they can offer of refreshments. I miss them. I even miss the group of Asian women trying very hard to give you a massage. Looking back I wish I had accepted, just to have tried it, and also to support them; people with that level of persistency should be rewarded.
I miss the smell of salty ocean mixed with exhaust. I miss the sand beneath my feet. I miss the architecture, I miss Las Ramblas, and the parks. I miss being scared of the transvestic prostitutes in the parks. I miss the surprisingly simple metro system. I miss stumbling across great artists on a random corner doing their thing. I miss eating tapas, I miss how proud I felt having eaten squid the first time. I miss the fountain show at Plaza Catalunya, the incredible week that is the festival La Mercé, salsa-dancing, the market, the Lidl-store on my block, Milka chocolate and shots on fire. I miss staying out dancing till 6am. and going to school at 9am. I miss the building shaped like a giant blue penis. But most of all, and this is what has got me all nostalgic and depressed and is the reason why I've eaten two liters of ice cream tonight; I miss the people. Thank God I'll be seeing some of them again soon.
I was lucky to spend three months in this wonderful city. It's been five months since I came home, and to this day, everytime I hear Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe sing Barcelona, I weep like a baby.
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Lost online part 2
Like so many times before, I sat down by the computer with the regular agenda: Check my e-mail, my facebook profile and the balance on my Visa. Somehow, (and I strongly suspect tonights episode of the Daily Show had something to do with it) I ended up for the first time on Twitter. Freakin' Twitter. You can't stop hearing about it, it's everywhere! You find politicians, celebrities and news feeds on there, Jon Stewart and David Letterman are obsessively joking about it. It's the new facebook, and people who more or less know what they're talking about, say it's growing even faster and has even higher potential.
So, several months after the twitter wave hits America, I am trying to figure out what the hell all the fuzz is about. A site where anyone can "tweet" their message to the world (if it's less than 140 characters long, that is), and the followers of this.. bird..? ..can comment on the.. ehm.. tweet.
This results in
1: Interesting, accurate news or information, short and to the point, often with a link if you would like to read more. (pages like CNN, NY Times etc..) OR
2: Page up and page down with nothing but bull***t.
Some of the bull***t is actually funny, Hobo Jones is kind of funny, and whoever is doing the twittering for Darth Vader is, if nothing else, really in-character. But all in all, with the way the page is right now, I don't think I'll be twittering that much. First of all: Who the hell should I follow? Whose lifes and opinions are so important to me that I would hang on to their every 140 character long update? The page has no categorising system, so you can only find tweets you're interested in by searching names or e-mail addresses. There is no way of knowing if the tweet you're reading is fake or real, and there is no filter on what's mundane and trivial (ex: I found expired milk in my fridge today), and what's breaking news (Earthquake in San Fransisco!!). And even though Hobo Jones is funny, you get tired of reading stuff like:
"Holy moly! I jus' saw m'self in a puddle reflection... I'm a handsome man. I jus' need t' git m' boils drained!" and "Lost my spittin' can agin."
Twitter has a lot of potential, and I'll never say never, but for now, this birdie no tweet.
So, several months after the twitter wave hits America, I am trying to figure out what the hell all the fuzz is about. A site where anyone can "tweet" their message to the world (if it's less than 140 characters long, that is), and the followers of this.. bird..? ..can comment on the.. ehm.. tweet.
This results in
1: Interesting, accurate news or information, short and to the point, often with a link if you would like to read more. (pages like CNN, NY Times etc..) OR
2: Page up and page down with nothing but bull***t.
Some of the bull***t is actually funny, Hobo Jones is kind of funny, and whoever is doing the twittering for Darth Vader is, if nothing else, really in-character. But all in all, with the way the page is right now, I don't think I'll be twittering that much. First of all: Who the hell should I follow? Whose lifes and opinions are so important to me that I would hang on to their every 140 character long update? The page has no categorising system, so you can only find tweets you're interested in by searching names or e-mail addresses. There is no way of knowing if the tweet you're reading is fake or real, and there is no filter on what's mundane and trivial (ex: I found expired milk in my fridge today), and what's breaking news (Earthquake in San Fransisco!!). And even though Hobo Jones is funny, you get tired of reading stuff like:
"Holy moly! I jus' saw m'self in a puddle reflection... I'm a handsome man. I jus' need t' git m' boils drained!" and "Lost my spittin' can agin."
Twitter has a lot of potential, and I'll never say never, but for now, this birdie no tweet.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Happy birthday!
"I think, therefore I am"
The man behind these famous words, René Descartes, was born on this very day in 1596. 413 years ago. I was born on this very day 21 years ago, and our philosophies on this very day are much the same:
"I eat cake, therefore I am"
Happy birthday to me! And to René Descartes, and according to famousbirthdays.com, a happy birthday also to: Joseph Haydn, Christopher Walken, Rhea Perlman, Angus Young, Al Gore and Ewan McGregor.
