Anticipation and God

In 17 days I'll be in New York. In the mean time I'm trying to do whatever I can to get the days to go by faster. Like going to the AC/DC concert (which was abslutely awesome, hats off to 60-year-olds who can rock like that), or spending a day with my sister in Oslo, or going to my friend's cabin for a couple of days, playing basketball, or going out. Anything to forget about the countdown that is constantly in the back of my head. I even, in a moment of insanity, started reading the bible. I am without a doubt in my mind an atheist. But I think I should at least know what it is I'm not believing in, so last week I started skimming through the old testament. I quickly discovered my prejudices were all justified; it is absolutely ridiculous. I've given up for now, if I'm going to be reading fairytales I'll be reading some more interesting ones. I actually shouldn't be reading at all, I should be packing. Since I finished the Twilight saga, there's been a hole in my schedule, so I should have plenty of time. But my room is barely visible through all the cardboard boxes and the mess that is produced by my failing to organize, so I'm just gonna have to pray it will all be magically sorted out. If I slice a sheep open and burn it, maybe God will help me out.

Wow, 15 minutes less until I head off to the US.

Today's thought provoker:
Genesis 3:3 "but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

What's going on?

And I say, Heeeey ey ey ey Heeeeey ey ey. I said hey. What's going on.

For some reason I haven't written since I came home from Iceland. Maybe not enough interesting stuff have been going on, while I've been busy planning the stuff I'll be doing. It's all approaching rapidly. I cross the Atlantic ocean in less than a month. Before that time I have to have mye entire life packed into cardboard boxes. Ugh.

Between then and now I have a few things going on to keep me busy: This Monday I will see living rock'n'roll legends, I was finally able to get myself a ticket for the big AC/DC concert in Oslo. I'm hyped about it, it's supposed to be a great show. So Tuesday I'm afraid I'll be busy trying to recover my voice. And then it's back to work for a week, my second last week of work before I'm done. Ahhh.. Done.. Sounds so good.

And then I have a week of packing, suitcases and cardboard boxes, everything I've ever owned. Arrangements have to be made for moving all of this the 260 miles to my new home. I'm spending a day with my sister in Oslo, a few days with my best friend at her cabin, and after my last week of work I'm gonna try to get a few things settled in my appartment. And then I'm off. Wow, sounds like even less time said like that, but I'm not panicking yet. I don't have time.

Oh, I almost forgot, something interesting has happened over the last few weeks, that's part of what has kept me busy too, my sister's confirmation was on Sunday! It was the nicest ceremony, with lots of food and cakes and gifts and speaches. Absolutely lovely. And we have enough leftovers to make it through the rest of the year. My mom did a great job, despite all the fretting and near hysteria. It turned out great.

And another thing that's been keeping me from the computer the last weeks; the Twilight saga. Freakin' Twilight. It is absolutely addictive. Not necessarily a masterpiece in literature, but most certainly a pageturner, and I can't seem to put the books down for any length of time. I guess there's a reason close to 50 million copies of the books have been sold. Anyway, I'm a good way into the 4th and last book, and boy, oh boy will it be good when I'm done, so I can focus properly on anything else than Edward Cullen, Bella Swan and Jacob Black..

SO, that was a little update. I'll be sure to post some pictures from the concert next week.


Today's thought provoker: A quick google search of the following words, "Twilight Saga" gives 18 600 000 results, while a search on the classic "Dracula" produces 13 300 000 results.

Iceland

Wednesday I landed on a very windy Keflavik airport (Did you know they pronounce it Keplavik?). Hulda picked me up in her adorable white, little VW Polo, and we drove the 45 minutes to her place in Seltjarnarnes (20 min. from Reykjavik city). And what a place. Her house was big, spacious, original, and homey, and her family were some of the nicest people I've met, going out of their way to make me feel welcome. We went on the typical touristic round, the "golden circle", on Thursday. We saw þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss and Kerið. Lucky that these places are pretty high up, and that Thursday was the most windy day this year, haha. But it was all breathtakingly beautiful. Waterfalls and mountains, horses and sheep, old volcanoes and lava rocks. Beautiful. We ended the day going out for a few drinks with one of her friends, and had a blast.

þingvellir

Gullfoss
Geysir


On Friday we went to the local pool. This is very interesting. Icelandic people go swimming in outdoor pools, all year around. The water is heated, from about 35 to 40°c, and sun, rain or snow, you can relax and hang out in the shallow pools outside. So relaxing, and I have no idea why we haven't thought about that here in Norway. The rest of the day we went shopping in the two big malls close to the city. I got to spend some thousand Icelandic kroner, before we finished the evening with a restaurant dinner and relaxing with a couple of movies. We saw 7 pounds with Will Smith. I liked it.