The man behind these famous words, René Descartes, was born on this very day in 1596. 413 years ago. I was born on this very day 21 years ago, and our philosophies on this very day are much the same:
"I eat cake, therefore I am"
Happy birthday to me! And to René Descartes, and according to famousbirthdays.com, a happy birthday also to: Joseph Haydn, Christopher Walken, Rhea Perlman, Angus Young, Al Gore and Ewan McGregor.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
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!
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Eyes on the road ahead
I got my new little lovely planner in the mail a week back, and it is now my new best friend. It contains everything I'm looking forward to the next few months, and I have A LOT to look forward to:
March 31st: Birthdays are always nice, especially when you still live at home and your mom makes you cake.
Easter: A lot of the lovely people I miss are coming back home.
April 18th: Maybe spending the weekend with one of my best friends in her family's cabin.
April 29th: Going to Trondheim to visit a good friend and have a look at the city I'm going to spend the 5 next years of my life in.
May 13th: Going to Iceland to visit the fabulous Hulda.
July 7th: My last day at work.
July 9th: Going to the United States to visit MaryGrace. New York, Dallas, Vegas; here I come!
August: Starting University and my new life in Trondheim.
So, cleaning toilets and floors, and making burgers and hot dogs to an endless line of people at the local gas station might actually be worth it after all.
:)
March 31st: Birthdays are always nice, especially when you still live at home and your mom makes you cake.
Easter: A lot of the lovely people I miss are coming back home.
April 18th: Maybe spending the weekend with one of my best friends in her family's cabin.
April 29th: Going to Trondheim to visit a good friend and have a look at the city I'm going to spend the 5 next years of my life in.
May 13th: Going to Iceland to visit the fabulous Hulda.
July 7th: My last day at work.
July 9th: Going to the United States to visit MaryGrace. New York, Dallas, Vegas; here I come!
August: Starting University and my new life in Trondheim.
So, cleaning toilets and floors, and making burgers and hot dogs to an endless line of people at the local gas station might actually be worth it after all.
:)
Friday, 13 March 2009
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
Today's thought provoker: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Barbie's birthday
[bahr-bee], noun, trademark: a brand of doll representing a slim, shapely young woman, esp. one with blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin.
50 years ago on this very day, Barbie made her first appearance at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Her 50 year-long story is interesting, but long, so if you can be bothered, read it here. She was an immediate success, and has become one of the most significant icons of our time. She's had more than 100 careers, ranging from model to surgeon, ballerina to teacher, firefighter to astronaut to presidential candidate. You can buy your Barbie as a geisha, african american, latin american, you could even buy a handicapped Barbie, wheelcheer inclusive. I bet that was a limited edition. Ha-ha, I'm sorry.
She has been loved and hated through the years. Loved for the hours of joy she has brought to generations of little girls (and boys), hated because of her somewhat proportionally incorrect body and how her looks affect todays expectations to how young women should look. If Barbie was human sized, she would stand 5 foot 6 inches tall (1,68 m) and weigh 110 pounds (49,9 kg). She would have a 39 inch bust (99 cm), an 18 inch waist (45 cm), and 33 inch hips (84 cm). In 1995 some Finnish scientists claimed that lifesize Barbie would be too skinny to menstruate, and in 1997 her waist was slightly broadened. That did not stop the religious police in Saudi Arabia from banning the popular doll in 2003, claiming that she promoted "decadent and perverted western moral".
A product of the devil or not, today she is not only a doll, she is a brand and a billion dollar business. You will find Barbie products in 150 countries, and Mattel claims that every second 3 Barbie dolls are sold somewhere in the world. But what's interesting though, is that when the University of Bath did a research on children's relationship to different branded products, they discovered that young girls tend to be very violent with their Barbies, a disturbingly high number of the children found joy in tearing her head and arms and legs off, or putting her in the microwave. They saw this tendency with no other brand in the test. This proves what I have suspected for many years; our underlying hatred for gorgeous, skinny, successful women is pure instinct.
I owned a few myself. I never tore her head off, or microwaved her for that matter, but I do remember crying hysterically when a bully at my school decapitated one of them. Happy 50th, Barbie!
Today's thought provoker: In 2007, the song "Barbie Girl" by Aqua was voted as one of the world's 20 most annoying songs by Rolling Stone magazine, the song has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide and the music video has 26,5 million views on YouTube.
50 years ago on this very day, Barbie made her first appearance at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Her 50 year-long story is interesting, but long, so if you can be bothered, read it here. She was an immediate success, and has become one of the most significant icons of our time. She's had more than 100 careers, ranging from model to surgeon, ballerina to teacher, firefighter to astronaut to presidential candidate. You can buy your Barbie as a geisha, african american, latin american, you could even buy a handicapped Barbie, wheelcheer inclusive. I bet that was a limited edition. Ha-ha, I'm sorry.