Saturday was the big Reykjavik city sightseeing and shopping day. We started with the big flea market down by the harbour. It was gigantic, and I was extatic to find a pair of barely used adorable shoes, and got a real bargain. The flea market is open every weekend, and I strongly recommend stopping by, you can find just about anything for a good price, some really old stuff, and some not so old stuff. In the city we walked the main street, where it seemed every other store was second hand and vintage. I found a beaauuutiful dress in one of them. In Naked Ape boutique you can find cool Icelandic design. They also have a bunch of souvenir shops, with trolls and vikings, just like ours. But I bought a cool T-shirt that says: Ég tala ekki íslensku. (I don't speak Icelandic). After 5 days I'm even more convinced that Icelandic is the coolest language ever. Too bad foreigners don't have a shot in hell of ever speaking it perfectly. That night we saw the eurovision finals (Yeah!!!! WOooohOOHooo!! and all of that..), and then we went to a house party before hitting the town. Eurovision is a reaaaally big deal in iceland, so if you take saturday night + 2. place in Eurovision + the first warm, sunny weekend of the year, it adds up to an incredibly crowded Reykjavik city. The bars don't close before 5-6am, and at 5am the street was full of people singing and yelling in the morning sunlight.

Afters a few hours of sleep, we drove the half hour to the Blue Lagoon. In fine weather that's a really good place to be hungover. So relaxing. So beautiful. But expensive though, you don't go there everyday. But we chose a good day, the weather was amazing, and we even got a tan. After that we had a good dinner, Huldas mom is a great cook. And then, just like that, my long weekend in Iceland were coming to an end, and I had to start packing. And here I am, on my couch back in Norway, missing it all. So a big thanks to Hulda and her family, I had a great time! :)

Me and Hulda at the Blue Lagoon


PS: More photos on facebook for those who're interested.

First impressions

Ok. I've been in Iceland about one hour, and so far this is what I've gathered:
Iceland has a lot of old lava.
Iceland is windy.
Icelandic is the coolest language in the world.
Hulda is great, her family is great, and their house is beautiful.

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.

Oh, hello springtime! Long time no see, come on in! Sit down, take a load off, stay a while, would you like a cup of tea?

Spring. Primavera. Frühling. Printemps. Vår.
/sprɪŋ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation noun: the season of the year following winter and characterized by the budding of trees, growth of plants, the onset of warmer weather, etc.
One of the few words that sound just as beautiful in every language.

The entire northern hemisphere is waking up, and so am I. I was out running this morning, after work. Usually after work I have problems staying awake while driving home, but today I had so much energy, I ran for a whole hour, and even after that I felt I had more to give. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and I was smiling. It is absolutely remarkable what a bit of sunlight and a few extra degrees in the air can do to you.

I have some rituals when the seasons change: The first day of the year fit for a barbeque, I clean out my warderobe, putting all of my winter clothes and jackets and shoes waaaay in the back, and all the shorts, t-shirts, skirts and dresses are put in the front. I make a new playlist on iTunes and my iPod with light, relaxing, music that puts me in the right "waiting for summer" mood. I make a list of what books I'm going to read over the summer, and then go online and order the ones I don't have. This summer I'm only gonna read light, entertaining stuff, in fear of having to read only heavy, classic English literature the next 5 years.

You see, I've just sent my applications for university. A masters study in English, with teaching and a second language (Spanish). If I get in, and I'm being positive, thinking I will, I'll be moving a 5 hour trainride away come autumn. A trainride I'll be doing this coming week to visit my friend who already lives there. The city's beautiful at spring time, people are smiling, the guys are wearing T-shirts, and the beer tastes better.

And in a few weeks time, as the spring unfolds in full bloom, I head off to Iceland. I have been promised to see geysirs. Geysirs! And the blue lagoon! I'm absolutely extatic about going, and I'm going to stay with the fabulous Hulda and her family. So nice of them to let me stay. I miss Hulda. We're gonna cry about missing Barcelona together, and make plans for next summer.

Pictures and detailed information on Linn's upcoming travels will be blogged about. Have no doubt about it.

I've previously blogged about my affection for quotes and how they often portray my feelings much better than I can do with my own words (http://linnterpretation.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-i-quote_19.html), and wouldn't you know! Some genious has poetically described spring
as well:

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush"
- Doug Larson

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

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.

"If God is willing we will meet again, Barcelona"

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.