She has been loved and hated through the years. Loved for the hours of joy she has brought to generations of little girls (and boys), hated because of her somewhat proportionally incorrect body and how her looks affect todays expectations to how young women should look. If Barbie was human sized, she would stand 5 foot 6 inches tall (1,68 m) and weigh 110 pounds (49,9 kg). She would have a 39 inch bust (99 cm), an 18 inch waist (45 cm), and 33 inch hips (84 cm). In 1995 some Finnish scientists claimed that lifesize Barbie would be too skinny to menstruate, and in 1997 her waist was slightly broadened. That did not stop the religious police in Saudi Arabia from banning the popular doll in 2003, claiming that she promoted "decadent and perverted western moral".
A product of the devil or not, today she is not only a doll, she is a brand and a billion dollar business. You will find Barbie products in 150 countries, and Mattel claims that every second 3 Barbie dolls are sold somewhere in the world. But what's interesting though, is that when the University of Bath did a research on children's relationship to different branded products, they discovered that young girls tend to be very violent with their Barbies, a disturbingly high number of the children found joy in tearing her head and arms and legs off, or putting her in the microwave. They saw this tendency with no other brand in the test. This proves what I have suspected for many years; our underlying hatred for gorgeous, skinny, successful women is pure instinct.
I owned a few myself. I never tore her head off, or microwaved her for that matter, but I do remember crying hysterically when a bully at my school decapitated one of them. Happy 50th, Barbie!
Today's thought provoker: In 2007, the song "Barbie Girl" by Aqua was voted as one of the world's 20 most annoying songs by Rolling Stone magazine, the song has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide and the music video has 26,5 million views on YouTube.
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Eric Hutchinson - You don't have to believe me
This incredibly energetic, though laidback, can't-help-but-dance-to, James Brown inspirated, groovey tune has been stuck on my mind lately. The rest of the album, Sounds like this, is not quite as up-beat, but the feel-good-factor is so high you have no choice but to smile. I especially like the songs Food Chain, Outside Villanova and Oh! and the first and so far most popular song from the album: Rock & roll.
Hutchinson's been compared to talented singer-songwriters like Jason Mraz, a comparison I certainly agree with, even though I find Mraz's lyrics to be better. But with this song, I say to hell with the lyrics, it rocks. You don't have to believe me, listen yourself.
Hutchinson's been compared to talented singer-songwriters like Jason Mraz, a comparison I certainly agree with, even though I find Mraz's lyrics to be better. But with this song, I say to hell with the lyrics, it rocks. You don't have to believe me, listen yourself.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Lost online part 1
American Dreamz is on TV and I'm not watching it. Not because it's a bad film (well, it is actually), or because there's nothing interesting on TV (Lord of War, a really good film, is on the other channel), or because I've seen it before. No, the reason why I'm not watching Hugh Grant do one of his less memorable roles is because I've done it again; I got lost on the Internet. Ever experienced that? When you're just reading an article, linking to another one that mentions something interesting, so you google that, ending up on some blog without any idea of how you got there, but you just... can't... stop... reading...? Yeah, I do that, a lot. Today I ended up in a quite familiar place though, I've been there before. It has given me hours and hours of childlike joy. Overheardinnewyork.com. Random conversations overheard in one of the worlds most versatile cities, written down and gathered on the web for our pleasure and to satisfy my slightly eccentric interest in human behaviour and interaction. Three random favourites of today, I am sure there will be more:
Tween #1: You wanna abort this conversation?
Tween #2: What? Why?
Tween #1: Because we're arguing whether 'haha' or 'l-o-l' is funnier than 'l-m-a-o.'
Hobo: Hey, can you spare 20 cents?
Girl: Sorry
Hobo: Okay, 30 cents...40 cents...50 cents, but that's my final offer.
Thug kid: When are you having that damn baby?
Pregnant: I was due last week and I want a C-section but the doctor said we shouldn't do it yet.
Thug kid: I'ma call that doctor tomorrow and tell him to take that nigga out.
Tween #1: You wanna abort this conversation?
Tween #2: What? Why?
Tween #1: Because we're arguing whether 'haha' or 'l-o-l' is funnier than 'l-m-a-o.'
Hobo: Hey, can you spare 20 cents?
Girl: Sorry
Hobo: Okay, 30 cents...40 cents...50 cents, but that's my final offer.
Thug kid: When are you having that damn baby?
Pregnant: I was due last week and I want a C-section but the doctor said we shouldn't do it yet.
Thug kid: I'ma call that doctor tomorrow and tell him to take that nigga out.
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